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The Truth about Weightlifting for Kids

When I was growing up, I was always told that you shouldn’t lift until you’re 13, at the earliest. The idea was that your growth plates weren’t closed and that lifting could result in growth plate fractures and/or stunted growth. Of course, I wasn’t the only one being told this. This message is still being spread today and has been for decades.

It’s true that growth plates aren’t closed in adolescents. That’s about the only ounce of truth to any “weightlifting isn’t safe for kids” message I’ve ever heard, and frankly, it’s STILL not a concern.

Let’s look at some of the research behind this. A 2010 review of studies looking at the safety of lifting for kids found that:

1) Youth resistance training injury rates range from 0.0017-0.176 per 100 participant hours. This translates to one injury for every 568.18-58,823.53 hours. Do you think you could play 60,000 hours of any sport without getting hurt? Not likely.

2) 2/3 of lifting-related injuries to 8-13 year olds were to the hand or foot related to dropping or pinching. In other words, if a kid is smart enough to know that dropping a weight on their foot will hurt, they’re safe.

3) 24 of the 27 of the included studies reported ZERO lifting-related injuries. The 3 studies that did all reported one injury each.

4) ZERO growth plate injuries have been documented (ever) in studies supervised by a professional. The authors of the study also noted that there was ZERO evidence that weight training stunts growth in any way.

I could go on and on with stuff like this. The fact is that weightlifting is DRASTICALLY safer than sports like soccer, baseball, basketball, football, and hockey, which we have no problems with young kids participating in.

In fact, lifting can significantly DECREASE young athletes’ risk of injury during sports. Consider that forces going through the hip can easily exceed 9x someone’s body weight during running. Muscles are great force absorbers. However, if the reactive forces from the activity exceed the muscles’ capability to absorb/reduce them, the forces are transferred to the joint.

This does NOT mean that a 100 lb kid needs to be able to squat 900lbs to reduce the forces they see in sports; that whole concept is ridiculous. The point is that getting stronger can be done safely AND reduce sport-related injury risk (and, of course, increase performance).  On top of that, quality instruction can help make sure the athlete’s movement patterns are efficient and effective, again, ensuring that their performance is high and that they’re distributing forces evenly across the joint and not excessively wearing down one area.

Kevin Neeld, BSc, MS, CSCS is the Director of Athletic Development at Endeavor Fitness in Sewell, NJ.  Through the application of functional anatomy, biomechanics, and neural control, Kevin specializes in guiding athletes to optimal health and performance.  For more information on how Endeavor Fitness can help you drastically improve your speed, strength, and conditioning, visit EndeavorFit.com or contact Kevin via email by clicking here.