I am too old to know if lifting weights has stunted my growth. I have been going to the gym for a few years, but would very rarely lift weights when I was young and not fully developed. If I want my future child to become a professional athlete (preferably a boy), will I be helping or hurting his future as an athlete by making him lift weights. I had always heard that lifting weights before being fully developed stunts growth, but figured it was a class wives tale because I am yet to see proof. I chose not to lift weights until I significantly grew up to be safe, but many people lift weights while they are prepubescent. I am friends with multiple guys who have lifted their whole lives and grew up to be full grown men, which does not help the wives tale’s cause.
Truthfully, I was not surprised to learn that a study was done that concluded weight lifting does not stunt growth. Dr. Avery Feigenbaum, Leonard Zaichkowsky, and others conducted a study to determine if weight lifting stunts a child’s growth. The experiment entailed 25 kids (17 boys, 8 girls) doing 3 sets of 10 to 15 reps of 5 different workouts twice a week, for eight weeks. There were two groups of kids and their mean ages were 10.8 years (11 boys, 4 girls) and 9.9 years (6 boys, 4 girls). The level of significant change in the subjects was set at p < 0.05. After the two groups participated in the exercises that tested strength, motor performance, flexibility, body composition, resting blood pressure, it was found that the kids benefitted in the short-term from the strength workouts. The kids that did strength training had increased vertical jumps by 13.8%, while the control group that did no strength training the entire time saw an increase in vertical jumping ability by 7.7%. The gains in strength did not translate to body motor performance and flexibility. Since no injuries occurred during the training, even while the majority of the kids were playing sports outside of the experiment, the conditioning was positive for the well-being of the kids.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/430166-can-lifting-weights-when-young-stunt-your-growth/
As a frequent gym goer, I found this post rather interesting. I have always wondered if weight lifting stunts one’s growth. Out of the guys in my family, I am the shortest one. Also, I am the only one who goes to the gym and lifts weights regularly. I have always wondered if this has stunted my growth, as I started lifting when i was about 13. I’m glad to hear that this is not the case based on your findings, however the facts don’t seem to be very supported as the study only contained 25 kids! There needs to be a larger study done to find out if this is actually the case. Furthermore, the study did not investigate the long term effects, which is a huge factor in whether or not lifting stunts growth.
I blogged about this topic earlier in the semester and I agree with this study. When I was doing research on this topic, there was much more evidence proving that weight lifting will not harm children if done right. There is always a risk of injury with lifting if you do not use proper form, but if a younger child knows the right form and knows their limits then they will be fine and it can only benefit their athletic performance.
I have been curious about this topic since I began to work out. I have also read studies in which conclude that the idea that weight lifting at a young age causes a stunt in growth. I the article i read it brought up a great point. There has been lifters who have been working out since they were young yet they still grew to be above average height. The growth plate is how the bones grow and if they are damaged that is when there will be a stunt in growth. But the damage could be from anything like football, lacrosse, ect. weightlifting could damage the plates if done wrong. But if done properly there should be no damage done.
http://stronglifts.com/does-weight-lifting-stunt-growth/
I had never heard this wives tale but I am interested that this study debunked it. I think the study was conducted properly by controlling much of the variables like age, workout routine and gender. The only aspect I question is the sample size. Only testing 25 children is a rather small number and could induce a great deal of chance. I think if the experiment was recreated with a larger sample size the results would be more trustworthy. I also think a eight week experiment doesn’t properly measure if athletics stunt their growth when they only follow the subjects for two months. I think a more extended study would more properly measure if the experiment does stunt the children’s growth, although I do not know if this is necessarily ethical. A study published recently in the New York Times followed a variety of children for a total of 60 years between the age of 6-18. The conclusions of this study agreed with the one you have mentioned. So although there are questions as to how the study was conducted the results are consistent with other better conducted experiments.
Here is a link to the other study
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/24/phys-ed-the-benefits-of-weight-training-for-kids/
There are some interesting findings here. I’ve always heard mixed views on starting to lift at a young age when it involves children. It’s nice to see that no harm can be done. I’m an avid gym goer myself and I always see people lifting improperly or not doing the exercise correctly which can lead to hurting yourself or causing many other problems. We also need to make sure we are doing the exercises correctly. If you do go to the gym and you see this going on always lend a hand. Very nice post though.