How can teens develop good training habits?
Developing good training habits in adolescence is important for athletic development and progression. The key elements to developing good training habits in teens are; goal setting, planning, training variety, and guidance from trainers. It’s never too late to develop a good habit. Here are the ways that teens can get into a routine that will ultimately help them to develop beneficial training habits for life!
Goal setting for teens:
Goals set the foundation for direction and motivation, therefore having 2 long term goals, and 2 short term goals can help training program adherence. For example, achieving the national team in 1 year could be a long term goal. An example of a short term goal is to be be able to squat 8okg in 4 weeks time. Goals should be constructed around the SMART principle: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely.
Planning is important for developing good habits in teens and their training
Planning for training:
A key to creating good training habits is organisation and planning. After determining long and short term goals a weekly planning schedule can be made. This is an interactive way to maintain motivation and organisation for training. There’s nothing more satisfying that checking off a checklist through the week. They say it takes 21 days to create a new habit! Use this as a guide to create an initial training plan, for example, create a program that rotates through workouts in a 3 week cycle.
Training Variety:
It’s crucial to keep training interesting! Yes, everyone has experienced a training schedule that gets boring. This leads to reduced participation, a lack of motivation, therefore less training and goal achievements. Variety in a training plan can involve changing exercises, having certain days allocated to specific body parts, and changing the environment which the training is conducted in. A running game, such as bull rush can be a creative way to practice sprint training.
Guidance and Trainers for teens
A coach or trainer who can provide motivation, education, and direction is a crucial addition to a training routine. A trainer is an investment that can set up adolescence for developing training discipline and therefore good habits.
All of the above factors contribute to developing healthy and long lasting training habits in teenagers. At Pivotal Motion we facilitate the encouragement of good training habits!
We have strength and conditioning classes run by our Exercise Physiology team. Call Pivotal Motion Physiotherapy, the leaders in physiotherapy Newmarket wide on 07 3352 5116 for more information or book online today.
