Fitness should be fun, said Power Ten KidFIT owner Steve Panzik, a physical therapist with more than 10 years of experience working with kids. Today’s kids are more sedentary, more reliant on electronic entertainment, Panzik said, but that doesn’t mean parents should give in to a less active lifestyle.
Rather than fight a kid’s interest in electronics, Panzik has tapped into it, creating a fitness activity that uses elements of gaming and competition as incentives.
“We’ve got four bikes hooked up to a screen and the kids are racing each other in the game and the handle bars are used for steering,” he said.
With over 9 million kids in the United States over the age of six who are obese — a number that has tripled in the last 30 years — experts say it’s important to teach healthier habits.
Panzik said the most important thing is to get kids active and to make it fun. “We’re trying
to make it fun, to keep it interesting,” he said.
Sessions are split into three periods: play and ride cycling; strength training; and stadium challenge, where the focus is on balance, coordination and endurance. The program uses a reward system — the Centurion 100 Mile Club and the KidFIT Wall of Fame — to motivate and track each child’s performance and progress. There is a one to eight ratio of instructor to students and class costs range from $14 to $20, depending on whether they are purchased individually or through memberships.
Panzik is a graduate of Temple University with a degree in Exercise Physiology. He received his Masters in Physical Therapy from the University of Miami. He was a Division I athlete with four national rowing championships. He took the name for his kid’s fitness centers from the “Power Ten” for the ten most exacting and powerful strokes during a rowing race.
Classes run six days a week, starting at 1 or 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday; at 3:30 p.m. on Monday and Wednesday; and Saturday at 9 a.m. Sundays are reserved for birthday parties, and party packages are available for up to 30 kids. For more information, call 516-883-0602 or log on to www.powertenkidfit.com for online schedules.
