Prepubescent Strength Training Essay -- essays research papers fc

STRENGTH TRAINING AND PREPUBESCENT YOUTH The value placed on the importance of winning in professional sports has hit an all-time high. The astronomical amount of money being spent in the entertainment field of athletics has dictated a win-at-all-costs mentality that has trickled all the way down to negatively affect our youngest athletes - the prepubescent. The athletic world has forever been exploiting our youth as a source of athletic potential, sacrificing the health, safety and welfare of these child-athletes to satiate the intense nationalistic pride of the country and more dishearteningly in the name of the Almighty Dollar. This has caused coaches and athletes to take drastic measures which are sometimes illegal and usually unethical in order to improve performance levels. One of the most controversial training practices center around the impact of strength training in prepubescent children. There has recently been increasing scrutiny debating the merits of strength training in our youth and more importantly the unsafe and unethical training practices that tend to be utilized in implementing strength training programs in all levels of amateur athletics. These controversies have enabled many people associated in medical and exercise sciences to take a further look at the field of prepubescent athletics and their impact on the developmental patterns of the children involved. The research in the field has provided feedback regarding the physiological, mental and social effects - negative and/or positive - that strength training influences over prepubescent growth and development. American society has entered into an era in which strength training has become the standard and most popular method of keeping the musculature of the body in aesthetic shape. Fitness centers and personal home gyms have emerged as important catalysts for people, providing everyone with equal opportunity and incentive to exercise and strength train in safe and instructional settings. This fitness boom along with the growing concerns and questions regarding the safety of prepubescent exercise has spurred several gatherings of pediatricians, fitness center owners, exercise physiologists and other related exercise scientists. Together, these groups are involved in active research studies, discussion of the methods, safety issues and effects of strength-training on prepubescent chil... ...ubescent strength training procedures. BIBLIOGRAPHY Butursis, Duane. Prepubescent Strength Training. National Strength and Conditioning Association. 1-7. 1994. Cahill, Bernard R. Proceedings of the Conference on Strength Training and the Prepubescent. American Orthopeadic Society for Sports Medicine. 1-11. 1995. Dunn, George et al. National Strength and Conditioning Association. National Strength and Conditioning Association Journal. 7. 27-29. 1985. Faigenbaum, Avery D. Psychological Benefits of Prepubescent Strength Training.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Strength and Conditioning. 28-31. April, 1995. Metcalf, James A. and Scott O. Roberts. Strength Training and the Immature Athlete:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  An Overview. Pediatric Nursing. Vol. 19. 325-332. August, 1993. Michli, L.J. Strength Training in the Young Athlete. Competitive Sports for Children   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  and Youth. 96-97. 1988. Rians, C.B., et al. Strength Training for Prepubescent Males. American Journal of   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sports Medicine 15:483-489. 1987. Sewall, R., et al. Strength Development in Children. (abstract). Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 16:158. 1984.