"Windows" of Trainability and Development

[1badbadger]

I saw an instructional video recently that was actually for bowling, but they talked about an interesting concept regarding when the body is most receptive to training (things like speed, strength and flexibility).  They claim studies on long-term athlete development have shown that if power and speed are not developed by a certain age, it's much more difficult to improve in these areas later in life.  They show the first window for both boys and girls is ages 6-9, and the second window is 11-13 for girls  and 13-16 for boys.  

I've known it's difficult to increase clubhead speed later in life, but I never knew why.  It sounds like this concept would apply to any sport.  Has anyone else heard of this theory or does anyone have more insight to support or refute this idea?

[tristanhilton85]

I don't think that I've ever heard it put in terms of certain age windows, but I've definitely heard more of the general "the earlier/younger you start the better" sort of thing.

[Piz]

Would it matter how one developed strength, speed, and flexibility?  I split a lot of wood, when I was a kid, with a sledge hammer and two wedges.  I skated, played hockey, played baseball, etc...Later in life, while coaching pitchers, I noticed that the best students were not necessarily those who had the most experience playing baseball.  The best students were those who did a little bit of everything: baseball, soccer, track, golf, basketball, football, even rock climbing.  I'll wager it matters less how one develops physical skills than it does that those skills are developed in the first place.

[Rainmaker]

I don't know about age groups and stuff. . and I only have anecdotal evidence .. basically myself . . but I believe it.  

I'm 43 now . .I've been working hard on my game for about 3-4 years . .at times very focused . .at other times not so much . but overall fairly focused.  Many things have improved since I started working on my game but not really my clubhead speed.  My "Max distance" has not really increased that much . .my average distance has increased a ton.  There were points along the way, of course ,where I suddenly picked up a club's worth of distance  - but, imo, that was mechanics not speed.  

To continue . .over the last 2 months I've suddenly become "aware" that I'm swinging with slow muscles and tension.  Since I'm suddenly "aware" . . I can improve it.  But before I this epiphany I would have never guessed it was slowing me down.  I never had any athletic training as a kid . .with these big slow muscles and tension is how I've always swung everything - baseball bats, too.  I actually "learned" to cast a golf club when I was probably 6-8 years old playing baseball in the yard.  

Now . .I will not deny that I am a strange dude prone to whimsy - but the feeling of this realization of bicep strain and arm tension slowing me down was quite profound . .probably the second most profound golf moment for me since I discovered "how not to hit at the ball".  I'm working a lot on it now - trying to remove the tension, don't swing with a lot of biceps . . it feels like I just took the red pill...