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Carefully let kids get weighty lift

Q: You recently wrote a column on weight training and children, but you didn't address the topics of nutritional supplements or what exercises to avoid. Any tips? A: The question concerned whether it is healthy for teenagers to exercise using weights and if that can reduce growth. Here are more expert opinions on the topic. Dr. Gerard P. Varlotta, the director of sports rehabilitation at New York University Medical Center, says: "Weight training at the age of 14 should not reduce growth unless it is done to excess. Limiting the weights to reasonable levels is recommended." He says the main risk is "overload injuries," or "repetitive strain injuries," which occur "if a young person is performing weightlifting at too high of a weight." He says those injuries "usually occur prior to the development of growth plate retardation. So, a warning sign that a child is overloading the system may be the development of pain." He says he recommends that "young athletes limit running to under three miles per day to prevent excessive loading to the growth plates and . . . should take similar precautions for weightlifting." There are many exercises a 14-year-old boy or girl can do, including weight training. Children younger can also weight-train, as long as the child does not have any type of injury to the epiphyseal growth plate of his or her bones. "A better option for younger kids would be exercises that develop motor skills," says John Karesh, an American Council on Exercise certified personal trainer.