Movement + Young Kids = Successful Athletes
Today"s guest post is SAPT"s Mike Snowden, Intern Extraordinaire!
Today’s post carries on this month’s idea of training for youngsters. In previous posts we’ve seen how strength training can benefit this population and now we will discuss how movement plays a critical role in a child’s development. Brain development research has shown that humans possess a “window of opportunity” where sensory and movement experiences are necessary. These experiences play a unique part in the social, emotional, spatial awareness, sensory-motor, language, and cognitive skill progress of a child. For the development of skills, this “window of opportunity” is open from before birth to around age 7 and it begins to narrow with age. Experiences during this period are vital in laying the foundation of a person’s motor control skills.
So how can you help a youngster, you might ask?
- Give children lots of sensory-motor experiences, especially of the visual-motor variety.
- Example: Having kids strike, kick, throw, bounce, and catch balls or soft objects of different sizes and shapes with both sides of their body.
- Have your child perform an assortment of gross motor activities involving locomotion, postural regulation, and coordination.
- Example: Crawling, rolling, tumbling, jumping, running, balancing games
- Combine these movement activities with music
- Musical chairs AKA The Best Game Ever!!
- Encourage children to draw and scribble with markers or pencils (on paper not walls) to develop fine motor skills.
- Allow kids to play
- Experiences with outdoor playground equipment stimulate movement exploration (problem solving) and creative play (critical thinking)
The Science
The importance of movement and sensory experiences was found during studies (find a related article here) that compared brain structures of animals raised in environmentally normal, deprived, and enriched settings. The animals that experienced the enriched settings were given the opportunity to interact with toys, treadmills, and obstacle courses (animal playgrounds). This research led to the conclusion that stimulation is a significant factor in overall brain development. Animals placed in enriched environments had brains that were larger and contained more synaptic connections.
What does this have to do with kids?
"Though animal stand-ins don’t exactly represent the biology of the human brain, their brains have many of the same basic structures and functions," - Dr. Sharon Juliano Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
Thus, we can cobble together reasonable theories that can be applied to humans. More information on it can be found here.
(Note: the following is not scientifically verified, but based on our experience over the years with our athletes.) As coaches, we can see the difference in kids who were not active as young children compared to those who were. Kids who were physically active generally have more body awareness, greater overall motor control and strength, and learn new movements relatively easily. At SAPT, let"s say we have an athlete who struggles with the aforementioned skills. We program rolls, crawls, jumps, tumbling drills, and toss-and-catch drills. Guess what? That usually produces vast improvements in their global movement patterns (like the squat or lunge pattern, for example). Not only that, but as their confidence increases as they improve, which only leads to even more improvements as they tackle new exercises and movements. Win!
What that all boils down to is: MOVEMENT! Young kids, (infants, toddlers, etc) need to move. Movement is how they explore and learn about their bodies and how to respond to their environment. Those first 7 years are critical when it comes to developing their motor map. Play on!
Strength Training for Youths: Post-Puberty
Last post delved into training strategies for kids pre-puberty. Today we'll discuss weight training suggestions for kids after they've hit puberty. As I stated before, the American Pediatric Association states that puberty starts around 8-13 (girls) and 10-14 (boys). While a 10 year-old girl might be at the same sexual maturity as a 16 year-old girl, physically, mentally, and emotionally, they're vastly different. Therefore, I'm not going to train a 10 year-old the same as I do a 16 year-old.
So what's different?
To be perfectly honest: not much.The same principles of training youths apply across the age span.
1. Address and improve movement quality
2. Improve body awareness, muscular control, and coordination
3. Progressively overload (add weight or increase the difficulty of exercises) movements to produce positive adaptations appropriate to the athlete's physiological status. (Lotta big words for saying challenge the athlete to grow stronger in ways that will not hurt them.)
Coaches and trainers should always address movement above all. If the athlete moves like poop, adding weight is only going to ingrain the dysfunction that could, ultimately, lead to injury.
That being said, there are a few differences between the two age groups. Older athletes will, typically*, learn movements faster. They've been around longer, played more sports (hopefully), and have a fairly rich movement map. Thus, as they learn proper mechanics quickly, they can handle heavier loads sooner. Does this mean max effort? NO! (stop it, stop that nonsense right now!) It means they can SLOWLY add weights over the course of several months/years to their movements. Strength gains are a marathon, not a sprint.
Older athletes are ususally better at maintaining focus during their workouts (though not always...). This allows room for exercises that require more concentration. For example, an older teenager might front squat with a barbell-
-whereas a younger athlete will squat with a light kettlebell. The barbell squat requires (strength, duh) a greater amount of focus as the athlete has to remain tight to stabilize the bar as well as move in a correct squat pattern. Does this mean a 16 year-old moves straight to the barbell? Nope! They have to prove that a) they have the ability to move in a safe squat pattern (hips back, chest up, knees out) and b) they have the strength (core, upper back, legs). At SAPT we will NOT progress an athlete beyond what we think they're capable of just for the sake of using a barbell.
Older athletes can generally handle more complex movements. For example, a heiden to a med ball throw:
Versus our younger athletes who will work on those two movements independently (jumping and landing, and throwing a ball correctly).
Again, and I can't say this enough, progression should be tailored to the athlete's skill and ability. Throwing a barbell on the back of a teenager just because he's 17 doesn't mean he's able or ready to squat with that barbell. Being 17 does mean that, if he's demonstrated good movement and strength, we can probably progress him to the barbell (we wouldn't do that for a younger kid. They would just continue with kettlebell variations until they've grown a bit more).
The basic principles of training youths across the age-range are the same:
1. Address and improve movement quality
2. Improve body awareness, muscular control, and coordination
3. Progressively overload (add weight or increase the difficulty of exercises) movements to produce positive adaptations appropriate to the athlete's physiological status.
Older athletes will generally be able to:
1. Learn and load movements more quickly than younger athletes
2. Perform exercises that require more concentration
3. Perform more complex exercises
Overall, training youths is like vanilla ice cream: same flavor, different sprinkles.
*I say "typically" because we've seen older kids who have such poor motor control that we have to start them out as we would a 9 year-old and progress them accordingly. What a child does during their infant and toddler years matters! (oooo, teaser for next week!)
Strength Training for Youths: Pre-Puberty
Last week's post listed persuasive (I think so anyway) reasons why kids should enroll in a strength training program. In that post is also a definition of a smart, sound training program. If you can't remember, here's the refresher; it involves none of the max effort, grunting/screaming/shouting version that, unfortunately, is the stereotype of our industry. Parents: NOT ALL TRAINING PROGRAMS ARE CREATED EQUAL!!!
Matter of fact, if you find your 9 year-old doing the same workout as your 16 year-old, something is dreadfully amiss. This post and the next will shed light on the differences that you should see between age groups, broadly, pre-puberty and post-puberty. Now, one thing to keep in mind as you read, these are general guidelines that apply to most of the population. There will be some puberty-stricken kids that are not prepared to train like their peers (meaning, they will be regressed considerably) and there will be some young kiddos who's physical development far exceeds their peers (though it does NOT mean they're ready for large loads; instead they'll have more advanced bodyweight and tempo variations.).
Right, let's hop in.
According to the American Pediatric Association, puberty starts between 8-13 for girls, and 10-14 for boys. For today's discussion, let's assume 15 years is the game changer in physical development. In my experience, kids under 15 still are pretty goofy and often don't have the muscular development that a 15 or 16 year old will (boy or girl). Between 8-15 a LOT of growth happens (and beyond for most boys, but we'll ignore that for now). That segues nicely into my first point:
Strength to weight ratio is a key factor to keep in mind while programming for younger kids. As I mentioned in the prior post, kids grow rapidly and without strength training, their muscle power will be left in the dust. Inadequate muscular strength will force kids to rely on their passive restraints during athletic movement. For example: a baseball pitch (or throw) will require strength in the lower body to produce rotation power, strength in the upper back and rotator cuff to maintain scapular and humeral (shoulder blade and upper arm bone) stability, and a strong core to transfer the power from lower to upper body.
This means, Jonny's shoulder and elbow ligaments are going to take a beating if he's throwing with weak muscles.
Another example: changing direction on a soccer field. The athlete must be strong enough to decelerate herself and then accelerate in a new direction. What happens if her hamstrings, glutes, quads, and core aren't strong enough to stop the motion, stabilize her joints, and reapply force in a new direction? (and this just her body weight, mind you, no external load) Strained (at best) knee ligaments, which typically manifests as the nefarious "knee pain," or, at worst, torn ligaments (good-bye ACL...).
A strength training program for a young athlete that uses heavy weights will only continue to teach the athlete to rely on passive restraints. Why? The athlete is already at a disadvantage by way of rapid growth (the strength:weight ratio is already out-of-whack). Therefore, exercises that utilize body weight or very low weights will avoid overloading the muscles and teach the athlete how to actually use their muscle mass.
The next point is tandem- teaching motor control and body awareness to younger athletes will improve their performance quickly. Kids need to understand MOVEMENTS before they can be expected to load those movements. Focusing on technique is crucial during this growing stage as their adjusting to their new bodies. Teaching kids how to use their hips (instead of their knees or lower back) in a squatting, deadlifting, and rotational pattern will benefit them immensely. Drills that include cross body movements (such as rolls and crawls, meaning left and right side have to coordinate) build "movement" bridges across the two hemispheres of the brain. A coordinated brain means a coordinated body.
Balance drills, such as standing on one foot while performing a medicine ball toss, are excellent in training the vestibular systems (inner ear) as well as teaching the brain to understand the feedback being sent by the foot.
The third point, is key. It must be FUN! Older kids often have the maturity to focus. Younger kids... it's debatable. Some kids are rock stars and can focus better than most adults, however, those athletes are few and far between. Most kids between 8-13 have shorter attention spans and lower stamina than their teenage counterparts. Therefore, we try to make the drills as fun as possible, while still teaching them technique and increasing strength. It's like hiding cauliflower in mac-n-cheese. Hide the good stuff with the delicious stuff. Un-fun sessions lead to unmotivated and easily-distracted athletes... which we all know will not advance their potential at all.
To sum it all up:
1. Focus on increasing strength:weight ratio utilizing body weight/light weight variations to teach young athletes to use their muscles.
2. Incorporate coordination and body awareness drills to TEACH MOVEMENT!
3. Keep the program fun!
Strength Training for Youths: It's Really, Really, REALLY Important
At SAPT, the bulk of our population is 13-18 years old; we have a handful of 9-11 year-olds (though that population is growing quickly) and then college age through the adult spectrum. A lot of parents carry misgivings about weight/strength training for kids under 18, a biggie is "it will stunt their growth." Poo-poo on that! What do you think running around a playground is? Physics, that's what is is: loads and forces acting on the body (just like strength training) except playgrounds are much less planned, controlled, and monitored (I have the scars to prove it).
This month we're going to delve into training for youths, even babies and toddlers too, and WHY IT'S REALLY REALLY IMPORTANT for their growth and development.
Today we're will just be an overview of the benefits of strength training for kids whilst the the following posts will illuminate a bit more details of various aspects of training and their importance for childhood development.
Before we jump in, I want to define what I mean by "weight training." I don't mean slapping a barbell on a kid's back or demanding max effort on all exercises. At SAPT, we take the "cook 'em slow" approach where we start with body weight and maybe utilize some light weights (depending on the kid's age and experience level. ALL of our athletes over 15 start squatting with either 10 or 15lbs. I don't care how "experienced they are.) and then we S.L.O.W.L.Y progress them over months and months. We won't even approach a kid's "max" effort level until they're closer to 17-18, and even then, it's only if they've been training with us for multiple years. We use the least amount of stimulus to invoke an adaptation. That, my friends, is how an athlete improves and stays healthy. None of this don't-stop-till-you-drop nonsense.
The following points are in no particular order, rather, this is the way my brain spat them out. They're all equally beneficial and should be coveted by parents for their children.
1. Bone development: Bones grow stronger when stress is applied. Obviously if the stress greatly exceeds what the bone can handle, it will break, but when applied systematically and progressively, the bones will adapt to the stress and become stronger. There's a pretty sweet physicological process seen here:
This is a most-desired process in young kids and teenagers as their bones have not fully ossified (hardened) yet in some places. Progressions from body weight exercises (utilizing isometric holds and negatives to increase the tension without overloading the kid with weight), to light weights, to more challenging weights when the athlete is ready, is a safe and effective way to help kids develop strong bones.
2. Improve kinesthetic awareness and muscular control: The body is pretty complex with lots of moving parts. As kids grow, they develop better control over the force production of muscles (notice how babies tend to wave they're arms and legs around? They're learning how to control the muscles.) and start to learn where their body is in space. Broadly, this is called motor learning and each person has a motor pattern map, if you will. Think of the map as a topographical kind that show hills and valleys and other such features.
A movement map is much the same, instead of hills and valleys, various movement patterns speckle the landscape. Now, I'm going to mix metaphors so stay with me on this one: the movement patterns are similar to computer programs. The brain knows what muscles need to fire for which movements and the forces needed, i.e. throwing a ball overhead, and thus the movement is achieved.
In order to have a successful athlete (or human being for that matter), the movement map must be rich and full of a variety of movement patterns. This way, as the body goes through life, the brain already knows how the body should respond. For example, let's say a kid learns how to throw a ball. The basic program of throwing an object overhead is there. From that program, the brain can easily learn how to throw a baseball or a football because that basic pattern is in place. Taken a step further, the brain could also learn how to perform a tennis serve, since it's the same overhead motion. So a kid who never learns that over head pattern of throwing a ball, will have a tougher time learning overhead motions as they grow.
Side note: "throw like a girl" is a phrase that annoys me. It's not our gender's fault that most** of us aren't taught from a young age like a lot of boys to throw over hand. In conjunction with that, Eric Cressey wrote a cool article about the bony development of shoulders that are exposed to overhead throwing during the ages of 8-13. READ ME, seriously. So there you go, the neurological and physical influence movements have on kids.
Ok, have you drifted off to Facebook yet? No? Good, this is more informative anyway. Weight training (and all the many, many movements that encompasses like rolls, crawls, and the more traditional movements) exposes young athletes to lots and lots of new movements and force production needs. They develop muscular control through the deceleration and acceleration phases of movements as well as how much force the muscles need to generate to create movements. All this enriches their movement maps and sets them up to be successful athletic learners.
3. Maintaining a good strength-to-weight ratio: Kids grow rather quickly. As such, then need to train in a way to increase their muscular strength to go with that growing body. Ever notice how teenagers can be fairly awkward (physically, that is) when they're in the middle of a growth spurt? That's because their muscles haven't caught up to the new length of limbs. Strength training will not only improve muscular control but also teach the brain how to direct the muscles accordingly as they grow. (See Point Number 2 above). It's similar to Milo of Croton carrying a calf up a mountain every day until it was a fully grown ox. What a deliciously ancient example of progressive overload and subsequent adaptation!
4. Strong athletes win: Maybe not the game every time, but athletes that are strong are less susceptible to overuse injuries (due to stronger tendons and ligaments), recover more quickly when injuries do occur, and they are able to adapt to game-time situations (thanks to their rich motor pattern map).
I could continue, but this post is already much longer than I intended it to be. This should convince you that a strength training program designed by responsible, knowledgeable, and maybe a little weird, coaches are exactly what young athletes need to promote growth and successful long term development.
**My dad taught me how to throw and catch a baseball, football, and frisbee. His foresight prevented me from "throwing like a girl." Thanks, Dad!
Strength Training For Referees: The Other Side of Athletics
Lift. Heavy. Things. That's a shocker, right?
But seriously, strength training regularly is exactly what refs and umpires need to stay in tip-top shape and last through the last second of the game. Weak referees tire, fall behind, and are not a metaphoric coursing river.
The physical demands of referees, at least the ones who run around with the athletes, do not deviate much from what is required of the athletes themselves. And those judges/refs who don'trun around, you should still lift heavy things as a general rule for conquering life. The basis of all movements (including standing during a whole match) is strength. Does your back get achey towards the end of the match? Prevention lies in the iron:
Granted, as the one observing the game, instead of playing, skill practice is not necessary. Being strong is. Can I say that enough in this post? Being strong is a necessary component to all aspects of athletics (and, really, life).Thus, weight training is vital to maintaining a healthy referee.
The beauty of strength training is that it doesn't have to be complicated; consider too that since you're not on a rigorous sport schedule (i.e. practices), your training can be rather minimal while still providing the stimulus needed to gain strength.
Let's say you have 2 days a week to strength train. What do you do? I recommend a full body workout on each day. Dan John presented a framework for training programs. I love it; it’s simple, quick and easy to remember.
Hip hinge (deadlift variation, glute bridge variation or swings)
Squat variation (goblet, barbell, bodyweight)
A Pull (such as a horizontal row variation or a pull/chin up)
A Press (i.e. push-up, bench press, overhead press etc)
Loaded Carry (Farmer Walk variation)
That will hit just about everything and you needn't spend hours in the gym. Hit a total of 25-30 reps of the main movement of the day (such as a 5x5, 5x6, or 4x8 set/rep scheme) and around that same total for the other assistance work. This allow for enough volume to actually have an effect and not too much so that you're overloaded.
Or, if you have 3 days at your disposal, you might want to do a lower, upper, and total body day. Keep the total number of exercises between 4 and 6, with the same 25-30 rep goals.
On the more shallow side, out-of-shape referees tend to draw criticism and heckling. No one wants that.
I know this is a brief post, but it's very simple and I don't want to overcomplicate things. And, frankly, if you're a referee, umpire, or judge, you were probably an athlete yourself and you understand the importance of maintaining strength; I don't want to belabor the the point and insult your intelligence.
Pick up heavy things. Swing Big Bells. And do Chin Ups.
Conditioning Strategies for Field Refs (Including Basketball and Hockey Refs)
If you're a referee for any of the field sports (football, soccer, rugby, field hockey, lacrosse, basketball, and ice hockey.. etc) you're well aware that there is a fair amount of jogging, sprinting, backpedalling, and dodging players throughout the course of a game/match.
Here's some fun facts for you:
1. Elite level soccer refs, head and assistants, run on the average roughly 10km and 7km, respectively per match. Not only that, but of that total distance, roughly 2km and 1km (respectively) is sprinting. That's a lot of sprinting!
2. In that same study of soccer refs, researchers found that main refs work at about 85% of max heart rate and assistants work in the 77% range. Again, that's a pretty high demand on the cardiovascular system.
3. High level rugby referees were found to have a 2:1 work to rest ratio of sprints to jogs/stationary, for a full 90 match. That is NOT a lot of rest between plays!
I imagine that from those studies we can extrapolate physical demands would be similar for football, lacrosse, and field hockey, and ice hockey. I would even venture so far as to say that the metabolic demands of a high-level basketball ref would be close, despite having less distance to travel from one goal to another. To quote the official Hockey Officiating Handbook:
A good official needs to be in excellent physical condition. Whereas players may skate a one-minute shift and then rest for a couple of minutes, the official is called upon to skate the entire game. An official deemed to be overweight and not in shape will have a difficult time keeping up with the play and will oftentimes be out of position.
Granted, the aforementioned stats were found in elite level referees, and I imagine the physical demands diminish proportionally to the level of sport (elite, college, high school and so on.) HOwever, the quote from the hockey handbook, I think, applies for any sporting referee. Think about it: the players are typically younger, have more time to train/recover (they may not have a second job, demands of raising/supporting a family etc.), and they have the goal of winning (which could, especially in a close game, overrule any fatigue).
I would also argue that the ability to maintain a high output throughout the game, especially towards then end when the points becomes more crucial, is essential to being a successful referee.
So, with all this information, what is the most efficient way to train? Here's how I would break it down:
Off-Season:
2-3 days of pure strength training
2 days of conditioning
In-Season:
2 days of pure strength
1-2 days of conditioning (the second day really should be more of a "bonus" day, if a game gets cancelled or something)
Since today's post is about the conditioning aspect, we'll focus on that (the strength portions will be later on). However, I DO want to point out that the strength training does NOT diminish during the season. Strength is the basis of all athleticism, including being a referee. The conditioning sessions drop in-season as actually reffing games will maintain aerobic conditioning.
Once again, that is if you're a consistent reader of this blog, I'm going to direct you to the Energy Systems post I wrote a while back. Why? Because it's important to understand, that's why. Most referees will have the same metabolic demands as a power athlete, that is, they'll be required to have intermittent high-intensity sprints with periods of jogging and/or complete rest. If you don't understand that having a solid aerobic base and how to build it efficiently, you can do all the sprint-repeats you want, but you're not going to get much better at recovering between those sprints without a
Energy Systems (READ ME)
Here are some great options for building the aerobic base:
High Intensity Continuous Training (explained here and here)- This is a great option as the impact is pretty low, so cranky joints shouldn't complain.
Rectangle Runs- Sprint the length of a field (start at roughly 70% and work up to 85% -90% over the course of several sessions). Walk the end lines. 1 rep = sideline sprint + end line walk. Start off with 6-8 reps (depending on your current level of conditioning) and work up to 10-12 reps per session. During the first couple of sessions, make sure your heart rate gets back below 150 beats per minute. As you progress, you'll notice that your heart rate will drop sooner during the rest periods. This bit is important because a) it helps build the aerobic base via recovery and b) allows for full force production during the sprint, thus improving your strength.
If you're really snazzy, you can practice sprinting with your head facing the inside of the field, as you would during a game.
Shuttle Runs - These will help improve change-of-direction and acceleration. The possibilities are endless with the reps and distances and rest periods. Again, to help work on the aerobic base and improve sprint capacity, let your heart rate recover to under 150 bpm between shuttles. Working without full recovery will eke you into the glycolytic state during the sprints and, as we all know, glycolytic power poops out pretty quickly over the course of a lengthy training session/game.
Hill Sprints - Find a menacing hill. Run up. Walk down. Repeat anywhere from 8-15 times. It's a pretty simple one.
Circuit Training- Here's an alternative to actual running for those poopy-weather days. I wrote about it here.
Ok referees, there's now no excuse for NOT training your cardiovascular system to attain tip-top physical condition. Get movin'!
