Study: today’s children slower, less fit than parents

Think you are faster than your kid?

Even though a few young runners might be winning all the races and breaking all the records, on average children are less fit than their parents were at the same age.

Researchers at the University of South Australia found that children today are, on average, 15 per cent less fit than their parents would have been at the same age. This seems consistent with anecdotal evidence and other research on obesity and heart health in youth.

Children today also average 90 seconds slower over the mile than their parents’ generation.

The researchers analyzed 50 studies of youth fitness between 1964 and 2012. In total, over 25 million children were covered between the studies. The analysis used data from 28 countries. All the children were between ages nine and 17.

The analysis focused mainly on cardiovascular fitness, and the researchers did point out that strength from weightlifting is a different kind of fitness which is important but was not factored into the research. Still, the overall trend is obvious.

The study determined that fitness in youth has declined about six per cent each decade since 1970 and the lead author, Grant Tomkinson, credits the rise in obesity as the leading factor.

“About 30 per cent to 60 per cent of the declines in endurance running performance can be explained by increases in fat mass,” Tomkinson told the International Business Times.

The research was presented this week at an American Heart Association’s Scientific Session in Dallas, Tx.