Does weight lifting stunt your growth?

S

supersonny

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Hey everybody. Sorry I didn't know where to post this.

I am 14 years old and I have been working out for almost a year now. I spend at least 2 hours a day at the gym, not including cardiovascular.

A lot of people say that weight lifting stunts your growth. Is that true? I am pretty short, around 5 foot 2. Whenever I ask people how to get taller they always say its genetics, drink milk, and stretch. They also tell me that I shouldn't worry about it now since I am only 14. What gets you taller?

I have heard that deadlifting stunts your growth a lot but I don't do dead lifting at all. It would take me a while to name all the excersizes I do but I work out my calfs, traps, biceps, triceps, abs, etc. I am one of the strongest freshman in my school, I can bench 175 and curl 35's. Is it good for me to keep working out? Will I stop growing if I continue? Thanks,
sonNY
 
If you really are i advise you to stay off the steroid forum..you do not need to be poking your head around there for at least another 10 years!!!

training 2 hours per day may be overkill..it all depnds on what your routine looks like..

and height is genetic for the most part
 
Height is genetic, You are pretty much guaranteed to be taller than your mom, unless you have some major physical problem that keeps that from happening. No weight training does not stunt your growth, however extremely heavy training might not be ideal while you are still growing--you are more apt to be injured during this time.
 
even if it did stunt your growth why would yuou care... 5'2" is awesome i wish i was that height.. you lucky bastard
 
as blackbeard said, don't even READ about steroids yet- you have years to go before you should be interested in that.
weightlifting will NOT stunt your growth- in fact, the extra protien you need for it will help your developing bones anyway. drink plenty of milk and eat lots of fresh fruits, vegetables, and meats/chicken/fish.
You are probably lifting way too long though- you don't need 2 hours a day. if you get a good program, you can workout for about an hour 3-4 times a week and get better gains.
good luck, now go have a glass of milk.
 
supersonny said:
Hey everybody. Sorry I didn't know where to post this.

I am 14 years old and I have been working out for almost a year now. I spend at least 2 hours a day at the gym, not including cardiovascular.

A lot of people say that weight lifting stunts your growth. Is that true? I am pretty short, around 5 foot 2. Whenever I ask people how to get taller they always say its genetics, drink milk, and stretch. They also tell me that I shouldn't worry about it now since I am only 14. What gets you taller?

I have heard that deadlifting stunts your growth a lot but I don't do dead lifting at all. It would take me a while to name all the excersizes I do but I work out my calfs, traps, biceps, triceps, abs, etc. I am one of the strongest freshman in my school, I can bench 175 and curl 35's. Is it good for me to keep working out? Will I stop growing if I continue? Thanks,
sonNY

No. Just keep doing what you can and Eat everything in site.
 
Mudge said:
I started lifting at 11 years of age, I am 6'2" and taller than my father.

yeah but if you hadn't started lifting maybe you woulda been 6'8".
lol... just kidding- i have a son who's gonna be twice my height. i'm gonna start him lifting soon (he's 13)
 
The biggest thing to watch is just that the young guys/gals dont get hurt lifting, watch the form, and frankly there is nothing wrong NOT doing GMs and things like that at a young age. There is plenty of time to pursue other movements later in life when full muscle control is more at their disposal :)

I think this set of theories was probably based in guesswork, and mixed in with some young guys using steroids. When I was in high school we had a couple users, one guy who started really young, he was about 5 foot or maybe 5'2" tops, at 18 years of age but he looked like a little Arnold, huge and lean, a very very diciplined guy. Expert guitar player, and in awesome shape, and a workaholic in general. He ended up hurting his back lifting a pickup truck (back end) and I hadn't heard much of him since, he graduated in 1990.

I've seen plenty of tall guys that started young though, I doubt it hurt my growth at all :)
 
Mudge said:
The biggest thing to watch is just that the young guys/gals dont get hurt lifting, watch the form, and frankly there is nothing wrong NOT doing GMs and things like that at a young age. There is plenty of time to pursue other movements later in life when full muscle control is more at their disposal :)

I think this set of theories was probably based in guesswork, and mixed in with some young guys using steroids. When I was in high school we had a couple users, one guy who started really young, he was about 5 foot or maybe 5'2" tops, at 18 years of age but he looked like a little Arnold, huge and lean, a very very diciplined guy. Expert guitar player, and in awesome shape, and a workaholic in general. He ended up hurting his back lifting a pickup truck (back end) and I hadn't heard much of him since, he graduated in 1990.

I've seen plenty of tall guys that started young though, I doubt it hurt my growth at all :)


at the rate my kid is growing, i'm sure he'll be fine (he's about 5'6" or more and 13 and growing FAST). i saw him tell his friend he was going to start lifting at home and his friend said "by yourself?"
my son said "no, with my mom."
his friend laughed and said "YOUR MOM???"
so my son pointed to some trophies and just said "dude..."
I want to start him now, so that when he gets to high school, he at least has a basic knowledge and start.
 
sugarplum said:
as blackbeard said, don't even READ about steroids yet- you have years to go before you should be interested in that.
weightlifting will NOT stunt your growth- in fact, the extra protien you need for it will help your developing bones anyway. drink plenty of milk and eat lots of fresh fruits, vegetables, and meats/chicken/fish.
You are probably lifting way too long though- you don't need 2 hours a day. if you get a good program, you can workout for about an hour 3-4 times a week and get better gains.
good luck, now go have a glass of milk.

Cosign that.

Unless you start uber-young (i.e. single digits) or crack a growth plate (in which case, surgery would fix that, lol) lifting young will not hurt your height. I started lifting at 10-11, and I'm the tallest person in my immediate family (5'11"ish), with my shoulders a hell of a lot broader than any of the others too...........
 
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