Creating Super Sports Children: Effects Of Cardiovascular Exercise On the Competitive Child

I’m a dad! On Saturday afternoon, 3:29pm my partner and I had a 52cm, 3.77kg baby girl. I’m elated and absolutely tired, but ultimately happy that both mum and baby got through a very healthy and natural birth. Today I came across a fantastic article that is showing that some parents go to great lengths to utilise sports performance enhancement so that their child has an added edge over their competition. It poses the question of whether we are utilising sports science to help or hinder our child. Obviously, sports science can help a child gain a competitive edge. But are we pushing little bodies too far? Here are some points that myself as a father, and we as parents (if any parents are reading this) need to ponder in relation to cardiovascular performance for the child athlete:

Cardiovascular Characteristics:

• Children tend to work at a higher heart rate at sub maximal levels of exercise when compared to adults.
• Oxygen extraction by the tissues (a-VO2 diff) tends to be slightly larger in children than in adults. Therefore in exercise during hot days, children tend to increase their core body temperature as a result.
• In cold conditions, children lose heat faster than adults, due to a greater surface area per body mass.
• Blood pressure is lower in children than in adults (100/70 mmHg for a 10 year old). At this age children have lower blood pressure and an increased blood flow to the muscles.

VO2Max (Maximum Oxygen Consumption):

• Just like us oldies, children have a larger absolute VO2Max (litres per minute).
• The VO2Max of children can increase up to ten times from rest to their highest workload.
• Before puberty, increases in VO2Max occur with training, but not to the same degree as adults.
• Although maximum oxygen consumption does not appear to increase to any significant degree from specific aerobic training, there is often a significant improvement in a child’s aerobic fitness.

Muscle Characteristics:

• Slow and fast twitch fibers are inherited, with the proportion of slow and fast twitch fibers the same as adults.Anaerobic capacity is limited.
• Children have a lower concentration of phosphofructokinase, an enzyme critical to the breakdown of glycogen as a source of fuel.

Bone Development:

• Children should avoid forced flexibility training and sprinting as muscle tears can eventuate. Osgood-Schlatters and Severs disease caused by damaged growth plates in the tibia (below the knee) and the calcaneous (heel) can eventuate from high intensity exercise.
• Repetitive stress can lead to abnormal bone development.

(Source: Batman, P. Advanced Aerobic Conditioning, 2004)

So what do we prescribe for a child, so they have both fun and a lower risk of injury? Try 15-20 minutes of structured activity combined with 30 minutes of free play. Try to use rate of perceived exertion (RPE) to measure how your child is feeling during these sessions. Believe it or not, the article that I stated at the beginning of this entry points to a new trend amongst young athletes to utilise sports medicine to enhance performance at an early age. Nothing wrong with it at all, and many young athletes can find a great new way to increase their performance at an early age without breaking the budget. At all times remember to follow professional (scientific) advice when it comes to giving your child the best possible start to their athletic career’s.