age
- Thread starter kelly25
- Start date
You can workout at any age, but the younger the go the more damage your going to make for the future.
Why worry about muscle when your only 13? Enjoy life, hang out with your friends, eat what you want.
Going at training at a young age when your not fully grown is going to hit your joints hard, and maybe even stunt growth. I'm 16 and I still don't go at it like I have to train every other day to get big. I just go every now and then (every 3rd day usually). It's a bit of recreation and a brake from the usual everyday stuff.
Why worry about muscle when your only 13? Enjoy life, hang out with your friends, eat what you want.
Going at training at a young age when your not fully grown is going to hit your joints hard, and maybe even stunt growth. I'm 16 and I still don't go at it like I have to train every other day to get big. I just go every now and then (every 3rd day usually). It's a bit of recreation and a brake from the usual everyday stuff.
I agree with Curtis here. Dedicated resistance and cardio training prior to high school can be more damaging to your body in the long term.
It is generally better to stick to cardio-based activities like sports, both recreational and entry level competative. If we've not swayed you and you really want to begin any sort of resistance training, you should limit yourself to body weight exercises only, such as pushups, sit ups, lunges, and pull ups, and keep your sets and reps per exercise relatively low... such as 5-10 reps for 1-2 sets.
It is generally better to stick to cardio-based activities like sports, both recreational and entry level competative. If we've not swayed you and you really want to begin any sort of resistance training, you should limit yourself to body weight exercises only, such as pushups, sit ups, lunges, and pull ups, and keep your sets and reps per exercise relatively low... such as 5-10 reps for 1-2 sets.
Any chance one of you wants to back this up with some form of proof?
Resistance training is fine for a 13 year old, just make sure you have a spotter for things like squats and Bench
My reasoning is this;
1) A 13 y/o will not be strong enough to lift a weight capable of damaging a growth plate
2) Resistance training is benificial to the health of your endocrine system which in turn will ensure steady, healthy growth and development throughout puberty. Both Growth hormone and Testostorone production can be increased through weight training which brings with it stronger bones and higher energy levels (lots of other good stuff too)
The idea that weight training stunts growth is practically pre-historic and based on conjecture
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The above is not true. It has never been shown in research. (for those who think that type of thing is important) This is just people being paranoid.
I started weight training at 12 and am just fine. I have never had an injury from training. (it has been 19 years now)
My training partner was doing double bodyweight deadlifts by the age of 8 and did his first clean at 4. He grew up to be 6'3" tall and has no injury problems.
I know, anecdotal evidence, which is why I lead off with the research.
Then I followed it up with my own observations.If you are 13, weight training is completely safe. You are more likely to get injured or cause harm running and playing sports than weight lifting. Nobody is going to tell you not to play sports either.
If you want to train with weights, enjoy it, you will make great friends in the weight room and have fun as well.
The above is not true. It has never been shown in research. (for those who think that type of thing is important) This is just people being paranoid.
I started weight training at 12 and am just fine. I have never had an injury from training. (it has been 19 years now)
My training partner was doing double bodyweight deadlifts by the age of 8 and did his first clean at 4. He grew up to be 6'3" tall and has no injury problems.
I know, anecdotal evidence, which is why I lead off with the research.
If you are 13, weight training is completely safe. You are more likely to get injured or cause harm running and playing sports than weight lifting. Nobody is going to tell you not to play sports either.
If you want to train with weights, enjoy it, you will make great friends in the weight room and have fun as well.
While there is literature to support that adolescent resistance trainer supports bone density, there is quite a lot of conflicting literature that both supports and contradict a negative impact to growth plates. There is, however, a fairly wide acceptance of an increase in injury due to overuse.
More importantly, there is a great deal of anecdotal evidence to support expedited degradation of joint tissues in young adults due to possible overuse as children. However, legitimate longitudinal and cross-sectional studies to support such evidence have yet to be conducted at an acceptable level of credibility due to overarching costs and variability, so it's hardly a matter of saying that you observe the opposite or just can't find any literature supporting negative effects.
My son loves to lift dumbells and use the resistance bands with me. He's got the best squat form of anyone I have ever seen.
He'll be 2 Feb 17.
illiniphase4
Dude,
The question was.
Not -
At what age can I train to become a high level athlete.
This is not a question of specialization too soon, it is a question of whether or not working out is appropriate.
Both of the links you posted stated that there are benefits to physical training for all ages.
Yes, people make the mistake of specializing to soon. (something that other countries focus on not doing) This does not make any type of training inappropriate for a young person. It just means that they should do all sorts of different things as opposed to specializing on a specific sport or activity.
Your links have good information, specifically about overuse injuries and other mistakes made when training young people. (or any people for that matter)
They can not be used to support the argument of -
Resistance training and cardio training are broad terms that cover a LOT of different things that can be done. Shooting down everything is not acceptable.
Here is what I believe to be the main reason for increasing injuries in younger athletes -
Kids grow up watching tv and playing video games. Then the join a sport. Of course there are going to be higher injury rates. Things are different from when I grew up and the only things we had to do were go outside, play games, ride bikes, and be active all day.
Dude,
The question was.
Not -
At what age can I train to become a high level athlete.
This is not a question of specialization too soon, it is a question of whether or not working out is appropriate.
Both of the links you posted stated that there are benefits to physical training for all ages.
Yes, people make the mistake of specializing to soon. (something that other countries focus on not doing) This does not make any type of training inappropriate for a young person. It just means that they should do all sorts of different things as opposed to specializing on a specific sport or activity.
Your links have good information, specifically about overuse injuries and other mistakes made when training young people. (or any people for that matter)
They can not be used to support the argument of -
Resistance training and cardio training are broad terms that cover a LOT of different things that can be done. Shooting down everything is not acceptable.
Here is what I believe to be the main reason for increasing injuries in younger athletes -
Kids grow up watching tv and playing video games. Then the join a sport. Of course there are going to be higher injury rates. Things are different from when I grew up and the only things we had to do were go outside, play games, ride bikes, and be active all day.
My 3 year old got her head between my legs at the weekend and tried to give me a piggy back
I bought my god son 1 pound dumbbells for christmas when he was 6 months.
He's one years old now and can actually lift toys that are bigger than him off the ground and walks around with the toy. He actually does this for FUN!
I started weight training when I was 13, but I was doing very high reps. I would do 30 rep for 3 sets with any exercise I could do. I did 30 reps because my joints would hurt if I did like 10 at that time.
Maybe you should try 30 reps to get used to the weight if you too are not used to it yet.