Coaches telling parents that their 8 year olds need to do weight training and conditioning class.
And it is, not to put too fine a point on it, bull hockey.
Pre-pubescent children not only do not need weight training and strengthening, it's pointless because they don't have the hormones yet that make weight training in particular useful. They simply will not build muscle no matter how many push ups they do.
That said, you can, and should do stretch, strength, and aerobic activities with very young children. However, it doesn't have to be run by the skating coach, it doesn't have to happen at the rink, and it doesn't have to be boring.
The playground
The best strength equipment for little kids is monkey bars and climbing walls. Further more, it's a lot more fun than hand weights and push ups, which is the number one thing you need to do to engage young kids in "exercise." Playgrounds in general have everything you need-- equipment that encourages strength (monkey bars), coordination (various climbing apparatuses), cooperation (see saws), etc.
Soccer
Here's your aerobics. If your Juvenile or lower skater is competitive, talk to your coach about making her "season" the non qualifying events in late fall to early spring so she can do field sports in the fall.
Track
If she or he is already doing the qualifying events (which happen in the fall right on top of soccer), then you're switching your aerobic sport to spring. In-season, your little competitor should be running or doing other aerobic activity before getting onto the ice. Don't worry too much about things like Maximum Heart Rate for little kids, but if you're interested, here's a nice description of the issue that also deals with children and their specific needs.
Dance
Dance is great conditioning for kids-- it's fun, there are many reputable, vetted programs to choose from, and it covers strength, balance, muscle tone, conditioning and aerobics as well as great lessons in focus and discipline. Most skaters choose ballet, but for boys in general and for girls who balk at ballet, you can get the benefits of dance training from hip-hop, jazz, tap, or modern dance classes. (Older, competitive skaters should take ballet.)
Martial arts
Martial arts are another great multi-benefit activity for kids too young for dedicated weight or aerobic training. It offers all the benefits of dance, and is a good alternative for boys.
What do your younger skaters do for off- ice training?
Posts
My 6-year old is doing off-ice warm-up before skating if at all possible, and stretching after skating. Some jump exercises (from jumping rope to off-ice axel) once or twice a week, and some basic strength exercises once a week (she doesn't find them too boring if they are not done too often). No weight lifting or anything like that, but, say, doing shoot-the-duck off-ice did help with the on-ice one and her sit spin; holding her spiral off-ice did help with the on-ice skill as well. Her issue with the spiral was not flexibility, she simply did not have the strength to hold the spiral until she started doing it off-ice.
ReplyDeleteBoth of my girls (the younger one is 4) are taking ballet/pre-ballet and hip-hop. Also they like running. Unlike me, they don't find that boring at all. Until recently they took gymnastics, but we don't have the time for that any more. They also like to swim, this is our cross-training (and I just think that kids must learn how to swim no matter how serious they are about figure skating and how much they want to skate).
I agree, playgrounds are great for little kids. In the summer we did all of our off-ice training at playgrounds in parks.
Maria, mom of 2 skaters: pre-pre and Basic 5.
Just make sure they're swimming after and not before skating if they do both activities on the same day. Swimming relaxes the slow twitch muscles, which makes skating more challenging, and for jumping, more hazardous.
DeleteHi Xan,
ReplyDeleteI mostly agree with you on this, but there might be a few thoughts I'd like to amplify, plus a couple specific areas where training does seem to help.
The largest reasons why "gym" training is bad news for the little tikes is that somewhere between 8 and 12 they go through an enormous growth spurt that radically changes their proportions. The second disuader is that the equipment in the gym isn't mechanically designed for small bodies anyhow (the rotation and leverage points are designed for folks 5 to 6 1/2 feet tall).
Even at a young age though a couple parts of the body that don't change much can however be helped by strength training: the shoulders and the butt. Not on gym equipment through. Another popular off-ice activity for the youngsters of course is jump rope. More for timing and aerobics though than for actual aid in jumping.
At what age do you think kids should spend time at the gym? I'm guessing around 13?
Great post!
Jeff
All good points-- especially about equipment not being designed for small people! Even women at gyms for grown ups sometimes have this problem.
DeleteAs far as when kids should start, it depends on their age, and the level at which they are skating. A child of 9 or 10 or 11 skating a serious "career" and training double jumps is clearly going to need a different off ice regimen than a more casual skater (Ruth brings this up down thread). Not only is that child probably more physically ready for more serious training, but more mentally ready for my focused, specific training as well.
My nine year old daughter is competing at the Juvenile level, her ballet teacher wants to put her on pointe but I'm concerned about what that will do to her skating. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteMoving to on pointe does not help with skating and does is really hard on the feet. If your child's first love is skating (rather than ballet), I recommend keeping her OUT of toe shoes - but continue with the ballet, as it is wonderful for learning grace, extension and greatly improves a skater's performance skills.
DeleteIt is recommended that children don't go on point until 12 years old. This is for the same reasons that Jeff Chapman stated about weight training early, in a previous comment.
DeletePointe is for dancers, and 9 seems really really young for pointe, although I'm not trained at all in ballet, so I cannot really say that with authority. But unless she's going to be a dancer, she does not need to be on pointe basically ever. Rather than making your daughter choose, talk to the skating coach and the ballet teacher about what the implications are, either for starting her on pointe, or for delaying it (for instance, if you delay it a year or even two, will that really affect her future as a dancer?)
DeleteHere in the land downunder it is illegal for en pointe prior to age 12. The more reputable dance teachers send the girls off to specialist physio's to assess if their feet are developed enough and they are ready for en pointe.
DeleteMy Miss 12 does Irish Dance which also involves toe work but in more supportive shoes. I'm not at all keen, but suspect that having tried it once or twice she will decide en pointe simply isn't worth it.
DD 8, Pre-pre used to do gymnastics for two years and ballet. This summer gave up gymnastics due to synchro commitments. Now just ballet.
ReplyDeleteHow do you explain young gymnasts, say ages 5-9, with washboard abs and look like really skinny bodybuilders? Those kids could probably bench press me. (I'm 5' and 8 st 8lbs
ReplyDeleteI have tried to find research into this very issue, and in fact looked into it when writing this post. The best information I could find suggests that these kids are defining and toning these muscles without it affecting actual muscle mass all that much.
DeleteMy 11yo has always been naturally wiry and we have trouble keeping any weight on her. But she's strong. Definitely looks pure muscle and washboard abs because she just has no fat on her. It seems that in all but the skinniest kids, as soon as they hit puberty and start getting hips and breasts (even small ones), they have to start weight training to maintain that physique.
DeleteGymnasts do have great upper body strength. This is something that isn't often talked about with skaters - every thing seems to be concentrated on the legs - but upper body strength is needed once you start working on doubles and definitely for double axel and triples. You have to really be able to pull in and hold your upper body in place to get those jumps.
arosebyanyothername - they don't weight train in a traditional sense. They do a lot of cardio, push ups, pull ups, stretching and core work. I remember when my daughter had an 8 pack!
ReplyDeleteIf gym wasn't expensive I'd have my skater do both. But two expensive sports is too much $ for me! My skater started as a competitive gymnast but didn't like it as much as skating.
~meg
All due respect to Xan, playing on the playground as their sole 'conditioning' may do fine for beginners or casual skaters, but for a child who is a serious athlete in any sport, that just won't cut it.
ReplyDeleteNote that I'm not talking about kids using weight machines in a gym - but solid conditioning is key not just for better sports performance, but also for injury prevention!
The great thing about gymnastics is they work with the kids to give them LOTS of strength and flexibility training as part of the gymnastics program.
And that means that when the kids are taught the skills involved in a new trick, they already have the strength and flexibility to do it safely. How many times have you seen kids trying to learn a sit spin and failing because they just aren't strong enough to hold that one-leg squat position? And that leads to frustration, to the skill taking longer to learn, to more falls, and maybe a greater chance of injury.
Yes, any conditioning needs to be done carefully and safely. But in my opinion it is doing a disservice to figure skating as a sport to think that skater athletes don't need just as much real, systematic conditioning as gymnasts or other young athletes.
Actually forgot to mention the one bit of resistance conditioning my daughters coach used (quite admirably) were these stretchy rubber tubes. They were sort of like bungee cords (but they weren't bungee cords) in florescent pink, florescent green, florescent yellow, and florescent blue. Step on them and reach stretch up to work the shoulders. Hook around a pole and your ankle and push back to work the glutes. Aside from their florescence I had no particular problem with them (smile).
DeleteRuth, I completely agree. As I mentioned in Jeff's comment upthread, if your young child (under 13 or so) is at a very serious level of skating, then your off-ice regimen is going to be very different. But I wish ALL kids would do non-directed activity on the playground a lot more. The biggest problem I see with skaters is that they not only have very poor muscle tone and zero core strength, they have very little concept even of using their bodies. Simple play every afternoon would go a long way toward just making them aware of how to *use* their core muscles.
DeleteFor my younger skater, all of the above sports, but also things like climbing walls, jungle gyms, anything to do with upper body strength. Running, running, running.
ReplyDeleteFor serious kids, I'd start some kind of basic conditioning class geared toward soccer, basketball, football, etc. Running and ladder drills, speed and agility. A good trainer will help them to learn how to move quickly and jump while protecting their knees/hips/ankles. Most gyms run group classes geared toward young athletes and a good trainer will modify the activities for the age group.
As a parent, I'd ask specific questions like How do you modify what you do for younger kids? What signs do you look for that a specific activity is too much for a particular child? A thoughtful and specific answer lets you know that the trainer knows what she/he is doing and not just pushing young kids like college athletes.
My girls like training with kids from other sports because 1) yay! different faces! and 2) the other kids gain a respect for figure skaters as athletes. Also, a bigger group makes it more fun.
It seems that when kids go from 1:30 min programs to 2:00 min programs, they can really struggle with maintaining stamina jumping and skating. We saw a real difference after a 40 minute speed/agility class just once or twice a week.
Ah-- Josette, thank you! "Finding a training program" should have been part of the original post, and your answer fills that gap. In fact, parents should talk to ANY coaching professional about their attitude toward age issues (as well as about competing activities, diet, etc.-- hey! it's a blog post! Thanks.)
DeleteAlso, if you could find out info on plyometrics. I know that USFSA says that by Novice level, skaters should be incorporating some plyometrics in their training. However, it's hard to find someone who is trained in coaching kids in plyometrics, suggested training programs are hard to find, and I know it's the kind of thing that can be overdone very easily and cause more harm/injury than good.
DeleteAlso, this is the first year we're going to try periodization training with my older skater. Our YMCA is offering fencing which I thought would be fun. She didn't. :-) But we hike a lot, kayak, swim, rock climb. I know that skating is an all year sport, but there is so much burn out by even Juv/Int level. Learning to have a down season early on is smart.
ReplyDeleteMy skaters coaches pretty openly discouraged gymnastics(my daughter(age9) had just made 'team' when she began skating with them) They told us it was building the wrong muscles and that she was "over stretching" her back etc. She misses it greatly, but is more dedicated to skating now. They have an off ice routine she does daily. It includes: sit ups, push ups, jumping jacks, step ups(stair steps?), squats, lunges, off ice jumps, and jump roping, reach jumps, and sprints up the stairs(plus more I'm forgetting)and lots of stretching.
ReplyDeleteI second the playground thing, at least for younger/less competitive skaters (and as an additional thing even for competitive kids). The most physically fit/capable I ever was as a kid was when my primary (elementary) school got play equipment - I was eleven the for the first time in my life, with daily access to equipment, learnt to do monkey bars, hang upside down by my legs, etc.
ReplyDelete