People are still fighting the idea of letting their little ones participate in strength/performance training. I’m not just talking about the parents of the little cyber potatoes either; this includes the travel teamers, the AAU’ers, and the rest of the all year around athletes. Some of the main reasons for parents not allowing their kids to participate are; my child is not athletic or my kid does not like sports. The other side of that swears there don’t have time to fit it in with all the game/practices and they don’t need it because they play so many games or even crazier they are not old enough yet. News for you, there are technically training every time that they practice or play a game. They are just doing so without the proper knowledge. None of these are good reason to not allow your kid to participate in performance training. Just when you think your protecting them from injury, you’re not at all. You may be contributing to injury if anything by not allowing them to be educated how to properly perform.
Now I know when you hear performance training you automatically think of sports right? Not completely. The programs are customized to fit each individual’s needs, so it could be for anything. For example; Emily is just starting to get involved in dancing for her middle school and is has gone from doing nothing to practice four nights a week. Great Emily is now more active! However her muscles will now be responsible for these new things and she has done nothing to help prepare for these changes. Even better, Aubrey has now joined the band and is the lead drummer. Once again congrats! But Aubrey is now going to be experiencing a lot of repetitive shoulder, elbow, and wrist movements and will need some specific performance training to help strengthen the muscles involved in these activities. What about Gregory, very intelligent and also very clumsy. The flip side of this is Darryl, 11 years old and has played more basketball games this travel season than the professional athletes that make millions for beating there body down like this. AND THEY USE PERFORMANCE TRAINING TO MAKE IT THROUGH THEIR SEASON!!
All of these kids have their own reason why they need to be involved in some type of performance training. Gregory’s Program would involve a lot of balance, joint stability, and core strengthening exercises. This would help prevent falls and reduce the likelihood of injury due to these improvements. Whereas Aubrey’s program would be upper focused and to build the muscle that he would need for drumming along with core strengthening for a strong lower back for long periods of sitting on a stool. Darryl is a whole different animal, his program would be customized to teach him proper running/ jumping, and transition mechanics which would help him move more efficiently and once again reduce the chance of injury.
We have to stop thinking of performance training as a bad thing. No more if my kid lifts weights they will never grow. That same growth plate could be damaged in a bad fall off a bike or while slipping in the tub. Simply by using the same weight (Body Weight) that you allow them to run around, jump and fall with will playing on three different Sports teams at a time, we will create a great program to protect them. If not we end up with a bunch of little wounded athletes, and for what reason? Because you don’t want them to get hurt while training? Something seems wrong with picture. Injury prevention is the goal not injury rehabilitation! So no matter what their love maybe, just make sure you give them the best chance to do it in a fun and safe way. For more information about Performance training programs log onto allfitnessonline.com.
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