My kids do several sports camps over the summer. 9-3pm of basketball, soccer, etc. They are more in shape during the summer than any other time of year. They will also then head to pick up soccer in the evenings after dinner when the day cools off.

I would put him/her in a few sports camps and the other weeks just take them to a field/court, etc. w/ friends. My boys are 11 and 13 so I throw them outside to play in the backyard with the soccer net or the driveway basketball hoop.

Their dad will sometimes take them to the boxing gym when he goes to workout---or have them ride bikes while he runs.

Endurance training - running miles , biking and swimming

Swimming

Running for 45 minutes is not the same as High Intensity Interval Training (HITT). Get on the track and running as fast as he can for 30 seconds, take a 60 seconds rest and repeat. Keep repeating until he can not do it anymore. Do this 3 times a week and incorporate other HITT into the routine and he will be a force to be reckoned with in the fall.

My DS was the same way but this year decided to do something about it. He started to lift some weights and plans to go jogging on the days he doesnt have camp. I told him that I would join him to keep him motivated but that if gives up or stops I would not be pushing him to do it.

I also got him the dribble up soccer ball and he plans to do that on nonpractice days. I am actually surprised how much of a sweat he works up. Other options is just being outside with other kids (granted harder at that age) and looking for opportunities to find kids playing pick up on the school fields.

Anonymous wrote:My DS is fast, talented, but lazy. I think what is holding him back on his team is that he makes amazing runs as a middie up and down the field but seriously runs out of gas towards the end of the half and he gets pulled out. I can say that I will make him run this summer, but he just won't do it. He hates jogging and says running is boring without a ball to chase. What are other exercises that would improve his fitness? He's refused to do swim team this year and his club has optional practices in the summer, but just once a week. Tennis camp? Soccer camp late in July? Need some ideas, thanks!

I don’t view this as lazy. I view this as bored. Most really good team sports players I knew growing up absolutely hated running and viewed it as punishment for doing something wrong in practice. Get him playing pickup soccer or basketball or football. He needs mental challenges to take his mind off the running. I have seen plenty of kids who would not run a mile play pickup basketball for 3-4 hours in the summer.

+1 for tennis camp, keep it fun and competitive. Even my college athlete friends hated exercising just for the sake of exercising.

My kids get 2 min of technology (screen time/ipad/switch) for every 1 min of activity in the summer. So my 2 oldest will run for 45 minutes every morning to get 90 min of game time. I don't make it about fitness I just say they need fresh air and to move their bodies. Sometimes they swim laps at the pool to "bank minutes" and sometimes they will run around at our rec center. Sports camps/camps don't count.

Any aerobic activity. Biking, soccer camp, one-on-one training, whatever he likes. Would he do a couch to 5 k program on his phone?

To some extent, there's only so much you can do if he hates exercising. If he's refusing to run or swim, and yet he knows that's what he needs to do to improve, I wouldn't push it.

He has to find it within himself.

Very hard to instill in him if he doesn't have it.

If you force it, he'll eventually stop as he gets older because he really doesn't want to do it.

My DS is fast, talented, but lazy. I think what is holding him back on his team is that he makes amazing runs as a middie up and down the field but seriously runs out of gas towards the end of the half and he gets pulled out. I can say that I will make him run this summer, but he just won't do it. He hates jogging and says running is boring without a ball to chase. What are other exercises that would improve his fitness? He's refused to do swim team this year and his club has optional practices in the summer, but just once a week. Tennis camp? Soccer camp late in July? Need some ideas, thanks!