What Age To Start

[shane]

What age do you think is okay for a child I mean a 13yr old boy to start in the gym. Would three days a week training be okay with supervision and plenty of protien after and good meals??? The young fulla is a stringbean nothing on him. What do you people think????

[blairandkelly]

could be the next lee priest :grin: should be fine i reakon , as long as hes njoying its the main thing

[Delpreet]

how i only wish i had started earlier..... i started training only when i was 23 and im 25 know...... good on u guys for starting early.......

[halo666]

Starting gym(lifting weights) at a early age will stun the growth of height. This is one of the reasons why gyms has advices that the a person should be at least 16 years of age, inconjuction with safety issues.

Examples such as Lee Priest, Dextor Jackson and many body builders who started weight lifting at a young age has heights only 5'4" -5'6".

[Delpreet]

Starting gym(lifting weights) at a early age will stun the growth of height. This is one of the reasons why gyms has advices that the a person should be at least 16 years of age, inconjuction with safety issues.

Examples such as Lee Priest, Dextor Jackson and many body builders who started weight lifting at a young age has heights only 5'4" -5'6".

agreed .... datz wat i studied as well....... but i would have been happy even to start at 18 or even 19 but just didnt have the resources where i come from.........and im only 167cm anyway .....lol

[Mike Zero]

Starting gym(lifting weights) at a early age will stun the growth of height. This is one of the reasons why gyms has advices that the a person should be at least 16 years of age, inconjuction with safety issues.

Examples such as Lee Priest, Dextor Jackson and many body builders who started weight lifting at a young age has heights only 5'4" -5'6".

Links to studies or STFU.

The earlier the better.

[IronGame]

Starting gym(lifting weights) at a early age will stun the growth of height. This is one of the reasons why gyms has advices that the a person should be at least 16 years of age, inconjuction with safety issues.

Examples such as Lee Priest, Dextor Jackson and many body builders who started weight lifting at a young age has heights only 5'4" -5'6".

Sorry I don't buy that for a second.

Start em early with a ballenced and well rounded program

[blairandkelly]

we had weights in the gym at our highschool , i did weights off an on from 3rd form , a few times a week , didnt have the internet back then so listened to older guys and the gym teacher on the pros and cons, these days the amount of resources at our fingertips is huge . diet, frequencey/intensity/volume of training and rest are all key. having no real understaning on these key principles my efforts were in vain and lost interest till later in my teens when i learnt considerably more about diet and training .school him up on the basics on these things and most importantly make sure he is enjoying himself , thats the main thing i think for a young guy . im 178 cm , i doubt any weight lifting i did slowed down my rise in height, to any significant degree, i think genetics are to blame for all you short ass's out there . :pfft:

[mr natural]

Starting gym(lifting weights) at a early age will stun the growth of height. This is one of the reasons why gyms has advices that the a person should be at least 16 years of age, inconjuction with safety issues.

Examples such as Lee Priest, Dextor Jackson and many body builders who started weight lifting at a young age has heights only 5'4" -5'6".

oh thats crap.

many studies have been done in recent years and the and the thing to be avoided is strenght training at a young age.Ie.1-4 rep max lifts as it can stunt bone growth,not to mention potentual for injury.

doing moderate to high reps is perfectly fine,If you look around at the crop of new kids gyms popping up,also the amount of kids sized weight machines on the market this should tell you something.

as far as Lee and Dexter go it could either be they were always going to be short or they started taking steroids during their growth years which causes premature forming of the growth plates in the bones and stops height gain in its tracks

[deeepsouth_nz]

Yeah total crap....heavy weights and low reps in young children can possibly stunt growth but moderate to light training will have no negative effects.

[Luigi]

what about just doing upper body stuff and avoiding such exercises as squats deads etc. as i could see them stunting growth.

[mr natural]

what about just doing upper body stuff and avoiding such exercises as squats deads etc. as i could see them stunting growth.

lol you don't want the kid to end up lookin like your chicken legged mate do you????

[Pseudonym]

I think that would be fine. There was a topic on this a while back. From memory, it linked to studies showing that early weight training was actually beneficial.

Just go with common sense, and use light weights and focus on good form to start with.

[Luigi]

thread double up.

[Pseudonym]

Topics merged now.

[rotangs on]

I don't see how it could reduce your height. Genes make up for that. The problem IMO when starting young is being nieve and stubborn in thinking that the workout is more important than nutrition. A problem that hinders most young peoples gains. Aslong as he gets the basics then 13 is no problem. My brothers 10 and i'll be getting him into the gym as soon as he hits college.

[Luigi]

what about just doing upper body stuff and avoiding such exercises as squats deads etc. as i could see them stunting growth.

lol you don't want the kid to end up lookin like your chicken legged mate do you????

haha na thats true but hes 24 so dont think hes gonna grow anymore!

[Manu]

I've wondered if the old saying that doing weights from an early age would stunt your growth. My kids are growing up in the gym environment and think nothing of picking up dumbbells, barbells etc and having a go at it. My 7 year old occasionally does deadlifts and had a go at the leg-press machine the other day, so it's in the back of my mind. She isn't forced into anything and is keen to try, what do you guys think?

[Growing Concern]

A good topic this one but I totally disagree that weights will stunt growth, I definately for the light to moderate weights and reps for the younger ones, but weights doesnt determine your height, genetics does, anyway I would sooner have my kids fit and active rather than sitting down watching tv and playing playstation as Manu says our kids love the gym and If they are wanting to lift some weight I am certainly not going to stop them but I will make sure they use the correct technique. I believe weights is one of the safest forms of sports and exercise one could do and feel that theres more chance of life long injuries from playing rugby than doing going to the gym.

[shane]

Thanks guys I will be getting him to take it easy and advise him on nutrition and that,won't be untill the third term and how his schoolwork goes we dangling the carrot. I agree going to the gym playing sport is far better than sitting on the couch and watching tv/playstaion and being anti-social.

[queen]

Yeah I think its really good to help kids find a sport or the gym to keep them active. Kids should be active and Im sure it will give them a far greater sense of achievement than sitting around watchign tv. Also its a confidence thing. Im sure some of us can remember school it was not necessarily the best years. Building young peoples confidence at sensitive ages is good to help them be happier and have the confidence to make good choices for themselves.

At least as a person with no kids that is what I would assume.

[halo666]

A added word to my previous post.

Yes, lifting weights(HEAVY weights) can cause the stunt in growth of height in some people. As many journals and articles mentioned.

This maybe due to inborn genetics in bone growth particularly in growth spurt ages 11-15 can be 'messed' up by stimulating muscle growth instead.

Although some may disagree, this possibility is actually quite high with reference to past studies.

However, lifting light weights at a early age with moderate reps, can aid agility and endurance.

[Dazzaman]

...I believe weights is one of the safest forms of sports and exercise one could do and feel that theres more chance of life long injuries from playing rugby than doing going to the gym.

Weights stunt kids growth?!...learn something new all the time, having played rugger and lots of rep stuff against older blokes as a kid, I definitely agree that there's more chance of injury to littlies playing rugby.

[Mike Zero]

A added word to my previous post.

Yes, lifting weights(HEAVY weights) can cause the stunt in growth of height in some people. As many journals and articles mentioned.

This maybe due to inborn genetics in bone growth particularly in growth spurt ages 11-15 can be 'messed' up by stimulating muscle growth instead.

Although some may disagree, this possibility is actually quite high with reference to past studies.

However, lifting light weights at a early age with moderate reps, can aid agility and endurance.

The above post is a load of spurted BS.

[Pseudonym]

Come on Mike, you're allowed to call BS, but you know you've got to come up with the studies too.

Equally halo666 - you say many journals and articles mention this. Can you find some for us, please?