Most family physicians will tell you that light lifting would be “ok” around the ages of 13 to 14.  Most athletic trainers will recommend that a child not lift till he-she is between the ages of 15 to 16 due to growth plates.  Each child will be different in their growth cycles and it is difficult for anyone to pin point an exact age.  Through my research and experience, lifting, if done right, can start at the ages of 12 to 13, however, it will be done with no weights or low impact weights.  The key is that you do not want to damage a child’s bone structure by building muscle mass faster than his or her growing skeletal structure.  At the same time you want to have healthy, faster and stronger athletes in order to compete on the field.

If you start your lifting program at the early age of 12 to 13 the primary importance and focus of lifting should be entirely on TECHNIQUE of each lift and not how much weight a child can push around (check these articles out: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/24/phys-ed-the-benefits-of-weight-training-for-kids , http://www.momsteam.com/health-safety/strength-conditioning-youth-athletes-good-lifting-technique-is-key.  Start out ALL core lifts (bench, dead lift, power clean, squat, upright rows, etc) with a broom stick.  It is imperative that you and your coaching staff focus entirely on a perfect TECHNIQUE for each lift.  Each child will progress differently, based on their emotional intelligence, maturity and understanding of their own body.  Lets be clear, that perfect technique isn’t defined by doing the lift perfectly once, but rather doing three sets of 15 perfectly – each rep.  So it requires your full attention during the whole testing phase.  It also requires that you pay attention to the athlete while he-she doesn’t know your watching. Simply because they will focus more when they think you are looking; you want to be absolutely certain for the child’s long term safety that they give every lift as much attention as if you were watching them with every lift.

To reach perfect technique, you must know the coaching points for each lift, be able to demonstrate each lift repeatedly and focus on the flex points of the lift and not how quickly a weight can be tossed around.  For example, in the bench press there are several options of focus; either the pecks, the biceps, or a combination of the two.  It boils down to where hand placement is made on the bar.  The greater the distance the hands are placed on the bar, the greater the focus will be on lower pecks.  The more you move your hands together the more you focus on biceps.  If the distance between the hand placement on the bar decreases even further, more emphasis is placed on upper pecks, provided the bar is lowered properly.  Anyways, to perform a perfect rep… Start with hand placement evenly on the bar, get a lift off from a spotter, even if only using a broom handle because it is important to establish good habits and the importance of a spotter early on.  Once the bar is lifted off, the athlete needs to flex his pecks as hard as he can for 3 seconds (spotter counting so the lifter can hear: one-one thousand, two-one thousand, three-one thousand). Then slowly lowering the bar to his chest, not to be rested there; at which point the lifter will squeeze his shoulder blades together for 3 seconds, again spotter counts.  Then the lifter, with as much speed and power they can push the weight up.  The lift should be done under control, not just launched recklessly.  the importance of squeezing the muscles groups is two fold.  The first is to force blood and oxygen into that area of the body.  Secondly it assists the athlete in the development of endurance.

Once a child has learned to perform perfect technique they can graduate from the broom stick to a 45lb bar with no weight added.  This will be a huge jump in weight, so it will take some coaching on your part to keep them from being discouraged.  The goal again, is simply to achieve a consistent three sets of fifteen with perfection.  Once this is achieved all weight increments are done at a weekly interval of 2.5lbs each side every week.  An example being, that Joe starts lifting with the 45lb bar on Monday.  Every subsequent week we test Joe to make sure he is doing each lift with perfect technique; while paying attention to his attentiveness to every lift during the week without his knowledge.  We test Joe on the following Monday, or we let him know that we do not believe he is ready due to his performance through the previous week, stating dates and errors he made.  If Joe passes the three set test, he can not begin to lift with 2.5lb weights added to each side, for a total of a 5lb increase.  Keep this simple fact in mind when working the weight room: Endurance is directly related to strength, but strength is not directly linked to endurance.  What good does it do you if your athlete can bench a max of 340lbs one time?  We play football for 4 quarters.

As a coach or a parent, you will notice significant differences in the child athlete’s strength and performance in six to eight weeks.  As a high school coach, you will be astonished at the health and fitness of the team if, the middle school starts lifting according to this scheduled-routine; citing technique over speed and weight.  Again, we want perfect technique on the field, so why should the weight room be different?

For more information on lifting for your child, it is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that parents talk with their family physician, and the team’s or schools athletic trainer.

• Audacity – free audio editing software
• DakStats – Statistical Recording and Reporting Program
• Microsoft Movie Maker – A great free application to start. making videos and dvd’s..
• PlayMaker Pro – Draw Plays Cards, Scouting Cards and much more for your team; visual tools help with an edge
• Pinnacle Studio 14 – A more advanced system for editing video and creating DVD’s
• PowerEdit – CoachComms video and data capture software for football games and practices.
• SonicFire Pro – royalty free audio generator
• Sony Vegas Pro – Incredibly powerful video editing and production software.

• SPARQ 2-A-Day Workouts – PDF template of 2-a-Day workouts.
• SPARQ 10 Week Workout – PDF template of a 10 week workout.

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• beRecruited.com – great website and recruiting tool for coaches and athletes alike.
• Coaching4Life – a resource for coaching positive character qualities.
• HighSchoolSports.net – a resource for posting statistics and getting athletes some exposure.
• Positive Coaching Alliance – a great resource for training and more for coaches
• Maxpreps.com – a resource for posting statistics and getting athletes some exposure.
• StackTV – Website full of tutorials and helpful information.
• USA Football – a resource center for coaches, AD’s Ref’s and athletes.
• Yahoo! Rivals.com – a resource for posting statistics and getting athletes some exposure.

• Pinnacle Studio 14 – A more advanced system for editing video and creating DVD’s
• PowerEdit – CoachComms video and data capture software for football games and practices.
• Microsoft Movie Maker – A great free application to start. making videos and dvd’s.
• Sony Vegas Pro – Incredibly powerful video editing and production software.

• AthleteProfile Sheets – An Excel Spreadsheet template that standardizes high school football profile sheets.
• MaxPreps Stats Sheet – PDF used for tracking game statistics.
• Microsoft Word Template – Coaching Resume
• Play Call Sheet – Excel Spreadsheet used to track game play-calls and some statistics
• Record Keeping – An Excel Spreadsheet for keeping all kinds of track of all kinds of high school data.

• Coaching 4 Life – Character Development program. Incredible program that provides you with all the tools.
• Positive Coaching – An excellent site with resources that every coach could use.
• Champ – Another fantastic resource for character development.

• The Football Coaching Bible – Good for any coaches that are just getting started.
• Really Good Video Series & Collection – Website has a collection of really good dvd’s for beginners and up.

• Audacity – free audio editing software
• SonicFire Pro – royalty free audio generator

I have a list of videos and articles here for you use at your next practice.

Videos

There is an enormous supply of resources online regarding the Dynamic Warm-ups. I have listed several videos below that I found helpful and insightful.

Here are a few YouTube videos on Dynamic Warm-ups:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExjrmhQBiGk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw5O8mTpTWo&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNZ1gFbCSDk – good for youth players