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Understanding and Managing Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness
March 14, 2024
Why Youth Athletes Should Prioritize Strength Training
As youth athletes venture into the realm of sports, their journey is not just about perfecting skills or mastering techniques; it's also about building a strong foundation for their physical development. While practice on the field or court is crucial, there's another aspect that often gets overlooked but holds immense importance: strength training. Consistency in strength training for youth athletes is not just beneficial, it's essential. Let’s delve into the science and reasons why.
Motor Unit Function and Development
Motor units are the basic functional units of muscle contraction, consisting of a motor neuron and the muscle fibers it innervates. Recent research emphasizes the critical role of motor units in strength development among youth athletes. As young bodies grow, motor units undergo a process known as motor unit remodeling, where the size and strength of motor units are influenced by physical activity. Regular strength training ensures the consistent activation of these motor units, promoting efficient communication between the nervous system and muscles. This heightened neuromuscular coordination contributes to improved strength, power, and overall athletic performance in youth athletes. This is the science behind the familiar yet outdated term “muscle memory.”
Understanding Muscle Fibers: Slow vs. Fast Twitch
Our muscles are composed of different types of fibers, primarily categorized as slow-twitch and fast-twitch fibers. Slow-twitch fibers are more endurance-oriented and contribute to sustained, low intensity efforts, while fast-twitch fibers are responsible for explosive movements and high-intensity activities. Both types are crucial for overall athletic performance, but their development requires specific training stimuli. When you are performing those low intensity activities, things where we don’t need a lot of umph, you are using and training your slow twitch fibers. These low intensity exercises are where everyone needs to start in order to build a functional movement foundation, but once developed, a progressive shift to higher intensity exercise is required in order to continue to improve. What happens is over the course of time when we consistently lift heavy stuff and we move things fast we get more and more proficient at recruiting more of these fast twitch muscle fibers. This is the basis of the Size Principle. You use big muscle fibers to do big jobs.
The Size Principle vs. Asynchronous Recruitment
The Size Principle is a fundamental concept in neuromuscular physiology, stating that motor units are recruited in order of size, from smaller to larger, depending on the intensity of the activity. Through consistent strength training, athletes can recruit and activate a larger pool of motor units, leading to better coordination, strength, and power output. The challenge though, and what we see with young athletes is that they don’t actually show up long enough to create these adaptation and instead what we get is this concept of asynchronous recruitment. Asynchronous recruitment is when your muscles fire in an uncoordinated and staggered manner, decreasing force production and efficiency during movement.
For example, imagine a 14 year old kid who’s dumbbell bench pressing for the first time and is using some 25s and struggles mightily on his 7th rep and then all of a sudden comes back and nails the 8th rep. What’s really happening here is this young athlete is turning their slow twitch muscle fibers on and off because they haven’t created the adaptation needed to always tap into the big muscle fibers to do the big work.
Importance of Progressive Overload
Consistency and progressive overload are the keys to unlocking the full potential of strength training. Unlike skills or techniques that may see immediate improvements with sporadic practice, by progressively overloading muscles through consistent strength training, young athletes challenge their bodies to adapt and recruit larger motor units. This not only contributes to strength gains but also enhances the ability to generate force rapidly, a critical factor in sports performance.
In the world of youth athletics, consistency in strength training is paramount. A well-designed and regular strength training regimen not only promotes optimal muscle adaptations but also enhances neuromuscular coordination, and balanced fiber recruitment. As coaches, parents, and mentors, understanding these scientific underpinnings empowers us to guide young athletes toward a path of sustained growth, improved performance, and a lifelong appreciation for the benefits of consistent strength training.
So next time your youth athlete tries to convince you to let them skip their strength training, know they are squandering more than just $$$.
Garrett Withiam, ATC
Assistant Director of Health & Fitness
Personal Training Manager
