Being a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, my job is to challenge my clients every session. Tonight I'm here in the studio and I just got done training one my junior athletes, TJ. Hes a 12 yr old hockey player. Hes one the top in his age bracket here in San Diego. Are sessions focus on functional training and many exercises that work his core strength.

TJ is a fun athlete to train. He likes the challenge of our sessions. We do many exercise that use the stability ball. Like everyone we had to start at the beginning. For example, right now he can stand on the stability ball for 37 seconds, that's his record. This is the type of challenges we do in your sessions. I don't recommend this exercise unless a professional is present.

In hockey, balance is huge part of the game. It just makes sense to challenge him in this fashion. Its sometimes hard to keep him focused on the exercise at hand, that's why we have some sort of goal per exercise. Whether its time or reps, this is the best way to see the progress and also keeping him focused on the task.

I believe training junior athletes will become the norm. If you want that edge over your competitors, you must do what they are not. Good luck with your workouts.