Running is a completely natural and familiar condition for children of any age. After all, this is an integral part of any outdoor games, and indeed the whole daily life of a small person. In order to direct the activity of children in the correct healthy physical development, to eliminate negative aspects for health, you need to know what benefits jogging at a young age and how running affects the human body.
Running is the most affordable and affordable sport that can be practiced anywhere, anytime. Contraindications - a minimum. The beneficial effects of running on human health are noticeable with the naked eye. One has only to take a look at the athletes who regularly perform a jogging for a year or more: a fit look, breathing is even, the complexion is healthy. But what about the athletes: you can just look in the mirror at yourself before jogging and after it. After all, this is a completely different person, the vitality and tone of which has grown significantly after running.
In order for a regular wellness run to become a useful habit and skill for a child, you need to accustom him to jogging from an early age. No one talks about hard work at an intense pace: they are, perhaps, able to repel the taste for jogging. We are talking about the good old steeple chase: short and pleasant easy jogging walks in the nearby park, square, stadium.
They will bring a lot of benefits to the child even in winter (although in snowy weather, of course, it is preferable to ski), they will distract him from the TV and gadgets. It is necessary to show willpower and by personal example to educate in children a love for an active, healthy lifestyle. Every day, show them an alternative to sticky and stupid computer games. After all, health is one, and it must be strengthened from childhood. Running is the very first and affordable tool for this.
The impact of jogging on the body as a whole
Running is the simplest and at the same time very effective physical exercise in which practically all parts of the musculoskeletal system are involved. Most of the muscles, ligaments and joints of the child’s body receive a payload while running. Running speeds up blood circulation, saturates all organs and tissues with oxygen, trains and strengthens the cardiovascular system.
The body is healthy when there is no stagnation in it, and the active movement of all physiological fluid (blood, lymph, intracellular fluid) is carried out. To activate and maintain at the proper level this circulation of fluids in the organs and tissues of the body is easier and more effective than anything else with the help of regular running.
During the run, vitality increases, mood improves, endurance and performance are strengthened. The muscles of the student are properly formed. During the child’s running, all the muscles of the legs are involved - both the calves and the hips. During the run, the back muscles also strengthen, which support the spinal column, posture becomes better.
A long-established fact: regular jogging positively affects the nervous system of the child. Children become less quick-tempered and excitable, more balanced. hyperactivity and hyperactivity decrease. The child gains the ability to control his emotions, it is easier to endure stressful situations. And nowadays, stress, unfortunately, is not unique to adults. Physical activity in the fresh air strengthens sleep, improves appetite.
Regular jogging positively affects the mental abilities of the child, as they increase the level of concentration, self-control and brain activity. Various disturbances of sleep and the emotional and psychological state of the child as a whole remain in the past. If morning runs are inscribed on the daily routine, then the student is accustomed to discipline and responsibility.
Regular training develops very valuable personal qualities: determination, willpower, ability to self-control. Children who regularly run, are always more confident, calm and balanced than those who are lazy to do it.
The benefits of running for individual organs
Running has a comprehensive positive effect on many key organs and systems of the body:
On the heart. Due to the fact that during the run the blood flow through the vessels becomes more intense, the heart strengthens, the volume of the heart chambers increases, the heart rate normalizes (it becomes less and more rhythmic).
On the immune system. Regular jogging increases the body's defenses, has a hardening effect, helps to successfully resist colds and infectious diseases.
On the respiratory system. Running improves the state of the respiratory system, makes the baby's lungs stronger and increases their volume.
On the digestive system. Running is like a healing massage for the intestines. Thanks to him, the tone of the digestive organs improves, various problems and deviations from the norm disappear.
On the endocrine system. The load that lays on the body during regular runs improves the state of the endocrine glands. The skin becomes more elastic and toned, acquires a healthy color.
It is impossible to argue with the fact that running is an excellent tool for increasing physical strength and endurance, developing the muscles of the legs, abs, arms, neck, buttocks. The child becomes more agile, strong, peppy, like a compressed spring.
What time of day is better to train?
Traditionally, the best time for jogging is considered the morning hours of the day. This is true, but only by far not all people have the biological rhythms of the body configured in such a way that it will be more beneficial for him to run in the morning. As you know, among people (including children) there are not only “larks”, but also “owls”.
In this regard, it is not so important that runs are run in the first or in the afternoon. The most important thing is to do them regularly. Every day, allowing yourself 1-2 weekends per week. Or at least every other day.
How to make running as useful as possible
To maximize the health benefits of running, you must follow certain rules:
The best place for jogging is the place in which there are a lot of trees (ideally conifers), there is no heavy car traffic and the air is clean. This is a park, an extended square, a stadium. It is undesirable to run on asphalt: this gives an additional shock load on the joints and ligaments. The best option is not an asphalt track of a park or stadium.
Before jogging, it does not hurt to do a warm-up with the child, as well as to stretch out well. Torso bends and turns, squats and lunges activate blood circulation, flex muscles and help to avoid sprain. Also, a joint lubrication is released during the warm-up, which protects them from damage.
It is important to follow the running technique: lower the feet onto the track correctly, preventing unnecessary and unnecessary stress on the hip and knee joints, as well as on the spine. When lowering the foot should be placed evenly on the entire foot. The body should be kept with a slight forward bend, without unnecessarily swaying it while running.
It is necessary to avoid sharp jumps up, hard lowering to the surface. The movements should be uniform. Hands are bent at the elbows, and their movements are free, moderate, in time with the steps.
While running, it is better to breathe with your nose and mouth. However, if breathing is lost, and most of the air is swallowed by the nose and mouth, this means that the load is too high, and the pace needs to be reduced.
You do not need to immediately expose the body to significant loads. Children, in this sense, are too keen on athletes, and often their enthusiasm has to be gently restrained. To start, the run time must be stopped within 10-15 minutes. Increasing it gradually, you must adhere to the interval nature of jogging. That is, with a periodic transition from running to walking.
And in the future, running a child should not take too much time. Otherwise, it will become boring and debilitating for him (first of all, in a psychological sense).
In order for running to benefit only, it is important to dress according to the weather, choosing the right clothes and shoes. These should be convenient things that do not squeeze the body anywhere. As running shoes, you need to use sports sneakers with shock-absorbing soles: let sneakers and sneakers on thin soles remain for the gym.
Preparation and start of a run
You need to run before breakfast or dinner. So that at least an hour before running training there are no meals. After a run, you also can’t immediately start eating: you need to wait a while. For example, spent on water treatments. Before running, you don’t need to drink liquids, but immediately after it you can and should drink a glass of clean water. As already noted, just before the start of the run, you need to do a little warm-up in order to warm up the muscles, joints and ligaments.
Be sure to consider weather factors. On a frosty day, you must definitely dress warmer and start jogging immediately after leaving the house in the cold (finish - also, in front of the door of the house). Going to the stadium and from it back on foot should not be: you can easily catch a cold.
In extreme heat it is best to refrain from jogging. Or, if it is held in the thick shade of trees, take a bottle of water with you.
Types and techniques of running for children
For warming up, as well as for a change, you can run for a short while with your knees raised high when the leg rises to a right angle. This type of warm-up run is often used by physical trainers. Run on the toes of the feet without touching the heels of the ground. Run in a wide step. Still - with the assignment of the heels to the buttocks. You can hold your hands behind your back.
Try cross-running, with quick cross-legs. This is a common exercise in training young soccer players.
Each time you run, the spine experiences stress when the feet touch the surface of the earth. The more a person has body weight, the more and more harmful these loads. That is why people with serious overweight are recommended not to run, but to do other physical exercises. When running, these loads on the spine appear due to the so-called “flight phase”, when the body sinks to the foot with acceleration. Teach your child the right running technique - with minimal vertical body vibrations. Teach him not to “throw” the body up and make sharp hits on the running surface.
Of great importance is the prevention of rocking the body from side to side. This comes from the incorrect placement of the feet relative to each other. When the technique is correct, the inner edges of the feet should be in line. During the run, the feet should not be put “trace in trace” on the same line. But, at the same time, they do not need to be widely spaced from each other either. With the correct running technique, an insignificant angle between the toes of the feet is permissible - so that the thumb takes the greatest effort upon pushing.
An equally important component of the correct running technique is the competent setting of the feet when they touch the surface. It is necessary to strive to distribute the load on the entire foot area at the same time. The difference between running and walking is that with the correct running technique, a straight line passing through the center of gravity of the body to the treadmill passes through the center of the foot, and not through the heel. This method requires special preparation and dexterity, however, the distribution of the load on the entire foot area is the key to joint health. The foot should be lowered to the entire foot at once, in one motion from top to bottom - as they usually walk up the stairs. At the moment of touching the ground, the foot is slightly tensed.
The most detrimental to the health of joints and ligaments is the mistake of a novice runner and the most flagrant violation of the correct running technique is “bumping on the exposed leg”. It occurs if an inexperienced runner unbends the shin too early while moving the leg forward. Then the weight of the whole body falls on a straight leg when touching the foot path. A strong shock load is assumed by the knee joint. Since the runner’s leg is firmly straightened, the blow is transmitted to both the hip joint and the spine.
Another common mistake: legs are too tight. At the same time, the contact time of the feet with the ground increases, and it should be extremely short. You need to run easily and relaxed, as if soaring over the track. Many move their legs forward with a pendulum movement, but it is necessary - as if you were spinning the bicycle pedals in a circle. Moreover, this "wheel" should be slightly behind. Like a pink panther running in a cartoon.
It is necessary to straighten the lower leg smoothly, together with the extension of the leg forward. The impact on the track is mitigated by a bent leg, which acts as a natural shock absorber, and not a stopper. One step smoothly passes into another, and does not become a series of blows to the joints with straight legs.
To teach the child to run correctly, you need to choose the optimal stride length for him. With too wide a step, the already described “sticking on a straight leg” happens. A step is too narrow, mincing, does not give a good tone to the muscles, sending an extra load on the feet. It is necessary to select the stride length, based on the smoothness of movement and comfortable running.
Posture is also an important point. The body should be held straight, or lean slightly forward. This protects the spine and joints from injuries. Hands are bent at the elbows, hands are relaxed. Freedom and comfort of movements will provide relaxed and rhythmic breathing, delay the onset of fatigue. You need to run straight, without bouncing up and down.
Pain in the side is a frequent and absolutely normal occurrence, especially in children. It is caused by a spasm of the diaphragm, a muscle located between the chest and abdomen. It starts stabbing in the side when a temporary oxygen deficiency occurs in the diaphragm. One has only to briefly switch from running to walking, as the spasm passes.
In the question: "How much to run with the child?" everything is also quite clear: starting from 10-15 minutes, gradually increase the time to 30 - and this will be enough for a full run.
Source: childage.ru