Young Athletes and Weight Training

Tommy Podaridis, a 15 YO Soccer player doing 2 arm / 1 leg Dumbell Rows. A good exercise to teach neutral spine, leg alignment and scapular strength & stability. This is the sort of weight training that young athletes should be doing. Simply learning movements and getting strong and stable in the process. The practice of 5RM’s and advanced weights with young athletes this age does not make sense. We see now with the Pathways and Developmental programs in place ( and pressures to make squads etc) that young athletes are loading up. So just on or just after puberty is a great time to start teaching movements and skills and on the way general strength levels will increase. Loading with growth spurts is dumb and even until growth is stabilized unnecessary.

Below is a pic of Josh Ross, trap bar deadlifting 200kgs. He deadlifted 245kgs in winter with a normal bar. But as a young athlete he played Rugby League and ran fast without huge loads in the gym. Once established then it is critical to load up so one can maximize forces on the ground. So it is a big decision when to load a young athlete. Especially when 20 plus is when most sportspeople shine.