Strength and conditioning Training is not training to see how much weight one can push around the gymnasium. Simply expressed, Strength and conditioning Training is a method of conditioning that will increase an individual’s power to handle the physical requirements of activity. Strength Training may involve the use of weights or other external immunity (bands, medicine balls, pulleys, etc.), it may involve body weight (push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, etc.,) and it may involve the use of body weight and ground forces (skipping, hopping, jumping, etc.) There is an interesting trend in the physical activity of today’s youth, a trend that makes the integration of a Strength and conditioning training program more important than ever. Today, kids are specializing in a particular sport at an early age. Kids are picking one sport and playing it year round. Because of this specialization and the fact that kids don’t engage in “free play” the way they used to, young athletes today aren’t developing the fundamental motor skills, and musculoskeletal balance necessary for peak performance and injury prevention.
We all want our young athlete to be as successful on the field as possible. Coaches pass a great deal of time with young athletes on skills and practices. Parents enter children in speed and legerity camps and provide private instruction hoping to develop a better player. While skills and practices and sport specific instruction may make the player more expert kicking a soccer ball or throwing a baseball, chances are they won’t make them a better overall athlete, and they surely won’t decrease the chance of sport related injury.
Continual training of only specific sport related movements tends not only to limit performance, but sets the stage for imperfect movement patterns and overuse injury. In most sports, common sites for overuse injuries include the heel, ankle, and knees. You can add shoulders and elbows to that list for the young baseball, tennis, and volleyball player. Well designed Strength and conditioning Training programs will not only make muscles stronger but will strengthen other supporting tissues like bone, ligaments and tendons thus decreasing the chance of keen injuries such and sprains and ligament tears.
Health organizations such as the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), have helped put to rest the long held belief that Strength and conditioning training for children is insecure and ineffective. These organizations now support the participation of children in appropriately designed and competently oversaw Strength and conditioning training programs.
At what age can a child begin a Strength and conditioning training program? If a child has the capacity to follow guidances, then the child is old enough to follow a properly designed and oversaw age-appropriate strength training program. Protect your young athlete’s future and let them bring their game to the next level.




