http://www.lift4hope.org/2009lfhmedia.html
Kids are just a lot of fun. I feel we as adults can learn a lot from them and from looking back at ourselves as children if we take a second to see it; how simple things were at times, and mainly our view of things. As an adult training and working with kids can be refreshing and remind us of a time when we didn’t know work as work, but hard work as fun, as play. Working, playing hard, and aiming to get better at an event, a sport, or an activity as enjoyment. It can be a nice enlightenment for us as adults who can at times lose sight of those facts and something I think we all need to regrasp at times.
“Troy Paradiso and I acting a fool, Goofing off shooting a
parody video at the end of a hard training session”
But that’s another topic for another time. What I want to briefly touch on is that of training children. Strength and or resistance training and how we should approach it. This is a topic that has bounced up and down over the years and has a lot of DOGMA attached with insufficient data. Thankfully most recently the popular media and medical profession has started to rethink their views on training your children for the better. Like the view seen below published by the Mayo Clinic.
“For kids, what are the benefits of strength training?”
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/strength-training/HQ01010
The above article does a pretty darn good job of covering the major points of training children, and much that I agree with. I simply want to take a minute here to stress a few of those issues I feel are the most important. Build on what they touch and possibly kill some dogma along the way.
Resistance training will stunt my Childs growth.
This is by far the largest reply you will get to any question concerning children and training and while yes its possible it is extremely rare down to a lightening strike being more possible. The growth plates are a lot more indestructible than many put them up to be and one has to work hard and long to try and injure to the point of inhibiting or changing growth.
In fact, strength and resistance training can (possibly) actually enhance growth by strengthen your child's bones, improving the density of them. Due to the skeletal structure being under load it to has to adapt. Being under a load does not just give soft tissue a reason to adapt (grow larger and stronger) but so to, bone adapts to the stimulus you apply to it making it larger, denser, and causing it to store more calcium etc., in order to take the stimulus you require of it. These effects at an early age can pay huge dividends in years to come.
Keep it sane
More on this all later, but for now as it relates to the above, keep the intensity of work at a sane level. Kids can be worked hard sure, but they will naturally do so. They are kids, they like that stuff. Play and hard work is not work to them like it is to many adults, they haven’t had activity ruined by a poor relationship with exercise.
So the main thing you can do for them to avoid injury is start slow. Show the importance of technique prior to allowing excessive loads, if need be, seek a qualified coach for proper instruction, supervise them,( again more on this later) but don’t rule them with a heavy hand, let them do stuff, they will work hard. Just make sure they aren’t going to kill themselves when they are training with equipment, make sure they get plenty of rest, and that they get plenty to eat to allow that recovery.
As children they work hard and recover fast as long as they are given the proper rest, environment, and intake to do so. Just think back to if you ever broke a bone as a child how fast they healed so don’t over stress possible bumps, bruises, falls and scrapes; that’s how we learn in life, through our mistakes so you can't let them never fall down.
Use Training to have a Healthy Child
Kids don’t work now, so of course they should strength train. It used to be kids had hard chores. They helped ma and pa in the fields, they milked cows they mowed lawns, painted fences played outside with sticks, swimming in pond, games etc.
Child helps dad work on the family car”
Those days are sadly almost extinct. First it was the adults that largely lost this aspect of life, moving to desk and service based jobs. Now, after my generation, the children largely have as well. Kids just don’t, or arent allowed to run ramped like we did. Ride their bikes around the neighborhood, start trouble, and be made to do house work. Therefore they need physical activity imparted or better yet shown and allowed to them in order to simply grow and be healthy as they should.
Resistance / strength training will again aid growth, help promote healthy blood pressure, cholesterol, and fight off (I can't even believe this is a problem now in children) adult onset diabetes levels. It will boost your child's metabolism, help your child maintain a healthy weight and improve their energy and self-esteem.
What’s to argue? Do the benefits not greatly outweight the possible risks right there in one short paragraph?
Don’t specialize too early
There are so damn many people out there that are hanging the bank on their kids being the next Tiger Woods, the next NFL, NBA, or MLB star that they start a very specialized and stressful training regime at an early age. STOP. Get your own life! Don’t impart your failing at doing what it takes to live your dream on your child and ruin their life and possible relationship with healthy activity. Let the kids be kids, let them try each and every sport their little heart desires. It will actually make a better athlete in the end, more complete and athletic in general and in time they will find what they excel at and what they love.
Proof is in the pudding. Most of the best athletes to date, by far, are not the ones that were forced into one sport at an early age. No, they are the kids that were allowed to grow, to become a great all around athlete and choose the sport or activity they liked the best, and excelled at it as a young adult. Look at the draft picks of varied sports that have become stars. Many of them were very talented multisport athletes even through the collegiate level and only then chose a single sport to focus and excel after becoming a very talented all around athlete.
Lastly keep it, or, let them continue to have FUN
The number one thing you can do to ruin a kids view of training is force it on them at an early age. The last thing kids want at anytime is to be forced to do something. Their automatic reaction will be to rebel against you as soon as they can, and likely they will be left with a negative view of fitness for a LONG while, possibly even for life.
Instead I suggest you simply put them in the environment. Let them come to the gym with you, let them see you doing your sports, your training, and enjoying it. Don’t push it on them. Let them come to it on their own terms. They'll naturally be drawn to it if they simply see you doing it. Let them experiment, let them try things on their own in the gym, and in their own time.
Be patient, wait for them to come to you with questions. Like I said above, just keep and eye out so they don’t kill themselves, but don’t force even form on them to early. In reality kids are born with pretty damn good form naturally, and could likely out squat us lb for lb if they simply put it in their mind to do so, and likely will naturally do it in much better form.
Show me better squat form then that. You'd be hard pressed, and I guarantee you that wasn’t trained, it was simply ingrained. This kid is using his instincts and natural leverages to lift the object. It’s not until later in life that we get bound up, form goes to hell from varied over and under uses, and most of all we over-think things. Kids don’t have our limitations yet. They mindlessly do what comes easy, and naturally to them.
There is no real need to push the kids into it if they have been simply exposed to sports, training, and nutrition through you leading by example. They will want, need, to take part. You wont have to push them hard, they play hard. GO watch a group of kids play a pick up football game, or game of tag, or simply swimming/ playing. They go all day long, and hard, to point of exhaustion and beyond, laughing the whole way as long as they are having FUN! There is no need for you to push them if you just keep it fun.
Keep it fun!! Let them come to you, don’t go to them. Even when they do inevitably come to you keep it light hearted, throw one maybe two things at them, but mainly let them explore what they have interest in, and walk away when they are done for that day. Rest assured they will come back for more if you do so, if they continue to have fun. Better yet if your going to do anything do the opposite and make them stop prior to them wanting to, when they are still having fun.
Make it a privilege to be able to train with you. Make them want to do it even more. A brief moment that they desire, as opposed to a chore they must do. Think of the first time you were allowed to mow the lawn, this was before mowing the lawn became a chore you had to do. Man you wanted so badly to be allowed to mow the lawn. If you keep things fun your kids will always want to do it, don’t force it make it FUN.
Keep it fun!!
Let them try things in their own time, but lead by example
Put them in the atmosphere don’t push it on them
Watch them lead them, but let them fall down and pick themselves back up to try again.
And lastly, take a hard long look at them and try and regain some of that joy you had in your youth for plain old hard work and fun.
References (along with the above linked article)
1. Kraemer, William J. and Zatsiorky, Vladimir M. Science and Practice of Strength Training: Second Edition. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 1995.
2. Faigenbaum, A., Kraemer, W., Cahill, B., Chandler, J., Dziados, J., Elfrink, L., Forman, E., Gaudiose, M., Micheli, L., Nitka, M., and Robers, S. (1996). Youth Resistance Training: Position Statement Paper and Literature Review. Strength and Conditioning, 18(6), 62-75.
3. Pierce, Kyle C., Byrd, Ronald J., and Stone, Michael H. Position Statement Paper and Literature Review. USA Weightlifting.
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