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In last month’s article regarding “Sports Training – How Much is Too Much?,” we examined the signs each parent and coach should look for to determine if their players are training too much and just how much should they train. This month we continue to examine sports training and its effects.

How much of an increase in training is safe?
Increasing the frequency, duration, or intensity of training too quickly is one of the main causes of injury. To prevent injuries caused by too-rapid increases in training, I am a strong believer in athletes following the "ten-percent rule." The rule refers to the amount a young athlete's training can be increased every week without risking injury. In other words, a child running 20 minutes at a time four times a week can probably safely run 22 minutes four times a week the week after, an increase of ten percent.

Most of the injuries I see in my clinic are the product of violations of the ten percent rule, when young athletes have their training regimen increased "too much, too soon."

"Too much, too soon" scenarios:

The football player, who, after a summer of inactivity, goes straight into a fall pre-season training camp.
The swimmer who normally trains at 5000 yards per day but then is asked to swim 8000 yards a day for three consecutive days.
The dancer who does 12 hours of classes per week and then suddenly is training six hours per day, six days a week at a summer dance program.
The gymnast, who, in the weeks before a major event, doubles her training time.

How hard should kids train?
When young athletes are growing the emphasis should be on developing athletic technique. Although power or speed are important qualities in sports, stressing them to children at the expense of technique can lead to injuries. Once good technique is mastered, power and speed can be introduced.

It is important for you to safeguard your children against being overtrained. The danger of this happening is especially acute if your child is an elite athlete or one engaged in a very competitive sports environment. Perhaps the most effective measure any parent can take is to make sure his child's coach is certified. Another is to look out for the signs of overtraining, as described above, as well as the early signs of injuries themselves. A strength training program is an important component of any injury prevention program for athletes - kids included.

In many cases, I believe, kids drop out of sports because of low-grade pain that is actually the early stage of an overuse injury. The pain is never diagnosed as an early-stage overuse injury because the child simply quits the program. What this may do is prejudice a child against physical activity and exercise for life. The same is true for mental stress in sports.

Given the state of fitness in this country, overtraining children has the opposite effect of what we want, which is to instill in our young people a love of exercise that will stay with them through life, and inspire them to stay fit and healthy long after their youth sports days are done.

Dr. Lyle Micheli co-founded and is director of the world's first sports medicine clinic for children, located at Boston Children's Hospital. He is also the chairperson of the Massachusetts Governor's Committee on Physical Fitness and Sports, and a past president of the American College of Sports Medicine.