realistic Expectations for a 13 Year Old Athlete

[OZ-USF-UFGator]

This is a follow up question to a post I made early summer-ish

I started with 2, down to 1 13 year old daughter lifting now. She's been lifting all summer but progress has been less than optimal due to her playing basketball summer league, summer swim team, summer water ballet and a mid-summer appendectomy.

That said, her lifts have progressed as follows (sets of 5)

Squat 30 to 90

Bench Press - 25 to 60

Lat Pulls 40 to 90

Deadlift 65 to 85 (this was her request to add in, so we've only been doing this for 2 weeks)

I told her that once deadlift gets really, really heavy, we will alternate overhead press with deadlift every other workout.

She is 13, 5-6 and a healthy 125-130 pounds. She actually likes the growth in her legs so far and has asked if squats and deadlifts were enough to keep her legs big and strong (family history of ostrich legs). I told her just keep doing your 5's and adding weight and that will take care of it.

Her goals are to be a better and more durable basketball player and to be one of the strongest players in her JV basketball league. She got man-handled by a particularly strong girl during 1 game last season and doesn't want that to happen again. The results are already more apparent (stronger shots and more durability in games)

So here is my question - what are realistic expectations for a 13 year old girl of average to above average athletic ability (far from elite) and a strong motivation to get better, assuming protein intake is in check. We have 3 weeks now before fall sports where she can lift 3X a week. But she is willing lift 2X a week in during sports season. I'm thinking that strength is so not emphasized in JV girls sports that when she achieves intermediate status, she will be among the top 5-10% of JV players in her league, which is a rural upstate, NY league. I looked up strength standards and for a grown woman, all of her numbers are passed "untrained" and she is well into the novice strength territory . But these standards are for grown women.

FWIW, I own micro-plates and we're starting to micro load bench. I'm thinking a +2, +3, +2, +3 pattern. But I can go less aggressive as the weight gets up there.

[AndrewLewis]

This is probably a better question for the Rip Q&A. I've never coached anyone that young in strength training, but I'm guessing you're going to need to microload very quickly on the press and bench, even more than 2 or 3 lbs. I'm talking 1 or 1.5 lbs.

Why would you have her alternate the press and deadlift?

[Bill Coyne]

Simply have her run the program and find out. She's off to a good start so keep the progress going. No need to establish arbitrary limits.

[OZ-USF-UFGator]

This is probably a better question for the Rip Q&A. I've never coached anyone that young in strength training, but I'm guessing you're going to need to microload very quickly on the press and bench, even more than 2 or 3 lbs. I'm talking 1 or 1.5 lbs.

Why would you have her alternate the press and deadlift?

She is not doing the exact program because at first she refused to do deadlift and press. I figured if I could get her squatting, bench pressing and lat pulling 3 X a week, then there is a ton of benefit to be had. She requested deadlift be added after her coach explained to her how beneficial deadlifts are for basketball players. I then showed her a study that showed SVJ increase as a function of deadlift. And I finally convinced her that basketball players spend a whole lot of time with their hands above their heads so being strong in that position is a good thing. So when deads get heavy, alternating deads with pressing seems logical. Powercleans may not happen anytime soon, but there is a ton of benefit to be had from doing 4 out of the 5 (sub lat pulls for chins for now), plus running and jumping in sports.

[OZ-USF-UFGator]

Simply have her run the program and find out. She's off to a good start so keep the progress going. No need to establish arbitrary limits.

Thank you I agree, but realistic benchmarks are always a good thing. I think of how awesome it would be to have her squatting 135 for reps before February, but I am not sire if this is a realistic goal.

[Jeff Illingworth]

I've worked with a lot of kids, mostly ballet dancers, in this demographic and it's really hard to give a solid bench mark as most kids are developing at different rates in general. Most of the time, I work only squats, presses, and deadlifts in with these kids and almost never bench presses (more an issue of time and equipment than anything else). I've had several of these girls hit 135 or higher on deadlifts for a set of 5 after a few weeks, but often get stuck around 40-50 pounds on the press. I've seen things "magically" get unstuck very quickly when a growth spurt kicks in.

I would strongly suggest that you bring in power cleans when the deadlifts get hard as I think that'll be very beneficial for a ball player.

The thing to watch when the season starts will be her recovery. I'm sure she'll be doing a lot of running and drill work which, especially in the young, can really stunt the recovery process. In some ways young kids are a lot like older folks when it comes to recovery and adaptation.

When you start seeing a hard stall on any of the lifts, especially the upper body stuff, I'd suggest that you work up to a top set of 1, 2, or 3 and then have several back-off sets. At each subsequent workout, try to add one more rep to the top set at the same weight. When she hits 5, plan on adding a pound the next time and repeat the reverse pyramid back up to 5 at a "heavy" weight using back-off sets to build in some volume.

I'm not sure what your girl is like, but often times kids this age can get discouraged quicker than we think. I've found that finding some way to make it a little fun here and there and always being ready to adjust the day or the program on the fly is important so that they don't get stuck. Getting stuck to often can really take the wind out of a kids sails.

[TommyGun]

I've worked with a lot of kids, mostly ballet dancers, in this demographic and it's really hard to give a solid bench mark as most kids are developing at different rates in general. Most of the time, I work only squats, presses, and deadlifts in with these kids and almost never bench presses (more an issue of time and equipment than anything else). I've had several of these girls hit 135 or higher on deadlifts for a set of 5 after a few weeks, but often get stuck around 40-50 pounds on the press. I've seen things "magically" get unstuck very quickly when a growth spurt kicks in.

I would strongly suggest that you bring in power cleans when the deadlifts get hard as I think that'll be very beneficial for a ball player.

The thing to watch when the season starts will be her recovery. I'm sure she'll be doing a lot of running and drill work which, especially in the young, can really stunt the recovery process. In some ways young kids are a lot like older folks when it comes to recovery and adaptation.

When you start seeing a hard stall on any of the lifts, especially the upper body stuff, I'd suggest that you work up to a top set of 1, 2, or 3 and then have several back-off sets. At each subsequent workout, try to add one more rep to the top set at the same weight. When she hits 5, plan on adding a pound the next time and repeat the reverse pyramid back up to 5 at a "heavy" weight using back-off sets to build in some volume.

I'm not sure what your girl is like, but often times kids this age can get discouraged quicker than we think. I've found that finding some way to make it a little fun here and there and always being ready to adjust the day or the program on the fly is important so that they don't get stuck. Getting stuck to often can really take the wind out of a kids sails.

Hell, this response is gold. As a parent of 12 year olds and a basketball coach, this advice is legit in terms of how kids that age adapt to stress, burst through during long waited growth spurts, and are easily....very easily bored. My two cents is that the kid needs to fully understand how training (whether under the bar, or running laps, or practicing jumpers) directly relates to improvement in performance.

I suspect the value of strength as it relates to performance may be difficult to convey to a kid who may not understand anatomy and physiology, and has not yet competed at higher levels. Of course, I don't strength train kids so be aware I am just some guy on the inter web.

[AndrewLewis]

she refused to ... press.

What was her reasoning?

Also, you should be careful about training your own children. I have no kids, but familiarity breeds contempt especially with family. I have no specific advice other than to be cautious about pushing her too hard.

[ChrisRozon]

A 13 year old's attention span will give out long before her physical capabilities will.

[OZ-USF-UFGator]

I've worked with a lot of kids, mostly ballet dancers, in this demographic and it's really hard to give a solid bench mark as most kids are developing at different rates in general. Most of the time, I work only squats, presses, and deadlifts in with these kids and almost never bench presses (more an issue of time and equipment than anything else). I've had several of these girls hit 135 or higher on deadlifts for a set of 5 after a few weeks, but often get stuck around 40-50 pounds on the press. I've seen things "magically" get unstuck very quickly when a growth spurt kicks in.

I would strongly suggest that you bring in power cleans when the deadlifts get hard as I think that'll be very beneficial for a ball player.

The thing to watch when the season starts will be her recovery. I'm sure she'll be doing a lot of running and drill work which, especially in the young, can really stunt the recovery process. In some ways young kids are a lot like older folks when it comes to recovery and adaptation.

When you start seeing a hard stall on any of the lifts, especially the upper body stuff, I'd suggest that you work up to a top set of 1, 2, or 3 and then have several back-off sets. At each subsequent workout, try to add one more rep to the top set at the same weight. When she hits 5, plan on adding a pound the next time and repeat the reverse pyramid back up to 5 at a "heavy" weight using back-off sets to build in some volume.

I'm not sure what your girl is like, but often times kids this age can get discouraged quicker than we think. I've found that finding some way to make it a little fun here and there and always being ready to adjust the day or the program on the fly is important so that they don't get stuck. Getting stuck to often can really take the wind out of a kids sails.

Awesome response; thank you for taking the time