Benching- why do i suck??

[Lumberg]

Hey guys no flame intended, but I have heard repeatedly that teenagers shouldn't do serious weightlifting until age 16 at the earliest. Heavy, prolonged weightlifting will stint a teenager's growth, apparently. Don't have a reference but I do know Lee Priest was a hardcore bodybuilder by age 12...he's like 5'4".

Would like to hear input on this. If I ever have kids they can mess around in my home gym and I might show them a few things but until they're at least 16 they will concentrate on actually platying sports and just playing, not training.

JC

 

[p03t1c]

we're really concentrating on getting stronger here and unless they begin having height divisions no one is really going to care. i'll never be a basketball star. i actually wish now that i could shave off a couple inches and grab some shorter arms. i might actually bench a little better.

lee priest isn't 5'4" just because of bodybuilding. there are lots of people out there that are huge and have been lifting just as long.

 

[lilmikey]

I tower over toddlers and infants at a formidable five feet six and two thirds inches. Seriously. Oddly enough, this is 66.66 inches. Perhaps my malevolent alternate personality will break through one day. 666.

Seriously though, I don't think that it will stunt your growth majorly. I started sophomore year in high school and i'm going to be a senior next year. I'm shorter than my father by about an inch, but, my mother is five foot one and my grandmother is barely larger than a Smurf. I think that genetic factors play a much larger role than weightlifting does. I think one of the main reasons that the doctors or whatever say not to start early is because it might hinder development of bone density...? I am not sure on this, I remember hearing it somewhere, though.

 

[goldenone]

I think that is one of the many myths floating around. As long as a teenager trains with good form,spotters etc...they shouldnt have any problems.

I dont have many regrets in life.But one of them is that did not take up weight lifting at a earlier age.I did not start lifting weights until I was 22.

I found this article that talks about teenage lifters:http://www.journalism.indiana.edu/gallery/student/j201spring01/Asher/enclossi/#myth

 

[Deciever]

i've heard over head presses can really mess it up.. that was a story from one of my new training partners. he said that this guy had his son training heavy militarys and shit when he was like 12 and 13 and it compressed his spine and he was 2 inches shorter than last years check up at the doctors, but once he stopped his spine un-compressed.
I've had good luck w/ lifting, i've actually grown more since i started lifting

 

[ZZuluZ]

Another myth floats to the surface...

Weightlifting will not affect your growth.

-Zulu

 

[Arioch]

Hey guys no flame intended, but I have heard repeatedly that teenagers shouldn't do serious weightlifting until age 16 at the earliest. Heavy, prolonged weightlifting will stint a teenager's growth, apparently.

Crap. There is absolutely no evidence to support this. Premature closure of the growth plates can occur in individuals who use AAS prior to full skeletal maturation, but not in AAS-free athletes.


I started lifting at age 12. I am 5'10". My son started at 10. He is now my height.

Deceiver, the doctor who said that probably ordered his degree through a late night infomercial.

 

[benchmonster]

This is a bullshit argument I have heard since I was a toddler, and it was old and outdated even back then.

People go to a powerlifting meet, or an olympic lifting meet, and notice that all the lifters exept for the very heaviest weight classes are very short. Since most people don't have the sack to hit the weights, they are looking for anything bad they can come up with to make up for their lack of courage.

Well all these guys lift weights, all these guys are short, therefore lifting weights must make you short. Never do they think as an intelligent person would, that perhaps shorter people are more suited to powerlifting.

This is just as stupid as saying "since basketball players are tall, then playing basketball makes you taller" don't hear that argument often do you? I played basketball all my life, got to where I could grab the rim, and actually missed a dunk a couple of times in college.

I am a whopping five feet seven and one half inches tall. I am short because I was born to be short. My brother had the same nutrition growing up that I did. He began lifting weights at the same age I did. He played the same sports that I did, and he is 6 feet 2 1/2. Becuase he was born to be that tall.

I did not take up powerlifting till I was 26 years old. I had lifted for other sports training since age 16, but I was the same height I am today at age 13. The weights did not make me short, they have just made me strong, good looking, and freaking bullet-proof.

B.

 

[lilmikey]

Arioch - Does ur kid powerlift too, or is he just doing normal weight training?

 

[solidj55]

I agree, that is bullshit. I too tower over a few infants at a huge 5'5" tall but my whole family is short. My dad is only 5'8" and is the tallest other than my brother who takes more after the other side of the family. But I know several guys that are well over 6' and one close to 7' who all trained at early ages.

joncrane-if you were to not allow your kids to lift weights until they are 16 then I think that you would be giving them a huge injustice. So you want to discourage them from wanting to exercise before they are 16? Sorry dude I dont agree with that but opinions are like assholes, everyone has one and they all stink. I think puberty is the most important thing to wait on before lifting weights but once its here let the kids go.