So my 5-year-old and 7-year-old nephews have discovered my dumbbells

estherdragonbat

Right now, they're just into watching me and then trying to see if they can pick one up. As much as I want to encourage fitness, I believe I remember reading that children shouldn't be doing much in the way of weight training before their mid-teens. (I think it was 'body-weight = good; 'weights = wait until bones are bigger and denser or... something'). That being said, I don't think their picking up a pair of 3lb dumbbells will cause any more harm than picking up 6lbs worth of library books, but obviously, I don't want to harm them through my ignorance.

Realistically, if they want to imitate me, is there anything they can safely do with the dumbbells? Or should I just tell them "When you're older"?

mreichard

Pediatricians used to think that weight lifting would cause pre-mature fusion of growth plates in kids who hadn’t yet stopped growing. But - it turns out that whole idea came from a 1920s study of child laborers, so not at all a realistic sample for most populations. I think the main concern now is kids hurting themselves due to inadequate supervision and bad form. At the end of the day, though, body weight is not a bad approach.

estherdragonbat

Thanks!

LKArgh

At 5 and 7 years old, children should be playing or getting into the basics of some sport under the guidance of someone whose job is to work with young children. So, if the question is, can they play for 5 mins with your dumbbells, if they are not heavy enough to get hurt, sure. But if the question is, can you start training the children, most certainly not!

estherdragonbat

I don't have them over often enough for it to be training. But they see me doing front squats and it becomes "Look! We can do it too!" I don't want to discourage them, but I don't want to damage them either. But as far as training... I'm self-taught. I'm wouldn't train adults (beyond loaning them the book I'm using), much less kids.

timeforwork

Could you but a cheap set( or 2 !) of 1 pound Dumbbells just for them.? Can't see much harm in them copying even with poor form at that low a weight unless they drop them on their head! Or if you want to go really light look for dog Dumbbells some of those are super light 1/2 lb or so.

timeforwork

Sorry should add I know nothing thats just my personal thoughts!

shadow2soul

I used to have set of these for my kids:


I’m not sure what happened to them. They still like to try and do my workouts with me, but no weights. I’m concerned they might hurt themselves (lightest set I have is 5lbs). My kids are 4 and 6.

hesn92

I have the same scenario with my son, who is 11. I have a barbell with plates and my bench has one of those, leg and arm curl doo-dads on the end (which I wish wasn't there, it just gets in the way) and for some reason my 11 year old likes that. He doesn't do anything with my barbell, way too heavy for him. he also messes with my resistance bands. I would say it's probably ok for them to do simple things with light weights. a 3-5lb dumbbell can't hurt. They carry heavier things on a daily basis I'm sure. Maybe you could just show them how to do squats while holding those super light dumbbells (or whatever exercises you're doing) I posted a similar question a while back and the general consensus was, better to stick with bodyweight things like push ups.

quiksylver296

I asked the doctor that works out at my gym about this. He said light weights like you are describing is fine. They shouldn't be trying to max out their deadlifts, though.

ETA: And the doctor is very knowledgeable reference weight lifting. He's a Sports Medicine Physician.

estherdragonbat

Thanks!

JetJaguar

When my kids were little, I had some small (1-5 lb.) dumbells that they would goof around with for awhile while I exercised, before losing interest and running off to play with something else. They also swiped my micro weight plates, and I never did find them again.

Spliner1969

estherdragonbat wrote: »

Right now, they're just into watching me and then trying to see if they can pick one up. As much as I want to encourage fitness, I believe I remember reading that children shouldn't be doing much in the way of weight training before their mid-teens. (I think it was 'body-weight = good; 'weights = wait until bones are bigger and denser or... something'). That being said, I don't think their picking up a pair of 3lb dumbbells will cause any more harm than picking up 6lbs worth of library books, but obviously, I don't want to harm them through my ignorance.

Realistically, if they want to imitate me, is there anything they can safely do with the dumbbells? Or should I just tell them "When you're older"?

I let my 8-9 year old grandsons use my 2lb dumbells and sometimes the 5lb ones all the time if they want. Generally it takes about 60 seconds for them to lose interest, and I make sure they aren't doing something stupid with them. Mostly they will sit on my bench and do curls for a few minutes, show me their muscles, and go back to playing games. When they are in their teen years if they want to do more, I'm sure there will be a program in school to help them, if not I'll be glad to either get them into a supervised program or help them as much as I can, but I don't consider myself an expert enough to train anyone. I simply know how to do what I need with weight training to benefit myself and not get hurt. Because most of my exercises are modified in some way because of previous permanent back and knee injuries (unrelated to weight training) what works for me isn't necessarily right for everyone. I wish someone had hooked me on exercise and weight training when younger.