how young is to young to lift weights

N

ngumoney

0
hello everyone,

my son is 4 and i started having him lift weight and run the treadmill? is that age to young to have him working out? any advice is appreciated.

thank you,

noobie
 
from what i have heard children should never lift not until they reach 15-16. maybe wait till his bones etc are fully developed but it is great to keep him fit my daughter has to play at least one sport of choice and also gymnastics.:)
 
Instead of weights and macines, why not incorporate some natural gymnastic moves. Running aruond the yard, climbing etc. that's what kids used to do before T.V. and video games.
 
weight lifting does not stunt growth at all, BUT I would be more worried about injury. Its easy enough for a well trained lifter to hurt themself, I would imagine a small (4.. probably very small) child would be prone to injury.
Perhaps you should play sports with him and allow his body to develop more with natural movement. This of course is opinion. It would just be a shame if your son had not stretched properly and somehow injured himself.
 
replying back to replyer

ok guys i understand what u guys r saying but i forgot to add that i'm having him lift the minumun weight like 10 lbs 8 times x 4 and barely walking/jogging the treadmill. what i'm trying to say is he don't even break a sweat. i think u guys r getting the idea that i'm working him out to death. so should i keep him up with that or not or should i drop lifting weights? any advice is appreiciated.

thank you

ngu
 
Even light weights can cause injury to a developing child. I would wait a little while. Perhaps wait until he gets a bit bigger. This is of course not a scientific answer and is highly debatable, but I would wait until he is at leat 10-12 before he lifts.
 
anyone every seen the worlds strongest kid on discovery or some channel?? he startedd when he was really young and only eated healthy and look at him... lol hes bigger than most adults at 10 i think or something i forget. :cool:
 
16 or over, and start lightly! 4 is way too young, you can damage his growth and really f**k his body.

Your doctor will advise against it.
 
I don't know how unhealthy or damaging it is. But maybe consider T-ball where he can do both of those exercises by swinging a bat and running the bases. (Plus he can socialize and have fun too).
 
your son is very young, his bones not as strong as an adult and he is growing everyday.

encouraging him to lift weights may do more damage than good and could stud his growth.

I wouldn't suggest it until he is at least 16. By all means encourage sports, but not weight lifting.
 
I agree with what a couple others said about having him do regular kid things like running around. When I was a kid I loved to run around, climb things and just go nuts. That is the best kind of exercise and it keeps his imagination going by getting him to think up ways to have fun. Running on a treadmill is boring and it might encourage him to just turn off his brain and just mindlessly go forward.

By the way, 10 lbs sounds heavy for a 4 year old! :eek:

~Nicole

P.S. I don't have any kids so I'm not completely familiar with kids that age or what they are capable of physically. Just stating my opinion and letting you know how I was when I was younger :)
 
Have him do exercises like these:
Pushups
Situps
Running
Stretching
Chinups
Body Squats (squating without weights)

Your child will really be ahead of the game!!
 
I'm 14 and have started lifting weights, i do 3 sets of 10 every time and when i can do that easily i add some weight, is this ok as i don't want to affect my growth.

10lb sound heavy for a 4 year old although how is he lifting it, eg; curls.
 
Lifting weights will NOT stunt your growth, no matter what your age!!! Why do people keep perpetuating this falacy?

You can injure yourself if you try to lift maximal weights, but doing sets of 10+ reps is unlikely to injure anyone, if you use reasonalble form and common sense!
 
Lifting weights CAN stunt your growth, if you do it wrong. I would suggest light exercises of 10-12 reps, don't go under 10. And learn all the movements prior to attempting them. As long as you take precaution you'll be fine.
 
jmanjman47 said:
Have him do exercises like these:
Pushups
Situps
Running
Stretching
Chinups
Body Squats (squating without weights)

Your child will really be ahead of the game!!
Click to expand...

Ya i woudln't do anything more than his own body weight. I would say that his motor skills are still develloping so he his own body is enough to help him get stronger and fitter. For running i'd have him doing sprints to get him faster. He doesn't raelly need to do endurance that bad if he's running around. Plus he would probably hate it and not want to play w/e sport you want him to. Don't push him too hard.
 
i tink it would be more effective if he did a sport, there are always kids who get muscly just from the sport they do, get him to do basketball, rugby, american football. or waterpolo thats very good.(swim incl)
ur better off getting muscle like that than with weights at such a tiny age.
my friend(he is 15) got very big muscles just from waterpolo. so i would tink sports is better right now.
 
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