Welcome to the most in-depth science lesson you’ll ever have, on something that we all share in common - the heart. It’s well documented that training in a variety of sports at youth level improves coordination and dexterity, but is there a danger to the cardiovascular health of young athletes from training them a particular way?

Dean Perkins is a Personal Trainer, elite youth tennis coach, and currently completing a PhD which looks at heart adaptations in children and adolescents. In this episode of The Perfect Athlete, we learn from Dean’s in depth research and experience the effects of endurance and interval training, suitable training methods for young athletes, and debunks some myths about how the heart responds to certain types of training as a child.

In this episode we cover:

• Dean’s fitness journey
• The effect of endurance training on the heart
• Capabilities of cardiac screening
• Long term effects of training at youth level
• Pushy parents of sports kids
• Adjusting training to suit young athletes
• Common training myths and mistakes

Perfect Athlete is sponsored by Podcast Labs, full-service podcast production and marketing agency. Find out more at https://podcastlabs.co.uk/

Links and references at: https://perfectathletepodcast.com/