If you’ll encourage sports, but not strength training, you’re encouraging the (vastly) higher risk option.
“The ground reaction forces created while sprinting far exceed the forces a kid could ever create in the weight room.
If strength training is ‘dangerous’ I don’t even want to know what sprinting is..
Anddd that’s how silly the strength training ‘danger’ argument is.”
-Ray Zingler on Twitter
Imagine telling kids not to play sports because they are dangerous.
Imagine telling kids not to go outside and sprint or even run fast because it’s dangerous.
That would be the craziest, most poorly guided advice in the world, would it not?
Sports (have the potential to be, though many adults are rapidly ruining them) one of the greatest outlets for our youth not only from an activity standpoint, but also a mental and physical development perspective as well.
Telling kids to not play sports because they are dangerous would be idiocy on a variety of levels and I hope most would agree.
But take a guess what is (statistically speaking) nearly unquantifiably safer than playing sports?
Strength Training.
And this goes for any age of athletics.
Think about the fast paced, random nature of sports. They take place in an uncontrolled environment (yes there are rules, but we cannot manipulate the settings in live game play) while training takes place in a controlled setting in which a professional can manipulate the environment. That alone increases the safety tenfold.
Back it up even further.
Think about an athlete sprinting. Did you know that the forces he or she applies into the ground with each foot strike are up to 9x that of their own bodyweight? If you’re scared of the dangers of strength training, you ought to be HORRIFIED of the dangers of sprinting as no kid is using anywhere near 9x bw in force production in the weight room.
Not only is strength training safer, it actually increases the bodies resilience to lessen the injury risks associated with playing sports, while at the same time increases output potential within sports.
So to sum that up, strength training is an extremely safe activity that reduces injury risks in sports and helps athletes performance within them.
I ain’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but I know a good dog when I see one, and that dog will hunt.
There’s no simpler way to put it.
There is no world in which the above statement isn’t true.
The hard part is educating people to get over their perceptions so that they will prioritize this instrumental, foundational, athletic performance modality.
Strength training is a must.
