As you should not specialise in road, track or off-road cycling until the age of 17 to 19 at the earliest, the focus of training for younger children is on slowly developing their basic motor and fitness skills. In contrast to the previously widespread assumption that a child's heart cannot grow with the increase in exertion, we now know that the heart and circulation can be trained well at all stages of a child's and young person's development.
Compared to juniors and adults, however, adolescents are more susceptible to overuse injuries. On the one hand, growing tissue reacts more sensitively to strain, while on the other hand, growth spurts can temporarily restrict mobility and disrupt muscle balance.
During this phase, high levels of strain and intensity can cause damage. Particularly critical areas when cycling are the knee joints and the spine - possible damage: hunchback, hyperlordosis (curvature of the neck vertebrae), kyphosis (curvature of the thoracic vertebrae).
Children and adolescents in puberty should only do strength training as speed or strength endurance training. Adolescents in particular should make sure that they change their sitting position more often to avoid one-sided strain. For winter training, I recommend practising many different sports that challenge the body holistically. These include running, cross-country skiing, athletics and swimming. Very good gyms also offer special training programmes for young athletes that are tailored to the specific requirements of young people.
