Will Weight Lifting Stunt Kid’s Growth?

In this Fun Fact Friday episode, Lindsay explores the common myth that lifting weights can stunt children's growth and instead highlights the numerous physical and mental benefits. Using personal experiences of teaching her own children, Lindsay offers practical tips for introducing kids to weightlifting safely and in an enjoyable manner. She emphasizes the importance of listening to children, encouraging them to embrace challenges, and making fitness a fun part of their lives. Join the discussion and discover ways to help your kids develop a love for strength training!

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Creators & Guests

Host

Lindsay

Wife and mother of three. I have a deep passion for learning and teaching. I also really love lifting weights and fitness.

What is LiftingLindsay's More Than Fitness?

Dive into the joy of fitness with Lindsay and other guests exploring how it goes well and beyond the gym floor, the number on the scale, the size of your waist or the calories you're counting.

Lindsay: Welcome, welcome to
the Lifting Lindsay podcast.

Today we are gonna be doing
a fun fact Friday where I

discuss, a fun fitness fact.

That's the whole idea around it, right?

So today we're gonna be talking
about, uh, can children lift weights

or will it stunt their growth?

I'm sure you've heard that before.

So, the other day on Instagram, I showed
video of me teaching my 9-year-old and

my 10-year-old how to lift weights.

So this is one of our goals
that we have for summer.

I really wanna find ways to keep my
kids active, but also they're showing

interest in learning how to lift weights.

And so I'm really excited about that and
I'm just going to, I'm gonna go with it.

Well, they got it.

I'm gonna go with it.

Right?

So we had our first lesson.

There's actually a few things I'm
gonna talk about from that lesson,

because I just put my camera on and
I started recording a bunch of it.

One, I want to show my daughters what
they looked like when they started.

Not physically people I'm talking
about, like I wanna show them,

look, you were lifting, you know?

Five pounds doing this,
this was your form.

And then after three months,
be like, now look at your form.

Look at, you're doing 20 pounds.

Right?

So I want to show them that
because that just fuels the

fire of progress, I feel like.

So I'm really excited to, to
kind of document their progress.

And we're gonna be writing down
like their weights and I'm actually

going to be sharing a, just a small.

Program that I'm doing with my girls.

So you can check that out in the
show notes, what we're doing.

But I'm gonna give some tips on
lifting with children and teaching

them how to lift after this.

But I do want to discuss this idea.

'cause when I posted this.

I got a lot of people asking me like,
I would love to spend the next two

months with my kids doing stuff like
this, but doesn't it stunt their growth?

And the answer is no, it does not.

So we now know all of the
positive benefits that.

It can have on children to learn to lift
weights both mentally and physically.

But we're going to discuss today
specifically, where did this idea

then come that it's gonna stunt?

Children's growth.

'cause usually there's, there's
two main reasons why people

are scared to teach children.

One, it's gonna stunt their growth
two, uh, because, uh, they don't

want to get them to get injured.

So, so let's talk, discuss
those a little bit.

The first one, the stunt growth.

So do you know what it, it's really sad
when you actually track down and find

out where did this whole idea come from?

It's almost like kind of shocking
when you hear what it came from.

Post World War ii, there was a study done
on children that were doing hard labor.

We're talking about 80 plus
hours a week, hard labor.

We're also looking at a group
that was malnourished as well.

And what they saw and what the researchers
saw was these children had had their

growth stunted and they jumped to this
conclusion and everybody else did too.

That it wasn't this compilation
of malnourishment and.

Hard labor, 8,000 plus hours a week.

But it was that children
shouldn't lift weights because

it's gonna stunt their growth.

Like what?

You guys, I'm, I'm not, you
can't make this stuff up.

Well, I'm sure somebody out there could,
but, but I didn't, I didn't make this up.

This is where the idea came from.

In the post World War II in Japan,
where look at what happened to their

economy, their, just the wreckage
that they're dealing with as a nation,

and, and let's do a study on, on hard
labor, on children and malnourishment.

And then let's walk away with it
being like, and, and so no child

should wait ever weightlift.

Because that's actually,
that's literally what happened.

So every time somebody says
that, now you can say, no.

Nope, nope, nope.

This was, this was a, another bad case
of, of people thinking that correlation

led to causation like this horrible, can't
connect the dots very well kind of thing.

So I don't know about you
and your children, but um.

It, it's hard enough to get my children
to do 10 hours of hard labor a year,

so I don't think that they're gonna
be, I'm totally, I'm totally teasing,

but I mean, I'm not, it is hard a
week to get that out of them, but,

but I'm teasing, but this is not.

An issue that we have to worry about.

It is not showing actually that
it is stunting growth, but it

is showing some great positive
physical and mental benefits.

I'm really excited for the mental
benefits when I set up my camera to

record, um, my girls so that I could,
you know, show them their, their

progress and how their lifts are
improving, their strength is improving.

I also caught this moment where
my daughter, Hazel, uh, one minute

was fine working hard on the lake
press, and I was actually her,

she was, she was doing me proud.

She was like, gym face grunting.

She's like giving it
her all kind of thing.

I was really excited and she went from
that to one second later just stops.

She's like, I can't, I can't.

It was, it was actually this
beautiful moment that I captured.

I didn't share all of it
out of respect for her.

Um, but I shared just a, a tiny little
bit because I wanted people to see,

look, there's all these wonderful
moments of me teaching something hard

to my kids, and we can highlight those.

And I think those are great to highlight.

Social media, but I don't want you
to think it was not without this,

these moments too, where she just
went in her head and I, I look at

her and I'm like, what's going on?

Where did you go?

Now I know my daughter,
um, I know where she goes.

I know how fast it happens, and it
is just so quickly goes into worst

case scenario, stops, throws a fit.

This, it's a, it's too hard
and, and I'm not doing this.

I'm not good at it.

Nothing's working.

And she, she starts
expressing all these things.

Somebody said to me, um, after
they watched that, they said,

my, my son does that too.

How do you get him to listen to
you when he's in that moment?

And I'm not the best parent out there.

Learn from my mistakes.

Okay?

The point isn't to get your
child to listen to you.

It's actually to pause and learn to
listen to them, um, in that moment.

So their prefrontal cortex has been
hijacked, emotionally hijacked.

If you jump into solution mode where
when they have been emotionally hijacked.

They're not gonna hear
a word you're saying.

It's gonna be a wasted breath, and then
you're gonna walk away wondering, why

couldn't I get them to listen to me?

But if you change it just a bit, this
is what I've learned with a whole

bunch of, you know, trial and error,
but a, but a whole bunch of error.

Okay?

if you change it to, how can
I listen to them right now?

How can I get them to, and, and a little
bit of the, the footage that you saw

or some of you saw was Hazel, you know,
throwing this fit, being really angry.

She didn't like how hard it was.

She didn't like how she was being
pushed into the hard because she

has a mom who's a coach, and what
am I gonna, what am I gonna do?

Awesome.

You're feeling it's hard now, now.

To help with mental resilience,
you're going to push into that hard.

But what does life teach you?

It's getting hard.

Lean, no way.

But here I am, telling
her to lean into it.

And that was hard, and she just stopped.

Her walls went up, prefrontal
cortex got emotionally hijacked.

She immediately too just shut down, and it
happened so quickly as it does with her.

I kind of took a moment and
I said, what, what happened?

And are you teachable right now?

And she's like, no.

So you have to understand too, we've tried
to be Coach Hazel through this a million

times and we'll coach her through it.

Another million, right?

We'll keep doing this, but.

In that moment, I knew once I knew she's
not teachable, teaching her was pointless.

But if I step into the emotion with
her, then I can actually, it helps

her step out of the emotions faster.

So I leaned into it's, it's
funny because here she is being

asked to lean into the hard.

And she retreats.

And then, and what does that do?

It makes me, as a parent now need
to lean into the hard 'cause.

It's hard being a parent.

It's hard having the patience.

It's hard sitting in and with a child
who is not thinking logically or

a, or just an adult, a person who's
not thinking logically whatsoever.

But yet you, you haven't been hijacked,
so all you're doing is thinking logically.

But that's actually annoying them.

Who's not thinking logically,
because what do they feel?

They feel like they, they're not seen.

They're not heard.

So in order to help somebody back into
a position where they can mentally

become resilient and push themselves
and think logically, again, you have to

lean into that, that emotion with them.

You have to sit in it.

And then as a coach,
you can guide them out.

But the point is not actually
in this moment to have her

listen to me because she won't.

She can't.

And this isn't a 9-year-old thing.

This is an an adult thing.

This is a life thing.

This is, this is what everybody
does when they get emotionally,

their brain gets hijacked.

They're going through a really,
really hard time and somebody

comes in with pure logic.

It's like, don't, don't.

That's not how we connect.

Get into the emotion with me and
then we can talk about solutions,

but I wanna feel seen and heard.

So that has been one of the
hardest things as a parent is

learning to allow my children

to have all sorts of emotions
without me getting pulled into

those emotions and become almost as
childlike in my reaction as they are.

Right.

If I'm gonna teach them to be
an emotionally mature adult,

I have to, that's not fair.

I don't wanna Right.

No, it's hard.

It's hard.

It's really hard that I actually think
is what's really hard about parenting.

But right now I am reading a book
and one of the things that I really

like about this book is that they
do talk about how our role really

is one of counselor and coach.

We can't do these things for 'em.

It's called the self-driven child.

So I would strongly encourage.

You to listen to that.

I've gotten a lot of
little nuggets from it.

It's not one of those books where you
read and you wanna highlight every page.

I love those books, but, but I
have, there's been a few aha moments

that I've really enjoyed from that.

So anyways, just so you
know, teaching your child

weightlifting, it's gonna be hard.

There's gonna be those up and downs.

Um, but that's kind of what I
showed the other day is this is.

This is actually part of it.

And then it was interesting because
afterwards I showed another video of her

where she was doing biceps curls, and she
said she was doing really, really well.

She's back to being positive, feeling
capable, confident, and all a sudden

she's performing really well again.

And it was, it was really
cute because I said, look at,

you go, you're doing awesome.

And she said, yes.

I just needed a good song.

To calm my mind and I
was like, oh my goodness.

Out of the mouth of babes.

Isn't that true?

Good song.

Calm your Mind.

It was so cute, but it was really funny.

I decided to share afterwards.

Let me share the whole story.

It was, it was a wrestle,
but do you know what?

That wrestle, like I said, is
not just one that children have,

but it's, we have to learn.

As adults to have that same wrestle.

And one of the things that Hazel
actually did is something that

I see adults do very common.

When we face that resistance, she
immediately turned outside of herself.

'cause I asked her, I just
started asking her questions.

What are you feeling?

Do you wanna talk about What
feelings are you having?

Are you angry?

Are you sad?

Do you feel hurt?

Do you like what's going on?

And I just invited her without any
shame, just to open up to feelings.

And, and at first everything
was, it's just not working.

Everything's wrong.

The, the pad on the back of
the leg extension that was to

blame, it was rattling and it was
moving, so she couldn't do it.

And she starts looking outside
of herself and blaming all of

these things outside of herself.

You know, that's really common
as adults to do that too.

We quickly turn outside of ourselves in
instead of taking, uh, extreme ownership

of the attitude that we're showing up
in the fact that we're looking for all

of these, these people and things to
blame instead of just taking extreme

ownership and redirecting the story that
we tell ourselves to be more positive.

Hazel's words calming her mind.

Right.

So it was, it was a really cool thing
to capture and then to talk about on,

um, on social media the other day.

Got a really positive and, and really
good response from people saying,

it's nice to see that this is.

That other kids, uh, react the same.

Right.

And it's taken a lot of practice for me
not to get pulled in to her emotions.

And I, I still, every
once in a while do right.

But it, but I'm getting better.

As she's getting better.

It's a beautiful thing.

Okay.

Now let's move on to the next thing.

What about the risk of injury?

So it is interesting because
people don't think twice about

putting their kids into, you know,
casual soccer at the age of four.

Yet the risk of injury to those, those
little sports teams is almost triple that

of the same injuries that we're seeing
young children who do weightlifting.

But the funny thing is, young
children who do weightlifting, their

injuries are usually hand and feet.

It's, it's them actually
dropping things on hand and feet.

So if we can be there to guide them and
help them, that's gonna be really awesome.

So now let me give some guidance
on what I've done and every single

child is so different, but what I've
done and my suggestion and advice

on getting kids into weightlifting,
one, I don't think that they should

feel pressured by parents to do it.

I think that, uh, if parents are doing it
and showing that it's fun and enjoyable,

and also that it's not unhealthily
taking over every moment of their life

and dragging time, away from their kids,
um, because their kids will see that

and then maybe build up a resentment to
it and then not want to do it because

instead of spending time with me, my
mom's always weightlifting, right?

Can you see that how easily
that resentment can be built?

But if you are putting time and effort
into your relationship with your

child, and then on top of it, they
are seeing you, uh, demonstrating

mirror these, these healthy.

Um, lifestyle choices there gets a
point where they, they may become

open and interested in learning more.

I have not tried to force
weightlifting on my children.

Um, I.

We talk about how fun it is, we
talk about, um, what we can do.

I, you know, I did X amount
of weight on the leg press.

It was so awesome.

I did, uh, you know, I've built up to 18
pull-ups now, and my daughter at school,

you know, is starting to do pull-ups.

So she realizes, wow, that's awesome.

Can you teach me how to do that?

I wanna do that.

Right?

So she starts showing an
interest and that's when I, um.

Speak to that.

I'm like, okay, then let's do it.

And then I don't jump to some
radical every day weightlift with me.

It's like, no, how many times a week
do you want to come train with me?

And, um, so then we kind of
come up with a plan together.

So it's their idea.

It's not me trying to
force what I love on them.

Uh, so that, that would be tip number one.

Tip number two, people are like, well,
what do you do with them in the gym?

Usually I, um, I don't encourage starting
with the most complex movements, so

day one we did some, we did do some
squats, but very, very, very simple.

And they didn't have a bar on the back,
on their back or anything like that.

Yes, they do have children's bars.

In fact, this Saturday, um, a five pound
bar from Amazon, I'll share the link

in the notes is showing up because I
talked to my girls about doing deadlifts

and showed 'em, and they wanna start
working on strength and deadlifts.

And so it's something that, once again,
they're involved with this idea that would

be fun to become strong in deadlifts.

and another thing too is I am.

I really am just adding a little fuel
to the flame that they're bringing,

the energy that they're bringing.

Um, so my girls in school, they do
things like pullups or they work on

hangs or pushups or sprints or these
different planks, these different

exercises, crunches and stuff.

Um.

And so they have this desire next year
to go back and be, you know, the girl

who can do a bunch of pull-ups and do
more than the boys and these, and this

is stuff that, yeah, maybe I, I let that
one slip like, oh, wouldn't it be cool?

And they're like, yeah, let's do it.

Right.

So it's, so that was a little inception.

That is what I'm doing a little inception.

And then once it like comes to fruition,
I'm like, awesome, I'm jumping on it.

So their plans that I have for them
right now, they have expressed this

desire to do three times a week.

So we're doing three times a week
and during each one they get it.

They get to sip on their
Gatorade, and that's really

exciting to 'em because we don't

just have drinks around
my house like that.

And so they're really excited to
sip on their cool fitness drink.

And then when their friends are around,
then their friends have actually come

into the gym and done it with us before.

That's a little bit distracting,
but it's, but it's fun.

So I make it fun and enjoyable.

I'm also having them track things too.

The first.

Two sets of each basic exercise that
we go through are focused on form

and doing it correctly, and learning
these new patterns of movement.

Because once again, they
are, they are newbies.

They have no idea what they're doing,
so they'll graduate out of this.

But just this first phase is
just teaching them form and just

the, the pattern of movement.

We're using benches, we're using
the wall to keep their arms stable.

So they'll put, I have a
bench that has arms on it.

It's really cool.

But if you don't have that bicep curls,
have them stand with their, their.

Back right up against the wall
so that they can learn how to

do stable movements, right?

If you ever put a weight in a child's
hand, show 'em how to do a bicep curl,

and you watch 'em and you're like, whoa.

There's like, it, it just, they're
just like moving that thing everywhere.

Elbows are flying, shoulder
blades going crazy.

It's like, I didn't realize
somebody could be so creative

with a, a biceps curl right?

So with my kids, we're
focusing on the first.

One to two sets are getting used to
the motion going through good form.

And then the third set, I'm like,
okay, what weight do you think you can

do for eight to 10 reps, or 10 to 12?

And then they, they get really excited
and they pick a weight, and then

I let them, once again, these are
simple movements, so if they're form.

Goes haywire.

It's actually not a big deal, but
these are simple movements where

they get to pick the weight and then
they put their goal and then, then

me and the other child just cheers
'em on like, yeah, you got this.

Do it.

And their form kind of goes out the wall.

They get a little crazy.

And do you know what?

That's okay.

Okay.

We are pushing them,
we're encouraging them.

I want them to at least have that
one set where they feel like they're

giving it their all and they're working
so hard and they're tapping into

that mental piece of this is so hard
and awesome and I'm doing it right.

So obviously the more complex
the exercise, you can't.

If, when I'm doing deadlifts with
them, 'cause I'm gonna start that

next week, I'm not gonna have
them do that kind of crazy thing.

But I, I am really excited to
slowly introduce new exercises.

But in the notes you are going to have
my first draft of what we're going to

be doing together over the next month,
and depending on how be, because my

goal really is to have them learn to
do something hard and learn to push

into that hard and enjoy the hard and
to have fun in learning how to lift.

That is my number one goal right now.

It's not teaching them perfect form.

It's not having them know the
difference between a glute max

emphasis squat and a quad emphasis.

So it is none of that.

I want them, I want to light a fire
under them of feeling strong, doing hard

things, pushing themselves to appropriate
levels of failure and fatigue, and I

just wanna light that fire that gets 'em.

To where they want to be active
and feel strong and move.

And so that's the whole point of it.

So go ahead and download that
in the show notes just to kind

of see these basic things.

I'm also gonna have a few notes
in there as well of, of different

things that, that we're trying.

After four weeks I'm gonna look at it
and we're gonna track all of their lifts.

After four weeks, we'll look at it
and I'll sit down with 'em and be

like, what are your favorite exercise?

I'll show them different exercise.

Do you guys wanna do these ones?

Get new goals with these exercises.

These are some of my favorite.

Do you want to, and I'm really going
to pull them in because I don't, right

now, it's not about like, well, we need
to make sure that, you know, we are

appropriately balancing out biceps and
delts and back maneuvers and all this.

It's like, no, we're
lighting a fire under them.

I.

To love movement, love,
feeling strong and et cetera.

So anyways, just thought I would
share where that myth came from.

And no, it's not gonna stunt their
growth and just some tips and things

that I'm doing in my family to help
teach my girls how to lift weights.

Thank you so much for joining us
today on The Lifting Lindsay Podcast.

Hopefully this has been an interesting
topic and I've given you some good

ideas to get you training with your
kids or maybe know where to start.

If you have any questions, go
ahead and send me a message on I.

Lifting Lindsey.

You can also check out
my personal training.

Be strong dot lifting lindsey.com.

Join our community.

We can talk about these things as well.

I'm excited to get my community members
to learn more about this and to start

training their kids as well, or at least
inviting them to start training just a

little bit with them to light that fire.

You guys are awesome.

You have a wonderful week.