The same cannot be said for having their 10 pound heads wrenching on their necks to look down at screens all day, though.
“‘Kids shouldn’t lift weights! It’ll stunt their growth!’
(As their 10 pound head is wrenching down on their neck to look at a screen for hours, after spraining out the door with a 40 pound back pack slumped over 1 shoulder, to sit in a chair.)
Damn those 25-pound goblet squats!”
-Ray Zingler on X
You think it’s silly that kids believe in Santa Claus?
What if I were to tell you there are grown adults with fully developed frontal lobes who believe exercise is dangerous for kids?
Believe it or not, they are out there.
We get all wigged out by “kids & strength training” and I understand why.
It’s because “Kids should be playing, and strength training is for adults.”
Except here’s the problem, kids aren’t playing and adults aren’t strength training.
Go up to an adult who prioritizes their health and fitness on a daily basis. This adult doesn’t necessarily have to be a health and fitness aficionado, but an adult with some relative sense and knowledge.
Ask them if strength training is dangerous for kids. Ask them if it will “stunt their growth”.
You’ll quickly get an answer, “no, that myth has been debunked since the 80s.”
Now ask the same question to a sedentary person who sits in a chair all day in front of screens who doesn’t prioritize their health and fitness. Make sure to grab some popcorn because you’ll be enjoy the ride back to the 80’s full of myths and old wives tails.
But pay attention here.
The health conscious know it isn’t dangerous and encourage their kids to participate, but the nonhealthy demonize it? And then we still heed the advice of the nonhealthy?
In what realm of reality does that make any sense whatsoever?
Do you listen to the guy who “has a car” for in depth mechanics advice? Or do you take your car to the guy who works on cars for a living?
Strength training for kids does not mean what the average, poorly informed, sedentary adult thinks it means.
It is not rounded back deadlifts, squat maxes, and stunted growth.
Strength training is a relative concept.
And strength training for kids is mainly about teaching our kids to have a positive association with health and fitness, learning how to move properly, and having fun in the process.
A bit of a different image than what you might have had in your head, huh?
We’re in a place where we might need to reevaluate our thinking if we sign off on cranked necks sitting in chairs all day and demonize strength in relative capacity.
