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2004/06/25, 12:07 PM
AS long as it is light weight and supervised there is nothing wrong. it is when they are allowed to use heavy weights and bad form that problems can occur. You can bet that if my sons want to lift I will allow them...
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LIFT HEAVY! BECOME STRONG, LIKE BULL!
7707mutt@freetrainers.com
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2004/06/25, 12:23 PM
I had my five year old benching canned green beans the other day.:)
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Dont Expect Results, Earn Them!
Lance
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2004/06/25, 12:30 PM
I plan on letting my twins start lifting as soon as they want (they're only 2 now) But onlywith light weights. I'm most concerned with harming the growth plates at the joints then any thing else. But I believe that the better shape your in as a kid the better off you will be as an old fart like me. I ran long distance in high school and really developed my lungs. After 30 yrs of smoking between 1/2 to 3/4 of a pack of cigerettes a day I still have the lung capacity of a none smoker my age. I quit over 2 yrs now.
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I will get to it as soon as I am done lifting.
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2004/06/25, 12:50 PM
Wow! Thanks for all of the input. I don't have a bench, since I live in an apartment and have too much stuff, but I can start teaching them curls, flyes, standing presses and stuff like that with canned veggies. I've actually read those articles in the magazines.
I was worried about the growth plates, hormones, form, muscle development vs bone development, and all that. However, I guess as long as they work light weights for toning and conditioning instead of worrying about bulking right now, that would be fine. I'll probably start letting my 12 yr old start lifting heavier next summer after he's a little further into puberty.
Thanks for all of the great input.
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I will never grow up, just old.
Jonathan
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2004/06/25, 11:10 AM
I have two sons, ages 7 and 12. They both want to workout with me, but I have been reluctant to allow this for a couple of reasons.
1. They can't go to the gym with me because it's at work.
2. They are not allowed to use the equipment at the apartment fitness center because they are not old enough.
3. I have been told in the past that boys should not begin weight lifting until well into puberty as it can mess up their "transition into manhood".
#3 is the one I'm really questioning. It makes logical sense to me, but I'm wondering if it is true or if it is simply an old wives' tale.
Does anyone know for sure? Do you have any articles that support this issue either way? Please help.
My 7 yr old will turn 8 in August and will be playing football starting this season. He is very thin and will probably play QB, RB, or Safety.
Thanks,
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I will never grow up, just old.
Jonathan
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2004/06/25, 11:27 AM
this is pretty much parents judgement, although 7 is too young in my opinion. at 12 i'd say something light, and not too serious would be ok, but for gods sake wait for some more opinions, i don't wanna be wrong on this one.
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I found this site whilst looking for low cost shoes.
A.D.F.
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2004/06/25, 02:48 PM
i don't think there is any conclusive evidence on affecting the growth plates so you don't really need to worry about that, but as i said, your decision is final if your kid is up for it.
p.s. where does godlike get his info from???
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I found this site whilst looking for low cost shoes.
A.D.F.
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2004/06/25, 03:01 PM
For both of them, body resistance execises will always be the safest. Push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups (crunches). In fact, when I was a kid, a gymnast friend had all kinds of exrcises he did, none with weights and he was the most fit of any of us. I think one of the ones I could never do was a handstand on the wall and then pushups in that position. There are a lot of things they can do to get fit without weights, and heaven knows that if they keep up on those simple exercise then weights will be a lot easier later. I really wish I could do more than one pull up.
That being said, for the twelve year old, I don't think light weights would hurt him at all. I would probably weight a little longer on the 7 year old, but that is just my opinion.
Daniel
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2004/06/26, 09:53 AM
With regard to growth plate injuries, weight training should have no effect on them whatsoever. I've written a couple of grad school papers on this subject with reasonably extensive literature reviews (100+ medical journal articles). Growth plates injuries invariably will only result when a considerable impact load is placed on them from causes such as falls, car accidents & so on.
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2004/06/26, 10:18 AM
As for other considerations with weight training in children/youth, danilejlove gives good advice. I would also recommend using body weight for resistance exercises wherein the reps are kept fairly high. It is definitely not good to have them doing activities wherein they do the valsalva maneuver (bearing down against a closed glottis) which causes a large increase in intraabdominal pressure.
This along with strongly contracting muscles increases arterial resistance to blood flow, which in turn puts a different type of load on the heart than aerobic activitiy does. This type loading (against high arterial resistance) tends to increase the thickness of the muscular walls of the heart (cardiac muscle) so that greater pressure is produce by the heart to overcome the increased arterial resistance.
Conversely, aerobic activity causes the atrial & ventricular chambers of the heart to get larger so that a greater volume of blood can be puped through the heart but has little effect on the wall thickness (cardiac muscle thickness.
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2004/06/26, 10:33 AM
The problem with increasing the wall thickness of an adolescent heart is that it can negatively affect (slow down) the increases in the volume of the chambers which tends occur rapidly through the normal growth process.
Once someone is an adult, they can still increase the volume of the chambers through aerobic activity , but it is a much more gradual process which is much less affected by heavy resistance training.
Once again, this really isn't a concern with light -moderate resitance training in adolescents.
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2004/06/28, 10:41 AM
Wow! Thanks for all of that. I actually understood most of it.
I will be putting together a "routine" for them that consists mainly of body weight resitance exercises and will work out with them in the evenings. I don't think we'll do enough to hinder my daily workout. It'll be a good time to spend together.
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I will never grow up, just old.
Jonathan
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2004/06/28, 11:45 AM
Your welcome!
With regard to growth plate injuries I should mention one common exception to what what I had previously stated, that being the condition of Osgoode Schlatters diease (which really isn't a 'disease' in the conventional usage).
Some youth are affected by this (typically between the ages of 11-14) when they are in a growth spurt and their bones are lengthening faster than their muscles. This usually causes pain & inflammation at the growth plate under the tibial tuberosity (bump just below the knee whre the patellar tendon attaches). This is often irritated by running, jumping and other ballistic activities involving the knee movement.
It doesn't put the youth at risk of long term damage to the growth plate itself and is pretty much self-limiting. In other words the youth will tend to rest it when the discomfort is high enough. Regular stretching of the quads, hamstrings & calves can be helpful in alleviating some the discomfort.
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2004/06/28, 12:38 PM
I had Osgoode thing and let me tell you it hurts way more than a little discomfort! LOL
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LIFT HEAVY! BECOME STRONG, LIKE BULL!
7707mutt@freetrainers.com
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2004/06/28, 10:52 PM
I tend to use the terms 'discomfort' and 'pain' interchangeably. LOL
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2004/06/28, 11:18 PM
To me I say the earlier the better because you'll get the kids into a healthy mind set early on. 7 is obviously too young, unless its like the Hulk Hogan weight set that I had as a kid where its like 5 pound plastic dumbbells. As for the 12 year old, there's nothing wrong with some light working out such as a couple 10 lb weights, a bench, a barbell, and a couple dumbbells. Just make sure it is supervised because when I was working out at age 16 I really &*!$#$ my lower back up because I was doing an exercise so wrong! So you definetly want to show them how to do it right. Mind you my back is alot better now since I started working out again :big_smile:
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2004/06/29, 06:41 AM
just get them to do exercises like chinups and pushups and dips and situps if your worried about them being too young personally i started serious not long ago woulda been 16 my dad started 14 and half, he turned out completly fine # 1 in NSW #2 in australia one year his 6"1 so yea lol i heard its best to start at 18 and above though and most people generally hit there prime at about 27 or some bullcrap but who really listens to that jsut train hard n keep with if they really wanna have the felling of "using" weights do it high rep light weights
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2004/07/02, 03:10 PM
I don't know if you still needed help, but I can give you some input, seeing as how I turned thirteen in February and have been lifting for atleast 8 months now.
I would first probably say that I would consider myself " an early bloomer " I guess, so I don't know about the "average" 12 - 13 year old but heres what I would say. I would say the 12 year old could easily start resistance / strength training now. A good rule of thumb though would be to only let him do weights that you know he will be able to keep his form on. If he can't keep his form he will hurt himself.. and also-- make sure he knows about the soreness he will come to expect after the first few times.. (eek I remember the first week!). But yes contrary to popular belief, as it has been in my case atleast, I have not stunted my growth at all. I probably started when I was 5'4, and I'm now 5'8. I have also made some significant gains and changed how I looked. It's been really great for me, and I'm sure your son would love it if he does it correctly and safely.
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2004/07/03, 02:32 PM
Thanks. It's good to hear that from a 13 yr old. You sound very mature and knowledgeable.
I am going to start the kids out with the push-ups, sit-ups, dips, and others that we can do at home. They also bike and skate, and the younger starts football this fall.
They really want to go run on the treadmill, but they have to be 13 to be allowed in there. We'll run the roads and trails instead.
Thanks for the input.
Remember, no girls until you are 30. :big_smile:
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I will never grow up, just old.
Jonathan
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2004/07/05, 09:22 AM
I agree with porphyria. Im 14 goin on 15 and i only started lifting about 6 months ago. Let your 12 year old lift just be careful to monitor his form and dont let him go to heavy to fast. As for your 7 year old, I would probably stick with body weight exercises for a while (i.e. pushups, pullups, crunches, situps, etc.) And then in a few years let him move on to light weights.
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The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in battle.
~Grayson
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2005/12/13, 09:31 PM
greyceol how big are you? I'm 14 almost 15 now and I'm very short and under weight.
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2005/12/14, 01:28 PM
I would stick more with cardio exercise and recreational sports for your kids personally, but like someone else said it really boils down to the parents decision. You can get them into rock climbing and other intense body weight only lifting sports which would be a good start. good luck.
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