ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an operational distinction between children and adolescents. It discusses some practical considerations around concurrent strength training for children and adolescent cyclists. There is very little scientific literature on the effects of adding strength training to an ongoing endurance-training program in children and adolescents. Parents and coaches have some concerns regard to the use of strength training with children. A very interesting study investigated the effect of two years of strength training twice a week on high level soccer players in three different age groups; 13, 15 and 17 years. A meta-analysis based on 20 studies found a moderate effect of adding strength training to an ongoing training program on various measures of sports performance, with a greater impact on youth than in children. Strength training can reduce the activation of antagonists to a greater degree in children than adults, and contribute to increased muscle strength via neural adaptations.
