If your teenager starts lifting weights, will it stunt their growth?
This is one of the most frustrating myths going around in the Strength and Conditioning world. Teenagers who lift weights properly are at less risk of developing long term chronic injuries. Youth athletes who are aware of their body in space are able to feel postural positions which may lead to injury. They can quickly react to an environmental stimulus and their coordination or general awareness decreases their risk of preventable injuries.
Youth athletes who strength train can utilise their extra muscle mass to physically dominate in sport, take excessive load off their joints and keep playing for longer. We are constantly battling with youth athletes who run out of time for strength training. Their sporting commitments and homework becomes a priority and their gym becomes last on the to do list. We at Resistance Sports Science understand that school commitments and playing the sport our athletes love is more important than being a gym junkie! Sport is great for not only their fitness but their mental health and social engagements. With this said, it is important to understand that a teenager should find time for 2x sessions of strength training per week. Before you take up a second or third sport, think about strength training first. Strength training with professional guidance will give a youth athlete a solid foundation to train, play or generally have fun all year round.
Youth athletes who focus too much on sport and not enough about their body awareness usually surfer from the below injuries
Osgood–Schlatter disease
Severs Disease
Patella Tendinopathy
Chronic Lower Back Pain
Foot Pain
Shin Splints /and or Compartment Syndrome
Tennis Elbow
The way parents typically look at Strength training for youth athletes is still an old school thought process. Gone are the days where the coach needs to yell at their athletes to get great results. ONE MORE REP is not the key to an athletes durability and on field performance. Strength training for youth athletes is more so about body awareness. What if we changed everyone's perception of strength training to an athletes body awareness and injury prevention session? It would be critical to a developing teenagers weekly routine. What if we told a young athlete that we could make you fitter, stronger, bigger, leaner and…… injury free? It’s usually a pretty exciting prospect for young athletes as the majority of them are carrying some sort of injury! 8-9/10 young athletes who come to Resistance Sports Science are suffering from a chronic injury. No matter how small the injury may seem, over a period of 6-12 months it always worsens and makes training or playing the sport they love much more difficult.
With the rapid development of Sports Science, our coaches are now comfortable to manage an athletes load, plan for big events and prescribe guilt free rest periods to avoid burnout. We now understand that an athlete's mental health is just as, if not more important than their physical health. A great mindset with a structured plan is an incredibly motivating combination. It’s no wonder RSS athletes are physically outmatching their opponents.
If you're looking for an extensive junior athlete performance program book an athlete phone screening today to see how The Junior Athlete Hub can help.
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