Other/Mixed Strength Standards for Young Adults

[Max Parish]

Hello, All,

I recall Pavel saying somewhere that pressing a 32kg bell was a rite of passage for guys in Russia (or something along these lines). My wife and I have three boys. Our oldest is nearing the teen years. Pavel's comment, along with some COVID-lockdown-inspired reflections on the importance of cultivating a family culture of resilient bodies and minds, has started me toying with the idea of instituting a strength-related rite of passage ritual for my sons, and possibly for my many nieces and nephews if they are interested.

I'm new to kettlebells, but have been doing bodyweight training for most of my life. I feel like I don't have a good handle on reasonable strength expectations for late teens.

I'd be very grateful for your views about strength standards for, say, 16 year-old men and women. If being 18 years old seems a better age for this, I'm interested in your views on that too.

The standards need to be a stretch. They need to require enough training to build significant mental stamina. They need to be a meaningful achievement. But they also need to be realistically attainable by everyone (injuries and disabilities aside).

Let's say the only equipment available is a pull-up bar and one kettle bell. (I might be able to rope my extended family into the ritual by gifting them a bell. ;-)

I'm interested in your views on movement types, weight, reps, etc. And I'm especially interested to hear from folks who have coaching experience. Thanks!

Max

 

[kurt perham]

well i dont know about strength "standards" per se, but get them learning the basics : hinge, squat, press and pull and carry.

All of my kids learned a good hinge at 8yo. and they all work out 1-2 times per week checking all the boxes.

my twin 12yo daughters swing 12KG like its their job. They can deadlift perfect 1x BW, etc etc.

They all play lots of sports. In HS they will walk into a weight room (wishful thinking that we have a weight room...) and for them , there will be no "first day".

Coach says hang clean...they hang clean, etc. etc.

 

[Anna C]

SFG Snatch test! Here are the standards:

SFG I Kettlebell Certification Requirements | StrongFirst

SFG is a highly-demanding Certification, mentally and physically. 25-30% failure rate is typical. Because our SFG Instructors meet the highest standard in the industry, you should expect to be challenged and tested. Do not take your preparation lightly. Skills Your skills will be tested on these...

www.strongfirst.com

The reason this is a great test is that you have to have built a strong foundation with swings and movements with weight overhead, you have to put in enough work to be able to do a volume of training, you have to practice a lot to get good at the kettlebell snatch (the Tsar of kettlebell lifts), and you have to have good overall fitness to do 100 reps in 5 minutes. And, it's a great challenge. If they do that, they will have accomplished something significant!

 

[godjira1]

Pullups or chinups (upper body strength), standing broad jump (lower power), 1.5m run (speed endurance), 4x10m shuttle run (speed), max pushups in 1 min (strength endurance), max situps in 1 min (maybe not that useful). All these tests have lots of data sets and standards established for youths so no need to reinvent the wheel for them.

The snatch test is great too but big technical component. Farmer walks would be more foolproof but there you will have to come up with the standards suitable for youths.

 

[Wes P]

Honestly the 32kg is a pretty good standard for 16+ all the way into advanced age.

If you can press, swing, snatch, goblet squat and TGU a 32kg with good form you are most likely at a level of strength to accomplish the vast majority of life tasks without too much difficulty. Of all those the press is probably the most challenging, but it should be in reach for the majority of trained 16+ (male) individuals.

 

[IMayAgainKnowChris]

Honestly the 32kg is a pretty good standard for 16+ all the way into advanced age.

If you can press, swing, snatch, goblet squat and TGU a 32kg with good form you are most likely at a level of strength to accomplish the vast majority of life tasks without too much difficulty. Of all those the press is probably the most challenging, but it should be in reach for the majority of trained 16+ (male) individuals.

The look on my face if I saw a 16 year old clown on me with a 32kg TGU or snatch when I’m swinging a 24.

 

[Hung]

I would be really careful thinking about standards for young adults. They could turn standards into competition and their attitudes can become "lifting heaviest weight as possible" instead of "using weight to build strength and using standards to measure the effort in the long run".

 

[DuncanGB]

... you have to have built a strong foundation with swings and movements with weight overhead, you have to put in enough work to be able to do a volume of training, you have to practice a lot to get good at the kettlebell snatch (the Tsar of kettlebell lifts), and you have to have good overall fitness to do 100 reps in 5 minutes. And, it's a great challenge. If they do that, they will have accomplished something significant!

"have to, have to, have to, have to..." - not exactly the most effective linguistic refrain to motivate young adults teenagers... or adults, for that matter...

I find myself more and more grateful that, growing up playing competitive soccer, rugby, cricket and squash through university and beyond, I was never put "under the bar" or forced to meet some "simple" strength standard...

As for my soon-to-be fourteen-year-old, I've only taught him the basic squat, hinge, and push-up, but have always just let everyday play take care of the rest...

He out-sprints me now quite easily and I am/was (a whole 'nother topic right there) no slouch...

In short, I think parents/coaches imposing rites-of-passage and strength-standards on their kids is simply bound to be counter-productive in almost all cases short- or long-term

 

[godjira1]

+1 to what Duncan GB said.

Before they get to 16 (ideally), it would be great to have experimented with all sorts of athletic movement. As a 10-16 year old frankly i spent my days playing football (soccer to the Americans), basketball, handball, tennis, badminton, and all sorts of random stuff like that.

Very sadly I note that the opportunities for my kids to do the same are far reduced. There are all sorts of “safety concerns” now which apparently trump the need for kids to get fit and healthy.

 

[vegpedlr]

Here is Dan John’s discussion of standards, some food for thought.

I love the idea of standards. For people who the gym is not their main sport, that is chasing “bigger” numbers or muscles, when is enough, well, enough? When does “more” become too much?

The answer of course, is . . .

It depends.

On what it depends, and in what ways, makes for interesting discussion.

 

[pet']

Hello,

I think we can also think in relative terms, instead of fixed numbers:
- 1/2 bdw press (for bells, or 75% if barbell in M. Rippetoe's opinion)
- 2x DL (which most of time is secured with Simple standard as far as the swings goes)
- 10-15 pull ups (this one is a fixed number I got from D. John and M. Rippetoe)
- 75% bodyweight squat (or roughly a pistol squat)

Kind regards,

Pet'

 

[wespom9]

Definitely depends on their biological age rather than chronological. I work with high school athletes and have had some 16 year olds who aren't physically mature enough to really test their mettle, while the kid beside them swings a 24kg with one hand for 10 solid reps.

 

[Molson]

Hello, All,

I recall Pavel saying somewhere that pressing a 32kg bell was a rite of passage for guys in Russia (or something along these lines). My wife and I have three boys. Our oldest is nearing the teen years. Pavel's comment, along with some COVID-lockdown-inspired reflections on the importance of cultivating a family culture of resilient bodies and minds, has started me toying with the idea of instituting a strength-related rite of passage ritual for my sons, and possibly for my many nieces and nephews if they are interested.

I'm new to kettlebells, but have been doing bodyweight training for most of my life. I feel like I don't have a good handle on reasonable strength expectations for late teens.

I'd be very grateful for your views about strength standards for, say, 16 year-old men and women. If being 18 years old seems a better age for this, I'm interested in your views on that too.

The standards need to be a stretch. They need to require enough training to build significant mental stamina. They need to be a meaningful achievement. But they also need to be realistically attainable by everyone (injuries and disabilities aside).

Let's say the only equipment available is a pull-up bar and one kettle bell. (I might be able to rope my extended family into the ritual by gifting them a bell. ;-)

I'm interested in your views on movement types, weight, reps, etc. And I'm especially interested to hear from folks who have coaching experience. Thanks!

Max

I don’t have an answer to your question, but this series of articles might be of your interest:

Resistance Training for Youth: Part I | Barbell Medicine

This series will analyze current evidence for training the general youth populations as well as for those who already consider themselves athletes. We

www.barbellmedicine.com

 

[Max Parish]

Hi, All -

I appreciate all the replies.

My boys are already messing around with chins, pullups, rope climbs, skin the cats, etc, which all seem to me fairly innocuous for young bodies, as long as they maintain proper form. I recall as a teenager reading cautions about starting weights too early. But I don't remember exactly what the concerns were, and was wondering if some of you had experience with this.

My thinking was this: My wife and I already have a variety of intellectual and practical goals for our boys. These are things that will serve them no matter what they choose to do with their life. For example, we want to help them be well-informed about, and be able to properly regulate their use, of things like food, alcohol, sex, addictive technologies, etc. We want them to develop their critical thinking abilities to a certain level. We want them to have basic construction and mechanical skills, so they can troubleshoot an electrical circuit, fix a leaky pipe, change the oil or brakes in their car, etc. If it makes sense for parents to take responsibility for their kids developing these sorts of abilities, why not also have certain fitness and strength goals? This was how I was thinking about it.

Not everyone needs to be an expert on dietary health. But everyone needs to eat. And to the extent that we have a choice about what we put in our mouths, I think everyone should have a solid foundation of knowledge about health. We are all physical bodies, so it seems to me the same applies to strength and fitness.

There are dangers. The trope of an overbearing parent trying to fulfill their athletic dreams vicariously through their child is as ugly as it is well-known. That's partly what motivated my question. I have personal interest in strength and fitness at a level that not everyone shares, and I don't expect my kids to share. Having no experience coaching kids, and no research knowledge on this, I don't trust my own ability to set such standards. Not yet, at least.

@godjira1 - Thanks for the reminder about the existing data and standards on pushups, shuttle runs, etc. I remember participating in some of those standards as a pre-teen, but I had forgotten about that. I would like to incorporate some kettlebell work, but those standards would be good starting points.

DuncanGB, you made an interesting point. And a related issue is: even if a rite-of-passage strength standard is a good (or harmless) idea in the abstract, having it administered by a parent or family member can add complications. I'll do some more thinking about this.

Thanks again for the perspectives! Now I have some research to do.

Max

 

[Steve Freides]

@Max Parish, only you know what approach will work best with your children. In our house, we preferred simply to lead by example and never set specific goals with our kids unless they happened to ask us if we thought a particular challenge was OK for them. For my family, I'm happy how that turned out - both my boys, now in their mid-20's, were athletic through middle and high school and remain active.

It didn't go perfectly, however, because they both prefer the bench press to the deadlift.

-S-

 

[Eyetic]

With this lockdown thing my daughter (10 yo) became pretty lazy and its been all about online classes, online courses, online chit chats with friends...so its like 24/7 iPad dependant...which drives me crazy.

My wife is a Crossfit instructor and I've been involved in many sports so she saw us all these years but despite of that she got no interest at all so I started to introduce a light running day between my training sessions of S&S, just to chit chat with her and keep her body in movement (we basically run 4kms per session) and some streches after (shes pretty good at it as she was into gymnastics when she was younger).

As soon as she gets hooked with the run I will try to introduce some swings under a GTG program, I just want her to run with me my next obstacle race and hopefully she will be prepared for that and realize her full potential.

 

[Starlord]

I would be really careful thinking about standards for young adults. They could turn standards into competition and their attitudes can become "lifting heaviest weight as possible" instead of "using weight to build strength and using standards to measure the effort in the long run".

That can happen with adults and it does. It isn't your fault if young adult take something out of context. The responsibility rests squarely on them if they get hurt in the process or if they get great results.

 

[Max Parish]

@Max Parish, only you know what approach will work best with your children. In our house, we preferred simply to lead by example and never set specific goals with our kids unless they happened to ask us if we thought a particular challenge was OK for them. For my family, I'm happy how that turned out - both my boys, now in their mid-20's, were athletic through middle and high school and remain active.

It didn't go perfectly, however, because they both prefer the bench press to the deadlift.

-S-

Ha! I suppose it could be worse than one's children preferring the deadlift!