Question

Parents of an 8-year-old boy and an 11-year-old girl want to enroll their children in a resistance training program at the local community center. They believe that resistance training will help make their children stronger and faster (and maybe even improve their soccer performance), but they are concerned about the potential for injury. Comment on issues regarding the safety of youth resistance training, and highlight program design considerations that address these concerns.

Answer 1

Answer.

Resistence training can offer unique benefits for children and adolescents when they are appropriately supervised. Nowadays, school-based firness programs are specifically designed to enhance components of physical fitness which include muscular strength. Thus, in addition to aerobic exercises like swimming and athletics, resistance strength training is a crucial part of young athletes’ life.  it is imperative to determine safe, effective, and enjoyable practices by which resistance training can improve the health, fitness, and sports performance of younger populations.

To this end, the key issues in the resistance training of children from 8-12 years of age, include the potential risks and concerns associated with youth resistance training, the potential health and fitness benefits of youth resistance training, the types and amount of resistance training necessary for children and adolescents, and a scientific program design for optimal results. Like many other sports and recreational activities in which children and adolescents regularly participate, resistance training can lead to musculoskeletal injury, Instances of injury can be high with the prevalence of inappropriate training techniques, excessive loading, poorly designed equipment and use of equipment in the absence of qualified adult supervision.

Therefore, it is imperative that the resistance training programmes are designed keeping in mind the age and physical ability of the children who are engaged in the residence training exercises. Programmes should be designed in accordance with the gender and age differences as 8 year old boys and female children are still at a tender stage of physical development and rigorous use of heavy weight training exercises can lead to greater risk of physical burnout and injury. Moroever, training programs for youth should aim at supervised and appropriately prescribed exercise regimes along with dietary regulation and training to ensure that the training program was matched to the initial capacity of the participants.