Should Kids Lift Weights? What Parents Need To Know

Should kids lift weights? When most parents think of activities for their kids, it usually just involves aerobic activities.

Running around, climbing trees, riding bikes, or playing team sports are great ways for kids to stay active and healthy. 

Strength training often gets overlooked when discussing fitness for kids.

However, building muscle through resistance training is just as important as endurance activities for children. 

Kids should be introduced to some form of resistance training at an early age for a number of reasons.

Strength training builds lean muscle mass, which increases metabolism and helps your kids maintain a healthy weight.

Plus, resistance training helps strengthen and develop healthy bones and connective tissue throughout your children’s development.

So, should kids lift weights? Keep reading to find out!

Should Kids Lift Weights?

Strength training also provides positive reinforcement since your kids can actually see how much weight they are lifting and how much progress they make over time.

This can motivate them by giving them a sense of physical accomplishment. 

Another advantage of strength training is that for many kids this is a completely new and novel form of exercise.

Children are curious by nature, so showing them a new way to be active is likely to pique their interest. 

Plus, you can introduce a whole range of new equipment to get kids started with resistance training.

Light dumbbells, resistance bands, and TRX bands are like new toys for your youngsters.

Demonstrating how to use fitness equipment to build muscle and improve fitness is a great way to bond with your kids and get them moving at the same time. 

This probably goes without saying, but strength training in kids is not the same as heavy lifting in adults.

You want to start out with bodyweight exercises, light dumbbells, or resistance bands.

You can show them proper form with this equipment but should save any heavy lifting for when their bodies have fully developed.

Children are at the biggest risk of injury during periods of growth spurts as they enter their preteen and teenage years. 

Trying to lift heavy weight or using the incorrect form will only lead to injuries. 

These exercises will build lean muscle without increasing the risk of injury to a child’s growing bones and developing connective tissue in their joints. 

The key here is to use lighter weights with proper form so that your kids will learn to work their muscles correctly while avoiding injury. 

Myths About Kids and Strength Training

For some reason, there is the misconception that strength training is unsafe for children.

However, resistance training is commonly recommended for older, frail adults to help improve muscle and bone strength.

If strength training is safe and effective for less mobile and flexible adults, it definitely is not “unsafe” for healthy kids with improved agility and flexibility. 

Indeed, no serious injury has ever been reported in any prospective study on youth strength training.

In fact, strength training can actually help reduce injuries in young exercisers. 

According to the National Strength and Conditioning Association, a well-supervised strength training program has no greater inherent risk than that of any other youth sport or activity.

While there are rare cases of epiphyseal plate fractures related to strength training, these have been found to be due more to misusing equipment, lifting inappropriate amounts of weight, using improper technique, or training without qualified adult supervision. 

These factors emphasize the need for trained fitness professionals to teach correct form and monitor a logical progression of weight.

Another question a lot of parents have is if their children can really gain strength and enhance muscular development at a young age.

Studies actually illustrate significant increases in muscle strength and mass in both young boys and girls. 

For example, one study demonstrated that children can improve strength by 30% to 50% after just 8 weeks of a well-designed strength-training program.

 

Youth Strength Training Guidelines 

Research has found that children engaged in strength training twice per week have significantly more strength gains than those only working out once a week.

These findings favor a training frequency of twice per week for children participating in an introductory strength training program.

These sessions do not have to be long or grueling, and instead should be enjoyable for your kids.

Just doing 20 minutes of carefully supervised strength training, along with a proper warm-up and cool down, 2 or 3 nonconsecutive days each week can reap major benefits.

Training Sets 

It can be hard for adults to figure out the optimal weights and reps to perform during strength training, which means this can be even harder to determine for your kids. 

One method that has seen great results is the DeLorme-Watkins strength training protocol.

This is a progressive resistance training method, where the first exercise set consists of 10 reps done at 50 percent of the 10-repetition maximum (10 RM) weight load.

Then, the second set of 10 reps is performed at 75 percent of the 10 RM weight load.

Finally, the third set consists of as many repetitions as possible with the 10 RM weight load.

When a child can complete 15 repetitions, a higher 10 RM weight load is determined and the training protocol repeats. 

A study from Pediatric Exercise Science found that after using this protocol in an 8-week training program, 10-year-old boys and girls increased their overall muscle strength by 74 percent, compared to 13 percent for the matched control subjects.

This method has shown a higher success rate than those that use higher weights in kids.

Training Repetitions For Kids

Similar to the above findings, research also supports higher reps and lower weights have a greater health benefit in children as well.

In another pediatric exercise trial, half of the children participants performed an exercise set using six to eight repetitions, while the other half performed an exercise set to muscle fatigue using 13 to 15 repetitions.

The average strength improvement was 29% in the high rep group, compared to only 18% for the lower repetition group.

Exercises For Youngsters to Avoid

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children and adolescents avoid competitive Olympic-style weight lifting and powerlifting until they reach their full physical and skeletal development.

Even when heavier lifting is started, proper training and supervision are always recommended to avoid injury.

Strength Training Exercise Ideas For Kids

As you can see, there are numerous health and fitness benefits that strength training has for kids.

These are definitely workouts that you don’t want to disregard when encouraging your kids to be active. 

Here are some simple exercises if you are looking to get your kids started with resistance training.

Bodyweight Exercises

Bodyweight exercises are a safe and effective way to introduce your kids to resistance workouts.

This will help your children build strength without putting undue stress on their joints and growing bones.

Push-Ups

• Demonstrate to your kids how to bring their chest to the ground in a controlled manner before pushing back up.
• You can even show them some different push-up variations to try, like narrow or wide push-ups.
• Have them start on their knees to perfect their form.

Air Squats

• Show your kids how to squat down until their quads are parallel to the ground.
• You can start with traditional standing squats and progress to jump squats.

Tricep Dips on Floor

• Have your kids sit on the floor with their knees bent and feet in front of them.
• They will place their palms on the floor behind them and underneath their shoulders.
• Have them bend their elbows to lower themselves back down towards the floor without bringing their butt completely to the ground.

Light Dumbbell Exercises

Dumbbell Curl

• Have your kids start with a light pair of dumbbells.
• Demonstrate how to do the curls by holding the weights down in front of them with their palms facing forward while they keep their back straight and chest up. 
• Have them bend their elbows and curl the bar toward their shoulders without moving their upper arms.
• Have them slowly lower the dumbbells back to the starting position.

Dumbbell Squats

• Have your kids hold a light dumbbell in each hand as they lower into a squat.
• Watch them to make sure their knees don’t track past their toes.
• Have them squat down as far as comfortable until their thighs are about parallel to the floor.
• Then have them stand back up.

Overhead Press

• Again, have your kids use lighter weight to start.
• They will hold a dumbbell in each hand at the front of their shoulders.
• Show them how to press the weights directly overhead until their arms are straight, then lower the weights back to the starting position.

Resistance Bands

Front Pull Aparts

• While holding a light band, have your kids start with their hands about shoulder-width apart.
• They will raise their arms up straight out in front of them at chest level and pull the band apart.
• Watch their form to ensure that their shoulder blades come together to engage the back muscles.
• Then they will slowly return to the starting position.

Squat to Shoulder Press

• Demonstrate to your kids how to start this move by standing on top of the resistance band with feet hip-width apart.
• They will hold the handles (or the ends of the bands) with an overhand grip with their arms at shoulder level.
• Have them squat down until their thighs are parallel to the floor while keeping their hands by their shoulders.
• Next, instruct them to stand back up while pressing the handles overhead until their arms are fully extended.
• Then they will slowly bring their arms back to shoulder height. 

Bicep Curls

• Your kids can also try bicep curls with resistance bands.
• In this move, they will stand with their feet shoulder-width apart with a resistance band under their feet so that they can grab the handles or the ends of the resistance bands.
• Have them grab the handles with an underhand grip, then curl the band to about chin height.
• Make sure that they bring the band back down to the starting position slowly and controlled.

These are just a few exercises that you can demonstrate to your kids to encourage them to add strength training into their fitness routine. 

*Please know that weight loss results and health changes/improvements vary from individual to individual; you may not achieve similar results. Always consult with your doctor before making health decisions. This is not medical advice – simply very well-researched info on should kids lift weights.