Youth Strength Training: When To Start

From since I can remember there has been a debate over the proper age for young athletes to begin resistance training. We frequent individuals that believe it will stunt your athletes’ growth. Others think it will reduce long term flexibility, and cause injury. The list of myths and misconceptions continues. However, it has never been firmly established at what age resistance training for athletes should begin.

In my opinion, the answer is a resounding “as soon as possible”.

Consider Performance

First of all, rather than using the term resistance training, I prefer the term “performance training”. Any fashion in which we seek to improve ourselves is for performance. Whether it be walking every day to improve your health or learning the proper technique of a front squat to improve your strength. Thus resistance training for young athletes should be treated as if you are looking to improve performance. The magic lies in the SAID principle which stands for specific adaptation to imposed demands. This means that each and every athlete that walks into our doors needs to be assessed and their training needs to be reversed engineered to taking into account their goals, sport, and weaknesses.

Ok then, what’s the right age?

Everybody matures, progresses, and learns differently.  I’ve instructed athletes as young as 10 years old to perform barbell front squats, because they were ready. For young athletes, I believe it is never too early to seek improved performance. When beginning a program with a young athlete they will not start with anything complex or heavy. The goal should not be to increase weight or to add strength, but rather with the focus on improving movement patterns after which load comes into play.

Younger athletes are developing neurologically and physiologically at a faster rate than adults. Therefore, it is imperative to understand pushing strength/power is not at the top of the list of athlete necessities. Greasing the groove and becoming as coordinated and neurologically efficient as possible does. There is no magical age that suddenly you can begin back squatting. 10 years old, or 40, you must earn the right to add load. You do this by mastering the movement pattern first. And that can start at any age.

Build a strong base level of strength

Young athletes must master a lot of primal movement patterns. Squatting, hinging, stepping, crawling, lunging, etc. Building the foundation to display these is vital in improving your young athletes. It can be incorporated into games for better compliance and enjoyment. Personally, I have seen outstanding results with playing freeze tag. You can incorporate single leg movements, tumbling, and skipping to build on these patterns. Unfortunately, there is a misconception that young athletes will get all of the stimulus they need via participation in team sports. This is not the case because many sports develop asymmetries and imbalances in movement patterns. It’s more important than ever to begin resistance training for young athletes because of the sedentary lifestyle most childen live today. Young athletes can benefit from improved motor control as well as reduction of injury from performance training.

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