Got another nephew on my wife's side, 14 yo.

He thinks I'm cool so I got some influence on the kid.

He's a pudgy, non-athletic computer nerd and prob'ly gonna stay like that but for his sake I'd like to get him lifting weights. If he lays on the bone structure now as he grows it will benefit him the rest of his life.

I'm just talking 160 lbs of assorted weights, a bar and a couple of barbels. Local Academy has a complete set for $100.

I'm thinking I was maybe 16 when I got serious about lifting.

Is 14 too early?

Birdwatcher

Nope. Focus on technique.

I would say no earlier than five AM. They need their sleep.

I don't know the answer for this, but from my limited experience and observation,it would be good to get him in the habit of light workouts. However how much is over doing it is the question. I've got shoulder problems that can at least be partially traced back to being stupid with wieghts as a kid. Several guys I worked out with have had problems too. However we aren't in near as bad a shape as the state champion gymnastics team guys are. Some of those guys are dang near cripple at age 60.

I think you are right to proceed with caution.

14 is plenty old enough in most cases

Yup. It's not the bones, you worry about, it's tendons and ligaments. The muscles will grow MUCH faster than the connective tissue will. For that reason, I think the first year should focus on form and volume/reps. This is particularly true if he has been sedentary. I'd look at sets of 10, and go for something like 5 rep maxes, rather than 1 rep maxes, until he's thickened those connectors. The other side of the equation is nutrition. Teach him that good nutrition and hydration will make everything else more effective. Sounds like fun! Oh yeah, one more thing - I would alternate workouts with weights, and bodyweight stuff, like situps, burpees, pushups and chin ups. Translates to the real world better.

Hate to contradict you Benchman, but it is the growth plates in the long bones that are very susceptible to injury in boys 12-15. The growth plates are the weak link in the system at that age, whereas the tendons and ligaments become the weak link after puberty. I see no problems starting resistance training at 14 *for most boys*, but have 2 caveats:

1.) Use some common sense and look at what state of puberty they are in, Some will have the beard setting in and others will still have a 12 year old body. The ones that haven't hit puberty hard really should stick with body weight type exercises and resistance bands. Truth is that until they starting producing more testosterone, they will be limited into how much muscle they will put on. No need in trying to jump the gun.

2.) Once they hit the weights, keep the resistance very moderate and hammer home proper warm up and form. What you don't want is for them to run off and have a cock measuring contest with their buddies on the bench at that age. I've got players now Freshmen in HS, and they are starting weight training there. They are all 15, and up until now, virtually all of their training has been bodyweight exercises and resistance bands. High school football and baseball has them in weight training.

Unfortunately, I'm starting to hear the chatter "How much can you bench?" starting.

Obviously, my dad didn't care about growth plates or tendons. He had me lifting heavy stuff and working hard a long time by the age of 14.

Have him go light and incorporate a lot of body weight movements such as push ups, pull ups, burpies, lunges. More of a Crossfit type workout vs. strict weight lifting. My 14 yr old does crossfit and he is becoming very strong, not bulky

Huge part of the equation! Get him away from that computer screen and into the outdoors, also.

No- get 'em off the couch and get 'em lifting.

I too am a big proponent of body weight exercises-particularly pull ups.

Don't overthink it.

Our son was about the same age as your nephew when he wanted to start doing some weight lifting to get rid of the leftover adolescent chub. He got a basic weight set and lifting bench with some accessories for Christmas that year.

Later on he added some extra weights to the set. It worked out pretty well for him but he wasn't too much of a couch potato to begin with.

I believe the key to his success and most importantly was it was his idea to drop the chub and tone up a bit so he stayed with it until he did.

No doubt the extra attention from the girls probably helped as well.

14 is usually the age where it's OK to start lifting serious weights. 10-12 they can do Nautalis type weight machines. My son (11) has been doing it for about a year now. He had to take a class from the trainers at the YMCA before he was allowed to do so.

13 is the earliest!

I went thru the same thing but working and lifting weights are 2 different things

You obviously never cut firewood with my father. Getting wood into the back of the truck was lifting. Building fence was lots of lifting as well. Free weights or firewood is still lifting. He did show me the best way to lift without hurting yourself, 50 years later and I have never had back problems.

Firewood and bucking bales are not the same as weightlifting. Do you lay on your back and put 225lbs in your hands and push up? Do you rack 300lbs on your shoulders and squat up and down?

There is no age, it's development. And 14 is (IMO) too young.

I'd cherry pick Crossfit type works and skip the Oly type lifts. Kids his age can do workouts that are more similar to farm work or as HitNRun said splitting wood, etc.

I'd have him do jump boxes, climb rope, pullups, and pushups, flip tires, beat tires with a sledge hammer, jump rope, etc.

Maybe introduce a medicine ball as well.

There's a reason farmer's kids were always known for being strong. It wasn't from Oly type lifts.




Dave

At 14 he is already behind. Nothing wrong with lifting weights much earlier. It is about technique. At younger ages you use very light weight and focus on learning proper technique and more reps for endurance. By the time he is 14 most boys are ready to start lifting heavier weights and work on strength.

All successful sports programs start their athletes lifting in 6th grade, some parents earlier. By the end of 8th grade most are ready for HS football.

Not really a contradiction. Keeping reps up, will keep the weight down. I have not personally seen growth plate damage in anybody, but I'm not a doctor. I don't think doctors want you to lift at all. I have seen a lot of tendon damage. Until they start pumping out some testosterone, I think it is difficult for them to lift enough to damage growth plates. A lot happens, physically, between 14 and 18. It also happens at different rates, for different people. You have to consider the particular kid. One size does not fit all. It is best to err on the side of caution. Basically establish good form, good work ethic, and good nutrition. Keep the volume and reps up. Don't neglect bodyweight exercises.

Good Lord. NO CROSSFIT unless you want him hurt. No Nautilus or machines because they specifically exclude muscles used for balance and joint stability.

Buy the book "Starting Strength" by Rippetoe for him for Christmas and go through it with him. The book illustrates in excruciating detail how to perform a few barbell movements which when done properly result in fastest strength gain. Tons of other info about what NOT to do, which is more important that what to do.

Don't listen to the blissninny spew of stupidity about growth plates, muscle growth outpacing connective tissue growth, "mobility", "bulk slows you down", "squats are bad for you" or other nonsense. His hormonal state will either let him get stronger or it won't. Some boys turn to men in the 7th grade, some do in college. Whether that boy is lifting before his body wants to fill out or not doesn't matter; he simply won't get very strong very quickly. Injury results from lifting incorrectly, not from lifting.

When his body is ready, he will get stronger if he a.) is correctly performing squats, bench and standing presses, and deadlifts in a manner in which he is progressing slightly heavier each workout on a simple 3 sets of 5 reps per exercise, 3 days per week... b.) has a calorie and protein surplus in him at all times (fat kids don't need to eat like they mean it, skinny kids need six full meals/day and up to a gallon of whole milk a day), c.) he gets enough sleep, and d.) doesn't interfere with the process by doing fitness magazine programs or "doing cardio" or "eating clean" or "working on his core" or "safe bodyweight exercises". Squats, deads and presses will make him brute strong by themselves.

He can continue the 3x5 protocol with caloric surplus and lots of sleep, and will get stronger until that adaptation ceases. If he gets stuck for any length of time at a 3x5 squat weight less than 1.5 times his bodyweight, then he's not following the program. This is WAY SIMPLER than people make it out to be.

This response will rub some of those responding to this thread the wrong way. They can save it. If you or others want to process it further, go peruse the Rippetoe message board and see where everything I touched on is addressed in some way either in the book or on the forum.

My own experience indicates that the protocol I outline above is sound. I started lifting in high school at 15, but due to me not eating nearly enough food (though I was sure I did) and maybe not being hormonally ready to get strong until age of 17 or 18, I stayed skinny. In college, I did largely the same stuff under my poorly-premised yet still-effective college football lifting program (was based on % of max versus the 3x5 progression identified above), but upped the food to about double+ what most would consider normal, and I'd gain 20+ lbs per summer. By the time I was a senior reserve defensive lineman, I'd gone from 180 to 255 lbs, and bottom 10% to top 10% for strength on the team. I'm 40 now, still lift, and have NEVER been hurt by a barbell exercise.

I'd encourage him to join a sports team like basketball or cross country. Diet is huge at that age too and if you can get him to cut back on eating bags of chips and pop you'll be doing him a favor for life.

Tks for the advice all.

The kid is nerdy and a bit overweight, not one of the popular kids in school, has no social confidence. But he's gonna be tall and big, and steered right he could grow up tall and strong.

The way I'd put it to him is "look kid, you can either grow up nerdy and pudgy or nerdy and built, what's it gonna be?"

I promised him we'd go shoot my handguns over the holiday, I'll have a talk with his parents with whom I'm on good terms.

Birdwatcher

Weightlifting is benching 225 pounds? If that is weightlifting, I didn't participate. I considered lifting anything with gravitational resistance as weightlifting. Free weights are different than a Nautilus machine as it requires stability as well as strength. Firewood, bricks, horse tack and range doctoring wild cattle kept me in good shape throughout my youth.

How plates would differentiate between those activities and another kind of weightlifting is beyond my understanding, but I know of countless thousands of young American farm and ranch kids did lots of lifting with no ill effects.

Not even close to the same. The OP was asking about buying a weight set for a 14y y/o, not wanting him to work on a farm.

The thing is, this kid is used to being physically inept, its hard to just tell him go out for track or whatever, he's not going to want to get ridiculed.

When I was a kid, me and my cousin just accumulated random weights on our own. We didn't know much but we knew enough to do the then-current mantra three reps of ten and it worked pretty well for us.

I figure if this kid has weights on his back porch he'd likely use em', and getting built would give him something to work towards. He ain't used to thinking of himself in terms of manhood. Time to change that.

Birdwatcher

Not until they are 13

I agree completely work is much harder. At work you don't have any control of how much weight you have to lift. I worked for a building contractor every summer starting at age 12 and when we lifted weights at school I was by far the strongest kid in school for my weight. In fact I was stronger than most of the kids. I was the only kid in 10th grade who could curl and press their body weight overhead. In the 10th grade I was 14 (skipped 4th grade), was 5'6" tall and weighed 140 lbs. I could also hit real hard, never had problems with bullies.

I have seen kids do a remarkable body transformation from 14-16, especially the soft pudgy ones. Diet is 50% of the equation, aerobics 25% and resistance training for the other 25%.

The kids bodies are starting to pump out growth hormone which helps them mobilize and shed that torso fat, and testosterone will mobilize the fat from the limbs as they start to get an adult distribution of body fat that is hormonally influenced.

If the kid is really self motivated and sticks with a very clean diet, it can be a life changing transformation in a school year. From nerd to stud.

+1 ... I was 14 and my brother 15 when we started lifting weights

Vek nailed it. Read what he wrote, read it again...get the kid the book and follow it. Lots of ways that a kid/person can start it but Rippetoe's method is simple and effective.

My dad bought me a bench and a weight set for my fourteenth birthday. By the time I was sixteen, I was pretty stoutly built. I was more into molding myself to look like Steve Reeves than into just becoming strong, though.

when they reach their teens

LOL.

At 14 he should lift while it is still fun. That will become habit forming.

It sounds like the objective is to get a couch potato motivated and increase his confidence. Body weight exercises and a well programmed lifting routine can be done at home in privacy. Once he starts feeling and seeing the improvements he will be a different person. Pullups are one of the best exercises and one of the most neglected.

Birdman you are doing the right thing and may change that kid's life.


mike r

I'm with VEK.

www.startingstrength.com

Read a bunch, then ask some questions, then start...

Not sure how I feel about this.

Of course, I am on a farm, so I never thought about lifting weights, I guess a lot of kids did that when I was younger.

To me, it is more of an attitude thing. Not sure a simple purchase of a weight set will be enough.

Must be millions of pounds of exercise equipment sitting idle or in the dumps.

I would think that a simple shift from being an inside kid to and active out doors kid would be better for him.

That is unless he really takes to pumping iron.

Just seems to me that kids who are encouraged/forced to get active, get a job or responsibility tend to become better adjusted.

JMHO of course.

Blissninny spew about muscle growth outpacing connective tissue growth? Tell that to the juicers that tear connective tissue at an alarming rate. The reason is the same as a young teen. The addition of hormone stimulates muscle growth at a FAR faster rate than connective tissue growth can keep up to. We disagree there, but I cannot disagree with The training regime endorsed by Rippetoe. Didn't work for me, as well as what I was doing, but I am very specialized. I'm not a blissninny. I have a great amount of very successful lifting experience.

Surprising how much can be accomplished and how relatively quick positive results can be realized by simply following a regular routine of PT and running as evidenced by military basic training.

Have do the Cross fit schedule as mentioned earlier, very few people can get into lifting, compared to workouts that are fun! My grandson's both tried lifting and got bored. They started wrestling on a club team! One was a state wrestler before graduating, and his younger brother is doing great! I think he will be better than his older brother! They make friends and gain confidence in themselves. Way better than weight lifting!

Bingo

Can't say specifically, but if he's into or going into puberty, it's probably a good time. As he's still growing, one should not try to max out, but strive for improvement in strength/technique and stamina. Socially, it would help greatly if there is some support around as well.

An interest in some of the other active type sports might also help with coordination and endurance as well (racquet ball, tennis, volleyball, swimming, soccer, basketball).

You are very short, and if I'm not mistaken, train very specifically for contest bench pressing. I assume you're suited, and have adapted to the wide grip, arched back = minimal range-of-motion style of benching. That is very highly specialized, and not related whatsoever to what is instructed by Rippetoe.

Nobody is going to out-pace connective tissue adaptation by doing whole body lifts in the manner instructed. Injury results from form compromise, not getting strong.

Agreed

I gotta tell you, you are wrong. I lift geared and raw. There is a window, right around 13 - 14, I might add, where hormones kick in. At that time, muscle growth can really accelerate. The kids may not have the connective tissue strength to handle it, and tears occur. How many promising football players have carreer ending knee injuries? Rotator tears? I really dont think there are enough very young lifters to get a reliable sample. Pushed hard enough, I think you will see tendon and ligament failures. I DO agree that form compromise results in injury. Although I only compete in bench, I also squat around the raw world record. I just do bench meets though. I do not deadlift, because of a back injury from gymnastics. Not gonna die on this hill, because we do agree on virtually everything else. More than one way to skin a cat, for sure.

I started at 13, it never harmed me. I am 62 and still do it.

Somehow I don't think the kid is going to be able to pull off starting strength without some serious coaching which I doubt is available.

Cross country would be a good sport, or even soccer to get his butt off the couch..

"Lifting weights" is a very broad term and as indicated by some, if done incorrectly a teenager can easily cause injuries he'll suffer from for the rest of his life.

There are a host of sports that can provide the opportunity to burn off flab and are less likely to cause injury. Not to mention working out in a group tends to be a much more motivating than hitting the weights in the gym or garage by yourself.

Nor sure how it is in Texas, but in our cross country running races whether it's the state champion coming in first, or the pudgy kid coming in 15 minutes later, parents and students from every school are cheering for every runner at every race.

Any time after 0400......grin

I started lifting weights when I was 12, but then again I was a wrestler. By the time I was 14, I was benching 300 pounds. If in your shoes, I'd focus on correct technique and endurance training. When in high school, other sports like football and basketball will be no sweat.

funny thread here , city [bleep] abound , gotta be tougher chit to tackle a Starbucks, good old country kids with duties and chores come out tougher than chit, not always does size mean stout let alone true grit. If Birdphuck is to be a hreo it will have to be on the keyboard protecting the Hill-da-beast

Took all of a couple pages for a simple question to turn into a dick measuring contest lol. I don't know schit about lifting or fitness except that gyms tend to be full of self-centered [bleep], and lots of guys used to be able to do a lot more than they can now.

That being said, it seems there is a whole lot more material out there now about how to do it healthily than there used to be.

Good post..

There's not much that compares to bucking hay bales and changing irrigation pipe, but some of these city folk and their kids don't get the opportunity to do this. When they don't get the opportunity to have to work their azzes off like some of us had to do when young, they have to resort to other methods to gain muscle and endurance. I consider myself lucky, having grown up in the desert where I got to ride motorcycles and walk over mountain ranges to stay in shape. I also enjoyed lifting weights and playing sports. It was when I got a little older that I was introduced to bucking hay bales. Let me tell you, that is a blast, as long as you are in shape for it. This goes back to when you are young and start lifting weights. It does help to prepare you for jobs later on in life. I still love physicaly active jobs and will continue to for a long time...

That's cool. Something to be commended for.

The body's natural testosterone is highest in the AM, and the kid will be ready to hit the rack after dinner. Too tired to get in much trouble. Win/win.

O.K. so you are his uncle and he thinks that you are "cool". So, what do you do next? You "plant seeds". You have to convince him that he wants to better himself. Lead by example. PT with him. Get him wanting to "be like Mike". Unless he wants to do it, he never will. The folks above are assuming that he is motivated to be the next "Arnold". Your hardest job will be to influence him enough that he wants to get fit. Take him hiking, be his mentor, Introduce him to a vigorous life. Once you have convinced him to want to be fit, then you can introduce him to ways to do it.

LOL ! ! !

I have a hard time relating to a 14 year old that just wants to sit in front of a computer.

If I had pulled that sort of stunt when I was that age, my dad would have put me to work doing something, from mucking out ditches with a shovel to stacking 50 lb apple boxes to 6'6, to wrenching on equipment.

The kid needs a way to improve the way he sees himself. He needs a friggin job. He can mow lawns, run errands, walk dogs, scoop dog poop, do minor tree ans shrub trimming, light painting, gutter cleaning, driveway cleaning, you name it.

Lifting weights isn't going to turn him into a stud, accomplishing something on his own will.

Or he can keep being a nerd.

Sir, thanks for the suggestions and the spirit in which they were offered, but I'm pretty sure that stuff is how one gets to be considered a cool uncle in the first place.

Birdwatcher

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.

Plays against political and generational stereotype, of course.

He's gonna need to be built when he runs fer President.

Not sure how I'd go about asking.

Tell him if when ya got morning wood, you can lift. He'll figure it out.

What political and generational stereotype says hispanics don't work out? Prison yards are full of em.

By "...is someone trained in that discipline..." do you mean one who has lifted with purpose (training) and achieved positive results, or one who has received training and instruction to the extent you deem necessary to train others at lifting?

I started lifting weights at thirteen.

But I was pulling slips on a drilling rig.

If you see me running, somebody is chasing me. If you see me lifting something, it needed to be moved.

I don't think my folks ever asked when can you lift, it was when you could. Bales of hay, firewood, feed sacks, wagon tongues, tractor chains, shovels, axes, equipment parts, and muck buckets were just part of every day. Of course that was the reason for large families, cheap labor

Including both sides of the family, this is like nephew number eleven, the last of the lot, plus my son makes twelve.

Somehow, with all of them kids, I never asked a one of 'em about erections or masturbation.

Tell ya what, when this last one starts staying in his room for long periods on his computer, and nobody hears video games going on. Then he's ready to start working out.

Ya, but were you jerking off yet?

14 is not too early. Start slow, light weight, with lots reps