We have been told in the past that kids shouldn’t be lifting heavy weights. We’ve had a rough guideline for young kids that they really shouldn’t be doing any sort of formal strength training before puberty / teenage years. We’ve often cited that the risk is too high for injury or that kids can damage their growth plates. I still hear this pretty consistently from parents of young athletes.

In truth, there is very little evidence to support the idea that strength training will harm growth. If that were true, we would have to tell kids to stop running and playing as well. I don’t know any young kids who can lift three times their bodyweight. Yet if we look here, going for a run puts up to 3x bodyweight forces into our joints. Jumping up to 7x our bodyweight. A normal, healthy sport like gymnastics can produce up to 11x bodyweight forces. The math doesn’t add up. A typical, controlled weight lifting session would probably put .5-2x bodyweight forces into a child’s joints and that is “dangerous”, but jumping and running and sport all “safe” despite having significantly higher stress. Do we see the contradiction here?

Young kids are likely to be putting more stress on their joints from normal activities like sport and play than they are with weightlifting. Furthermore, more stress is not a bad thing. Stress is ultimately what builds us stronger and more capable. It’s the dosage that matters. The same way we wouldn’t introduce a track athlete to running with marathon distances, we would never introduce ridiculously heavy weights into a person’s programming until they’ve earned it over many many years. The same for adults.

Strength training offers so much value for the health of our bones, muscles, tendons, cartilage, nervous system; it helps with performance and injury prevention. It’s probably time to start rethinking the idea that strength training at a young age is dangerous, and instead look at the best ways to introduce appropriate training to the younger generation. Very young kids would probably benefit more from learning how to control their bodies in space, do more jump, sprint and agility training and build strength through more fun activities rather than barbells and dumbbells. But these are just tools to gain a mechanical advantage, and they shouldn’t be seen as these scary objects. If a child is both physically and emotionally mature enough to use tools that could help them improve, why wouldn’t we want to utilize them? Our problem is the perception that they are dangerous. The truth is that they are not appropriate for many adults just starting out either. But for the kids that are a little more advanced or mature, we are probably holding them back from reaching their potential. We should let the trainers help to determine who is ready and who is not.

Stuck not knowing where to start on your exercise journey? We’ve all been a novice at some point in our lives. And I believe having the right system in place to help is paramount to being successful. I’ve worked with thousands and thousands of people across the spectrum: beginners to pros. And with the growing amount of access to instagrammers, tik tokkers and youtubers telling you the right and wrong way to do things, it’s become increasingly hard to know who to trust. The exercises I list below can be replaced with other exercises that you have more experience with or simply enjoy or like more. But the have a system and guide is so important.

Whether you are starting on your fitness journey for the first time or the tenth time, know that we support you no matter what! It is so hard to make positive changes and anyway out there trying deserves so much credit and respect. I’ve worked with a lot of professional, collegiate and high level high school athletes. I can genuinely say that I enjoy working with the general population so much more. Don’t get me wrong, working with the strongest, fastest, most coordinated people are a lot of fun. It’s really cool to see what humans are capable of at the highest level. But they have such a small window for improvement. They’re so close to their peak that what I offer really isn’t all that special. Some minor adjustments to their programming or introducing a few new exercises or stretches is about all that they need. People in the general population, however, have so much potential and I love exploring new and creative ways to help people reach that potential.

All of these exercises below are designed with the idea that they are compound lifts (hit many muscle groups at once), efficient, achievable, and require zero equipment. It doesn’t matter whether your goal is to move better and get stronger, reduce pain/injury, to improve your aesthetic, to lose weight, or to simply become healthier. There are basic principles for success and the majority of it comes down to consistency. I implore you to start small no matter your motivations. Build a foundation that is rock solid. One that you can do in your sleep and that you can repeat habitually. One that generally feels good to do, that challenges you a little bit, and doesn’t take too much time. These principles are SO MUCH MORE IMPORTANT than the actual exercises. I can’t emphasize this enough. If you have NEVER exercised and do not feel comfortable at all doing movement, please start with A group of exercises. If you used to exercise years ago, are used to doing a little bit here and there and just fail to stick with it, have been to classes in the past or a trainer or have just always done a little bit of exercise on your own, please go to the B group of exercises.

A.

1. Sit to Stand
2. Wall Pushup
3. Stairs
4. Walk whenever you’re able but don’t punish yourself if you don’t

B.

1. Squat
2. Modified Pushup
3. Mountain Climber
4. Lunges
5. Squat Jumps

Do these 3-4x per week for 4-6 weeks. DO NOT CHEAT AND PROGRESS SOONER. Your body needs this time to adapt and be ready to progress. Be honest with yourself about the consistency and do not progress until you get 4-6 CONSECUTIVE weeks under your belt. See next week’s post for why this is so important for a beginner.