I need to help a 10 yr. old kid get in better shape. He’s short, & very fat. What kind of training can I do to help the little dude? His favorite sports are Nintendo! 
I teach him for a half hr. in tennis once a week. Any tips?
I’m currently training an obese 12 year old. First and foremost make the workouts fun; something he can look forward to. Tennis is great. Get yourself a light medicine ball. Throwing one back and forth is a great workout. Agility/balance work is also important… hopping, ladder work, tumbling. Sprint and cone drills are good too. Flexibility is also an issue. He’ll start to loosen up once he gets into the swing of things, but make sure he’s stretching. Also something I noticed is that his joints will get sore quickly… they’re young and have to support a large load. Build up capacity and make him tell you when it hurts. Cycling is great because it doesn’t put much pressure on the joints. I encourged my client to get a recumbant bike and he rides it while he watches TV. And, of course, diet! I’m having a hard time keeping my client away from the cheese fries, hot dogs, bagels with creamcheese, etc. Ug, kills all the hard work!
You have to get him to change his lifestyle…teach him proper nutrition, slowly cut out all the crap that he eats. Try and get him to replace some of that Nintendo with GPP and jump ropes maybe some body weight exercises…good luck and I hope you have patience cause it wouldn’t be easy
Try lots of things that will be, most importantly, fun. Mountain biking. Roller hockey. Racquetball. Rock climbing. Skateboarding. Maybe something non-competetive, but still vigorous. The thing is to get activity, but let him still be a kid.
Since he probably watches a lot of television, I would have him watch motivational movies like the Rocky series and martial arts movies (espescially bloodsport and kickboxer.) Movies like these helped to give me my motivation. I would just make sure he watches them without a coke and bucket of buttery popcorn.
If you are interested in rep schemes, # of days, types of exercises and such let me know and I will be glad to assist. The tennis is a good start. Does he like it?
I recommend doing activities you both can do, like pickup basketball. Always stretch with him, do some strength activity(lifting of any form), some agility work(ladder,gpp) and some cardio(a sport like basketball or flag football) and stress nutrition and fun first.
That is one of the worst replys ive read. an
obese child doing sprint and agility work when you said yourself beware of the joints. im not trying to piss you off but if you think that what you wrote there is worth charging for your wrong. somthing is better then nothing of coarse, but you you shouldnt have to pay when somthing is what your doing.
Perhaps break his exercise into some different catergories. resistance training, skills, and play. resistance work three times a week, using alot of the same principles of strength and conditioning, but like people have said do exercises that are bodyweight focused, be creative with it. for play, some games like people sugested such as roller hocky or even just roller blading would be good, somthing thats not going to agrivate him or his body, what tye of sports would a short, chubby kid like to play if he is playing against people that are better than him, what can a short chubby kid do? basketball, skateboarding and somthings like that might be a little hard or discoraging, some boxing against the light bag i think would be good, the batting nets, be creative. and for skills, stuff that isnt training, maybe stay away from formal stuff like cone drills and agility laders. look at where kids develope their skils, in the playground, on the jungal gym. if he is obese, maybe he hasnt played much and is a little behind in this stuff, that creates a circle that will keep him in it. im not sure if a twelve year old is still into this type of play, but you get the idea. charles poliquin has a bit of info on resistance training in his Q & A colum for younger people that would be very good to read.