A question was posed to me over the “Ask Nick” forum in response to my post about running with Louie, a 10 year old boy early in his running career.
Can over-doing the running stunt your growth as a young kid? I hear sports injuries are on the up and up in kids because of intensified training/specialization at younger ages. How helpful is it as an adult athlete to have had lots of cardiovascular training as a kid? Potential risks/benefits? What do you think is a healthy amount of training for a wee lad who is excited about the sport?
That’s actually something that I thought about when I was first proposed the idea of working with Louie. I was concerned that if the training was too serious and to structured that it would take away the joy of the sport and why he loves it so much right now. I didn’t want to ruin what is supposed to be an exciting sport for many years. I decided that going for runs where I would just show him what I do would be much more enjoyable for both of us instead of “coaching” him. With that said, there is still the issue of what kind of harm this much running can do to such a young kid. There are the activities that have proven to stunt growth such as drinking coffee too early, lifting weights, and not eating enough fibers, proteins, etc but even those have their refutes in studies here and there.
From my research and understanding of the pre-developed human body, a kid who leads a healthy and active lifestyle is going to get his muscles used to being work. There is a certain limit as to how hard Louie could push himself or how fast he can become before he matures, hits puberty, and goes through his growth spurt (which could be up into his early 20’s). I believe that his muscles are going to change, grow, and further develop at a cellular level regardless of the activity induced stress caused by exercise, running, and playing sports. I don’t think his body will be more susceptible to injury, joint disconnection or weakening. Running is a type of sport that even if I pushed this kid as hard as I am working for the next 3 years, he would never be as good as an 18 year old who has been running since the same age because distance running is so heavily built around muscle memory and how you can adapt to new levels of stress. His output can only reach certain levels because the muscles can’t possibly gain 5 years of experience; meaning, he couldn’t have the injuries that I or others my age would be susceptible to get. His body is too underdeveloped even at a higher than average level of training.
I’ve talked about this with his Mom, Egoscue (body alignment clinic) trainers, and looked up some research on it as well. If he were to have any injury or pain begin anywhere on his body, I would strongly suggest to stop and let it recover naturally. After reading a few articles from the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine, it is clear that since the muscles do remember the stress you’ve put them through, if he were to push through a pain, years later, the muscle could show signs of previous injuries (especially as the body starts maturing into the early teens). In terms of specialization, running is such a unique sport because it works all aspects of the body. Obviously, yes, your legs are working harder and going through more repetition but you’re not favoring any particular side or area (say if you were a lefty in basketball or were much better going over hurdles with your right leg, etc). Its a pretty basic sporting motion that requires all areas of the body to be healthy and strong. If Louie were to have a slightly larger pronation on the left foot, hypothetically speaking, and he continued to run for 10 years without fixing this, the pronation could eventually lead to a severe injury or limiting factor since it would be a less than ideal form of running that can build up incorrect foot striking patterns and slowly break down that proper muscle function.
In terms of benefits of cardiovascular fitness as a child, you are strengthening your heart from a young age so that as along as it is done in a intelligent and comprehensive manner, the heart will thank you for that down the road.
Kids are more susceptible to injuries when they are younger because they are less coordinated, large range of sizes, slower reaction times, and constantly growing and physically changing. The understanding of what the consequences of risks in lower as well so more may be taken (kidshealth.org). Obviously, supervision is key and by showing Louie the steps that I take now, it allows him to make observations of his own.
I tell Louie every Sunday to make sure that he is still having fun with it. I can genuinely say that 10 years later in my running career I am too. Some things are weighted a little differently and I’ve put a lot of my eggs in one basket so my investment is a little riskier but the same theory applies. 10,000 hours to become great at something. I’m almost half way. Louie is not even at 5%. So my answer to Billy’s question would be yes. At the extreme, if a kid were to seriously train for a marathon there could be some serious muscular, cellular, and joint damage issues. Definitely a risk. But there could be a benefit to those muscles in the growing state as well. If the kids muscles respond well, I believe (in accordance with CJSM) there actually could be a positive relation between how the muscle reacts to that stress and how the development period could translate that into more than average growth, strength, and ability.
Thank you for the question Billy. Relevant and important. We Are One 365.
Ran 5 in the morning. Achilles has been hurting since Saturday. Will be taking it easy the next few days to rest up for the race.
AR. NF. NR.
Nick
We Are One 365 Challenge 