what age to start at?

[UFC rocks]

hi my cousin thinks that weight lifting in your early teens, (14-16) stuns your growth. the thing is he want to do weights, because he enjoys it, but right now he is 14 and he want to waith a few years befor he starts. i am trying to get him to start now because then i will have someone to workout with. can you guys tell me if the answers i gave him for his questions are correct.

my cousin - "weight lifting stuns your growth"
me - "if it stuns your growth then how would your muscles possibly grow".

was my answer correct.

my cousin - "fine it doesnt stun your growth, but it does stops you getting taller".
me - "how does it stop you getting taller".
my cousin - "it compresses your spine".
me - "if it compresses your spine, then that is a very serious thing to happen, and if it was ture then there wouldnt be so many people in gyms lifting weights. its not ture because then nobody would even think about lifting weights."

was my answer correct.

even tougth i have gave him answers to his questions which he can not come back with a reply, he still wants to wait a few years. but i dont actually know if my answers were correct, can anyone tell me if they were and does weight lifting stun your growth or not.

but i am also a hypercritic because my other cousin, ^ hes brother wants to do weight but is only 12. even tought i cant find a reason why weightlifting stuns your growth, i think that 12 is too young. he said to me "but your the one who said it doent stun your growth, so why cant i do it". i had no reply other than "i just think 12 is too young".

what do you guys think is 12 too youg to start weight lifting?

is 14 ok to start weight lifting?

does it stun your growth?

 

[UFC rocks]

any help?

 

[lojasmo]

As long as nutritional intake is adequate, and the training is supervised by a savvy adult, It should be fine.

 

[dontchaknow]

I thought it was because your body diverted resources away from growing vertically to filling out? I have no reason to think this other than what I could come up with in 5 seconds.

 

[tomuchgear]

muscle growth is diffrent as you get older. as lojasmo stated make sure the workouts are supervised by a savy adult. best way i have ever heard training a youth stated. children are not just smaller adults.

 

[UFC rocks]

As long as nutritional intake is adequate, and the training is supervised by a savvy adult, It should be fine.

well for nutritional intake, i would say he eats petty well, he eats quiet a lot and most of it good. and well when ever he trains its usally with me, and i would cosider myself well educated from a training point of view. i may not know all that much about diet, but i know how to correctly train, and i have been showing him all short off differnt exercises and the correct form to use when doing them and have been his spotter in them.

 

[AKIRA]

I started at 15. With poor nutrition and training skillz.

 

[UFC rocks]

I started at 15. With poor nutrition and training skillz.

i looked at your pictures, you look great, hope you dont mind me asking how old you are now, im just woundering how long it took to get a body like that. good job keep up the good work.

 

[AKIRA]

I am 28. I havent looked too different since I turned 22, Id say. So with lousy eating habits and bodypart split training even I made results.

However, I woulve made better, faster results had I known then what I know now.

I think what I ate was nothing but beef beef beef. Oh and protein shakes had to be chocolate with a 1/4 cup of chocolate syrup. Needless to say, I am genetically an ectomorph.

 

[Rubes]

my old wrestling/football coach started his oldest son weight lifting at 8 years old nothing super heavy or anything like that just the forms for lifts and such.

i started to lift at age 14 on and off i dont think that it will stunt his growth at all. ive been 5'7ish since i turned 13 thanks to my wonderful genetics. tell him that it wont make him stop growing because im pretty sure that it wont stop that at all.

 

[Doublebase]

So what is the answer? I plan on having kids in the next year or so. Weight lifting is my passion so I will want to share it with them. I'm probably going to have them in my gym when they are 4 years old. Not going crazy of course, but showing them basic stuff to see if they like it. What age is to young? Will it hinder their growth in the future?

 

[Minhkey]

I just started lifting last year at age 15, but thats cuz I thought i was done growing anyway. I don't think it stunts your growth, my friend who has been lifting since 14 and is now 22 is like 6'2.

 

[tomuchgear]

the answer is no training will not inhibit growth. younger muscles do damadge easier. just like younger and older bones break easier. if you would like to train a child i would find some one who is familiar with youth training. if that is not the way you want to go just do a shit load of research.

 

[Doublebase]

the answer is no training will not inhibit growth. younger muscles do damadge easier. just like younger and older bones break easier. if you would like to train a child i would find some one who is familiar with youth training. if that is not the way you want to go just do a shit load of research.

So if my kid wants to do some bicep curls while I'm lifting I shouldn't have to worry about him having baby arms.

 

[ptwannabe]

I've only heard of sugar and caffeine being able to stunt growth. And that weight lifting stimulates growth. For the most part its just up to genetics and what you eat for how big you will get.

 

[tomuchgear]

well as long as form is good, loads are not to heavy, and last but not least your kid is not a toddler it should be fine. my kids are 2, and 4 the both do crunches, hit a punching bag. some times the will try and do pushups. i would say just introduce lifting, and working out at a young age. i wouldnt start a real routine though till they are old enough to comprehend things, and tell you what hurts. by that i mean if a load is to heavy or uncomfortable.

 

[tomuchgear]

oh and my daughter likes to do pullups on door knobs around the house. she is just silly like that.

 

[UFC rocks]

so if you start too young dont go heavy, but about for a 12 year old, can he go heavy for like 4-8 reps, or should he do like 15-20 reps.

 

[Acid]

I agree with everything everyone has said. I am 14 i started working about a year ago and since then i have gotten about 6 inches taller. So i dont think it could stun growth.

 

[UFC rocks]

I agree with everything everyone has said. I am 14 i started working about a year ago and since then i have gotten about 6 inches taller. So i dont think it could stun growth.

did you really grow 6 inches in a year, thats a lot, and so how tall are you now.

 

[tomuchgear]

i would say no. that unfortunatly is a uneducated guess. i am not certified in youth training i just know a little about it. i would assume since younger muscles, bones, ligaments, etc are more prone to damadge going to heavy could be very bad. like i said uneducated guess but that would be my recomendation.

 

[Acid]

im only 5'4 now but like i said i grew dramatically after i started maybe it was just luck or a coincident but that's what happened. but like everyone else said get a savy adult. i recently damaged mt rhombiod muscle pushed myself a little too far and im pretty well educated when it comes to wheight lifting and knew better and still i injured my back.

 

[tomuchgear]

how did you damage your rhomboid? i have not heard of some one damaging that exact muscle i know a few people that have done damage to delts, and the teres major.

 

[Acid]

I don't exactly know to be honest i was training for baseball and just tore it i guess. The problem is it's hard to repair because every time i breath or turn my head im using that muscle so it cant really repair itself.

 

[tomuchgear]

ya no doubt i can see how that would be a hard muscle to heal.