How Young is too Young to Start Training?

Full disclosure, I’m biased when it comes to this answer. Surprise, surprise. But please don’t let my biases hinder you from coming up with your conclusion.

The answer is you are never too young.

Just like you are never too old. Learning how to move your body effectively can be acquired at any age. We do not interfere with a baby learning how to roll over, crawl, walk, etc. So why would we not continue to teach our children movement patterns like the squat? Aka, how to sit down and stand back up.

Running, skipping, jumping, landing, squatting, lunging, hinging, pushing, pulling are lifetime skills. If I can take an eight-year-old and teach them how to hinge and squat correctly using their body weight, I might have just saved them from back pain as an adult. Plus, I just taught them the key to running faster, jumping higher, and being more explosive.

At Project Athlete our performance training system is based on coaching Pattern-Progression-Periodization, which means we teach athletes the movement patterns they need to know and progress them over time. It also means we do not stick a barbell on a seven-year-olds back and tell them to squat the first time they walk in the gym.

Teaching athletes how to move is the key to reducing injury, winning more games, getting a scholarship, and the list goes on. That is why most athletes and teams work with some sort of strength and conditioning coach.

Most of us can look back to some point in our lives when we had a movement related injury and say, “could that have been prevented with proper training?” Maybe. Maybe not. I am not saying learning how to move prevents all injuries, but it definitely helps. Like a lot. And the sooner you can learn those movements the better!

If you have specific questions about your athlete or want more information about a particular topic, please contact us.