Youth Resistance Training

In today’s athletic world, adolescent strength & conditioning is becoming more prevalent, as more and more young athletes are realizing the benefits of resistance training on their performance on the courts & fields.

 This wasn’t always the case, and there are still many out there that believe lifting weights as a young person can be detrimental to their health. The reality is that nothing could be further from the truth. Just as with any physical activity, there are some risks, but these risks are mitigated by having those youth athletes train under supervision from certfied youth strength & conditioning specialists. Roughly 10 years ago the National Strength & Conditioning Association released an updated position on Youth Resistance Training. This article (you can find HERE) goes on to conclued that “Despite outdated concerns regarding the safety or effectiveness of youth resistance training, scientific evidence and clinical impressions indicate that youth resistance training has the potential to offer observable health and fitness value to children and adolescents, provided that appropriate training guidelines are followed and qualified instruction is available.”

The truth of the matter is young athletes should be spending less time specializing in a sport, and should in turn spend that time conducting proper resistance training under qualified coaches. Spending even just 1 day a week performing moderate resistance training would go a long way in preparing the young athlete for sport, as well as help create more resiliance to injury through being a stronger athlete. “Strenght is never a weakness” -Mark Bell