Resistance Training for Kids and Teens

The following is taken from, “Position statement on youth resistance training: The 2014 International Consensus”
Did you know that strength training for your child or teen has been shown to elicit favourable short-term influences on musculoskeletal health, body composition and cardiovascular risk factors? And that resistance training should be viewed as a long-term, year-round commitment to a well-constructed and varied periodized programme.
Children and adolescents should be encouraged to participate regularly in play, games, sports and planned exercise in the context of school and community activities. Physical activity is essential for normal growth and development. Youth programmes that enhance muscular strength and fundamental movement skill performance in early life appear to build the foundation for an active lifestyle in later life. Since muscular strength is an essential component of motor skill performance, developing competence and confidence to perform resistance exercise during the growing years may have important long-term implications for health, fitness and sports performance.
Did you know adolescents who are overweight and obese are more than twice as likely to be injured in sports and other physical activities compared with their peers who are not overweight or obese?
Childhood may be the opportune time to build bone mass and enhance bone structure by participating in weight-bearing physical activities. Research has shown that mechanical stress placed on the developing growth plates from resistance exercise or high strain eliciting sports such as gymnastics or weightlifting may be beneficial for bone formation and growth. Contrary to popular belief, childhood and adolescence are indeed key developmental periods for increasing bone-mineral density, and that failure to participate in moderate-to-vigorous weight-bearing physical activity during these stages of growth may predispose individuals to long-term bone-health implications.
Participation in physical activity should not begin with competitive sports but should evolve out of preparatory fitness conditioning that is sensibly progressed over time.
This notion is supported by the fact that basic jumping and landing activities commonly encountered within both competitive sports and free-play activities can expose individuals to ground reaction forces of approximately 5-7 times bodyweight!!! These forces are in excess of the forces experienced during resistance training. Strength training gives children and youth the ideal opportunity to prepare themselves for the rigours of sport!
Strength training is also important for girls!
Musculoskeletal growth during puberty, in the absence of corresponding neuromuscular adaptations, may facilitate the development of abnormal joint mechanics and injury risk factors in adolescent girls. “… females who did not participate in resistance training programmes as they matured developed injury risk factors (eg, increased knee valgus moment when landing).”
Strength training is also great for mental health!
Physical activity interventions inclusive of resistance training can lead to an improvement in psychological well-being, mood and self-appraisal. It has been reported that adolescent girls improved their physical self-perceptions in response to an 8-week resistance training programme. Similarly, various measures of self-concept have been shown to improve in adolescent males and females after a 12-week resistance training programme.
With everything we know about strength training for children and youth, the best time to start your child is now! Contact us at CrossFit Vernon for more information.

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