I can guess that you get this question all the time, but it’s just that I don’t know whom to believe. Anyway, I'm in my teens and I want to start weight lifting. All of my friends seem to be better then I am so I want to change it. But someone recently told me that weightlifting could stunt my growth, so I want to know if that is this true?
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If someone were to start lifting weights at a young age, say around 13/14, I would think that it will do something that you would not to happen. Your body is not done growing at this stage of the game. I would stay away from lifting weights until the age of 16-18 if I were you.
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As someone who started weight lifting at 15, this question really bothers me. Not that you ask it, of course, but that so many people still believe it even though there's no evidence to back that idea up whatsoever and weight lifting can only be good for your body if done responsibly.
To about any side effects of weight lifting:
- Start with minimal weights! Don't over-exert yourself.
- Find a mentor who can give you instructions.
- Warm up before training.
- If you sustain an injury, see your doctor. Some people will advise you to get a physical before starting weight lifting and that is a good idea too.
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Generally weightlifting does not affect growth, but sometimes care has to be taken especially if your growth plates have not yet fused.
Also it all depends on the sort of weights you do. The heavier they are the more likely it will affect your growth. Also the sort of exercises you do can affect your growth. Also the age you start and the level you start when weightlifting can also affect your growth. Now lets deal with them one at a time.
Generally you shouldn't start weightlifting when you are still growing as you are now I'm sure. After about the age 17 years it reasonable to do weightlifting starting slow and gradually building up muscular strenght but more importantly bone strength. Remember that you do not stop growing until the age of about 21. This is when the growth plates you have as kid fuse together in your arms and legs (thats why you stop growing because once they fuse there is no space for the ends of the bone to grow).
Secondly if you do exercises which put stress on your bones so that it is acting along the bone, then that will act to compress the bones resulting in less growth in the bone than normal. If you do it for a long time at a young age that compression can be permanent. Doing exercises which put strain on your spine like military press, squats, dumbell curls while standing, overhead press etc, will also affect your height if you start at a to early age. I suggest you do exercises where you are lying down, or at least sitting in a chair. And even then don't go to more than half your body weight. Sometimes people have defect in the major artery that leads from the heart, the aorta. The problem is that in some people part of this artery is genitically weak and due to blood flowing through it (ie: blood pressure) this overtime balloons outwards. Now under normal conditions this is usually not fatal and is undetected. But doing weights which are more than half your body weight, can cause instant death, because the aorta will rupture. This has killed more people in America in the past year than AIDS has. Most of the time people didnt even know or their doctors that they had this condition.
So generally if you are in year 8 stick to running , pushups, situps, shadow boxing and squats (all without weights). Do these things until you drop, to get a good workout. This way you get the maximum growth and strength out of your body while you are growing. So when u do stop growing then your bones are strong and your muscles conditioned. This way when u start weightlifting u can have great progress, but even then u build up slowly.
I am a medical student myself, and also a weightlifter. I am 19 years olds. I started when I was 17.5 yrs. I do 300 pound bench, 120 pound biceps, 360 pound squats and 1100 pound leg press when i am on form and having a reasonable day at the gym. Also that heart condition is called aortic aneurysms. When u do start weightlifting check yourself out for this condition, before you start heavy weights. Because if it happens it will kill u so fast , it is not funny.
I hope this has been useful dude. By the way i am from australia, so we use kilos. and the weights i do seem alot less to me when you convert. ;-) :
Also it all depends on the sort of weights you do. The heavier they are the more likely it will affect your growth. Also the sort of exercises you do can affect your growth. Also the age you start and the level you start when weightlifting can also affect your growth. Now lets deal with them one at a time.
Generally you shouldn't start weightlifting when you are still growing as you are now I'm sure. After about the age 17 years it reasonable to do weightlifting starting slow and gradually building up muscular strenght but more importantly bone strength. Remember that you do not stop growing until the age of about 21. This is when the growth plates you have as kid fuse together in your arms and legs (thats why you stop growing because once they fuse there is no space for the ends of the bone to grow).
Secondly if you do exercises which put stress on your bones so that it is acting along the bone, then that will act to compress the bones resulting in less growth in the bone than normal. If you do it for a long time at a young age that compression can be permanent. Doing exercises which put strain on your spine like military press, squats, dumbell curls while standing, overhead press etc, will also affect your height if you start at a to early age. I suggest you do exercises where you are lying down, or at least sitting in a chair. And even then don't go to more than half your body weight. Sometimes people have defect in the major artery that leads from the heart, the aorta. The problem is that in some people part of this artery is genitically weak and due to blood flowing through it (ie: blood pressure) this overtime balloons outwards. Now under normal conditions this is usually not fatal and is undetected. But doing weights which are more than half your body weight, can cause instant death, because the aorta will rupture. This has killed more people in America in the past year than AIDS has. Most of the time people didnt even know or their doctors that they had this condition.
So generally if you are in year 8 stick to running , pushups, situps, shadow boxing and squats (all without weights). Do these things until you drop, to get a good workout. This way you get the maximum growth and strength out of your body while you are growing. So when u do stop growing then your bones are strong and your muscles conditioned. This way when u start weightlifting u can have great progress, but even then u build up slowly.
I am a medical student myself, and also a weightlifter. I am 19 years olds. I started when I was 17.5 yrs. I do 300 pound bench, 120 pound biceps, 360 pound squats and 1100 pound leg press when i am on form and having a reasonable day at the gym. Also that heart condition is called aortic aneurysms. When u do start weightlifting check yourself out for this condition, before you start heavy weights. Because if it happens it will kill u so fast , it is not funny.
I hope this has been useful dude. By the way i am from australia, so we use kilos. and the weights i do seem alot less to me when you convert. ;-) :
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hey yall im 14 bout to be 15.im 5,5" and am a powerlifter, i weigh arounf 120 and 114 at competition. i wanna know if doing 350 on squat and 360 on deadlift every meet will affect me.
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Nice information araeiq...I couldn’t stop reading your article...
I have been always scared of stunning my growth because of weight lifting...especially since I play allot of basketball, and thinking of joining a college team. I am 15 years old, and I lift 135 max on bench press (pds), I never use weights for my legs and I use my own weight for leg workouts, such as calf raisers. So I was wondering if this will effect my growth…because all I am working out and trying to build is chest, triceps, shoulders and biceps.
Oh yea and I have been lifting weights for about a year now.
I have been always scared of stunning my growth because of weight lifting...especially since I play allot of basketball, and thinking of joining a college team. I am 15 years old, and I lift 135 max on bench press (pds), I never use weights for my legs and I use my own weight for leg workouts, such as calf raisers. So I was wondering if this will effect my growth…because all I am working out and trying to build is chest, triceps, shoulders and biceps.
Oh yea and I have been lifting weights for about a year now.
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when i was 11 and 12 i started doing bicep curls because i was really small like 5 2 100 pounds now im like 5 9 5 10 175 pound sit doesent stunt my growth i just not going ot be more then 6 1 haha
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hey people well am in wrestling for my first year and they got me doing sqauts and its so confusing telling no it don't affect ur growth or yes it does and i don't know wut to do am so scared cuz the last thing i wanna be is smaller than 5'6 which i am now n am 15 just turned in april n i see evryone else in wrestling thats been there before n they small so it scares me man cuz u know i don't want to stay short but i also want to bulid up muscle but i think that anything that strains ur back makes u short i think like squats ect.
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I have just become fourteen, I am six foot four. When I become fifteen I will very likely be much taller, and, guess what, I don't lift weights. But my friend who is also fourteen, started lifting weightts at the age of 8 and is more than a foot shorter than me.
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I agree there is nothing to worry about, its all genetics. I started lifting at 11-12 and ive had a few groth sperts. My parents are 5.5 and 5.6 i am 5.6 atm and still growing. I am only 13 at the moment and i recently stoped liffting to c if anything would happen. My friends kept telling me that lifting would stunt my groth, if anyone can prove me wrong on a test or anything please do so.
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Yes it is true, building muscular strength does stunt your growth but not too much, you see muscles are attached to your bones right? So if your muscles are too strong it is a lot harder for the bones to grow, because they have to try to stretch the muscles attached. You get it now?
Also if your not pushing your self and your still short then its in your genes and your born with that. So if your family members are not short than you probably wont be short ether.
Also if your not pushing your self and your still short then its in your genes and your born with that. So if your family members are not short than you probably wont be short ether.
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im 12 and was 5'6 wen i started to becnch and now its like 2 months later and im 5'8 and a half i greww 2 and half inches and i dont thinks it was from a growth spurt i dont do maxes but my exercise is 80 lbs 15x 70lbs 15x 6015x 50 15x 40 15x and then the bar to how ever many i can do last time i did it fifty times i know im tall and im strong and im not fat 135 pounds i have a pretty flat stomach and no man tits but big legs i havernt set up the squat rack yet but i will do over 120 for sure
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this is mainly due to inherited genes. this is not a myth as scientists have clinically proven to do so.
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Personally, I think I made a huge mistake starting at the age of 15. I'm 16 now and I've been weight lifting for a year and I can say I've been hitting it pretty heavy. I'm about 5'6 and I've been just about this height since last year. I bench 225lbs for reps and my max is about 265lbs. I can shoulder press 135lbs, I leg press 600lbs for reps, squat 315lbs for reps, curl 115lbs barbell, close-grip bench press 185lbs for reps, and I can low row 180lbs for reps.. basically I do everything heavy and I think I'm not going to grow anymore. It's a good reason to compete with your friends but the reason why I started was to play some serious rugby for my school team. The best advice I can give you is stay away from heavy-weights and try to keep it moderate. Another thing to consider is to see how tall your parents, or your family members are. Because my parents are 5'4 and it's a miracle I even grew to 5'6 and I don't think anyone in my family is over 5'9 (that are blood related). It could also be my genes that I'm not growing at all but yeah if you tend to have a family on the shorter side actually wait it off til you're about 17+.
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