Kids Lifting Weights?

It is common knowledge the dangers of a sedentary lifestyle for kids can lead to diseases like obesity and juvenile diabetes, but how do you get your kid away from the video game and into the outdoors where he or she can exercise instead?

For The Early Show's Study Hall report CBS News Correspondent Tracy Smith found a gym in New York City with a unique solution.

If your child is not one for competitive sports, maybe you should put him or her on the bench, the weight bench, that is.

Not that long ago, the gym was a place reserved for muscle men and a Schwarzenegger-size physique was the ultimate goal.

Now, a gym in New York City is the first place in the country to offer shrink-to-fit weightlifting classes for kids. Call it pumping iron for the playschool set.

Working out, one 11-year-old says, "I usually do three sets of 15."

She has been pumping iron once a week for about five months now, and she's seeing results.

"I lost 5 pounds," she says. "And I feel a lot stronger, and I can stay at things longer, and it's easier to exercise."

Angelique is part of a class at Chelsea Piers Gym that combines cardio with lifting weights on equipment designed especially for kids.

The machines are just like the ones in adult gyms with a few exceptions: They are a lot more colorful. They all have names like, "Oscar." The max you can lift is 20 pounds. And if you do something wrong, an alarm goes off. Experts say it's that supervision that's key.

However, Jack Hyman, Chelsea Piers director of Youth Fitness, points out this is not body building.

"Not even close," he says. "It is really meant to give resistance to toned muscles; also to teach kids how to use their bodies both with form and with strength. That's, really, how it's been designed."

Derrante admits he used to be a couch potato, but now, the boy says his muscles have gotten bigger in this class and he likes to show them off.

And added strength has given Angelique an added benefit, too.

She explains, "If you're, like, chasing somebody and you're faster than them…"

Smith interrupts, "Like a boy? Are you chasing boys, Angelique?"

"You want the truth?" she asks laughing and quickly answers, "Yeah."

And that is the real bonus.