The answer to the question many parents ask is: It's never too early. Strong kids are healthy kids!
Mostly we're worried about our kids hurting themselves or being unhealthy. Weight training is safe compared to the team sports we advocate in our Aussie schools, and it can set kids up to be healthy for life.
If you would like to look into strength training for your child/children, please get in touch!
Some simple tips to avoid the 'intereference effect'
When we do cardio (longer than 2 mins, huffy puffy exercise) our bodies produce a range of hormones which:
➡️ Increase mitochondria in our cells (like little batteries that run off fats)
➡️ Increase capacity and strength of our heart and lungs
➡️ Increase the number of blood capilliaries to the working muscles
When we do weights (body weight included, grinding strength work, explosive work, short efforts to a hard intensity) our bodies produce a range of hormones which:
Ever been recommended an elevation mask to improve your performance at altitude?
They are deceptively marketed - the name, pictures and descriptions all make the buyer think that they will actually make us more efficient at using Oxygen. At high altitudes there is less Oxygen, meaning our bodies have to make more red blood cells to catch enough per breath. These masks, however, do nothing to the Oxygen concentration in the air, they simply make it harder to breathe (training the muscles that help you get air in/out).
If you buy one of these, be clear on what it will do and when to use it, and always consult your doctor before doing so.
Post from 'Strength and Conditioning Research' Facebook:
One of the key ways in which eccentric training produces specific gains in eccentric strength is through an increase in neural drive to the muscle.
In untrained people, the ability to voluntarily activate a muscle during an eccentric contraction is much lower than in an isometric or concentric contraction. With training, we improve our ability to perform eccentric contractions.
Current research suggests that untrained people find it harder to activate muscles during eccentric contractions because of inhibition at the spinal level. Training reduces this inhibition, and allows us to express a higher level of force.
