Squats

I’m 16, and about 5’10’’ and i was wondering when i can start doing squats. I don’t want to stunt my growth and will doing squats, or bench press really stunt my growth or is it just a rumour?

hahahahahaha…kids these days.

Tarek: That is a horrible rumor that formed years ago and has not died yet. Squats and Bench press are fine for someone your age. Just be careful and dont be stupid and start going for 1 rep maximums right out of the box.

I’m 17 i started heavy training at 15 when i was 5’10 and now i am 6’3. That is some of the stupidest crap I’ve ever heard, but good decision on askin the guys on this forum before keeping yourself from gettin big. Be more cynical and don’t listen to all the crap you hear. Eat good lift hard and hit the books.

I guess it all depends on your genetics. If your father or mother is close to the height you are now, chances are you won’t need to worry about hindering too much future growth. I stopped growing when I was 16 at 5’11" and haven’t grown an inch more. My father is about an inch taller, but I have a short mother. You want to take advantage of your youthful growth and recovery to make some maximum gains right now, but make sure you don’t over-do it. I’ve been in local and state powerlifting comps since I was your age, and I assure I’m no shorter than the day I started. Good Luck.

It depends on where you are in puberty. If puberty just started and your bones are not pretty well developed then I think it can have an effect. Think about it, your joints & spine being compressed when they are not fully developed can not be too good.

You will never stunt your growth doing squats or any other multijoint exercise. Do it smart–no maximum or ego lifts until you learn the movement. Aim for 15-20 good reps. Those with the stunted growth from being couch potatoes will soon be calling you “sir.”

i highly recommend not playing any sports, particularly ones that involve jumping because there are sheer compressing forces on your spine when you land from a jump, that far exceed those of a squat.

dman that was not a good analogy. If you think of a 10 rep set of squats with 4 sec. positive and 4 sec. negative add in 1 sec. between them, for 10 reps you have 90 seconds of heavy downward pressure on your spine. Fine if your body is fully developed, stupid if you are at the begining of puberty. People can do whatever the hell they want, I just think it is safer for teens to wait till their bones, spine, joints, tendons, etc… are fully developed. Real high rep form style training would probably be fine but I just don’t think heavy wts. should be used before your body is mature.

NOT doing squats or deadlifts will stunt your growth. in your thighs that is

squatting and benching won’t stunt your growth right, assuming you do the exercises in a manner that does not severely damange your body. that means don’t try to do anything close > 85% of your 1 rep max until you’ve had a good year of training experience behind you. don’t kill yourself going to failure, stop when your form get shitty. don’t lift more than you can handle, etc. don’t squat with the bar on your spine.

wasnt the whole growth stunting rumor just garbage made up and blamed on weightlifting to cover up the use of anabolics by teens?