The topic of early fitness specialization has been a major hot button for those involved in youth development for years. Research is conclusive that the narrower the focus in the stages of Learning to Train, and Training to Train within Long Term Athlete Development, the larger the negative impact it has on the ladder stages. Which, if you are in it for the right reasons, are the stages where athletes finally achieve the success they have been working for.
We fall prey to it for many reasons, media influence of teams or youth doing highly complex things, like stickhandling on a Bosu ball while reading out flashcards at age 12! Or doing massive sets of power cleans! The feelings of “should I be doing that? I am holding back these kids?” rush to your brain. These emotions are serious drivers with respect to an action, so down the rabbit hole, we go further and further.
Let me give you a glimpse of 10 years from now of what that early fitness specialization looks like. A 22-year-old, with low self-esteem because of lost dreams and countless hours put into something they never achieved walks into a gym looking for help. They have collapsed navicular bones (flat feet), chronic low back pain from externally rotated hips and are functionally unable to squat, lunge, or walk with sound mechanics. This is not physical literacy.
This isn’t just a sports issue, it is a fitness issue as well. Students should not be specializing in their training outcomes from grades 7, 8 or 9. Think of this as time in PHE as the learning to train stage in LTAD.
Fitness, in the early stages, should be exposed to the 7 foundational movement skills. Students should build the understanding that these movements are within everything they do, activities, games, sports, and home life. Once students understand how to use their bodies in a plethora of ways, we begin to show them the impact these activities have on their health by using self-assessment. We can then shift in grade 9 to introduce them to equipment such as kettlebells, bands, dumbbells, ropes, hurdles, foot speed ladders, barbells et cetera. All with the primary goal of developing the knowledge that no matter what equipment you use, all movements begin with great technique and have the 7 principal patterns within them.
Grades 10-12 are the training to train phase of LTAD. We begin in grade 10 with exposure to how fitness impacts our health through assessing, monitoring and progression. Once the knowledge and competence are in place students can begin to build their own plans for desired outcomes they wish to explore. Maybe that is hypertrophy, toning, speed, quickness, jumping. It doesn’t matter, what matters is they are choosing to learn about this attribute, so they are fully engaged in the process and outcome!
The end goal is every student understands how fitness impacts their health, how to monitor their progress and have the confidence to reflect on how they are doing and are empowered to choose what to do next!
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