I was waiting for someone to say that strength training for kids is bad!
This is at least the third thime I have posted about this, nothing new for the older guys around here but anyway here it is!
Previously posted on Supertraining by Dr Siff (You also might find Dr
Siff's book the Facts and Fallacies of Fitness to be useful):
Children constantly try to jump further and higher, beat their
opponents in hand to hand play, hit harder or further, swim or cycle
faster and generally try to do a "1RM" in many different ways. So,
why should one not apply the same principle of controlled progressive
overload to eventually enable a youngster to manage periodic 1RMs?
After all, even serious lifters generally do not execute a
competitive maximum 1RM very often, so why should children not follow
the same rule once they have undergone an adequate general
conditioning period to suit their individual characteristics and
capabilities?
Has anyone come across any research which shows that doing a 1RM
every three to four weeks in a carefully periodised programme causes
irreparable harm to the growth centres of juvenile bones? If you read
some of Dr Yessis' translations in the Soviet Sports Review, you will
come across articles like "School of Growth" which indicate that
heavy loading on growing bones tends to stimulate growth rather than
inhibit it. Now THAT sort of heresy is something that Western coaches
and teachers fail to mention! I wish that I had started training with
weights in my childhood - I have no doubt that I would have been very
much stronger throughout my adult life!
The science and practice of weightlifting for youngsters has been
lucidly described by LS Dvorkin in his textbook "The Young
Weightlifter" and inter alia, based upon the records of hundreds of
soviet youngsters, he stated that Weightlifting did not cause any
significant increase in musculosketelal injury, although he did quote
findings which showed the definite physical benefits of weightlifting
training.
As yet, I am unaware of similarly extensive studies done in the West
on large cohorts of juvenile weightlifters, though anaecdotally
several of us know many adult lifters in the USA and Europe who began
as children and did not lead lives of constant injury, certainly to a
far lesser extent than their colleagues who took part in soccer,
rugby, football, hockey and running. Sadly, some were even killed or
became totally disabled in the contact sports. Studies have shown
that the incidence of serious injury and paraplegia is far higher
among juvenile American footballers than those playing in the NFL. It
seems to me that some of the overreaction aimed against youths taking
up weightlifting should more appropriately be directed at other far
more hazardous sports.
It has never been shown scientifically or clinically that the
periodic imposition of large forces by weight training on the growing
body causes damage to the epiphysial plates.
It is extremely misleading to focus on the alleged risks of weight
training on children when biomechanical research shows that simple
daily activities such as running, jumping, striking or catching can
impose far greater forces on the musculoskeletal system than very
heavy weight training.
Suppose that one child runs a few hundred meters a day in some
sporting or recreational activities. This can easily involve several
thousand foot strikes in which the reaction force imposed on the body
can easily exceed 4 times bodyweight with every stride. Now let
another child do a typical average weight training session with 3-5
sets of squats (say, with 10 reps, 8, 6 and 4 reps), with bodyweight
or more for the last set. That bodyweight is divided between the two
legs, so that, even taking acceleration into account, the loading per
leg is bodyweight or a little more, while the spine is subjected to
the full load on the bar. In other words, the legs and spine in
controlled squatting are exposed to significantly less force than in
running and jumping. Normally, exercises such as squatting will be
done no more than twice a week for a total of about 60 repetitions,
while the running child will run every day and subject the body to
those many thousands of impulsive foot strikes.
Properly constructed well supervised strength and conditioning training for children is good for them! It will lessen their chance of injury and does not have any documented negative side effects.
Poor form, excessive resistance, prolonged conditioning sessions, they would be bad for kids...they would be bad for anyone.
