Strength Training by Children and Adolescents
Monday, December 7th, 2009A friend recently expressed concern that I was bringing my 10 year old to the gym to lift with me on occasion, something about the effects of weight training on children’s musculature. I recalled reading something about kids shouldn’t be lifting weights or whatever until they were more more developed, but that was 20 years ago.
He suggested I read up on it, so I did a quick search on them thar interlinks. Here is an excerpt of an article from the American Academy of Pediatrics:
“Young people who want to improve sports performance will generally benefit more from practicing and perfecting skills of the sport than from resistance training. If long-term health benefits are the goal, strength training should be combined with an aerobic training program.”
More: http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics;107/6/1470
In short, resistance training doesn’t appear to have harmful effects on children.