Ok, so a while back I came here and posted my concerns about how i heard that lifting could stunt my growth. After being told by everyone that it wouldnt, i felt pretty confident and continued lifting.
Just a couple hours ago I was talking to my friend telling him about my gains and such when he gave me this explaination of how lifting could stunt growth.
Basically, what he said was that when you lift your muscle bulks instead of growing vertically.
After our little chat ended, i hopped on the internet and did some research. I found a few opinions. A few said that lifting, when done with proper form ect., will under no circumstances stunt your growth. The other was that until you reach about 18 you should do sets of at least 15 and work mostly on form.
While i do put a lot of emphasis on my form, I would rather not be limited to strictly doing 15 rep sets seeing as my main goal is strength developement.
Yeah, your friend is an idiot. There is no stunting of growth. Only way his theory of muscles not stretching could be possible is if he completely ignores the growth of bones. See, if the bones still continue to grow and muscles don’t get vertically longer then you’d have some serious problems, as the only way this could happen is if the connecting tissue snapped off.
Second, if bone structure failed to grow, you’d have a second problem. First off, the bones in your back would seize together. Walking at this point might be difficult. Growth is not affected by lifting.
‘by training muscles bulk instead of growing vertically’
Basically your friend is saying that weights will alter the genetics of growth, that is bollowck.
The forces that are applied to the bones when running, jumping, kicking and throwing can easily be greater than during controlled heavy resistance training, so how come nobody claims that sports stunt growth? It’s a myth mate!!!.
it’s all uneducated bias from people who are too fucking lazy to get up and get pushing.
Althought seing as youngsters tend to be weaker the extra emphasis on technique form is correct but all this 10-15 range is actually mentioned because it has been said adolescents respone better in terms of gains etc, i genuinely don’t know if that is true or noy, maybe someone better educated than myself can tell you…, all the other stff about stunting growth is crap.
Go ahead and lift heavy (3RM, etc). You won’t stunt your growth, but in the worst case scenario if you use poor form and too much weight, you could injure yourself (as with any other sport). Search on Google for Dr Mel Siff’s article for reference.
Don’t bother arguing with your friend, members of the public are very misinformed about health and fitness in general.
From what I have read it is the growth plates in the bones and not the lengthening/bulking of muscular tissue that leads to stunted growth. Think of it this way, you don’t grow taller because your muscles are getting longer. Anyway what do you think that your muscles are attatched to, you guessed it, tendons that insert and originate in…“trumpets sound”…your BONES. Ask this guy where he heard this info and ask him to back it up with science and not just what hea heard on Oprah. I started lifting when I was 16 and granted I don’t have any “tall” genetics turned out fine. I did focus on form and basic exercises though. Do some research on your own to find out the whole truth. Who knows, maybe you could write a report on it for school or something. Later
Lifting…and other forms of hard work will not stunt your growth.
Children shouldn’t lift because it is dangerous if you are careless in my opinion. If you are a healthy teen you should be fine. Been doing it since I was 15 and I am two inches taller then my dad. About 6"'s taller then mom.
I think it stunted my growth. My 13 year old kid is taller than me. Actually, so is my mother and my wife. Matter of fact, at 5’7", most people are taller than me.
Even if it was true, I’m not sure if I’d rather be tall and fat/flabby over being short and ripped. I’m 6’ tall, and I’d gladly exchange a couple of inches if it meant I’d look good nekkid.
The only way lifting could stunt your growth is if it put you into a caloric deficit (where your food energy would be directed towards energy output rather than growth).
Since I assume you have access to an adequate food supply, this should not be a problem.
