Youth strength training and kettlebell training

At SportEST’s request, Ants Kiisa discusses youth strength training. He holds a Level V athletics coaching qualification and is the lead throws coach at Audentes Sports Gymnasium and the Estonian Athletics Association.

This article was prompted by concerns raised by a physical education teacher whose students include several children aged 10-12 and even younger who attend kettlebell lifting training and already compete. The teacher personally believes this is inappropriate. They contacted us hoping that an expert would offer an opinion on whether the sport is suitable for children and outline the potential risks of strength sports for young participants.

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Below, Ants Kiisa outlines his principles for strength and barbell training for young people.

To begin, I would like to share my general view of the fundamentals of strength training. I believe that if the kettlebells are not too heavy, the children have mastered lifting technique, the training is varied and the training loads are appropriate for their age, then all is well. However, if any of these basic principles are ignored, parents and teachers should certainly intervene, as there is a definite risk of harm to the child’s health.

Ages 10-12

Strength training for children of this age must be approached with great caution, and it certainly should not be the only form of training they do. At this age, it is important for children to learn the techniques of their sport and, above all, to develop abilities that are harder to develop later (agility, coordination, speed and flexibility). Training at this age should always be playful and varied. Developing strength with additional weights and traditional strength training this early is not sensible. A more effective and healthier way to develop strength in children aged 10-12 is through a variety of gymnastics and acrobatic exercises. These can be supplemented with various strength exercises performed alone or with a partner at wall bars or on a gym mat.

Proper technique must be learned early

As is well known, the best age for learning sporting techniques is 10-12, including the techniques used in Olympic weightlifting. When it comes to weightlifting, I believe it is important to learn technique using very light weights. Even a broomstick or a small, unloaded barbell is suitable. Since lifting heavy weights or performing exercises with a high rep count carries a very high risk of injury, mastering proper lifting technique is essential. To give some practical examples, I know that two of our top athletes, decathlete Valter Külvet and discus thrower Aleksander Tammert Jr., had mastered the basics of Olympic weightlifting technique by age 10. Yet their coaches (their fathers) focused entirely on technique rather than on building high levels of strength. I have followed the same principle in training my son, Ats Kiisa. By age 12, Ats knew the technique for both the snatch and the clean, but in training he mainly performed sets of these exercises with an unloaded bar.

It is often said that today’s children have little experience of play and everyday physical work compared with children of the same age twenty or thirty years ago. Most young people today prefer to spend their free time indoors, in front of computers. Children have poor general physical conditioning and are therefore more prone to injury. This is something that teachers and coaches working today must take into account.

Does excessive strength training stunt growth?

There is a widespread myth that excessive strength training stunts an athlete’s growth. It is difficult to say whether that is exactly the case, but I believe that if you overdo anything, negative consequences will soon follow. Ideally, an athlete should be a true athlete in the Ancient Greek sense: a person whose development is balanced and harmonious. So, if a young, growing body is trained using sound methods that also account for its biological development, taking part in any sport should be neither dangerous nor inappropriate. When choosing training loads and exercises for strength training, it is important to consider the characteristics of a growing body (for example, the inward curve of the cervical spine (lordosis) and the outward curve of the thoracic spine (kyphosis) develop by age 7, while lumbar lordosis develops by age 12, and so on).

Drawing on what I have learned from older colleagues and from my own experience, I would like to highlight an important point about squat exercises. Weighted squats should be introduced into a training program as late as possible. Initially, training leg strength using only the athlete’s own body weight is sufficient. This allows the knees, for example, to develop fully and prevents injuries later in the athlete’s career.

Ages 13-15

In the next stage of development, at ages 13-15, young people can begin to devote some attention to strength training. As far as lifting exercises are concerned, they should ideally have mastered the techniques for the snatch, clean and squat. However, caution is still needed! The weights used should not be very heavy or place excessive strain on the body’s supporting structures. It is not uncommon for young people of this age to already lift heavy weights and follow training structured much like an adult’s. This will certainly produce rapid improvements in performance, which in turn encourages them to train even more. However, subjecting a growing body to this kind of training is not sustainable in the long term and carries several risks. At this age, the body is not yet fully developed (including the musculoskeletal, hormonal, cardiovascular and respiratory systems). Placing excessive demands on an athlete’s energy reserves at a young age will come at a painful cost when they compete at senior level. It is entirely possible that, after a few years, their previously rapid progress will stall and young athletes who have been developed more vigorously will begin to show better results.

Ages 16-18

16-18 is an appropriate age to begin more serious barbell training, provided the athlete has developed good technique in their sport and an adequate level of physical conditioning. Girls, who mature somewhat faster than boys, can train with relatively higher training loads at this age. In athletics, it is fairly common for 16-year-old throwers to do one substantial barbell workout a week, alongside 1-2 general physical conditioning sessions (circuit training, medicine ball exercises or similar). There may occasionally be periods, such as during competitions, when they do two strength training workouts a week, but these workouts are lighter. Young athletes in their final years of upper secondary school (aged 17-18) already do up to three barbell workouts a week. A certain basic level of strength is very important in throwing events, as the throwing implements get heavier each year. An athlete may have very good technique, but if their strength preparation is inadequate, they may struggle to execute a technically sound throw with a heavier implement.

Food vs supplements

Supplement use is another much-discussed issue today. Supplements are readily available to everyone and marketed quite aggressively. Some coaches also recommend introducing various supplements (protein, creatine and the like) into their athletes’ diets at a fairly early stage. While supplement use may be justified or even necessary in certain cases, healthy, informed food choices must always be the foundation. Before adding supplements to your diet, you should know what to eat at your main meals and in what proportions. If it becomes clear that you cannot get all the nutrients you need from regular food, you can start looking to supplements for support.

About the author: Ants Kiisa
Throwing events coach at Audentes Sports Gymnasium
Lead coach for throwing events at the Estonian Athletics Association
Level V coach
The article originally appeared here.

Author:Turg.Fitness.ee

Come and train! ArtGym