Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire How early can a teenager start lifting weights?

The protocol in question involves 3 working sets of 5 reps at a given weight, and adding weight slowly every session:at first 10 lbs each session, then 5 lbs per session, then sticking at a weight for a session or three until stalled. This is gradual by design. The rate of weight increase is scripted the same for all beginners, except for beginners older than 35 or 40 (who are advised to progress more slowly). The protocol developed from observing unfailingly consistent results on hundreds of novice lifters. I fail to see the issue here. At no time does the protocol prescribe testing a single-rep max...that's where folks get hurt.

Congratulations on your accomplishments and continuing success, sincerely. The numbers you hint at lifting are superhuman.

Food for thought:
http://startingstrength.com/resources/forum/articles-and-platform-videos/16670-clarification.html

I bet if you reviewed debilitating injury stats between cross country running and properly coached lifting, the results would be surprising.

Not disputing that anything is better than nothing...and I realize that he simply might not be interested. But, San Antonio is ~300iles from rippetoes gym. also, with the prevalence of camera phones and the availability of expert film feedback from rippetoes forum, there isn't much excuse for lack of coaching.

A couple of things.....

Age - he's safe to lift at whatever age. Technique is the most important thing for him. I started as a kid and I'm still lifting. During that time I've been around a lot of people lifting. I've never seen someone injured when lifting with correct form. Most of the injuries I've seen have been from being careless.

Lifting vs sports. Sports are great, but if the kid is a computer nerd and has no desire to compete, maybe even doesn't want to be around other kids because he will be embarrassed, lifting is the perfect activity. He can do it with Bw, and see results. It doesn't matter if he's a great athlete or is so uncoordinated he has trouble walking...he can still lift. Lot's of great benefits from lifting that not many other forms of exercise provide.

The starting strength program is so simple that it's perfect for a beginner. It's effective enough that someone with a lot of experience can still use it.

A friend of mine has a 9 (almost 10) year old who plays football and baseball, but is slump shoulder and no balance. My friend keeps wanting him to lift weights, but he works a lot and the kid has practice for something every night. (Plus he is only 9)

One day I brought over a couple of light kettlebells and had him do farmers carries across the yard. I walk with him and make sure he uses good form (Shoulders back, chest out, walk tall...). We do this a couple times a week, and he is walking taller with better balance and getting stronger.

It also gets a lot done in a short amount of time.

Putting weight on bones while they are growing makes bones bigger

Yep, and leaves him with a stronger frame for life.

My thinking exactly.

The thing is, the kid is a prodigy in other ways.

Fer example, nor long ago at his school he got kicked out of class when they were talking about Islam among World Religions. He laid out explicitly about jihad, and fatwas and referenced verses in the Koran. When she couldn't shut him up or counter with facts the teacher got flustered.

Politically correct he ain't

....and I didn't tell him about any of that stuff, he found that all on his own. FWIW, this kid is Hispanic as all get out.

These past few months I have been lifting regularly again after about forty years. I discovered that I still have the frame and joints for it, and I made surprisingly rapid gains.

Someone told me that when you do work out in youth, you actually lay in a higher density of muscle cells in those muscles affected for life, so that they respond correspondingly faster even after decades of not lifting.

Another thing is, I learned on these boards that lifting enhances testosterone production. I was already doing 50-100 miles/week on a bicycle but I'm pretty sure higher T has kicked in too, based on the way I've felt since.

And even for a guy pushing sixty like me, feeling muscle replace flab, even if other folk's can't yet see it, feels pretty good.

Birdwatcher

The Campfire may not be worth much, but it sure can bring all sorts of experts from the gallery. A simple question turns into pages of right and wrong comparisons from everyone but a real weight trainer.

Winter sucks, because it puts so many people inside with nothing better to do than write about subjects they have little knowledge of. I guess you get what you deserve with a question to this site about something that really doesn't matter.

19 years 364 days old sound just right. My back is still screwed from the damage done weight lifting in high school.

No one said you couldn't hurt yourself if you do it wrong.

I'm in the gym 4 days a week, see many kids exercising/lifting weights. I'd recommend cardio mixed with high reps & moderate weights just to stay in shape. No need for power/heavy strenuous weight lifting, that'll just cause problems imo.

I'd say go for it but teach him its about staying fit more than how much weight one can lift.

??

I would guess everyone participating on this thread has spent years lifting weights in one manner or another, correctly or incorrectly.

Means they have something to add here.

12

And precisely what the phugk does the highlighted portion have to do with anything? I wondered when you'd trot it out BTW. Took longer than I thought actually.

I think he was just reaffirming that he's lazy and sits on the couch a lot.

Could be wrong.




Dave

Lots of guys work on guns but that doesn't make them a gunsmith.

I'd like to hear what you think qualifies a person to be a "real weight trainer".

Of course you are well versed as you have posted accordingly, but the real difference is someone trained in that discipline vs someone who has lifted weights. If you can't see the difference it is only because you don't want to.

A young man should start lifting weights around the same time he starts masturbating.........gets rid of some of that extra energy.

Just to be clear I started lifting weights when I was 7.