Jul 10, 2017First Steps
As a high school coach, one of the greatest benefits entails working with young people. However, coaching teens can also be challenging. One of those challenges is that their bodies are still evolving and growing. That can make it difficult to gauge when to begin strength training, how to design the right program, and if it’s even beneficial to them.
As detailed on a blog at usafootball.com, the most important part of starting young people with weight training is identifying the correct types of exercises. Children as young as seven or eight years old can technically start strength training activities, but they should only their body weight as resistance. Typically, at age 13, a child’s nervous system and muscles are developing into maturity. By 14 or 15 years old, emerging adolescents are ready to experience entry-level weight training.
As a result, most athletes entering high school are able to focus on more advanced programs and sport-specific workouts. However, don’t jump to conclusions in terms of how much previous experience your players have had with strength training. You should always consult new athletes and ask them about what they’ve done, if anything, in the past.
According to Scott Riewald and Keith Cinea of the National Strength and Conditioning Association Education Department, the proper way to introduce young athletes to strength training is through body weight exercises. These activities involve using an individual’s own body force as resistance, instead of combining additional weights. For example, this can include push-ups, pull ups, sit ups, back extensions, lunges or squats, step-ups, and dips.
These exercises strengthen an athlete’s core muscles in order to stabilize the body. They help develop a strength base in key muscles that allow the athletes to move into more advanced activities. As an athlete progresses, you can introduce multi-joint lifts, free weights, and low intensity plyometrics.
Any initial program should be designed to build muscular endurance. You can begin with having your athletes perform one set of 15 repetitions for each activity. As the exercises become more advanced, you should shoot for three sets containing between six and 15 repetitions. These programs should be implemented three times each week.
Ultimately, according to an article posted by the International Youth Conditioning Association, a good program for young athletes must be progressive, comprehensive, possess variation, and encourage hard work.
For a program to be progressive, this means that your athletes need to systematically expand on the amount of work or weight for each exercise. Progress can be achieved by increasing the number of repetitions, increasing the amount of weight, or decreasing the amount of rest time between sets. You can implement one or even a combination of these strategies.
In order to achieve comprehensiveness, a workout should address every major muscle group in the body–chest, upper back, shoulders, biceps, triceps, neck, abdominals, lower back, hips, glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves. An equal amount of training should be applied to each part of the body.
Although a well-rounded program is key, new stressors must be introduced to the body. This variety not only helps muscles grow and progress, it also keeps athletes engaged. At the same time, though, a routine should not be changed too quickly, as the muscular tissue requires time to gradually adapt to new stress. In addition, it can be difficult to determine if the new program is working or not if it is changed too often. Ideally, a workout routine should be altered every six to 12 weeks. This modification can be as simple as changing the number of repetitions, the number of sets, adding exercises, or changing the order.
Lastly, you may be wondering if it really is beneficial to start high school athletes with strength training programs. Indeed, according to Riewald and Cinea, there are many advantages for young athletes. These benefits include improved strength and coordination, increased muscle endurance, improved sport performance, increased bone density, improved health, improved bone strength and bone density, reduced risk for injury, and improved self-image and self-confidence.
Even though many people believe that the best way to track progress is by looking at your athletes’ muscle mass, these gains might not be so visible. Adolescents, especially females, do not produce large amounts of testosterone, which plays an important part in acquiring muscle mass. Therefore, be patient with your athletes, and do not expect them to develop new mass immediately. The keys to proper strength training for young athletes are patience and persistence.
