Early Weightlifting????

geraldine · Silver Member Joined: 25 Aug 2002 Posts: 233

I'm 40 year old mother and I'm pretty worried about my son. You see, my son is 16 years old, but he started to lift weights for strength and endurance at age 13. I don’t know anything about this but I definitely know that he is way too young to practice this weight lifting.
Of course, he doesn’t want to hear about possible quitting and I don’t know what to about all this. The first thing I could do is to get some information about this subject. For example, I would like to know does weightlifting stunt growth in teenagers?
This is very important subject for me and I would really like that, if someone really knows more about this- to share this with me!

bichsel · Newbie Joined: 04 Mar 2005 Posts: 13

Hello. I understand that you are worried and that’s why I will try to help you understand some things about early weightlifting.
I think that it really can't do any harm to him if he’s starting with some normal and low weights. Believe me, I'm not an expert, but to me if you start out with heavy weights you pull your whole body down, basically, trying to pull that one weight up.
The solution is to limit maximal overhead lifts during the adolescent.
Workout has some very good impacts on human and not only will proper weight training not stunt your son's growth, it will allow him to grow up with stronger muscles and bones.
Often people who workout- start practicing also with healthy lifestyle, including, healthy feeding habits and non-smoking.

Lishen · Newbie Joined: 13 Nov 2006 Posts: 1

Taking a look at bodybuilding forums, you see that many teenagers there are about 5'8" or shorter, and they're at the point where they have stopped growing.

tanchris · Newbie Joined: 17 Jan 2007 Posts: 13

Bichsel, you mentioned that lifting heavy weights will be pulling your whole
body down, but what if I lift by sitting on a chair? Does it has a difference?
I lifted 12-15kg(10-12reps) and 20kg(5-7reps) last year starting from June
to Dec at age of 15. Approximately maximum for 96days. Will I be growing
again if I stop lifting those heavyweights?

Now I'm just doing bodyweight exercises. Will I stop growing now? I'll be
reaching 16 this March. I need to know whether may I still grow? Please and
thank you.

Best regards,
Chris.

Nebula · Newbie Joined: 05 Jan 2007 Posts: 45 Location: Scotland.

Well everyone is different so it is difficult to tell. I don't know how far developed your son is. Some men who start puberty early have no problem.

Injuries that occur are what usually stunts growth if it happens at all.

The golden rule would be to work the upper body before reaching manhood (whilst avoiding maxing out), and then working the whole body with the likes of deadlifts and squats later on.

The kid has plenty of time though, and 13 is very young.

At that age I would encourage the kid to work more with bodyweight exercises, whilst eating well.

Would I have my little brother who is around that age lift? No. He is an athlete however and I encourage sports specific body weight exercise. When he matures he will be ready to truly hit the weights if that is what he wishes.

I matured early but at 13 I would not have been ready for the rigorous demands put on the body.

Early Weightlifting????

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