Demystifying Strength Training of the Youth Athlete

by George Raum, OMS-V

Against the advice of many in the field of sports medicine, youth sport specialization continues a commonly observed choice of many parents and young athletes. With estimates of up to 41% of athletes focusing a single sport, many of these families join club teams, seek out positional-specific private coaching as well as strength and conditioning in an attempt to improve their ability at their chosen sport.(1) In response to the demand, the fitness industry has responded. Gyms across the country have opened their doors to the youth athlete. Some facilities were created with the sole focus of working with athletes from the little league to high school level. So, when a parent approaches you during a visit with their child, and asks if their young athlete should be working out: What should your response be?

The short answer is yes, but it is a team decision.

Let’s talk about the long answer and address some of the concerns parents and physicians may have about youth strength and conditioning. A position statement released in 2014, endorsed by major medical organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine, provided the recommendations and considerations for resistance training the youth athlete. There are numerous studies that resistance training in the youth athlete can improve performance in domains such as strength, power, coordination and speed. But even more enticing is the ability to mitigate injury in these athletes, and prolong the healthy, active lifestyle for them. (2) There is no concrete age minimum for starting resistance training and children as young as 5 have been found to benefit. However, most children are ready for training at age 7. (3) Children and adolescents have an incredible ability to adapt to stimuli. By starting training early in age, younger athletes are able to build efficient movement patterns across a wide variety of domains, that they can execute throughout their athletic career. Studies have shown younger athletes can experience greater benefit because of their increased ability to adapt. (4,5) Neuromuscular deficits have been associated with higher risk of injury in sports such as swimming and baseball, and these deficits can be targeted by a strength coach if correctly identified. (6,7) This sets them up for a long, healthy careers for the athletic and exercise endeavors they choose to participate in. This is a goal that should be maintained for all children, to maintain a lifelong relationship with healthy physical activity. For specialized athletes, strength training prepares them for the physical demands their bodies are going to face at the competitive level of sport, while also enhancing diverse motor skill development and mitigating some of the risk factors of injury involved with specializing in sport. (8)

There have been longstanding misconceptions that weight training is bad for bone health and is dangerous for kids. However, research has actually shown the opposite. Strength training has been shown to have a synergistic impact on bone mass with normal age-related change in children. (9,10) Also the injury rates during conditioning have been observed to be similar, or lower than the injury rates in other popular sporting activities such as basketball and soccer. (11) However, there are other challenges and limitations that need to be kept in mind. Unsupervised activity may not be as beneficial as working with a coach. Strength coaches can identify and target deficits in movement as well as develop programming appropriate for the athlete. This is important as it is essential to dose the activity for the athlete correctly. Dose is important to prevent injury due to training, as well as to mitigate the burnout effect of including more training hours into a youth athlete’s schedule. (3) Coaches can be vital in providing the right modality, at the right intensity for the right amount of time. Training with a coach can be very expensive, this can compound on top of the costs of competing in organized sport. Future investigation on how to make quality training available to all youth athletes, such as in school, would be beneficial. While the physical factors of training are important to monitor, the child’s emotional, social and cognitive well-being needs to be taken into account as well. (3) Participation in sports and exercise is related to having fun while participating. (3) It is important to keep an open dialogue with the athlete to monitor the intrinsic motivation to partake in sport, and the athlete’s parents to keep this goal in mind. If the locus of motivation for participation in sport leaves from the youth athlete to the parent, it may be appropriate to shift the conversation towards reducing the amount of participation. Open communication between is important in both the decision to specialize, and the decision to train outside of sport. Physicians have the opportunity to encourage healthy participation in strength training and sport, by teaming up with athletes, parents, sports coaches and strength and conditioning coaches.

George is a OMS-V at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. You can follow him on Twitter at @GeorgeRaumMed

References

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