Combat Conditioning Junior Program

From the very beginning of Combat Conditioning, one of the main selling points used is that it is open to all Ages and Abilities. I am proud of how many junior athletes have participated in the program, mostly due to this being a sign that the importance of strength and conditioning for youth athletes is becoming well recognised.


Leon and Josh are happy to be here, its the look of deep concentration...

Our Junior program is very similar to our graduation scheme for the amateur boxers that are over 15 years of age. The Junior graduation scheme consists of 2 x 6-week programs for each of the Bronze, Silver and Gold stages. The aim of these programs are to gradually develop movement patterns to coincide with the Long Term Athletic Development (LTAD).

The LTAD model is a framework for an optimal training, competition and recovery schedule for each stage of athletic development. The model consists of 7 stages, developing a continuum guiding a young athlete from learning fundamental movements to training at an elite level. This model also coincides with the "Window of Trainability", a period of time where an increased opportunity to create physiological and neurological adaptations. The Athletes who engage in the model and its practices are more likely to produce athletes who reach their full athletic potential. 

Here are some facts that support our junior strength and conditioning programs

Movement Patterns and Mobility

During childhood, many physiological changes are related to growth and maturation. Likewise, regions of the brain develop at an accelerated rate (Casey et al. 2005), this offers a key time frame to learn and improve fundamental movement patterns. This will lead to increased muscular force production and overall motor skill proficiency.

Building a wide array pf general movement patterns will allow more advanced strength and movement programs in later maturity.

Strength

During growth, children naturally increase strength through neurological and muscular changes. There has been many studies that have reported increased muscular strength in youth athletes following various resistance training protocols; including single-set workouts, multiple-set workouts, medicine balls, elastic bands and bodyweight exercises (Faigenbaum et al. 2005; Faigenbaum et al. 2007; Symanski et al. 2007; Annesi et al. 2005; Falk and Mor 1996)

Increases in strength of adolescent and untrained youth athletes are expected to be between 30-74% (Faigenbaum et al. 2007).

Regressions and progressions of exercises can improve muscle activation sequencing needed to build movement competency for advanced training methods.

Muscular strength supports a number of athletic movements, such as running, jumping, throwing and most importantly… punching.

Plyometric Exercise 

When performing explosive actions, such as sprinting, jumping and punching, there is a pre-stretch of the muscles before the muscular contraction. This is defined as the stretch shortening cycle (SSC) – this can be enhanced by plyometric training. 

Plyometric performance is dependent on a combination of leg stiffness, reactive strength index and force production. Lloyd et al. (2012b) reported 12-15 year olds improved in leg stiffness and 12 year olds improved in RSI following a 4-week plyometric training protocol. 

I hope you enjoyed the blog post. If you would like to get involved with the junior combat conditioning program or seek more information, please get in touch.

Thanks

Danny Wilson BSc ASCC  

References

ANNESI, L. et al. (2005). Effects of a 12-week physical activity program delivered by YMCA after school counsellors (Youth fit for life) on fitness and self-efficacy changes in 5-12 year old boys and girls. Research quartely for exercise and sport, 76, 468-476.

CASEY, B. J. et al. (2005). Imaging the developing brain: What have we learned about cognitive development. Trends in cognitive science, 9, 104-110.

FAIGENBAUM, A. D. et al. (2007). Effects of a short-term plyometric and resistance training program on fitness in boys aged 12-15 years. Journal of sport science and medicine, 6, 519-525. 

FAIGENBAUM, A. D. et al. (2007). Preliminary evaluation of an after school resistance training program. Perceptual and motor skills, 104, 407-415. 

FAIGENBAUM, A. D. et al. (2005). Early muscular fitness adaptionsin children in response to two different resistance training programs. Paediatric exercise science, 17, 162-166.

LLOYD, R. S. et al. (2012b). Effects of 4-week plyometric training on reactive strength index and leg stiffness in male youths. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 26, 2812-2819.

SZYMANSKI, D. J. et al. (2007). Effect of torso rotational strength on angular hip, angular shoulder, and linear bat velocities of high school baseball players. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 21 (4), 1117-1125.