Starter Speed and Strength

Is it Dangerous for Youth Athletes to Lift Weights?

A common misconception is that strength and conditioning is too dangerous for some youth athletes; however, quite the opposite is true. A properly designed strength and conditioning program can actually decrease the potential for injury in youth athletes.

There will always be injury risks with any type of activity, but lifting weights is no more risky than the sports youth athletes participate in. We must not ignore the obvious benefits of strength training for youth athletes, primarily increasing strength. Consider the research from the NSCA’s Performance Training Journal and the NSCA Position Paper on Youth Training that supports the implementation of a strength and conditioning program for youth athletes.

Youth athletes are more likely to injure themselves with home exercise equipment than with a structured program supervised by a certified coach.
Youth athletes can increase strength by up to 30% with the intervention of an 8- to 20-week program.
Many youth athletes are not prepared physically to meet the demands of their sport due to inadequate training and insufficient muscular strength and cardiovascular conditioning.
One third of youth athletes that participate in organized sports require medical attention for a sports-related injury.
The potential for sports-related injuries and for youth athletes to drop out of sports could be decreased by a properly designed strength and conditioning program.
Not having a properly designed strength and conditioning program may be a factor in youth athletes’ feeling that they are not good at the sport, therefore they are more likely to drop out of sports altogether.

Would my Youth Athlete Benefit from a Strength and Conditioning Coach?

NSCA Youth Training

It is no secret that the level of competition in youth sports has been on the rise over the past decades. What used to be recreational teams, city leagues, and neighborhood games has evolved into an entire industry of club sports, elite traveling teams, and hefty participation fees for the young athletes’ parents.

A growing number of parents are asking, “With all the extra practices and increased competition, how can I be sure my son or daughter is not going to get injured? And how can I give my child an extra advantage?” To help answer these questions, we need to look at the way we train in the U.S. compared to our European neighbors. Historically, many European countries used general physical preparation training with young athletes to build the foundation of development for their later years of training. Within this general physical preparation training, coaches utilized movements and exercises that developed many different motor abilities or skills. These training sessions were not specific to any one sport, they were specific in providing a general foundation of motor abilities (speed, agility, quickness, strength endurance, relative strength, flexibility, etc.). These young athletes then transitioned into more specific training based on their sport as they aged. This is a direct contrast to the North American model, in which children typically specialize in their respective sports at a much earlier age.

For this reason it is vitally important for parents to consider having their children train with a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist® (CSCS®), who understands the specific needs of the children based on their developmental window of adaptation. A CSCS® is responsible for building the foundation and the groundwork for later years of development, while doing so in a safe and healthy environment. These certified individuals have a wealth of knowledge that allows them to provide proper program design for the children throughout the course of their development.