The Central Nervous System and the Speed Windows Developing Athletes/parents can’t ignore.
By Sean Wells
Parents often ask us when an athlete should start sports performance training. Our answer is usually earlier than they expect.
That does not mean putting a seven-year-old under a heavy barbell. Instead, young athletes need opportunities to sprint, jump, climb, push, pull, crawl, and learn how to control their own body.
There are periods during development when athletes appear particularly responsive to this type of training. Historically, these have been called windows of accelerated adaptation or “windows of trainability.”
For girls, the traditional speed windows are approximately 6–8 years old and 11–13 years old. For boys, they occur around 7–9 years old and 13–16 years old. These ranges come from the Long-Term Athlete Development model and have been discussed extensively by coaches including longtime NFL strength coach Buddy Morris. Canadian Sport for Life has incorporated these windows into its athlete-development framework.
However, these aren’t expiration dates. An athlete can absolutely become faster and stronger outside these ages. More recent research recommends looking at biological maturation, training history, coordination, and the individual athlete rather than relying only on chronological age.
What Makes the Younger Years So Important?
During childhood, a large portion of strength development comes from the nervous system becoming better at producing and coordinating movement.
Research in prepubertal athletes has shown increases in strength without corresponding increases in muscle size. In other words, kids can get stronger because their nervous system becomes better at recruiting muscle and coordinating movement—not simply because their muscles get bigger.
That is why we want younger athletes doing a huge variety of movements.
Think:
- Pull-ups and assisted pull-ups
- Push-ups
- Bear crawls
- Jumping jacks
- Squats
- Lunges
- Hops and jumps
- Skips and bounds
- Short maximal sprints
- Medicine-ball throws
- Sled pushes
- Sled pulls
At OC Sports Performance, younger athletes regularly push and pull sleds because we can manipulate the resistance without placing a large external load directly on their body. A lighter sled allows them to move quickly. A heavier sled teaches them to produce force.
Most importantly, they can be successful while learning how to work hard.
Young Athletes Need to Sprint Fast
One of the biggest mistakes in youth sports is assuming that playing a sport automatically develops maximum speed.
It doesn’t.
Soccer practice, basketball practice, baseball practice, and football practice provide movement, but athletes rarely get repeated opportunities to perform true maximal sprinting with adequate recovery.
Speed needs to be practiced while the athlete is fresh.
That means short distances(20-30 yards), maximum intent, good mechanics, and plenty of rest(5-7:00 minutes) between efforts. We regularly discuss this concept in our article on real speed training.
For younger athletes especially, sprinting is partly a coordination skill. Their brain has to learn how to sequence muscular contractions quickly and efficiently. To learn the sequencing the athlete has to have exposure to the stimulus.
What Changes During the Second Development Window?
As athletes mature, training can gradually become more structured.
Now we can continue sprinting and jumping while introducing progressively greater external resistance. Squats, box squats, bench press variations, deadlifts, presses, rows, and other basic strength movements can become increasingly important.
This is also where strength-to-bodyweight ratio becomes critical.
An athlete does not need complicated “sport specific training” exercises. They need to become stronger, faster, more explosive, and better at controlling their body.
Resistance training research consistently shows improvements in strength, power, sprint performance, jumping, and change-of-direction ability in youth when training is properly coached and progressed.
Heavy Strength Training Also Trains Coordination
As an experienced adolescent becomes technically competent, heavier strength training can become another neurological stimulus. The central nervous system has developed and adapted to the previous stimulus.
During low-repetition strength work(1-3 reps), the athlete has to recruit large numbers of motor units while coordinating multiple muscle groups simultaneously. Coaches often describe this as improving intramuscular coordination—coordination within a muscle—and intermuscular coordination—coordination between muscles.
For example, a properly coached box squat requires the athlete to stabilize the trunk, coordinate the hips and legs, produce force into the ground, and maintain position under load.
The same concept applies to the bench press.
Both of these develop agility and coordination – and do more for the athlete than any speed ladder or “fast feet drills” ever will. The central nervous system gets no stimulus with these drills. They are gimmicks and a waste of time.
However, heavy training has to be earned. Younger or inexperienced athletes should first build technique and movement competency with lighter resistance. The NSCA specifically recommends qualified supervision, gradual progression, and technique before load.
Developing Athletes Is a Long-Term Process
The goal isn’t to rush an eight-year-old into advanced strength training.
It’s also a mistake to wait until sophomore year of high school before teaching an athlete how to sprint, jump, land, push, pull, and produce force.
Development builds on itself.
A young athlete who learns body control develops a better foundation for strength. Greater strength can eventually improve force production. Improved force production can support sprinting and jumping.
That is why our approach to youth sports performance training is built around progression, coaching, testing, and measurable improvement.
If you’re not testing, you’re guessing.
At OC Sports Performance in Bend, Oregon, we measure sprint speed, jumping ability, strength, and other performance markers so athletes and parents can see whether training is actually working.
We only accept 100 athletes into our Sports Performance program, which allows us to coach, track, and develop each athlete instead of simply running large groups through workouts.
If your athlete wants to get stronger, sprint faster, become more explosive, and build a foundation that will carry into high school and beyond, start with a free introduction. Learn how we develop the central nervous system and take advantage of the speed windows each athlete has.
Book your free introduction session with OC Sports Performance.
