AGE APPROPRIATE
Weight training restrictions and alternatives.
There’s no ID required for competitive sports. Children are being held to higher skill standards at earlier ages every year. Traveling sports teams with 2-18 year olds venture throughout the country. Like their older counterparts, young athletes are encouraged to do all they can to get an edge. I’m often asked, “At what age can my child begin weight training?” This article will address this question, and provide some effective and safe alternative tips to traditional weight training.
It seems an obvious point, but the capabilities of children are different than those of adults. Their bodies and motor skills are still developing. Kids under 12 generally have significantly less upper body and core strength, a natural developmental progression.
Children ages 4-8 should work on general activities such as running, jumping, skipping and balancing, and fine motor skills like catching, throwing and kicking. These can easily be done through game play. No formal, sport-specific skill training is needed. From ages 8-12, the focus shifts to general endurance, technique and refining skill development to improve running, throwing and kicking. After age 12 children begin to naturally build more muscle mass and bones begin to harden.
Before examining the appropriate strength building activities for children over age 12, we must be clear on the goals for training. Healthy objectives include improving speed, power, balance, and injury prevention. Developing increased body mass should not be the primary goal. In fact, it may not significantly change until the end of puberty. For boys this is around age 17 or 18, and for girls around 16 or 17.
The first priority in strength development for these preteens is to teach good movement technique for running, jumping, throwing and fitness-specific activities, like squatting and lunges. The program should include things like push-ups and balance exercises. Increasing repetitions at the expense of technique is not appropriate or safe for young athletes and could potentially cause injury.
Whole body exercises like squats, lunges and push-ups are preferred over isolated exercises (i.e. weight machines). These work the core stabilizers in addition to the area of primary focus. This is a much more natural and safe way to improve core strength as compared to isolated core exercises like sit-ups.
Technique tips:
• Squats and lunges should be done with the back straight and feet pointed forward. Shoulders should be kept over the knees and the knees over the toes. Knees shouldn’t turn inward or go past the ends of the feet. This is the same technique that should be used later, as weight is added.
• For push-ups, start with the athlete lying on their stomach with feet together and hands placed just outside the shoulders. As they push up, the body should be held straight. As they lower back to the floor, the chin, chest, hips and thighs should all touch the floor at the same time. This develops the same trunk stability and overall strength that will be used during bench presses and shoulder presses.
Since isolated muscle training is not needed in the initial stages of strength training, and considering the skeletal structures of kids, there’s little need for weights. Some of the most commonly trained muscles of the arms and legs attach on the ends of the long bones, where the growth plates are also located. While current research doesn’t support the idea that weight training causes premature growth plate closure, it could initiate irritation, causing a painful condition called apophysitis. Additionally, training isolated muscles with isolated exercises can cause a development of muscle strength imbalances, which can lead to injuries such as tendonitis and low back pain.
• Ages 12 and younger. Focus on coordination, general endurance and body awareness.
• Ages 12-16. Focus on technique development, not muscle mass gain.
• Ages 16 and older. Athletes can begin weight training for isolated muscles as long as proper technique is used and core strength is developed before and concurrently with the isolated area.
As with any training program, a good exercise done incorrectly becomes a bad exercise, and a bad exercise done correctly is still a bad exercise. Perfect practice makes perfect.
Other Trusted Sources:
Mayo Clinic
Nutrition.gov
Fitness
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