Trainer: Workouts Help Kids Achieve Life Goals

Group workouts, goal setting and fitness instruction at Fit 4 Teens help teens understand the correct way of working out to help foster a healthy lifestyle, owner and certified personal trainer Elyse Indelicato said.

Indelicato began working with teens when she noticed the lack of a structured program in the schools for exercise and the amount of overweight children and teens.

"They sit in school for six hours and then they come home. Sports are part of the wellness programs in the school districts, but students who have low-self esteem, or are overweight or are afraid to try out, do not benefit from these workouts. The outside leagues are also competitive," Indelicato said. She has three children; two are still in the Smithtown School District.

Her students range in age from 11-16, and some older high school and college students continue to workout at the space. One of her former students is now a trainer at the gym.

The gym is housed in a storefront on Jericho Turnpike and has two treadmills, several weight machines, an abdominal workout area, two benches and some small hand weights.

Tuff Stuff Fitness created the machines for Fit 4 Teens and designed them to include additional pulley systems to allow teens to have more weight assistance.

"When they lift the weights, they are lifting 20 pounds according to the scale on the machine, but they aren't lifting deadweight. It helps them develop strength," Indelicato said.

The teens are given a personal training session on their first visit, which sets up a plan of action and it is all recorded and kept at the gym for future visits.

A monthly membership is $45 and the one-time registration fee is $99, which includes the first personal training session. Indelicato said students could also try a week free if their parents aren't sure about the financial commitment initially.

She said many students also bring siblings to participate, although she said they don't usually workout together.

She creates team incentives to keep the groups motivated – last year she said one student asked how many calories are in one pound. The answer – 3,500 – sparked a competition among the students in the gym and it really motivated them, Indelicato said.

Fit 4 Teens enforces a positive thinking policy, she said. All negative talk is left at the door and students are required to have a positive attitude throughout the workout.

"Positive mental attitude helps students feel as though working out is not a chore, it's something they want to do," she said.