Is it safe for children to lift weights?

Your 12-year-old son has asked for a set of dumbbells for his birthday. He wants to “get strong and build muscle”. But you’re worried that lifting weights might negatively impact his growth and development. You’re not alone. While many parents know that exercise plays an integral part in the health and well-being of children, concerns about the risks associated with lifting weights are valid.

It’s essential, however, to note that weights like dumbbells, medicine balls, sandbags, elastic resistance bands, and weighted sledges can all be used in strength training, so long as your child starts light and adds resistance as they build strength.

What is the risk of injury?

There was very little data on injuries associated with youth strength training until recently. There were, however, a few case reports outlining serious injuries caused by the misuse of weight training equipment, as well as a few small studies reporting high injury rates in competitive youth weightlifting and powerlifting programmes.

In 1990, the American Academy of Pediatrics cautioned against children participating in strength training before reaching physical maturity. This report, however, was actually referring to weightlifting, powerlifting, and bodybuilding, all of which involve heavy loads and highly technical lifting movements not recommended for young people.

Regardless, the message that “weights are bad for children” spread, and public scepticism of strength training persisted.

Today, we now know that supervised, and age-appropriate strength training is a safe activity for children and adolescents that can help them improve their muscular fitness, body composition, and psychological health.

In fact, properly executed strength training programmes have a much lower risk of injury than many popular youth sports such as soccer, football, or basketball, which parents happily enrol their children in year after year. Ironically, strength training can reduce the likelihood of children being injured while participating in sports.

Does weightlifting stunt growth?

You’ve probably heard that strength training can stunt children’s growth. This claim is based on the long-held belief that strength training harms “growth plates.”

The cartilaginous areas of growing tissue at the ends of long bones, such as the femur and radius, are known as growth plates (or epiphyseal plates). When children reach physical maturity, these plates harden into hardened bone, but they are softer during development and thus more vulnerable to damage.

While it may be frightening to consider, growth plate injuries are quite common, accounting for 15 to 30% of all bone injuries in children. The majority of injuries heal completely with treatment, but on rare occasions, they can cause growth abnormalities.

Contrary to popular belief, lifting weights does not stunt growth.

It’s unclear why lifting weights is thought to be more likely than other physical activities to damage growth plates, but this common misconception has stood the test of time. At least part of the explanation appears to be a misunderstanding of why elite athletes in sports such as weightlifting and gymnastics are consistently short.

To cut a long story short (no pun intended), small athletes are better suited to these sports, just as being tall is advantageous in basketball. As a result, short athletes are more prevalent at higher levels of competition, where we are more likely to notice them. This has nothing to do with heavy lifting or high-volume training. While strength training is frequently blamed, the truth is that growth-plate injuries occur far more frequently during organised sports.

In conclusion, to date extensive research on the safety of youth strength training programmes, including weight lifting, has found no evidence that they are harmful to growth nor that strength training during the growing years affects final adult height.