The X & O Factors in Training Young Athletes

Posted on: May 18th, 2010 by IYCA 1 Comment

Training Young Athletes

For the purposes of this article, let me say this:

“Kids” is a term I will use to encompass everyone who inhabits the ages of 6 – 18.

Athletes and Non-Athletes alike.

Miniature superstars, bench-warmers and the overweight, will all be lumped under the same umbrella.

And simply stated, I do this because the development parameters of physical stimulus needed for ALL ‘kids’ is the same – at very least in the beginning phases of training spectrum.

Training stimulus with this demographic is guided, primarily, by physiology.

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Kids Fitness: Why they Shouldn’t Lock Out Their Joints

Posted on: January 10th, 2010 by IYCA 41 Comments

Kids Fitness Physiology

by Dr. Kwame M. Brown

This article will by no means be an exhaustive discussion of the evidence, but I look forward to elaborating as we get responses.

Installment #476 in things I keep hearing people say:

“You should lock out the joints at the end of a (bench press, squat, etc)”. The joints need stress to get stronger.”

By this logic I should do the following:

1. Beat my head against a wall to protect myself from brain injuries (After all I am putting my cranium under much needed stress, right?

2. Yell at kids all the time and berate them to improve their self esteem

I think we can agree that just because something needs to get stronger, this doesn’t mean that all stress on that thing is good!

I could just simply say that this is wrong, but it’s better for all concerned (especially kids) if we address the real problem. The real problem is a combination of a lack of understanding of how joints work combined with a pretty loose application of terminology.

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