Shockingly, according to the latest NHS stats, almost a quarter of children are overweight or obese by the time they start primary school, and more than a third are unhealthily heavy by the time they leave.

Childhood obesity is a serious problem which Talent Management is sure the majority of parents will hold concerns over. So when the team here first heard about 10-year-old fitness fanatic CJ Senter – who’s rising to stardom under his alias ‘The Workout Kid’ – our initial thoughts were ‘great, anyone that inspires children to get up from the sofa and exercise has to be a good thing’.

CJ is the star of The Workout Kid, a fitness DVD designed to keep kids in shape. Sounds great, right? Sure it is, until you catch a glimpse of the young boy’s physique, seen in the somewhat disturbing picture above. Going one step ahead of a six-pack, CJ is seen here modelling his disconcerting ‘eight-pack’ – a look even adults find hard to achieve without obsessive exercising.

Concerns that CJ is stimulating body image issues with his unfeasible ‘iron board stomach’ has come into question here at Talent Management.

Of course, while CJ is quickly becoming the Justin Beiber of the fitness world, his peers are idolising him and responding positively to his advice. Not surprising given that more and more of the younger generation are becoming fixated on attaining a fat-free, finely toned body.

Sadly, the young star’s appearance on ABC’s Nightline this week revealed that children even younger than CJ now desire the same overdeveloped muscular look. And an 11-year-old even revealed that they’d lost a shocking 10lb in just three weeks by following ‘The Workout Kid’ DVD every day.

So is weight-loss the basis of CJ’s fitness ethics? Apparently so, if what he said on the show is anything to go by: “You can go outside and have fun, but some kids, they’ll just go outside for like 10 minutes and come back in. But if you just do a workout, your body will sweat more. Sweating, it lets, you know, you’re losing weight. You’re really working.”

Throughout CJ’s controversial DVD, factoids about exercise and overall health flash on the screen while he and his friends are working out. One includes: “Flexibility helps prevent injury” – an interesting point given that doctors attribute rising numbers of stress-related injuries in children to excessive workout regimes.

Another says: “60% of the US population does not exercise correctly.” Again, the hypocrisy is laughable. Dr Robert Gotlin, an Orthopaedic and Sports Program Director, told Nightline that children are now doing too much exercise. “What we have nowadays is children playing multiple sports or doing multiple activities,” he said, explaining that just 60 minutes of physical activity every day is adequate. “CJ, running track, playing football and working out… that’s overuse set-up, because he’s doing three different things at one time,” he added, outlining that he had also seen incidences of tendonitis, bone and ligament injuries soar.

You never know, this pint sized 8-pack could be the answer to childhood obesity, or he could kick off an equally disturbing breed of child fitness addicts. So, we ask you – is CJ just an inspiring workout guru or is he addicted to fitness, like Katie Price to Botox?

Comment on our blog and let us know whether you would you like your children to aspire to CJ’s fitness ethics.