Hey I always hear about this big danger of weightlifting stunting growth in children or anyone for that matter who has not finished growing. I’m just wondering if there’s anything to back it up or if it’s just a myth people use as an excuse not to get in shape? On the contrary is there any research proving this wrong? Thanks
I was actually 7 feet tall before I started lifting. Now…I am barely six feet. Damned overhead presses.
Weight lifting promotes growth… Your body has to make room for new muscle tissue.
It’s also VERY good for your bones! I don’t believe in avoiding high impact excersizes either (like doing an eliptical machine instead of sprinting). Your bones grow better with stress as long as you don’t over do it to quickly.
Just think of astronauts, their bones get weaker when they’re in space too long due to the lack of proper stress on their bones. I think they have some special excersizes they do when they get back or something (it’s been a while since I heard about it so I don’t remember it all, but that point stuck with me).
I think the lifting stunting your growth was more for pre-teens, plus it’s based off of some very old info (it’s been around for a long time) so I wouldn’t trust that it’s true or ever been “proven”.
I love when people justify this arguement with “I know a guy that started lifting when he was 10 and he’s only 5’5” …then you see that guy and realize no one in his family is over 5’6.
[quote]SWR-1222D wrote:
I think the lifting stunting your growth was more for pre-teens, plus it’s based off of some very old info (it’s been around for a long time) so I wouldn’t trust that it’s true or ever been “proven”. [/quote]
Lifting weights doesn’t stunt anyone’s growth. There is no evidence to back this belief at all in anyone. It was started as myth like so many other “facts” going around. It seems that people simply want to view bodybuilding in a negative light so many of these un-truths popped up in justification of that. The only reasons most pre-teens are advised to avoid lifting is due to; poor overall body strength, the risk of injury and the simple fact that no pre-teen is producing enough hormones to see much at all as far as muscle growth from a serious lifting routine.
Without strong supervision, I would never recommend a kid start lifting free weights. I think more can be learned at those younger ages from body strength exercises.
Playing basketball makes you tall. Just look at those NBA guys.
Seriously though. Think about how many times kids jump and land hard. Probably a few times every day. The forces on their bones then are much, much more than anything they could possibly lift. I would say that the odds of lifting effecting growth are very very long indeed. I think there is a greater chance of soy milk stunting growth but you dont see parents going nuts over that.
There have been studies, but they show mainly that the only injuries to children’s growth plates were due to poor supervision, training only the upper body, and doing too many 3RM-1RM lifts.
http://www.philadelphiaflyers.com/features/McCrossin/81.asp
http://coaching.usolympicteam.com/coaching/kpub.nsf/v/March03-5
Alright i’'ve gotta question towards this: I like to do 1RM-5RM often. I’m 15, 148lbs…but im not scrawny…im built. have a 215 bench, 265 squat, and 285 deadlift. I want to increase my squat and deadlift. Which i think i can do pretty easily. Obviosuly for me to do this i’d have to lift heavy weights. Will me lifting these heavy weights and all stunt my growth. O and i turn 16 in October 18, and my heght is currently at 5’7.
dl- will i grow taller? dun dun dun.
[quote]dl- wrote:
Alright i’'ve gotta question towards this: I like to do 1RM-5RM often. I’m 15, 148lbs…but im not scrawny…im built. have a 215 bench, 265 squat, and 285 deadlift. I want to increase my squat and deadlift. Which i think i can do pretty easily. Obviosuly for me to do this i’d have to lift heavy weights. Will me lifting these heavy weights and all stunt my growth. O and i turn 16 in October 18, and my heght is currently at 5’7.
dl- will i grow taller? dun dun dun.[/quote]
if you’re able to put up huge weights like these, you are officially done growing.
[quote]CU AeroStallion wrote:
dl- wrote:
Alright i’'ve gotta question towards this: I like to do 1RM-5RM often. I’m 15, 148lbs…but im not scrawny…im built. have a 215 bench, 265 squat, and 285 deadlift. I want to increase my squat and deadlift. Which i think i can do pretty easily. Obviosuly for me to do this i’d have to lift heavy weights. Will me lifting these heavy weights and all stunt my growth. O and i turn 16 in October 18, and my heght is currently at 5’7.
dl- will i grow taller? dun dun dun.
if you’re able to put up huge weights like these, you are officially done growing.
[/quote]
Was that sarcastic? I’m 14, 5’9, and 155 lbs. I can bench about 150 lbs, deadlift 210, and do 10 chin-ups. I find the belief that lifting heavy weights stunts growth to be ridiculous; kids put much more stress on their bodies playing football, jumping, etc.
[quote]KombatAthlete wrote:
CU AeroStallion wrote:
dl- wrote:
Alright i’'ve gotta question towards this: I like to do 1RM-5RM often. I’m 15, 148lbs…but im not scrawny…im built. have a 215 bench, 265 squat, and 285 deadlift. I want to increase my squat and deadlift. Which i think i can do pretty easily. Obviosuly for me to do this i’d have to lift heavy weights. Will me lifting these heavy weights and all stunt my growth. O and i turn 16 in October 18, and my heght is currently at 5’7.
dl- will i grow taller? dun dun dun.
if you’re able to put up huge weights like these, you are officially done growing.
Was that sarcastic? I’m 14, 5’9, and 155 lbs. I can bench about 150 lbs, deadlift 210, and do 10 chin-ups. I find the belief that lifting heavy weights stunts growth to be ridiculous; kids put much more stress on their bodies playing football, jumping, etc.[/quote]
Are you sarcastic? I am 13 5’4, 160lbs of pure muscle, have been training for 2months and deadlift and squat over 400 as a 5RM.
[quote]Rookie21 wrote:
Are you sarcastic? I am 13 5’4, 160lbs of pure muscle, have been training for 2months and deadlift and squat over 400 as a 5RM.
[/quote]
All of you are really bad at being sarcastic and weights don’t stunt your growth. Your parents stunted your growth. Tell mom and pop thanks.
Beyond that, 13 and “pure muscle”, huh?
And training a whole 2 months!
Lifting heavy might not be advisable for younger children, but for those around 14 years of age, there shouldn’t be any problems. It’s just an old wives tale, guys. Get over it.
yes, it was sarcastic. That should’ve been obvious given what everyone else has said.
[quote]Rookie21 wrote:
KombatAthlete wrote:
CU AeroStallion wrote:
dl- wrote:
Alright i’'ve gotta question towards this: I like to do 1RM-5RM often. I’m 15, 148lbs…but im not scrawny…im built. have a 215 bench, 265 squat, and 285 deadlift. I want to increase my squat and deadlift. Which i think i can do pretty easily. Obviosuly for me to do this i’d have to lift heavy weights. Will me lifting these heavy weights and all stunt my growth. O and i turn 16 in October 18, and my heght is currently at 5’7.
dl- will i grow taller? dun dun dun.
if you’re able to put up huge weights like these, you are officially done growing.
Was that sarcastic? I’m 14, 5’9, and 155 lbs. I can bench about 150 lbs, deadlift 210, and do 10 chin-ups. I find the belief that lifting heavy weights stunts growth to be ridiculous; kids put much more stress on their bodies playing football, jumping, etc.
Are you sarcastic? I am 13 5’4, 160lbs of pure muscle, have been training for 2months and deadlift and squat over 400 as a 5RM.
[/quote]
Well, I’m 12, 110 pounds, 5 foot even, and I bench 500 pounds. I win.
These arent huge weights. These are average weights for a 15 year old thats training correctly.
[quote]RJay Floyd wrote:
Seriously though. Think about how many times kids jump and land hard. Probably a few times every day. The forces on their bones then are much, much more than anything they could possibly lift. I would say that the odds of lifting effecting growth are very very long indeed. I think there is a greater chance of soy milk stunting growth but you dont see parents going nuts over that. [/quote]
playing basketball isn’t what makes them tall. it’s being tall that makes them able to play basketball well and be picked for the NBA.
[quote]Marvelous_MaCaw wrote:
Hey I always hear about this big danger of weightlifting stunting growth in children or anyone for that matter who has not finished growing. I’m just wondering if there’s anything to back it up or if it’s just a myth people use as an excuse not to get in shape? On the contrary is there any research proving this wrong? Thanks[/quote]
i don’t know whether there is scientific proof, but i have a hypothesis. In cave man days we evolved to get bigger muscles when exerted so that we can handle our lifestyle (say if it involves lugging dead mammoths around) also i thought that if weightlifting did stunt growth then it would be because we might have evolved this way as a shorter body is stronger to lift aorund large heavy weights in most circumstances, due to torque on your body.
the science that has been hinted on to prove this hypothesis of mine is that growth plates /ephysilesis (or sumthing like that) on the end of the bone are damaged under heavy stress and they close over to stop the bone growing anymore. i am only 16 and i’m 5’6" and i was bothered about my height for a short time so i started taking arginine (amino acid supposedly to stimulate human growth hormone from the anterior pituitary gland) and it seemed to make a difference but my dad said i was better off not taking it and conicidentially i developed epilepsy at the same time (which is totally unrelated btw).
I have a really good diet so i think i will def grow to my full potential. Lots of sleep and a good diet is key with exercise that stimulate a lot of muscles at the same time like compound moves to release maximum growth hormone release with minimum impact on growing bones. I have found your mindset can also help with loads of things like exercising and growing (a bit like a less extreme version of hypnosis). I had meant to do a lot of stretching just in case it was muscle elastic tension holding back growth but i haven’t got round to it and i very much doubt muscles could be so tight that they prevent you from growing anyway.