I'm a school wellness director and strength & conditioning coach of teenage boys. Every week I share honest thoughts for parents who want to use their son's new interest in fitness as a vehicle to build sustainable wellness skills, but don't know what to do or how to do it. I use research from education, exercise science, and adolescent development, along with my own creative storytelling twists, to highlight my belief that every boy needs a wellness-focused strength coach for his physical, mental, and emotional growth.
The nervous ride home from a college drop-off
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Picture the ride home after dropping your son off at college. The car is quiet, and your husband is gripping the wheel. “He played baseball year-round all through high school,” he says, “so let’s hope he learned how to stay in shape.” You nod, but you’re not thinking about baseball. Will he be healthy? Can he physically take care of himself? You watch the road and wonder what his health will look like by Thanksgiving. Parents are nervous, frustrated, or frankly scared that their son isn’t physically ready for what comes next, whether that is college or the workforce. So is that nervousness justified? In my professional opinion as someone who teaches and coaches teenagers every day, maybe. In the CDC’s latest report, the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, we see a worsening trend over 10 years in teenagers meeting both the aerobic and muscle-strengthening guidelines. Why? I think the answer comes down to who is responsible for building wellness skills and filling the strength and aerobic buckets. Besides the immediate family, that commonly includes sports, PE, and supplemental strength and conditioning. I played sports all my life and I value the skills they bring, but I’d be lying if I assured you that sports alone will fill all the aerobic and strength training needs your teenager has. It also may not teach your son the wellness skills needed for a lifelong relationship with exercise and staying physically fit. A sport practice is built around sport skills, strategy, and competition. Unfortunately, a boy can play one sport all year and not be any stronger or much more aerobically fit, especially if he rides the bench. This is all assuming your son plays sports, which the data shows is only 6 out of 10 boys. If he doesn’t, the overall fitness needs are likely greater. Physical education has different limitations when it comes to meeting the fitness needs of teenagers in many schools. It’s mostly exposure, with team building, problem solving, and a variety of fitness activities. It isn’t the PE many of us grew up doing with the rope climbs and the calisthenics. I say this as a PE teacher who has watched colleagues do remarkable work with what they have, but PE isn’t built for steady progress in strength. And only 1 in 5 students attends PE every day anyway. That leaves a gap, and most parents don’t know it needs to be filled. The National Strength and Conditioning Association says a properly designed and supervised program for youth is relatively safe and can build strength, improve motor skills, and help young athletes resist sports-related injuries. I would add, as a strength coach myself, that it helps develop wellness and fitness skills for the long term through ongoing support, thoughtful programs, and formal learning opportunities. Unfortunately for parents, though, strength and conditioning is often viewed as supplemental and not required, which I would recommend parents reconsider. Imagine the Thanksgiving pick-up, and the assurance of knowing your teenager has the skills to take care of himself. Somewhere along the way, someone taught him how to take care of his body. Sports and PE alone aren’t built to fully prepare your son to stay physically healthy. Every teenage boy needs a strength coach, someone focused on overall long-term wellness skills, not just lifting heavier weights. Coach Steve Kiely M.Ed, CSCS |
WELLNESS & FITNESS FOR TEENAGE BOYS
I'm a school wellness director and strength & conditioning coach of teenage boys. Every week I share honest thoughts for parents who want to use their son's new interest in fitness as a vehicle to build sustainable wellness skills, but don't know what to do or how to do it. I use research from education, exercise science, and adolescent development, along with my own creative storytelling twists, to highlight my belief that every boy needs a wellness-focused strength coach for his physical, mental, and emotional growth.
Teenage boys today are physically weaker, less mobile and less aerobically fit than they were a generation ago. Additionally, they are sleeping less and continue to not eat breakfast. This isn’t good news from the CDC and definitely isn’t good news for parents of teenage boys. In my own experience, I’ve noticed that many of the teenage boys I initially meet to train as their strength coach lack basic general fitness; their grip strength gives out quick, their core cannot stabilize a simple...
It's a scene that plays out in gyms across the country every fall. A dad hears that the new guy running the weight room played Division I football, maybe he even went pro. He's strong, confident, and motivational. The dad shakes his hand, watches him move some serious weight, and thinks: "This is exactly who I want training my son." It's a completely understandable conclusion, but it's misguided. Not because he isn't a good person or a great role model, but because playing a sport at an elite...
It usually happens sometime in the fall of freshman or sophomore year. Maybe he recently got cut from his sport, or maybe he spent most of middle school on the couch. Either way, suddenly he has a new obsession. He's watching workout videos, asking about creatine, and by Thanksgiving, he's intensely training five or six days a week on a push-pull-legs bodybuilding split. He comes home exhausted, only to wake up and go right back the next day. After twenty years of working with teenage boys,...