Balancing Sports and Weight Training For Kids

Your kids should be lifting weights. It will help them perform better in their chosen sport and reduce their injury potential. It will normalize the concept of working out to be strong and healthy and build long term habits. And it has a ton of positive benefits throughout their early years. But how much, is too much, when it comes to kids lifting weights? If your kid plays soccer, and basketball, and rides their bike, and walks the dog… should that impact their training? Can kids recover from the same kinds of workouts as adults? How much training is too much? That is what we are going to be covering in this article.

Quick Note – This article is going to focus a lot on kids lifting paired with athletic pursuits. If your kid doesn’t play sports, they should still lift weights. They just aren’t likely pulled in multiple directions at the same time.

Background

We’re back again for another rendition of our Kid’s Lifting series. Up to this point, we’ve covered if kids should be lifting, how they should be lifting, and how to incorporate it into their lives (and yours). Hopefully you have taken some of that advice and started to see the benefits. As I covered in those past articles, it’s one of the best things you can do for your children, so the best day to start was yesterday! With the growing popularity of children’s sports there is a constantly increasing workload that gets put on our children at seemingly younger and younger ages. Kids today play sports, juggle school activities, homework, and more.

The question of weight training for kids is always a big taboo topic. Even some coaches perceive weight training as a poor choice. Some don’t see the benefit. And others see it as a distraction from their sport of choice. “Just focus on getting better at XYZ sport”. So, is it really a good idea to add one more thing? Is it safe for children to do weight training on top of these activities? How can we do this without an over-training injury or causing burnout at such a young age? The answer to these questions, begins with understanding why we want them to weight train in the first place.

Why Do We Want Kids To Lift Weights?

Kids that haven’t hit puberty yet, aren’t going to make maximal strength gains. Even if they compete in the Garage Gym Competition, even if they test their 1 Rep Maxes, their ability to exert maximal force is going to be held back by their coordination, central nervous system, hormonal profiles, muscle mass, bone density, and more. Oddly enough, that is exactly what we want to improve with weight lifting.

Lifting weights helps improve coordination through repeat efforts and exposure to a safe place to do so. It helps improve the central nervous system’s efficiency with motor recruitment, which means we’ll be faster and stronger. Resistance training builds bigger muscles, stronger bones, and resilient connective tissues. These all are attributes that will make your child a better and safer athlete. By exposing your children to different sports, to various exercises in the gym, you are building the foundation for a successful athlete. So if you are questioning adding weight training to Timmy’s routine, or if a coach tells you not to let little Timmy lift weights, you can run through these questions:

• Is Timmy TOO coordinated?
• Is Timmy TOO strong?
• Is Timmy TOO fast?
• Does Timmy have too much muscle?

If the answer is No, then reinforce that lifting weights is how you improve those feats.

Finding The Balance

So we know that lifting weights is good for our young athletes, but there is a point of diminishing returns. Just like with adults, doing a few sets of squats might be life changing, but doing hundreds of sets of squats is almost certainly going too far. This is where you have to take into account your own child and their overall workload. We are trying to supplement what they aren’t getting on the field, court, track, etc. with time spent in the gym. We aren’t trying to compete against the sports they are in, we are trying to make an overall well rounded athlete.

The body grows muscle by repairing micro-tears from weight training and other resistance based activities. Over time these compound and grow bigger and stronger muscles. It is why after one hard workout you don’t Hulk out, but instead need to continually repeat and exceed that effort over and over and over to see progress. On top of forming new muscle, the central nervous system adapts for the next workout – aka getting stronger and faster.

But the key piece to that equation of Working Out = Bigger/Stronger Muscles… is Recovery!

Recovery is one part not doing too much, and one part actively doing things outside of the gym that matter the most. This is even more pronounced in children because their bodies are still developing rapidly, so they require more recovery time than the average adult. They also don’t have a fully formed prefrontal cortex, so a lack of concentration, irritability and mood swings aren’t as easy to use as indicators for over-training or lack of recovery. They are often seen as children being “children”.

Lets take a look at “not doing too much” first, and then recovery second.

When To Push It – When To Coast

Every child is different. Some may focus on a single sport year-round. Some may do every sport they can be entered in. There’s not going to be one perfect road map for the general youth population, but there are smart and important decisions that can be made for every situation. The best place to start is by looking at your child’s current workload.

• How many practices are they doing per week?
• How many games?
• How many sports are they currently in?
• How taxing are their homework responsibilities?
• What other activities are they involved in?
  • Think of everything from walking the dog, household chores, church activities, birthday parties, dance classes, music lessons, etc.

Anything that requires them to be out and about, using their body, using their brain, focusing, working, developing… Should be included in this equation. Then we can ask ourselves objectively if our kids are struggling with activities, with sleep, with homework? Are they having outbursts, a lack of energy, or otherwise struggling to make it through the day?

If our kids are struggling or are at their maximum, we shouldn’t add one more thing. We need to look at their schedule and determine if there is an opportunity to fit weight lifting in currently, or if we might make it a priority over something else. Maybe a workout a week is a better investment than learning the tuba. I’m not here to make those decisions for you as a parent, just here to get your brain going to make the right decisions for your kid.

In-Season

If we have the bandwidth to add in weight training, which I think every athlete should do, our next step is to consider the demands of their current sport. If your kid is in the thick of their sports season with practices every single day and multiple competitions or games going on each week, having intense training in the weight room will probably be detrimental both on and off the playing field. Top level athletes whose entire job is to be the best they can be, have a different regimen in the weight room for in-season vs off-season training.

Keep in mind that In-Season for a 6 year old soccer team looks a lot different than In-Season for a High School soccer team, so make note of the true demands of the In-Season requirements.

In-Season is a perfect time to be doing body weight exercises like lunges, squats, even yoga and various balancing requirement items. These can be very beneficial without being overly taxing on the central nervous system. The body weight exercises are great for body awareness and technique, can improve mobility and strength and coordination, but because of their low resistance are often easy to recover from.

On top of that, they are easy to add in even to a busy schedule. If your child is comfortable with it (and so are you/your coach), plyometrics and other activities that encourage speed and explosiveness can be added in for a more high intensity but low volume approach. You can also include things like bands, pull-ups, cardio, and other items that will help your kiddo build their foundation.

The above is going to depend on your child’s experience with these exercises as well. If your child has been lifting for 5 years, then their in-season workouts can look different than someone who is looking at a barbell for the first time. Another way to look at it, is that In-Season isn’t often where we grow, but where we maintain.

Think of it like a vacation workout. You probably don’t get your best workouts of the year at a hotel during travel. You get in something that counts and keeps the train on the tracks. The same for In-Season workouts. Focus on quality movements over the quantity of reps or weight in general, and keep your kiddo performing at their best. At these younger ages is where habits are made so we want to make sure they are moving well and with purpose. Trying to do too much at once is where those diminishing returns happen and where we see over-training injuries and burnout.

Example In-Season Program

• A1 – Pull-Ups – 3 Sets of 3 to 5 reps
• A2 – Body-Weight Squats – 3 sets of 10 to 15 reps
• B1 – Push-Ups – 3 sets of 3 to 5 reps
• B2 – Single Leg RDL (no weight) – 3 sets of 10 to 15 reps per leg
• C – Broad Jumps – 1 jump, as far as you can, walk back, wait 5 seconds, repeat 3 times
• D – Ladder Work – 30 seconds of footwork, for 3 sets

Off-Season

Without the high volume of practices and games, we can replace them with higher intensity and higher volumes in the gym and still be able to recover. Since we no longer need to worry about performing our best on the field, we can focus on performing our best in the gym. This means increasing the days we go, the number of sets we perform, and even upping the weight and difficulty of the sessions. These are things we are unable to efficiently do during the season to elicit the best response to muscle coordination and growth for our children.

Where workouts were focused on body weight, mechanics, and movement, we now have barbells, dumbbells, and cable machines. Where we were focused on keeping the train on the tracks, we are now focused on full steam ahead progress. A good off-season program is one where when your kiddo shows up for the next season, the coach asks “What have you been feeding them?”. They should add some muscle, coordination, strength, and confidence. All things that help an athlete be the best they can be.

Joe’s Note – In-Season my daughter typically does 1 workout a week in the gym, which is a full-body session. Off-Season she is looking at ~3. Hopefully that gives you some idea of the difference between the two.

Example Off-Season Program

The following is for a more advanced athlete that is comfortable with weights.

Day 1 – Lower Body

• A1 – Leg Curls – 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps
• A2 – Barbell Squats – Warm-up to 1 solid set of 5 reps, focused on SPEED and STRENGTH
• B1 – Split Squats – 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps
• B2 – Deadlifts – 3 Sets of 5 reps
• C1 – Planks – 30 seconds for 3 sets
• C2 – Reaction Training – Tennis Ball Drop Catches for 30 seconds

Every 4 weeks, switch heavy squats for heavy deadlifts. Trade Leg Curls for Single Leg RDLs and Split Squats for Leg Extensions.

Day 2 – Upper Body

• A1 – Seated Cable Row – 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps
• A2 – DB Curls – 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps
• A3 – Triceps Cable Extensions – 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps
• B – Barbell Bench Press – Warm-up to 1 solid set of 5 reps, focused on SPEED and STRENGTH
• C – DB 6 Ways – 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps
• D1 – Ab Wheel Rollouts – 30 seconds for 3 sets
• D2 – Footwork Training – Ladder Work for 30 seconds

Every 4 weeks, switch heavy bench press for a heavy overhead press variation. Rotate other exercises for a new accessory option (i.e. Seated Cable Row for Dumbbell Rows).

Day 3 – Athletic Day

• A – Sprints – 5 sets of escalating intensity on a scale of 10… 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
• B1 – Lateral Lunges – 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps
• B2 – Glute Ham Raises – 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps
• B3 – Calf Raises – 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps
• B4 – Sandbag Carries – 3 sets of 100 ft
• D1 – Rotational Core Work – 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps
• D2 – Footwork Training – Ladder Work for 30 seconds

Every 4 weeks, switch sprints for jump variations. Rotate other exercises for a new accessory option (i.e. Glute Ham Raises for Nordic Curls).

Don’t Forget Recovery

Regardless of the season, we have to be ensuring that our kids are getting AT LEAST 8 hours of sleep, with 10 being ideal. Sleep is the number one recovery tool we have available to us regardless of age, but especially with the demands of a growing body and mind, it is crucial for both their short term and long term health and success.

We also have to be doing a good job of getting them quality meals and nutrition along with ENOUGH total calories. We want our kids to make healthy choices and choose “real” food over items from the junk drawer. But if your kiddo is running around all over the place, trying to eat nothing but chicken and broccoli probably won’t cut it.

As parents, we have to take preventative measures for this.

This includes rest days between practices and competition, proper nutrition, hydration, and sleep. Every item you neglect these aspects, it lowers your kids ability to recover day after day, week after week. It lessons their ability to perform at their peak. It will diminish the progress made in the gym in terms of muscle mass, strength gains, and neurological adaptations. And it increases their chances of getting injured. The exact opposite of what we got into the gym for in the first place.

Joe’s Note – We have a rule for our daughters meals that they include 1 protein, 1 carb, 1 fruit, and 1 vegetable. Breakfast doesn’t require a vegetable, and dinner often doesn’t have a fruit. Snacks throughout the day include dried fruit, crackers, various snacking veggies, fresh fruits, and things like granola, peanut butter, or mixed nuts. And if we are on the go, we typically have some granola bars, protein bars, and other items for helping fill that belly. She also gets a “sweet treat” every day where she can have some ice cream, some candy, or something fun in general.

The goal is to get her plenty of quality nutrition, protein, vitamins, and nutrients, but also create a healthy relationship with food. And if your kid is running around like mine, that little bit of sweets is gonna get gobbled up immediately the next time they run after a ball or hop on their bike.

Wrap Up

Ultimately, the most important thing we can do as parents is have an open line of communication with our children. We need to be constantly monitoring and talking about how their body is feeling (tired, sore, strong, etc.) and plan off of that accordingly. We also need to be having an open line of communication with their coaches about how practices and games are going. Everyone in our children’s athletic endeavors needs to be on the same page so we can avoid over-training, because it doesn’t benefit anyone.

It’s unfair to our children, it’s unfair to their coaches and teammates, and it leads to a rough time for us as parents because our children typically tend to act out and become moody when their bodies enter that state.

These were just a few tips to look for and things we can do to navigate busy schedules and ever changing seasons throughout our children’s life. If we keep our focus on healthy practices (recovery), and remembering that our kids are kids and that lifting weights is meant to be fun, enjoyable, and helpful, not a mandatory part of their professional development, we can nail the majority of what will keep our kids in one piece and dominating in the gym and on the field.

I hope you can use some of this advice and keep it in the back of your mind as you encounter each of these situations we talked about today and make the changes needed for everyone in the athletic cycle to be successful! If all else fails, it never hurts to ask for help. When in doubt, hire a professional!

About The Author

Jeff Kimpel is the owner and host of the Primal Armor podcast where he takes his education and experience and dives deep, but succinctly, into a topic to help you be a better version of yourself. With the birth of his daughter, Jeff has reinvigorated his passion for getting kids active and involved in exercise. His Masters Thesis involved kid’s fitness and sports! Primal Armor also makes equipment specifically for home gym owners. And their proceeds are donated to Huntingsons Disease research.

Our aim is to help you get your kids into the gym. Because strong families lift TOGETHER!

You can find more Primal Here.

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