Youth Conditioning eBook.pdf

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7/23/2019 Youth Conditioning eBook.pdf http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/youth-conditioning-ebookpdf 1/12 www.connachtfitnessandperformance.com Youth Physical Preparation & Conditioning Dear Parent/Coach Congratulations on your commitment to the optimal development of the young athlete by reading this eBook. It explains my philosophy of coaching young, still-developing athletes from age 5+, regardless of their favourite sport or physical attributes. Hopefully it will provide you with some food for thought. If you would like further information, please don’t hesitate to contact me via the below resources Regards, Shane Fitzgibbon, B.Sc.,HDAP, NCSC, YFS http://www.facebook.com/shanefitzgibbonBSc http://www.connachtfitnessandperformance.com http://www.trainingandoptimalhealth.com Introduction Youth conditioning and fitness is such a broad subject, that it’s difficult to do decide what to cover in a n introductory eBook. When you really look at it though, young people in sports today generally need attention in six areas: 1. general movement skills 2. core stability 3. strength & power 4. speed & agility 5. mobility 6. Nutrition

Transcript of Youth Conditioning eBook.pdf

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Youth Physical Preparation & Conditioning 

Dear Parent/Coach

Congratulations on your commitment to the optimal development of the young athlete by reading this

eBook. It explains my philosophy of coaching young, still-developing athletes from age 5+, regardless of their favourite sport or physical attributes. Hopefully it will provide you with some food for thought. If you

would like further information, please don’t hesitate to contact me via the below resources

Regards,

Shane Fitzgibbon, B.Sc.,HDAP, NCSC, YFS

http://www.facebook.com/shanefitzgibbonBSc

http://www.connachtfitnessandperformance.com

http://www.trainingandoptimalhealth.com

Introduction

Youth conditioning and fitness is such a broad subject, that it’s difficult to do decide what to cover in a n

introductory eBook. When you really look at it though, young people in sports today generally need attention

in six areas:

1. general movement skills

2. core stability

3. strength & power 

4. speed & agility

5. mobility

6. Nutrition

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Of course, the focus on each of these will vary depending on

the specific needs of the athlete and the age. Age seems a good

 place to start. Youth athletes can be categorised as follows:

Movement Foundations (2-5), Guided Discovery (6-9),

Learning Exploration (10-13), Train with Application (14+).

Before we explore the training methods, let’s identify some

important obstacles to progress and excellence in Youth Sports,

namely:

● Early Sports Specialisation (ESS) versus General Sports

Skills

● Results-Now versus Long-term Athletic Development

(LTAD)

Early Sports Specialisation (ESS) versusGeneral Sports Skills

There are many studies suggesting that young children should engage in a variety of physical activities in order 

to maximally develop fundamental movements and fine motor skills. The challenge arises when a child

demonstrates a natural aptitude for a particular sport and is then pigeonholed in that sport, where all other 

sports are discarded. The ideal situation, for a child, is to participate in at least three different sports until

teenage years. This allows the child the opportunity to develop a wide range of movement experience and sets

him/her up for future success. Parents and coaches must be educated to realise that narrowing a child’s

experience will limit athletic potential in the long run.

“Total Training for Young Champions,” by Bompa describes a study done with two groups of young athletes,

of age 9-12 years old where one group participated in only one sport and the other group in a variety of sports:

The results are startling:

Results-Now versus Long-term Athletic Development (LTAD)

Youth sports are getting increasingly popular. As a result of this they are getting better funded, but along with

that goes pressure to succeed in competition. The downfall is that pressure to succeed NOW, hamstrings future

 progress of the young athlete. The opposite of the “improvement now” philosophy is that of Long-term Athletic

Development (LTAD). The primary mantra of LTAD is continual improvement over immediate performance.

I firmly believe that in many team sports, athletes with great long-term potential are discarded all-too-easily

for want of current ability. If these young people, were allowed the time to mature and develop naturally, many

could become the hub of a team. But early exclusion can be de-motivating and ultimately lead to drop-out. If 

children are encouraged to improve rather than perform – that changes the long-term outlook for any club.

After all, the under-12’s of today are the seniors of tomorrow.These are major obstacles that must be overcome to allow optimal development of youth athletes.

Early Specialisation Group Multi-sport Group

Quick performance improvement Slower performance improvement

Best performance at 15-16 years Best performance at age 18+

Inconsistent performances in competition Consistent performances in competition

Many were Burned out by age 18 Longer athletic life

Prone to injuries because of forced adaption Fewer injuries

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Chronological DevelopmentChildren develop specific characteristics and abilities at certain ages, although there may be variations from

child to child. The International Youth Conditioning Association (IYCA) refers to the development windows

as follows:

Movement Foundations (2-5)

This age group should ideally be learning how to run, hop on one leg, bounding and jumping and similar locomotive skills. A variety of games can aid in children discovering new motor skills. I, personally, believe

that children this young should learn as many movements as possible in a fun and interactive way, independent

of any particular sport.

Guided Discovery (6-9)

It is predominantly at this age range that children enter organised sports activities. Toward the younger ages,

sport-specific skill work should be minimised with an emphasis on developing primitive bodyweight

movements, e.g. press-ups, squats, lunges. Balanced core stability can be taught using planks, side planks and

glute bridges. Working games into this type of training is ideal. E.g. One exercise I use is getting a child to

maintain a high plank (press-up variation) while his/her partner crawls underneath. Then the child lowers to aregular plank while partner jumps over the back and repeats the exercise. Perform the desired number of 

repetitions. Balance exercises/games are useful, e.g. playing tag while hopping on one leg.

Learning Exploration (10-13)

It is essential that as children mature towards puberty, coaches are alert that differences in physical capability

may become more pronounced. Children who are proficient at low-level plyometrics e.g. hopping & bounding

may be progressed to more advanced progressions. Children may join a sport late and may lag in fundamental

motor skills. It is imperative that they are not rushed into learning too many sport-specific skills too soon, but

are given a chance to catch up in terms of co-ordination and other abilities. This will serve them best in the

long term. Mobility, core stability, and mastering body weight continues to increase in importance, as childrenedge towards adolescence, and are developing more skills in their chosen sports. Many children will be exposed

to strength training with external weight in their coming teen years, so they need a solid foundation of mobility,

stability, and strength to be adequately prepared.

Train with Application (14+)

“Youth physical development takes many

 years to promote and training progression

levels cannot be skipped in order to promote

 success in the short-term,”  (Essentials of 

Youth Conditioning and Fitness, Brooks &Stodden, 2012, Chaplain Publishing). As

adolescents continue to mature, their 

training will become increasingly geared

towards physicality, strength and power.

However, like building a brick wall, if any

foundation levels are neglected, the whole

lot can come tumbling down. Athletes with

an appropriate training age and appropriate

foundation will make consistent progress

with applied coaching. Boys, especially, will

develop a more muscular physique due to

increasing testosterone levels. Teenage girls

may see an increase in relative body fat which can to be managed through nutritional and training strategies.

It is important to realise that many adult injuries can be traced back to poor training habits in teenage years.

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Building the efficient Athlete

Building a healthy, resilient, powerful, skilful player, who is less prone to injuries, can be likened to building

a wall. Look at the diagram below.

You can see that each layer of the wall represents an athletic trait. Players love to master the skills of their 

game, but when you really examine a wall, which row of bricks is the most important? The top one or the

 bottom one? It should be clear that we have to build layers from the bottom-up to finish with a solid wall, or 

a complete athlete. Therefore, with this in mind, my work with athletes, of all ages, involves ensuring that

adequate foundations are in place before moving anything other than body weight is considered.

The coach’s job is partly to make the athlete Stronger, Faster, more Powerful - in other words, a better mover,

regardless of the sport. All trainers will vary to some extent in methodology and style. However, when startingout with a new athlete or team, it is crucial, in my opinion, to ascertain their training age and current condition.

This is done by movement screening: the process of assessing the ability to perform primitive bodyweight

movements like squatting, lunging, etc... By analysing these movements, we can identify asymmetries between

left and right side, muscular imbalances, and mobility and stability issues. If these remain hidden, then the

athletes are only trying to build strength on dysfunction and are doomed to either plateau, get injured or both.

By screening the athlete, the coach knows which layers of the “wall” are solid and which are weak. Something

as simple as bad posture is dysfunction. It messes up the alignment of the body. Imagine the body is a car: how

good would it be for the car to be driven at 100kph with the handbrake on and all the wheels out of alignment?

The first night I work with a team or athlete, we perform simple movement drills designed to show up

compensation patterns. By identifying mobility issues in the ankles, hips, shoulders, etc... it provides us witha roadmap of where each person’s training must begin and the direction we need to take.

Mobility and Stability 

I will deal with mobility and stability together,

 because they are intrinsically linked. The joint-

 by-joint approach used by Gray Cook and

Michael Boyle best illustrates this: In my book 

“Training and Optimal Health for Sports”, I

explain the kinetic chain and how everything isconnected to everything else. Cook and Boyle

teach how to visualise the body as a series of 

 joints stacked on top of each other with

alternating needs. See the table:

Joint Primary need

Shoulder (gleno-humeral joint) Mobility

Scapulae (shoulder blades) Stability

Thoracic Spine Mobility

Lumbar Spine Stability

Hips Mobility

Knees Stability

Ankles Mobility

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If a joint that is meant to be mobile is overly stiff, then it shifts this

responsibility to the joint higher up the chain. For example, if a

 person tries to squat but has poor hip mobility, then the necessity of 

mobility is usually shifted to the lumbar spine, which needs stability.

The result is likely low back pain, which is cause by poor hip

mobility, not necessarily a weak back (as is sometimes thought). By

understanding this joint-by-joint approach we can ensure our clients

meet the needs of the joints by tailoring the exercises accordingly.

Examples of recommended exercises for mobility are:

 90-90 KneelingPurpose: stretches hip flexors, activates glutes.

Method: Adopt a half-kneeling position, with instep of rear foot

  facing down. Press the instep down into the floor while

  “firing” the glutes (buttock muscles). Move the hips

  forward in a rocking motion. Perform 8-10 repetitions

  and change legs.

2. Side lunges

Purpose: To warm-up the muscles of the  thigh/hips and stretch the adductors.

Method: Stand with feet approximately twice

  your shoulder width, keeping feet

  parallel. Bend one knee keeping the

  other straight, thereby squatting to

  one side. Keep both horizontal. Shift

  weight to the other side without

  moving the positions of the feet.

  Perform 8-10 repetitions.

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Examples of recommended exercises for stability are:

1. Side PlankPurpose: To develop the stability and endurance of the lateral (side) trunk muscles, e.g. internal and

  external obliques.

Set-up: Take the side plank start position. N.B: attention must be paid to maintaining neutral spine.

  Knees, hips and lumbar spine should all be extended. NO ROTATION. Maintain until position

  can no longer be comfortably held.

2. Bird-dogsPurpose: To develop the stability and endurance of the posterior core, e.g. low back muscles, gluteals, also

abdominals. It is particularly good for rotational stability.

Set-up: Kneel on the floor with hands under shoulders, knees under hips. Ensure spine is kept neutral. A

PVC pipe or sponge noodle can be used to assist in this. Brace the trunk muscles and raise one

arm to the front without moving the low back out of position. If the pipe rolls off, this indicates

inability to maintain position. Hold for two deep belly breaths and slowly lower the raised arm to

the start position. The next progression is to raise contralateral arm and leg while maintaining

 position.

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General Movement Skills

This layer of training involves making sure that the young

athletes can correctly perform the primal movement

 patterns, e.g. squatting, lunging, pushing, pulling, bending,twisting and gait.

Example 1: Prisoner Squat.

One of the key exercises I like to makes sure is correctly

done, is the prisoner squat.

Purpose: This is a bread-and-butter exercise for 

developing strength and power for any athlete.

However, very few pubescent (and older) people

do it correctly. When done properly, it worksmost lower body muscles in a movement

capacity with a great deal of core stabilising and

other proprioceptive benefits.

Set-up: Have the athlete stand with feet approx shoulder-width apart, with feet turned 10-15 degree

outward. Hands are held beside the head. When lowering, teach sitting back, NOT down, with

weight on the balls of the feet and heels. Upper and lower back should be arched with the chest

Example 2. Lunges

Purpose: Great exercise for working most muscles from the trunk down. It is a also a great tool for 

assessing a student’s hip mobility (hip extension) and proprioception (balance).

Set-up: With feet hip-width apart, have the students step BACKWARD into a reverse lunge. Emphasise

maintaining correct upright posture. Focus on creating right angles at both knees and hips.

Trunk, rear leg and front calf should be perpendicular to floor. Front thigh and rear calf 

should be parallel to floor. Return to start position by PULLING from front leg NOT pushing

from back leg while remaining upright.

Mistakes: Inability to step into the correct lunge position could indicate some or all of the following – 

weak hip extension as a result of tight/overactive hip flexors and inhibited/weak hip extensors.

Inability to return to start position as described could indicate weak hip extension as a result of 

tight/overactive hip flexors and inhibited/weak hip extensors

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Typically incorrect Correct

Strength and Power 

As a coach in Ireland, I have observed over the last twenty years that children coming into my sessions are,

on average, displaying less flexibility, less cardiovascular fitness, less strength and less favourable body

composition than previously. This, I believe, is partly due to the advent of the games console, the now

restricted level of physical activity in first-level schools and nutrition changes in society. Coaches and parents

have a responsibility to try to turn this around, and I believe structured resistance training for children can

 play a key part in this. There is some concern about the safety of children undertaking strength training, butstudies have shown that there are far more injuries from playing actual sports than from following an

appropriate and properly supervised training programme. Fear of injury need not be a preventative factor in

 juniors doing resistance training once internationally recognised recommendations are adhered to. Some of 

the confirmed benefits of strength training for children are:

● Sizeable strength gains, beyond those of normal growth

● Reduced risk of injury in sporting activities

● ncreased performance

● Improved recovery from normal sports injuries

● Improved bone mineral density

● Reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and/or obesity

● Improved psychological health e.g. self-esteem

With all these benefits, it seems surprising that there aren’t more structured resistance training programs

available. Perhaps it is because of circulating myths about strength training:

● It has been said that strength training can stunt the growth of children – in actual fact, it has been shown

that as long as professional recommendations of exercise and nutrition are followed, resistance training

may have beneficial growth results and will NOT negatively affect the height a child would naturally

develop. (Zatisiorsky and W. Kraemer, 2006)1

There are fears that there is potential risk of damage to growth plates – According to Paul Gamble2 thereis no documented evidence of this. As previously mentioned, growth can be enhanced as long as the

resistance is kept appropriate (See below).

● That there are injury risks involved – it seems universally accepted amongst experts that the most frequent

causes of injuries in resistance training for children are the same as those of adults, namely: incorrect

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technique, using inappropriate weight, and lack of 

qualified supervision.

Guidelines for resistance training for children

● A child should have reached psychological and physical

maturity to embark in structured resistance training.

Consultation with the family doctor is recommended.● The programme should be individual to a particular child

and not a one-size-fits-all team programme.

● The child should be taught correct lifting and spotting (if 

relevant) techniques and supervised at all times.

● Correct gym etiquette should be taught to avoid accidents,

e.g. not leaving weights on the ground, etc...

● Introduce resistance training to a child at a level that may

 be too easy rather than too difficult. It is better to

gradually increase resistance as needed than to allow the

child have a negative experience and/or risk injury.

●  New free weight exercises should be taught with a broom

handle or an empty bar until competent.

● It is vital to develop core strength to a high level with

children as with adults. This can be done as part of resistance training using multi-joint exercises as well

as traditional core exercises.

● When a young athlete stops resistance there is deterioration in gained strength levels. To avoid loss of 

enthusiasm, a programme must include variation of exercises and types of training.

● Prepubescent athletes should strive for neither hypertrophy nor explosive power; however, these may be

introduced cautiously in adolescence.

● Young athletes should be allowed enough recovery time between sessions, as even growing takes its toll

on the body.

Recommended Loads and Exercises for Young Athletes

Kurz (2006)4 quotes a study (Krumm 1988) which illustrates safe loading of weight for young athletes:

● Eleven-twelve-year-olds should lift weight no more than 30% of body weight

● Thirteen-fourteen-year-olds should lift no more than 50% of body weight

● Fifteen-and sixteen-year-olds should lift weight no more than 100% of body weight

These weights should allow ten-fifteen repetitions for good strength gains.

Although there are many methods of resistance/strength training - my personal choices tend to be body weight

and resistance bands. Resistance bands offer many advantages over dead weight (dumbells & barbells), e.g.

 portable, lighter, assist the young athlete to develop acceleration and deceleration abilities, can simulate

mulit-directional force vectors similar to that experienced in real-world activities.

Speed and Agility 

As in the prior section, there is so much to cover, that it is more a case of what to omit, than what to include.

It seems prudent to define the topic first, in any case.

Speed can be simply defined as the ability to achieve a high velocity of a planned movement. Top linear speed

while considered the main goal of track sports, is less applicable (although, useful) to field sports e.g. soccer.

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Agility is generally considered the ability to decelerate, change direction and rapidly accelerate in the new

direction. Agility is a keystone athletic trait in ball sports such as GAA, rugby, soccer, basketball, etc...

Both of these abilities are made up of two aspects – physical ability, and biomechanical training. Both aspects

demand attention and are trainable with the appropriate drills. Remembering that this blog is in relation to

youth conditioning, it is essential that we consider the sensitive training ages for speed & agility. According

to Drabik6, the sensitive ages for developing speed are from age seven to nine for both boys and girls, with a

further period of age ten to eleven for girls. He also states that boys’ speed may keep improving until the age

of eighteen, whereas girls may peak by age 15.

Physical Ability:

Some qualities that need to be developed, particularly for multi-directional speed, are:

● Balance

● Co-ordination

● Mobility

● Strength

The latter two have been covered already in this article, but not balance and co-ordination. While there are

simple exercises that can be done with young children to develop balance, I find I get the best results by doing

it through gameplay. For example, single-leg exercises (which are great for children to develop independent

leg strength and stability) can be easily incorporated in to races, etc... I sometimes like to give children an

object, e.g. a book, to balance on their heads while performing a task. It promotes good posture – essential for 

 balance and speed & agility. Partnering up the children to compete in push-pull games while standing on one

leg, with a view to knocking the partner off balance is brilliant for improving spatial awareness, ankle mobility

and balance.

A child’s level of co-ordination is directly linked to the ability to develop new motor patterns quickly. If coaches

consider it important for a child to pick up new skills quickly, then I strongly recommend incorporating

co-ordination exercises into the warm-up routines. The challenge of figuring out where the arms and legs need

to go in space will, over time, yield motor learning improvements.

Technical Ability

There are a number of technical aspects to linear speed, multi-directional speed and agility that can have great

 bearing on how effectively an athlete moves on the field. Like any other form of programming, a coach must

decide at what ages, and in what order, to implement these skills. In line with Newton’s First Law of Motion,

more force is required to stop an object in motion than to overcome inertia and initiate motion. Therefore, I

tend to focus much early speed work on deceleration. This, also, conveniently compliments the eccentric phase

I emphasise in strength work. Plus deceleration is an unavoidable component of changing direction. Some

skills to consider are:

1. Forward deceleration

2. Lateral deceleration

3. Forward Acceleration

4. Lateral shuffle

5. Breaking right/left

Forward deceleration: Used when running forward and player has to decelerate in order to back-pedal or movelaterally. Planting one foot forward while shifting the body weight back is typical. Ankles should be dorsiflexed,

knees and hips flexed, with chest up. For back-pedalling the front foot is immaterial. However, if decelerating

for lateral shuffling, plant the right foot forward to shuffle left, and lead with the left foot.

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Lateral deceleration: Typically used when

moving laterally (see image 12), but may be

used when running forward and the athlete

 plans to use a crossover step to change

direction at angles of approx 135 degrees.

Cues are to: plant the braking foot

 perpendicular to travelling direction with

foot flat. Knees and hips flexed, chest up.

Forward Acceleration: The primary things

to coach here are body positioning. To

achieve maximum speed, lean forward

(approximately 45 degrees). Feet should

claw the ground – a common mistake is to

 plant the lead foot, heel first, ahead of the

centre of mass. This only serves to

decelerate, when the athlete needs to be accelerating. Arm mechanics are essential – elbows should be bent

approximately 90 degrees and should swing freely from the shoulder. Avoid raising the shoulders. Avoid the

arms crossing the midline of the body (coronal plane) – they should only move in the sagittal plane. Movementof the body should be horizontal, not vertical. Avoid the hips moving up and down.

Lateral shuffle: This is a relatively easy movement to master. The athlete should be careful to maintain an

athletic stance, low with knees and hips flexed. Feet approximately shoulder width apart. Movement side-to-side

is performed by leading with the leg nearest the intended direction.

Breaking right/left: This involves an opponent turning to run 90 degrees from the current facing, when a lateral

shuffle wouldn’t be appropriate. The athlete should lead with the leg nearest the intended direction while truing

the hips in this direction. The second step should now be from the back leg and the athlete is in a normal

running gait.

References6. Science and Practice of Strength Training. 2nd Edition, (Human Kinetics 2006), by V. Zatisiorsky and W.

Kraemer, pages 166

7. Peak Performance Resistance Special report, Chapter “Women and Young Athletes,”, by Paul Gamble,

 page 65

8. Science and Practice of Strength Training. 2nd Edition, (Human Kinetics 2006), by V. Zatisiorsky and W.

Kraemer, pages 201, 208

9. Kids’ Load Limits, by J.E. Krumm (1988) study quoted in Science of Sports Training, by Tom Kurz, page

165

10. Children and Sports Training, by Józef Drabik (1996), page 13611. Children and Sports Training, by Józef Drabik (1996),

BiographyShane Fitzgibbon has been coaching in Sports for over twenty years. A certified Strength & Conditioning

coach and Gym Instructor, Shane is one of the most experienced coaches in Ireland. While he works with many

adults on both an individual and team basis, Shane has a real passion for developing young athletes. In 2012

he authored the highly acclaimed book, “Training and Optimal Health for Sports,” which is available in Easons

and the official website, www.trainingandoptimalhealth.com

Some of his accolades include:

●   National Certificate in Strength & Conditioning (distinction)

●   Youth Fitness Specialist (Levels 1,2, & 3)

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●   Certified Youth Strength and Conditioning Coach

●   Gym Instructor (ITEC)

●   Kettlebell Instructor 

●   Olympic Lift Instructor 

●   Youth Nutrition Specialist

●   Functional Movement Screening Specialist (Level 1)

●   Certified Speed & Agility Specialist

●   6th degree black belt and World Champion in Taekwon-do

Shane is also:

● Garda Vetted

● First-aid certified

● Certified in completion of Irish Sports Council Code of Ethics

& Child Protection

● A member of the Register of Exercise Professionals (REPS

Ireland)

● Member of Irish Sports Coaches Institute (ISCI)