Physical Activity in Youth Athletes: A review of the Aerobic, Resistance, Bone Strengthening, and Balance Guidelines of the Athletic Youth Population

There is a common misconception in youth athletes about resistance training and the goal of this review is to hopefully educate youth athletes and their parents on the guidelines of physical activity in this unique population including resistance training. Resistance Training has great benefits in the youth population. Exercise physiologists agree resistance training is recommended for youth and benefits their development. Youth athletes that do resistance training are more equipped for the demands of their sports which lowers their risk for injury. Youth athletes need at least 3 days per week of resistance training (2 high intensity with at least 2 days in between). For intensity they can do bodyweight/bands for non-high intensity and for high intensity over 80% of 1RM. It needs to be part of their 60 minutes per day. They can do bodyweight, bands, machines, and free weights with adult supervision. The youth athletic population is a population that is not typically studied, and parents get conflicted messages from different sources. Overall, this is a research-based guideline that can be used by youth athletes and their parents