Our primary focus in FY2006 in our Super Kids Karate classes is to increase the physical fitness activities for the kids in our programs.    We are adding more strength and conditioning exercises into our traditional martial arts routines.  The practice of Martial Arts is in itself excellent exercise, but Master Holmes wants to do even more within the Super Kids classes.  

"Physical education is a critical part of a complete education and every student deserves to be physically educated," says Charlene Burgeson, the Executive Director of the National Association for Sports and Physical Education. "The schools that are reducing physical education programs are everywhere," she said.

Recent research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that 15 percent of children and adolescents age 6 to 19 are overweight, double the rate of two decades ago. In fact, NASPE has increased the recommended amount of physical activity for children age 5 to 12 from 30 minutes to at least 60 minutes per day.

"We now know that making time for physical education and physical activity does not reduce academic learning and it may actually increase it," say Dr. Charles B. Corbin and Dr. Robert P. Pangrazi, of Arizona State University, the lead authors of the recently revised study, Physical Activity for Children: A Statement of Guidelines for Children Ages 5-12.

 

Master Holmes recently pulled some articles together from the internet related to the declining fitness levels of children in America.