Abstract
The purpose of this narrative review is to discuss the role of eccentric resistance training in youth and how this training modality can be utilized within long-term physical development. Current literature on responses to eccentric exercise in youth has demonstrated that potential concerns, such as fatigue and muscle damage, compared to adults are not supported. Considering the importance of resistance training for youth athletes and the benefits of eccentric training in enhancing strength, power, speed, and resistance to injury, its inclusion throughout youth may be warranted. In this review we provide a brief overview of the physiological responses to exercise in youth with specific reference to the different responses to eccentric resistance training between children, adolescents, and adults. Thereafter, we discuss the importance of ensuring that force absorption qualities are trained throughout youth and how these may be influenced by growth and maturation. In particular, we propose practical methods on how eccentric resistance training methods can be implemented in youth via the inclusion of efficient landing mechanics, eccentric hamstrings strengthening and flywheel inertia training. This article proposes that the use of eccentric resistance training in youth should be considered a necessity to help develop both physical qualities that underpin sporting performance, as well as reducing injury risk. However, as with any other training modality implemented within youth, careful consideration should be given in accordance with an individual’s maturity status, training history and technical competency as well as being underpinned by current long-term physical development guidelines.
Highlights
The physical development of youth athletes is an important component in promoting the qualities that underpin athletic performance [1]
It should be acknowledged that current research within eccentric resistance training (ERT) for youth athletes is its infancy and areas such as training intensities, training volumes, recovery periods and its effects on performance tasks and injury prevention require further investigation
Implementing ERT should be considered as part of a holistic athletic development training programme within youth that should begin during the pre-pubescent stage and progressed throughout all stages of maturation taking into account the individuals technical proficiency, training history, maturity status, and current physical qualities
Summary
The physical development of youth athletes is an important component in promoting the qualities that underpin athletic performance [1]. The reported benefits of applying ERT methods to improve aspects such as strength, power, speed, change of direction, hypertrophy and injury resistance in adult athletic/trained individuals [25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59], limited information exists pertaining to its practical application within youth athletes This is somewhat surprising given that targeting the aforementioned physical qualities throughout youth are widely recommended [2]. It is hoped that this knowledge can provide practitioners working with youth athletes’ greater awareness of the benefits of including ERT as well as potential training prescription and programming concepts
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