Training for children

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My step dad bought a cheap weight set when I was, I think, 8 years old. As I recall I was only able to use about 20-30 pounds on the bench. I don't think there are any young children who are even strong enough to put their skeletal structure at risk.
 
i told my 10 year old daughter that when she could do 10 push ups and 50 bodyweight squats she could start lifting with me. I figure until she is dedicated enough to do that she won't be dedicated enough to lift.
 
Brad Morris said:
EZA,

I agree in part with your post, however, I have never heard of the book "Children and Sports Training" or the author, Josef Drabek. But I would be interested to hear what his credentials are? I googled his name and the book title but came up with nothing?

Two of my favourite authors on the topic of physical training are Yuri Verkhoshanky and Mel Siff, Well educated, experienced and decades of practicle application ranging from children to elite athletes.

I agree that "building kinesthetic awareness, motor skills and coordination, and reaction timing..." should be the focus of a childs physical training program. But I think strength training should also be incorperated into a childs overall training program.

A well structured, closely supervised resistance training program can benfit a child, and help build a solid training foundation for sports as they grow up.
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Here's the book -- Amazon.com: Children and Sports Training: How your Future Champions Should Exercise to Be Healthy, Fit and Happy: Jozef Drabik: Books

The author's name is Jozef Drabik.
 
Lifting weights will stunt young children's growth.
 
lifting weights is the leading cause of spontaneous human implosion in children. the moment they put a bar in squat position all their growth plates collapse and they collapse into a singularity that immediately eats itself.
 
Drabek is a polish author and I don't recall the extent of his background but once you read the book you'll see he's very qualified to write it. There are literally dozens of norms and standards from eastern european research for all sorts of different physical fitness tests done at different ages. It's an amazingly thorough book all modeled on the european approach to physical fitness development.

I agree with Mel Siff and Verkhoshansky being two of the best, I had the opportunity to stay at Mel's house on a couple of occassions before he passed away and learn from him. He was a great guy and never stopped trying to help provide as much information for people as possible. It was a sad loss for everyone when he passed away. Verkhoshansky has a discussion forum now and he'll actually respond pretty quickly if you have reasonable questions for him.

The question many people are missing on here isn't "can a 9 year old lift weights?" but rather "is lifting weights the best thing for a 9 year old to do?" Yes of course they can do it, and obviously kids who work on a farm end up doing forms of resistance training as part of work (just as gymnastics as I advocated requires bodyweight movements and strength as well) but that doesn't mean it's the right thing for them to spend their time doing if they want to improve their long term athletic development and performance down the road. Sure it can be done safely and it won't hinder their growth when done properly, but that still doesn't mean their time shouldn't be spent focusing on other areas of development that they have the capacity to improve in at that time instead.
 
EZA said:
The question many people are missing on here isn't "can a 9 year old lift weights?" but rather "is lifting weights the best thing for a 9 year old to do?" Yes of course they can do it, and obviously kids who work on a farm end up doing forms of resistance training as part of work (just as gymnastics as I advocated requires bodyweight movements and strength as well) but that doesn't mean it's the right thing for them to spend their time doing if they want to improve their long term athletic development and performance down the road. Sure it can be done safely and it won't hinder their growth when done properly, but that still doesn't mean their time shouldn't be spent focusing on other areas of development that they have the capacity to improve in at that time instead.
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Good post.
 
EZA said:
The question many people are missing on here isn't "can a 9 year old lift weights?" but rather "is lifting weights the best thing for a 9 year old to do?" Yes of course they can do it, and obviously kids who work on a farm end up doing forms of resistance training as part of work (just as gymnastics as I advocated requires bodyweight movements and strength as well) but that doesn't mean it's the right thing for them to spend their time doing if they want to improve their long term athletic development and performance down the road. Sure it can be done safely and it won't hinder their growth when done properly, but that still doesn't mean their time shouldn't be spent focusing on other areas of development that they have the capacity to improve in at that time instead.
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Well that's the question we deal with as parents every day. "Is this the right thing for my child?" I don't know of any adults who had their growth stunted by lifting; and I have never heard anyone say,"My Dad made me lift weights as a kid and it sucked."
 
I have recently heard "my mom made me take protein shakes and fish oil as a kid and it sucked"
 
Cap'n said:
From now on, automatic dubs for anyone who says weight lifting is dangerous for kids.

Don't spread stupidity, it does it well enough on it's own.
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fo/ky:D

why would you put a kid on a weight lifting program who wants to train martial arts? Train him in MA and in warm ups and cool downs do bodyweight and light weight training. It's ridiculous to put kids on weight training programs, because unless you have people who know what they're doing who are constantly monitoring him, then he could hurt himself. It's not about stunting growth or any other bullshit because I'm not stupid. This is definitely not the best thing for a child. Skill training is more important. Light weights and bodyweight workouts will do great. Besides, see if he has the determination or even the want to do that, if he just trains he'll be fine.
 
grrthetree said:
fo/ky:D

why would you put a kid on a weight lifting program who wants to train martial arts? Train him in MA and in warm ups and cool downs do bodyweight and light weight training. It's ridiculous to put kids on weight training programs, because unless you have people who know what they're doing who are constantly monitoring him, then he could hurt himself. It's not about stunting growth or any other bullshit because I'm not stupid. This is definitely not the best thing for a child. Skill training is more important. Light weights and bodyweight workouts will do great. Besides, see if he has the determination or even the want to do that, if he just trains he'll be fine.
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I think others mentioned to do light workouts obviosly and resitance training/pullups, pushups, etc...not no friggin squatting their own weight.
 
hunto said:
Well that's the question we deal with as parents every day. "Is this the right thing for my child?" I don't know of any adults who had their growth stunted by lifting; and I have never heard anyone say,"My Dad made me lift weights as a kid and it sucked."
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That's beside the point. The point is that for young kids the time could be much better spent doing other things. As far as I know there is more or less a consensus that a majority of motor and coordinative skills of a human are ingrained in the very early teens (< 12 or 13) and that little can be done to improve them at a later stage. However, at 21 a kid that started weightlifting at 9 won't be much stronger than a kid that started weightlifting at 14, because, as EZA mentioned, the hormonal environment for strength increases is not really extant at ages <12.
 
Try teaching a 15 year old that never really sprinted (either in T&F or sports such as soccer or football) to sprint or try teaching a 15 year old that never did basic gymnastics to do a handstand. It's a nightmare. Teach a kid with a background in track and field to squat and it'll be (a) very easy for him in terms of motor skills and (b) he'll have some basic strength already from the T&F.
 
Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day.

Teach a young child to do a handstand and he'll walk around on his hands like a freak for the rest of his life.
 
Barut said:
Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day.

Teach a young child to do a handstand and he'll walk around on his hands like a freak for the rest of his life.
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Then he will be the next 'Unbeatable Benzuke' Champ!
 
Run his pre-pubescent ass into the fucking ground.
 
The Germans never had a problem starting them off young before......
 
Hitler Youth started at 14, ages 10-14 was Jungvolk, which was mainly fun and games. Athletic disciplines that were tested included:

60 meter sprint
Long jump
Ball throw
 
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