Youth Resistance Training: The Past, the Present, and the Future

Abstract

Based on anecdotal and preliminary evidence, the perception of youth resistance training (RT) was critical in the past. Accordingly, this opinion editorial aims to summarize information on youth RT by taking past and present research findings into account to deduce future research avenues. In the 1970s, two often reported misconceptions with youth RT were premature epiphyseal closure due to repetitive loading and ineffectiveness of RT in pre-pubertals because of a lack of circulating testosterone. Today, it is well-established that youth RT has manifold health (e.g., body composition, injury prevention) and fitness (muscle strength and power, endurance, speed) benefits. Physiological adaptations responsible for RT-induced strength gains comprise primarily neural factors in the pre-pubertal child and neural as well as morphological factors in adolescents. The number of scientific studies and thus the evidence on positive RT effects has grown exponentially over the past years. An important future task of pediatric strength and conditioning specialists will be the translation and dissemination of research findings into sports practice (schools, sport clubs). Schools could be a suitable setting for the widespread implementation of youth RT. Efforts should be undertaken to equip schools and public gyms with RT material and to include RT contents into school curricula.