How much does your teen move/excercise?

[PrincessoftheSea]

My DS1 is 16 and I am worried about his lack of excersise. In a typical week he walks 10 minutes to and from the bus stop twice a day so that's 20 minutes and that's it.

He has 1 hour PE a week in school.

On Friday night he comes swimming with me and we do 1000 metres. We do another 1000 metres Saturday together. On Sundays we usually go for walks in the forest between 1 and 2 hours and we try to fit in another 1000 metres in the pool after our walk but depends what else we are doing.

I am encouraging him to try out the gym but he does not seem interested. If I did not drag him out he would never move his body. None of his friends are into sports. He says he is one of the fittest in his class which makes me

He is very slim and we eat quite healthily so I don't have worries about his weight.

Both me and his dad are quite into fitness. We both do sports daily and are much fitter than him and we are in our 40s which I think is shocking

So my question is how much does your teen excercise and any ideas on how I can stimulate his interest in fitness ?

My DS is 13 and is quite clear that he is not in the 'sporty gang' at school. He is slim too. I am sporty and he also has gym membership but getting him there is mission impossible. I think you are winning just to get him to go swimming with you - mine won't!

I think it is almost cool for him at the moment to be allergic to any exercise. I'm hoping it's just a phase!!

Thank you Name

Giving my thread a slight bump too hoping for more responses.

Ds 14 plays football at the weekend - both days. Training 1 night for 90 mins. People at school is 5 hours a week (gcse subject).
Ds 16 goes to boxing 6 days and the gym 5 days - hour each session. And has a selection of weights and pull up bar etc at home.

Ds1 is 15.

• He joined a junior joggers club several years ago and generally goes twice a week for around 40 minutes, although last year he missed quite a bit due to various issues.
• 2 sessions of PE a week, a lesson is 55 minutes so I suspect the actual exercise element is 30-40 minutes a lesson.
• he has recently taken up archery which he does for an hour and a half 3 times a week. It's not very energetic - but given I've been sitting in the cold sports hall togged up to the nines to keep warm and the archers are just in trousers and t-shirts there must be a reasonable level of activity.
• he swims with his dad one a week for around 40 mins.

I think compared to his peers he is reasonably active.
The kids who do sport probably do a lot more, and the kids who don't do a lot less, so ds1 falls in the middle.

Op, that's loads more exercise than a lot of teenagers I know. Most (ok, not most but a fair few) probably only walk the 10 minutes to/from the bus.

My 19 year old brother lives with me and is training as a professional athlete so is a bit of an exception - but as for most of his friends from school rather than training (especially thinking back a couple of years) they do little more than lift weights at the gym a couple of times a week, and possibly the walk to/from the bus there. The lack of cardio is shocking, honestly.

Your son does a huge amount more than my teens at that age, or my current 13yo.

DH & I both do a lot of exercise, too.
It's disheartening, but... they have to find own way.
DS had to get fit to join the army. DD is getting into health things, so I am hopeful that most will find own motivation if encouraged.

Thank you for responses.

I guess I really worry about the lack of cardio fitness and wonder if teens who have never been into sports and fitness can get interested later in life. I always assumed fitness was eatablished in your teens but hopefully I am wrong.

Ds2 is almost15 and cycles

Oops. He cycles to and from school every day but that’s prob only about 1and a half miles. He’s got bags of energy but out of school all he seems to do is Xbox. Despite this he has a very impressive 6 pack and muscles and is very lean. How???! I dunno. It’s very weiRd.
Dd is 13 and walks to and from school daily and also does netball, street dance and ballet.

Definitely a lot of ppl establish fitness later in life.
Your kid is doing aerobic exercise 3x a week. If he only did that all his life he'll be miles ahead of most people.

I think that as you and his father are both very active, he is more likely to keep physically fit as an adult as well.