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Weights And Your Training
By
Dr Grant Wilkinson D.C, B.Sc, M.Sc*
One of the most common questions I am asked by both coaches and athletes alike is when or how young a person should start to do a structured weights, or resistance-based training program, and how can they successfully incorporate these weights sessions into an overall training program.
The first subject matter, of how young to start an athlete doing weights, is a hotly contested topic. Debate rages between many sports scientists and coaches on how young is too young to start in the gym. It is my personal belief, based off some of the research I have seen, that a heavier weight program should not be started until atleast the age of 19yrs old.
The reasons for this are varied but one of the most important is that the vast majority of people normally reach skeletal maturity around this age. Before this, the growth plates in the bones have not yet fully fused (i.e. they are still growing) and there is some evidence that doing heavy weights too early can inhibit a child’s growth.
Prior to 18 or 19yrs old, it is always best practice to play it safe and keep any resistance training routines as light as possible. Things like circuit training with very light weights or body weights (i.e. squat jumps, burpees, sit-ups, etc.) can be started as young as 13 or 14 depending on the child’s development. Any circuits should employ high number of repetitions, with no or minimal rest only to ensure that any weights used are sufficiently light enough.
It cannot be stressed enough that the most important thing is to keep it as light as possible and aim the training to focus on fitness rather than attaining strength. For a coach, the main objective should always be acquiring and developing skill levels at a young age and working on technique and an overall training base. If these basics are adhered to, implementing a weights program when the athlete is old enough and physically ready will see even greater gains than if weights are employed too early on.
Once an athlete is old enough and has begun to include a more traditional, heavier weights program into their training it is often difficult to combine this efficiently with their other, sport specific sessions. This is a common theme across many athletes in all areas. Boat rowers, ski paddlers, swimmers and runners often use a weight training program to supplement their other training in a bid to achieve greater levels of muscular size, strength and power however many find that they are too sore after a weights session to get the most out of their other sessions.
As we have discussed in previous issues of Surf Sports, the key to training efficiently is “Periodisation” (See Figure 1). Basically, this means that at some stage after the training is steadily increased over a period of time (called the loading phase – blue bars in Figure 1) there is a recovery period (unloading phase – yellow bar) in order for the body to adapt to these new, increased training loads in the preceding weeks.
But how do you tie in a weights program where it is not at the detriment to all other sport specific sessions (i.e. boat, ski, swim, board and run sessions). Although we will only cover the two most common in this article, there are numerous ways to do this, each with their own set of problems. The most important thing to remember is that your recovery period, being week 4 in Figure 1, should be a complete recovery week where there is an “unloading” phase for all forms of training.
The simplest and easiest method to use is to follow the 4-week periodised plan for all training , meaning that you increase the training load of the weights program over the first 3 weeks along with your other sessions, then unload and recover in week 4. Increasing the training load of the weights program can be done either by increasing the number of exercises, the number of repetitions or sets per exercise, or the actual weight lifted.
Although this is a very easy way to structure a program it means that the athlete will develop increased amounts of residual fatigue especially in weeks 2 and 3 and will most likely find it very difficult to get the best out of their other, sport-specific sessions. This method may also increase the risk of injury and illness due to the heavy workloads without respite.
Another method that is worth trying is to structure the weights program so that the first week of the 4-week program is the heaviest and then steadily reduce the training load of the weight program over the 4-week macro-cycle so that as the rest of the training is increasing to a maximum at week 3, the weights are concurrently reducing (Figure 2).
As mentioned previously, week 4 is still a full recovery week both for normal sessions and weights sessions. Again, to reduce the overall load in each session of the weight program, the weight lifted, the number of exercises or the number of reps and sets for each exercise can all be reduced.
Although this second method doesn’t give you the classical approach to weight training, it can be a useful way to effectively and efficiently combine weight training with other sessions.
The down side of the second approach is that you may not see the same gains in hypertrophy (muscle size) and absolute strength as you would using a traditional weights program however the up side is that the athlete may be less susceptible to injuries and illness from training hard. Also, this structure more evenly distributes the overall training load across the first three weeks of the program whilst still giving the full recovery period to adapt at the end.
Of course, both methods as well as various other techniques can be employed at different stages throughout the training year. The first method of increasing loads concurrently may potentially be used in early or “pre-season” base training where sport specific sessions such as boat, swim or ski session are minimal and the main focus is on increasing muscular size and strength. Then as the main competitive season begins the second method can be experimented with, especially at times where a coach may want to work on an athletes speed, and where it is beneficial for the athlete to be as fresh as possible at each session.
As always, each athlete should be looked at individually and a suitable program adapted to suit.
