Jun 8, 2006, 13:27 GMT
London - British children as young as five are working out in 'kid gyms' as fears about childhood obesity grow.
Numbers of young users have more than trebled in the past two years as local authority leisure centres and private fitness clubs rush to install child-sized machines, according to news reports.
Britain's biggest junior gym firm, Shokk, said it is building new facilities at a rate of two per month, with local councils accounting for 70 per cent of its business.
Surveys show there are at least 80 child gyms across Britain, including some aimed at children between five and 10 years.
Obesity experts said the phenomenon, imported from America, could help overcome the epidemic that now affects about one in four 11-to 15-year-olds, according to figures released by the National Health Service (NHS).
However, sports scientists and psychologists believe that a generation of junior gym users is at risk of damaging joints and developing an unhealthy obsession with their bodies.
The exercise bikes, sit-up benches and resistance machines they contain look identical to adult equipment but some have been designed to work more than one muscle at a time and offer the body greater support.
At least one gym is running a pilot scheme for obese children who are referred by the local doctor.
Some manufacturers are even targeting children aged four to nine, with mini treadmills, rowing machines and dumb-bells that resemble toys.
They are available online for more than 70 pounds (130 dollars).
Prof Jane Wardle, an expert on childhood obesity at University College London, said: 'If the children are properly monitored we can fully support this because it creates an atmosphere of investment in being active.'
But Craig Mahoney, professor of sports science at the University of Wolverhampton, chairman of the British Association of Sport and Exercise Science and a qualified sport psychologist, said he had serious concerns at the spread of child gyms.
'There is evidence to suggest that putting a child's body under physical stress during a growth spurt can help bone structure and density, but they are also at risk if they bear too much weight too regularly,' he said.
'I am concerned that children could become fanatical. It is much better for growing children to take aerobic and anaerobic exercise rather than strength training, because it improves the -efficiency of the body all round.'
But Sharon Law, duty manager at Magnum Leisure Centre in Scotland, which has gyms for youngsters aged five to 16, said the children wanted to use the facilities.
'It is hugely popular,' she said. 'Although the parents are very keen on it the children love it. I have never seen any get obsessed the way the adults do.'
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