Review: Bentkey’s Kid-Fit-Go Could be Better.

I am not a fitness fanatic. I’ll exercise for about an hour a day, but I’m not the type to jump on buying all the trendy health foods and supplements or uncomfortable-looking workout clothes. That said, when I saw that Bentkey was making a show for kids about how to work out, I had to jump on and see what all the hype was about. Was it actually a good show with good workouts for kids? Would it be something I would recommend? The answer is…maybe. Though I thought it was well intentioned and would be successful in reaching its target audience, it was lacking in other places.

#1: The Aesthetic

The aesthetic of the show was fine and would definitely be something to draw kids in. It had fun music in it and was very upbeat. If Kid-Fit-Go was a thing when I was a kid, I would use it.

#2: The Workouts

The workouts themselves are fine. They’re HIIT exercises that mostly target your core, so you’re doing a lot of planks, push-ups, different types of crunches, burpees, high-knees, mountain climbers, etc. While I think there are some exercises that would be harder for some kids to do (especially ones who aren’t super active), and the rest breaks should’ve included a reminder to keep moving, I thought they were a good idea overall.

However, the thing that I didn’t like about the show was that there were no warmups and barely any cooldowns. Warmups and cooldowns are very important when exercising because they help prevent injury. In most of the exercises I’ve done, warmups include jogging in place, stretching your arms and legs, etc. for about 5-10 minutes before actually getting into the meat of the workout. Cooldowns would also last for about that same amount of time and be made up of a ton of different stretches to get your heart rate down slowly. In Kid-Fit-Go, you don’t get any of that. You jump right into the hard part of the exercise and the cooldown consists of 30 seconds to a minute of one type of stretch before the episode ends. While I can give it some grace since it is for kids and they usually have more energy and an easier time healing from injuries, it was still something that was important that they left out.

Conclusion

Ultimately, while I would recommend Kid-Fit-Go as a way of getting your kids moving, I would still maybe see if there are any other exercise videos for kids online that they could do. Or maybe teach them how to do a warmup and cooldown before putting them in front of the T.V.

Until next time,

M.J.