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  #1   ^
Old Wed, Oct-01-14, 10:24
sexym2's Avatar
sexym2 sexym2 is offline
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Plan: Depends on the Day
Stats: 221/169.6/145 Female 5' 10"
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Progress: 68%
Location: Southeastern, Iowa USA
Default Strength Training for Children

My 7 year old son told me the other day that he wants to exercise and get strong "like Mommy." So we started a journal for him and listed the exercises that I do and have started working with him on proper movements not so much on repititions or weight. Wanting to get the propper movement down so he doesn't hurt himself. We work out at hime with my hand weights and body weight.
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Due to his age he lacks coordination and I lack patience. He wants to work out with me but I told him that until he can manage the moves properly without flopping around we have to work out seperatly so I can help him.

I googled children strength training and its said that its good for them as long as its for strength and not to bulk up due to growth plates. They also recomended a trainer but thats not cheap and I can't even afford one for me so I get the fun of teaching him. I'm doing my best but on some I feel like he is either bored, not listening or i'm not explaining it to him correctly. My oldest son 15 helps with demonstating proper form (his coach would be proud of him), so I can help hold my son steady and try to get the moves done correctly. He's only working with 2-3 lb weights but he wants to kinda flop them around and same with lower body strenth, he just wants to bounch around, not a care to propper form. I'm sure at his age its not important but I don't want him hurting himself.

Right now we are working on learning proper form, he says he has no muscle soreness the day after.

What can I do to help this along? I don't always have all the patience in the world and him being 7 he doesn't always have the best resolve in the world
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  #2   ^
Old Wed, Oct-01-14, 15:44
inflammabl's Avatar
inflammabl inflammabl is offline
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Plan: Atkins
Stats: 296/220/205 Male 71 inches
BF:25%?
Progress: 84%
Location: Upstate SC
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In a nutshell, whatever your boy likes doing, encourage that. Be as amazed as he is in his improving ability to bounce. Encourage him to swing from tree branch to tree branch. Pushups are awesome. In fact whatever stretching, balance, yoga, Pilates, etc. things you do would be great for him too.

I looked into this issue hard about ten years ago, i.e. children’s athletic training. This is the reason I contacted Tudor Bompa, the pioneer Romanian athletic trainer, and read most/all of his books. I learned a lot.

Your son having issues with coordination is exactly where he should be at age 7. More precisely, he should be having trouble with balance. His body should, right now, be learning how to shift and move according to the strain on each individual muscle. This is called development of proprioception. There are little tiny nerves in each of our muscles telling our lizard brains the position and tension of each of our muscles. They are especially concentrated in our back and hip muscles (google multifidus as an example). There is actually a feedback signal from our lizard brains back to the muscles telling them to tense or relax depending on the position. It is this development of the relationship between the muscles and the lizard brain that leads to better balance.

As a test of your proprioception, close your eyes and touch your nose. Simple. Okay then close your eyes and touch your left index finger to your right index finger. Still simple…. But it shouldn’t be. Your right arm is probably a bit longer than your left arm. How did your body know to position each arm such that your fingers touched? Proprioception, that’s how. Your lizard brain takes a command from your upper brain, tells the muscles to move, senses where the muscles are and tells them to adjust and, as if by magic, your two fingers touch. If you’re like me, your two fingers didn’t touch at first but somehow you figured out that they were past each other and you started waving them around until they did touch. Again, that’s proprioception.

Bouncing around is the best thing he can do. He will be able to bounce better and better each and every month and he will be able to do things six months from now that he cannot do today. It is a consistent effort and reward cycle. Keep doing this. Bounce, bounce, bounce!

Once he has a good relationship between his muscles and his brain then true coordination kicks in. They start to be able to do things like climb trees like monkeys, gymnastics, play baseball, karate and soccer. Gymnastics and dance are probably some of the best things a child athlete can do at this age. Age 8-11 is a wonderful time. They should be doing things that reward balance and coordination. They will like it and will get a lot athletic development out of it.
Age 12-13 is a waste. Growth spurts kick in and ruin basic coordination. Night muscle cramps happen as the muscles and tendons fail to keep up with growing bones. Child athletes get Osgood–Schlatter. Those football and soccer coaches you see yelling at their 12-13 players are wasting their time. The kids get discouraged because they can’t run as far as they could a few months ago, can’t cut as quick and are stumbling over themselves as their lizard brain is out of sync with those nerves we talked about a few paragraphs before. It’s a very discouraging time for them and too much of the wrong kind of pressure can have a deep lasting impact.

There is one profound thing that can happen to a 12yo girl or a 13yo boy that will give them a significantly better chance of an athletic career. It is to lose an older sibling who was also an athlete. Many top athletes will have lost an older sibling just before puberty is over. Some examples would be Mia Hamm, Clint Dempsey and Dan Gable. The reason is that they are about to enter a phase of athletic development that rewards intensity.

At age 13 girls’ bones stop growing and at age 14 boys’ bones stop growing. Boys become filled with testosterone. The heart and lungs are at full size and their training potential is near its peak. Now is the time to add weight training and distance running. It’s not that either of them would really be bad for the child at an earlier age but the gains they’ll make at 15, 16, 19 years old will dwarf what they could have achieved at age 9 AND by doing strength training at age 9 they missed the opportunity to develop their balance and coordination. Moreover there is a point where resistance training is detrimental if it puts too much tension on the ligaments or causes muscle tightness just as their bodies are ready to go into a series of growth spurts. Body weight exercises or high rep (>14) with plenty of rest between sets are fine.
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  #3   ^
Old Thu, Oct-02-14, 03:50
ParisMama's Avatar
ParisMama ParisMama is offline
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Plan: AIP (autoimmune paleo)
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Jacki, did you look into videos DVDs or on YouTube?

My kids are younger, but my 3 year old likes doing a few minutes of yoga videos with me - and that builds strength.
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  #4   ^
Old Thu, Oct-02-14, 08:08
sexym2's Avatar
sexym2 sexym2 is offline
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Posts: 4,850
 
Plan: Depends on the Day
Stats: 221/169.6/145 Female 5' 10"
BF:
Progress: 68%
Location: Southeastern, Iowa USA
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inflammabl Thats a lot of info I know his lack of coordination is his age, I was hoping by concentrating harder and with help it could improve a bit faster, I may be off on that though.

I was told to keep it fun for him, Tai Bow and the such he would like.

My 15 yr old has gotten to that muscular age, a year ago he couldn't bale hay at all, a week ago he's out there throwing around 60llb bales like its nothing for days on end LOL He flings bags of feed on his shoulders and trecks out to the barn with them. Not much fases him, he's lanky but stronger than he looks.

As for my 7 yr old, his abs never sealed up propperly and he still has the devide down the middle of his stomach muscles. It makes him appear fat when he actually is rather skinny. The other kids make fun of him for it and I think thats why he wants to work out. His core strength is poor but considering his age and his muscle issue I'm not surprised. I'd like to find a way for him to feel better about that though.
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  #5   ^
Old Thu, Oct-02-14, 10:57
inflammabl's Avatar
inflammabl inflammabl is offline
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Posts: 2,371
 
Plan: Atkins
Stats: 296/220/205 Male 71 inches
BF:25%?
Progress: 84%
Location: Upstate SC
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Quote:
I'd like to find a way for him to feel better about that though.

He's always going to be behind his full potential until that heals up. The good news is that his full potential could be really high such that his pluses and minuses balance out. Some of our top athletes have issues that they overcome and their compensation skills prove to be an advantage.

Coordination / balance grows from the inside out, from the lower back then to the abdomen and up the spine. The only thing to do is more of whatever he likes to do. Lifting small free weights is just as good as anything else. He'll learn to balance himself even though he thinks he's building his arms or legs.
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