Training for children

Hey, this is a serious question, and I know a young boy at the age of 9 who wants to train in martial arts. I was wondering, what excersizes should I do with him or for him to get him stronger and get better cardio. Thanks in advance for the help.

 

uppin

 

thanks..

 

Hey, you ttt your thread again before it gets knocked off the first page and I'll slap you with a ban so fast it'll make your impatient little head spin.

The easy answer? make sure he enjoys what he's doing, lifts with good form, and isn't forced into it. The same general rules for exercise exist for ALL humans: compound exercises, Focus on progress, keep your form good, rotate when you stagnate.

For kids, Ross Enamait's programs are the easiest cookie cutter solution for both strength and power, but you could easily put him on a program like the one in the stickies, keeping the reps 3-5 reps higher per set for a couple years.

But seriously... if you're this impatient on an internet forum, where the outcome doesn't have detrimental effects, I don't know that you should be training any 9 year old.

 

have him doing push-ups and sit-ups, jump squats and light weighted stuff. Ross Enamait-style training too. You don't put 9 year olds on weight lifting programs.

 

Care to explain the bold comment?

 

Why not?

 

Lack of motivation and in some cases discipline. Safety, failure to do it with right form. Everything pretty much, besides they're still growing at that age. How many parents would be cool with you putting their child on a weight training program anyway?

 

Sorry bout the ttt. ALright so just focus on form and put him through a regular program? I was just making sure I wouldn't have been doing something wrong.

 

"Pediatricians are often asked to give advice on the safety and efficacy of strength-training programs for children and adolescents. This statement, which is a revision of a previous American Academy of Pediatrics policy statement, defines relevant terminology and provides current information on risks and benefits of strength training for children and adolescents."

Strength Training by Children and Adolescents -- Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness 121 (4): 835 -- Pediatrics

 

Mods, how many times have we had the topic of weight trainning for children come up? Can we please put something in the FAQ about children and weight training!!!

grrthetree, care to explain why you should not put kids on a weight training program that is well supervised, and where the childs form and technique is closely monitored. Yes children are still growing, and the problem with doing weights whilst you are still growing is what exactly?

Please if you are going to make such a bold statement regarding children and weight training at least give some creditable reasons.

 

From now on, automatic dubs for anyone who says weight lifting is dangerous for kids.

Don't spread stupidity, it does it well enough on it's own.

 

Light squating, dynamic lunges, pullups, dips, crunches, burpee's....I don't know. Don't kill the kid, but it doesn't hurt to start him early.

 

I think I just found my new sig. If you don't mind that is Cap'n

 

Thanks for confirming what I thought was right. And if this is a reoccuring topic, the mods should put it in the FAQ or somethin

 

i remember attending a lecture on an issue like this, and they talked about how sprinting and jumping puts more stress on the growth plates then a squat and a deadlift with proper form. Has anybody else heard of this?

 

As far as I know Asians and Eastern Europeans start their kids off with olympic weightlifting at 11-12, but don't let them train at a very high intensity with weights until 14. The first years are used to learn technique and involve a lot of GPP style stuff. I would suggest either track and field or gymnastics over an actual weight training or conditioning regime at this age.

 

Get the kid into gymnastics and do yourself a serious favor and read "Children and Sports Training" by Josef Drabek. It is BY FAR the most comprehensive book on the development of children and sports I've ever read, probably the best book ever written in the U.S. on the subject and will answer all your questions and more. Anyone with a child who is going to play sports should be FORCED to read this book.

Children can do forms of bodyweight resistance exercises and certain drills at the age of 9 but the majority of their training needs to be focused on building kinesthetic awareness, motor skills and coordination, and reaction timing, not doing a bunch of strength training.

They do not yet have the hormonal mechanisms in place to benefit from real strength work and their training needs to be focused on the things I just mentioned because this is where the have the most physiological opportunities to develop at that age.

The primary role of strength training is to stimulate increased protein synthesis and this is largely processed through hormonal mechanics which children at the age of 9 do not yet possses.

You can't simply use the same training principles for children as you use for adults, they DO NOT have the same capacities or development of the various systems of adaptation. It is not until the age of 13-14 that they really develop the capacity for anaerobic exercise and the vast majority of their training should be aerobic before then.

It is a HUGE mistake to just put kids on less intense versions of adult programs and will ultimately seriously hinder their development and performances later on. The europeans for the most part play specially developed games that build motor skills and the things I mentioned earlier with young athletes and then progress them through the ifferent stages of development very precisely. I'm not particularly familar with Ross Enamit or whoever's training but I highly doubt his program was developed with children at the age of 9 in mind so I would not recommend using his program.

If you want to know more about how to properly train children, read the book.

 

EZA,

I agree in part with your post, however, I have never heard of the book "Children and Sports Training" or the author, Josef Drabek. But I would be interested to hear what his credentials are? I googled his name and the book title but came up with nothing?

Two of my favourite authors on the topic of physical training are Yuri Verkhoshanky and Mel Siff, Well educated, experienced and decades of practicle application ranging from children to elite athletes.

I agree that "building kinesthetic awareness, motor skills and coordination, and reaction timing..." should be the focus of a childs physical training program. But I think strength training should also be incorperated into a childs overall training program.

A well structured, closely supervised resistance training program can benfit a child, and help build a solid training foundation for sports as they grow up.

 

as I have stated on many previous occasions:

"Experts who advise against resistance training for children have obviously never grown up on a farm"