When Is It Too Young To Start Lifting Weights?

I get the question all the time about when is it the right age to start lifting weights. Will it do any damage to your child if they are lifting at age 8, age 10, age 12? One of the more common things heard is that if you lift too early, the child could stunt his/her growth development. So let me ask you a question:

Do you know anyone who is short and started lifting weights at an early age? 9, 10, 11 years old.

I don't either. That doesn't prove anything, but let me see if I can clear up some of this, by telling you how it was explained to me by an exercise phyisologist a while ago.

People don't get their growth stunted by lifting weights too early. There is no documented evidence that suggests this. What will happen is if you do not use proper form or use too heavy a weight, then you could damage growth plates. Yes, this is painful and not what we want our kids to experience, but it won't stunt your growth.

I have heard of kids lifting at ages as early as 9 or 10 and nothing has happened to them. Not just taking the dumbells and doing arm curls, but actual Olympic style lifting. The emphasis is always on the technique not the weight on the bar. The only time I have heard or seen injuries while lifting is when the lifter is using poor technique and most of the time there is way too much weight on the bar.

At our facility, if someone wanted to have us put their child on a structured exercise program, the youngest we would allow would be 13 or 14 depending on the maturity of the athlete. We would put them on a routine that would emphasize proper technique on the basic lifts. We would probably do moderate reps and not many sets so the emphasis would be technique. I don't want to start off doing high reps, have the kids get muscular fatigue, and then their form starts lacking towards the end of the sets. We would build up to that. We wouldn't be that concerned about how much weight they are lifting. The program would change to more of a challenging one based on the athlete's physical maturity.

Most of the time though, we don't get many requests for that, so it isn't anything I really worry about.

In our speed program though, we do some functional training with our athletes regardless of age, but most of that is bodyweight exercises. So we are emphasizing the technique and form, but developing some functional strength. Very safe and developmental progress. Trust me, the kids do a lot worse to themselves playing on the playground jumping from monkey bar to monkey bar. Speed work can be done at any age, but once again the younger athletes would have an emphasis on technique and the more explosive drills would be used with the older athletes.

So, if you are considering weightlifting for your athlete, I would recommend you wait until he/she is at least 13. But no matter when you start, the focus should be on the technique. Safety should be first and foremost so that the experience is a positive one.