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Athletic Development for Children Versus Adults

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This blog is probably going to be a mix between a rant, and an educational piece for parents of young athletes. It is motivated by the developing situation of fitness coaches taking on junior clientele for athletic development, without necessarily having the requisite qualifications and/or experience. Let me be clear: having, for example, a dancing background, no matter how prestigious, does not of itself qualify one to coach strength and conditioning to young dancers. Nor does having a “Fitness qualification” automatically mean one is ready to coach young athletes, who are considered children until the age of eighteen.

To elaborate, coaching young people is quite a bit more involved than coaching adults. If children are coached as mini-adults, it can have detrimental results. It requires specific expertise and study.

On a personal note, when I realised I wanted to specialise in coaching children, I researched and sourced educational material. I qualified as a Youth Fitness Specialist Level 1, 2 & 3 as well as High School Strength & Conditioning Coach via the International Youth Conditioning Association. I made it my business (and still do) to attend conferences geared towards coaching children, where I learnt best practices from the coaching-World’s best, e.g. Dr. Ian Jeffries, Kelvin Giles, Gary Schofield, Paudie Roche, Loren Landow, Dr. Mike Martino, Dr. Dale Canavan, Sergio Lara-Bercial, and many more, too numerous to list…

Youth Athletic Development is a growing and exciting development in Ireland. Interestingly, it comes at a time when Physical Literacy is at its lowest, and competence at Fundamental Movement Skills is quickly deteriorating, so many more youth fitness specialists are needed. As coaches of young athletes, we must have the expertise to regress exercises as far back as necessary, and coach, literally from the ground up.

My fellow coaches who wish to delve into this growing field of youth athletic development, I welcome you, and wish you well. But, for the sake of the child’s well-being and your reputation, do your homework and learn how to coach a child. For the parents of young, ambitious athletes looking to gain a physical advantage, please make sure the coach you choose understands the many differences between a developing body, and a fully matured one. Most fitness or S&C coaches will be first-aid qualified. However, if coaching your children, find out if the coach is:

  1. Garda-vetted
  2. has taken the “Code of Ethics and Good Practice in Children’s Sport” course run by the local Sports Partnership, and,
  3. crucially, is operating from a Child Protection Policy that the coach can actually show you.

Craughwell GAA

Some considerations for coaches:

  • A one-size-fits –all approach does not work. Consider the various personalities (D.I.S.C.) and learning modalities of children.
  • Approaches will vary from pre-pubescent to teenager – form-based V outcome-based coaching
  • Coaching is part Science, part Art
  • Praising success-alone, leads to avoidance of failure, and failure is a key stepping-stone to bigger success.
  • What should you teach first – landing mechanics or jumping mechanics? Deceleration or acceleration?
  • Young athletes can tolerate high volume but not intensity? Or is it the reverse?
  • Coaching young athletes cannot be about physical training alone – how do you factor in social and cognitive development?
  • How do growth spurts affect progress?
  • The development of strength in young athletes is usually due to more efficient neuromuscular coordination, rather than muscle size.
  • Do you know the speed increases teenagers will gain, annually, just from natural maturing, whether being trained or not? This is crucial to knowing if your coaching is eliciting true gains, or if it is due to growth.
  • How do girls differ to boys with regard to hormonal influence, aerobic endurance, upper/lower body strength, fat-free-mass, etc..? Before and after puberty?
  • Is high intensity interval training recommended or contraindicated for young athletes? Pre or post puberty? Why?

These are just some of the numerous variables Youth coaches must consider. For outstanding quality in youth athletic development, I can be reached at 087-2070577 or via the website www.shanefitzgibbon.ie

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

IYCA International Youth Coach of the Year 2015

New Year’s Fitness Fads, Diets and other Bullsh*t!

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As we go into January, the inevitable launch of the latest fashionable diet and exercise fad is upon us. With this, heralds masses of inactive people looking to get fitter, and lose inches in 3-4 weeks that probably took them years of inactivity and poor nutrition to put on. If you are one of these, the end result, more often than not, is one of the following:

  • Twelve-month gym membership abandoned after one month.
  • Injury or pain leads you to give you up wha
  • Diet given up after a couple of weeks because you went gung-ho and asked too much of yourself, too soon.
  • Injury or pain leads you to give you up whatever exercise form you took up, and resort to “wait til you’re a bit fitter” before resuming.

All of these outcomes can be avoided with a little bit of rational thought and consultation with an educated, professional exercise/nutrition coach. [Side note: Why did I say educated? Surely any professional personal trainer is educated. Not necessarily… I am a certified strength and conditioning coach and learned very valuable information, but some of the most important coaching knowledge I have learnt came from sources other than my certification, i.e. books, DVDs and workshops attended year in, year out. So choose your coach wisely]

Anyway, back to the topic at hand – why do so many people looking to become healthier in the New Year fail? Usually, it’s because despite the best of intentions, they make the following mistakes. By alerting you to these, I hope to save you frustration, lack of progress, and most importantly, injury.

Typical Fallacies of New Year Health Fanatics

  1. Number one on my list is taking up a sport or exercise class without a proper assessment/movement screen. The simple truth is, many people are not ready to jump into an exercise programme without some kind of intervention to correct movement dysfunction, poor core stability, etc… You can read more on the importance of assessment here.
  2. Taking up running. What??? Taking up running is bad? Well… let’s just say that for many, taking up running, or jogging, or whatever you want to call it, is ill-advised. Oftentimes, it comes back to the lack of assessment. You may be too overweight and/or have too little muscle tissue for your joints to support the stresses of running. Running places loads of 3-5 times your body weight on your joints  every step. I realise joining a running club has many incentives: it’s group-based therefore offers motivation, it’s cheaper than joining a gym or a class, very little equipment needed. However, there is much more to increasing fitness than cardio work, which is where running falls. And, crucially, you never see orthopaedic surgeons running along the road. Why do you think that is?
  3. The dreaded detox diet – ok let’s get this straight: there are health risks to following any detox diets you read in magazines, newspapers or social media. Many people undergo a detox diet in January in a bid to rid the body of toxins that may have accumulated in the previous weeks, months or even years of unhealthy eating. One thing I always tell my weight-loss clients is, “you didn’t TRY to gain weight, so don’t TRY to lose it.” Make small, manageable, incremental changes to your lifestyle that are sustainable over the LONGTERM. For example, reduce sugar in your diet one week, and then reduce caffeine the following week, and so on…. By hitting your body with a cold-turkey detox diet you risk toxic shock, days of feeling miserable with numerous side effects. Anyone with health issues shouldn’t go on detox diets, e.g. diabetes, heart disease, or other chronic medical conditions. Teenagers and pregnant women should also avoid detox diets. Just eat healthily – plenty of vegetables, lean protein, gradually eliminate or at least reduce, sugar, caffeine, alcohol. Drink plenty of water and your body will detoxify itself.
  4. HIIT – High Intensity Interval Training: A popular method of getting rapid fat loss results, High Intensity Interval Training is both effective and time-efficient. The downside is that the associated elevation of heart-rate to quite high levels can be risky for several of the population. HIIT involves exercising intensely in short bursts with intermittent recovery periods. If you are not very aerobically fit, then HIIT can put quite a stress on you that you may not be quite ready for. It would be much more advisable to build up a base level of aerobic fitness before tackling HIIT. Strength training will lead to similar weight reduction and has the added benefit of enhancing your physique.
  5. Another factor to consider is that many of us are leading increasingly stressed lives. Whether it’s financial, physical or emotional is irrelevant. It still takes its toll on the body. Adding more excessive physical stress is inadvisable. To elaborate: the central nervous system consists of the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems. The sympathetic system is used for “flight or fight” in stressful situations, but is not meant to be in use for long. Problems occur when we cannot disengage from the sympathetic nervous system and relax, thereby engaging the parasympathetic (or peaceful) nervous system. Exercising in the aerobic zone of 120-140 bpm heart-rate once/twice per week will help you to reduce stress levels, improve digestion and sleep better. This can be done running (if appropriate) or biking, or many other ways. Here is a great article on the subject: http://robertsontrainingsystems.com/blog/long-duration-low-intensity-cardio/

To wrap up, please take some key points on board:

  • If you are currently sedentary, get a good coach who can thoroughly assess you, including a movement screen.
  • Don’t skimp paying for quality coaching. Saving money now can cost you far more later, in terms of pain and finances. You have one body – take care of it.
  • Take it handy on the nutrition improvements. Make small, consistent changes. Think long-term lifestyle changes, not short-term all-or-nothing fad diets.
  • Running may not be good for you. Get an assessment.
  • Strength training is essential, but you may not be ready yet. Get an assessment.
  • HIIT is effective for quick fat loss, but it may bring on more stress than your body needs right now. Get an assessment.

Wishing you all the best for 2016,

Shane Fitzgibbon

Want to learn more about rational training and nutrition, while you have time to spare over the holidays? Check out my book, “Training and Optimal Health for Sports.” Free shipping this week. Digital version is also available. See www.trainingandoptimalhealth.com

 

Why Children NEED structured Strength & Conditioning

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This blog post is being written as I reflect on all the recent articles I have read about youth obesity spiralling out of control in Ireland, as well as the reports on young athletes being burnt out at ever increasing rates from exhaustion and/or injury. While these are opposite extremes of the scale, I believe they are opposite sides of the same coin. The issue is lack of education (or perhaps even lack of caring) on what exercise professionals can offer. While both are pressing issues, this feature is aimed at why active children need some amount of professional attention, even in amateur/hobby sports if they are to minimise injury risk.

While it is essential that children engage in regular exercise for numerous health benefits, it is also important to recognise that exercise and sport is not necessarily the same thing. One key difference is that sport is, by its very nature, competitive and therefore more demanding and rigorous than exercise for its own sake. It is also not realistic to expect a local, unpaid, volunteer, amateur coach (no matter how well-meaning) to be an expert in nutrition, injury prevention, injury rehabilitation, strength, speed & agility, etc… His/her expertise is in the game, not in determining the physical capabilities or limitations of the players (unless they also happen to be a professional trainer). Let’s consider the benefits of children participating in structured strength & conditioning, should their local clubs or parents be forward-thinking enough to provide it.

Fundamental Movement Skills (FMS)

Children are entering sports with less physical literacy than ever before due, amongst other reasons, to the amount of time spent indoors instead of out playing and the massive reduction of P.E. and free-play in schools. This has huge implications on children’s competency of fundamental movement skills, such as object manipulation, hopping, jumping, squatting, etc… not to mention hand-eye coordination and more. When a child joins a new sport lacking competence in essential FMS, is it asking far too much of the child to develop competency of intrinsic sport-specific skills?

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Take a good look at the image above… This is the situation coaches have to deal with due to the increased amount of time children are spending sitting at school, watching TV, commuting, etc… Humans aren’t designed to spend long hours in the seated position. It drastically alters the tone of our muscles – shortening and tightening some, while lengthening and weakening others, to the detriment of posture. Ask someone to run or jump with poor posture and he/she will certainly make an attempt, but will lack efficiency due to the inability of certain muscles to fire in the correct sequence, if at all. At best, performance is reduced. At worst, the child eventually gets injured. A professional S&C coach recognises these issues with the squad and is able to intervene with appropriate corrective exercises, thereby dramatically reducing the risk of injury.

ONE CHANCE to get it right….

Prior to puberty is the best time for children to develop many of their fundamental movement skills, such as locomotion. Given that these FMS are the building blocks for athletic skills, then the strength of this foundation is linked to athletic success later in life. You may think that they have plenty of time to learn this… WRONG! If a child is not exposed to various movements in the early developmental stages, the brain undergoes a process of synaptic pruning, whereby apparently unneeded motor pathways in the brain are trimmed away. Exposing the child to these movement patterns later in life provides no guarantee of learning them, as it means that all new motor pathways need to be created in the brain. Children literally have ONE CHANCE to effectively learn fundamental movement skills well. “Parents – you have one chance to do this right” Dr. Greg Rose, Functional Movement Systems

Resistance Training

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“Conceivably, if a child is ready to engage in sport activities, then he or she is ready to participate in resistance training,” Rhodri S. Lloyd, PhD & Jon L. Oliver, PhD. The benefits of resistance training are numerous. These have been documented extensively in my free eBook on Youth Conditioning, so I won’t revisit them here. If you want to pick up a copy use this link: http://www.connachtfitnessandperformance.com/enquiry.html Knowing that resistance training for children is both beneficial and, indeed, recommended, then why should parents or sports coaches seek a strength coach to teach the children? The answer is because children should not be treated like adults when it comes to ANY kind of training. A suitably knowledgeable coach understands what various modalities of resistance training, e.g. body weight, resistance bands, dumbbells, etc… are appropriate for a child depending on experience, age, etc… The Youth fitness coach understands that there are differences in approach needed for boys versus girls, and that a growth spurt changes the rules.

A special note for parents of teenage boys: boys involved in sports will eventually join a gym and lift weights. You must decide if you want them to learn good technique that will stand to them for life, or if you want them copying friends or other members of the gym, who may not be qualified to teach. A coach can help ensure that the ego never outweighs common sense. The younger they learn to lift correctly, the better.

Injury reduction

One of the most important roles a strength and conditioning coach performs is that of the assessment. Poor posture, previous injuries all affect the readiness of young athletes to participate in sport, often leading to injury. An assessment early on can identify risk factors which can be mitigated by intervention from the coach. Experienced S&C coaches are also adept at spotting fatigue and overtraining symptoms in young athletes. Frequently children get overtrained from participating in multiple sports, each one with a coach who may fail to realise that the child has little left to give. And naturally, every coach expects the best from each child in the squad. One area requiring particular mention is anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in field and court sports. Teenage girls suffer five times more ACL surgeries than boys (Kelvin Giles, Movement Dynamics). There a few potential reasons for this, e.g. weak hip stability, quadriceps muscle dominance, etc… It takes a specialist to know these risks, to identify them in players, and intervene to reduce the likelihood of such injuries occurring.

Longterm development

I hear from many parents about the fitness activities that their children are doing as part of their particular sport. Frequently these are random, inappropriate and sometimes just make no sense whatsoever. They may be age inappropriate, and have no bearing on what was done the previous years, or to be done in the following years. A youth S&C coach plans for the future, and designs age-appropriate and experience-appropriate programmes for the young players, with a plan for where they are going and need to be.

A child’s age isn’t necessarily his or her age

Children should be prescribed exercise and have expectations based not on their chronological age (age since birth), but on their biological age (developmental or maturation age).

Case study: John and Michael both join the U12 soccer team. John is 11 and is an early bloomer. Michael is 10 and is a late bloomer. Because children can seem up to three years younger or older depending on whether they are early or late bloomers, John can have a biological age of 13, with Michael having a biological age of only 8. In this scenario you have two boys with biological ages of 13 and 8 on the same team. Should they be expected to have comparable levels of strength? Speed? Cognitive awareness? Of course not. Specialist youth S&C coaches will have a whole sequence of progressions and regressions that are suitable for the more or less advanced child.

Any team fitness activities must take into account the difference between biological and chronological ages. To determine your child’s biological age, visit http://www.growmetry.com/app_v3/index.asp?lng=2

 

Should I take protein powder?

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This is the question I was asked this week by one of my teenage clients. As a GAA player with inter-county ambitions, functional muscle size is important to him.

There are many possible reasons why a male athlete may not be gaining his desired muscle size increases. Let’s go through the key factors in increasing muscle strength and size, before spending money on products not necessarily needed. They fall into four categories – genetics, training habits, age, and nutrition.

Genetics

Have you ever noticed how some people have that enviable washboard stomach, that no matter how hard they try, others can’t seem to achieve? The fact is that we are all genetically predisposed to certain body shapes and sizes. Our athletic prowess is limited by our DNA. Does this mean that we cannot improve how we look? Absolutely not! We can all strive to make the best of what we have. Genetic types are usually divided into ectomorphs (thin, hard gainers), mesomorphs (muscular, easy gainers), and endomorphs (fat, easy gainers). Pure types are rare. Most men are an ecto-meso mix, and can expect to gain about 15% of muscle weight after a year of excellent nutrition and training. – Dr Michael Colgan (Optimum Sports Nutrition

Training for strength and hypertrophy:

  1.  Generally when doing strength training, people want to see the results in the mirror as well as gaining functional strength. This article is not so much for bodybuilders, however, who will do specific exercises to isolate muscles, but for the regular gym-goer who just wants to develop functional strength and look good. Some factors that affect muscle growth and strength:
  2. The amount of weight you lift is a key factor if you desire muscle growth (hypertrophy). In each set the number of repetitions largely determines the result, whether it is to develop maximal strength or improve muscular appearance and general strength. For example, lifting extremely heavy weights that permit only 1-2 repetitions is not the way to go for hypertrophy. According to Thomas Kurz (Science of Sport training, 2001) “strength training with maximal and close to maximal resistance causes very little hypertrophy because the number of repetitions with such great resistance is very small and does not cause sufficient breakdown of muscle proteins to stimulate rebuilding them in excess after work.”  However, lifting weights that permits 6-8 repetitions does produce the desired neuromuscular effect. Also performing the exercises at a slow pace “increases” the resistance by eliminating the momentum of the weight and thus developing hypertrophy (Pawluk1985). Generally, strength gains arise as a result of hypertrophy.
  3. Muscle is built during rest periods, not during workouts. In fact, during a workout you are breaking muscle down, stimulating it to grow bigger and stronger. But this actual growth is done in the interim period between workouts. Exercisers who fail to take adequate rest are constantly breaking down muscle tissue, not allowing adequate time for recuperation and growth. Some athletes activities lead to overtraining, e.g. by going to the gym 4-5 days a week, especially if each workout is identical. To avoid this trap, concentrate on certain exercises for specific days, allowing enough time to rest before repeating the same workout and it is usually advised to not train more than four days in a row.
  4. Change your workout at the first signs of plateau. The human body is highly adaptable and will quickly learn to become resilient to your efforts. Thomas Kurz recommends changing your workout program every 2-6 weeks. However there is no need to change if a program is continuously giving you improvements.

Developmental Age:

A young athlete may have a developmental age different ho his chronological age, i.e. be an early-bloomer or late-bloomer. For boys, one of the key factors in adolescence is the increased amount of testosterone being produced. Testosterone is like “rocket fuel” to young men and facilitates increases in muscle size and strength. Similarly, lack of it in a late-bloomer may frustrate him if gains are less than expected. Patience is required here.

Nutrition:

Before rushing out to buy protein supplements, it is worth looking at what you are doing with your diet currently, first. The traditionally recommended ratio of carbohydrates:protein:fats is 40:30:20. Generally, according to nutrition guides, you need 15-25% of good quality protein in your diet. People who are doing plenty of training obviously need to lean toward the higher end of this scale. However you should check that you are getting enough low-GI carbohydrates into your diet to fuel your workouts. If you are not, then the protein in your diet may be broken down and used for energy instead of being used to power muscle growth, and other metabolic reactions.
According to Dr Colgan, the ideal protein intake for weight training lies somewhere between 1.7 and 2.4grams/kg of bodyweight. This is supported by various other studies, e.g. Dr Peter Lennon et al at Kent State University, U.S. concluded that daily protein intake should be 1.7 grams/Kg of bodyweight.

In summary, look at the various factors that affect your training results and make changes where necessary. It is worth your while spending time reading up on sports nutrition, as this is one of the greatest investments you can make if you are serious about optimum health. You may well benefit from adding extra protein into your diet by eating more lean meat, fish, eggs, etc… If you really feel you need a protein powder to supplement your diet, then please read the ingredient list carefully. Many brands are loaded with potentially toxic ingredients like MSG, aspartame, etc… As a general rule, when it comes to ingredients: if you can’t pronounce it, avoid it.

Want to learn more about rational training and nutrition, while you have time to spare over the holidays? Check out my book, “Training and Optimal Health for Sports.” Digital version is also available. See www.trainingandoptimalhealth.com