Intelligent action precedes compounding value.
“The earlier you start kids in training, the less you have to do and the longer you can spend on building their foundation.
Instead of using the modern, reactive approach of premature advancement that is counter to their development..
Leverage the luxury of time.
It pays.”
-Ray Zingler on X
The longer and deeper I get into this S&C/Sports Performance game, the more I realize how many people simply don’t know why or how to train our youth.
Kids are typically relegated to two camps.
Camp 1: “Training is dangerous and should be reserved for the older kids.”
Camp 2: Kids are viewed as mini adults and trained with regressed, but oftentimes similar adult modalities, because #elite.
I’m not sure which camp takes the “worse” crown, but they are both abysmal camps to be in.
Kids can and should begin training appropriately at very early ages.
For context (and no, you don’t have to do this) I start training my own children around 9 months old.
“Come on Ray, that’s crazy!”
Is it though? is taking 5-10 minutes a day to teach my children the fundamentals of athletic movement a net negative.
Of course, I’m not putting 3 hours a day of rigorous structured training on my kids, not trying to create a viral video with my 2-year-old barbell squatting, that’s garbage.
But can I begin teaching them the fundamentals?
Playing, rolling, Picking *weights* up, carrying weights, climbing, running, throwing, horseplaying?
Of course.
These are all things kids should be doing in controlled and uncontrolled environments.
Do the math. 5-20 minute exposures per day, every day from the time they can walk until they reach early adolescence? It takes almost no time at all.
But time, time, time.
“We just don’t have any time to do this stuff.”
You do have time to do this stuff.
The problem is that most people are poor stewards of time.
If you’re training younger youth athletes, recognize this gift.
You HAVE the luxury of time.
You can afford to go slow.
You can afford to do less, better.
And when you choose to ignore the noise and bullshit that is on social media, you can make a real difference in youth athletes, not only in their “today” but in their futures as well.
Many coaches and parents will wait around until time is gone and then react to the lack of time playing pretend with themselves as if they don’t know where time went.
Be aware.
Time isn’t waiting for you.
Start now.
Only intelligent action leads to compounding value.
