Teens & weight training.

squod

I've started a new topic, TF sandyford don't have a monopoly on teenagers lifting weights. In the gym where I train there's a few teens, mostly boxers, who are well looked after by the staff. I'd have to say I'm not gone on the idea of people under 18 training with heavy weights. So I've read some web pages.

http://kidshealth.org/teen/food_fitness/exercise/strength_training.html

''Because your bones, joints, and tendons are still growing and developing, it's easy to overdo it and strain or even permanently damage them''

http://www.teenbodybuilding.com/jay1.htm

''Supervision is key. The risk of injury is real but it is inversely proportional to proper technique and supervision.''

Roper

I was a numb nutted 15 year old trying to lift stupid weights at one stage and I failed dramatically to kill myself, stunt my growth (maybe I was meant to be 6'9" though) or damage myself irreperably.

If lifting heavy stuff is so bad for teenagers, mates of mine who have been working with their Da's on sites or farms would be damaged beyond repair and 4'6" today. What is bad for teenagers is sitting on their holes.

We have lots of under 18s in the gym doing the exact same sessions as the 20 somethings, making gains, having fun and just enjoying themselves.

Zamboni

Roper wrote: »

If lifting heavy stuff is so bad for teenagers, mates of mine who have been working with their Da's on sites or farms would be damaged beyond repair and 4'6" today. What is bad for teenagers is sitting on their holes.

Very important point.
Teens have been doing serious manual labour for, well, since there was teens...
The only difference now is that it is a choice rather than a necessity.

EileenG

Same rules apply for teens as every one else. Lift hard, but with proper form.

I've yet to see an actual study showing that teenagers who lifted weights suffered as a result. It all seems to be speculation. "We don't know, but we think this might happen...."

In fact, there was a big study in Sweden which found that girls who lifted weights and did high impact exercise before and during puberty had much stronger bones than those who didn't. Since osteoporosis is currently running at one in four Irishwomen, we should be pushing our teenager girls into the gym as fast as possible.

podge57

In relation to injury, kids/teens run a much higher risk of injuring themselves from playing contact sport than weight training - Rippetoe says "They are not strong enough to lift enough weight to get injured."
There should be a major focus on using correct form and mastering their own bodyweight first, before adding resistance

All the talk about stunting growth etc seem to be just speculation, and none of the studies back it up

d'Oracle

Meh.

I know a good few lads who started lifting before 16.

3 are professional rugby players now.
I can assure anyone in doubt, it didn't stunt their growth.

g'em

I've yet to see any compelling evidence against resistance training in young people. Instead it has been shown to reduce obesity or risk of obesity, reduce the risk of osteoperosis, reduce the risk of depression and anxiety levels and increases confidence, well being & self esteem.

The notion that kids shouldn't lift things for fear of their health is preposterous.

Although this article isn't tacklign the topic at hand per say, it is looking at resistance training in kids as young as 9 with great results.

J Strength Cond Res. 2009 Jan;23(1):80-5.
Eight weeks of resistance training can significantly alter body composition in children who are overweight or obese.

McGuigan MR, Tatasciore M, Newton RU, Pettigrew S.

School of Exercise, Biomedical and Health Sciences, Vario Health Institute, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, Australia.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of an 8-week resistance training program on children who were overweight or obese. Forty-eight children (n = 26 girls and 22 boys; mean age = 9.7 years) participated in an 8-week undulating periodized resistance training program for 3 d x wk-1. Measures of body composition via dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, anthropometry, strength, and power were made before and after the training intervention. There was a significant decrease in absolute percent body fat of 2.6%(p = 0.003) and a significant increase in lean body mass of 5.3% (p = 0.07). There were no significant changes in height, weight, body mass index, total fat mass, or bone mineral content. There were significant increases in 1-repetition maximum squat (74%), number of push-ups (85%), countermovement jump height (8%), static jump height (4%), and power (16%). These results demonstrate that the resistance training program implemented produces significant changes in body composition and strength and power measures, as well as being well tolerated by the participants. An undulating periodized program provides variation and significantly increases lean body mass, decreases percent body fat, and increases strength and power in children who are overweight and obese.

The Davestator

In my dealings with suppliers of youth / teen gym equipment, they recommend only doing free weights as it is too easy for teens to put the weights pin down a few plates to show off or else get halfway through an exercise before realising it is too heavy.

They maintain thay by supplying only free weights, they avoid this. Interestingly, they also make the weights look bigger than normal which I though was a good idea. (i.e. 10 kg looks like 20 kg)

squod

The above points are all good 'uns however I'd have to say that in my time as a builders labourer I rarely came accross such weight as is available in gyms.
Also there's now a bigger gym culture among the population generally. Male teens are competitive creatures and this adds to their' pressure to lift bigger/look bigger.

''Teens sometimes do things just to compete with others''
http://www.ehow.com/how_2170959_help-teens-manage-stress.html

g'em

Competition amongst teenagers is hardly a new concept and neither is the desire to look good or the idea of resistance training in young people. As Roper pointed out, heavy lifting and manual labour has been done by young men and women for many generations (as many generations as have existed??) and we have yet to see a detrimental effect to the yoof who partake in it.

Doing stupid things will cause stupid things to happen, but that applies to children, adolescents and adults alike. As has been said, with a safe program, good supervision and proper form resistance training can be of huge benefit to young folk.

Roper

Sorry mate but all you're doing is putting up random internet articles. Anything can be said in those. Do you have any peer reviewed science to support your contention? Or even verifiable facts?

EileenG

The Davestator wrote: »

In my dealings with suppliers of youth / teen gym equipment, they recommend only doing free weights as it is too easy for teens to put the weights pin down a few plates to show off or else get halfway through an exercise before realising it is too heavy.

They maintain thay by supplying only free weights, they avoid this. Interestingly, they also make the weights look bigger than normal which I though was a good idea. (i.e. 10 kg looks like 20 kg)

But I suspect they are also protecting themselves. If someone hurts himself with a free weight, he had no-one to blame but himself. Injury with a machine is quite likely to be problems with the machine.

Oisinjm

I'm 16, been lifting for the past year and honestly, I don't know why I didn't start earlier. I'm stronger, leaner, fitter and most importantly its helped me improve on the pitch. If you use proper form I really do not see a problem. The problem starts to occur when (I've noticed it in my own gym) the instructors just sit on their hole and don't actually go around helping people with form etc. I see fools swinging the weights around and the gym instructors just sit there. What are they paid for?

As well as the positive effects its had on my body, its also made me feel better about myself and is a great way to relieve stress. Please provide some actual proof that lifting properly will have any detremental effects to my body, please.

squod

Roper wrote: »

Sorry mate but all you're doing is putting up random internet articles. Anything can be said in those. Do you have any peer reviewed science to support your contention? Or even verifiable facts?

Oisinjm wrote: »

I'm 16, been lifting for the past year and honestly, I don't know why I didn't start earlier. I'm stronger, leaner, fitter and most importantly its helped me improve on the pitch. If you use proper form I really do not see a problem. The problem starts to occur when (I've noticed it in my own gym) the instructors just sit on their hole and don't actually go around helping people with form etc. I see fools swinging the weights around and the gym instructors just sit there. What are they paid for?

As well as the positive effects its had on my body, its also made me feel better about myself and is a great way to relieve stress. Please provide some actual proof that lifting properly will have any detremental effects to my body, please.

I'm doing some more reading into this, and learning as I go. This is the kind of thing I'm seeing often. Some sites say avoid one rep maximums etc, others say avoid machines and stick with free weights. Of course reading this is all a little late for me. Interesting all the same.

http://northridgehospital.staywellsolutionsonline.com/Wellness/Fitness/Children/1,2381

''Adult weight-training programs should not be used for teens, because these can be too strenuous and repetitious. Training typically should include using weights for 30-second intervals, followed by breaks. The teen should warm up with calisthenics and stretching before weight training and cool down with stretching afterward, Dr. Brehm-Curtis says.''

d'Oracle

squod wrote: »

http://northridgehospital.staywellsolutionsonline.com/Wellness/Fitness/Children/1,2381

''Adult weight-training programs should not be used for teens, because these can be too strenuous and repetitious. Training typically should include using weights for 30-second intervals, followed by breaks. The teen should warm up with calisthenics and stretching before weight training and cool down with stretching afterward, Dr. Brehm-Curtis says.''

I thought that was the point?

Oisinjm

It needs to be strenuous to have any effect. You're trying to get stronger so you need to push yourself. Its the same as running. If you hop on a treadmill and walk it for 10 minutes its going to do sweet f**k all. The fact that all these quotes are ridiculously vague, i.e. "too strenuous and repetitious", makes it even less believeable. How stenuous is too strenuous. Obviously if you're killing yourself for 2 hours in the gym its going to have detrimental effects on you.

I think the main point is, is that its the same for teenagers as it is for adults. If you have bad form and are stupid, you're not going to get the results you want and you're going to injure yourself in the process. Maybe teenagers have to take a tiny extra bit of care when it comes to form, but honestly I really don't think it matters. Machines don't have as good of an effect as free weights do (in my opinion) anyway, so I'd feel teenagers and adults should be told to use the free weights regardless.

EileenG

Exactly. If anything teenagers have a much better recover from injury of any sort than adults. I'm 48, and I wish I had the sort of recovery I did when I was 16. I wasn't in a gym, but I lived on a farm and used to toss bales of new hay around with the most appalling form. And yet here I am.

Slugs

Let's take examples from the real world:-

Mr. Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger

Started bodybuilding at 15

While competing:-

Height 6 ft 1.5 in (1.87 m) Weight 240 pounds (113 kg)
went on to become governor of California. 7 time Mr. Olympia.

Quite obviously lifting at a young age is very detrimental to you!

Roper

I think what you've put up is flawed. What differs between an adult and a kid is not type but load. We're anatomically and biomechanically not much different as we age but what does change is our response to loading. My son can overhead squat a broom with good form at 4, when he's 14 he'll do the same with a heavier load, and heavier again when he's 24. The movement never changes.

The laws of biology don't change because we're younger or older. This "safety first" thing with kids is complete bollocks because it implies that with adults the idea is "safety last" or "danger first". It's just something people shove in articles to make themselves sound caring and to shirk responsibility for coaching a kid.

Remmy

Roper wrote: »

I think what you've put up is flawed. What differs between an adult and a kid is not type but load. We're anatomically and biomechanically not much different as we age but what does change is our response to loading. My son can overhead squat a broom with good form at 4, when he's 14 he'll do the same with a heavier load, and heavier again when he's 24. The movement never changes.

The laws of biology don't change because we're younger or older. This "safety first" thing with kids is complete bollocks because it implies that with adults the idea is "safety last" or "danger first". It's just something people shove in articles to make themselves sound caring and to shirk responsibility for coaching a kid.

well said sir.

d'Oracle

Roper wrote: »

My son can overhead squat a broom with good form at 4,

Awesome.:D