Agree with Medaille completely. More studies are needed, but playing on grass should lead to less lower extremity injuries. A player can get bigger, stronger, and faster, but their ligaments don't change much.
Make them play in sand and the injuries would likely go down, though we know that won't happen.
The speed of players today is probably a factor as well. I don't seem to remember the number of non contact ligament tears we see today, happening in the old days.
Quote: @jargomcfargo said:
Agree with Medaille completely. More studies are needed, but playing on grass should lead to less lower extremity injuries. A player can get bigger, stronger, and faster, but their ligaments don't change much.
Make them play in sand and the injuries would likely go down, though we know that won't happen.
The speed of players today is probably a factor as well. I don't seem to remember the number of non contact ligament tears we see today, happening in the old days.
Even down at the lower levels. I think some of the blame should go to point that kids are getting pushed into strength programs way to early these days. I knew a personal trainer/body builder and he never let his kids work the weights much until they were nearly through puberty and had reached near full grown. Lucky for those kids they reached their max early and they turned into pretty big kids, but he swore up and down that growing is enough strain on ligaments and joints without the added workload of a strength program. His boys worked put, but never with max weights. More resistance and conditioning types of lifts.
Quote: @JimmyinSD said:
@ jargomcfargo said:
Agree with Medaille completely. More studies are needed, but playing on grass should lead to less lower extremity injuries. A player can get bigger, stronger, and faster, but their ligaments don't change much.
Make them play in sand and the injuries would likely go down, though we know that won't happen.
The speed of players today is probably a factor as well. I don't seem to remember the number of non contact ligament tears we see today, happening in the old days.
Even down at the lower levels. I think some of the blame should go to point that kids are getting pushed into strength programs way to early these days. I knew a personal trainer/body builder and he never let his kids work the weights much until they were nearly through puberty and had reached near full grown. Lucky for those kids they reached their max early and they turned into pretty big kids, but he swore up and down that growing is enough strain on ligaments and joints without the added workload of a strength program. His boys worked put, but never with max weights. More resistance and conditioning types of lifts.
The American Academy of Pediatrics state that prepubescent children derive beneficial effects from weight/resistance training involving cardiovascular fitness, body composition, bone mineral density, cholesterol profiles, and mental health.
Before puberty they increase strength through nerve recruitment instead of muscle hypertrophy which occurs under the hormonal influence of puberty. There is even some evidence of increased ligament and tendon strength after 3-6 months, in some studies.
They recommend strict supervision by certified trainers and medical screening to eliminate risks. They also say young children should not be doing maximal lifts or heavy training.
Personally, I doubt any significant difference would occur if the child waited until puberty to begin. But it's a personal choice I guess.
More specific to this thread, there are studies that indicate anabolic steroid use can cause some collagen changes that make ligaments and tendons weaker.
That is one more thing to consider.
Quote: @jargomcfargo said:
@ JimmyinSD said:
@ jargomcfargo said:
Agree with Medaille completely. More studies are needed, but playing on grass should lead to less lower extremity injuries. A player can get bigger, stronger, and faster, but their ligaments don't change much.
Make them play in sand and the injuries would likely go down, though we know that won't happen.
The speed of players today is probably a factor as well. I don't seem to remember the number of non contact ligament tears we see today, happening in the old days.
Even down at the lower levels. I think some of the blame should go to point that kids are getting pushed into strength programs way to early these days. I knew a personal trainer/body builder and he never let his kids work the weights much until they were nearly through puberty and had reached near full grown. Lucky for those kids they reached their max early and they turned into pretty big kids, but he swore up and down that growing is enough strain on ligaments and joints without the added workload of a strength program. His boys worked put, but never with max weights. More resistance and conditioning types of lifts.
The American Academy of Pediatrics state that prepubescent children derive beneficial effects from weight/resistance training involving cardiovascular fitness, body composition, bone mineral density, cholesterol profiles, and mental health.
Before puberty they increase strength through nerve recruitment instead of muscle hypertrophy which occurs under the hormonal influence of puberty. There is even some evidence of increased ligament and tendon strength after 3-6 months, in some studies.
They recommend strict supervision by certified trainers and medical screening to eliminate risks. They also say young children should not be doing maximal lifts or heavy training.
Personally, I doubt any significant difference would occur if the child waited until puberty to begin. But it's a personal choice I guess.
More specific to this thread, there are studies that indicate anabolic steroid use can cause some collagen changes that make ligaments and tendons weaker.
That is one more thing to consider.
So basically what my guy said. Resistance and cardiovascular lifting and exercises, but the pure liftING for massive strength and muscle growth was out until they were older.
The oldest son was competing in body building comp when he was 16 though and he never really put a ton of work into it...lucky DNA I say. The kid was pretty crazy ripped with decent mass before he started really working at it.
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