Convincing my parents

[futurefreak]

My dad has not really said anything but my mom feels that I am too young to lift. What should I tell her to assure her that it is safe? Or fine that I do start body building. She said I need to finish growing first but I do not agree. Any way to argue myself out of this? I plan on lifting no matter what but would like to have my moms approval.

[Fazc]

Well, how old are you?

[5kgLifter]

Originally Posted by futurefreak

My dad has not really said anything but my mom feels that I am too young to lift. What should I tell her to assure her that it is safe? Or fine that I do start body building. She said I need to finish growing first but I do not agree. Any way to argue myself out of this? I plan on lifting no matter what but would like to have my moms approval.

My brother started with training when he was around the age of 12-13, initially doing light stuff; as long as you start light and work on form by the time the next year has flown by you will have gradually built up a base of strength but also established a base of good form.

As for needing to finish growing first, I'm not even sure there are any studies which prove one way or the other that lifting is bad, as long as it's done sensibly and not pushed beyond what a person is ready for. My brother was tall anyway, so it didn't really matter, I guess; but he still grew and hasn't had any issues from training so young.

The funny thing is, kids/teens could have part-time jobs (not sure what the law is nowadays) where they had to lift goods and they play and wrestle, all of which employs a degree of strength and lifting skills...all that weight training itself would do is teach you to correctly use the body when doing such lifts and may even end up protecting you from the odd injury.

There are also plenty of Olympic lifters, from the USA and other countries, that start around your age and younger and they don't appear to have any issues; maybe check some youtubes out for that.

[glwanabe]

Is your Mom an expert in weightlifting or hold a degree in a field that would somehow qualify her as an expert in the field of weightlifting?

[JacktheThriller]

dont ask for anything but a weight set/ gym membership for a year and she will cave

[Success]

1. Your body doesn't finish growing until 19-25 years of age. Does she want you to wait this long to start lifting?

2. Maybe you can print some of these and show them to your Mom (if she is swayed by evidence...). You know your Mom, so you can decide which ones, if any, to use.

Olympic Weightlifting - QWA - Information for Parents
Shows how weightlifting and weight training is undertaken by kids and is radically safer than other sports kids participate in

Kids? Weight Training Programs: Guidelines for Building Strength
WebMD article tells parents kids can start strength training at age 7 or 8 (actually younger is safe too, but I'm assuming you're at least 7...?)

The Benefits of Weight Training for Kids - NYTimes.com
researchers found that, almost without exception, children and adolescents benefited from weight training. Plus, its safe.

Olympic Weightlifting and the Young Athlete
Kids doing Olympic weightlifting. Helps build bone mass, not "stop the growth plates"

3. Lift at school or at a friend's house

4. Get into wrestling or football. The coach will make sure you're lfiting.

5. Do bodyweight exercises and get strong as hell...sooner or later, you'll get the weights

Bodyweight Strength Training Beast Skills
RossTraining.com - Full Throttle Conditioning
Bodybuilding.com - Combat Conditioning: Five Months Without Weights!

[leefarley]

proper weight wont stunt your growth it will make you big and strong i started at 17 weighing 120 pounds now i weigh 201 pounds at 5'6 i'm sure i would of got bigger if i dident have so many lay offs

[moeheep]

My son started lifting weights the summer between 8th and 9th grade, I believe he was 13 yrs old, to get bigger for football. I do not remember exactly his size at the time, but he was in the neighborhood of 5 ft 6 in tall, and under 200 lbs. By the time he graduated from high school, he was 6ft 4in tall, 280 lbs, approx 16-18% body fat. He was doing 1 arm rows with 120 lb dumbell...the highest they had in the weight room. He had a lot of interest from Div 1 football programs.

I am 5 ft 10 in tall, and his mother is 5 ft 4 in tall. So I certainly cannot see where weight training stunted his growth in any way. He learned self-dicipline, how to work hard, and that results would come with consistency. Important lessons in life. He also got the girls!!!

No reason you cannot start at 13 years old.