Pop Warner football is starting this summer for my 9 year old.  Normally the kids go through a conditioning process before they step out on the practice field.  The conditioning phase starts in July.  Currently, he is playing flag football to keep up with his skills.  He is a real football nut.  He just loves the sport.  Anyway, I wanted to give him a bit of a head start on his upcoming conditioning training so I asked him if he wanted to start working out.  I am not a big advocate on kids doing heavy lifting, however, I thought that interval training would be a good place to start so I put him through some tabata training.  Although he normally plays at the quarterback position, he really wants to play line backer.  So I believe tabata training is something that will workout well since it has an explosive element to it.

We both started out with kettlebell swings.  I have a small 6 lbs kettlebell so I had him use those to get familiar with the movements.  Exploding out the the squat is perfect for simulating the “hit” (tackle) and driving with the legs.  I was impressed that he handled all 8 intervals well.  So we rested a couple minutes and then we did a mix of lunges and Tower 200 wood choppers using the tabata protocol.  Again, he did well.  I up’d the ante and we did full-on tabata burpees with a hop.  He finally started showing fatigue and after the 3rd interval he said, “daddy, I have to rest”.  So we took a break.  Burpees with a hop is very tough to do for 8 intervals of tabata.  When he felt ready, we did some pushups and pull ups, however, we did not do them using the tabata protocol.  I was impressed with his pushups because a couple months ago he had sloppy form.  I didn’t push the issue, though, because he was just 8 years old and I am just happy that he has an interest with training.  But today, wow, he did some strict pushups.  He has to work on his pull ups so we will take it slow and easy.  I used the P90X chair trick to help him with assisted pull ups.  Maybe next time I will have him do resistance band pull downs on the Tower 200 instead of pull ups.

So Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there.  We really appreciate all you do.  Teresa, my wife (and mom) was a real trooper because the league, in it’s infinite wisdom, scheduled a flag football game today.  So we spent a good deal of time at the game (from 9:30 am until 2 pm).  The kids love to play with each other after the game and we normally bring food and drink to share.

In the end tough, we tried to make a good day for mom.  I cooked breakfast this morning.  I made pancakes (whole wheat, of course), eggs (egg beaters) and turkey bacon.  After the game, mom wanted Mexican food.  Mexican food is our most favorite.  So we threw all nutrition out the window and ordered the most delicious chile rellenos!  It is about 9 pm now and mom is talking to our daughter who lives in Alaska.  Oh, and I bought her a pair of Peach Faced Love Birds.  She loves them!