There’s a common belief that lifting weights during growth spurts might stunt height development.
If you’ve been into health and fitness from a young age or engaged in high-intensity workouts, you’ve probably heard the phrase, “You won’t grow tall. Your growth will stop.”
Although the basis for this claim is unclear, the feeling that lifting heavy weights might compress the growth plates and bones, thereby stunting growth, is common.
In conclusion, lifting weights during growth spurts does not stunt height development. On the contrary, moderate strength training can positively influence growth. It can enhance the development of the nervous system, increase muscle strength and contraction, improve bone rigidity, reduce the risk of fractures and sports injuries, and boost confidence.
Dr. Rob Raponi, a physician and sports nutritionist, has previously stated that strength training only damages growing children’s growth plates if done with incorrect posture or too heavy weights.
This is due to the increased risk and potential for injury when exercising with incorrect posture or maximum weights. Not only children in their growth period but also healthy adults, older people, and athletes can harm their bodies by exercising with heavy weights in incorrect postures. However, the same injuries can have a more significant negative impact on growing children than adults.
The Pediatric Sports Medicine Society’s study on ‘Strength Training for Children and Adolescents’ also recommends that adolescents whose growth plates have not fully closed should avoid handling maximum weights for the same reasons.
Since such strength training shows more stable performance capabilities with long-term practice, there’s no problem starting from a young age, as long as it’s done with correct posture and appropriate weights.
Here’s a thought that might come to mind. Most weightlifters, who lift heavy weights like it’s their daily bread, are short. This could lead to the assumption that lifting heavy weights from a young age stunts growth.
Athletes are already more skilled than others, and their job is to compete with these outstanding individuals. Therefore, an athlete with a slight physical advantage for a particular sport can maximize their potential.
In the case of weightlifting, which involves lifting heavy weights and bending and extending joints, short people can perform the same exercise more easily than tall people. In other words, it’s not that weightlifting makes you short, but rather, short people have a higher probability of being good at weightlifting.
Conversely, for basketball players, it’s not that playing basketball makes you tall. Instead, tall people can play basketball more easily, so most players are tall.
So, there’s no need to worry that ‘strength training might stunt growth.’
By. Shin Su Jung
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