Optimal Training Methods for Strength and Power Development in Children (Ages 7-13)

2018 Peitz et al. reviewed and analyzed 75 comparative studies in the field of youth resistance training in an effort to extract congruent findings.

This analysis has a very particular finding that is majorly impactful to how fitness professionals should be training youth athletes. This finding is that a great deal of research shows that maturity of an athlete influences the effectiveness of plyometric and strength training differently. More specifically, resistance training has been shown to be a less effective training method compared to plyometric training during the pre-PHV (peak height velocity or general puberty) period of human development.

Now these findings do not suggest that resistance training should be avoided all together in pre-pubescents athletes, rather they show that plyometrics are an integral part of any training program when dealing with athletes who have yet to experience puberty. It would be negligible to ignore the undisputed physiological benefits that exclusively come from resistance training regardless of an athletes age. In addition to other studies featured on our research page, research suggests that the best approach to training pre-pubescent athletes seems to be complex training where plyometrics and resistance training are equally balanced in the athletes strength training sessions. Resistance training movements seek to teach proper movement patterns and increase the efficiency of neuromuscular recruitment while plyometrics seek to teach the body how to move in a powerful and coordinated manner.

Paper Citation:
Peitz, Matti, Michael Behringer, and Urs Granacher. “A Systematic Review on the Effects of Resistance and Plyometric Training on Physical Fitness in Youth- What Do Comparative Studies Tell Us?” PloS One 13, no. 10 (2018): e0205525. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0205525.