ABSTRACT
This chapter builds upon the information describing children’s physiological responses to exercise in Chapter 6 and aims to provide guidelines for the safe and effective enhancement of children’s aerobic and anaerobic performance based upon sound physiological principles. Central to all training programmes are the key principles of overload, progression, reversibility, adaptability, periodization and evaluation. These, along with the FIT taxonomy for recommending appropriate frequency, intensity and duration of exercise, provide the framework for training programmes and are discussed with particular reference to children and adolescents. Aerobic and anaerobic training programmes are considered separately with consideration given to the trainability of children, appropriate types of activity and the physiological changes which result from training. The ways in which these changes may be used for the evaluation of the progress of the training programme are key elements of the discussion. The appropriateness of muscular fitness training at different stages of maturity is considered and the importance of concurrent flexibility training to optimize fitness gains emphasized.
