Strength and Power for Young Athletes

Help your athletes get the training edge they need today to become the sports stars of tomorrow. With Strength and Power for Young Athletes, you can develop strength-training programs specifically tailored to children that will dramatically increase their athletic performance.

This proven, research-based text provides young people ages 7 to 15 with a solid fitness base, offering aerobic activities and stretching exercises. It also presents the principles and practical applications for developing both age- and sport-specific strength-training programs.

There are many benefits of starting children on a strength training program at an early age, including

- increased strength and power,
- improved body composition,
- greater self-esteem,
- reduction in sports training injuries, and
- enhanced sports performance.

Written by two of the leading experts on youth training, Strength and Power for Young Athletes offers 82 free weight, body weight, machine, cord, and medicine ball exercises for building muscle strength. You will learn how to incorporate these progressive resistance exercises into your young athletes' training programs with the help of 135 photos that emphasize safety and correct technique.

The authors have provided three age-appropriate strength-training programs for children 7 to 9 years, 10 to 12 years, and 13 to 15 years. You'll also find conditioning programs for power sports, jumping sports, striking sports, and endurance sports.

Whether you're a parent, coach, strength and conditioning specialist, physical educator, or fitness professional, Strength and Power for Young Athletes will give you the essential knowledge and teaching skills to safely and effectively instruct young people on strength-training programs. Then you can help young athletes get the training edge they need today to become the sports stars of tomorrow.

As a leading researcher and practitioner in the area of youth fitness, Avery Faigenbaum, EdD, CSCS, has had years of experience working with children and adolescents in the weight room. He is currently an assistant professor of exercise physiology at the University of Massachusetts, working as a pediatric exercise scientist as well as fitness practitioner and youth volunteer.

A well-recognized and sought-after speaker, Faigenbaum lectures across the country to sports medicine and fitness organizations. He serves on the editorial boards of the Strength and Conditioning Journal, Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, and ACSM's Health and Fitness Journal. Faigenbaum is certified by the NSCA, ACSM, and the United States Weightlifting Association. He has also been appointed to the Massachusetts Governors Committee on Physical Fitness and Sports and elected to serve as NSCA Massachusetts State Director. Faigenbaum lives in Boston, Massachusetts.

With more than 35 years of experience in strength training as an athlete, coach, teacher, professor, researcher, writer, and speaker, Wayne Westcott, PhD, CSCS, is recognized as a leading authority on fitness. He has served as a strength training consultant for numerous organizations and programs, including Nautilus, the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, the National Sports Performance Association, the International Association of Fitness Professionals (IDEA), the American Council on Exercise, the YMCA of the USA, and the National Youth Sports Safety Foundation. He was awarded the IDEA Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993 and was honored with a Healthy American Fitness Leader Award in 1995.

Westcott is the fitness research director at the South Shore YMCA in Quincy, Massachusetts. He has authored eleven books on strength training, including three with Human Kinetics—Building Strength and Stamina (1996), Strength Training Past 50 (1998), and Complete Conditioning for Golf (1999). He has published more than 400 articles in professional fitness journals and has written a weekly fitness column for one of Boston's largest newspapers since 1986. He has served on the editorial boards of Prevention, Shape, Men's Health, Fitness, Club Industry, American Fitness Quarterly, and Nautilus. Westcott lives in Abington, Massachusetts, with his wife, Claudia.