Modern sports science for young athletes has provided coaches a multitude of guidance, specifically in the area of strength training. As a general rule of thumb, we caution parents and coaches about weight training when working with athletes 14 and under. Misguided or unintentional overtraining with weights can cause serious injuries and consequences to the growth process and musculoskeletal development for young athletes. Unless a coach or parent is well versed and certified in weight training instruction, it is much safer (and just as productive) to use body weight and resistance training for budding athletes.
The health risks and liability of weight training athletes before they are ready are tremendous. Exposing young athletes to heavy weightlifting or repetitions with poor form can cause long term and detrimental damage to growth plates, muscle structure, and skeletal development. A much lower risk and equal benefit to weight training is using a multitude of body resistance and movement strength training methods, which also oGers additional opportunities for fun and socialization among peers.
Coaches and parents who are looking to supplement the training of their young runners should consider using these forms of activity:
• Resistance Band Work
• Core Strength Exercises
• Planking
• Active Isolated Flexibility
• Yoga for Runners
• Form Drill Routines
• Medicine Ball, Lightweight Dumbell and Kettle Ball Routines
• Deep Water Resistance Running, Aquacise, or Swimming
Creating a simple routine that is both fun and challenging to young runners will allow them to challenge themselves at their current strength level while remaining active and preferably outdoors. As we suggest that athletes ages 12 and under do not run more than 3 days per week, using a combination of the following core strength exercise two days per week can allow even the youngest athletes to remain active and focused on goals 4-5 days per week.
Resistance Bands: One of the simplest and most inexpensive ways to build strength in youth runners is by using a resistance bands. This should incorporate lying front leg lifts, side leg lifts, back leg lifts, side walks, front and back walks, and ankle flexions. Additional resistance and incremental challenges can be added by swapping out bands of various resistance. A quality sets of resistance bands is typically $25 or less.
Planking: Use of body weight and strength in a well organized floor planking routine can add tremendous balance and core strength for athletes of all ages. We suggest starting with 10 minutes of planking and build to 30 minutes/twice per week. If you teach proper form, it is virtually impossible to incur serious injury and therefore a great option for young runners. Here are the planking exercises to build a routine:
• Basic Forearm Plank
• Plank Hand Walks
• Side Planks
• Plank Should Tap
• Knee Plank
• Commando Plank
• Mountain Climber
• Plank Lifts alternating Arms and Legs
• Plank Stars with Repetition or Holds
Core Exercises and Planking: Overtraining with running and weight room time can easily lead to overuse injuries, mental burnout, and other obstacles to success. A combination of the following activities can serve as cross training for young athletes:
• Push Ups
• Crunches/Sit Ups
• Squats
• Lunges
• Russian Twists
• Step Ups or Low Box Jumps
Form and Drill Routines: Active motion drills serve as great form builders and strength routines at the same time. Recommended drills include hurdle mobility, high knees, bounding, butt kicks, side-winders, straight leg lift runs, Carioca, ladder runs, A-Skip, B-Skip, and Leap Frogs.
Flexibility Work: Active Isolated Stretching and Yoga are both great routines for weaker or beginner runners who need to build additional strength before moving to more challenging activities, such as resistance bands, planking, or small weight movement. See our article, “Active Isolated Stretching: Using Targeted Movement to Improve Flexibility and Performance” for guidance.
Challenge Workout: AT least once per month, my athletes do a “Four Corners” Workout on the infield of the track. This incorporates an array of core strength and balance exercises while allowing their legs to get a break from intense running for the day. Here is the overview:
• Pick FOUR CORNERS as “exercise stations”. This can also be done on a track with no other competing sports in action, using each 100m line. You can also use on open field, no track required. Athletes love working in the grass.
• Have the athletes Warm up with an easy jog, Active Isolated Stretch Program, or other low cardio activity.
• Choose 4 main exercises, one per corner. This can be diGerentiated by athlete level by assigning a yellow, green, blue, red, etc, group.
• Athletes are given a set number of “laps” to complete.
• Have the groups stay together, always cheering for group members as they finish and work to keep up.
• Choose from all of the exercised listed in this article and rotate for variety, each session.
Careful design of youth training programs remains a pivotal key to sustainability and longevity as successful athletes. Athletes ages 12 and under should be protected from overtraining. As achievements begin to pile up, it is easy for coaches and parents to add more to the training volume and think that their winning athlete can handle it. For most athletes, even talented individuals, it is important to monitor workloads and plan for rest and recovery. Here is a sample work week for athletes ages 12 and under:
Monday-Day OG from Running w/30 Minutes of Core Work
Tuesday-Track, Short Interval, Speed Day w/Active Isolated Stretching
Wednesday-Cross Training Cardio Day and Band Resistance Work
Thursday-Track, Long Interval, Tempo Run Day w/Active Isolated Stretching
Friday-Easy Run, 25-45 minutes conversation pace
Saturday-Rest or Competition or Long Run Day
Sunday-Competition or Long Run Day
For a detailed 16 week age-specific prep schedule, see our WRU Junior Training Program on our youth page at https://www.worldrunnersunited.com
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