Gym Melrose Park Fitness Tip#5 – When to Strength Train

At What Age is it Safe to Start Strength Training?

If you have a daughter or son that’s interested in strength training, that’s amazing! Whether they want to add it to help their sports performance, or just want to get stronger and gain confidence, allowing them to include resistance training can really go a long way to support their mental and physical wellbeing. Strength training will not stunt a child’s growth, will increase their coordination, and will help learn proper mind-muscle connection. In terms of what is the proper age, that is somewhat based on the child, but early-teenage years are a great time to start. Here are a few things to consider:

Body Awareness
Most kids can start super young and take up gymnastics, dance, martial arts classes, etc., that will allow them to work on body awareness. These activities help to build the strength of stabilizing muscles and will create an incredible foundation for when they are ready to add weights.

Also, bodyweight exercises will allow them to focus on coordination, and learning to transfer power and strength properly. The best athletes out there have one thing in common – control of their power. Learning how to be explosive, accelerate, and decelerate will go a long way in improving their performance.

Focus on Compound Movements
When they are ready to begin strength training, we can slowly start to include the big lifts like squat, deadlift, overhead press, bench press, lunges, etc. A big thing to note is there is no need for them to focus right away on strength. Like with any sport, they’re learning a new skill. Spend time focusing on proper technique first! Consider hiring a trainer or a coach who has worked with kids before, who can help. At Vitality Athletics we work with a large number of youth and teenage athletes.

Progressive Overload
Once a young athlete shows great control over the compound lifts, we can look at progressive overload. Slowly adding one more rep, or 5 more pounds to a lift than the previous execution of the lift. As a teen, their hormones will support the ability to gain strength from the big lifts and just focusing on getting really good at the main lifts will give them an incredible physical foundation

Gym Melrose Park can help with your goals.

We would love to help you live a healthy strong life. Schedule a  Free Intro Session  at D8 Training in Clarence Gardens today.

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