Bullying, exercise and kids:

Hi guys! It’s Jono here today. How did you enjoy Travis’ blog on Monday? He’s experience as a Primary School Teacher and as a gymnastics coach is invaluable when doing anything involving kids bootcamp or exercise!

Exercise in kids is also a huge topic for me because it changed my life. Growing up in Primary School I was never a good athlete. I was always the smallest, weakest, slowest kid and got picked last at everything. It sucked! I was never super popular and I would get bullied a lot. I was more into video games which made me the meanest Street Fighter player in the world :-p!

I also used to watch a lot of TV – things like “Home and Away” and “Degrassi High” and you would see the kids go to high school and get “dunny flushed” and that sort of thing. So I got really scared and thought that might happen to me.

I was so scared that it would happen to me that I started working out religiously (in hope that I could beat up anyone that tried to bully me). My mum had an exercise bike at home so I would get up early and get on that for like an hour a day before school. There was a park across the road from me with a chin up bars, dip rings, mini hurdles etc and I’d spend about 30 minutes working out there after school. My mum also had some small ass dumbbells (maybe 2kgs) so I would spend an hour every night doing bicep curls with them (because that was the only exercise I knew).

I actually started to really enjoy it and my fitness went through the roof. I went from being the worst athlete in my year, to in my last year of primary school representing my school in like 3-4 events in the regional athletics (100m, 200m, discuss and cross country) and in Rugby League!

When I went to High School, I made all the sporting teams, had a lot of friends, didn’t get bullied, was WAY more confident and happy with my life.

All just from putting the video games down and doing a bit of training. Who would have thought that training can improve your health, fitness, coordination, confidence, mood, energy, stress, sleep, social interaction? Some pretty powerful stuff in kids.

The reason why I’m sharing is because exercising as a kid changed my life. If I didn’t make that change when I was 11, I’m pretty confident I would have been depressed and suicidal my whole teenage years and probably still today.

That’s the role exercise can play in kids and that’s why I’m such a strong believer in it.

I also believe that as Trainers, we should be the front line for this! If you’re interested in training kids or families, I strongly recommend checking out ourFamily Bootcamp Package (5CECs) here.

Now we would love you hear from you. In the comments below, let me know your opinion in this topic and your personal experience as a kid or a teenager. Where you into fitness from a young age? What’s your story? How did you get into fitness and personal training? Let me know in the comments below. That’s all for today! Are you ready to take your bootcamp to another level? Be sure to get our 5 Tips to Grow your Bootcamp here.