No, this is yet another misconception about exercise. Done incorrectly any activity can be injurious to any person at any age. Done correctly and responsibly, weightlifting will be a huge benefit to any child’s development.

This fear stems from the idea that weightlifting will damage joints and growth plates. Not only are the injury rates from “safe” sports like soccer, basketball, and baseball are much higher per participant hour then weightlifting, but injury to epiphyseal plates and knees were much higher as well. Now it might help to know what epiphyseal are made of. They are made out of chondrocytes, which are basically the same stuff that makes cartilage. The cartilage multiplies, hypertrophies, dies and calcifies to lengthen bones. (over simplified but that’s the general idea…) If weightlifting were to damage these plates, it would damage the cartilage in the joints of everyone, at any age, who participates in weightlifting, which is not the case.

So not only is there no real evidence for the stunting of growth, but resistance training actually improves bone density! And the prime age to lay down bone growth for maximum bone density in prevention of osteoporosis later in life is in the early teens.

With that in mind, how heavy should a child lift? Well it depends. Prepubescent children make strength gains from relatively light loads due to neuromuscular recruitment patterns and hypertrophy. A “light load” ranges from a length of PVC pipe to about 25 pounds.
Adolescents can lift heavier loads under the supervision of a qualified coach. The idea here is that when kids are younger they can work on weightlifting technique at very light loads and still get benefits. This way they can focus on perfect technique. There is no need to go heavy until mid to late teens, and by then the foundation has been laid via years of technique work to do so safely.

Here is a simple workout for both you and your children. Get a broomstick, or piece of PVC or something, and a stopwatch then do 3 rounds of the following:

Run 400m
15 Overhead squats with the stick/pvc

To perform an overhead squat, it is just like a normal air squat (which I have explained in several articles) only you hold a stick or barbell locked out overhead. You will need to have a wide grip (really wide if your shoulder flexibility is poor).

Now the race is on. Challenge your kids to complete it faster then you. (or maybe they will challenge you to keep up!)

Chris Walls is a Personal Trainer at the newly opened Crossfit Kelowna training centre. For more information on Crossfit, please visit www.crossfitkelowna.com