Can children actually get in shape?

I think aerobic training over anaerobic training can be somewhat counter productive in the off season for a football player. Not to say that some aerobic conditioning should take place, but in line with your observation, younger kids don't get out of shape as much and I believe that they condition quicker than people who are older.

Teens probably do not have the same resiliency as youths; however, it is my assumption that they can get into shape faster than a person in his late twenties and beyond.

Anybody that uses "neuromuscular efficiency" in a sentence has got to know something.
Thanks

YES.....In my earlier days of coaching I have seen some children come out for football that are seriously overweight. Dad figures there big so football O Line is where they should be.

By end of season if these boys stick with it they have lost the fat and are in much better shape.

When we talk about getting in shape we should also include the mental portion of conditioning. I have noticed a big difference in attitude and confidence as the season progresses.

You need to focus on building the aerobic energy system of youth before you start taxing their anerobic-glycolysis and CP energy systems.

All three of these energy systems run concurrently during bouts of exericse, just with one of the three running more than the others. However, the ability to carry oxygen to the tissue, use it for energy, and to carry waste products (lower the inter-muscle PH) away from the muscles rely on a strong aerobic energy system. Anerobic exercise produces a lot of waste bi-products; if the child's circulatory system is underdeveloped because of a lack of aerobic exercise, those products will not be removed.

This doesn't mean that you send the kids on a 3 mile long run; it means that you use football specific training protocols, but lower the intensity and raise the duration.

The anerobioc abilitys of using glycogen and creatine phosphate for energy will always be underdeveloped in children as it is a function of growth and age. If you tax these two systems too much, a child will not be able to adapt, will overtrain and as such will digress in their training.


In conclusion, a training program for youth football needs to emphasize aerobic and aneraobic components, but the major stress should be on the aerobic energy system and THEN the anaerobic energy systems.

I think that a child can do very well with training, however, at the youth levels, or at least the leagues I have been involved with, practice time is too limited to spend on athletic development. You barely have enough time for football specific skills, and offense/defense/special teams. Adding in as much athletic stuff as you can in football specific drills is about as far as I think you can go.

Children can lose weight; it really is all about burning more calories than you take in. With that being said; using the term "diet" with children is very bad news. Adults take dieting too far; kids will most assuredly do the same. Kids that "diet" are many times more likely to develop eating disorders. The best thing to help these kids is just to increase their physical activity and educate them and their parents on proper nutrition.

The key here is to avoid giving them severly restricted nutritional plans; I have seen idiots trying to stick kids on lower-carb diets. Kids are growing, they need calories, they need carbs and fat. However, they just need to avoid the JUNK FOOD. If a child just replaces the juice and soda in their diets with water, they can cut calories dramatically; up to a 1,000 calories a day. With that being said, it's best to avoid teaching kids to cut calories; they (and their parents) will take it too far. Give them a long list of healthy food choices and meals.

As far as high intensity wind sprints go; I'd avoid them entirely. The kids' bodies are not developed enough to generate that amount of energy through the PC system or through anerobis glycolysis. They are also not equipped for getting rid of the waste products. You run those sprints in the hope that the kids will develop their anerobic capacity; but they just don't have the tools to do so. We want to force a physiological adaption; all we get is a digression.

I think the better answer is to spend that time doing aerobic training and lower intensity anaerobic exercise. Body weight exercises (such as those people have been describing) are great, as long as the kids aren't taking them past failure. Agility exercises and plyometrics would be good choices too; as long as the intensity isn't through the roof.

Focus on motor learning and forcing neurological adaptions when they're younger. The kids will get a whole lot more out of it and they won't learn to hate physical activity.

So what exercises are good for a kid age 10-13? Ladders? Plyometrics? Long distance running?

Amazing stuff gentlemen.

All this evidence is amazing.
My question though, is has there been any studies that prove that children can increase their stamina by exercise?

We know that it works with teens and adults or why else would we be coaching football.

However, has a study been done with children?
If it has been, since CB knows this stuff, he will know.

Where I'm going here is to question the anacdotal evidence of children's exercise protocols.
-Do sprints actually help children develop stamina?

Anecdotal evidence-"yes, they work because we do them."

Well do they really? Or do youth coaches just think the kids are getting in shape.

We know they can ride bikes endlessly, we all did that too.
That has nothing to do with wind sprints.

Since so many people coach football to children, surely there is something out there in the world of exercise science to say if what the coaches are doing actually works.

OJW

Your not increasing the maximum amount of oxygen they can take in; you are increasing their ability to use the oxygen they do take in. Their musculature and circulatory system adapts and allows them to use the oxygen (and to get rid of carbon dixoide) more proficiently.

Interval training works well because it allows the athlete to work at a higher pace for a longer period of time. It's a happy medium; the athlete can't run at 100% and develop their both their aerobic and anerobic energy systems. Instead; you ask them to run ay 80% (still anerobic) with some 50% periods tied in there; they are able to run longer.

Intervals will allow the to develop both their ability to use glycogen for energy and to use oxygen for energy, all in one workout.

Sorry about what seemed like the abrasiveness of the first post; needed to include a ;D. ;D


OJW: yes, children can inprove their stamina, but wind sprints aren't the best way to do it. Coachkell's suggestion of interval training is fantastic; a Fartlek run is a great example of this.

Thank you coach, I've also found that it helps when we are runing no huddle as well.. I do have to ask what is the Fartlek run ?