Solo EpisodeEpisode 17
Strength Training for Kids & Building Lifelong Movement Skills
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SnipdIn this episode, I discuss the importance of exercise, specifically strength training, for kids.
With growing concerns over childhood obesity, limited opportunities for physical activity in school, decreased outdoor playtime, and reduced sports participation, the lack of physical activity in children poses serious long-term risks to their physical and mental health. I address common myths and misconceptions about resistance training for kids and highlight the many cognitive, physical, and mental health benefits of regular physical activity.I also explain the three I’s—investigate, interpret, and intervene—for assessing and improving a child’s movement abilities, emphasizing the importance of fun, play-based experiences to develop a diverse range of movement skills. Additionally, I discuss the risks of early sports specialization, guidelines for safe weightlifting for kids, injury risks, and strategies to encourage physical activity. Whether or not a child aspires to be an athlete, this episode offers practical tips to foster long-term athletic development and ensure kids grow up strong, healthy, and active.
Show notes
Articles
- The Youth Fitness International Test (YFIT) battery for monitoring and surveillance among children and adolescents: A modified Delphi consensus project with 169 experts from 50 countries and territories (Journal of Sport and Health Science)
- Development of the FitBack online platform: Enhancing global child fitness assessment, health-related interpretation, and surveillance (Health Policy and Technology)
- Physical Activity in Children (JAMA Pediatrics)
- Effects of Resistance Training on Academic Outcomes in School-Aged Youth: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (Sports Medicine)
- Cardiorespiratory Fitness in Adolescence and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes in Late Adulthood: A Nationwide Sibling-Controlled Cohort Study (medRxiv)
- Resistance Training for Children and Adolescents (Pediatrics)
- Risk of Injuries Associated With Sport Specialization and Intense Training Patterns in Young Athletes: A Longitudinal Clinical Case-Control Study (Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine)
- Exercise deficit disorder in youth: play now or pay later (Current Sports Medicine Reports)
- Understanding dropout and prolonged engagement in adolescent competitive sport (Psychology of Sport and Exercise)
- Position statement on youth resistance training: the 2014 International Consensus (British Journal of Sports Medicine)
- Muscular strength across the life course: The tracking and trajectory patterns of muscular strength between childhood and mid-adulthood in an Australian cohort (Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport)
- Physical fitness in male adolescents and atherosclerosis in middle age: a population-based cohort study (British Journal of Sports Medicine)
- Adolescent Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Future Work Ability (JAMA Network Open)
- Accumulating Sedentary Time and Physical Activity From Childhood to Adolescence and Cardiac Function in Adolescence (Journal of the American Heart Association)
- May the Force Be with Youth: Foundational Strength for Lifelong Development (Current Sports Medicine Reports)
- The unsolved problem of paediatric physical inactivity: it’s time for a new perspective (Acta Paediatrica)
- Handgrip Strength and Its Relationship with White Blood Cell Count in U.S. Adolescents (Biology)
- What Makes a Champion? Early Multidisciplinary Practice, Not Early Specialization, Predicts World-Class Performance (Perspectives on Psychological Science)
- Physical Fitness and Risk of Mental Disorders in Children and Adolescents (JAMA Pediatrics)
- Exercise Interventions and Intelligence in Children and Adolescents: A Meta-Analysis (Pediatrics)
- Resistance training and combined resistance and aerobic training as a treatment of depression and anxiety symptoms in young people: A systematic review and meta-analysis (Early Intervention in Psychiatry)
- Misconceptions About Youth Weight Lifting (JAMA Pediatrics)
- National Strength and Conditioning Association Position Statement on Long-Term Athletic Development (Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research)
Books
- NSCA’s Guide to High School Strength & Conditioning edited by Patrick McHenry and Michael Nitka
- Youth Strength Training: Programs for Health, Fitness, and Sport (Strength & Power for Young Athlete) by Avery Faigenbaum and Wayne Westcott
- Essentials of Youth Fitness by Avery Faigenbaum, Rhodri Lloyd, and Jon Oliver
Other Resources
- National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA)
- FitBack
- Practical Application for Long-Term Athletic Development (NSCA)
- The 10 Pillars for Successful Long-Term Athletic Development (NSCA)
- Long-Term Athletic Development – Resources (NSCA)
- The American Development Model
- Sport for Life (Canada)
- Youth Fitness Specialist Certificate (ACSM)
- ACSM/NYSHSI Youth Fitness Specialist Certificate
- NSCA Professional Development Groups
- NSCA Long-Term Athletic Development group
- Jeremy Frisch’s Youth Athletic Development Master Class
- Jeremy Frisch’s articles (SimpliFaster)
- Good Athlete Project
- Project Play
- Strength & Conditioning Course (NFHS Learning Center)
Perform Episodes Mentioned
People Mentioned
- Avery Faigenbaum: professor of health and exercise science, The College of New Jersey
- Patrick Cullen-Carroll: physical education teacher, strength and conditioning coach
- Jeremy Frisch: youth athletic development specialist
- Rhodri Lloyd: professor of paediatric strength and conditioning, Cardiff Metropolitan University
- Jim Davis: powerlifter, coach, author, speaker
