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Physiological Considerations in Training Young Athletes

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Summary

Healthy children evidence smaller values of cardiorespiratory function than adults, but these are in proportion to the smaller body size. At birth, the distribution of muscle fibres and the activity of enzymes in muscle are different from in adults, but these differences disappear at about age 6. On the other hand, muscle fibre thickness increases from birth to about 18 years of age and this is concurrent with increases in muscular strength. The increase in maximal oxygen consumption (V̇O2 max) ihat accompanies growth and maturation in the human has been attributed in the main to appreciating muscle mass.

During exercise, heart rate and cardiac output increase in the child as in the adult, but the heart rate in the child is greater and the stroke volume smaller. Furthermore, the arteriovenous difference in oxygen is greater in the exercising child than in the adult. Children also evidence a diminished blood pressure response to exercise. It seems that control of ventilation at exercise is the same in children as in adults, but exercise ventilation has been reported to be less efficient in the child. The young are less capable of regulating core temperature at exercise than adults and are more readily dehydrated. Very limited data suggest that muscle energy substrate storage and utilisation in children are such that they are less capable of anaerobic metabolism than adults.

Generally, children respond to aerobic training as do adults, but such training in the first decade of life has been reported to have negligible effects. Blood lipid levels in children seem to be favourably influenced by persistent endurance activity. Ventilatory efficiency of children at exercise is augmented by aerobic training. Maximal values of ventilation and breathing frequency are increased in children and youth by endurance training. Conflicting data exist regarding the influence of training upon the child’s vital capacity. Pulmonary diffusion capacity in well trained children has been seen to be greater than in untrained youngsters and many workers have reported increased V̇O2max as an outcome of endurance training.

Limited data indicate that the nature of training may alter muscle fibre distribution in youthful athletes, and that muscle fibre hypertrophy can be induced in the young by means of strength and power training. That training alters muscle enzyme activity in young athletes remains debatable.

There is little doubt that training stimulates bone growth in young humans. This stimulatory effect seems to be related to gains in muscular strength. The concern has been advanced that very intense physical training may retard skeletal growth.

Very little research has been directed toward the effect of training upon hormone secretion and sensitivity in young individuals, but it is possible that habitual training facilitates fat utilisation at exercise, leading to reduced body fat and blood lipid levels. It has often been hypothesised that intense early training delays menarche, but this is not well supported by scientific data.

Superior muscular strength bears upon youthful athletic success. Although strength training is more effective in postpubertal males, resistance training of young children can be both safe and useful.

Some risk is involved when training young athletes. However, in view of the well documented dangers of sedentariness, the favourable outcomes of early athletic training clearly outweigh the risks.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Health and Physical Education, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, USA

    Christian W. Zauner (Chair) & Michael G. Maksud

  2. Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Department of Physiology, Charles University, Prague, Czechoslovakia

    Jan Melichna

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  1. Christian W. Zauner
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  2. Michael G. Maksud
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  3. Jan Melichna
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Zauner, C.W., Maksud, M.G. & Melichna, J. Physiological Considerations in Training Young Athletes. Sports Medicine 8, 15–31 (1989). https://doi.org/10.2165/00007256-198908010-00003

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