The best thing for you to do to get started is to make sure you know how to lift weights properly. The talk about weight lifting stunting growth is
1. based on lifting very heavy weights, not beginners weights
2. Always blown out of proportion
3. Pretty dumb.
4. The only way you could stunt your growth with lifting weights is if you actaully fracture your growth plate, something very hard to do actually and you would have to be lifting WAY TO MUCH to do it... so add weight gradually, do the exercises properly, don't hold your breath (use it!).
Before you ask anyone for help in the gym, watch them do bench press. If they bounce the bar off their chest ask someone else...
I would advise you to work with coach, but unfortunatly I couldn't vouch for thier knowledge either. You have to do your best when finding the right person to help you.
Watch other people, always support your spine (with your core muscles)
Here is a good one:
Updated: 5:08 p.m. ET Sept 11, 2006
CHICAGO - Holding your breath while weightlifting causes temporary increases in eye pressure that could raise the risk of developing one form of glaucoma, according to a study published on Monday.
so..... DON"T HOLD YOUR BREATH, you are't supposed to anyway...!
This may help:
Growth plate injuries happen for many reasons. Most occur after a sudden accident, such as falling or being hit hard on the leg. People who sometimes get injuries from overuse include:
Gymnasts who practices for hours on the uneven bars
Long-distance runners
Baseball pitchers perfecting their curve balls.
The top reasons for growth plate injuries are:
Falling down
Competitive sports (like football)
Recreational activities
Car, motorcycle, and all-terrain-vehicle accidents (only in a small number of cases).
Other reasons for growth plate injuries are:
Child abuse
Injury from extreme cold (for example, frostbite)
Radiation (used to treat certain cancers)
Neurological disorders that cause people to lose their balance and fall
Some inherited disorders
Bone infections.
I've seen this list in a couple different places, nowhere do I see that weight training is on the main list, and when people talk about fracturing the growth plate, it is mostly with POWER lifting, something NO beginner should be doing.
So, listen to the advice of these guys on this site, they are pretty good, and though they may have some differing opinions, I have yet to see someone who says something REALLY WRONG, and if they do, someone else always jumps back on to correct them. Check out what they have already advised to many young people, so they and I don't really have to repeat everything again... but follow some basic principles:
1. Never max out
(lift a heavy weight you can only lift one time). This is where weight lifting gets dangerous and only experienced and fully grown adults should do it.
2. To start with, you should condition your body by lifting what you can lift around 15 times properly. You will be able to move up from there in a few months of working out to what you can lift 8-10 times properly, but you shouldn't go for anything less than 5 reps until after your 16th birthday, and like I said, never max out intil fully grown
(Note: it is things like squats that make the lower reps really dangerous, only because the blood supply to your vertebral discs is so much less than your tendons and bones, which is so much less than your muscles... what this means is that your muscles can get stronger and build faster than tendons/bones, which build and get stronger much faster than the discs, so even though your muscles can handle a certain weight, your tendons, bones, or discs may not be able to, opening you up for injury) 3. Lift slowly, to begin with you need to strengthen your bones, ligaments, tendons, AND muscles, so trying to lift fast is going to hurt you.
4. Have I yet mentioned don't hold your breath? (Breath in as gravity helps you put the weight down, breath out as you are lifting the weight).
5. Don't make yourself lopsided. PLEASE, if working the biceps, work the triceps (though the triceps should be weaker than the biceps and you will lift less with them), basically make sure you include your whole body.
6. Have FUN, what's the point if it isn't?
7. There is no such thing as no pain no gain. If you actually have PAIN, STOP. THere is no reason for it. If you get an annoying little pain that won't go away or keeps coming back? Make sure you tell your doctor, because annoying little injuries that are not treated or allowed to heal can become great big headaches.( I'll say stunt your growth, cause scar tissue, and generally be a pain in the
)
Now, if by skipping you mean rope, not class, GREAT! That is some fun stuff. It is great for you, and your bones. How long do you do it for? Obviously you know already you are not as active as you were a few years ago, and gym class lets just say... isn't cutting it. You need 30-60 minutes a day of activity, so keep track, and if you aren't getting it elsewhere, get it with the rope, or even go running or better yet, as someone else mentioned, if there is a sport that interests you go for it... If all you really want to do is lift weights then see if your school is interested in starting a weight lifting club (be prepared to be the smallest kid, many heavy kids join these clubs becsause this is something they are GOOD at!)
