I read the article Strength Training for Children and Adolescents: Benefits and Risks, by Davide Barbieri and Luciana Zaccagni. This article is assessing the benefits and risks of early participation in strength training related to children and adolescents. There’s a lot of personal beliefs that children and adolescents should not partake in resistance training because they are still growing. But again this is all personal beliefs, not scientific evidence backing this statement. The article addresses this situation but argues that scientific evidence should be the primary resource for this topic. In fact, recent studies don’t dislike the fact that children and adolescents take place in resistance training programs. There obviously has to be proper supervision by a professional teaching the proper techniques and medical clearance before participating in this type of activity. This article also lists many great benefits of this population participating in this mode of physical activity. For example, Barbieri (2013) tells that “… supervised strength training, involving weight lifting (bench press, leg extension, lat pull down etc.) and stretching, after an adequate warm-up, has proven to be effective in groups of children, males and females, increasing strength, reducing skinfold thickness, improving body composition, motor skills and flexibility.” Also, resistance training has a great effect on skeletal mass. For example, Barbieri (2013) states that “… skeletal exposure to mechanical loading during growth seems to be an effective strategy to increase bone mass and density”. The article continues on giving other examples and commentary of the perceived benefits and risks of strength training for children and adolescents.
Reference
Barbier, D., & Zaccagni, L. (2013). Strength Training for Children and Adolescents: Benefits and Risks. Collegium Antropologicum, 37(Supp 2), 219–225.
-Gino