One of the controversies in the sports world is the proper age children should begin using resistance training devices such as barbells, dumbells and machines. Extensive research and experimentation has been done by several countries to show that children as young as eight years of age can benefit from resistance training.
The primary problem which typically occurs however for most athletes who engage in resistance training programs is that they usually sacrifice sound technical form in an effort to use heavier and heavier poundages thereby resulting in an injury of some sort. Resistance training for sports development is fantastic but if the athlete is frequently getting injured then all that strength s/he may have developed will do little for him or her while sitting out the season nursing an injury.
Before an athlete even picks up a dumbell or barbell, s/he should have developed a foundation of strength using bodyweight exercises. Many people overlook basic bodyweight exercises because they believe that they are not challenging enough. I disagree. I have seen athletes who could squat with over 400 pounds but when asked to perform a single leg squat, most can’t even perform 1 repetition.
If an athlete cannot perform a half dozen single leg squats and pull-ups and at least 20 push-ups in good form, then s/he has no business being in a weight room. Build a foundation first with the basics. This goes for the younger athlete as well. For young athletes between the ages of 6-9 who may have trouble with squats, push-ups and pull-ups, the bear crawl, crab walk and duck walk are all excellent strength training exercises to use for foundational strength building and they are also great for mobility of the involved limbs.
By the age of 11 or 12 I think most athletes are ready for some concentrated strength work in the weight room provided they have built a sturdy foundation with the basic bodyweight exercises. However, I strongly believe that the young athlete should focus primarily on sound lifting technique, a full range of motion and fast movement of the bar being lifted. At this stage, training poundages are secondary.
One of the best strength training tools for athletes, especially young athletes, are barbell complexes. A “complex” is a successive series of movements performed with a barbell or dumbell where each movement easily transitions into the next. The nice thing about a complex is that you can perform a lot of work in a relatively short period of time. In addition, by choosing exercises that focus on the major muscle groups, you can get a fantastic workout using just one or two complexes.
The first complex I will present is very basic and consists of just three movements; the power clean performed from the hang position, the front squat and the forward lunge. The power clean is a dynamic movement meaning that it is performed quickly; fast movements like this target the fast-twitch muscle fibers necessary for explosive movements such as jumping, hitting and sprinting. The front squat is a squat performed with the bar resting on the shoulders/clavicles (as opposed to resting on the upper back) which requires a more upright posture allowing for a greater range of motion and less stress on the lower back. The lunge is a unilateral (single limb) leg movement which is excellent for developing sports strength as most sporting actions occur one leg at a time and because you are stepping forward and then reversing direction, you are teaching the muscles to decelerate which is fundamental skill in sports training.
Here are the movements:
HANG POWER CLEAN
Muscles involved: Quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, deltoids, biceps, lower back and upper back.
Performance:
1. Step up to a barbell and assume a shoulder-width stance.
2. Bend down and grasp the bar firmly using a slightly wider than shoulder width grip.
3. Make sure your head is up, your chest is pushed out and your shoulders are pulled back.
4. Keep the back flat with a slight arch at the base and make sure your shoulders are directly over the bar.
5. Stand up with the bar.
6. Lower the bar to a position just above knee level-this is where the pull initiates from.
7. While pulling the bar with straight arms, rapidly and simultaneously extend at the ankles, knees and hips (triple extension).
8. As your legs approach full extension (the bar should be level with your navel or close to it) rapidly shrug the trapezius muscles of the upper back and simultaneously pull up with the arms while keeping the bar as close to your body as possible.
9. As the bar is accelerated to sternum height, perform a slight dip by bending at the knees and whip the elbows under the bar catching it at a level even with the clavicles.
10. Stand up.
FRONT SQUAT
Muscles involved: Quadriceps, hamstrings and glutes
Performance:
1. With a barbell resting on your upper clavicles and the shoulder blades pulled tightly together, flex at the knees and hips and squat down and back until the upper thighs are parallel to the floor.
2. Briefly pause before reversing directions by extending the knees and hips and returning to the starting position.
Points:
1. To maintain a solid bar position, try to point your elbows up towards the ceiling-this helps to create a “shelf” that will make it easier to balance the bar on the shoulders and clavicles.
FORWARD LUNGE
Muscles involved: Quadriceps, hamstrings and glutes
Performance:
1. Starting from a narrow stance, step forward with one leg landing on the heel followed by the forefoot. Lower the body by flexing the knee and hip of the lead leg until the knee of the trailing leg comes close to the ground.
2. Return to the starting position by extending the knee and hip of the lead leg.
3. Switch legs and repeat.
For clarification purposes, this complex consists of the three aforementioned exercises and you will perform 1 repetition for each movement and then repeat for the desired number of repetitions. For example, perform 1 hang clean followed by 1 front squat and then 1 lunge on each leg then repeat the process starting with the hang clean. Start out by performing 2-3 sets of 2-3 reps for this complex. Again, proper form and a full range of motion are of prime importance here, not the amount of weight you use.
Start out with an empty barbell or better yet, a wooden dowel or length of PVC pipe. Master the movements first and once you are comfortable, slowly increase the intensity by adding a small amount of weight, increasing the number of sets or increasing the number of reps. If you find these movements difficult, seek out a qualified weight lifting instructor to show you the proper form. If your school has a weight room there may be an attendant or even a coach who can assist you.
Next week we will be looking at one of the fundamental agility ladder drills that we use at Cactus Camps; the ickey shuffle. We will start out with the basic shuffle and over the next few newsletters we will work our way through a series of increasingly more difficult progressions.
Matt is an ACE certified personal trainer and NESTA certified speed, agility & quickness specialist.
