I was born in the 80s.
Back in the day, I spent most of my childhood playing, skipping, sprinting, frolicking, and getting in trouble with my friends.
Recess at school was four square, tetherball, football, and anything that we could do to spend time with one another. This was far before screens became relevant, so we were happy to do so.
To get a hold of your friend, you had to call a landline or leave a voicemail for your buddy to call you back.
Nowadays, kids prefer to send Snapchats only to find out that their friends would rather stay inside and play video games than see them in real life.
I do not have any hard numbers on this comment, but I believe that youth activity has gone down to some degree. Whether in school or at home, kids are simply not moving as much as they could or should.
So to that, and compiled with coaching kids for as long as I have, I think there are some things that every youth athlete needs to be able to do to set themselves up for the future.
Coordination
Years ago, we would call kids that weren’t coordinated “gumpy.” Not sure if this is politically correct anymore, but it was that kid who couldn’t quite walk and chew gum at the same time.
As an example, most new athletes who come into our facility are introduced to basic drills such as skipping, back pedaling, shuffling, and marching. Ninety percent of the time, I will see ipsilateral (same arm, same leg) movement patterns. Then, when we go to correct and get them trying to move more contralaterally, they will always say that feels really weird.
And then I thought to myself, if skipping and shuffling feels weird, then there’s a lot of other things being done incorrectly.
Simple movements like the skips and jumps should feel natural.
Getting these simple movement patterns down early is going to set them up for very smooth and efficient running mechanics as they progress through middle school, high school, and potentially into college athletics.
Strength training
Oh, baby. This is my favorite.
The glue that holds everything together from an athletic perspective is strength training.
It is one of the few things in your life that you can do that will not have a negative side effect, which is just getting stronger. Nothing negative comes from it.
I teared up writing that last sentence.
Part of our consultation process includes the parents coming in to speak with us and their athletes. We want to make sure that the expectations we have for our athletes and for our parents are met, but we also want them to know our process is here at the facility.
Most parents will think of strength training as putting a barbell on your back, squatting super heavy, or doing an exaggeratedly wide bench press like they did back in the 80s, and then throw in some hammer curls and call it good.
This is not true. Except for the hammer curls. We love hammer curls.
But what we have to remember is that everything we do is progressive in nature. So we bring in a really young athlete who has never seen the inside of a weight room before. We’re going to start with a lot of bodyweight stuff, maybe some bands and kettlebells, and then progress from there.
We need all of our athletes to be able to do these simple things correctly:
- Crawling
- Carrying
- Squatting
- Hinging
- Pulling
- Pushing
- Learning how to breathe properly
When it comes to adolescence in the weight room, neurological factors play the biggest role in their development. They have to learn to move their bodies first.
So, more times than not, we are better off focusing on form rather than load. To add to that, we know that kids and adults can get stronger with as little as 60% of their estimated one rep max. So, let’s take advantage of that window of early adaptation so that we can dial in these mechanics and then worry about loading them unti they can move confidently and correctly.
And social media doesn’t help this out either because is it cool to have your 9-year-old spending 40 minutes on agility ladders, wearing an altitude mask while balancing on a BOSU ball?
No.
But does it get more likes than learning how to hinge with a dowel?
Sure does.
Moreover, we want to make sure that it is safe. Novelty exercises don’t get you very far. Safety does.
What we have to remember is that we are playing the long game when it comes to adolescent athletes. Starting simple goes a lot farther than starting with complicated things that your favorite NFL wide receiver is doing on Instagram.
If we can get our kids to master basic motor functions at a very early age, once they move into a high school setting, they’re going to be very strong and capable in the weight room. As they get into that high school age, hormonal factors are now major influencers for hypertrophy, as an example. Their joints and surrounding tissues are now going to be capable of gaining more strength and lifting heavier loads as opposed to the athletes who have not undergone that amount of training beforehand.
Landing mechanics
Hopping, skipping, jumping, bounding. And any other verb that I can think of, or power exercises that involve landing, are very popular with youth athletes.
Rightfully so, because if they’re programmed and taught correctly, they will help shape an athlete into a well-oiled machine.
However, in my experience, a lot of jumps and bounds and landing mechanics are butchered.
No one cares if you can jump on top of a 40-inch box with slouched posture, with inhibited core and glutes.
We do a lot of box jumps at the gym, and we seldomly use anything above 24 inches.
Let’s take a step back for a moment.
From a biomechanical standpoint, proper deceleration occurs when our muscles eccentrically contract to help us stop our movements. Most studies indicate that injuries occur the most when our muscles undergo a very rapid eccentric movement. Therein lies the importance of teaching this proper way to decelerate an athlete’s body.
To properly teach these deceleration and landing mechanics, we have to appreciate the neural demand that deceleration puts on our body. Eccentric movements are always going to put more wear and tear on the joints. Being able to put the brakes on, or to stop, involves a lot of coordinating movement, such as being able to bend at the hips, knees, and ankles while maintaining a good center of gravity.
Variety
Our goal at our training facility is to make sure that our kids are learning as many motor patterns as possible. The periodization which we use to write these programs reflects a more concurrent style, which means they’re going to be learning a variety of exercises such as squatting, hinging, pushing, and pulling. In addition to those exercises, they will be doing agility and power drills in all planes of motion.
Putting the science aside, this multi-faceted approach will allow kids to learn good technique while working through multiple joints at a time. The cool thing is they will evade boredom and stay excited about their training routines because we’re going to be changing things on a regular basis.
Lastly, if we have kids who choose to specialize early or focus on one sport at a younger age, maintaining a regular training regimen will help combat the repetitive nature that that one sport brings. A well-rounded training program will get them in multiple planes of motion while using multiple muscle groups at the same time, the same way that playing multiple sports would.
In summary
The former may sound complicated, but in our industry, they are very basic qualities that need to be trained over time so that these athletes not only stay productive, but stay available to their team as well.
There is a time and place for nuance and to try some weird, off-the-wall stuff, but save them for your college and professional athletes, and stick to the basics with your youth athletes.
Will it get you as many likes on Instagram or Facebook?
No, it won’t, but you will be producing really good athletes for longer if you stick to these key principles.
Do you feel as if your athlete is missing something?
Make sure you click this link to schedule your consultation with us today. We would love to go over all the possibilities and avenues that you can pursue at our training facility—-> https://getjdfit.com/free-intro-social/
