Is it dangerous for teens to use weights?

Astrogeek

A friend of mine told me teenage boys shouldn't lift weights at all. My 16 year old brother comes to the gym with me and so far I haven't let him into the weights side of the gym but only because I don't know how to use any of the machines and he didn't want to ask any of the staff how to.
Is he better off not using any of the weights?

brianthebard

Its definitely not dangerous for teens, sure cardio's only 12 16 :P. But like anyone else they need proper guidance and lessons if possible.

squod

In fairness alot of bones haven't developed fully before adulthood.
That's the reason for your concern.

Hanley

Teen who knows what they're doing... good

Teen (or anyone) who doesn't know what they're doing.... bad.

rubadub

brianthebard wrote: »

But like anyone else they need proper guidance and lessons if possible.

Yeah, so if he is still not going to ask advice etc then he could be better off without them, same would go if he was 36 though, nothing to do with age.

Astrogeek

squod wrote: »

In fairness alot of bones haven't developed fully before adulthood.
That's the reason for your concern.

This is the reason my friend said a teen shouldn't do them. And we know some of the staff a lot better now so I think he wouldn't have as much of a problem asking for help.

d'Oracle

squod wrote: »

In fairness alot of bones haven't developed fully before adulthood.
That's the reason for your concern.

And in fairness these bones will develop to be much stronger if the teen exercises properly with weights.

OP.
There are literally millions of teens around the world training with weights.
I know a many rugby players who trained with weights in their teens and their bones are just grand.

Hanley

d'Oracle wrote: »

And in fairness these bones will develop to be much stronger if the teen exercises properly with weights.

OP.
There are literally millions of teens around the world training with weights.
I know a many rugby players who trained with weights in their teens and their bones are just grand.

Pretty sure there's reference to a study in starting strength about it too... about how even if you fracture the infamous growth plates it doesn't mean you'll stop growing. Or something to that effect. Tool lazy to go to my bookshelf to check!!

cardio,shoot me

well im 16 and have been hitting the weights consistantly for a good few months, ill keep ya updated if i shrink or somethin

Astrogeek

cardio,shoot me wrote: »

well im 16 and have been hitting the weights consistantly for a good few months, ill keep ya updated if i shrink or somethin

Haha! Thanks!
Thanks for the help lads

cardio,shoot me

atm im 6ft 4 so i could do with a bit of shrinkin....

Tomebagel

Same,im 16 now and a rower,
i started doing weights last september under the strict guidence of my coach,i was 15 at the time and there were boys who were 13 and 14 who did them too.we never lifted anything heavy just light with ALOT of reps,next year tho,we'll be doing heavys.its all about technique and posture lad,thats all we did them for so when we go for heavier weights next year we'll have perfect posture.:P

Transform

i train a kid who is 12years old (very talented racing car driver) and he is banging through the press ups, chins, body weight squats, lunges, kettlebell swings, dips etc there are lots of exericses you can do at any age.

I am finding flexibility a massive issue with the younger people i train i.e. they cant touch their toes from a seated position with legs totally straight. Get him to work on that more than core work.

Roper

I think the reason that weight training for kids is such a contentious issue is because of the amount of injury that can be attributed to bad training methods.

If you put 100kg on an adult's back when they aren't ready for it, they can injure themselves and that's okay because they're an adult and supposedly resonsible for their own actions. When you do likewise with a kid, you are directly responsible for injuring them.

A well structured, well supervised strength programme is excellent for a young kid's development, starting with mastery of their own bodyweight and working up to use of resistance training in excess of that.

tlev

Well I started training when I was 15, everyone said I shouldnt because it would stunt my growth, I grew to an alright 184cm (6ft for those who dont use metric ) and havent had any training related injuries, (touch wood!).

I'm happy I started at that age as I built a solid foundation which I hope to maintain for the rest of my life. Until then I didnt really do any sports or anything and the one thing I regret is that I didnt start sooner!! :D

Larianne

I know in Australia, most teens do weights. The young lads are HUGE! Just needs to be done right.

Sangre

Same with the US. A different sports culture that means the average sports playing teen is huge compared to europeans.

Most people have no problem with kids doing gymnastics even though that requires huge strength and conditioning.

Transform

Sangre wrote: »

Same with the US. A different sports culture that means the average sports playing teen is huge compared to europeans.

Most people have no problem with kids doing gymnastics even though that requires huge strength and conditioning.

totally agree and its also funny how PE or gym classes are done daily in some countries and in others its just once a week. Oh and how we wonder why we do not have better athletes in the country when it takes up to 10 years to produce one.

Finally, it amazes me how poor even people in their teens and 20's can't even do press ups and chin ups yet all they want to do is take sh1t loads of supplements and make every day international bench press and biceps curls day!

I had an 18 year old girl in last week doing full chin ups for reps with no assistance (not an athlete at all) - kind of pisses all over most of the guys who want to be on ADVANCED programs when they can't even get the bloody basics right first.

**Timbuk2**

There is some speculation over whether this is a good idea or not.

As far as I know, it is safe for teens to do weights, once they do them right. However, if you are not fully developed (below 18 probably) it is better if you don't lift really heavy. Instead of low reps, heavy weight go for a lighter weight with more reps (e.g 3x12 instead of 5x5).

d'Oracle

Sangre wrote: »

Same with the US. A different sports culture that means the average sports playing teen is huge compared to europeans.

Most people have no problem with kids doing gymnastics even though that requires huge strength and conditioning.

Eh, have you not seen the size of some of the senior cup rugby players in Ireland?

Or English schools rugby players?

Remmy

d'Oracle wrote: »

Eh, have you not seen the size of some of the senior cup rugby players in Ireland?

Or English schools rugby players?

Have you seen teens in america who are vying for football scholarships to big Colleges?

rubadub

Transform wrote: »

totally agree and its also funny how PE or gym classes are done daily in some countries and in others its just once a week.

Or how about none at all. When I was in 5th & 6th year I did honours maths and so did NO PE. It was always viewed as a sort of treat! I remember as punishment people would NOT be allowed do it! f**king crazy. And there was no "physical education" involved either, just an ignorant teacher making people play soccer for an hour and only caring about about ~5 lads who were decent at sport.

Roper

**Timbuk2** wrote: »

There is some speculation over whether this is a good idea or not.

There's actually not any debate at all in the sports science community. But you're right, there is some Joe Duffy style speculation as to whether it is the right thing to do. Teenagers can absolutely take part in strength training, but only at the level they're ready for.

As far as I know, it is safe for teens to do weights, once they do them right. However, if you are not fully developed (below 18 probably) it is better if you don't lift really heavy. Instead of low reps, heavy weight go for a lighter weight with more reps (e.g 3x12 instead of 5x5).

Well you've hit on the actual problem, which is poor quality instruction.

Quick examples:
I have two kids with the same strength training age (approx 3 years) and they're both 15. I've been coaching both since they were 9. They're both the same height, more or less. However one is awkward and would have a quite sedentary lifestyle outside of the gym- a lot of computers, TV etc. He would eat very little and is skinny as heck. The other has a very active lifestyle, plays physical games more or less daily. He has far from a perfect diet but gets a lot of good grub and it shows.

Kid 1 has the following stats (I'll abbreviate for the sake of the length of this post and only put up selective results)
Weight: 60kgs at 5'11"
Push ups in 1 minute- 15
Pull ups- 1
Kid 2:
Weight: 72kgs at 6ft
Push ups in 1 minute- 43
Pull ups- 11

So with these two kids, conventional wisdom on either side of the debate would have me either a) persist with bodyweight only with both or b) have both doing heavy load strength training as they're both 15 and big boys now. Both approaches are obviously wrong. To flesh this out a bit, Kid 2 has been doing heavy resistance training for a while and as part of his strength test last time out bench presssed 70kgs and trap bar deadlifted 140kgs. He is a more developed kid through either genetics, diet or lifestyle but probably a combination of all three. His needs are far different to Kid 1, so to train them both in the same way would be insane.

Sangre

Eh, have you not seen the size of some of the senior cup rugby players in Ireland?

Or English schools rugby players?

Yes. I played rugby and went to one of the big Dublin rugby schools. Irish guys are very average compared to US guys. Weight lifting is a part of their sports culture there, they all do it. Even the volleyballers I knew were huge.

They see weights as a way to maximise strength, power and stability. Sports development in the US is light years ahead of us. Their high school gyms would put any professional setup here to shame.

tlev

But dont forget that there is alot more money in the sports industry there, giving incentive to be good at sports and develop athletes. Here if you want to be good at something you have to pretty much do it yourself.

Transform

totally agree. even the back arse of no where schools i the USA have gyms that would put the commercial ones here to shame.

Main problem IMO is the good trainers are too busy working with paying clients to give you their time to work with schools or PE teachers as generally they could not afford the costs. Universities from my experience are different.

mloc

I think the culture in Ireland still very much treats resistance training (i.e. weights) as an unusual, dangerous and specialised form of exercise, instead of something that ideally everyone should be participating in from an early age.

tlev

I think the Spartans had the right idea! Send all the kids to fight and make real men out them! Just like in 300