Exercise for teenagers wanting to weight train-

Exercise for teenagers should include competently supervised and properly instructed weight training.

Youth resistance training or weight training, is a great way for teens to enhance muscular strength and local muscular endurance. You can successfully influence body composition, build bone mineral density, and improve motor performance skills.

However not all gyms and health clubs welcome adolescents.

Furthermore, weight training machines are engineered for adults.

Same-aged teens vary greatly in height and weight. Some teens will be able to use the machines because their limbs will align correctly at the axis of the machines to allow for proper guided motion.

Mechanics are important because exercise is really nothing more than imposing forces on the body.

Smaller kids and teens should ideally workout at gyms that specialize in youth training and provide child-sized weight machines designed specifically for kids.

Regardless of whether teens workout from home or from a gym, all training equipment (machines included) should be appropriate to the size and strength of teenagers.

I like to train my clients with free weights and fundamental calisthenics.

Calisthenics are simply bodyweight exercises.

Like many others, I think it’s important that kids learn to handle their own body weight.

Calisthenics are especially valuable for anyone just starting out with weight training.

Free weights typically consist of dumbbells and barbells.

Dumbbells are portable, extremely versatile and can provide sufficient stimulus for most people.

Not only that, but dumbbells provide the distinct advantage of allowing unilateral work.

Because young people should avoid overly intense or maximal lifts, dumbbells are ideally suited for kids and younger teens.

Free weights are relatively inexpensive and readily available. Free weight exercises are also fairly adaptable to almost any movement or muscle action.

Exercise for teenagers should ultimately incorporate training for power, speed and agility.

Exercise for teenagers: Advancing in Power, Speed and Agility

As teens advance both in strength and training experience, and as they start to possess sufficient core strength and balance stabilization capabilities, they’ll most likely become interested in plyometric exercises- especially if their goal is to enhance performance in strength-speed sports.

Plyometrics involve a rapid stretch-shortening cycle of muscle groups needed for ‘explosive’ movements in jumping or throwing, for example.

Plyometric exercises are often performed without any equipment at all, or typically with boxes for box jumps or depth jumps for the lower body, and medicine balls for the upper body.

It’s an excellent way of training the nervous system to react quickly.

Similarly, many teens will want to increase their power and speed. In sports, power is simply defined as the ability to produce force rapidly.

Moving quickly and forcefully is especially important for sports such as tennis, soccer, basketball, hockey, football, most track and field events… and the list goes on.

Speed and agility training involves the ability to accelerate, decelerate, and dynamically stabilize your body essentially in all planes of motion, and at high velocities.

That’s just a fancy way of saying running, cutting and changing directions quickly at fast speeds.

Speed and agility exercises are also often performed without any equipment at all with the exception perhaps, of speed parachutes and other props such as agility ladders, cones, or hurdles.

Tons of drills can be used to enhance agility work. Variations of sprints such as assisted sprints or resisted sprints are often used to train for speed.

Exercise for teenagers: Recent Findings

Some recent research studies have estimated that almost anywhere from 15 to 50% of all injuries incurred by youths involved in playing sports may be prevented if youths are more ‘prepared’ prior to participating in sports.

This means that if more emphasis is placed on developing fundamental fitness abilities such as building muscular strength, muscular endurance, core strength and balance stabilization- fewer kids and teens would get hurt and injured during the sporting season.

Indeed, exercise for teenagers should include a basic weight training program because it is still essential in developing a solid base of fitness.

Our next topic explores generally accepted guidelines for youth weight training.

So dust off your barbell, grab your dumbbells and strengthen your resolve to train consistently all year round.

...Albert Einstein said, “Nothing happens until something moves.”

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