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Weighing the benefits of weightliftingSupervised training is helpful, but macho posturing leads to injuries
(CNN) -- Cheryl Haworth had just won the 1998 American Open, one of the top weightlifting competitions in the nation, in Orlando, Florida.
In the snatch lift, she had bested each of her competitors by 33 pounds or more with a lift of 236.5 pounds -- 10 more than when she snapped the national record, with a 226.6-pound lift, at the World Team Trails earlier that year. Haworth also beat everyone in the clean and jerk, with a 280.5-pound lift. Add it all up, and Cheryl won by 60.5 pounds. With the performance, she officially became the strongest woman in U.S. history. And she did so at the ripe old age of 15. Those schooled about the dangers of weightlifting may be surprised more by Cheryl's youth than her feats. While strength and resistance training have been widely lauded as beneficial for people of all ages, the verdict on weightlifting and powerlifting is not so clear.
"Strength training, we know, is good for kids," said Dr. Miriam Johnson, who practices youth sports medicine in Kirkland, Washington, and belongs to the American Academy of Pediatrics' Committee on Sports Medicine and Fitness. "As to weightlifting, you'll find a fair amount of controversy." Physical maturity is keyFew doubt that Cheryl is exceptional. But her coach, Michael Cohen, said young people of all shapes and sizes can benefit from weightlifting -- if they do it correctly and with the right supervision. "If someone is properly trained, weightlifting accelerates growth and makes the muscles and bones stronger," said Cohen, whose weightlifting program in Savannah includes more than 100 young people. "Anybody that's ever been involved in the sport is much stronger and taller than their peers." But many doctors are not convinced. Johnson said the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends the age of 14 to start weightlifting, but she noted that many doctors are more cautious.
"A lot of us feel like 14 is too young. Many of us say that 16 is a more reasonable age," she said. "It really has everything to do with their development or (physical) maturity." On average, most boys don't finish their last major growth spurt until they are 16. Johnson said girls are typically two years ahead and are physically "mature" by the age of 14 or 15. Jay Hammer, an Atlanta chiropractor and avid weightlifter himself, said that the 11th grade is a good starting point for boys. Before then, he said, "The body is not developed enough. Basically, they can open up to herniation and tearing of the ligaments." Johnson said studies show more weightlifting injuries among those in their early teens versus those in their late teens. "Weightlifting is one of the few sports that there is a recommendation on waiting, until they become physically mature, before they start," she noted. 'Peer pressure is so great'The biggest problem with strength training, Johnson said, comes when people try to lift a maximum amount of weight. "That's where a lot of them get in trouble, seeing how much they can lift," she remarked. "It comes at a time when peer pressure is so great anyway. Some … are very (physically) mature… and less mature kids feel challenged to perform." Doctors, scientists and coaches agree that overcompetitiveness is dangerous in the weight room. "We have all done it -- when you do the bench press, you bounce it off your chest and arch your back," said Dr. Rafael Escamilla, a researcher at Duke University's Michael W. Krzyzewski Human Performance Research Laboratory in Durham, North Carolina. "It is extremely common in high school and college, especially when the male ego is involved. Everybody wants to be the one who lifts the most weight." But Escamilla said this shouldn't overshadow the benefits of weight training. If the program is designed smartly and supervised ably, he said there is no reason that 6- or 7-year-olds cannot lift weights. "It all depends on the intensity," or the amount of weight, Escamilla said. "Lifting over 80 percent of your maximum weight for the prepubescent and middle school years -- it's not needed. But there's no reason they can't learn how to do it." Staying smart, getting strongCohen calls proper training and supervision essential when young people lift weights.
"It's teaching children the technique first -- how to balance the weight, where to put your head," he said. "Then you have to train the child. … It requires someone to be with them every single day." Problems arise, Cohen said, "because most kids are exposed to weight training by messing around with their dad's bench press. That's the wrong way." Cohen said that, in some cases, those who oversee young weightlifters aren't qualified to do so. "Anybody that's ever lifted thinks they know everything about the sport," he said. "But I'd never walk out on the football field and run out to play. I'd never do that because I'm not trained in that sport." Doctors, researchers and qualified coaches say several factors must be considered, including the stage in the person's physical development and their resolve to work within, not at or above, their limits. "All that is based on the child," Cohen said. "What's good for one child may not be good for another." RELATED STORIES: CNN | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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