Dear Dr. Steele,

My son has just turned 13 years old. He is entering his first year of Bantam hockey.  Although he is very skilled in the game, it is his size and strength that have contributed to him being less competitive then in years past. I am not one of these fathers that pushes his kids beyond their abilities, however he has approached me about suggestions to improve these areas.  I have read several articles about the right age to start weight training and most have contradicted each other.  Some say 12 years old and other say don't touch a weight until they turn 16 years old. Can you give any suggestion about this topic?

Sincerely
Greg Williams
Father

Hi Greg
Thanks for writing.
This is a subject I have written about before but I still get this question A LOT!

I would like to try to explain my answer in a way that makes the most sense to you so that when you hear people discussing this subject you will have your own feelings regarding this subject.

Let me start by saying the notion that lifting weights at a young age stems from a couple of issues. One issue is the belief that young bones cannot handle lifting weights. This notion that weights can cause damage to the joints and to growth plates is simply not accurate. Growth plates usually do not close until the age of 18 anyway so if this is the argument then it basically contradicts itself. Don’t buy it. Unless a 50 pound weight is actually dropped on you out of the air the chances of your joints or growth plates being damaged via proper lifting methods is minute.

Some people may even tell you there have been studies proving this, however there is not one study today that proves that lifting weights at a young age can be harmful to a child. Someone may try to refer to a study done years and years ago in concentration camps where young kids were forced to undergo heavy labor that in turn caused problems with the child’s ability to grow at a regular rate. However if someone tries to pass this on to you understand that in addition to the heavy labor there was very little rest and very poor nutrition in these concentration camps.

Let me ask you this question. Your son, I assume performs push ups, lets say he weighs 110 pounds. Every time he is performing a push up he is pushing up maybe 50-60 pounds. So if this is ok why then is it not ok for that same person to lay back on a bench and perform a bench press with 50-60 pounds.  If your child plays baseball or soccer or even goes outside to play a game with his friends he is probably jumping.  This jumping then is “causing” excess stress on his knee and ankle joints so why don’t the experts tell your son to stop jumping? If you are thinking that this does not make any sense then you are right. 

My experience has been that any specialist in strength and conditioning will agree with me. In fact the National Strength and Conditioning Association states that they believe that there is no harm in allowing children to lift weights.

I think the other issue that needs to be addressed is an issue of maturity. I will tell you that some of the strength coaches at higher levels, NHL, AHL etc. will sometimes tell you that kids should not start weights at an early age for this reason. I recently attended a hockey symposium where an NHL strength coach was discussing some of these issues. He was against younger kids lifting weights but for different reasons. His argument was more of an issue with kids at 12/13 years of age need to have fun and not get so serious about training. To some degree I agree with this stance but I also feel that, and in my case I have worked with many serious athletes at this age, there are some athletes at this age that are serious and want to improve,

It is also important to take the type of training into consideration when working with younger athletes. I believe strongly in functional training, training movements as compared to training muscles. For example many of the kids I work with LOVE to push the truck for resisted sprints. Here we are working several muscles groups at one time but also working on a specific movement and the kids love the “fun” of pushing a truck down the parking lot.  Tire flipping is another exercise we perform that works a ton of different muscles while allowing the kids to have fun.

I hope this gives you some insight on where people are coming from when they say kids at younger ages should not be lifting weights.  It is my opinion that your 12 year old should be lifting weights if he wants to be lifting weights. Make sure that it is a program based on his age and also a program that is not a “bodybuilding” program but rather a functional training program so that he can develop as an athlete and not a bodybuilder….this is another subject however.

Dr. Steele is the founder and CEO of Better Hockey and TOP DOG Athletic Training. He has trained hundreds of hockey players from the US, Canada, Sweden and Japan from youth players through NHL players. He is currently the strength coach of the Lewiston Maineiacs of the QMJHL. Better Hockey is currently the worlds largest hockey specific training website and magazine. To learn more about the members only area with over 600 pages of articles, pictures, videos and more or the over 150 products or some of their other great program check them out at www.betterhockey.com or e-mail Dr. Steele at info@betterhockey.com