Even today it is common for many gyms to not allow youth athletes lift weights unless they are over the age of 16. Within the field of sports performance and strength and conditioning specifically, it is widely known that it is safe for young athletes to resistance train from the age of 7 or 8 provided that appropriate training guidelines are followed and qualified instruction is available (Faigenbaum et al., 2009).
Resistance training is an excellent tool for youth athletes to develop several motor skills relevant to their sport and also to assist in their general day to day activities as they grow older. Many parents have a view that lifting weights is something that shouldn't be done until their child is over 16. However, there has been a lot of interesting research in this area surrounding the injuries reported from youth athletes participating in resistance training, and the results may surprise you.
As noted by Faigenbaum et al., 2009, "In a prospective study that evaluated the incidence of sports-related injuries in school-aged youth over a 1-year period (258), resistance training resulted in 0.7% of 1576 injuries whereas football, basketball, and soccer resulted in approximately 19, 15, and 2%,respectively, of all injuries."
With adequate supervision and qualified instruction, it is safe for young athletes to participate in resistance training from the ages of 7 or 8. This doesn't mean aiming to have your kids loading up heavy back squats by the age of 10. Resistance training comes in many forms such as compound movements like your back squat, deadlift and bench press and also more isolated and dynamic exercises. For example, for a young athlete of 7 or 8, this can mean using bodyweight exercises such as a squat or push-up and working between 8-12 repetitions. Once they develop good technique, they can then progress to using a light free-weight or resistance band. There are many ways to program a resistance training session for a young athlete.
The main reasons many gyms do not allow children under the age of 16 lift weights is due to the general messing that goes on, "I can bench 50kg" where you then hear "I can bench 60" and it goes on and on. I've seen this messing in a previous gym I worked in and open gym sessions were curtailed for under 16 children due to this and suitably replaced with a supervised hour of resistance training right after school for children under the age of 16. This worked well and ensured we could monitor their training for the full hour.
It is inevitable that children of these ages will mess, so incorporating an hour of supervised training is better than nothing. However, I think many gyms should run an introductory program for 6-8 weeks for children of secondary school age where they teach children under 16 the fundamental movements and then sign off that they are able to complete these exercises competently. Giving access to the people who have passed.
What do you think ? Youth resistance training is always an area I like to discuss.
Thanks for reading!
Graham
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