Differentiating maturational influence on training-induced strength and endurance adaptations in prepubescent children

Abstract

Objective: To analyze the effect of biological maturation on training-induced strength and endurance adaptations in the prepubertal growth spurt.

Methods: One hundred and twenty-five healthy children (58 boys, 67 girls), aged 10-11 years old (10.8 ± 0.4 years), who were self-assessed as belonging to Tanner stages I and II, were randomly divided into two experimental groups, a strength training group (19 boys, 22 girls) and an endurance training group (21 boys, 24 girls) that would train twice a week for 8 weeks, as well as a control group (18 boys, 21 girls; no training program).

Results: After 8 weeks of training, there were improvements in all strength and endurance measures (P < 0.01) for both groups of Tanner stage I and II children. No significant differences in training response were observed relative to biological maturity or gender (P > 0.05).

Conclusions: These data suggest that more biologically mature prepubescent children seem to have no advantage in training-induced strength and endurance adaptations compared with their less mature peers. Additionally, gender did not affect the training-induced changes in strength or aerobic fitness. These results are meaningful for the development of optimized well-rounded training programs in prepubertal children. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 26:469-475, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.