Strength Training For Kids: Training the Young Athlete

Article by Andrew Carl

If your child lacks strength in kids soccer he or she can make it up by building strength, power and speed away from the soccer field. The great thing is that a child as young as eight years old can start a properly supervised strength training program. One fun way for kids to get a strength training workout is by having a wheelbarrow race. Have the kids lie flat on their stomachs with their legs straight. An adult will then pick up the kids ankles and hold the ankles the same way they would hold a wheelbarrow. The kids will then straighten their arms lifting themselves off the ground as they would with a pushup. From there, the race begins.

When we talk about exercise routines for children we must not get them confused with the strict routines that adults follow. Children’s exercise routines should be fun, flexible and enjoyable, not the three or four gym visits per week type routines. As children are still growing, certain types of exercise may be harmful to them at a younger age.

We all want our young athlete to be as successful on the field as possible. Coaches spend a great deal of time with young athletes on skills and drills. Parents enroll children in speed and agility camps and provide private instruction hoping to develop a better player. While skills and drills and sport specific instruction may make the player more proficient kicking a soccer ball or throwing a baseball.

Works other skills required that will improve your football game. All this said, why not work some specific drills that will improve your game quickly so that your kid can continue being a kid? Just remember make sure it is fun. He is doing this while playing another sport, so it can’t feel like another practice. It has to feel like a game if you want him to do it on his own.

Schools recognize the need for kids fitness training and offer activities such as football, baseball, volleyball, soccer, and golf as a way to get them involved with sports and fitness. These activities also require traveling if the kids are performing in sport activities. The children learn responsibly, fitness, and how to eat healthy. They also learn about things in life other than video games, drugs, and drinking.

Set aside your pride and let the professionals take over if you want what is best for your kid. I have been training kids and youth athletes for a long time and have seen too many problems with kids getting injured, misinformed, or burned-out due to receiving incompetent instruction from an unqualified adult. Too many problems like childhood obesity and youth onset diabetes are piling up in this country.

The same goes for off-ice training. The importance of off-ice training for the development of an ice-hockey player is irrefutable. If your child does not practice off-ice properly, with drills matching his or her age and progress, your child’s game will suffer during the season – and later in life. Your child needs personal guidance in order to practice correctly off the ice.

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