Strength and conditioning within the youth population is an ever growing industry. Parents, teachers and coaches have realised that long term athletic development can be enhanced and improved through youth participation in S&C. This comes after years of belief that strength training could have negative effects on the growth rate of adolescents due to damage to growth plates and the bones. In contrast, research has repeatedly proven that correct strength and conditioning training poses no greater risks than traditional sports practice (in fact it can be safer), and has no negative effects on the rate of growth of an individual, which is determined solely by genetic disposition.
If you are a parent, and are still unsure about whether your child should be engaging in S&C training, we have got you covered. It is normal to be unsure, especially when there is such a stigma surrounding the field. However, I can assure you that the benefits far outweigh the risks. In this post we will be covering the top 5 reasons why any youth athlete should engage in supervised strength and conditioning training.
1. Considerations for Age-Appropriate Training
Different coaches have different ideas, methods and their own ways as to how and why we should be doing something or not another with our youth athletes. Having said that, no matter what methods are used there are certain no negotiable considerations that any coach and youth athlete must make in strength and conditioning.
The first thing that one must consider is the athlete’s physical maturation level, what we refer to as the PHV (Peak Height Velocity). This is a period in a youth’s life where maximum rate of growth occurs. It is common for youth athletes to suddenly seem like they have forgotten how to run, jump, move and even play a sport that they were so good at. This happens because their body is still figuring out a way to coordinate and move with legs and arms that are suddenly 5 to 10 cm longer. It is also common for many youth athletes to experience what are described as ‘growing pains’. These usually happen around the joints which are used most in the respective sports, for example the ankles and knees in football, basketball and handball players, the shoulders, hips and lower back area in swimmers and water polo players. These pains occur due to the sudden change in bone length, which makes the bones and soft tissues very load intolerant and sensitive. One’s PHV can be determined using a formula, by taking into consideration the athlete’s standing height, sitting height and weight, in relation to their date of birth and gender. When a youth athlete is experiencing their PHV, it is important that certain training methods which might exacerbate the pain, or even induce a lot of overload, should be reduced. We need to keep in mind that in some cases ‘Less is More’ i.e. do less work to get more out of it.
Psychological maturation also plays a big role. A youth athlete needs to be coachable to step into the gym. Being coachable means being able to understand instructions, have fun without being disruptive, take on feedback and have a will to learn. Whenever I get asked whether someone’s child is to young to start, my answer is always “no”, however, I also reply with the question “are they mature enough?”.
In relation to the load management described above, we must also keep in mind that rest and recovery are very important tools for improved performance. Yes, recovery guns and boots are cool, but there is nothing cheaper and more accessible for recovery than a good rest. Youth athletes should be sleeping 8-10 hours at a minimum. Sleep is where recovery occurs, it is where the tissues can repair themselves from the stress they experience. Sleep quality does not only relate to the duration but also to the environment we sleep in and what we do before we sleep. Here is a list of things any youth athlete can do to improve their sleep performance and thus boost their recovery:
- Avoid caffeinated drinks after 14:00;
- Sleep in a dark quiet room;
- Avoid use of screens up to 1 hour before bedtime;
- Eat protein before bed;
- Drink plenty of water and eat nutritious food.
2. Enhanced Athletic Performance
Nowadays, youth athletes are experiencing higher sporting demands than before. It is not uncommon, for example, for athletes of less than eighteen years of age to make their debut with the senior team of their club or else even compete against senior athletes in individual sports. Senior competition participation requires athletes to be more physically competent in all components of fitness, whether that is endurance, speed or strength. This is why professional sports teams put their players through medical screening before signing them. Professional sport requires certain levels of physical performance that are non-negotiable. Certain jump heights, sprints times and strength scores can and should be prerequisites for any youth athlete to make the jump to the senior team. It is thus nor uncommon for youth athletes to spend hours in the gym or on the track chasing these numbers and times.
A good youth strength and conditioning program should be composed of the main basic movements; i.e:
- Sprinting
- Jumping
- Squatting
- Hinging
- Pushing
- Pulling
- Bracing
Strength training for the youth athlete, should include a variety of movement and task challenges. From jumping and skipping, to lifting weights and slamming medicine balls, force production and movement competency are at the top of the priority list. Enhancing force production and rate of force development has a great effect on speed development. The greater the rate at which we can strike the ground, the faster we can propel ourselves forward (refer to Newton’s third law of motion). Thus, if an athlete is looking to get faster down the field, avoid defenders or react quicker towards a moving object (eg: a ball), becoming stronger is essential. The beauty of strength training is that it does not only develop strength. Research suggests that strength training in youth athletes also improves coordination, which is an important attribute to develop in maturing youth athletes (refer to point 1).
Lastly, any youth strength training program should be FUN. If a youth athlete is not enjoying what they are doing, then we are doing it wrong. A variety of jumping tasks, and even games, will ensure that the youth athlete buys into whatever tasks the coach is giving them.
3. Reduced Risk of Injury
Let us refer back to Newton’s 3rd Law of motion which states that “ For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction”. Now let us paint a scenario where a youth athlete performs a quick change of direction. As the athlete plants their foot into the ground, the ground is in return producing force into the athlete’s foot. Now, if this force is greater than the forces that the athlete’s tissues can yield and withstand, then, the chances are that the athlete will get injured, one way or another . Now, had the athlete been performing a good strength and conditioning program, the chances of them being able to withstand those forces would increase since that athlete would be stronger. (Disclaimer: Injury risk is determined by many different factors; this scenario is made up to simplify the explanation).
One of the fundamental principles of strength training is progressive overload. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) the Principle of Progressive Overload states that a program should progressively increase the training load, such that it increases neuromuscular demand to increase further adaptations. This means that a youth athlete stepping into the gym for the first time, should really start with the basics. This does not mean that we do not offer complex tasks for completion, however, it is paramount that load management is a key factor which any S&C coach should keep in mind.
Load management can only be achieved through correct supervision. When choosing a strength and conditioning coach for your child, make sure that you are making the right choice. Youth S&C coaches should be qualified, trained and experienced in order to have the ability to properly coach and supervise a youth athlete. Importance should be given to what we call “ correct form”. Now, one has to understand that different people will find different solutions for the same task at hand. For example, based on limb length, coordination, mobility and strength, a squat can be performed in a thousand ways. This does not mean that one is correct, or incorrect; it just means that there are different solutions to the same task. However, we do have certain technical models that allow us to perform tasks in the most efficient way, which, in return, can potentially help us get stronger, in a more efficient way.
4. Development of Long-Term Health Habits
According to the Long Term Athletic Development Model by Istvan Balyi, the pinnacle and ultimate aim of LTAD is being active for life. This is what a good strength and conditioning program should be doing at a youth level. This is another reason why it is imperative that the youth athlete enjoys attending the strength and conditioning sessions, and that the coach ensures that the environment is one where a youth athlete can feel safe and gain confidence.
Attending weekly S&C sessions can help create habits, discipline and a “hard work pays off” mentality at an early age. Strength and conditioning can also offer the opportunity to obtain measurable and easily accessible objective measures such as vertical jump height, sprint time and strength measurements. Using such tools can be very helpful in keeping young athletes bought into the process and committed to the program. Having these objective measures readily available to athletes will help them see why commitment is important, not only in the short term, but more importantly in the long term.
The reality of elite sports is that less than 1% of youth athletes aged 6-17 years make it to the elite level. This is why it is important for these youth athletes to develop lifelong habits of being active and fitness. Participating in good strength and conditioning training is not just important for athletes. It is also important for the common person, who wishes to live a strong, active life, with the possibility of experiencing less injuries and health issues.
5. Mental and Emotional Benefits
When training for sports performance, going the extra mile is not easy, and it is what usually separates the good athletes from the best. It is easy for youth athletes to just stick to their sports practice, but doing more requires effort, energy and will to improve. Strength and conditioning training can build more than physical ability. Consistency in the gym builds resilience, mental toughness and fortitude. It also builds self-respect, self-worth and discipline. In strength and conditioning we always say that any athlete can have the best S&C coach and program in the World, but it is the consistency that counts.
When a youth athlete is physically more developed on the field, they boast their confidence and perform better. Let us for example take a case where two 14 year old boys are playing football against each other. Player A is already physically tall, has gone through a growth spurt and is developing muscles like an adult. Player B still has to go through a massive growth spurt and is just starting to experience puberty. Player A, will most likely always win in a duel between both players. However, if Player B did extra S&C training, it could help him become stronger, and quicker, thus giving him more confidence when duelling against Player A.
As discussed above, S&C at the youth level is not about the immediate effect, but rather the long term outcomes. It is a process. The process is there to foster good training habits, sleep patterns, mental fortitude and respect towards being healthy and active.
In conclusion, any youth athlete that is determined to improve and learn, will benefit from a proper strength and conditioning program. When looking for an S&C coach for your youth athlete, remember that they need to focus on the basics i.e. there is no such thing as a “sports-specific exercises” unless it involves playing the actual sports. This means that no, the squat is not more sports specific to rugby than it is to football or to tennis. A squat is one of the movements which can be used to strengthen the lower limbs, which in turn gives the athlete more potential to produce force against the ground in their own sport and use that force to perform special and specific tasks.
Written by our own Head of Strength & Conditioning, Liam Harrison.
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