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Home › Articles › Family Fitness › What Are You "Weighting" For?

What Are You "Weighting" For?

Family Strength Training
Starts Young

By Melanie Wilson

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"Look at my muscles, Mommy!" Kalli was only 2 the first time she uttered those words. My husband, an avid bodybuilder for years, taught me to value the feeling of power that comes with strength training and to appreciate my muscular legs rather than wish I could trade them in for stick skinny ones.

I realized the first time I heard my young daughter describe a runway model as "too thin" that we had unintentionally instilled in her, too, a preference for a strong, healthy body – and how to achieve it. Along the way, while watching us work out and occasionally mimicking my squats or my husband's lifts with her miniature wooden barbell set, she and her little sister are learning some other valuable lessons as well.

The Verdict
Strength training for kids used to be frowned upon, because experts believed it placed too much stress on growing bones and muscles. Now, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Presidents Council on Physical Fitness and Sports – just to name a few – have released official statements on the sport for youths. Across the board, experts are touting the benefits of carefully planned and supervised strength training programs for children as young as 7 to 8 years of age.

"When they have the maturity to accept and follow directions they can start strength training," says Avery Faigenbaum, author of Strength & Power for Young Athletes: Exercises and Programs for Ages 7-15 (Human Kinetics Publishers, 2000) and 'Medicine Ball for All' Training Handbook


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