08/10/2019
Great post!
“When your kid sprints, he encounters ground reaction forces several times greater than his body weight.
When he jumps out of trees, those numbers are even higher – and he’s probably landing on more unpredictable environment.
When he wears a big backpack full of books, he’s actually lifting weights without any coaching whatsoever.
Doing a goblet squat with a 20-pound dumbbell isn’t going to stunt your 9-year-old’s growth. And it isn’t going to turn him into a meathead steroid abuser.
What it will probably do is teach him a lot about the value of hard work. It’ll demonstrate that consistently showing up and putting effort into something can lead to specific quantifiable improvements.
It’ll make him more durable to participate in and enjoy sports – and do so at a higher level than he otherwise would have experienced.
It’ll also likely put him in a position to roll with a different social circle than he’d normally frequent.
I can’t guarantee you that any of those things will lead to a college scholarship or career in professional sports. But I can tell you that they’ll all contribute to a well-rounded, more confident young adult who’ll be much more likely to exercise regularly for the rest of his life.
So, before you worry about the potential downsides of getting your child involved in strength and conditioning at a young age, think first about the guaranteed upsides.
*I used the “he” pronoun throughout this post. All of these benefits are just as prevalent – if not MORESO – in female athletes. My two-year-old daughters play in the gym every single day, and that’s not changing anytime soon.”
-Eric Cressey
