What is Strength & Conditioning?
Strength & Conditioning is the practical application of sports science research. Studying human performance provides the opportunity to maximise an athlete's physical qualities for their sport.
How Research has Developed
In the past, strength training has been regarded by many as an unsafe activity for young people, with badly designed & misunderstood data & research coming from the 60s & 70s largely to blame. The findings came largely from a rarity of growth plate injuries, which unsurprisingly has led to a myth that resistance training hinders your growth.
More recent findings support the use of resistance training for a youth athlete during a potentially dangerous time in their development "adolescent awkwardness". Peak height and peak weight velocity (maturation) can cause issues with movement capabilities & efficiency. In fact, injuries from strength training are mainly down to poor technique, fatigue, excessive loading, unqualified supervision and poor equipment.
Weight training has been shown to be completely safe for youth athletes through detailed reports from different governing bodies. Without the intervention of a quality strength and conditioning program, to support & compliment a child through maturation and sport participation (where high forces and technical movements are required in a chaotic environment), children are extremely vulnerable to overuse injuries and underdevelopment problems.
Physical Development
Enhancing the physical abilities of youth athletes throughout childhood & adolescence is crucial to maximising athletic success at adulthood. It is vital for a child to become a physically literate athlete, to give them the confidence & competence to compete in high performance sport throughout life. This is done through a well-rounded, evidence based, multidimensional Strength and Conditioning program, focused on the individual athlete and the demands of their sport.
A program with a movement competency continuum in place, will help to provide a framework with appropriate progressions and regressions to support long term physical development. Through regular Strength and Conditioning sessions, an athlete will see many performance based benefits such as improved movement quality, speed, strength, power, and most importantly reduce the risk of injury.
How these qualities are trained is the key to success. They must be effective in aiding sporting performance, and reducing the injury risk, allowing the athlete to continue training and competing in their sport.
Strength and Conditioning can develop qualities that can't be optimised by merely playing sport. If either tactical or technical sport training or S&C training is lacking, then the athlete’s performance potential is limited, as they directly support each other.
Written By Bryce Hounsome
