It seems that people go to extremes when prescribing resistance training exercises for young athletes. Should we lift or should we not? Some say absolutely not before puberty and others talk about how beneficial it is for young athletes.
Most (if not all) respected journals have position statements that are very much in favor of youth (pre-adolescent) resistance training. Here is a statement from the National Strength and Conditioning Association:
Despite outdated concerns regarding the safety or effectiveness of youth resistance training, scientific evidence and clinical impressions indicate that youth resistance training has the potential to offer observable health and fitness value to children and adolescents, provided that appropriate training guidelines are followed and qualified instruction is available.
We have made if very clear that we promote the use of safe, monitored progressions in regard to resistance training with young athletes. Our progression is as follows:
- Body Weight only training to enhance coordinated movement patterns.
- Introduce Speed to the movement to make it more “Dynamic” in nature.
- Increase Intensity in either volume (more reps) or load (more weight).
- Vary the Exercises and add Complexity.
- Progress within the context of your sport.
Over the next 16 weeks we will expand on this progression and show you how we have found different ways to approach this progression with young soccer players.
Today we will be looking at body weight training using the TRX Suspension Training System from Fitness Anywhere.
The addition of the TRX into our system has allowed us to fill in gaps in several areas of our youth/adolescent athlete strength training curriculum. For years we have been looking for shoulder, hip and core progressions (done in a group setting) that would work for athletes 10-14 with no prior training experience. For almost 10 years we have been creating progressions off of body weight squats, step ups and lunge exercises, but found that many of our younger athletes had positioning and body control issues that delayed their progression through the program.
Lack of shoulder stability and core strength made it hard to get into good athletic positions with medballs and dumbbells which limited us in our exercise selection. We were desperately searching for something that could lay a foundation in core strength, shoulder stability, postural control, glute and hamstring strength without the use of dumbbells.
The TRX makes this all possible, as we have been able to progress (and digress) exercises to add intensity by simply changing their body position. This ability to increase intensity, variety and complexity within a group setting has not only set the athletes up with a stronger foundation, but it has also increased their knowledge of their own body and how to control, balance and stabilize in various positions.
Every Tuesday this winter we will be highlighting portions of our body weight training program that feature the TRX to show how this device has helped us solve some of the issues we have had incorporating core strength into our youth program.
To purchase your own TRX Suspension Training device click on the picture or HERE to learn more
Posted by soccerfitacademy 
