Sensitive periods to train general motor abilities in children and adolescents: Do they exist? A critical appraisal

Van Hooren, Bas and De Ste Croix, Mark B ORCID: 0000-0001-9911-4355 (2020) Sensitive periods to train general motor abilities in children and adolescents: Do they exist? A critical appraisal. Strength and Conditioning Journal, 42 (6). pp. 7-14. doi:10.1519/SSC.0000000000000545

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Abstract

Some Long-term athlete development (LTAD) models have proposed generic sensitive periods or ‘windows of opportunity’ during childhood and adolescence that are optimal for training general motor abilities such as strength or speed. However, it remains unclear whether these periods exist. This review will therefore critically appraise the rationale behind generic sensitive periods. We discuss several issues with generic sensitive periods and argue that general motor abilities and the associated sensitive periods do not exist. The identified issues with generic sensitive periods questions their validity and we therefore suggest that they should not be used to train youth athletes.

Item Type: Article
Article Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Trainability; Long-Term Athletic Development; Training Emphasize Periods; Youth Training; Resistance Training; Latent Variables
Subjects: G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GV Recreation Leisure > GV557 Sports > GV0711 Coaching
G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GV Recreation Leisure > GV557 Sports
Divisions: Schools and Research Institutes > School of Education and Science
Research Priority Areas: Health, Life Sciences, Sport and Wellbeing
Depositing User: Kate Greenaway
Date Deposited: 13 Mar 2020 09:42
Last Modified: 31 Aug 2023 09:07
URI: https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/8211

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