Total Human Performance

Month: October 2010

  • Is Weight Training Safe For Today’s Youth?

    Is Weight Training Safe For Today’s Youth?

    Exercise and conditioning, when executed safely and correctly, delivers many benefits to today’s youth.   However, there are also risks associated with training the youth population.   These risks can all be avoided by following some basic guidelines, and a training plan tailored to the child or adolescent.  Below you will find that there are both benefits and risks associated with youth fitness.  This article also summarizes the safety of training for today’s youth. Finally, the article discusses guidelines for proper programming in a youth training plan.

    Benefits

    Zatsiorsky, in the Science and Practice of Strength Training, states that there are many benefits that can be obtained by children and adolescents by adapting a strength training program.  He mentions that there are many general health benefits that can be obtained. The youth that participates in exercise can experience improved sports performance due to increased flexibility, increased strength, increased endurance, and increased power output. Injury prevention is another benefit of exercise, as well as weight control.

    The American Council of Exercise has published several benefits as well.  While most of the benefits are physical or physiological, several are also psychological.   For example, ACE states that a youth participating in exercise/training can experience improved muscular fitness, bone mineral density, body composition, motor fitness performance and injury resistance.   Also, from a psychological aspect, they can experience increased self esteem, mental discipline and improved socialization skills.

    The International Sport Sciences Association (ISSA) states in their Youth Fitness Trainer certification materials that “exercise is important during growth.  It contributes to a better-developed functional capacity and can enhance neural and musculoskeletal development.  Exercise habits established during childhood and adolescence will carry over to adulthood. We are in the midst of an obesity epidemic in this country. Many studies show that overweight children become overweight or obese adults. Exercise habits established during the school years may help prevent a life-long problem with weight control.”

    The International Youth Conditioning Association in their book, Development Essentials, also gives several benefits to children and adolescents being active in a training or exercise program.   These benefits include muscle endurance, injury prevention, and muscle growth.  There are also several tissue adaptations that take place, such as strength, weight, and thickness increases in tendons, ligaments, and cartilage.

    Risks

    Along with the benefits of a solid exercise program for children and adolescents, there are also potential risks, including injury.  The IYCA states that a study reported the data from 1991-1996 on injuries associated with weightlifting in participants 21 years old or younger. In this time period, there were approximately 20940-26120 injuries reported.  “Most of the injuries were considered preventable due to a cause of improper technique, attempting maximal lifts, and unsupervised training”. Zatsiorsky gives improper exercise technique, improper spotting, and incorrect equipment use/fit as risks and paths to injury.  The IYCA and ISSA also states that children and adolescents should avoid maximal lifts and efforts as well.  Everyone seems to agree that injuries are a risk, but can be avoided. 

    Most risks can be avoided by following a set of guidelines during any training activities.  The IYCA gives the following guide in their book, Developmental Essentials:

    1. Planning of training programs must take into consideration the level of physical maturation of the athlete.

    2. In comparison to the expert lifters, novice weightlifters tend to use techniques that predispose the athlete to injury.  Proper technique should be emphasized at all times.

    3. Avoid maximal loads or large increases in loading or activity in developing athletes.

    4. Horseplay should never be tolerated in the weight room.

    5. Supervision by a qualified instructor must be provided at all times.

    Another risk that the IYCA and the ISSA point out is the existence of any muscular or postural imbalances in the participant.   Any imbalances can later hinder improvements in performance and may cause injury.  Even further, as a trainer, the failure to recognize these imbalances and correcting them can increase these risks.

    Safety

    Safety has been a hot topic in training children and adolescents ever since training youths has become more popular.  There are many myths and fallacies associated with the risks listed above.   One fallacy that ACE points out is that many people think that training will “stunt growth” of their children.  This is definitely not true.  This fallacy stems from the possibility of damaging the epiphyseal growth places during heavy training.  The NSCA states that “Although children and adolescents are susceptible to injury to the growth cartilage, the potential for this type of injury may be less in a preadolescent child than in an adolescent because the growth cartilage may actually be stronger and more resistant to sheering type forces in younger children.  To date, injury to the growth cartilage has not been reported in any prospective youth resistance training research study. Furthermore, there is no evidence to suggest that resistance training will negatively impact growth and maturation during childhood and adolescence”.

    As pointed out above, and by the IYCA, ISSA, and by Zatsiorsky, by using a long term program designed appropriately for the child or adolescent, using proper technique, adding variety, allowing for individual characteristics, and using suitable training load increases we all but eliminate the risks associated with training.

    The ACE stated in their article that “In fact, all of the major fitness and medical organizations in the U.S. recommend strength training for youth, assuming that basic guidelines are adhered to and that appropriate leadership is present. And about the question of age, children can begin to train with weights as soon as they are able to accept and follow directions—usually around the age of seven or eight”.

    The following is directly from the NSCA’s position on youth strength training:

    The National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) recognizes  and supports the premise that many of the benefits associated with adult resistance training programs are attainable by children and adolescents who follow age-specific resistance training guidelines.

    It is the current position of the NSCA that:

    1. A properly designed and supervised resistance training program is relatively safe for youth.

    2. A properly designed and supervised resistance training program can enhance the muscular strength and power of youth.

    3. A properly designed and supervised resistance training program can improve the cardiovascular risk profile of youth.

    4. A properly designed and supervised resistance training program can improve motor skill performance and may contribute to enhanced sports performance of youth.

    5. A properly designed and supervised resistance training program can increase a young athlete’s resistance to sports related injuries.

    6. A properly designed and supervised resistance training program can help improve the psychosocial well-being of youth.

    7. A properly designed and supervised resistance training program can help promote and develop exercise habits during childhood and adolescence.

    Guidelines

    The ISSA, IYCA, and NSCA all provide a set of guidelines that lead to programming a safe, fun, and effective training plan for a child or adolescent.   They all seem to echo the same tune.  The one that seems easiest to remember, and least specific, is the ISSA’s “Seventeen Principles of Training” from their Youth Fitness Trainer certification manual.  The guidelines are listed below.

    Athletes benefit the most from their program if they follow the Seventeen Principles of Training. These principles are a guide to gradual, long-lasting, injury-free fitness development that leads to improved performance with the smallest risk of injury. They also serve as a guide to gradual and long-lasting fitness development.

    Principles of Training

    1. Train the way you want your body to change.
    2. Eat well-balanced, high performance meals.
    3. Establish realistic goals.
    4. Have a workout plan.
    5. Train all year round.
    6. Get in shape gradually.
    7. Don’t train when you are ill or seriously injured.
    8. Train first for volume (more repetitions) and only later for intensity (more weight or resistance).
    9. Listen to your body. Know when to rest and slow down.
    10. Vary volume and intensity of workouts.
    11. Work on weaknesses, not just strengths.
    12. Train systematically.
    13. Warm-up and cool-down.
    14. Train the mind. Learn to focus and delete extraneous “information” as you train.
    15. Listen to “Coach Pain.” Do not be a hero by trying to continue workouts when you know you should not.
    16. Become informed about the physiology of your body. Learn all you can about exercise and the effects of training.
    17. Have Fun! Keep the exercise program in its proper perspective.

    Resources:

    Developmental Essentials – The Foundations of Youth Conditioning   Edited by Dr. Kwame Brown – International Youth Conditioning Association, Inc. 2007.

    Science and Practice of Strength Training, Second Edition – Vladimir Zatiorsky and William J. Kraemer – Human Kinetics, May 2006 pp 191-213.

    YOUTH RESISTANCE TRAINING: UPDATED POSITION STATEMENT PAPER FROM THE NATIONAL STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING ASSOCIATION – NATIONAL STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING ASSOCIATION, 2009.

    Youth Fitness Trainer, Second Edition – Dr. Thomas D. Fahey, EdD – ISSA, 2006.

    Strength Training for Kids: A Guide for Parents and Teachers – American Council on Exercise, 2010 –  http://www.acefitness.org/fitfacts/fitfacts_display.aspx?itemid=2682

  • Kids Are The Same As Adults, Right?

    Kids Are The Same As Adults, Right?

    When designing an exercise program for a child, it is not as simple as applying the same principles you would to designing an adult program.  The same rules do not apply.   The challenges may appear to be the same, but they are very different.  At the same time, you cannot apply the same fitness assessments to a child that you would give an adult.   You need to assess the child in the light of the entire growth process.    Knowing that the child and adult are very different, both mentally and physically, you need to take several factors into consideration when assessing clients and designing their exercise programs. 

    When designing a program for a child, you have to take where they are in the growth process into consideration.   As a child continues to develop, the physiological processes in the body continue to develop as well.   The muscular, skeletal and nervous systems continue to develop as well during the process.  However, in an adult, these changes have already been made, and the body has reached its point of homeostasis, and has reached a point of “balance”.  

    Children have immature regulatory systems and temperature control mechanisms compared to an adult.  Temperature control of the cardiovascular system is critical for the exercising participant and is more of a challenge for children and adolescents. Their surface area-to-mass ratio is larger than adults which allows for a greater heat exchange by convection and radiation.  When designing an exercise program, the trainer needs to keep intensity in mind since children do not sweat as much as adults due to low surface area of the skin compared to adults.   They can acclimate to the heat, but it takes them longer than adults. The tendency is to try to do too much too soon. It is recommended to postpone or recommend strenuous activity when heat and humidity are high and making sure plenty of fluids are ingested before, during and after exercise. Thirst is not an accurate guide for fluid need.   As their body temperature increases, they can become susceptible to heat exhaustion easier than adults.  Children should not be exposed to hot environments (sauna, hot rooms, etc.) for extended periods due to this.

    Children have immature nervous systems compared to the adult counterpart.  Myelination of the nerves is not complete until the age of sexual maturity.  The child cannot be expected to have high levels of skill, power, and strength until he or she has reached their neural maturity as well.  They simply cannot elicit the same response to training or reach the same skill levels as adults.

    There are also several differences in the circulatory system between children and adults.  As children get older and progress into adolescence, their heart rate progressively declines.  However, at childhood, it is normal for a child to have a higher heart rate than an adult if they are performing the same types of exercise.  This makes estimation of maximal heart rate by set equations such as 220-age somewhat inaccurate for children and adolescents until the late teenage years.  It also means unless there are signs of stress or duress, there is no cause for concern for heart rate values greater than 200 bpm. Healthy individuals should be able to exercise for several minutes at maximal heart rates. In fact, because VO2 max (the greatest amount of oxygen that can be inhaled during aerobic exercise) is relative to the individual’s body weight, VO2 max values are as high as or higher than most adults. Heart rate will return to resting values quicker in children and adolescents than adults.  Their maximum heart rate and target heart rates lower due to aging as well.  The resting and during exercise systolic blood pressure rises progressively particularly during puberty reaching adult values soon after the growth spurt.  Diastolic pressure in both adults and children show very little derivation.   When designing aerobic programs for children, you have to take these heart rate differences in consideration.  

    Exercise capacity also increases gradually throughout childhood.  Increases/improvements in endurance capacity occur because of increased muscle mass and enhanced oxygen transport and metabolic capacities.  Children will experience a decreased heart rate with endurance training, but not to the same extent as adults do.  Children as they get older will be able to handle more activity as they mature due to the increase of capacity, and the decreased heart rate.

    When you compare children to adults, the children have immature skeletal systems and less muscle mass.  The immature skeletal system causes fragile bone growth (epiphyseal) centers which when put under very  heavy stress, can fracture, causing injury to the growth plates.  Very young children should avoid very heavy and strenuous resistance training.  This does not mean that all children should avoid resistance training.  Trainers, parents, and the children should be responsible enough to not allow maximal effort exercises, and practice proper form and technique to avoid these types of injuries.  One of the most promising benefits of strength training may be increased bone mass.  Bone mass continues to increase throughout growth and development, but a peak in bone mass is reached at a young adult age.   Attaining a higher peak bone mass as a young adult may delay the age at which a loss of bone from aging occurs. A loss of bone later in life, especially among menopausal women, can lead to osteoporosis, causing bones to become increasingly porous, brittle and fragile.

    As mentioned above, the child contains much less muscle mass than adults.  The muscle in adults is stronger as well.   Again, the very young should avoid heavy and strenuous resistance training to avoid injury.  It has been shown that heavy resistance training will not provide as much value in very young children as in older children.   Gains from strength training for preadolescents are generally attributed to neural adaptations and motor learning, rather than circulating androgens. Muscle hypertrophy, or an increase in the cross-sectional area of a muscle, is not usually detected in children as a result of training. Since muscle size has been correlated with strength, studies indicating no increase in muscle hypertrophy implied that strength training was ineffective in younger participants.  During the first seven years there is steady growth of the muscles, followed by a slowing trend preceding puberty. 

    There is also much less hormonal activity in children than adults.  Children have very low testosterone levels compared to adults.   The amount of testosterone in the child increases along with puberty and levels off slowly after puberty ends.   During the time of puberty would be the best time to increase strength training and hypertrophy work due to the increasing testosterone and other hormonal changes.

    Adults and children also have very different ventilation patterns.  The primary role of the respiratory system is to provide oxygen and to eliminate carbon dioxide from the muscle cells. The amount of air exchanged per minute is called minute ventilation and is the product of the number of breaths (frequency) times the volume of each breath (tidal volume). Children and adolescents exhibit a higher frequency and lower tidal volume than adults at all intensities.  Because rapid breathing is readily noticed, it can be upsetting to a well-intentioned adult. The higher frequency and lower tidal volume is normal and no call for alarm.   Children reach adult levels of ventilation at 16-18 years old.  Younger children who train for endurance will develop adult type ventilation patterns, such as decreasing their breathing frequency, while increasing their tidal volume.  Lung diffusion (spontaneous migration of substances from regions where their concentrations are high to regions where their concentrations are low) capacities are also lower in children than adults due to their lungs not being fully developed.

  • The Extinction of Health

    The Extinction of Health

    Excerpt from the Article “The Extinction of Health” –

    “Knowing is not enough, you must apply; willing is not enough, you must do.” —Bruce Lee

    “Everything has gone haywire—the educational system, books, the media, the internet. We’re on a blind search for healthier lives, choices, and bodies, but we don’t know where to start because there’s so much irrelevant information out there. We choose to look past the basics of a healthier life or at least refuse to try what really will have an impact. ”

    “There aren’t any supplements, diets, exercise programs, pills, electromagnetic bedding, doctors, chiropractors, trainers, dieticians, books, or anything else that will help you get to where you desire to go unless you decide to go and do. Want to get in shape and stay in shape? Then move your butt.”

    Move your butt. That about sums it up. People are so hung up on all of the mechanics of doing this workout, taking this supplement, following this diet that they forget about the key elements of proper health.

    These elements include:

    • Stop Eating Garbage Foods
    • Stop indulging in alcohol
    • Drink lots of water
    • Get adequate rest
    • Eat a balanced diet
    • And most importantly – MOVE YOUR BUTT!!!

     

    The full article can be found Here at EliteFTS

  • Healthy Snacks for Kids

    Healthy Snacks for Kids

    Snack foods too often result in the downfall of good nutrition and ideal weight. The snacks one eats often lead to undesirable weight gains in youngsters and adults. So snacks need to be considered from the viewpoint of nutritional value, calorie count, and the activity of the person eating them. Without an adult’s teaching them the benefits of good nutrition and guiding them in their eating habits, youngsters often tend to want snacks that aren’t beneficial to their health and weight.

    Factors to Consider
    – Generally an active person burns more calories in a day so can eat more snacks in addition to meals without gaining weight. A less active person has to eat lower calorie snacks or fewer snacks.

    – Too often candy, cake, cookies, potato chips, and soda top the list of after school or recess snacks. Teach children to eat these in moderation for they’re generally high in calories and lower in nutrition.

    – Foods high in sugar content have quick energy, but their nutritional value is not as high as many other snacks.

    Desirable Snacks
    – Fruits rate high on the list of desirable snack foods – apples, oranges, bananas, peaches, pears, plums. Use canned or dried fruits when fresh ones aren’t in season.

    – Fruit juices are better than soda for a refreshing drink. Milk is good, too. However, remember, when you use flavorings, such as chocolate and strawberry, you add calories to the drink.

    – Water is a very good beverage and necessary to maintain life and good health.

    – Although carrot sticks and celery sticks aren’t always a favorite on the snack list, they can be enhanced in appeal when accompanied by cheese and peanut butter. (There also are lower fat types of these spreads.)

    – Raisins and peanuts are good snack foods full of nutrition. Of course, the dry roasted peanuts are lower in calories than those roasted in oil.

    Snacks Before Dinner
    If it will be awhile before dinner, when a youngster gets home from school starved, try a sandwich instead of sweets. Sandwich fillings such as tuna fish, cheese, peanut butter (without much jelly), or egg will supply protein.

    Or serve crackers with peanut butter or cheese. If cookies have big appeal as a snack, try making types with the most food value and nourishment. Cookies with cereal ingredients, such as oatmeal and crispy rice, generally have more nutritional value than rich chocolate brownies and chocolate chip cookies. Adding wheat germ to the cereal cookie recipe also gives additional nutrition.

    Icy Banana Shakes have nutritional value. Blend in a mixer until smooth: 3 cubes ice, 3/4 cup milk, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, and 1 ripe banana.