Free & sourced · ages 8–14

Age-appropriate training guides, grounded in real youth-development guidance.

Three sports, one honest approach: general, range-based training structures built on the Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD) framework and published youth-athletics guidance — never an invented workout, an exact pace, or a specific weight.

Educational information only — not medical or coaching advice. Every guide on this site is general, age-based information for a broad audience. It is not personalized to your child and does not replace an individualized assessment. If you're concerned, talk to a physician or a qualified coach before starting any new training program, and stop right away if your child feels pain.

Sourced, not invented

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Educational, not medical or coaching advice

Pick a sport to start

Running Basics A general, age-banded structure for a young runner getting started — not a race-training plan. Try it Swimming Basics A general pool-time conditioning structure for a young swimmer — not a swim-lesson or technique guide. Try it Fitness Fundamentals General bodyweight movement literacy for any young athlete — no equipment, no added weight. Try it

What "grounded in LTAD" actually means

Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD) is a staged framework for youth training, originated by sport scientist Istvan Balyi and maintained today by Sport for Life. Its core idea for the ages this site covers: children build a broad base of movement skill and enjoy multiple activities before specializing or chasing performance numbers, and training progresses with a child's readiness — not a fixed calendar. Every age band on this site (Ages 8–11 and Ages 12–14) maps to an LTAD stage, and every session-frequency, rest-spacing, and volume number is drawn from LTAD, the U.S. HHS/CDC youth physical-activity guidelines, the NSCA's youth-training position statement, or American Academy of Pediatrics guidance on overuse injury and specialization — cited directly on every sport's page, not paraphrased from memory.

What this site deliberately does not do: give an exact pace, distance, weight, or a day-by-day 12-week calendar. No published youth-athletics body publishes that level of precision as a general guideline, and a site that claims to isn't working from a real source. This is general, educational information — not medical advice, not a substitute for a physician's individualized guidance, and not a substitute for a qualified coach's in-person supervision, especially for anything involving technique (see each sport's page for specifics).