Finland’s children and young adults simply do not take enough exercise

Not much chance of producing medallists at the current rate of progress

Jukka Jalonen

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Results concerning the physical exercise habits of Finnish children and young adults make depressing reading. In the light of health recommendations, some of the children and youth simply do not exercise enough.
      The training volumes of those youngsters who aim to become top athletes are totally inadequate when compared to many other countries.
      “We will have very few top sports people in the future. This is a fact”, sighs MD, MSc (Sport Science) Harri Hakkarainen, while presenting the results of a study into the motor-physical exercising of children and young adults at a seminar in Vantaa.
      Hakkarainen is the Director of the Sports Medical Centre at the Sports Institute of Finland in Vierumäki. In addition to his science degrees, Hakkarainen is also a coach.
     
Apart from increasing the amount of exercising, there is also room for improvement in the quality of training. In part, false assumptions have weakened the results.
      In all, 2,646 members of various sports clubs in Finland between the ages of 8 and 18 were included in the study commissioned by the Finnish Olympic Committee, the Young Finland Association, and the Finnish Coaches’ Association. The results were based on the youngsters’ training diaries.
      In the study all forms of moving, including playing and running around, were considered as physical exercise.
     
The aim for those over the age of 12 is a minimum of 18 hours of exercising per week. So far this goal is still a long way off, for the sample averaged at 13.4 hours. Based on this, since the age of 8, a 16-year-old athlete has already developed a 2,000-hour shortfall to his or her training regimen.
      Hakkarainen emphasises the importance of training particularly in the 8-16 age bracket. Patching things up after that is difficult.
      “The danger is in a sudden increase of training intensity. This may result in overexertion and even burn-out.”
     
In training, Hakkarainen stresses the importance of diversity. Specialising in just one discipline early on may result in the one-sided straining of the physique.
      Simple methods could be used to increase the training volumes. For example, in connection with indoor training, warm-up and cool-down segments could take place before and after the actual indoor session, rather than as part of the limited time the athletes or team-members have in the hall.
      During tournaments, the youth teams could move from their place of accommodation to the sports arena by walking, instead of relying on bus transportation. This would doubtless come as a severe shock to many of the young athletes, who are used to being ferried everywhere.
     
As far as training content is concerned, Hakkarainen shrugs off for example fears towards weight training. From the physiological point of view, there is no age limit to weight training when it is performed correctly. Heavy weights and increasing muscle mass is a different matter.
      “Increasing muscle mass is worth starting only after the puberty growth spurt when there is enough testosterone in the blood.”
      Muscle conditioning training without weights is not practiced enough. As a result, the youngsters’ core stability is inadequate. This in turn leads to lower back pains, knee injuries, shin splints, and groin problems.
      “Previously climbing in trees took care of this problem. Today, such training has to be specifically organised”, Hakkarainen explains our changing world.
      Coaching situations have also become more challenging. Before, an athlete’s basic skills and form were in order. Now, part of the coaching time goes to addressing these issues.
     
Finland’s national ice hockey team’s head coach Jukka Jalonen also addressed the seminar, stressing the importance of a diverse approach, enthusiasm, and joy in training. One-sided toiling away is not enough.
      “If one wants to become a top ice hockey player, then by purely training ice hockey this will become a difficult task”, said Jalonen, who also lamented the fact that all too often the decision on a final sport to be followed was taken prematurely, at the age of just 11 or 12.
      In his view, the raw talent that one can spot at that age is no guarantee of sporting success. Much more important is whether the player will be as keen to turn out at the age of 20, and this is an altogether harder thing to read.
     
Jalonen also rues the fact that often any sense of joy and merrymaking is decidedly absent from the youngsters’ training.
      “In a typical gruelling NHL training session there is more laughter and joking to be heard than with our 12-year-olds”, Jalonen reminds the coaching staff of Finland’s juniors. coaches.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Small children need at least two hours of exercise daily (19.10.2005)

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