More and more young people are starting to do weight training, thanks to fitness role models on Instagram and the like. But is that actually a good development, or to put it better: When is it OK for a child to start lifting weights? A sports scientist knows the answer.
The fitness industry is booming! Around 11.1 million people in Germany are currently registered in the gym. Last but not least, this success has to do with the success of social media – and young people. Many fitness influencers generate their reach with the help of 13 to 18-year-old users of Instagram, YouTube and Co. Driven by virtual muscle mountains and flat stomachs, many young people make the pilgrimage to “fit”. But: At what point should children and young people start weight training at the earliest in order not to damage their bodies unintentionally – and permanently? Graduate sports scientist Jörn Giersberg knows about the risks and benefits of weight training in adolescents.
When is it too early for weight training?
This is the question parents (forced to) ask themselves when their children arrive wanting a gym membership. Not infrequently, the World Wide Web is then quickly consulted, where warnings à la «weight training in childhood can lead to growth disorders and bone damage» are circulating. What’s behind it?
The so-called growth plates of the bones can be damaged by (excessive) stress. Background: The cartilaginous part of the long bones is even more vulnerable in children and adolescents. In adults, the growth plates ossify, the end of the growth process is reached.
Jörn Giersberg: “The age at which children should start doing weight training should be based on their individual level of maturity. Roughly speaking, however, one can say that nothing stands in the way of training from the age of 14 to 16.”
However, Giersberg emphasizes that every trip to the studio should be enjoyed with particular caution, especially with adolescents. If the load is too high, the growth plates ossify prematurely, which can inhibit development. «An example of this is gymnasts, whose growth is slowed down earlier due to the very high demands on their structures,» explains Giersberg.
How should teenagers train?
Statements are just as persistent that young people should train on machines or with their own weight instead of going to the free weights area. According to Jörn Giersberg, that’s not right: «In the gym, it’s important that the intensity to reduce. In principle, you can’t go wrong in a range of ten repetitions. And in addition to your own body weight and machines, you can also work with free weights, as long as you concentrate on the execution.” Giersberg also recommends using playful elements when training with young people.
In summary, the risk of damaging growth plates is less a question of age than of poor form and/or excessive training weights. In addition, weight training in adolescence not only entails risks, but also has advantages for the (adult) body.
Benefits of weight training in adolescence
Giersberg makes it clear that basically every form of sport in adolescence, if properly dosed and carried out, has positive long-term consequences: «The longer a young person is active in sports, the more sensitively the muscle memory reacts to recurring stimuli in old age. Furthermore, early physical activity improves the passive musculoskeletal system. Tendons and ligaments are strengthened through the systematic exertion in weight training.” Long-term advantages include the prevention of osteoporosis. Giersberg explains that the foundations for this are laid by the age of 30, and adds: «Weight training can have a preventative effect on old age in adolescence!»
Also interesting: Can you do weight training with high blood pressure?
Stay away from steroids!
Not every impressive Fitfluencer muscle is the result of pure training diligence, especially in the bodybuilder sector steroids are still used to push hypertrophy. Parents should know this and definitely prevent it from happening to their offspring. For young people in particular, consumption can have irreversible consequences.
Giersberg explains the attraction for young people that steroids emanate from: «The interest in the opposite sex during puberty is crucial for wanting to increase one’s ‘market value’ with a trained body.» is also not a new phenomenon. However, young people have become more susceptible to anabolic steroids due to social media. The reason for this is simple: “Adolescents are presented with a physical image that would be impossible to maintain without steroids. Adolescents sometimes receive long-term therapy from these images, since there is always access to social networks in everyday life.”
As a result, the inhibition threshold to look good at the expense of health falls sharply – also because there is almost no information on the Internet. Not only the (adolescent) lords of creation are affected: “Frighteningly, this phenomenon is by no means only male. More and more women and young girls are taking steroids and doing lasting damage to their bodies. Parents need to educate to unravel the distorted reality.”
Problematic: According to Giersberg, parents themselves have no knowledge of the dangers. And they can be serious:
On the one hand, the hormonal balance is completely messed up because the body tries to maintain a balance. “This has massive consequences, especially for an adolescent. Organ damage is not uncommon,” warns Giersberg. On the other hand, the passive musculoskeletal system cannot compensate for the rapid increases in strength. The result is that tendons and ligaments are affected.
You can find out more about the topic here in the fitness professor’s video:
Conclusion
From a purely physiological point of view, there is nothing wrong with the 16-year-old boy going to the gym to train for a muscular body. Provided. he keeps his hands off doping substances, pays attention to correct execution and does not overdo it with the training weights. All points that full-grown pumpers should of course also adhere to, but which are even more important for young people due to their physical constitution.