Kids

Recommended equipment

The ECross Kids program implies a simple but extremely useful and versatile equipment. This means that recommended tools characteristics are in line with our method philosophy:

• simple and economic
• useful for several types of exercises
• adaptable to different age ranges
• versatile and usable both as a game and as a training (considering that the two things often correspond in out method)
• long-lasting
• not bulky and transportable

You can find a simple description of the principal recommended equipment below.

Bar: It is placed at a proper height for the young people (we recommend 150 cm); it is really important for the suspension exercises. It is useful for the pull and core muscle chain, and with a bit of creativity it can be insert in funny circuits. We recommend a length of 2m to allow translation exercises. To compensate the different kids’ height, you can use a box to easily reach the bar. However, we recommend two bars to satisfy higher kids (12-14) that needs the height of adults, and eventually to hang the rings.

Rings: they are one of the more fascinating and attractive tools for kids. They are versatile and can be used for several exercises, especially strength exercises. Thanks to their belts, you can propose exercises with short, medium or high

Loop bend: elastic bends with different tension that are useful to scale exercises such as pull up. We recommend at least 2/3 types of tension in order to satisfy different strength levels.

Wooden box: versatile and useful; according to the side to which they lean on, the height can vary (we recommend 30-40-50-60 cm); they can be used for inferior limbs exercises (such as box jump), as a support for push-ups or dips, as step to reach the bar, as obstacle in a circuit etc.

Rope: climbing the robe is one of the funniest activities for kids; beyond training strength and coordination between upper and inferior limbs, ropes allow to do suspension exercises or very funny games such as “crocodile” (see the games section)

Jump rope: learning to jump the rope is one of the best exercises to improve coordination. Then, this exercise can be transformed into conditional exercise. Kids can do this exercise alone with several techniques, in team with the trainer that make the rope rotate; it can be also used ass obstacle at the ground; it is versatile and multifunctional; with a bit of creativity the jump rope allow the trainer to propose a great number of funny exercises

Medicine ball: this is the first overload; there are medicine balls of different weight: from 1 to 4 kg; they can be replaced by sponge balls for younger children. Examples of exercises are: throwing, lifting, individual or team exercises etc.

Markers: they mark the position and are useful to delimit training areas, create circuits or slalom, etc.

Cones with sticks: useful both alone as markers or in pairs as obstacles to be overcome

E-line: it is funny and original; it represents an optimal means to practice balance, but it can be used as obstacle or as support. You can use it also to create perfect circuits.

E-board: it is an ideal wooden board to develop balance; you can use it alone or in team works, such as staying on the board and throwing the ball;

Kettlebell: from 4 to 10kg. these are the first real overloads for kids. We recommend to use them from 9/10-year-old; they are an optimal tool to increase muscle strength thanks to the multiplicity of exercises you can do with them. The weight should be proportionate to the physical structure of the kid.

Wooden little box: they are simple, versatile, and can be used in funny team works. You can also create circuits to develop balance and coordination. With trainer’s creativity it is possible to create a lot of exercises.

Parallettes (parallel bars): they are wooden bars, very useful to train the bases of some exercises, such as handstand or push-ups; they are perfect for both upper and inferior limbs.

Tatami: it is a soft mat that is ideal for acrobatics such as handstands or somersaults; they guarantee safety in some suspension exercises or can become “sheds” for training and funny games.

Circles: they are ideal for upper and inferior limbs coordination exercises and allow to create several combinations and to vary the training;

Speed ladder: it is a ladder on the ground that is ideal for upper and inferior libs coordination exercises and for works that want to improve agility and speed.

If we take account of the high number of weight-free exercises and of the infinite possibilities that arise from the use of our recommended tools, we can notice that ECross Kids program is really wide and funny!

TRAINING METHODS

In this chapter we describe the principal training methods. Obviously, it is up to the trainer to choose the method that fits better to the ability he wants to train, to the group to manage, and to the training level. The respect of general and specific principles and the knowledge of the available methods and means are the starting points that will guide the trainer in the training choice and comprehension. Some methods are particularly suitable to coordination abilities, others are ideal for conditional skills and others are optimal for both types of skills.

Circuit training

Method: sequence of exercises with short recovery between one exercise and the following until the end. Typically, this sequence of exercises is repeated several rounds whose number is predefined.

Parameters: number of exercises, trained quality, duration (time or repetitions), eventual recovery time, number of rounds, exercises sequence and position. It is ideal for both coordination and conditional skills;

Strength

Method: practises with the aim of increasing strength and its variants by using fundamental exercises. the training is usually divided in series, with proper and sufficient recovery times

Parameters: number of exercises, duration (time or repetition), recovery time, typology of muscle contraction

Amrap (as many round as possible)

Method: the number of exercises, their quantities and the training duration are prefixed; this type of training stimulate kids to do as many rounds as possible in the prefixed time; the recovery time is free.

Parameters: number of exercises, trained quality, total time, sequence order

It is idea to make the kids work simultaneously; kids have the appearance that all start and complete the sequence together but the intensity varies by increasing or reducing the number of rounds according to the athlete’s training level. This method is perfect for both coordination and conditional skills.

Agility

Method: dynamic lesson in large spaces; the trainer organizes a circuit with several stations in which anaerobic and aerobic exercises are alternated.

Parameters: number of exercises, recovery time, spaces, total time

It is perfect to train in particular the general resistance and to include coordination skills that make the circuit funny and original. It is also suitable to teams or couples.

Timed

Method: Structured lesson; there is a fixed time in which the kid has to do the higher number of repetitions possible of the same exercise. Intensity is reached thanks to the high number of consecutive repetitions on the same muscle chain.

Parameters: number of exercises, trainer quality, time to do each exercise, recovery times.

This method can be interpreted in two different ways: performing exercises once for a higher time or repeating exercises for lower times; normally, it is used for conditional skills;

Ladder +/-

Method: there is a circuit in which each round scale (or increase) the number of repetitions to be done; by this way there is a decrease or an increase of the work intensity;

Parameters: starting number of repetitions, number of repetitions to be added or subtracted, number of repetitions to do or total time, number of exercises, sequence

It is funny for higher older boys as well as complex and inappropriate for younger kids.

Work&Rest (W/R)

Method: training times and recovery times are predefined; you can do aerobic exercises such as running, but also anaerobic exercises such as squat, push-ups (e.g. interval training or Dott. Tabata’s method). This training method is perfect to work in team or couple because kids can alternate in W/R phases;

Parameters: duration of work and recovery intervals, exercises, formations, sequence

The work can be structured in series or in circuit; we recommend to use the time as a parameter because the repetition number may be a problem if there are uneven training levels.

Game

Method: part of the lesson that aim to create funny exercises, to stimulate a positive competition which increase the work intensity. The aim is to propose small races between athletes or groups; parameters, sequence, exercises are predefined. In order to guarantee results and to increase fun, we recommend to insert exercises that involves both conditional and coordination skills.

Parameters: logic and creativity

See the chapter about games to see some examples. We have chosen to insert this training typology as a real method because for example, you can organize a race with a circuit composed of push-ups, running and summersaults that train kids in a funny and stimulating way. In the chapter about games, you will discover some changes we have done to classic kids’ games in order to guarantee utility in terms of training as well as fun. An example can be “dodgeball”.

WORKLOAD CHARACTERISTICS

• duration: it indicates the effective time in which the training load is applied, without recovery times.
• volume: all exercises performed in the training (quantity). For example, kg lifted, distance covered, number of jumps, series or repetitions number
• intensity: it is the muscle effort that depends on eventual external loads, on work angles etc. the effort should be compared to the greatest athlete’s performance
• frequency: number of times that the same stimulus is used is the time unit (days, weeks, months)
• density: the daily program inclusive of recovery breaks;
• repetition: performance of a single movement, e.g. 1 squat
• series: it is the sum of consecutive repetitions (e.g. 10 consecutive squats; 4×15 push-ups = 4 series with 15 repetitions)
• recovery: it is the time between a series and the following, or between an exercise and the following one. It normally is inversely proportional to intensity.

GENERAL PARAMETERS OF THE CONDITIONAL SKILLS TRAINING

In the ECross kids program strength is training mainly without weight through three manifestations:

• dynamic strength (es. Pull ups)
• explosive strength (es. Frog jumps)
• isometric strength (es. Plank or bar suspension)

Work parameters are usually simplified considering the athlete’s young age, and furthermore, the principal typical variants of the athletic preparation (such as resistance, maximal strength) are not considered. Indeed, those differences must be taken into account from a certain age and training level.

Once made this consideration, we recommend to work on a range of 5-10 repetition, for 3-5 series, and with complete recovery times (the minimum time to guarantee more or less the same performance of the previous series). We also remember the importance to choose right exercises (multiarticular) and, most of all, the execution modality proper to strength (doing 7 weight-free squats does not mean to train strength only because the repetition number is between 5 and 10).

Finally, we recommend to limit plyometric exercises and jumps because they are excessive for kids’ articular development. the problem is not the single training, but the volume. So, if you propose jumps 3 times a week, for one year, to a 9-year-old boy, probably he might face some problems; instead, if you propose frog jumps 3-4 times a month the same kid can only have benefits.

General parameters of strength training

Resistance is the ability to fully preserving the level of a duration performance ( Zaciorskij, 1977)

A very important classification distinguishes the resistance in:

• general and systematic resistance; it especially calls into challenge the big systems of the body (cardiocirculatory and respiratory) with low and long-lasting intensity.
• Specific or local resistance; it is the ability to support workloads proper of a sport or of a particular exercise; intensity may be high.
• The effort duration can be low, but a high repetition number may be required

Resistance can be trained through:

Continue work

• Constant: running at a steady rate, ideal to lay the foundations for the general resistance
• Fartlek: free running, without interruptions, in which the athlete inserts, guided by the trainer, voluntary rhythm variations. These variations can be inserted in free-form or by doing circuits (usually outside) that obligate the athlete to modulate the speed, such as slope variations. It represents an optimal stimulus for training; it mainly aims to general resistance but there are stimula that train the specific resistance.
• Rhythm variations (ccvv): it is a fartlek variant in which variations are predefined; they can be very short (30-40 metres), fast and various, or few but very long (80-120 metres) and with a good gait. These works are optimal in wide spaces or outdoor.

Work with breaks

The attention must be addressed to the performance rhythm: If the rhythm is high, a complete recovery is necessary; if rhythm is low, breaks can be reduced. The higher lactate concentration in muscle can be reached with works lasting about 30”.

• Complete recovery (repeated) e.g. doing 250m for 4 times is a great work for children, with 1’/1’30” recovery
• Partial recovery (internal training) e.g. 20” fast, 1’ slow, for 5 times. This is a useful system to teach kid how to manage the exercise intensity

The repetition or intervals duration can be in metres or in time and, according to the objective, parameters can be changed.

Play-based work (specific)

It includes all those exercises that, thanks to their continuity and duration, maintain the training heart rate for an appropriate time, such as a little football game or a repeated agility circuit;

General parameters of speed train

In the ECross Kids program, speed is inserted from 9-10-year-old through fast running exercise, such as 10-50m sprints, according to the age, for 3/10 series. Recovery times are completed to guarantee a proper work. These works can be adapted with exercises, such as shuttle run or speed ladder exercises.

General parameters of stretching training

Any stretching typology is based on the neurophysiological phenomenon known as “stretch reflex”. Each muscle has proprioceptors that, if stimulated, send impulses to the CNS informing it about what is happening in the muscle.

The most important are the neuromuscular spindles and the Golgi tendon organs. Neuromuscular spindles are parallel to muscle, react to lengthening variations and to the speed these movements occur. When muscle fibres extend, the spindles are stimulated and send an impulse to the CNS. The latter answer by ordering the muscle to contract; this is the stretch reflex that is opposed to the stretching.

The Golgi tendon organs are in the tendons, in series. Compared to the muscle, they react to stretching variations, but especially to the stretching tension. Initially, neuromuscular spindles intervene by causing the stretched muscle contraction in opposition to the stretching, but If you continue to stretch the muscle for at least 6 second, the Golgi tendon organs order the muscle to relax; this process is called “inverse stretch reflex”. So, the Golgi tendon organ react to an excessive muscle tension producing the muscle relaxation that start 6/8 seconds from the stretch start. Instead, the neuromuscular spindle makes the muscle contract when the stretching is excessive, but otherwise it does not intervene.

The articular excursion ability and the flexibility are important both for performance aims that as a prevention for accidents. In relation to the athlete’s needs, an excessive flexibility is not always positive because it can be associated with skeletal muscle disorders.
So, we can define the flexibility as the joint ability to move freely in a complete articular excursion “range of motion”.

The factors which influences flexibilities that are modifiable through training are muscle, connective tissue and temperature; the non-modifiable ones are age, gender and joint structure, which represents one of the main factors limiting the static joint excursion. The structure varies according to joint type; however,

there are interindividual variations for the same joint. The ligamentous laxity is not always positive; indeed, who presents hyperlaxity has to pay attention doing stretching.

Over the elementary school period, flexibility decreases and reaches the lower level at 10-12-years-old because of the reduced muscle elasticity; then, it tends to improve without returning to the childhood levels. In fact, it is the ideal period to start flexibility training.

Usually, females are more flexible than males; these characteristics is due to anatomic structural differences. As we have underlined before, internal and external temperature positively affect flexibility; this is the reason why it is better to train it after the warm-up. People’s training level affects flexibility and in fact, physically active people tend to be more flexible than sedentary people, who tend to become less flexible. With the joint mobility exercises you can affect the present connective tissue, muscles, tendons and ligaments. When a relaxed muscle is stretched, the greater resistance derives from the connective tissue that in normal condition is the main factor limiting the joint excursion.

Stretching improves mobility thanks to the connective tissue adaptations. The flexibility training concerns two conflicting connective tissue adaptations:

• Elasticity, that is the ability to return to the resting length after the passive stretching
• Plasticity, that is the tendency to assume and maintain a greater length after a passive stretching

Muscle only has elastic properties, while ligaments and tendons have both types of properties. Stretching techniques must be planned to produce a plastic deformation.

The elastic and plastic stretching percentage varies according to the conditions in which it occurs: to maximise the plastic stretching it is necessary to stretch after the warm-up, to accentuate the stretching until you feel a little complaint and to maintain that position for long time.

The flexibility training

Flexibility is specific for a certain joint; so, it is possible that a person has a particularly mobile joint while others joints are less mobile. To improve flexibility, it is necessary to propose specific exercises, especially after the general warm-up. At this point, we need to give you some details about the better period to start training flexibility; in fact, according to the objective, there are better periods. in particular, proposing a stretching session before a strength training could be counterproductive (we are not talking about general stretching but about a stretching with the aim to improve flexibility).

So, we recommend to distinguish the stretching which aims to improve the performance, from the stretching as a “cool-down phase” which compensates the contractions due to the training, or as preparation phase for some exercise requiring high mobility. To conclude, if the aim is improving the kid’s mobility, you cannot insert a strength or speed training after the warm-up. You have to choose stretching methodologies aimed at the plasticity improvements.

Instead, when we are preparing an exercise requiring high-flexibility or at the training end, you have to propose a milder stretching in order to compensate contractions due to the training or to prepare the body to movements planned in the workout.

However, there is still a lot of confusion about the scientific basis of the flexibility training. Many benefits that have been associated with the stretching do not have scientific value.

Proved or probable benefits:

• Articular mobility improvement
• Injuries risk decrease
• Relaxing effects
• Stress reduction
• Greater self-awareness
• Better respiration
• Better circulation
• Stimulation of joint lubrification
• Preparation of muscle structure to contraction
• DOMS reduction
• Lower arterial pressure
• Lung capacity increase
• Greater coordination 

Stretching possible negative effects:

• The strength and speed performances are affected by static stretching if it is done before the training
• Increase of damages in case of hypermobility
• Higher risk of injuries for the danger threshold increase that is related to stretching because of the muscle activity reduction

The maximal active stretching is the position that the athlete is able to maintain without helps.
the maximal passive stretching is the position that the athlete is able to achieve thanks to trainer’s help. The difference between the two techniques is called “stock” and for someone, it leaves rooms for improvement.

General parameters for stretching

To obtain a better flexibility, it is necessary to obtain a static position, with a progressive tension and a particular attention to the expiration phase which must last at least 30”. It is possible to organise the training with series or circuits, repeating each position at least 3 times, trying to avoid bounces (they are

not useful to improve mobility), and maximum pain points that might activate our body defence systems which oppose the stretching. Stretching lasting more than one minutes are good, but you have to consider that there might be results difficult to maintain in terms of attention, and consequently, in terms of effectiveness in case of kids’ training. So, in the program ECross kids we recommend two principal methods:

• Active and passive static stretching in which each position is maintained at least 30”
• Dynamic exercise
• Couple training when kids have the maturity to understand the method and to be helped by their mate

SAFETY AND ASSISTANCE

You have to consider that ECross Kids often uses tools and proposes exercises with involves some risks; this does not mean that ECross is a dangerous program. The place is controlled, safe and adapt to this activity; trainers are qualified and know very well exercises dynamics, limits and risks.

You also have to consider that, in this activity, kids use bars, rings, do box jumps, use jumps ropes that rotate ad high-speed and so, there are risks, but they are a problem If the trainer does not control the lesson, kids and what happens in the training.

In our ECross Kids program, the most important points to guarantee adequate safety and assistance are:

• Trainer’s behaviours must be adapted to lead lessons with kids; this means that he must
  • have the complete control of the group and of the lesson;
  • always stay in a position from which is able to see each kid and to have an overall view of the training place 
• Informing kids about the code of conduct that they must obey, and enforcing it.
• The security is always the priority; when we explain an exercise, we have to recommend what do to and not to do.
• Always check tools disposition in order to avoid unpleasant contacts over the lesson

THE BLACK BOARD

In each training room, there must be a space where the black board can be positioned.

This can be:

• Painted on the wall
• Whiteboard with felt pens
• Transportable with an easel

Each gym can choose the best solution for her. Anyway, the blackboard is essential. It must be visible from all over the room; it is a reference point for kids, and is a valid tool to organise the lesson that help the trainer to teach. We have to remember that younger children are not able to read and so, it is necessary to develop a way that allow the kids to understand the circuit when they have difficulties. Instead, older kids use the blackboard to remember the sequence of exercises, repetitions, pieces of advice, loads; it can be also used as communication tools for events, news or useful information.

GAMES

A person is able to integrate in the world around him with the game by which he can express his intuitions and his acts of intelligence, imagination and intention. The right playful stimuli accelerate the kid’s maturation and favour the important cerebral association areas development.

Motor actions represent with no doubts a mean to satisfy kids’ movement and imagination need, and their tendency of affirming and socializing.

Even recent studies confirm that the game is the childhood main commitment, its mean of improvisation and combination, the primary inductor of rules systems by which one can try new behaviours and alternative solutions. In fact, in the game the kid can develop several situations that favours creativity and imagination.

The game favours the physiological development, allows to satisfy the deep needs and to face the daily anxieties and frustrations. The kid acquires confidence in his abilities by setting up realities that gratify and glorify him.

Through the game, the kid learn actions patterns and interpersonal abilities, develops motor and cognitive skills, builds a behavioural repertoire on which the balanced development of his whole personality is based.

Used as aim, mean, or method, motor game offers big potentialities and opportunities in the learning process. It activates in the kid a strong cognitive motivation and a self-realization desire, that are intended as will to know and dominate the environment and to experience his competences. Both things push to learn and to master new techniques, to explore new possibilities, to dare his limits, to accept the confront, to search for affirmation through the adult’s approbation.

The primary condition is represented by the gratuitousness. The innate enthusiasm to play and kid’s strong motivation has to stimulate sensibility and the teacher ability to produce education activity without distorting the game structure.

So, we can affirm that “the game is an efficient learning tools which invests the kid in his entirety, and is a efficient tools to transform and solve conflicts, to canalise impulses and exalt instincts” (G.Giugni).

The games of the ECross program are essential and takes place almost always at the end of the lesson, but not necessarily only in that moment. They must have the following characteristics:

• They must train one or more coordination or conditional activity;
• They must stimulate the kid to give his best;
• They must combine some mental abilities, such as choice ability, memorization, as well as merely physical abilities;
• They can be individual, group or team games
• They must be fun! The trainer must mask the serious training with precise aims through the game.

We have inserted some examples of games as trail you can follow; then, the trainer must use his creativity and his experiences to create new ones.

Game 1

Name: poisoned ball
materials: markers, sponge ball, eventual tools for the combined exercises
Rules: kids are inside a delimited space and cannot leave it; the trainer throws the ball to hit someone; who it hit must leave the space and do some exercises (e.g. 3 burpees, 3 summersaults, 10 rope jumps) to return in the delimited space. Instead, if he gets the ball while it is going, he is safe. At certain time, the trainer decide that it is not possible to return in the area and the last man inside remaining in it wins.
variants: the trainer may involve some kids in throwing the ball, or not to delimit the area but make the kids run into the room at his command.

Game 2

Name: balance game
material: music
Rules: the trainer explains the position that kids have to assume when he switches off the music; they run, dance, walk, and move freely; when the trainer turns the music down, they have to remain in balance as previously described. E.g. standing on one foot with the eyes closed, on the stomach etc. if the kid misses the position or cannot keep it for the prefixed time, it will be expelled.
Variants: the trainer may differentiate the position between males and females, on the basis of the t-short colour, or may use other tools.
Aim: body control, static balance

Game 3

Name: dodgeball
materials: markers, balls,
Trainers: the class is divided in two teams, there are some balls at midfield and the kids are at the bottom

of their half court. The trainer gives the command and kids has to take balls, throw them and try to hit the classmates of the other team. Who gets the ball while it is going, expels who thrown it; who gets hit is expelled too. In both cases, who is expelled can return in game after doing some exercises such as 5 push-ups, 5 pull-ups or 10 box jumps. The team that expels all other team members wins.
Variants: the trainer may organize the game in rounds. E.g. 3 rounds of 2’ with 1’ break; he can also personalize the exercises according to who is expelled.
Aim: spatial orientation, eye-hand coordination, general resistance (on the basis of the exercises that who is expelled must do), precision

Game 4

Name: tower with wooden cubes
material: chronometer, circles, wooden cubes
Rules: the class is divided in two or three teams. The first team makes a single-file line (the first is inside the circle). The first starts with a cube in the hand, brings it to the other side of the room in the other circle, returns, gives the five to his team mate and goes to the bottom of the line. The mate starts and does the same procedure but put his cube on that of his mate. The game goes on until the completion of the tower with 12 cubes. The winner team is the one that complete the tower as quickly as possible without dropping it.

Variants: the trainer may vary the running, add exercises on the way, substitute the 5 with other sequences, etc.
Aim: speed, resistance, precision

Game 5

Name: up and down
material: nothing
rules: the trainer orders the kids to position in front of him. When the trainer says “up” they have to jump, when he says “down” they have to touch the floor. The one who miss is expelled.
Variants: kids must do the contrary of what the trainer says, indicate with the hand “up” and “down”; the trainer may also add new directions and difficulties
Aim: attention and decision skills

Game 6

Name: crocodile
material: two rope climbs
rules: the kid hangs on the first rope; he must pass to the second rope by swinging or with trainer’s help, without touching the floor.

variants: the game can be performed individually or in team. In the second case, the winner team is the one which pass to the second rope in the shortest possible time, or the one whose members do not touch the floor.
aim: upper limbs strength, eye-hand coordination

Game 7

Name: pathways
material: everything at disposal
rules: the trainer organises a pathway with several exercises. kids have to complete it correctly in the shortest possible time.
variants: individual or team game; penalties according to errors
sim: coordination and conditional skills according to the proposed exercises

THE TEST

An ambitious objective of ECross Kids project is to create a huge database with the results of generic tests about kid’s physical condition. This may be useful to technicians to increase their knowledge by confronting their results with those of colleagues from all over the world. Kids are not numbers, but in some cases giving objectives and evaluating the physical condition can be very useful and stimulating.

This is the reason why the test section will be constantly updated.
In order to be useful and reliable, a text must have some characteristics. First of all, measuring does not means evaluating, a test corresponds to a performance measurement, but it is not comparable to person’s value, commitment and improvements.

The characteristics that a test must have to be useful are:

• Validity: the test must measure what it is intended to measure
• Reliability: if the same subject reproduces similar results in identical conditions   
• Objectivity: if the detector does not affect or affect scarcely the results

Furthermore, a test must be easily applicable with uniform procedures for everyone and so, repeatable. We recommend a sheet of data acquisition to efficiently organise the measured values.

We have reported here the basic tests recommended in our program to evaluate kids’ physical condition. The data we recommend are: age, weight, height.

Strength test

Suspension bar test:

ST up (suspension test up): the trainer measures how long the kid can resist hung on the bar without touching the floor with feet, with the upper limbs bended and whit the chin above the bar without touching it. The test is concluded when the chin drops below the superior margin of the bar

ST down (suspension test down): the trainer measures how long the kid can resist hung on the bar without touching the floor with feet, with the upper limbs extended. The test is concluded when the kid cannot resist anymore.

Push up: the trainer has to count the maximum number of exercises that the kid is able to perfectly perform. We recommend this test from 7-8-year-old. The trainer has to judge also the technic to valid the number of repetitions. The ROM must be complete and the body must be aligned without breaking the line while moving. The test ends when the athlete is not able to continue or the execution technique is unacceptable.

Sit-up: the trainer counts the correct repetitions in a minute. The correct repetition is the one which has a complete rom, i.e. feet on the ground, leg at 90-degrees, the hands touch the floor behind the head; by lifting up the bust, hands must touch the feet while the thorax touches the thighs.

Shuttle test: Position two cones 1 separated from one another by 10m. The test consists of measuring the time employed by a kid to do 10m 20 times inverting the direction every time and touching the cone with the hand.

Rope jump test: the number of jumps in a minute

Mobility test

Splits: Back to the wall, legs apart; the trainer must measure the distance between the malleoli centre.

Seated and legs forward: the trainer must measure the distance from fingers to toes. We recommend to lean the feet against a wooden box and to make the kid hold the position for at least 5”. The measurement is negative if the kid is not able to touch his toes, is positive if he surpasses the toes and is zero if his middle finger margin corresponds to feet (in contact with the box).

Wod test

Wod can often become real evaluation tests, but their parameters must be standardised and it must be repeatable. An example of wod test:

• 2 rounds
• 10 box jump 30 cm
• 10 shuttle run10 m

• 10 burpees

The total time represents the evaluation parameter, on condition that exercises performance points are guaranteed.

TO SUM UP

• ECross tools must be: simple, economic, versatile, transferable, adaptable to all ages
• There are several training methods and each of them is adaptable according to the number of kids, to the available tools, to the place and especially to the prefixed objective
• Some methods are particularly adaptable to train coordination skills while others to train the conditional ones; it is up to the trainer to find the method which fits better to his purposes. Methods are:
  • Circuit training
  • Strength
  • Amrap (as many rounds as possible)
  • Agility
  • Timed
  • Ladder +/-
  • Work and rest W/R
  • Game
• The strength optimal training consists of 3-5 series of weight-free and multiarticular exercises, 10 repetitions for exercises and complete recovery times. There are three types of strength training: dynamic strength (push up), explosive strength (box jump) and isometric strength (isometric squat);
• There are two types of resistance: general resistance and specific resistance. The first one is called into question through low-intensity and long-lasting exercises, while the second one is the ability to support workloads specific of a sport (or an activity) and it can reach high-intensity.
• It is possible to train the resistance through continuous works (running at a steady rate, ccvv and fartlek) and games (with a heart rate which is sufficiently to train for a long period)
• Speed is introduced from 9/10-year-old through fast running (10-50m) and complete recovery time
• Works which aim to improve mobility involve exercises with static position maintenance, progressive tension and attention to the expiration phase that must last at least 30”. It is possible to organize the training in series or with circuits: each exercise must be repeated at least 3 times. Bounces and points of maximum pain must be avoided.
• Games are fundamental in the program, especially for younger kids. But they must respect essential characteristics: they must train at least one coordination skills and must also combine certain mental abilities (ed. Choice ability)
• Games with a mere playful intention are not allowed!

• The blackboard is a reference point for kids and so, it must be well-visible from all over the room. It is necessary to use illustrations for younger kids who are not able to read.
• Safety is one of the most important aspects of the method. The trainer is important in the prevention of possible risks due to the use of certain tools.
• It is up to the trainer: enforcing the rules, controlling the class, staying in a position that allows him to see the gym entirely, checking tools and machinery disposition to avoid contacts.
• ECross kids wants to create a huge database in which store the results of general tests about kid’s physical condition. Thanks to this database technicians may increase their knowledge by confronting their results with those of their colleagues from all over the world. To obtain reliable tests, there are some criteria that tests must follow: validity, reliability and objectivity.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF THE TRAINING

“Sport training is a complex pedagogic process which materialises in the the repeated physical exercise planning. The exercise quality, quantity and intensity have to progressively increase the charges. The contents of exercises change continuously to stimulate the body supercompensation and to improve the athlete’s physical, psychological, technical and tactic skills and for the purpose of enhancing and consolidating the competition performance” prof. Carlo Vittori

We start from a beginner in fitness or in any other individual or team sport; initially, the right training focuses on the volume/quantity (series and repetitions); then, training is intensified on the basis of another parameter: intensity (it corresponds to the load percentage).

Obviously, the question “recovery” needs a parenthesis: the greater is intensity, the greater is “recovery” (in a maximal or sub-maximal activity, the recovery time between a series and another is about 5 minutes); therefore, we can say that recovery is directly proportional to intensity.

The basic principles that an athlete of all ages should know are:

• Continuity principle (continue training without months-long breaks)
• Progressivity principle (increasing load): it is preferable to increase weight or intensity intermittently in order to take account of inner load;
• Multilaterality principle (variation of training tools)
• Variety principle
• Systematicity principle (training tools disposal)
• Rationality principle (the right proportion between athlete’s quantity and quality)
• Gradual approach principle
• Stability principle
• Awareness principle (of their conditional and coordination skills)
• Accessibility principle (simple exercises that give high gratification)
• Learning principle
• Training cyclic alternance principle
• Periodization principle (micro-cyclic/weekly, month-cyclic, quarterly/macrocyclic)

Individual differences principle

This principle is about recognizing that we are all different.

“We similarly adapt to exercise stimulus, but the measure depends on genetics” (D.Q. Thomas)

That is to say that someone has a faster answer to the stimulus while others have a slower answer; someone can reach high levels while others cannot.

If we should follow the same training methodology, we would not obtain the same results. So, each training program must be adapted to the person taking account of his characteristics and limits. So, the training program is personal.

SUPERCOMPENSATION

It can be defined as the set of actions that the body realizes in order to cancel the systematic balance perturbations due to the training (Manno). The answer to a stress (intended as training) involves the natural law of supercompensation. This law permits to increase the functional stocks by compensating the initial loss in an over-abundant way, and to reach an higher level, thus enabling the increase of muscle masses, of glycogen stocks, or of other energy sources. Supercompensation is at the base of the whole training.

TO SUM UP:

According to Jurgen Weineck highlines in his bool “optimal training” (Calzetti Mariucci), sport training is based on determined general principles (described above) that can be applied in all disciplines. These principles imply that a training must be done with an appropriate load able to stimulate the systematic adaptation. This load changes according to the subject. Therefore, it has to be personalized on the basis of athlete’s potentialities (and needs). The training load increases in parallel with the subject’ skills development; it must always be a valid stimulus because otherwise performances tend to stabilise without improvements. The load increase can be realized by varying several parameters (recovery times reduction, more repetitions etc.) according to what skill we want improve.
The training load has to be continuous, without unplanned and infruitful breaks. Finally, training must be systematic: it means that sessions are planned in detail and casual choices are not allowed.

The warm-up importance

The first phase of training must be the warm-up. This is valid for all ages and it is important that athletes comprehend its importance since childhood. In this phase, the body prepares itself for the real training by drawing the blood to muscles, lubricating articulations and making muscles and tendons more elastic. The training will be easier avoiding muscle problems. The warm-up has an important psychological functionbecause it prepares young and adult athletes to the real training. Its duration can vary and depends on the following exercises. However, this phase normally last 10-15 minutes as we will see in the chapter about the lesson organization and contents. Beyond the given benefits, the warm-up allows heart to gradually adapt and increase its pulse until it reaches the training heart rate. In the case of high-intensity exercises, the general warm-up is followed by a specific warm-up for the muscles and articular areas involved in the exercise.

SPECIFIC ECROSS PRINCIPLES

To organise efficient workouts that aim to increase conditional and coordination skills and to guarantee a better body shape, you have to respect the following specific principles in addition to general ones.

• Efficient cross
• Functionality and multiarticular exercises  
• Adaptability and scalability
• Prevalence
• Totality
• Fun

Efficient Cross

This term indicates the relationship between what we have achieved and what we have employed, between result and effort made; so, it means to obtain an efficient system that allows to achieve the result by minimising wastes.

Knowing how to manage and organize ECross lessons with respect to general and specific principles allows to achieve the aim that in fact is included in the word “ECross”: creating an efficient and effective cross which aim to achieve a better sport performance. How is it possible? It is possible by complying with the following points:

• Time management: organizing and managing the group means not to waste time and optimize the work for high-efficiency.
• Exercise, methods and tools choices: everything, each moment and each exercise, has an aim;
• Multilaterality: planning, alternating and creativity allows a transversal training on coordination and conditional skills.

High-intensity work, if conducted with respect to globally-defined and recognised scientific standards, allows to obtain a high-level physical conditioning with a training time lower than that required by low-intensity activities.

High-intensity training does not have a unique meaning because according to the practised sport discipline, to trained characteristics or to the subject’s physical conditions it may be interpreted. On the basis of the previously given physical condition definition, the skills to be trained are several and different among them; the key to obtain result in each of them is the training intensity.

Functionality and multiarticular exercises

An exercise can be defined as functional when it partly or entirely imitates or reproduces typical human motor patterns or specific athletic gestures. These exercises typically involve several muscle groups, simultaneously or consequently to the gesture execution, with a complexity that varies according to the Rom (range of motion), to balance, to the use of accessory equipment or of overloads.

The functional training proposed by ECross includes multiarticular exercises in which two or more articulations are involved in the gesture execution.  We recommend you to read the chapter about the body divisions for further explanations about muscle chains which allows to train the entire body through a few exercises.

Adaptability

ECross classes usually are composed of athletes of various levels or various age (in the case of ECross Kids). In order to properly train everybody, with the due regard for general principles, and with the aim of adequately improve the body shape, it is sufficient to apply the adaptability principle.

Excluding the cardiorespiratory capacities that usually can be modulated just by varying the execution intensity, the training of strength, flexibility, coordination, balance or speed can appear impossible for someone and very simple for others. This is the reason why each exercise has been studied for being “scalable” through a movement dynamic variation that reduces the difficulty. Therefore, who does a scalable exercise can efficiently train himself according to his level, without affecting his safety and physical well-being.

Similarly, more trained athletes, who need to improve determined characteristics, can improve the difficulty just by modifying the exercise type, the training routine and eventually the equipment or the training place.

The trainer has to be able to adapt the training routing to each athlete by:

• using biomechanical principles acquired with his studies and direct experience,
• avoiding any possible source of danger
• maintaining for each athlete an optimal level of training in terms of intensity and performance 

Prevalence

The high-efficiency training implies the need to carefully define how training sessions have to be planned. Considering the kids’ number of trainings per week, absences, the practise of other sports, we need to

learn how to adequately plan the ECross sessions in order to train strength, resistance, flexibility, coordination, balance without improvising.

Each ECross training must train all components of the physical condition but we know that we cannot do that in one-hour lesson. So, we have to establish a prevalence: this means that we have to decide what is important in that training. The prevalence changes in each training and the training rotation guarantees the achievement of the objectives. The prevalence can be applied to the body division, to a conditional or coordination skills, or to several aspects.

The “prevalence” concept is important to maintain a sufficiently high level of intensity; but it is important not to completely neglect the non-predominant characteristics.

Totality

Each training must be certain characteristic that guarantee the method respect; for example, in order to guarantee the completeness, it is necessary:

• to do total body workouts that involve all main muscle groups;
• to propose exercises to improve coordination skills;
• to propose exercises to improve conditional skills;

Clearly, it is impossible and inappropriate to do everything in one lesson. A proper weekly/monthly rotation that respect the general principles of training and the prevalence concept allows the trainer to create funny and efficient training. You must also understand that if I train a determined ability today, I cannot repeat it in two months hoping to create sufficient adaptations for an improvement.

FUN

Especially in the ECross Kids program, but also in ECross Adult, we have included the fun because it guarantees continuity, loyalty, word of mouth. And then, if we can achieve an objective by doing something that we enjoy, is it not better? The trainer has a very important tole because he has to create funny lessons, to decide exercises, and especially to lead the lesson. The key word is: fun!

EFFECTS OF EXERCISE ON GROWTH

How does the exercise affect the growth in childhood and adolescence? The answer to this question is very interesting for parents and trainers.

May the stress due to an intense physical activity alter the internal organs growth in growth? Should be placed limits to athletic preparation programs?

The theory that the physical stress might arrest the growth has been proposed by studies in animals (rats), studies on kids forced to work under difficult socio-economic conditions and, recently, by studies on young gymnasts. At the same time, it is clear the fact that an increase of exercise and the stress of the skeletal muscle could lead to long-term benefits in health; e.g. the stimulus on growth and bone density can reduce the future risk of osteoporosis.

Exercise might affect the kids’ growth according to three mechanisms:

• Exercise draws on calories stocks, and is in competition with the energy requests of the normal process of growth for the available nutrients. So, exercise could alter the growth from a nutritional point of view.
• Exercise is a stimulus to product the growth factors; however, mechanisms behind this action are not clear, just like its implications for a normal growth.
• Muscle activity origins local mechanic stress that prompts the muscle-skeletal growth. In some cases, apocrine agents and autocrine intermediates are able to mediate this process.

In childhood and in the first phase of adolescence, energy requests of exercise are overlap with those relating, not only to the homeostasis maintenance and to the tissues repair, but also to the somatic growth. In this competition, requests needed for the normal growth process could succumb, as shown by the low growth in kids working in difficult conditions, from a nutritional way, in less developed countries.
In activities requiring a slim build (such as, dancing or gymnastics), if associated with a negative calorie intake, this phenomenon could also contribute to a delay in height. The energy lack due to exercise or diet causes a decrease of IGF-1.

The conclusion is that the “competition for nutrients” can represent a problem in growth when there are an exasperated exercise volume and important diet restrictions.

An intense or chronic exercise prompts alterations in the GH/IGF-1 axis, and in the production of others growth factors. The level to which these alterations stimulate growth or tissues repair through anabolic prosses in kids is unclear. Both the answer of the GH peak to exercise and the levels difference during exercise and rest are lower in kids in prepuberal phase compared to those that have reached the sexual

maturity. Some authors accord that, in terms of GH levels, the greater answer might be a manifestation of the sexual steroid influence (especially oestrogens) in puberty.

Given the fact that the GH release peak arises at the conclusion of a short and sufficiently intense workout, the growth hormone role as a metabolic support (for example, with the increase of the fatty free acids availability through lipolysis) seems to be questionable.

Current data shows that an intense athletic preparation does not affect the normal growth of the kids; the slow, linear and bone growth in well-prepared gymnasts can be the only exception and, in some way, it reflects the influence of genetic predisposition, of the stress due to overtraining, and particularly of hyponutrition. So, the most important action is to assure that young athletes never train theirselves in condition of negative calorie balance.

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN PUBERTY

The increase of the sexual hormones release over puberty influences a wide range of physiological function that have an impact on the physical performance. These functions do not only distinguish the males’ physiological responses compared to females’ ones, but they also distinguish the kids’ physiological responses compared to adults’ ones.

Effects on the body composition

Perhaps, the more obvious difference in the sexual hormones effects over puberty is the stimulation of the muscle mass development by testosterone, and that of the Fat body mass by Estrogens. In males, stature and muscle mass has an accelerated growth in puberty. The 11-year-old boy’s typical muscle mass is about 15kg and over puberty it increases up to 35kg at the age of 17. Females are different because they undergo a lower growth in height and muscle mass, but they have a more important fat body mass accumulation.

A 11-year-old girl has more or less the same muscle mass quantity of a boy of the same age, but at the age of 17 she has about 22kg of muscles. The typical values of the fat accumulation in females over puberty are double compared to males’ ones. The females’ fat percentage is higher than males’ one even before puberty (21% against 15% at 11-year-old), but this gap increase over adolescence.

The greater fat accumulation in females is a manifestation due to the greater number and to the dimension of the fat cells. The most obvious negative consequence of the fat accumulation in females is represented by the limited performance in activities requiring to bear the body weight (e.g. bar suspension)

Effects on the muscle strength

A lot of data support the hypothesis by which testosterone increases the skeletal muscle mass and strength. The muscle strength changes over puberty are strictly related to an increase in testosterone levels. The mechanism by which testosterone increases the muscle protein synthesis and the muscle dimension and strength still is subject of analysis; a possibility is represented by the fact that testosterone may increase the anabolic effect of IGF-1 on muscle cells.

Effects on heart dimension and function

It is clear that androgens have an important control function on the ventricular myocardium; for example, growth hormone, thyroxine and insulin control the substitution mechanisms of the heart proteins. In male, the left ventricle dimension grows faster than females over puberty.

Effects on haemoglobin

Before puberty, the haemoglobin concentration in blood is similar in boys and girls. Over puberty, in males, the haemoglobin levels rise in parallel to the testosterone secretion; instead, in females, concentrations remain stable.

Effects on cognitive functions, pain perception and mood

Estrogens exercise a set of effects on the central nervous system and the estrogens levels variations are linked to cognitive function and mood. Probably the most important aspect lies in the estrogens known action that is the serotonin activity alteration; this can alter the pain perception. For example, studies have revealed that in the first follicular phase of the menstrual cycle, which corresponds to the moment when estrogens in circulation are lower, there is a higher pain threshold. This implies that estrogens reduce pain tolerance. Over adolescence, in females, we can observe a reduced performance due to the decrease of motivation and resistance.

Effects on the bone development

The normal bone development over puberty is considered very important in the osteoporosis prevention. At 18-year-old, more than 90% of the skeletal mass has developed, and the present condition in puberty answers for the greater part of the bone mass variability in adulthood. Muscle mass, but especially strength, are the principal factors that stimulate bone mass; This shows the importance of the strength training in the ECross Kids program.

Metabolic activity

The information we have about cellular metabolic activity in kids is extremely limited. However, they suggest that a progressively increase in anaerobic glycolysis and a corresponding decline in aerobic metabolic capacity take place over child’s development. The explanation to this evolutionary path does not seem clear, but we can affirm that these changes take place homogeneously over paediatric years; this remembers that the puberty influence is not within the primary causes. Surely, there is a body dimensions influence on the metabolic functions alterations.

In kids’ growth, the resistance increase is independent from the VO2max, and is connected to the progress of the submaximal exercise efficiency. The VO2max improve thanks to the increased dimensions of the tissues involved in the exercise (skeletal muscle), and to the functional capacity changes in the energy producer system (enzymatic aerobic capacity)

The relative modality and size of the cardiovascular answers to the sustained dynamic exercise with an increasing intensity, as well as to the isometric contractions, are similar in adults and kids. It indicates that decisive factors concerning the circulatory adaptations are not influenced by the biological development when the muscle work increase. Available proof for kids and adults show that peripheral factors, in particular the arteriolar dilation and the skeletal muscle pump action, are determinant in causing the raising of the blood flow as a response to the dynamic exercise metabolic requirements.

Basic modalities of respiratory responses to the physical exercise are similar in kids and adults; however, during the physical exercise, kids hyperventilate more than adults, even if kids develop a lower metabolic acidosis (as a result of a lower lactate production); their compensatory respiratory response is excessive. This may simply be the result of kids’ smaller lunges, and consequently of a lower air volume.

If kids and adults run at the same speed and inclination, the adults’ running is cheaper, but if the speed is proportionate to the body sizes there are not differences in economy. Researches about exercise physiology over the growth, the most of the attention has been directed towards the aerobic fitness, instead of the anaerobic one. It seems surprising given that kids are used to realize an exercise consisting of short and intense activities. Consequently, from a health protection point of view, we should be interested in understanding and promoting short and intense activities in kids.

The main challenge researchers are facing with in this research area is defining relationship between changes in anaerobic glycolysis activity, which are related to the development and, the practical effects in short and intense activities performance. Over kids’ growth, the habit to realize short and intense activities decreases compared to the body sizes; at the same time, the glycolysis activity, as indicated by the lactate production and by the relative enzymatic function, seems to increase.

The ability to realize short and intense activities seems to be linked with the anaerobic energy capacity to a lesser extent compared to mechanic, neuromuscular and anthropometric factors. Even if this issue is much debated, it is better not to use the term “anaerobic power” with kids; it is preferable to use “anaerobic performance”.

On the previous pages, we have learnt how, over the growth process, kids acquire strength, especially after the muscle volume increase. The muscle volume growth is also an expression of muscle fibres hypertrophy in response to the actions of anabolic hormones and of growth factors, such as the growth hormone and the IGF-1.

Before adolescence this process is similar in both genders, but over puberty the increases of muscle sizes and of strength are accelerated due to higher testosterone levels and so, the muscle strength is brought to higher levels than female’s ones. However, the remaining question to define is how far muscle function qualitative changes affect the strength development over growth. The fact that in kids there are important strength changes through specific training without hypertrophic adaptations indicates that changes which are independent of muscle-dimension may occurs.

So, it remains unclear how factors which are independent of body-size stimulate the strength increase in childhood. It is probable that at the basis there is a nervous mechanism to which the change (chargeable to motor units discharge frequency) of motor unit recruitment and of the conduction speed contributes. Alternatively, variations of the muscle fibres structure, which are due to development, could contribute, and especially alterations of the pennation angle, or the increase of the same intrinsic contraction strength.

Factors which affect thermoregulation and resistance to high-temperature exercise are different in kids and adults. Compared to adults, kids produce a high quantity of heat in relation to their body mass when they are practicing an exercise of the same intensity, but they have a greater body surface area to dissipate heat.
Kids, especially males, has a relatively lower sweating rate and it causes a major dependence of convective heat loss which is obtained through the cutaneous blood flow increase.

These characteristics of prepubescent subjects should determine a minor thermoregulation capacity, and a premature fatigue at high environmental temperatures. Similarly, you can expect that kids are less subject to dehydration because of smaller liquid losses due to perspiration. In general, experimental proof has not supported this hypothesis. There are proof that, compared to adults, kids are less tolerant of physical exercise at high-temperature (as you can conclude from fatigue symptoms, however, there is not clear evidence that in the workout at high-temperature the state dehydration or circulatory functions are more altered compared to adults).

The maturation of central nervous factors has an important role in motor performance improves over kids’ growth. The CNS influence on the fitness development is much less clear. The CNS input could potentially have a conscious and unconscious prominent effect on the muscle contraction strength, on the cardiovascular function and on the metabolic capacity. The research on the CNS influence on the physiological fitness development is impeded by the difficulty to study these processes, particularly through non-invasive systems.

There are indications, deriving from several biological functions, about the fact that the fatigue perception, which arrives to the brain over the activity, can limit the physiological capacity to realize the workout. In this role, the CNS could act to prevent the risks of an excessive motor activity (muscles damages, myocardial ischemia, cardiogenic shock). It remains unclear whether the variations of this inhibitory effect, which appear over childhood, affects the muscle strength development, the VO2max or the ability to do the workout at high temperatures. 

Studies about the possibility that kids differently perceive the stress due to exercise compared to adults have given conflicting results. The results of the noradrenalin level at rest and during the workout and of the heart rate variability shows that kids can have an inferior sympathetic activity and a superior vagal parasympathetic activity compared to adults. The importance of this differences for physiological fitness still are subject of studies.

There is clear evidence about the fact that an intrinsic centre to the CNS affects the regular exercise level, particularly in kids. This control centre, which acts to maintain the energetic homeostasis, may present disorders in people suffering from chronic alterations of the energy balance (e.g. obese people). The identification of the modality by which modify this “activity regulator” centre can give a useful approach to handle these metabolic disorders.

STAGES OF PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

As we have described in the chapter about multi-laterality, you can understand how athletes who followed systematic and well-organized training program over youth are those who realize better performances when mature. Impatient trainers that put pressure on kids to achieve results more rapidly usually fail because athletes often stop doing sports before reaching their own athletic maturation.

Stages of physical development

Kids and teenagers’ growth do not occur linearly, but through pushes to increase and the ideal youth training has to sustain them.

The main stages of the physical development are:

Childhood (from 0 to 3).

In this phase kids learn basic movements such as walking, crawling, grabbing objects, and furthermore they are curious about the outside world; parents have to guarantee the right stimuli and an ideal psychosocial environment for the physical and psychological development.

Pre-school age (from 3 to 6/7)

In this phase the kid has:

• A high impulse to move himself;
• Fantasy, curiosity about the unknown;
• Lack of rationality; intuition and instinct are the basis of his choices;
• Poor concentration skill; the child is committed to several games constantly varying the forms.

You have to use these characteristics directing the vivacity towards a wide range of motor knowledges, especially basic: running, jumping, crawling, throwing, maintaining the balance, climbing, rotating, taking and bringing, etc.

First school age (from 6/7 to 10).

• The kid enjoys movements and is interested in playing sports;
• Good psychological balance, optimism, carefreeness, critical capacity, concentration skill, good differentiation skill;
• Almost instantaneous and easy motor learning; but fixing movements in time is difficult: in this phase, what the kid learn need to be repeated several times to make that movement stable in his motor background.

Second school age (from 10 to 12/13).

This phase is known for being “the better age for learning”. But we have to notice that this depend very much on the work of the previous phase. In this case the kid shows:

• Optimal body control;
• Developed learning ability: he can also learn very difficult movements;
• He needs to move, is able to commit himself and to risk, and is courageous;
• What is neglected in this phase can be recovered later with high fatigue and difficulty.
• It is possible to teach the technique, also precisely, but is important not to create wrong automatisms: what the kid learn in this phase needs greater commitment and difficulty.

Puberty (females from 11 to 14; males from 13 to 15).

It is a phase in which there is an extreme gender differentiation. Teenagers present:

• Hormonal growth, especially in height (heights increase for the limbs lengthening
• Hormonal instability that leads to psychological instability;
• Critical behaviour towards authorities (parents, teachers, trainer)
• Desire to be independent and responsible;
• Conflict with adults and strong relationship with guys of their own age;
• Will to be respected by figures interacting with them (trainers, teachers) and to be free to democratically discuss
• Power interest in sports activity (drastically) because of the new interests;
• The sport activity is based most of all on “staying with peers”
• They give greater value to participation, planning and independent realization within groups.
• Mainly groups activities.

Adolescence (females from 13 to 18; males from 15 to 20)

• Growth and develop parameters decrease
• Growth in width, proportions harmonization and positive effect on coordination skills;
• Maximal strength increase;
• Beginning of the coordination and conditional skills training: it happens gradually at maximum intensity;
• Better performances and ability to do very complex movements;
• It is the second better period for learning
• Beginning of a training with high volume and intensity
• Increasing specific techniques.

The last phase: adult age (from 18-20)

Differences in growth

Knowing the growth stages is important to propose the right activity to young athletes. However, it is necessary to bear in mind that kids grow and develop at different speeds.

The growth rates of bones, muscles, organs and nervous system vary from one stage to the next and from a child to another. These factors are those that bring to improve the performances and the psychophysical skills.

This is why a training program for youth sector has to consider the individual differences in growth and the workout potentialities to create the wanted adaptations.

It is really easy to find two subject of the same age that have a different growth process. So, it is necessary to distinguish:

• Subjects with premature growth (premature)
• Subjects with a normal growth (normal)
• Subjects with a delayed growth (delayed)

Premature kids are the ones who in youth activity show skills and abilities higher than those of their peers. They are very often selected as future talents while the ones who has a delay in learning abilities and motor skills are considered “hopeless”.

The common error is to start training premature kids as high-level athletes, to give them a lot of attentions and prises, while leaving the others in training groups that are not well-followed.

So, it is important to remember that, independently from the fact that a kid has a premature or a delayed growth, in the adult age anyone has the same development: this means that, at one point in growth, the premature kid suffers a slowdown in physical maturation, while the delayed kid could undergo an acceleration. At the same time, an equal youth training between the three typologies might bring to have different adaptations.

For example, in a team or in a group of 14-year-old athletes, the differences between players/athletes can be so big that some of them might show the athletic potential of a 16-year-old guy, while others might show the psychophysical abilities of a 12-year-old guy.

Ignoring these differences may bring to a non-adapted training that might be too mild for the characteristics of more developed athletes, or too hard for kids with a delayed growth.

Conclusions

• The childish and youth training has to be different from that of the adult age;
• It is not possible to reduce the volume of adult programs to adapt them to young people
• Each age period shows its specific didactical duties and particularities that are due to the development of young athletes’ psychophysical characteristics
• Stimuli and exercise have to respect the sensitive phases
• In order to successfully train, stimuli and exercise have to be adapted on the basis of the young’s subjective growth; furthermore, it is necessary to give more emphasis to gesture learning (abilities and skills improvement) than to the results end in itself (victory)

MULTI-LATERALITY

When we talk about kids training, we cannot consider the multi-laterality that is a basic principle.

The task of the youth training is to develop the physical characteristics which, in that precise moment, are in the best condition, i.e. there are the best physical and psychological condition and kids which are adapt to be trained and improved.

In the workout planning, it is necessary to respect some important rules to guarantee the right learning. So, it is important to start:

• From easy to difficult;
• From general to specific;

To right develop the majority of the motor skills, it is necessary to plan the training sessions to develop an optimal relationship between:

• General formation (basic motor abilities)
• Special formation (practice of a specific sport activity)
• Organism development conditions (respect of the physiological parameters related to age)

By practicing only one sport (or sport discipline) you cannot develop uniformly all the coordination skills, but only different motor requests which integrate among them, guarantee a basic, multilateral and coordinative formation (multi-sports formation).

This is why proposing exercises that stimulate the higher number possible of motor patterns is so important. But this does not mean to put together exercises without logic and rules. Multilaterality does not mean confusion, but planning, study, evaluation and great attention.

Youth training characteristics

“adults athletes train for the present while young people train for the future” (Arbeit)

It is clear that, initially, it is necessary a basic activity focused on the acquisition of a huge repertoire of movements which implies a multilateral formation that is essential for further learning. Then, the sport pathway complete itself by learning objectives which are related among them and are represented by motor abilities.

Why Multilaterality?

Multilateral activities produce several experiences that determine important learning that once stored in the motor memory extend the motor functions producing new abilities. So, the result is a cheaper gesture because the kid can chose from his motor baggage the more efficient movement that makes him more confident, and brings him to realize the best performance.

The authoritative scholar E. Hahn supports the idea that “in prestation sports, the foundation of each workout is a general formation, that goes beyond disciplines and is set on large-scale, in which the multiplicity of motor models has a big value. The more the repertoire of motor experience in sports disciplines is wide, the easier a structure at the higher levels of performance is obtained”.

Multilaterality principle:

The term Multilaterality indicates “the means choice and the content organization in order to activate and to improve the higher number possible of motor patterns, and to build motor skills that are significant in quantities and qualities, sufficient to be transferable in the acquisition of specific motor abilities of the sport discipline. In particular, motor activities will be organized by activating the higher number possible of motor and postural patterns for the construction of motor abilities that are significant in qualities, quantities and transferability.

The multilaterality concept has to be implemented in time through a careful consideration of the differences that characterizes all age groups.

General multilateral formation, from 4 to 7: the key word is “fun”. By playing the kid discovers the body, learns to control it, learns the rules to work individually and in team; coordination skills that have been adapted to the age (simplified and personalized) has the priority.

General multilateral formation (extensive), from 8 to 11: the aim is to increase the general and functional capacities of body’s performance (basic coordination and conditionals skills development);

Special multilateral formation (intensive oriented), from 12 to 14: the aim is to promote the development of the capacities most requested for specialties, by adopting several special means.

Multilateral formation (intensive), from 15 to 17: in this phase there is the specialization in a sport activity, but the kid continues to practise other sports or activities at certain times.

General multilateral formation, from 4 to 7: jumping, rolling over, climbing, managing objects and tools, socializing with mates, learning how to work individually or in team, managing the space etc

General multilateral formation (extensive), from 8 to 11

Contents and objective of this phase:

Improvement of physiological capacities and gesture sensibility through activities and games that implies movement, imitation, exercises which derives and are preparatory to several sports activities. Exercises have to stimulate the general learning, especially transferable, i.e. learning that can be adapted to several sports disciplines.

• Coordination skills development
• Mobility
• Individual or team exercises
• Respect for the rules
• Teaching the exercise technique in a simple way
• Development of the weight-free general strength 
• Practice of basic acrobatics
• Balance and rhythm development, by any means
• Development and improvements of the cyclic and acyclic movements speed; it is necessary a right work that favours gesture qualities as well as quantity

Another essential aspect is the body laterality; in fact, it is necessary to use symmetric exercises for a good and harmonious physical development

Special multilateral formation (intensive oriented), from 12 to 14

In this phase we have to perfect the gesture mastery and to assimilate the essential elements of exercise technique. But in particular it is possible to start with exercises that aim to the conditional skills development such as strength, resistance and speed.

So, in addition to acrobatic exercises and exercises that aim to improve coordination and equilibrium by respecting the principle “from simple to complex”, in this phase it is possible to insert the first overloads to develop strength and longer and more specific workout to develop resistance. It is an age range in which great physical and hormonal changes occur and the kid has to learn how to manage a new body; this is the reason why it is important to readjust the technique, to increase the mobility exercises ant to work hard to support any physical change.

The following stages of preparation include a harmonious development of the neuro muscular system to increase the reached level and to prepare the kid to a specialization phase that lead to an agonistic and multilateral preparation (multidisciplinary).

From 15-year-old, kids can look at the ECross Adults training program or at the specialization in athletic preparation.

An important observation must be done. This discourse about multilaterality seems to be perfect, useful, simple, but the truth of the matter is often different. Why? Because often 12/13-year-old kids attending to the gym have never done sports activities or came from specialized sport and so, the progression described in the several age ranges fails. How do we behave?

It is necessary to respect the principle “from simple to complex” and so starting from the movement bases, then, the trainer has to decide how to progress in order to guarantee a complete, harmonious, useful and efficient sport pathway.

How should we train young people in order to permit the best physical performance when adults?

“the child is not a miniature adult and his mentality is quantitively, but also qualitatively, different from that of adults and so, the kid is not only younger, but also different” Claparède 1937

The principal concept of youth training is that children and adolescents are not mini-versions of adults and, consequently, their training cannot be the adapted or reduced version of adult training.

Unlike adults, young people are in a growth phase in which there are physical, psychological and psychosocial changes that must be taken into consideration in planning their training program. The training process has to follow the kid’s psychophysics growth through exercises that improve his physical efficiency and personality.

Childs and adolescents face a series of psychophysics changes that we have to take into account in planning their training.

If you want to obtain fast results with young people (as many sport disciplines; e.g. gymnastics), doing specific training for the practised sport from an early age is the way to go.

Many physiologists, have underlined that in order to produce faster results, a training program has to follow these principles:

• Developing the energy system dominant for the practised sport. For example, a sprinter should only practice sprints, and a long-distance runner should only train resistance.
• Developing specific motor skills: technicians should select exercises that imitate the technique model of the practiced sport, and involve the muscle groups employed in that discipline.

These concepts are true for athletes that have years of preparation, but this does not mean that can be applied to younger athletes that do not have yet completed the skeletal, energetic and psychological development.

Applying this approach to young people’s sport activity means to have the only purpose of achieving fast results, independently from what can happen in the kid’s future.

The race for fast result

In order to obtain fast results, trainers expose kids to a highly-specific and intense training without thinking to build the right bases for doing so. It is like trying to build skyscraper on not solid fundaments: this error will bring the kid to inevitable problems.

Similarly, encouraging athletes to concentrate on one specific sport before that they are physically and psychologically ready can bring to problems:

• Unilateral and specific development of muscles and organs;
• Disorders in the physical and biological development; harmony and balance are the requirements to obtain physical efficiency, long-lasting athletic performances and the psychophysical wellness
• In the long period, overtraining, injuries and repeated physical problems can appear.
• There may be negative impacts on children’ psychic health due to the high levels of stress
• Children may have difficulties to socialize outside the practised sport because of the high number of intense training.
• Children may lose motivation because of the high-stressful, boring and not funny program; this is the reason why young people stop doing sport before obtaining the complete psychological and physiological maturation. The consequence it the loss of possible talents.

THE RELATIONSHIP PARENT-TRAINER

As technicians, we often criticise our young athletes’ parents and sometimes we think it would be better to train orphans.

The truth is that almost always, family has an important role in our athletes’ growth. So, working in team with parents can help very much the education and development process of the athletes that we work with. Trainers usually have a greater experience and know very well situation that a parent maybe lives with his son for the first time and logically with a huge emotional investment.

It would be important to establish a dialogue and a collaboration with parents in order to make them understand that:

• They must not pin their ambitions in their son’s sport
• The premature specialization is an error; it is not the result that is important, it is the performance in the long-term
• Multilaterality does not means changing sport any time the kid want or in a casual way, but it means practising several motor patterns and learning to complete the commitments made. Often, we see continue changes of activity that almost always lead to stop the sport practice.

TO SUM UP:

• Over childhood and adolescence, physical exercise energy requirements overlap with those of the somatic growth
• The competition for nutrients can be a problem in growth only when trainers propose exhausting training volumes and important dietary restrictions
• Over puberty there is an increase of sexual hormones production that influences physiological functions. In males, height and muscle mass increase more, while in females, there is a lower increase of height and lean body mass but there is a greater fat body mass accumulation
• Testosterone is related to the muscle strength increase in puberty
• In puberty, health and bone development are responsible for the better variability compared to the adult age; so, it is important to include strength training in the ECross kids program
• Children hyperventilate more than adults but develop a lower metabolic acidosis (lesser lactate production)
• In puberty males has greater testosterone levels that make muscle mass and strength increase
• Compared to adults, children are less tolerant of physical exercise at high temperatures
• Trainings planning has to follow a progression “from simple to complex” and “from general to specific”
• By practicing only one sport you cannot develop uniformly the coordination skills. It is necessary to stimulate the higher number possible of motor patterns, and in order to do so ECross Kids respects the multilaterality concept 
• Multilaterality allows to produce a wide range of experiences and learnings that expand the motor functions originating new abilities
• According to age ranges, the multilateral education can be divided in: general (from 4 to 7); general extensive (from 8 to 11), special intensive oriented (from 12 to 14), intensive (from 15 to 17)
• Families have an important role in our athletes’ growth and so, it is very important to build a dialogue and a collaboration with parents in order to make them understand that:
  •  they must not pin their ambition in their son’s sport
  • The performance in the long-term is more important than the result

ECross and ECross Kids definition

“ECross is a training session that guarantees the achievement of the best physical condition through a planned mix of multiarticular exercises, methods and equipment”

This definition seems to be general, but it contains the real meaning of ECross. The word “training” is the first important word of the definition; the easiest definition of this word is “maintaining the efficiency through the constant workout or the habit”.

So, this is why ECross is a training: through the constant practice, it creates a habit which becomes a life style in which movement is part of the daily routine. The concept of efficiency will be exhaustively explained later.

The second, important word of the upper definition of training is “guarantee”. In fact, our program is the result of years of experience in teaching to kids and teenagers. This plan has been directly tested by sports science graduated for four years.

Finally, entire chapters have been dedicated to topics such as, physical condition, planning and selection of exercises, because of their key importance. So, keep in mind these terms because very soon their comprehension will be easier. In short, the prior definition contains the real meaning of the ECross project.

We believe the kids’ sector is the most important sector and for this we define ECross as a true physical education program. It is composed of weight-free or small-equipment exercises and aims to increase both conditional and coordination skills. This program is organized, planned and can be personalized with the trainer’s experiences and creativity.

This second definition also contains the essence of the project. Some terms stand out for their importance such as “physical education”. In fact, the main objective is to impart the sport culture, to teach kids to take care of their body by training all its functions and skills, and by a healthy nutrition. These practices are supposed to become really simple in order to feel good and to improve their sport performances.

The concept of “planned and organized” deserves a further explanation. Our method provides all the tools to create complete and balanced workout sessions for all youth body types. There are clear rules but there is the possibility to enrich the program with his own sport experiences: who comes from skiing, who from martial arts and who from dancing; everyone has the possibility to bring something from his own experience to create a more open and complete fitness system.

So, now, we invite you to review the upper definitions once you have completed the lecture and the study of this handbook, in order to understand the real meaning of every single word.

The basis of the method: the physical condition

The two question we asked ourselves are:

1. When can a kid or a teenager be defined in shape?
2. Defined what physical condition means, how can we organize a real efficacy fitness plan?

The upper picture is the answer to the first question; we have tested for many years, trained a lot of child of various ages, observed many sports and many physical activities and so, we have understood a kid, as an adult, is in shape when he increased his strength, his resistance, his speed, his flexibilities and his coordination skills.

Obviously, all this has to be followed by a healthy nutrition and a healthy life style.

Therefore, we believe the physical condition can be defined as the best compromise between:

• A good relationship between strength/weight
• A Good cardiovascular resistance
• Developed coordination skills
• A good joint and muscle flexibility
• An optimal relationship between Lean body mass and Fat Body Mass
• Good eating habits

This definition could seem obvious for someone; on the contrary, for the majority of us, the condition above describes is difficult to achieve. This happens because we make the mistake of analyzing the several skills separately or trying to found a sport or an activity in which improve all the skills in a single training.

Putting into practice a life style that allows you to improve these aspects may seem extremely challenging. Indeed, it is a matter of optimizing time and efforts so as not to waste energies, and to achieve a good shape as quickly as possible. Obviously, there are differences between the various age groups in the choice of exercises, intensities and coordination or conditional skills.

So, here is the explanation of the diagram: to the left, “Power” means strength and speed; “Balance” indicates everything related to the balance; “Mobility” indicates the importance of the flexibility and mobility in the athletic development of the kids; “Coordination” draws the attention to the coordination skills while, finally, “Resistance” indicates the conditional skills. Each of these points will be developed over the next chapters.

On the right, the diagram proposes thee division of the body in 4 parts: leg, core, push and pull, plus a heart in the center. Learning to read this picture will allows us to organize training ever more balanced between the various body parts, both from a cardiovascular as well as a muscle point of view.

By reading the handbook, you will find a chapter dedicated to the body division. The background of the image has its own meaning and importance; in fact, on the left there is an “E” which is present in the ECross logo and means “efficient” (efficiency), one of the most important principle of our training system. On the right, there is a “X” which indicates the intersection between the coordination and the conditional skills.

As it was understandable from the definition of ECross, with this image you comprehend how each word has its meaning and so, it has been chosen for a specific reason. Each part of the picture allows the trainer to always have at its disposal the real essence of the method just by simple looking at it.

Now, let’s go back to the initial questions. We have answered to the first question and in the following chapter there will be further explanations. But which is the answer to the second question?

Given the limited time of the children and the number of skills they want to train, we carefully chose exercises, methods and tools that allow them to satisfy their need, to make better use of time, not to waste a minute and to ensure that the aim of improving the kids’ physical condition will be reached.

By studying in detail the recent scientific literature, and by testing many of the developed principles, we understood that how it is possible to improve the physical condition by working on a fundamental concept, which is the research of the maximum efficiency. So, we selected the best exercises, training methods and equipment. Furthermore, we studied the training and communicative skills to make the trainer’s explanations essential and effective, the lesson organization, how to transfer information and knowledge from the trainer to the children. We also created an essential kit enabling which enables to carry out all the exercises provided by the method.

We are aware that our system enables to train children in a complete way, without specializing them. In fact, ECross is perfect to be combined with others sport activities.

Sports people which are specialized in a single discipline do not fall within our model of body shape because of their agonistic goal which leads them to enhance just a few skills at the expense of others. In the chapter dedicated to multi-laterality you will better understand this concept.

The subdivision of the body in the ECross method: the 4 fundamental zones

Training the human body in its entirety means to propose right exercises that, on the basis of the objective, stimulate muscles. Given the ECross method principles and methods, we chose to organize the workouts considering the body in its entirety and not as single segments.

This orientation brought us to a substantial choice in the evaluation of the exercises to be introduced in the lessons. In fact, in order to guarantee the effectiveness and efficiency of the method, we chose to train the whole body in a balanced way, without subdividing excessively muscle groups.

In detail, we can say that all muscle exercises may be divided into 5 categories:

• Leg (multiarticular exercises with a prevailing effort of the lower limbs) such as squat, lunges etc.
• Core (multiarticular exercises with a prevailing effort of the abs and the lumbar muscles) such as sit- up, suspension training abs, etc.
• Push-up (multiarticular exercises with a prevailing effort of the extensor chain of the upper limbs) such as push-up, dips or handstand push-up
• Pull (multiarticular exercises with a prevailing effort of the flexor chain of the upper limbs) such as pull ups, row, fly
• Cardio (exercises with a prevailing cardiovascular effort) such as running, jump rope, jumping jack.

Obviously, all the specific exercises for the training of the coordination skills are excluded from this classification, except for those involving particular metabolic efforts.

For example, walking on our E-line is an exercise is not leg, core or cardio but it may be considered as an exercise which aims to improve a specific coordination capability. Carrying out a fitness trail with somersaults and obstacles could be useful to improve the dexterity and the coordination, but it can be also included in a cardio exercise whenever the intensity is sufficiently high.

The practice in the training, but especially a careful analysis of the anatomy and of the biomechanics of the human body allow us to resume all the exercises in these six categories that guarantee a complete and effective full-body training. Each workout may have a prevalence, but it has to include exercises of each category. Furthermore, by combining different methodologies, it is possible to work on all the conditional skills.

For too many years, after the spread of the body building, the human body has been considered as subdivided in independent muscles; but, thanks to the evolution of the training, it has been realized that multiarticular exercises are able to involve several muscles at the same time. This is possible because of the intermuscular contraction of our body. So, in a simple push up, the agonist muscles are the pectoral muscles, the deltoids and the triceps; through simple adjustments, we can adapt the exercise to work more on one of those muscles, but still guaranteeing the involvement of all the others.

In the chapter dedicated to multiarticular exercises, the comprehension of this topic will be clearer.

Motor Skills

Motor skills are the set of the physical characteristics that a person has, which allows him to learn and to perform several motor actions. These skills are individual; they are partly hereditary and can be modified through the practice. Each person reaches a different development of his skills. Motor skills are the root of the physical performance and can be divided into:

• Conditional skills, which are related to physical condition and to the energy aspects of the movement, i.e. strength, resistance, speed and flexibility (articular mobility + muscular elasticity)
• Coordination skills, which are related to the capacity of the central nervous system to start and to control the movement.

This subdivision is due to convenience: in reality, motor skills are in constant interaction.

Conditional skills

Conditional skills have to be continually trained to be improved or to be long-lasting. They depend on the quality of the locomotor system and on the physiologic processes of energy production.

Conditional skills are:

• Strength
• Resistance
• Speed
• Flexibility

Strength

The strength is the capability to win a resistance thanks to the work of the skeletal muscle. This resistance can be expressed by the body weight, by a part of it or by an outer load.

Each sport discipline, as each diary activity, require this quality.

The principal factors that determines the strength are:

• Muscle volume;
• The type of the muscle fiber (white, red, intermediate: the white one is the type that has more influence on the strength)
• The Recruitment skill of motor units.
• The availability of energy resources
• Muscle coordination (as the capacity to make muscles work in synergy

The strength may occur in several condition and several ways: Maximal strength, Fast strength, Resistant strength

Maximal strength

It is the maximum tension that a voluntary muscle contraction can develop to win a high resistance (e.g. weightlifting). It especially depends on the muscle volume, i.e. on the number of fibers constituting the muscle mass. The maximal strength can be trained from 16/17-year-old once the formation of the muscle-skeletal system has been completed, and the respiratory and the cardio- circulatory systems has reached a full efficiency. A premature training of the maximal strength could be dangerous.

Fast Strenght (power or explosive strength)

It is the capability to produce a high intensity in the shortest possible time. For example, in the threw of javelin, in the smash of the volleyball or in a shot on goal. This strength type could be trained starting from 11/12-year-old, once thee nervous system has reached the complete functionality and maturation, and it develops by increasing especially the speed of muscle contraction

Resistant strength

It is the capability of the muscle system and of the respiratory and cardio-circulatory systems to maintain a work of force that protracts itself in time. (e.g. a canoe race or a rock-climbing race). This strength type is very close to the resistance. It is possible to train this strength from 11/12-year-old with appropriate precautions.

Strength is a quality that can be easily trained, but the muscle strength increases as fast as they lose their tonicity (i.e. their capacity to express strength) if they are not trained.

A muscle has to undergoes a greater effort that it used to, in order to be trained. During the workout, on the basis of the strength type that it is intended to increase, the following parameters can vary:

• The workload
• The number of series and repetitions
• The execution speed

Resistance

It is the capability to support or to prolong a determined effort for as long as possible by combating the fatigue. In other words, resistance is the capability to resist to the fatigue by tolerating medium- and long- term efforts. The fatigue is a form of defense of the organism by which it signals that the limits of an efforts has been (or are going to be) overcome. Resistance is strictly linked:

• To the will and to other phycological factors
• To the mechanism of energy consume, and to the capability to manage the energy resources in a controlled and rational way
• To the coordination, to the rhythm and to the efficiency of the gesture.

By training the resistance, the organism adapts itself to the higher energy requirements and increase the threshold of muscle fatigue and that of psychic fatigue. The develop of the resistance is strictly linked to the functionality of the cardio-vascular and respiratory systems, which provide the energy to sustain an extended aerobic and anaerobic effort. It is also related to the number of red fibres that are present in muscles.

The maximum increase of this capability is possible through specific workouts only when these two systems are completely developed (from 12/13-year-old).

There are two types of resistance:

• General resistance: the capability to tolerate an extended effort, whatever the physical activity that has been carried out is.
• Specific resistance: the capability to tolerate an extended and specific effort (e.g. the effort required by a determined sport activity)

The Resistance is the conditional skill that draws the best benefits from the training and can be easily improved even in old age. To train resistance, the most frequent exercise is the slow running with constant speed. During the workout, it is very important to pay attention to the respiration that has to be pronounced to allow a better oxygenation.

It is recommended to avoid changing in speed, at least up to when you are not able to maintain a slow running with constant speed for about ten minutes. Activities such as walking, running, doing physical exercises and some specific games, especially in combination, train the resistance if they are performed with appropriate intensities.

A very easy way to monitor the effort intensity is to control the speed of the heart race (e.g. by using a heart rate monitor) It is fundamental to keep the pulse at a frequency lower than the double of that in condition of rest, which means to keep the pulse between 120-150 to carry out a continue and low-intensity effort.

In this chapter you will learn:

• Which advantages you’ll have by including ECross Kids in your gym
• How ECross involves everybody, kids and teenagers, without exception

ECross project begins with the idea of organizing the functional training world in a global way:

• By creating a high-quality and recognized educational academy, with the task of organizing updated courses and specialization classes.
• By creating simple training programs which are effective for achieving results, and compatible with people’s time and gyms timetables.
• By providing services necessary for the development of the courses in each club
• By creating a parallel non-profit system with doctors, pediatricians and schools, in order to develop the project completely.

Why have we decided to start by kids?

It’s simple; we realized that, apart from all sports and outdoor activities (volleyball, martial arts, swimming, football, etc.), the kids’ sector was really lacking in fitness centers. But above all, we believe in a wide development of this project and so, we have to work hard on the new generations which have to grow up with a better awareness about fitness and health.

Our system has many advantages:

• It’s suitable to both males and females
• It’s perfect to introduce children to sports; so many times, kids are thrown in a specific sport prematurely, but with ECross they can expand their motor background thanks to the multilateral exercises of the program.
• Very often, age groups from 11 to 14 don’t do sports, have stopped or have difficulties to start new sports. The negative consequences are: osedentary behavior oend up in the weight room too early and in an inappropriate way For these kids, ECross is the right opportunity.
• Whoever is playing a specific sport face the risk of neglecting some skills. ECross allows to completethe kids’ general preparation in a funny and original way; it can be successfully matched with specific sports.

Working properly on the younger generation is a duty and an ethical approach because we reap what we sow. Trainer and gym holders have to understand the fundamental importance of the previous concept to secure work and long-term opportunities.

TO SUM UP:

• ECross Kids is the first fitness system entirely dedicated to kids and teenagers which has been studied to be included in gyms and clubs, where the kids’ sector is lacking.
• ECross is a global system facing the fitness issue from several points of view.
• ECross kids want to guide the younger generations toward a healthier and awareness lifestyle
• ECross program perfectly matches with other sports for a greater physical preparation

QUESTION: In ECross Kids model, kids from 11 to 14:

a. Are excluded
b. Are included both males and females
c. Should be addressed toward a specific sport