Should Children Lift Weights?

For anyone…

It’s a common misconception that resistance training for young athletes is bad for their growth and development. The opposite is true.

Being Careful is Important…

Most other activities that children participate in are significantly more dangerous than resistance training.  Just like any other activity, it is important that kids are supervised while they are performing these movements and it is equally important that these young athletes are with an experienced supervisor.  

To make sure that the child does not get bored, burnt out or injured, there needs to be some variation and periodization involved with the programming. Along with this periodization, load needs to be managed properly and the child should not be overworked. 

There is not much evidence on the growth cartilage being damaged during youth training, but if it were to be damaged, the reasoning would be because the load and stress on the body is far too high.

Build Their Brain…

Youth training is not all about hypertrophy (muscle growth).  This may sounds obvious, but many people shy away from youth training because they don’t see a big change in the young athlete’s appearance. 

Just like any other hobby or sport, it is best, neurologically, to start training at a younger age so that you can pick up on the techniques quicker and build safer lifting habits. 

The snatch, power clean and many other lifts used in weight training are not easy movement patterns to learn and frankly, some people never end up mastering them.  This is because many people start too late and never had these weight lifting foundations built as a child. 

It is no different than trying to pick up guitar or a difficult sport when you get older. 

It’s Better Than Running…

Resistance training can be a better alternative than aerobic exercise for obese youth.  Often times, kids that are obese do not like to run because running contains a high level of physical activity for a long period of time without much rest.  Resistance training is far more similar to kids’ playing behavior in the sense that during resistance training, you work hard for a short amount of time and then you get to rest for a short period of time. 

Teaching kids how to resistance train could prevent childhood obesity and spark interest in kids that would have never had a desire to be physically active.