Being brought up playing rugby, we had an ex marine as a coach and with his philosophy our aim as a team was to out-strength our opposition instead of beating them by having a better skill set. At the age of fourteen we were encouraged to lifts weights regularly and did a lot of conditioning during training. Due to the coaches, our parents and ourselves being ill informed about the science behind growth and maturation of an adolescent athlete, we didn’t know whether we were doing more harm to our body then good.
I’m not saying that young athletes shouldn’t be doing any conditioning as the benefits of exercise at a young age is good for our physical and mental health. However lifting heavy weights at a young age doesn’t seem to be the correct manor of getting adolescent athletes more fitter, faster and stronger.
A study published in the “Journal of Australian strength and conditioning showed teenage rugby players under sixteens and under eighteens in preseason were put under a resistance training programme throughout pre-season to make the players more stronger for the physical and professional development and injury prevention. The results showed for the under sixteens players actually showed average overall improvements in their bench, squat and pull-ups by 17%, 34% and 45% respectively. Overlooking this journal entry it seems that with under sixteen athletes actually had a positive impact with their strength performance throughout their pre season training, however all of this are based on small short term achievements. The were no long term assessments and the athletes were not under any mobility programmes set up for these athletes to help their recovery and prevent injuries.
An Article in the “Athletic Therapy Today” about resistance training for adolescent athletes and promoted the risk and concerns of weight training such as damaging the growth cartilage or epiphyseal plate which is caused by poor lifting technique or heavy overhead lifts. Another risk for adolescent athletes are the repetitive-use of soft tissue injuries which is again caused by heavy lifts and poor programming from training. Reviewing this article, Their are positives within weight training but with poor coaching from grassroots coaches with no experience with strength and conditioning coaching with a team i personally believe that the risk outweigh the potential positives for adolescent athlete to partake in weight training at low level sports clubs.
let me know your opinions about this subject.