Efficacy and Safety – Middle School Strength Training

Next year our district, the Independence School District, is taking some pretty bold steps that I believe have the potential to generate some huge positive effects in our community and school district.

The first step is aligning the middle schools and high schools that are currently in our district.  Next year, Bridger Middle School will become a 6th grade center; Bingham Middle School will be comprised of students living in the Chrisman HS attendance zone, and Pioneer Ridge Middle School comprised of students living the Truman HS attendance zone.  Nowlin Middle School will continue to feed Van Horn High School, as it currently does.  The hopes are that aligning our schools will improve and ease student transition to high school in all areas: academics, athletics, music, forensics, etc.

The second step is adding to and enhancing the middle school physical education curriculum.  We currently have one option for middle school PE – a lone Physical Education class.  Next year there will be three options for 7th and 8th graders:

  • Strength Training and Conditioning
  • Personal Fitness and Wellness
  • Physical Education

The Physical Education class will essentially be the same class we are teaching now.  The Personal Fitness and Wellness class will focus on aerobic fitness, flexibility, pilates, yoga, etc.  Of course the offering I am most excited about as a teacher and coach is the Strength Training and Conditioning course.

This course curriculum will be aligned with the corresponding high school Strength Training and Conditioning course.  Our district has also committed to outfitting each schools weight rooms with equipment needed to safely, effectively and efficiently teach and train our students.

NSCA logoAs soon as the decision was made, some teachers (yes, some PE teachers) and some coaches (yes, some athletic team coaches) were questioning the efficacy of strength training with 7th and 8th grades boys and girls.   The NSCA (National Strength and Conditioning Association), THE authority on strength training and conditioning, published the first position statement paper on youth resistance training in 1985 and revised this statement in 1996. A more recent 2009 report was based on an even more comprehensive analysis of the pertinent scientific evidence regarding the anatomical, physiological, and psychosocial effects of youth resistance training.

Potential-Youth-Training-pic-2I am highlighting some of their findings in case you find yourself in the position of having to justify a strength training and conditioning program for your younger students and athletes. The terms youth and young athletes are broadly defined in this report to include both children (up to age 12) and adolescents (ages 12-18).

Their conclusions:

  • A properly designed and supervised resistance training program is relatively safe for youth.
  • A properly designed and supervised resistance training program can enhance the muscular strength and power of youth.
  • A properly designed and supervised resistance training program can improve the cardiovascular risk profile of youth.
  • A properly designed and supervised resistance training program can improve motor skill performance and may contribute to enhanced sports performance of youth.
  • A properly designed and supervised resistance training program can increase a young athlete’s resistance to sports- related injuries.
  • A properly designed and supervised resistance training program can help improve the psychosocial well-being of youth.
  • A properly designed and supervised resistance training program can help promote and develop exercise habits during childhood and adolescence.

Some of the NSCA recommendations – I have provided links to posts of mine dealing with these issues:

I am looking forward to implementing this type of program with our Middle School students in the Independence School District!

You Can Do More… your brain is lying to you…. Don’t Believe It!

Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com

5 thoughts on “Efficacy and Safety – Middle School Strength Training

  1. Coach Floyd,

    I always just shake my head in disbelief when I hear people question whether or not middle school aged athletes should be in a strength training program. I have heard many of the same concerns here at Lamar and my response goes like this…..you think they are too young for strength training but yet you expect them to put a piece of plastic with some air pockets attached to it on their heads and some plastic with some foam attached to it on their shoulders and run full speed into another person doing the same thing??? The strength training is for safety purposes before it is ever for performance purposes!

    Our boys start playing tackle football in the third grade and I question our sanity when we want them to tackle full speed but invest little or no time strengthening and stabalizing their neck, shoulders and ankles.

    I congratulate your district for making the changes in their middle school PE program!

    Coach Bailey Lamar HS Lamar, Missouri

    >>> You Can Do More! 03/12/14 10:03 AM >>> Jeff Floyd posted: “Next year our district, the Independence School District, is taking some pretty bold steps that I believe have the potential to generate some huge positive effects in our community and school district. The first step is aligning the middle schools and “

  2. Pingback: If you build it, they will come | You Can Do More!

  3. Pingback: The Case for Middle School Strength and Conditioning | You Can Do More!

  4. Pingback: Middle School Strength and Conditioning Posts | You Can Do More!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.