Strength Training for children has become more popular over the past decade as parents and professionals have come to realize its benefits for juveniles as young as 5-6 years old.
If a program is properly adjusted for children, they can take part in a wide variety of strength training programs. Furthermore, there are numerous health benefits such as improved athletic performance, injury prevention and development of lifelong exercise habits.
The main causes of injury in strength training programs are faults in exercise techniques or accidental injury, both of which can be addressed by a trained strength and conditioning specialist.
Neural mechanisms appear to be the main mechanism that develops strength improvements in children. Without sufficient concentrations of androgens and peptides to stimulate increases in muscle size, children do not as easily increase their muscle mass as compared to adults. Therefore, programs should not stress such goals as hypertrophy.
Here are some rough guidelines (needs to be tailored to the child’s needs) for strength training progression:
Age 7 years or younger – Introduce child to basic movement patterns with little or no weight. Establish the ideas of a training session. Progress from bodyweight activities. Keep volume low.
8-10 – Gently increase the number of exercises, practice exercise techniques. Begin slow progressive loading of exercises. Keep exercises basic. Increase volume gradually. Monitor stress.
11-13 – Continue progressive loading of each exercise, reiterate exercise technique, and begin more advanced movements with little or no resistance.
14-15 – Progress to more advanced strength training programs. Include sport specific components. Reiterate exercise techniques, increase volume.
16+ - Begin adult programs if background experience has been acquired.
It is crucial that each child enjoys strength training and is having fun. It is better to begin slow rather than surpass the child’s exercise toleration and crush their enthusiasm.
