Course:KIN355/2020 Projects/Muscular Endurance

Defining the Concept and Its Importance

Muscular endurance is defined as the “ability to perform strength-oriented action in a repetitive manner in a climate of fatigue” (Kevic, Siljeg, Mrgan, & Sporis, 2013). It is the measure of an individual’s ability to constantly exert force using muscular strength. Although muscular strength and endurance are typically associated with adolescence and athleticism, studies have proven that muscular endurance can be measured and enhanced during childhood years (Faigenbaum, Westcott, Loud, & Long, 1999). The prevalence of muscular endurance is rising as it is now considered a marker for health and well-being, as well as being a predictor for mortality and independence of an individual (Kevic et al., 2013). In a study conducted by the World Health Organization, over 340 million individuals between the ages of 5-19 were overweight or obese in 2016, with the numbers only increasing (2020). In a world where obesity is at an all-time high, the importance of physical fitness has also emerged. Muscular endurance is an important component of physical fitness because it governs many of our day-to-day behaviors. It plays a part in performing non-locomotor, locomotor, and manipulative motor skills. Skills that we perform every day such as walking, running, and balancing our body are all a function of muscular endurance.

From a childhood development perspective, muscular endurance is an individual structural constraint that is essential to acquiring fundamental motor skills. It is important to note that fundamental motor skills are not “naturally acquired” by children, children must first reach proficient levels of skill before acquiring the behavior (Bredin, 2020). Without muscular endurance development, children can have trouble developing fundamental motor skills such as standing and climbing. In addition, during the infancy stage of life, muscular endurance is important to develop postural control. As postural control is the basis of all other motor skills, weak postural control can lead to the presence of maladaptive behaviors in order to compensate for weak muscular endurance; along with the delayed acquisition of developmental milestones.

Monkey bars are an excellent way that children can interact with playscapes while developing muscular endurance

Knowledge about muscular endurance is important for educators because it can help identify areas of weakness in an individual’s development. With the right knowledge, childhood educators should strive to strengthen motor capabilities to prevent any hindrances in the acquisition of motor milestones. As an educator, it is important to build a strong foundation of motor skills for children so that they are able to mature in a timely manner. Muscular endurance training can be incorporated into educational settings through play activities. Encouraging children to interact with playscapes will develop their endurance in an enjoyable way. In addition, extracurricular programs can be utilized in order to facilitate further development. Prescription of high repetition, moderate load resistance training has been proven to improve muscular endurance during childhood years (Faigenbaum, Westcott, Loud, & Long, 1999). Although terms such as resistance training may seem daunting to children and educators, resistance training can be integrated into everyday tasks such as classroom chores in order to make training less intimidating.

Role in Childhood Development and Contemporary Considerations

Muscular endurance plays a significant role in all motor skills that we acquire and utilize throughout the lifespan. It refers to our central nervous system’s ability to regulate motor firing rates to sustain force output and delay fatigue in muscle (Mettler & Griffin, 2015). At the foundation of all non-locomotor, locomotor, and manipulative motor skills is our ability to maintain postural control. Keeping the body upright and balanced seems deceptively simple, yet, it is a skill that all individuals must acquire before learning other, more advanced motor skills. Muscular strength and endurance both play a role in our ability to maintain postural control. In this example, strength refers to our ability to adopt an upright position, while endurance refers to our ability to maintain that position for an extended period of time. For infants, it is evident that muscular endurance and postural control are not naturally acquired, rather it is learned through muscle conditioning. Muscular endurance acts as an individual constraint according to Newell’s Model of Constraints, as it acts as a structural limitation within the individual’s body (Bredin, 2020). In early childhood development, if a child is unable to achieve the required muscular endurance, they could potentially be at risk of falling behind on the acquisition of motor milestones.

Motor milestones serve an important purpose in early childhood development as they guide the development of an individual's motor skills. For example, in order to walk, an individual must first fulfill the developmental requirements of being able to stand. It is important to note that motor milestones serve only as a general timeline and that all individuals are unique - some may acquire motor skills earlier or later than average. The acquisition of motor milestones are not purely for the purpose of developing the physical and motor domain of human development, most motor milestones facilitate the development of cognitive and affective domains as well. For example, the ability to sit without assistance can allow an infant to stimulate the cognitive domain of development as it affords the opportunity to have a greater field of vision and the ability to manipulate objects and the environment with their hands. Another motor milestone such as walking unassisted can develop the affective domain of development as it allows the individual to interact with other people within the environment, establishing social relationships (Bredin, 2020). Muscular endurance plays a significant role in the acquisition of all motor milestones and thus, it facilitates the maturation of the domains of human development during childhood, and throughout the lifespan.

Muscular endurance is important for acquiring motor milestones such as sitting unassisted.

In order to analyze muscular endurance from a contemporary standpoint, we must first understand relevant statistics associated with the current state of Canada. In a study conducted by the Childhood Obesity Foundation in 2016, it was found that 10.4% of infants in Canada were overweight. Additionally, 16.8% of boys and 11.5% of girls aged 5-9 were classified as obese. These statistics have significant implications as many fundamental motor skills are developed throughout the ages of 0-9. Obesity is associated with low muscle mass and muscle tone, both of which are essential to the development of muscular endurance (Ralt, 2007). With statistics that are predicted to continue to increase over time, there will be an increasing prevalence of infants and children that lack muscular endurance; along with an increasing need for muscular endurance training. This information is critical for childhood educators as they must set the stage for children to pursue healthy and active lifestyles. With knowledge about the importance of muscular endurance, childhood educators can incorporate training and exercises in order to encourage proper endurance development. Endurance training can be disguised using various types of play, allowing children to interact with the environment, create social relationships, while also improving their muscular endurance. If a particular individual is struggling with building muscular endurance, childhood educators can suggest participating in extracurricular sporting programs to further facilitate the maturation of the musculoskeletal system. After all, healthy muscular endurance development is a collective effort, by childhood educators, parents, grassroots coaches, and children as well. The proper development of muscular endurance allows individuals to acquire motor milestones and continue to enrich the domains of human development in a timely manner.

Practical Applications

The following summarizes two practical applications meant to assist in the development of muscular endurance.

The first game that can be played to enhance development of muscular endurance is called the Lava and the Egg. As aforementioned, a playful way to increase children’s muscular endurance is through the use of monkey bars, due to the prolonged use of musculature when children hang and activate muscles for prolonged periods of time.

TARGET AGE:

The target age bracket for this game is eight years and older. This target age is based on the finding that monkey bar injuries are most prevalent in children around the age of six years old (Teitelbaum, Maucevic & Adler, 2020). A major factor playing into these injuries is the average build of monkey bars, which are often too large for children of age six (Teitelbaum et al., 2020). Additionally, children under the age of 8 may not yet have the upper body musculature to be able to safely use the monkey bars (Redwood, 2019). Therefore, it has been suggested that children should wait until the age of eight or older to safely traverse this piece of equipment, while children under the age of eight should be discouraged from using this apparatus until they are confidently and safely able to do so (Redwood, 2019).

APPARATUS REQUIRED:

To play Lava and the Egg, a set of monkey bars and a blown up balloon is required.

INSTRUCTIONS:

For the game the Lava and the Egg, two children will hang from monkey bars facing each other at a safe distance.

Two or more children will be instructed to hang from their arms on the monkey bars, facing each other from a safe distance. The children will be told the floor is made out of lava, and so they must keep themselves from dropping to the ground for as long as possible. They will also be told that the balloon being used is a dragon’s egg that they are to keep safe from the hot lava. The goal of the game is to have the children consistently keep the balloon from falling to the ground by passing it back and forth between each other, using whichever body part they please, so long as they remain hanging from the monkey bars. Because muscular endurance can be characterized as maintaining a position for an extended period of time, the children will be developing muscular endurance through the holding of their body weight on the monkey bars (Mettler & Griffin, 2015). Further, referring to the definition of muscular endurance above in that it refers to our central nervous system’s ability to regulate motor firing rates to sustain force output and delay fatigue in muscle, having a child utilize their arm muscles to sustain their contraction and work in keeping themselves off the ground tests and builds that delay in muscle fatigue (Mettler & Griffin, 2015). The game Lava and the Egg enables children to participate in play such as imaginative play, given the utilization of imagination to think of the floor as lava and the balloon a dragon’s egg (Bredin, 2020). This type of game also enables children to participate in symbolic play, as they are substituting one object for another, such as a balloon for a dragon’s egg (Bredin, 2020).

MODIFICATIONS:

Modifications to the game can include the use of gloves or tape for better grip on the monkey bars. Wrist guards to prevent injury on the monkey bars should be avoided, as there is evidence that their use may result in significant decreases in grip strength  (Cassel, Ashby, Gunatilaka & Clapperton, 2005). Additionally, the monkey bar area should have a softer surface for flooring, to ensure the safety of children as they land. Soft flooring should be inspected and sought after prior to playing this game, as it has been found that many playgrounds are not adequately tested for impact landing (Sherker, Ritchie, Eager & Dennis, 2009).

Another game that can be used to enhance muscular endurance development in children is called Sharks and Dolphins. An additional way for children to enhance muscular endurance is through the use of a pool. Swimming has been found to significantly increase children’s muscular endurance through prolonged use of muscle and the required anti-fatigue mechanisms (Clarke & Voccaro, 1979). This information provides insight into why games played in a pool setting can be beneficial to the development of children’s muscular endurance.

TARGET AGE:

While it has been suggested that participating in pool activities is beneficial for children as young as 5-6 months, following the administration of the child’s vaccinations, children of this age may not be able to grasp the concept of the game as follows (Amelia, 2012). For this reason, the target age for Sharks and Dolphins is 5-6 years of age and older. One reason for the chosen age is the understanding of pool safety in children. In order to ensure children are safe when playing this game in a group, it is important that they are old enough to grasp the concept of playing safely, so as to not injure themselves or their peers. Additionally, is often recommended that children begin swimming lessons at the age of four (Healthychildren.org, 2019). It is at this age that they are able to begin treading water and floating (Healthychildren.org, 2019). Because these components are essential to Sharks and Dolphins, it is important that children have some grasp of these concepts.

APPARATUS REQUIRED:

The game Sharks and Dolphins must be played in a shallow pool. This game requires one child to be marked as the shark, while the remaining players become dolphins.

INSTRUCTIONS:

The children marked dolphins will be told that they are not allowed to touch the floor of the pool, and so must tread water or hold themselves up against the pool's edge. If they touch the pool's floor, they automatically become a shark. The child marked the shark will be able to use his or her feet to move and will be required to tag a dolphin to turn them into a shark. The goal of the game is to turn all of the dolphins into sharks, with one dolphin remaining and being proclaimed the winner. The way in which this game builds muscular endurance, is that through the children being forced to tread water and use their musculature to hold themselves up along the pool wall for prolonged periods of time, the muscles are working against the aforementioned muscular fatigue (Mettler & Griffin, 2015). As mentioned prior, swimming and treading water have been found to markedly improve muscular endurance in children, strengthening the anti-fatigue mechanisms and working on sustaining the muscular contractions that keep them off of the pool floor (Clarke & Voccaro, 1979).

MODIFICATIONS:

For children who are not strong swimmers, they can be permitted to wear water wings, and for children who are in severe need of assistance in the water, a life preserver can be used (Brenner et al., 2003). For safety reasons, all children should have undergone some form of swimming instruction prior to playing this game, as instruction for children as young as 24 months has been proven to improve swimming ability, indicating higher levels of safety and confidence in the water (Brenner et al., 2003). Playing this game in an area with trained lifeguards on site is another method in which water safety can be upheld (Brenner et al., 2003).

Summary

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References

Amelia, S.E. (2012) Methodology of Learning Swimming in the First Part of Life Through a Positive Approach. Ovidius University Annals, Series Physical Education and Sport, Science, Movement and Health, 12(1), 88-94.

Bredin, S. (2020) Domains of Human Development, Personal Collection of Dr. Bredin, S., University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC.

Bredin, S. (2020) Newell’s Model of Constraints (1986), Personal Collection of Dr. Bredin, S., University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC.

Bredin, S. (2020) Fundamental Motor Skills, Personal Collection of Dr. Bredin, S., University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC.

Brenner, R.A. and Committee on Injury, Violence and Poison Prevention (2003) Prevention of Drowning in Infants, Children and Adolescents. American Academy of Pediatrics, 112(2), 440-445. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.112.2.440

Cassel, E., Ashby, K., Gunatilaka A., & Clapperton A. (2005) Do wrist guards have the potential to protect against injuries in bicycling, micro scooter riding, and monkey bar play? Injury Prevention, 11, 200-203. doi: 10.1136/ip.2004.006411

Clarke, D.H. & Voccaro, P. (1979) The effect of swimming training on muscular performance and body composition in children. Research Quarterly. American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, 50(1), 9-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/10671315.1979.10615574

Clarke, H.L. (2017) Children on Monkey Bars [Photo]. Retrieved from https://heathershandmadelife.com/2017/07/diy-monkey-barshtml

Faigenbaum, A. D., Westcott, W. L., Loud, R. L., & Long, C. (1999). The Effects of Different Resistance Training Protocols on Muscular Strength and Endurance Development in Children. Pediatrics, 104(1). doi:10.1542/peds.104.1.e5

Healthychildren.org (2019) Swim Lessons: When to Start and What Parents Should Know. Retrieved from https://www.healthychildren.org/English/safety-prevention/at-play/Pages/Swim-Lessons.aspx#:~:text=By%20their%204th%20birthday%2C%20most,can%20master%20the%20front%20crawl

Kević, G., Siljeg, K., Mrgan, J., & Sporis, G. (2013). How to measure muscular endurance in children: a new approach. Collegium Antropologicum, 37(2), 385–390.

Mettler, J. A., & Griffin, L. (2015). Muscular endurance training and motor unit firing patterns during fatigue. Exp Brain Res, 234, 267-276. doi:https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/10.1007/s00221-015-4455-x

Ralt D. (2007). Low muscle mass--tall and obese children a special genre of obesity. Medical hypotheses, 68(4), 750–755. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mehy.2006.05.071

Redwoods (2019) Playground Safety and Monkey Bars. Retrieved from http://redwoodsgroup.com/resources/playground-safety-and-monkey-bars/#:~:text=Make%20sure%20children%20are%20using,equipment%20should%20be%20off%2Dlimits

Sherker, S., Ritchie, J., Eager, D., Dennis, R. (2009) Soft landings: encouraging compliance with safety standards in Local Government Authority playgrounds. Health Promotion Journal of Australia, 20(1). https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/10.1071/HE09031

Teitelbaum. M.P., Muacevic, A., & Adler, J.R. (2020) Monkey Bar Dimensions Associated with Pediatric Upper Extremity Fractures Show Deviations from United States Product Safety Commission Recommendations. Cureus, 12(1). doi: 10.7759/cureus.6534

World Obesity Federation. (2020). Obesity and overweight. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight