Youth strength training that is effective requires a strength coach who is qualified to work with young athletes. In addition, supervision, age-appropriate instruction, and safe training practices are required. It is essential to train the upper and lower bodies as well as the abdominal muscles of youth. Circuit training, in which athletes perform exercises for 20 to 40 seconds and count repetitions, is an effective strategy. Non-traditional sources of resistance, such as rubber tubing, medicine balls, ropes, sandbags, and one's own body weight, can make exercise more enjoyable and less daunting. Non-traditional resistance equipment is often less expensive and easier to use and transport for the trainer.
A qualified strength training specialist must always be in charge of supervising young and adolescent users of equipment for strength training.Here are some additional elements to keep in mind.
- Safety- Important safety considerations include avoiding slips, trips, and falls. The floor of the training facility must be free of trip hazards, and there must be no water or water bottles on the floor. Every gym bag must be stowed in the locker room or outside the training area.
- Technique- It is essential to instruct and enforce proper workout technique. A certified adolescent exercise specialist can identify improper exercise form and provide rapid feedback and direction (and remember to give positive feedback when an exercise is done correctly).
- Psychosocial variables- It is essential to recognize that young athletes have psychosocial characteristics that make effective communication crucial. A child fitness specialist must also be able to make exercise enjoyable (NASM 2012).
Whether they participate in soccer, hockey, or BMX racing, young athletes and their parents require the assistance of expert trainers. The following strategies, like specific warm-ups and the use of the NASM Optimum Performance Training TM (OPTTM) model, can give fitness professionals a science-based place to start when making programs for young athletes.
Warm-ups can last between 10 and 15 minutes and should not tire out the athletes too much for the workout. A proper warm-up before resistance exercise may include the following:
- a mix of brief static and dynamic stretching to stimulate muscle movement.
- Pushups, squats, front planks, and lunges are examples of bodyweight exercises.
- Intervals of low-intensity running (Faigenbaum & Myer 2010)
- Rolled foam
NASM Optimum Performance Training TM (OPTTM) model
The three stages of the NASM OPTTM paradigm are stabilization, strength, and power. To determine whether an athlete can raise resistance, you can use objective weight and repetition targets.
However, determining resistance increases by "training age maturity" and athletic ability gains could be helpful. Faigenbaum (2016) proposes that young athletes earn the right to lift additional weight by enhancing their resistance training abilities. Here are several OPT model applications for young athletes.
- The stabilization endurance phase emphasizes foundational exercises to establish motor plans for compound exercises and prime movers. (Dahab & McCambridge, 2009) Young athletes can use body-weight training to focus on the right way to stand, move, and do other activities.
- Young athletes need to be able to do four basic exercises. These are the building blocks for more advanced training.
-Plank on your knees or toes while maintaining a neutral spine position.
-On knees or toes, perform pushups with a neutral spine.
-Squats while keeping the head and upper body still and moving the hips, knees, and ankles.
-Lunges
Other stabilization exercises (including body positions that are slightly unstable) include:
- On the ball, perform a seated dumbbell press overhead.
- AFM column column specialty training 6
- single-leg tubing row
- column specialty training
- Lunge forward for single-leg balance.
- Step-up followed by single-leg balancing, dumbbell curls, and overhead press
Resistance Exercises
When young athletes have built a motor program for near-perfect workout technique and enhanced stability, they can advance to muscle-strengthening exercises. In the OPT paradigm, Phase 2: Strength Endurance focuses on enhancing the strength of the prime movers through workouts performed in more stable body positions. Hypertrophy and maximal strength (Phases 3 and 4 of the Strength Level) are typically not goals for young athletes. Here are some acceptable strength exercises for young athletes:
- Squat to overhead press with a medicine ball.
- AFM 8 column specialty training
- Staggered-position chest press with a tube
- seated rowing machine
- Bench-seated dumbbell overhead press
- Dumbbell squat
The OPT model gives trainers a safe and effective way to help kids and teens improve their overall performance in their chosen sport and get a number of other mental, emotional, and physical benefits as well.
You can help today's youth live a healthy and happy life for the rest of their lives by building on this solid foundation of evidence-based practices and adding your own ideas.
Vital Information Regarding Young Athletes
Professionals in the fitness industry understand how important it is to tailor a client's workout to their specific demands, skills, compensations, and even something as simple and variable as how they feel on a given day. This may be even more true for young athletes, who vary not only in these areas but also in maturity, psychological and behavioral demands, anatomy, and physiology (not just in terms of physical growth).
Temperature Regulation in Young Athletes
The fact that children are less able to regulate their body temperature, may not shock fitness professionals. Nevertheless, many youngsters and adults do not consider this during summer sports training. Due to their smaller size and lower blood volume, children's bodies contain less total water than those of adults, which makes thermo--regulation more challenging for them. The result is that children feel the effects of fluid loss earlier than adults. The metabolic rate is another element.
Anyone who has observed a child consume food is aware that children are fuel-burning factories. This also implies that they warm up faster. For these reasons, it is crucial that trainers closely monitor the vital signs of young athletes in extremely hot and cold climates and that rest, shade, and hydration are supplied as needed to reduce a raised body temperature.
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