Mods: feel free to move this if it’s in the wrong forum.
I’ve heard that weightlifting might stunt kids’ growth if they do so at a certain age/point in their development. Many people say this is an old wives’ tale, and I tend to agree because:
There are apparently many cultures where kids do heavy labor in factories/farms to help support the family. Surely someone would have noticed if they all ended being stunted.
Short people are mostly proportionally short all over, they’re not walking around with big legs but compressed torsos (i.e the effects of weightlifting)
Allow me to be the first to point out that toting bales of hay once a year, or standing all day on a factory assembly line, isn’t quite the same thing as organized, strenuous, goal-oriented weightlifting.
And, a lot of those kids who worked in factories did have their growth stunted, but more from poor nutrition and working 16 hours a day than from just “lifting weight”.
Your question about weightlifting stunting teens’ growth may be answered by saying, “It depends.” Weight training, if done properly, can be good for kids. Mere weight lifting, if done by an obsessive, totally goal-oriented teen with a headful of misinformation (“more is better”) with no adult supervision or input, can be very dangerous.
I lifted weights all throughout my teen year, and I’m 6-2, 230.
I dont think it stunts growth at all. The only thing one has to watch out for is overtraining. A teenager doesnt have the testosterone levels of a grown man, so he or should
nt lift more than about a half hour a day, 5 days a week.
You didn’t mention the gender so I don’t know if what I’ve said below is of any use to you or not. My daughter lifts with me about 3 times per week. I’m about the same size as Gene below and she is 13 Years old, and about 5’2" tall. So far we haven’t noticed any adverse effects, quite the contrary.
Please note, she isn’t doing power lifting or going for heavy weights and bulk. She increases the weight by very small increments but does do a lot of reps. She is very pleased by the shaping and toning that lifting provides. Also, being marginally stronger than her friends gives her a psychological boost.
Altogether, I’d say that lifting is good for her. As she enjoys and thus will actually do it, this is a success.
Thanks for the replies! They pretty much confirmed what I suspected: there’s no real danger unless you really go nuts with the powerlifting, etc. I think one reason the myth got started is because short people, in my experience, are more likely to take up weightlifting in the first place (an overcompensating thing?)
Testy: I was actually talking about male teens, but since I’ve always wanted to have a daughter one day, I’ll keep that info in the back of my mind…
This really is a question that should have a factual answer rather than a debate of the type that usually goes on here. Therefore, I’m moving it to General Questions.
Um… you do realize some of us girls lift, too, right? It’s not just about testosterone, but about proper conditioning regardless of hormone balance.
I was involved in weight training in my teens (along with biking, swimming, horses, backpacking, hiking, skiing, soccer …) and gradually worked my way up to bench-pressing my own body weight (150lbs), which is definitely more advanced than most women ever do. I must emphasize, though, that this was done gradually - over about 18 months, and I already started out strong due to all my other activities. Certainly, any woman (or girl) working with weights must realize that it will take her longer to build up strength than a man, and her joints are slightly more prone to injury. You see, men’s joints aren’t as flexible, which provides more stability in weightlifting. Women are more flexible, which is good in many arenas, but requires some precaution in any physical activity involving weight and/or sudden shifts in speed and direction. That said, I never, ever had an injury due to weight training because (I believe) I had good supervision and spotting.
I’m 5’3" which is not considered tall - but that makes me the second tallest member of my family, so taking genetics into account I’d have to say no, it didn’t stunt my growth. The critical thing is not to damage the growth plates on the ends of the bones - that is where the stunting can occur, in either girls or boys. I was over my major growth spurt when I started weights. It is recommended that serious training not be started until the child is more or less done growing, as a precaution. Prior to that, training in moderation with an emphasis on reps and proper technique with lighter weights is more important than power lifting. For girls, who tend to bulk up more on their quadriceps than on other leg muscles (that’s due to anatomy, mostly) a properly structured program of weights to strengthen the other leg muscles to match the quads can actually prevent injuries. The key, I can’t emphasize this enough, is moderation
Now, 20 years later, I still retain some benefits of all that training. Although I am not as strong as when I actively trained, some of that strength has stayed with me. Having proportionly more muscle mass means I have a higher metabolism than many women my age, which helps keep my weight steady. I have strong bones and have suffered only one fracture (rib - under circumstances that would have fractured any bone) despite being bucked off a horse, falls of 5-10 feet, collisions, and other rough treatment of my body. Not that I recommend such roughness, but I do like to play hard and that comes with some risks.
You will have to excuse the fuzzy memory, my physiology of movement class was 5 years ago.
Having said that, your bones grow at the ends, at the bone plate. Heavy lifting causes these plates to calcify. So, if you were to seriously weight train while you were growing, these plates could calcify sooner than normal, thus stunting your growth.
Out professor, who was the head of the physiology/kinesiology research lab basically summed it up thus:
Young people can weight train, but need to be under supervised programs and not be doing extremely strenuous regimes.
As others have pointed out, it can be dangerous, but with a little common sense it isn’t. There is a small percentage of (usually) teenage boys who may lack such common sense of course. After looking through the first link posted, you realize that younger people just don’t show the same effects and size gains as adults, so they may think they aren’t lifting heavy enough (especially if they’re reading body building mags) - so they do more than they should. Combine that with the ego thing of needing to outdo all the other 15 yr-old guys in class, and getting attention for being able to bench 250lbs in grade 8, and some may just over-do it. If the kid has patience, supervision, and no grandiose dreams of looking like Flex Wheeler by their 18th birthday, they’ll be fine.
Sorry to break the news to you, Astro, but I guess it’s time you find out the truth.
Actually, you were SUPPOSED to reach 6 feet 11 inches and later star as a power forward for the Lakers. Just think: you could have been a superstar millionaire mobbed by legions of adoring and very shapely babes IF your ill-advised weightlifting regimen in high school had not stunted your growth at only 6’3".
Which is where some of the kids get into using steroids - which most certainly can stunt your growth, even when used in medicinal doses for legitimate health reasons, much less the mega-doses used by weight-lifting abusers.
Here’s the scenario: 15 year old boy, not yet fully grown, lifting weights, not seeing the same results as in the body building mags. Of course, a lot of the peeled-sides-of-beef models in those mags are about as natural as a pin-up girl with breast implants, poofed-up lips, and liposucked hips and tummy. Some of those bodies you just can’t get without chemical aids. So the 15 year old, already training too hard to reach an impossible ideal starts with the supplements, then a “friend” - possibly someone achieving the “look” he’s after - introduces him to steroids… Yeah, he’ll get the “cut” look he’s after (steroids work, that’s why they’re abused) - along with all sorts of bodily harm that will start showing up in his 20s. But because he’s in high school and not hanging out with the former weight trainers whose bodies are falling apart he might hear about it, but doesn’t see it.
Even more tragic when a girl falls into this trap. Injecting male hormones to get muscle really screws up female biology.
If I had a kid into weight lifting I’d be more concerned about them being exposed to steroids than to whether or not the exercise would stunt their growth. Just like if I had a kid who was a ballet dancer or gymnast I’d be concerned about eating disorders. It doesn’t happen to everyone, but unfortunately it’s a risk of the sport.
