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Weightlifting
Safe Training for Teens
By Heather Johnson Durocher
As soon as she was old enough, Chessy Loudon began working out at her local YMCA. In the four years since, the now 18-year-old from Summit, N.J., is proud of her slow but steady progress in resistance training.
By learning the proper techniques involved in resistance training, as well as pacing herself with the help of a trainer, Loudon avoids injury and says she's boosted both her physical and mental health. The exercise has enhanced her jazz dance skills as well.
"It's a better way for me to get fit without trying to go on some wacky diet or becoming bulimic or anorexic," says Loudon, who follows a combination weightlifting and cardio routine. "It gives you a lot more strength, and you feel a lot better afterward."
Loudon is not alone. An increasing number of preteens and teens are discovering resistance training and incorporating it into their workouts, whether through community programs, during school gym classes or as members of sports teams.
When done correctly, resistance training offers numerous benefits to youth, experts say.
"Resistance training can increase strength, enhance muscular development, improve coordination and improve sports performance," says Bonne Marano, a certified trainer teaching in New York City at Crunch gyms and the Jewish Community Center of Manhattan.
The increasing number of youth interested in resistance training is encouraging, adds Kelli Calabrese, personal trainer.
"Hopefully these kids will keep those habits into their adult years," Calabrese says.
"Resistance training is defined as a force against which a muscle is working," Marano says, explaining. "Also known as strength training and weight training, these exercises can be done with free weights, professional machines, resistance tubing and one's own body weight."