There Is A Method to the Madness
This is a podcast where I will be discussing all aspects of physical fitness. I am an exercise physiologist and personal trainer and owner of Maxwell's Fitness Programs for the last 25 years. My passion is health and fitness and I am excited to share my views, some stories, interviews and much more with you.
There Is A Method to the Madness
Guiding Children to Fitness Success with Safe Practices
What if the key to a lifetime of health and fitness starts in childhood? Join me, Rob Maxwell, as we uncover the secrets of physical fitness specifically designed for kids. This episode promises to illuminate why children shouldn't be treated as mini adults when it comes to exercise. We'll explore how their unique physiological systems call for distinct training methods, focusing on activities that align with their developmental stages. Discover how kids naturally excel in quick bursts of energy and why understanding these biological differences is crucial for ensuring safe and effective physical fitness routines.
We'll also dive into the world of youth strength training, examining why it's essential to tailor exercises to a child's stage of growth. With insights on avoiding common training pitfalls, I'll highlight the importance of proper technique and the principle of specificity, stressing that kids should engage in their sports directly rather than misguided routines. Additionally, you'll hear about the pivotal role parents play in modeling healthy habits, particularly in nutrition, to lay a strong foundation for future health. Tune in for practical tips on injury prevention and conditioning, as we aim to champion a balanced, lifelong approach to health and fitness for our younger generation.
Welcome to there is a Method to the Madness. My name is Rob Maxwell. I'm an exercise physiologist and personal trainer. I'm the owner of Maxwell's Fitness Programs and I've been in business since 1994. The purpose of this podcast is to get to the real deal of what really works and, most importantly, why things work. Hence the name. There is a method to the madness. Today, I'm going to tell you what your kids should be doing for physical fitness. Before I get to that, let me thank Jonathan and Lynn Gilden of the Gilden Group at Realty Pros. They are committed to providing the highest level of customer service in home sales and they have the reviews to back that up. Please give them a shout. 386-451-2412.
Speaker 1:Over the past few weeks, few months, few years, decades actually people have talked to me about what their kids should be doing for physical fitness. It comes up a lot and I'm sure I've spoken about it before. It's come up again recently and I want to get into that because it is very, very important and in today's sports world, with kids playing a lot of different sports and playing at different competitive levels, there's more of an emphasis on specific training than really there ever was for them aware of what you need to be careful about, like with your kids' coaches and trainers, if they have them at their schools or whatever. There is a science behind all this that we can stand behind and know what we really should be doing with our kids. So let me talk about the things that we know first from a physiological standpoint. About the things that we know first from a physiological standpoint. One of the things that was always stressed is that kids are not mini adults. They're not smaller versions of adults. There are numerous things different about them that we need to consider.
Speaker 1:Now, when I'm talking about kids let's just break this down a little bit, because there are different levels of kids. I'm talking about anything basically younger than adolescence of, say, 17 years of age and up, so anything really younger than that we need to talk about. So there's that preteen category of that, and then we have the adolescent up to 17 category that we need to discuss, and they are very, very different in that. Now I say 17, that's sort of a benchmark, but that's not ultimately true. What's really the thing you want to look for as far as like starting to call them more adults and how they should train obviously not emotionally, but how they should train would be when they reach their full maturation. That is, when they're no longer quote kids when they reach their maturation, because at that point their hormonal systems are up to par, their skeletal systems are more up to par, their muscular systems are more up to par, their brain is a little closer to being up to par. So once they reach full maturation physically, then we basically no longer call them kids and they can be trained similar to adults in that regard. All right, so that's the first thing we need to understand is that kids are not just mini adults, that if they have not reached full maturation, they have different systems. They have different endocrine systems going on, they have different skeletal systems going on, muscular systems going on. Central nervous system is still different. So there is a huge difference. We have to think about that. That's very, very important.
Speaker 1:The second thing I want to talk about regarding this is what is going on biologically with all of us and what makes kids so different. So there are three major energy systems of how our body gets and uses energy. Now, if you remember from the first law of thermodynamics, energy is neither created nor destroyed. So what happens is energy comes from one source food broken down in the body provides more ATP, and then our body uses that energy. So that's how that first law of thermodynamics works out for us. So there are three ways in which we process that energy. There is the immediate energy system, first off. The immediate energy system first off. And the immediate energy system means that ATP, which stands for adenosine triphosphate, and that's the only substrate that can be used for immediate energy in your cells, in your muscle cells and all of your cells, is ATP. So basically all kilocalories are broken down to provide more ATP to the cells. So in the immediate energy system your body uses stored ATP. Nothing has to be broken down metabolically to provide more energy. It's the immediate energy system. Now you only have enough ATP stored in the cells for roughly one to three seconds. That's it, snap of the finger. I used up the ATP In the immediate energy system.
Speaker 1:That ATP gets reproduced very quickly because ATP not trying to get all scientifically nerdy on you now, but you do need to understand that way we know how to train our kids. So when we break down that ATP, half of it is used for energy. The other half, which is ADP, forms with creatine phosphate, which we also store in our muscle cells to make more ATP. So nothing has to happen metabolically to provide more ATP. It happens at the immediate energy system. So ATP is burned up in one to two seconds and then ADP gets formed with creatine phosphate man losing it here. Creatine phosphate makes more ATP. That takes about 10 to 15 seconds. All right Now. That's very important because kids and pre-adolescents have an immediate energy system. That's very viable. That system remember, it's 10 to 15 seconds. That system is very viable. Viable so kids can do things without being prematurely broken down in that system, meaning they can sprint for 10 seconds, recover and do it again. So kids are very adept at that system. They're fine. The immediate energy system is really the only system that's up to par with adults. It's the only one. All right Now.
Speaker 1:The second system is what we call the anaerobic system or the lactate threshold system. That system produces ATP in roughly 30 to 90 seconds. Now we're bringing in kilocalories to produce more ATP. What happens is, when we go beyond the 15 seconds or so, we leave the immediate energy system, we break into the lactate system and what slows us down? That will become lactic acid. I'm sure you have felt that on a leg extension machine. Maybe you're running, maybe you're bicycling really hard. For 30 seconds or so you feel that burn, that lactic acid. Now, it's not the actual lactic acid that slows you down, but the lactic acid is present. When our cells become more acidic, acid is present when our cells become more acidic. When our cells start to become more acidic, then our body starts to slow down. What ends up happening is our body utilizes carbohydrates to make more ATP within that lactate threshold system or anaerobic system. Enough science on that.
Speaker 1:I will say this kids systems are not adapted to that system. They cannot tolerate lactic acid. So if you're trying to do like a bodybuilding style workout with a kid and they can't do it like they physiologically can't do it, they cannot tolerate the lactic acid. So remember, kids can sprint and then that's about it. If you've ever done a 5K, you know what I'm talking about. The kids always line up up front because they don't know better, and the parents obviously don't know better because they let them line up up front and basically trip people when they decide to walk because nature takes over, they sprint out and then you see them walking and then they sprint again and then they walk. Well, of course, they do Method to the madness. They have a well-adapted immediate energy system so they sprint, they recover, they sprint, they recover. They cannot handle the anaerobic system which means lactic acid is being produced. They don't have a mature enough system endocrine system to be able to handle that. So kids should never be doing high repetition, medium load strength exercises. It's completely ineffectual for them. It just doesn't work and it's really just beating them up, making them feel like crap. It does not work. We should not be doing it.
Speaker 1:The third system is the aerobic system. Guess what? Kids also don't have a very well-developed aerobic system. Does that mean they can't run a 5K? Of course not. I've had seven-year-olds pass me in a 5K, probably. I know I've had kids. But kids can run or they can do that, but it's not very well adapted yet. So they're not gonna have a great aerobic system. They don't have the capacity. Some are just lean, skinny and well-determined and can hold a certain pace and eventually finish. I wouldn't say it's overly great for them, by the way. So they don't have a very well-adapted aerobic system either. So what kids have is an immediate energy system that can be utilized and we should think about our exercises for them being within that short range.
Speaker 1:The other thing we need to consider method to the madness is the morphological component here, which means that kids again kids, I'm defining that as have not reached full maturation, cannot hypertrophy. It's a fact. Kids can't gain muscle tissue to the extent even close to an adult. Does that mean they can't get stronger? No, it does not. They can get stronger, but they get stronger via recruitment, which we call neurological adaptation. What that means is that their body-brain connection gets better at adjusting to the loads, muscle memory gets in place and then they can get somewhat stronger. They get stronger by learning how to do things better. We're assuming that they're learning how to do them right and then they can get stronger.
Speaker 1:But hypertrophy does not begin to occur until a kid has reached maturation, because then they have enough testosterone. How do you know? You know, right, if you've had boys, you know when they start getting testosterone At that point you know that they can then start to strength train a little bit differently and get muscle mass. But until they've reached that level of development it is not going to happen. You're just basically being mean to kids, making them do certain workout styles that they're not going to gain muscle, like putting a 10 year old on a leg extension machine with a moderate load and telling them to do 15 reps is almost abuse. I mean, they're not going to be able to do it and they get absolutely nothing out of that.
Speaker 1:So that's the second component to this. So we have to remember kids are not mini adults. I told you the energy systems. Second part is morphologically they are not old enough, mature enough to be able to handle hypertrophy right. Old enough mature enough to be able to handle hypertrophy right. And then the third part is you have to understand that they need to be taught proper technique with the exercises you are having them do, one of the things I hate to see strength coaches do and they're not really strength coaches at most of these places they don't have a bachelor's degree where they can sit for the CSCS, you know things like that certified strength conditioning specialist.
Speaker 1:And look, I know schools and other organizations are on tight budgets and it's not like they can spend the $75,000 to $80,000 a year to get a person who you know is more qualified to do that. I get it. So they get the best they can. They get the history teachers and everybody else jumping in to teach, but unfortunately they don't have the physiological knowledge to work with kids, and one of the things that I hate seeing exercise-wise is a lunge on a kid.
Speaker 1:The kids can't do lunges. If you've ever worked with kids that are not fully mature, you know what they do the knee goes flying out over the toes. I mean they can replicate what they think they see adults do, but they don't have the body awareness to keep the knees behind the toes, to not do the things they shouldn't do, and you are probably causing damage to your kid's knees that could be irreversible if you're not careful. And I hate seeing that Kids should never lift loads over their heads. They don't have a strong enough skeletal system to be able to withstand that. Do you really want your kid getting a back injury? There's no point to that. I hate seeing it. Those are the two things. Don't lift over heads or over face and don't do skill set exercises like lunges that require a lot of body awareness. All right, those are just some quick things to say. Don't do, all right.
Speaker 1:The other part of this, too, is a lot of these like strength coaches, and I have to say that like liberally with the word. You know they don't understand the principle of specificity very well. Specificity states if you want to get better at something, you have to do it. A lot of strength coaches again using that word liberally have kind of hijacked that term and say oh okay, so that means that we're going to have kids swinging heavy things so they can swing the bat better, or in football, we're going to have them run with vests so they run fast. So that's just not true. What specificity really means is if you want to get better at something, you have to exactly do it, exactly the way it is. So, in other words, the best way to get better at baseball is to freaking play baseball. The best way to get better at football is to play football. The best way to get better at tennis is to play tennis. The best way to get better at golf is to play golf Years and years ago.
Speaker 1:A little side note story with an adult that I worked with years ago. He was a very high-level golfer and he and I just could not get along. I'm the boss. When you're in my gym, I'm the boss, and if you don't see it that way, why are you here? But he was a golfer and he would see these sports-specific exercises that he should be doing for golf. He said oh, I saw on the internet that you know I should do these weighted rotations. I'm like no, no, no, no, because that's just false, that's just a hijacking of a term.
Speaker 1:Reality is, my principle has always been in strength training, which I absolutely love. I'm not trying to discourage anybody from going to the gym, it's the opposite. But the way the gym should be used to make people better at their sports is for injury prevention. That's where it should be used, and I would tell this guy all the time I'd say no, no, no. What we need to do is make your back stronger. That way, when you go to the driving range to practice your drives, your spine can handle it and you can hit enough golf balls to get better. That's what we should be doing. That's what smart people do, and you know, not so smart people kind of like watch the internet and think, oh, I'm going to do this, and then they get hurt and then they can't do that.
Speaker 1:So the best way kids should train for their sports is to actually do their sports, and if they're doing conditioning stuff, fine, I mean that's. There's nothing wrong with that, it's. It's good to get kids active. But understand their skeletal immaturity. That they shouldn't be doing lunges, that they shouldn't be doing things overhead. Understand the immediate energy system. That they should be doing more sprint-style stuff and not moderate load stuff. You know, understand those things. That when kids are doing conditioning-type exercises, maybe just for camaraderie on the team or maybe just for keeping them busy on non-practice days, that's all great, it's fine, as long as it is done correctly, that it's done with the idea of injury prevention, that it's done with team camaraderie involved, you know, and not done the put on muscle or silly stuff like that. And not done the put on muscle or silly stuff like that which pre-adolescents have absolutely no chance of putting on muscle for the physiological reasons I already told you. So that's just silly. And if your coaches are telling your kids or you to do that, you know I don't know how you handle that tactfully other than just remind your kids to be respectful to the coach but at the same time tell your kids what they really should be doing, because your kids' health is far more important than hurting your coach's feelings, right? So you've got to consider those things.
Speaker 1:The last thing I'll say is on food. When I hear coaches telling kids they need to gain weight, muscle, or they need to eat better so they don't get fat, or things like that. It drives me nuts. I mean you don't want to make kids start to get weird about food at an early age. Remember I just told you that it is impossible for kids to gain muscle mass if they're not fully mature. So telling them to gain weight just means they're going to get fatter. So kids force feeding themselves to get bigger sends a definite bad message to their brain with the relationship with food and at the very least, makes them fatter. That doesn't do anybody any good. And then the opposite direction fat shaming a person to lose weight, a kid especially, which already goes through stuff in adolescence. Lord knows, I did. I put on weight in pre-adolescence and, gosh, I still battle those demons sometimes.
Speaker 1:You don't want that and the last thing you want to do is to tell kids they need to lose weight. So the moral of the story on that is just let kids eat normal and healthy. There's nothing, or even unhealthy at times, it's okay, they're kids. You want to teach them something about moderation, you want to teach them something about healthy food choices and all that, of course, but I've always believed as parents, the best way we teach that is to model it ourselves. We can't tell kids not to eat junk food as we're wolfing down a disgusting Chick-fil-A burger or something like that, which uses nothing but the worst parts of chicken. If you've ever eaten at Chick-fil-A or any of those places, you know we can do our best job of teaching kids how to eat by eating good ourselves and not punishing them when they want to eat a lot of junk food or even any junk food, and just basically try to teach them some moderation, but don't put them on diets.
Speaker 1:Oh man, I've had clients tell me that they're putting their kids on diets and I'm like what are you doing? You know, clearly they learn their eating habits from you. And now you're overweight and you're putting your kid on a diet. I mean you're just setting this kid up. I mean, I know it's a tough, delicate balance and if the kid is morbidly obese, you know, get some professional help with that. But but don't try to handle that yourself. That's, that's out of your scope of practice, all right.
Speaker 1:So with diet, just, I mean, come on, I remember as a kid I didn't need a special diet or anything. You know, the one lesson I did have to learn in my adolescence was don't overeat, don't binge, don't eat total crap food, but that's a happy medium. We also don't have to go out and buy special protein shakes and perfect food to put muscle on a kid. That's a little crazy too. All right, so hopefully this helps and I'm sure I'll be doing this podcast again because it's a very important subject.
Speaker 1:I mean, we want our kids healthy, we want a more healthy America, and it does start number one with us and then how we model things. And then the kids are the next generation. But we want them healthy, we want them learning the right way to do things, and I guess I'll just leave you with the best way we do that is to model it ourselves right. All right, now let me thank Overhead Door of Daytona Beach. It is Florida's best garage door company bar none. Give them a shout at overheaddoordaytonacom and I'm sure Jeff or Zach Hawk and any of their employees will quickly answer you.
