Photo by Chris O'Meara/AP

Videos aim to get kids fit Exercise videos for children created by Tampa family Diets and Jane Fonda exercise videos weren't working for a couple struggling to get their sons in shape One wouldn't stop eating. The other wouldn't get off the couch. At ages 8 and 10, Austin and Benjamin Schwartz were too young to join a fitness gym.

"We couldn't find any exercise videos geared for them. The boys said Jane Fonda was too hard and Richard Simmons was for old fat ladies," said Janine Schwartz, the boys mother. "I said to my husband, ‘Well, we'll just have to make a tape ourselves. But we didn't have a clue."

She did some research and discovered there were millions of overweight children. The Schwartzes, who live in Tampa, found a pair of fitness experts to develop routines for children, a composer to write the music and a production company to film the workouts.

It took nearly two years, but the result was two fast-paced, 30-minute videos for children ages 4 to 8 and 8 years and older. The "Movin'&Groovin' Fitness for Kids" videotapes went on the market in July 2000.

"At first I laughed when they told me," said Austin Schwartz, who at age 8 had 160 pounds on his 4-foot-7 frame. "I was not impressed. I never thought it was going to be a full-blown production." The workout class includes neighborhood kids — including the Schwartz boys — and youngsters from a dance studio.

They stretch, run in place and jump rope to the beat of pop, rap, country and Calypso. They sing about nutrition and respect. They use themes for sets such as the Wild West and the islands. Some children wear colorful costumes.

Air Force Staff Sgt. Tony Webb, a personal trainer from MacDill Air Force Base and now stationed in Okinawa, Japan, and aerobics teacher Linda Harris, of Tampa, lead the exercises.

A recent national study found that American children are getting fat at an alarming rate. The number of significantly overweight Hispanic and black children has doubled and the number for white children has climbed by 50 percent in the past 12 years.

Video games and fast food Among the reasons health experts cite are children using computers, watching television and playing video games instead of getting involved in physical activities and busy parents relying more on fast foods to feed their families. The findings appeared in a December issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The Schwartzes came up with the video idea after trying to get help for Austin. They took him to doctors, dietitians and an endocrinologist. They restricted his diet. Nothing worked.

"The greatest thing in the world is our kids. To sit there and do nothing was inconceivable," said Austin's father, Mike Schwartz, a health care consultant who has also struggled with his weight.

When Austin started using the exercise tape, he dropped 30 pounds and trimmed eight inches from his 42-inch waist in less than four months. His cardiovascular system improved. He was able to compete in sports. He had the skill for football and baseball, but not the endurance.

The battle has helped Austin, now 12, not only physically but emotionally as well. It has given his self-esteem a boost. "I know how it feels because I am overweight," he said. "I hope other kids who are overweight get to try this opportunity and feel better about themselves.

" However, his fight with the extra pounds isn t over. Mter adding two inches to his waist, he s back working out with the videotape. "He still has a way to go. We're working on it," Janine Schwartz said.

Benjamin, on the other hand, has never struggled with weight.A self-described computer geek, he was too sedentary. "A couch potato," his mother said. Benjamin, now 14, was indifferent to the exercise video until he started working out with it. "I thought nothing would happen with it," he said. "It was fun doing the workout. No kid likes it until they start doing it.

" Marilyn Arnold, a physical education teacher in Grandview, Wash., uses the exercise tapes for her 750 elementary school students. When the gymnasium isn t available, she moves desks in the classroom and turns on the tape.

"The videos have ordinary kids in all shapes and sizes, wearing shorts and T-shirts. They make mistakes. They aren t skinny ballerinas," Arnold said. "When my kids look at it they see themselves there. They can follow the routine the first time through it. The songs are short. Without realizing it, they are exercising." www.exerciseforkids.com