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.
Your academically gifted teenager needs to strength train
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A few years ago I had an 8th grader in my physical education class, we’ll call him Sam. He was a straight-A student who did Model UN and Chess Club and was always the first to raise his hand. He prided himself on being the smartest person in the room and had the grades to back it up. He was “academically gifted” in many ways. So I was genuinely surprised when he signed up for my Introduction to Strength Training elective that spring. The first session was hard to watch, mainly because Sam was so frustrated that he couldn’t do most of the movements. He struggled with the squat pattern, his grip was weak, and he fell behind his peers on almost every movement and he knew it. For a boy who had never experienced the feeling of failure before, it was visibly troubling for him. On the second day he asked to use the bathroom in the middle of his set. I let him go, but I knew what was happening. He was holding back tears. After class I asked him to stay behind. "I'm just not good at it," he said. I didn't reassure him or tell him he was better than he thought or that he just needed more time. I agreed with him that he wasn't good at it yet. His classmates were stronger than him and this was going to be hard. He was humbled, but I also told him that strength is earned and that progress requires patience and effort. I told him I was genuinely excited to see what he could do by the end of the semester if he stayed with it. Eventually he stopped looking for ways out of class. A month in he had caught up to his peers. By the end of the semester he was one of the most committed kids in the room. Then he hit a huge PR for him: 65 pounds for 20 reps (the first class he could only do it 3 times). He was pumped and was visibly confident with his achievement. This was a different look than he would give after an A on a test. Academically gifted boys are often praised so consistently for their intellect that they quietly develop an aversion to anything they might not be immediately good at. Strength training is an actual challenge, no matter what your GPA is. You either lift the weight or you don't. You either show up consistently or you don't make progress. A study published in the RAIS Journal for Social Sciences investigated the impact of strength training on adolescents' mental health. The researchers concluded that weight training during adolescence can provide a strong foundation for mental resilience and prepares teenagers for future challenges. If your son is the smartest kid in most rooms he walks into, consider getting him into strength training and finding him a weight room where he can struggle. I would also consider a specific style of strength training; powerlifting. I’ve found powerlifting, a strength sport designed around the squat, bench, and deadlift, to be a great match for those who are academically gifted because it is organized, predictable, and based on incremental increases in the same lifts. Academically gifted students, when they do get motivated, look for technical ways to improve and impress and there’s no better way to do that in a weight room than having an impressive squat. Your academically gifted teenage son needs a strength coach. Be well, 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.
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...
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...