Is strength really strength?

Hi , When a young athlete increases their speed, strength or power,
is it really because of the training program they're on, or
could it be something else?

I was chatting about this with some folks in an online chat forum
over the past few days.

One father was discussing how his son has seen some really big
improvements in a short period of time while working out at one
of those 'young athlete training factories' that uses little more
than high speed treadmills and 'plyometrics'.

This is a point of concern I have raised several times over the
years.

Not so much in the training style (i.e. treadmills and
'plyometrics'... although by now, you know how I feel about
that stuff), but more in taking the 'big improvements in a
short period of time' angle as an argument for the worth of a
given training program, facility or Trainer.

And I have waged this particular argument several times...

... If you were to immerse a child in 'high intensity' learning
of mathematics, let's say, than they would become better at math.

In the short term.

But when you removed the 'high intensity' fixated-type learning
environment, within a matter of weeks, the 'gains' you saw would
cease to exist.

And that's because academic achievement and learning is based
on a gradual, ascending and developmental system of understanding
basic concepts.

It is suppose to be that way, because that is the most practical
and successful style of learning skills.

Advanced forms of calculus are taught long after students have
been exposed to and mastered elementary mathematical skills such
as adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing.

Looking only at the basic improvement levels an athlete makes
in biomotor skills such as speed or strength, can amount to a
false positive.

If those improvements were made in a short period of time, and
without proper instruction or progressive building blocks towards the future, than what you're seeing is little more than a human
body adapting to a stimulus in the short term.

Here is what I had to say during this online discussion:

"I am certainly not in the habit of 'bashing' organizations, training centers or individual coaches, but the improvements you have described amount to specific biomotor gains.

This to me is one of the 'fall down' points in our industry at large.

Taking a 16 year (12 year old, 10 year old or 18 year old for that matter) and exposing them to training stimulus that they either have not experienced before, or is at a volume or intensity level that they are unfamiliar with, will produce one thing...

Results.

The human body is made to adapt. When you apply training to an organism, it will adapt to the stimulus.

In that, ANY training program will have a definable effect on a young athlete. The question becomes one of optimal adaptation.

Facilities such as the one you mentioned, train their young athletes hard, and then point to the improvements that were made after so many weeks or months of training. Those improvements, as I have explained, are natural.

But what happens in the 6-weeks, 6-months or 2-years after the training experience has concluded??

Once the stimulus has ceased, the human body re-adapts (i.e. we lose fitness etc).

The basis of working with young athletes is teaching skill sets to understand the mechanisms of acceleration, deceleration, force production (etc). When these skills are taught as building blocks of development, they are retained by the young athlete simply because they have been embedded in the central nervous system. In that, they remain skills and can be applied to sporting situations on par.

Again, I am happy that your son saw benefits from his training and I certainly don't want to cast a poor light on his (or your efforts) or the efforts of the facility.

I just want more people to understand that getting 'results' with young athletes is not difficult... and shouldn't be the marker we use to establish the worth we place on any given training programs"

This particular point is one that makes the IYCA such an
incredibly unique organization.

We teach Trainers and Coaches the essence of how to develop
successful young athletes over time and by honoring the human
body in the way it is meant to be used.

In fact, we have been so successful in our mission and in such a
short amount of time, that our we were recently featured in
Newsweek Magazine... Have a look -

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19114130/site/newsweek/page/0/

You know, the youth training industry is the fastest growing
portion of the entire fitness community...

... and the IYCA has the EXACT information you need to become
recognized as a world-class Trainer or Coach.

Visit the IYCA today and see why we have exactly what you've
been looking for.

http://www.iyca.org/c5/Youth-Conditioning-Specialist-Certification-Level-One-Textbook-p1.html

'Till next time,


Brian