What Is Strength and Flexibility Training?

When it comes to health and fitness, “training” refers to the process of improving one’s body and mind. Through various exercises, sports, and other physical activities, you can “train” your body into shape. Likewise, through meditation, quiet thinking, and certain mind-centering activities such as yoga or tai chi, it’s possible to “train” your mind to settle and relax, to reach a state of comfort and rest.

Strength and flexibility are two important and related components of overall fitness. Strength training leads to improvements in strength—the ability of your muscles to exert force and endure exercise. Flexibility training leads to improvements in flexibility—your ability to stretch, bend, and reach.

So how are strength and flexibility related? The more you increase your flexibility, the more you can potentially increase your strength. And the stronger and more stable your muscles become, the more likely it is you can push the limits of your flexibility. It takes strength to be flexible, and it takes flexibility to be strong.

The Fountain of Youth

As a teenager, you’re in the unique position of being neither fully-grown nor so young that it’s dangerous to work out. Your body—assuming you’re in good general health—is ready to go. (But it’s always a good idea to talk to a doctor before starting an exercise program.) You can play sports, lift weights, and stretch daily. Athletic injuries, at this point in your life, rarely cause more than a temporary setback. You’re perfectly capable of kicking off a health and fitness routine that will stick with you for the rest of your life.

What place does strength and flexibility training have in the life of a healthy teenager? The answer is simple: If you play sports, strength and flexibility training will help you get better. If you take part in other physical activities—such as rock climbing, dance, or the martial arts—strength and flexibility training will help you improve in those areas. If you’re prone to injuries, strength and flexibility training may better your chances of staying healthy. Even if you’re currently inactive, strength and flexibility training may turn out to be exactly what you need in order to change your habits and stay healthy.

Strength, Flexibility, and Teens Vs. Adults

As a teenager, your approach to strength and flexibility training will be much different than the approach you might see among adults. Take the professional athlete. A professional baseball or softball player might lift weights every day, focusing on building the specific muscles they need to excel at their sport. They’ll work on explosive speed and power, their pitching arm, and the hip muscles they need to generate a homer-hitting swing.

Or how about a full-time bodybuilder—the kind of muscle-bound person you see on magazine covers? They’ve spent years in the weight room, honing and toning every last bump and bulge on their body. The more pumped-up they are, the better.

Maybe you have a professional baseball career in sight, or maybe not. And sure, maybe bodybuilding is your calling. More likely, though, you just want to get in shape.

Whatever the case may be, when it comes to strength training, you cannot possibly achieve as a teenager the same results as a professional bodybuilder. Subjecting your body to the same high-intensity workouts of any professional athlete would put you at a high risk for injury.

Adults can usually withstand the stresses that heavy weights put on their bones with proper training. Teens, on the other hand, must use extreme caution whenever they make weightlifting a part of their exercise routine. In general, for teens, lighter weights are preferable and pose far less risk to future physical development. Strength training for teens is a far more balanced affair. It incorporates participation in a variety of physical activities, including some time in the weight room. You can build strength. And you can do it now. You just have to approach it a bit differently.

Flexibility training, too, must be approached differently by younger people than it is by adults or seasoned professionals. If you were born with natural flexibility, that’s one thing. If, on the other hand, you’re like most teens—with tight muscles, long legs relative to your upper body, and other physical limitations to flexibility—you’ve got work to do. It takes tremendous commitment to achieve the kind of flexibility that you may have witnessed of some yogis. You may get there some day, but it will take time.

Physical (Un)Fitness: A National Crisis

As you’re probably aware, physical fitness is currently at a low point in the United States. Adults and youth alike are now collectively less active than they have ever been before. One out of every five teens is obese. That’s four times the rate of obesity in the 1980s.

There are all kinds of theories as to why America’s youth are out of shape. Some experts point to young people spending too much time staring at phone screens, TVs, or computers or playing video games instead of being physically active. People are driving more and walking and biking less. Play—having fun, outdoors, in the sunshine—is less common than in the past. More and more, young people lead sedentary lifestyles; they avoid team sports and after-school physical activities, skip physical education class, and consume vast quantities of nutritionally deficient food.

The results of this trend—and the similar trend seen in adults—are alarming. More people are dying of cardiovascular disease. Cancer is on the rise. Other diseases and conditions are also becoming increasingly common. When it comes to health and fitness, the United States is in crisis.

Of course, it doesn’t have to be this way. Things can change, and chances are they will. Already, in fact, we’re beginning to see increased awareness and concern about the health effects of an inactive lifestyle. People want to live healthier lives. Often, they just don’t know where to begin.