Jazzercise News Releases

Overweight Kids Are Result of Exercise Habits, Not Eating Habits

Concerned Parents Turn to Group Exercise for Safe, Effective Remedy

CARLSBAD, Calif. (Jan. 2, 2003) – Fast food and overeating carry an unfair share of the blame for America’s overweight children, according to Judi Sheppard Missett, founder and CEO of Jazzercise. She says parents must make physical activity a priority for their kids if the United States is to overcome the epidemic of childhood obesity.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention agrees. Its Fall 2000 report on youth activity and sports points to physical inactivity as the catalyst for the 100 percent increase in U.S. childhood obesity since the 1980s. Today, 15 percent of children ages 6 to19 are overweight or obese, increasing their risk of heart disease, cancer and diabetes as they age.

“Parents need to be responsible for reevaluating their kids’ habits,” Missett says. “Our children need to accumulate more than 60 minutes of activity every day to combat the variety of threats to their health.”

Different From Adults
Parents looking to control their children’s weight, however, must be careful not to impose adult weight-loss plans and expectations on their children, Missett warns. Dieting, for one, may not be appropriate for children, who require different strategies to attain a healthy weight. Instead, Missett says, parents should introduce children to more hobbies and playtime activities that get kids off the couch, build self-esteem and set the stage for future healthy habits.

“Our children have become increasingly inactive,” Missett says. “They are lacking safe, social activities that will draw them away from their couches and video games and give them the tools necessary to develop healthy lifestyles.”

The Rise of Group Exercise
Missett points to the need for activities that are safe and educational as the impetus for the recent surge in children’s enrollment in Jazzercise classes. During the past two years, Missett says she’s seen a dramatic increase in the popularity of her Junior Jazzercise classes, a format for children ages 6 to 11. Jazzercise has responded to the demand by more than doubling the number of instructors teaching Junior Jazzercise, by recruiting and encouraging those who teach adults to consider teaching to children as well.

To further accommodate the growing interest in exercise programs for children, Missett and her group recently created Team Dance, which teaches popular dance techniques in a supportive, team-oriented environment. Both formats focus on coordination, strength, endurance and nutrition, while emphasizing the importance of physical fitness and showing that exercise can be fun.

“We’re working to provide an environment where kids don’t have to be one of the ‘chosen few’ to participate,” Missett says. “More importantly, by making fitness fun, we’re able to establish physical activity as a lifestyle choice in their early years. This, we believe, provides children with perhaps the most effective preventative medicine.”

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Jazzercise, created by Judi Sheppard Missett, is the world's leading dance-fitness program with more than 6,800 instructors teaching 30,000 classes weekly in the U.S. and around the globe. Since 1969, millions of people of all ages and fitness levels have reaped the benefits of this comprehensive program, designed to enhance cardiovascular endurance, strength, and flexibility. For more information, go to jazzercise.com or call (800)FIT-IS-IT.