Editorial: Children's Exercise Physiology

Abstract

Stimulated by the need to understand the specific effects of exercise on children, the current Frontiers Research Topic was carried out to collect a set of studies that highlight important findings related to the impact of exercise in this population. Childhood is a very specific and sensitive period for a great number of characteristics that are a part of human development. Among them, motor and functional changes, supported by growth (nature) and experience (nurture) play a key role in the performance trajectories of current and future development of children’s physical fitness, motor competence, and physical activity behavior (Rodrigues et al., 2016) with relevance to future health profiles in adulthood (WHO, 2010; ODPHP, 2018). Exercise physiology research in this specific population has not always been a major concern, probably because maximal performance and competitive sports are not the intended targets in childhood; nonetheless, it is crucial to better understand children’s aptitudes and to define exercise guidelines and optimization. That is why we expect that this Frontiers Research Topic on children’s exercise physiology will help to boost the science and practice in childhood exercise and training. With 20 articles published in this Research Topic, six main areas of research were defined:(a) performance, (b) physical fitness, (c) motor skill and fundamental motor competence, (d)measurement methodologies, (e) overweight subjects, and (f) pathological subjects. Most of the articles examined consider these areas of research. Based on the diversity of study designs and objectives, we now have the opportunity to better understand the mechanisms that explain the effects of exercise on children and how performance and health can be mediated by different covariates. It is not easy or straightforward to attribute an area to each article published in our Research Topic, though we have tried to do so. We have also summarized the most noteworthy evidence of each study.