Is It Safe for Children to Lift Weights? Or Is It Dangerous?
Dear Men's Health, my 12-year-old son wants to start lifting weights; should I let him?
Men's Health Fitness Director, Andrew Tracey: You’ve only got to check the comments section underneath any video of an adolescent lifting weights to crowdsource a whole host of myths around young kids and resistance training. Unfortunately, you’ll also see lots of people appearing to buy into what’s being said.
Let’s start by dispelling the biggest myth — that lifting weights stunts children’s growth — and see what the science says. Research published in the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine looked at 22 different studies involving youths training with machines and free weights and concluded that ‘resistance training programmes did not influence growth in height and weight of pre- and early-adolescent youth.’
What's more, is that out of those 22 studies there were also only three reported injuries, which equates to less than one injury for every 100 hours of lifting. You don’t need me to tell you that this is an incredibly low rate versus adult populations.
Another study commented on the injury rate among children who resistance train and found that even when injuries do occur, these can generally be attributed to misuse of equipment, improper technique, lifting inappropriate loads and training without professional supervision. That to me sounds an awful lot like the same dangers us ‘grown-ups’ face in the gym. It ain’t what we do, it’s the way that we do it, right?
But this is where I think it starts to get really interesting. If we compare the injury rates of lifting weights to other sports, sports that we wouldn’t generally bat an eyelid at sending our children out to play, the gym suddenly starts to look like quite the safe space. A study conducted by the British Journal of Sports Medicine, looking at a youth football academy, concluded that: ‘each squad of 25 players averaged 30 injuries per season, which resulted in 574 days lost,’ noting that the highest occurrence of injuries was in players under 16. Thirty injuries per season among 25 players. Yikes.
So, lifting weights isn’t dangerous; in fact, it ranks as relatively safe compared to other sports that don’t garner the same sort of bad press. But maybe you don’t think simply being ‘safe’ is a good enough reason alone to send your kids to the gym on a regular basis, especially when there are other environments and activities (more geared towards children) that you may be leaning towards.
The question is, are there any benefits to letting your 12-year-old son start pumping iron? Well yes, quite a few. He can expect to reap all of the same rewards you and I would in the gym: increased strength, fitness, confidence, better general health, etc. In fact, some studies have shown that extra gym training for children could actually help to prevent injuries caused by participation in other sports, and that, due to the neurological adaptations gained from lifting weights, resistance training could have huge benefits in terms of skill acquisition and mastery of other pursuits.
It really is all good news. If your young son or daughter wants to be in the gym, as opposed to (or on top of) more traditional youth pursuits, the important thing is that you ensure that they’re properly supervised, have a solid plan, and lift safe and appropriate weights with good technique, as well as paying attention to their recovery and making sure they’re not overdoing it.
For what it’s worth, I didn’t play any traditional team sports growing up. They never interested me. It was only when I got in the gym at 16 that I developed a sense of purpose and a healthy drive that I don’t think I would have found elsewhere. For me, that alone is worth the price of a day pass at your local leisure centre.
3 Moves for Novice Lifters
Goblet Squats
Goblet squats are a great way to learn the squat pattern. They encourage good form by forcing an upright torso and also strengthen the postural muscles of the upper back.
Dumbbell Bench Press
Young or old, we all know the importance of bench pressing. It’s almost genetic. The dumbbell variety quashes the ego and skirts around potentially dangerous heavy lifting on the barbell.
Pull-Ups
Learning to move their own bodyweight through space is a meta-skill that will help your fledgling gym bro to improve at almost every other physical pursuit.
You Might Also Like
