Q: I’ve heard that lifting weights is dangerous for kids…is this true?
A: Unfortunately, this is an old myth about youth training that still is commonly perpetuated today. When properly monitored and correctly applied, weight training is actually quite safe for children in comparison to many other sports and activities that they may partake in. In fact, there are actually greater forces placed on a child’s joints when he or she jumps down from a low hanging tree branch and races across the back yard.
All this considered, we also take exceptional care in ensuring that our youth athletes are training safely and appropriately. They are going to learn to master and control movement with their own bodyweight before ever starting to significantly load such patterns.
Q: My son/daughter really wants to become a great lacrosse (or hockey, soccer, football, etc) player, do you offer any sport specific programs?
A: At Aspire Athletic Performance, our goals is to help young athletes become the best all-around athletes they can be. We aim to build fundamental athletic qualities like strength, power, speed, agility, resiliency, coordination, etc that will help them excel in any sport. While we leave specific sports skills up to each athletes’ individual sports coaches, no doubt, our programs will help your sons/daughters perform at their best, regardless of what their sport of choice may be.
Q: My coach says I need to be faster, what’s the best way to improve my speed?
A: Though most people do not realize it, linear top end speed is of lesser value in most sports in comparison to the ability to decelerate and reaccelerate. Since most sport involves frequent changes of direction, the ability to effectively stop and start is paramount to an athletes success, and this is generally what a coach means when he or she tell you that “you need to be faster.”
By getting stronger, improving the muscles ability to produce force quickly, and improving its ability to eccentrically control the forces that are placed on it, we can thereby improve your “speed” on the field, court, or ice, etc.
