YOUTH STRENGTH TRAINING: BUILD STRENGTH. BUILD POWER. BUILD CHAMPIONS. 🔨

by: Josh Bryant

Do you want the tap dancer you saw downtown by the art museum shuffling away for spare change to get the pigskin across the line, or do you want the well-conditioned, blue-collar son of a buck who could pull your pancreas out through your nose yet still change direction on a dime?

 I’m assuming option B—but for some reason, suburban and uptown dads keep acting like agility ladders are the Messianic savior to their kid’s lack of athletic ability. 

In reality, they’re just fancy tap dancing.Agility isn’t about tippy-tappy footwork—it’s about:

1️⃣ Decision-making (software)
2️⃣ Executing rapid changes in direction or speed (hardware)

Hell, I like ladder drills for the following reasons, but let’s not kid ourselves—they aren’t making anyone an elite athlete:

✅ Neuromuscular Activation – Fires up the CNS before explosive work.
✅ Foot Speed & Coordination – Reinforces quick, controlled foot movement.
✅ Rehabilitation & Injury Prevention – A low-impact way to improve movement efficiency.

What they DON’T do – Build real agility, improve reaction time, or develop explosive power. They’re a warm-up tool, not a magic fix.

And when it comes to strength training, suburban moms aren’t innocent either. Shelling out cash to random “strength coaches” just because they get flirted with and feel young again—all in the name of “core strength”—for random, ineffective drills with zero progression or proof they work?

Welcome to the circle jerk spam carving contest known as agility centers. A lot of movement, a lot of buzzwords, but no real results.

The sad truth? This ineffective nonsense is the norm.

Too many so-called trainers—unfit to be a dog catcher—either believe their own baloney or are straight-up con artists. With so much garbage passing as training, it’s crucial to recognize that the standard is low.

So what about legit strength training for kids? Safe? Yes. Effective? Absolutely. But let’s put my opinion aside and look at what science says.

📌 Safety: The Myth That Won’t Die

Let’s get this straight: If you think strength training is “too dangerous” for kids but have no problem letting them play tackle football before junior high or pitch five games in a weekend, you’re either totally uninformed (Which is fine, as this article is here to help), living in a fantasy world or your IQ hovers around room temperature.

🚨 Strength training is one of the safest youth athletic activities—IF done correctly.
🚨 Contact sports and overuse injuries from early specialization are the real injury factories.

🔴 The REAL Injury Risks in Youth Sports

Here’s what’s actually hurting kids:

🔹 Contact Sports too early: Repeated head trauma, broken bones, soft tissue injuries before they even hit puberty. (Learning proper technique, Neck strengthening exercises and proper strength training can mitigate this)
🔹 Pitching Too Young, Too Often: Tommy John surgery used to be for washed-up MLB pitchers—now it’s a middle school epidemic.
🔹 Year-Round Specialization: Running the same movement pattern into the ground creates stress fractures, muscle imbalances, and burnout.
🔹 No Strength Base Before Sports: Weak kids with bad movement patterns are ticking time bombs for ACL tears, shoulder injuries, and chronic pain.

🔵 The FACTS About Strength Training & Safety

🔹 Injury rates in youth resistance training are LOWER than most sports.
🔹 Growth plate injuries? Almost nonexistent—when lifting is supervised and programmed correctly.
🔹 Strength training PREVENTS injuries by building strong joints, tendons, and muscle balance.
🔹 Lifting teaches body control, movement efficiency, and impact absorption—all of which reduce sports-related injuries.

🚀 Study: Faigenbaum & Myer (2010) – Youth Strength Training Injury Rates

🔥 Takeaway: Your kid is 50X more likely to get hurt playing soccer than lifting weights.

🔵 Strength Training = Injury Prevention

Next time someone says “lifting is dangerous for kids” but they’re cool with:

🚩9-year-olds in Pop Warner—no technique, no progression, just reckless collisions week in and week out (Saw a coach running full-speed, helmet-to-helmet Oklahoma Drills the day before the last game of the season “championship”)
🚩 10-year-olds throwing 90+ pitches per game in a weekend tournament
🚩 12-year-olds playing year-round baseball with no time for strength work

Ask them to explain their logic. Then watch as they either:

1️⃣ Completely contradict themselves.
2️⃣ Get mad and change the subject.
3️⃣ Melt down like a dollar store chocolate bunny in a Texas summer

🚀 Strength training doesn’t hurt kids—it PREPARES them.
🚀 Keeping them weak and fragile? That’s what’s dangerous.

🔥 Get them lifting. Get them strong. Watch them dominate. 🔨

Youth Strength, Power, and Speed Gains: The Cold, Hard Numbers

We’re not talking about “general fitness” here. We’re talking about data-backed improvements in absolute strength, explosive power, and raw speed—the cornerstones of elite athletic performance.

🚀 STRONGER YOUNGER = STRONGER FOREVER
🚀 FASTER YOUNGER = BIGGER EDGE IN SPORTS
🚀 EXPLOSIVE POWER YOUNGER = MORE DOMINANT ATHLETE

Here’s exactly what happens when kids start strength training early 👇

📌 STRENGTH GAINS: 2X-5X MORE STRENGTH THAN NON-LIFTERS

A two-year study on elite soccer players (Sander et al.) compared athletes who lifted vs. those who didn’t:

🔹 Control group (no lifting): Strength increased 20-62% from natural maturation and soccer training.
🔹 Strength-trained group: Strength increased 101-312%—5X the gains in some cases!

Key Breakdown of Strength Gains by Age Group:

🔥 Takeaway: The younger they start lifting, the greater their advantage.

📌 SPEED GAINS: 2X-3X FASTER ACCELERATION & SPRINT SPEED IN YOUNG LIFTERS

Speed is king in sports. Every tenth of a second matters.

• Study: Lesinski et al. (2016) – Strength-trained youth athletes vs. non-lifters
• Key finding: Strength training reduced 10m and 20m sprint times by 2X-3X more than just playing sports.

Acceleration & Sprint Gains with Strength Training:

🔥 Takeaway: Strength-trained kids GET FASTER—especially if they start young.

Final Word: Train Young, Train Smart, Dominate Forever

🚀 STRONGER YOUNGER = STRONGER FOREVER.
🚀 FASTER YOUNGER = BIGGER EDGE IN SPORTS.
🚀 EXPLOSIVE POWER YOUNGER = MORE DOMINANT ATHLETE.

The science is crystal clear—early strength training isn’t just helpful, it’s ESSENTIAL.

The best young athletes aren’t just “naturally gifted”—they train harder, they train smarter, and they start lifting earlier.

If this topic interests you, let me know—I can cover more specific strategies. This is the justification behind it, and if you want to see my boys, Luke and Nate, train, follow me on Instagram where I showcase their workouts: @TheYouthStrength.

REFERENCES

1️⃣ de Salles Painelli V. (2023). Risks and Recommendations for Resistance Training in Youth Athletes: A Narrative Review with Emphasis on Muscular Fitness and Hypertrophic Responses. Journal of Science in Sport and Exercise.

2️⃣ Duarte Junior M.A., López-Gil J.F., Caporal G.C., & Mello J.B. (2023). Strength Training in School Physical Education: Risks, Benefits & Pedagogical Strategies.

3️⃣ Fort-Vanmeerhaeghe et al. (2023). Neuromuscular Risk Factors in Youth Athletes and Strength Training Guidelines.

4️⃣ Villa-González E., Barranco-Ruiz Y., García-Hermoso A., & Faigenbaum A.D. (2023). Efficacy of School-Based Exercise Interventions for Improving Muscular Fitness in Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

5️⃣ Lesinski M., Prieske O., Granacher U. (2016). Effects and Dose-Response Relationships of Resistance Training on Physical Performance in Youth Athletes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. British Journal of Sports Medicine.

6️⃣ Rodriguez-Rosell D., Franco-Márquez F., Mora-Custodio R., González-Badillo J.J. (2017). Effect of High-Speed Strength Training on Physical Performance in Young Soccer Players of Different Ages. Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research.

7️⃣ Sander A., Keiner M., Wirth K., Schmidtbleicher D. (2013). Influence of a 2-Year Strength Training Program on Power Performance in Elite Youth Soccer Players. European Journal of Sport Science.

8️⃣ Faigenbaum A.D., Myer G.D. (2010). Resistance Training Among Young Athletes: Safety, Efficacy, and Injury Prevention Effects. British Journal of Sports Medicine.

9️⃣ Faigenbaum A.D., MacDonald J., Stracciolini A., Rebullido T. (2020). Strength Training in Youth: Current Concepts and Future Directions. Strength & Conditioning Journal.

🔟 Tomkinson G.R., Lang J.J., Tremblay M.S. (2021). Declines in Muscular Fitness Among Modern-Day Youth: Evidence From Secular Trends. Sports Medicine.

1️⃣1️⃣ Sandercock G., Cohen D. (2019). Temporal Trends in Muscular Fitness of English 10-Year-Olds From 1998 to 2014. Archives of Disease in Childhood.

1️⃣2️⃣ Weightlifting Science (2023). The Role of Skill Development, Fatigue Management, and Injury Prevention in Youth Strength Training.