Should Young Kids Lift Weights?

Mothers and fathers alike sometimes frown at the thought of their young sons playing sports at a young age. Mothers fear the thought of little "Bobby" getting hurt on the football field, so Bobby is told to wait until he's in high school, before partaking in the grid iron festivities. Meanwhile, Susie has been in gymnastics since she was seven years old. By the time she's in high school, her core strength is double that of her brother's.

Let's compare the two kids. Bobby has very weak calf muscles, legs, and upper body strength. Susie on the other hand, has stronger calves, a well balanced core, legs, glutes, and upper body strength. So, why does Susie know what a "stabilizer" muscle is and Bobby does not? Susie had to participate in mandatory weight training for her sport. Remember, Susie was on the gymnastics team at age seven. She learned to lift her body weight. She also learned how to stand on a beam (coordination), squat down and stand again with only one leg. On the floor exercises, she was introduced to the mechanics of sprinting across the floor, while propelling herself into the air, landing briefly on her hands before springing over to her feet. Can you count the number of muscles it takes to perform that move? But, Susie grew bored with gymnastics, so what did she do, she joined the pee-wee cheer-leading squad at the local parks and recreation center.

So where's Bobby during all of this, he's home, remember, we don't want him to get hurt. So, let's come back to Bobby ................ he's not going anywhere, he's content sitting on the couch playing his XBox. It makes us, feel all warm and fuzzy inside knowing that he's safe.

Back to Susie, she's still learning coordination, running, stopping, springing, and let's not forget the strength it takes to be on the bottom of a cheer-leading pyramid. And oh, I would be remiss not to throw in team-building.