The benefits of exercise for kids and brain function...

“So it might be pretty obvious that CrossFit is all about (the) musculoskeletal system, cardiorespiratory system, but what isn’t as obvious is the effect of exercise on the brain,” says Dr. Jon Gary, a member of CrossFit Kids. According to Dr. Gary, CrossFit Kids gives us a unique opportunity to enhance a child’s brain development.

“CrossFit Kids cross-trains the brain,” he says.

Dr. Gary’s aim is to help children move better through CrossFit Kids and help develop each child’s brain at the same time.

“Athletic performance is solving a problem. Whether it’s moving your body through space or an external object through space, you have to solve a problem. And it’s not your muscles that do the solving, OK. It’s your brain,” he says.

Another reason exercise is so important is a child’s vestibular development, or spacial awareness, which stimulates an emotional center of the brain.

“It’s extremely important for us in our programming that we activate the vestibular system on a daily basis,” Dr. Gary says.

http://journal.crossfit.com/2011/02/kidsbrainfunction.tpl