That is one of the biggest myths that weight lifting stunts growth.

The only way to stunt growth when you lift is if you actually drop the weight on top of yourself and damage the growth plate.

If you use correct form and technique there is no harm at all, especially for a 16 year old.

The amount of force impacting the spine generated from landing after a jump is far greater than the force generated from a max effort squat.

Lifting while young will actually benefit growth, it forces the bones to adapt to the load get thicker store more calcium etc. May aid growth and goes a long way to helping ward off bone disorders late in life

I know what... let's live in a bubble where no one is allowed to come near and hover in the middle of the bubble so as to not aggrivate any potential ass growth!!

Then we get fat, unhealthy... wow because thats less of a worry than 'stunting bone growth'

1) how does that happen, can you expand it a bit?
2) What does that have to do with the continuous pressure you get when squatting with a heavy bar on your shoulders for 4, 6, 8 reps?

1. YouTube - vinkovacki bilder 220kg - momak je prejak za nas smrtnike

2. You have 2 parts of a bone. Epiphysis and Diaphysis. The Epiphysis is the tip of the bone, which is the part that grows.

Squatting will not stunt your growth or damage your 'growth plates'. Unless you try squatting 1000lbs. Which would probably kill you instead.

According to your logic, Arnold should be a midge since he started lifting heavy in his early teens, and I've actually grown 1/2 an inch after overhead pressing heavy.

Preadolescents and adolescents should avoid
competitive weight lifting, power lifting, body
building, and maximal lifts until they reach phys-
ical and skeletal maturity.
PEDIATRICS Vol. 107 No. 6 June 2001 Strength Training by Children and Adolescents

Ok, time for me to go to sleep mate, i'll read your reply 2morrow.

"Reasons why youth should avoid maximal or near-maximal lifts

Growth plates are the areas on bones that affect how tall people grow. Doing maximal and near-maximal lifts can cause damage to young people's growth plates. Children have a higher risk of growth plate injury than adults."

Dreger, RW. Strength training considerations for youth. Fitness Informer Winter 2005;10-12.

"Until they reach physical and skeletal maturity, preadolescents and adolescents should avoid power lifting, body building, and maximal lifts."

April 11, 2008 — The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)

Based upon what evidence?

It's just for precaution Tony, for example i was teaching in this college and i had a sprinter in the class, 17 yo, 11:07 his PB and they don't want him to go near heavy weights. I'm not against resistance training for under 18s mate, but resistance training from heavy weight lifting is completely different that's all, and if AAP advices coaches to avoid it, then, i'd rather follow their guidelines you know.

I remember sitting in my ex phys class, and the professor stated that there is no evidence/study/etc at all that will prove that lifting weights stunts growth. No one here is saying take a 13 year old and start cranking out 1RMs with a back squat. What they're saying is weight training will not stunt growth. We checked on pubmed.com and medline and not one shred of evidence where someone lifted weights and their growth plates were damaged and caused a stunting of the growth.

The other thing is there are so many examples (Arnold being one) where adolescents lifted weights and they are not sitting low in the height area. If you did squats as a youth, you can't really say "if I only hadn't done squats, I'd be 6'4"." That's like saying gymnastics makes you short or being a jockey makes you short as the majority of these athletes are short in stature. Is it the activity or genetics that determines height?

What Tony and a few are saying is there's no reason why a youth can't do regular lifting and not be limited to just push ups and crunches. We're looking for overall balance without imbalances.

I totally agree mate, the debate was on heavy lifting. All the articles that i put earlier on, talk about correct and safe (light) weightlifting for youngsters with proper supervising, i am against heavy lifting when not fully grown. Check the articles and u will c...there r not going to b muscle imbalances after a 6-week pec and ab program + cardio guys, let's get real here. The lad is going 2 tone up, his CNS will start firing his muscle fibers faster, and his cardiovascular system will show a lot of improvement, so fitness wise i think is a fair program for a young person with no previous experience.

Anyone doing a 'pec and ab' program needs to be put down for their own good

I fixed most of your post so that it is grammatically better and everything is spelled out.

I think what you're failing to see is that he would have better results in a six weeks if he did more than push ups, crunches, and running. You're really taxing very little of the body musculature with push ups and crunches. You're missing the entire posterior chain. This is the reason I linked up some of the articles that throw in sandbag work and fueled with stuff like tire flipping, car pushing, and etc.

Aside from that, it's hard to out train a bad diet. If he wants to get leaner (we should institute a ban on the word tone or toned since it's a misnomer), then he needs to check his diet more than anything.

I could run sub 12s at 17 and never touched weights, by the time I reached 18 I'd developed far stronger quads than hamstrings and tore my right hamstring and I haven't been able to sprint ever since

If I'd been deadlifting as a teenager I bet that would never have happened.
Weightlifting under supervision should be compulsory for kids

Only an idiot would be 1 rep maxing every day.

Your logic is so flawed.