Kids and lifting

[medford]

I've been trying to dig up some info on line about lifting weights and kids (particularly my 14 1/2 year old son) but figured maybe someone on here had some personal stories or opinions that could help me guide him.

As mentioned above, 14.5 year old boy (15 in late June), somewhere around 6' tall and 175 pounds (both roughly 90th percentile). Plays football and baseball and has been doing an off season training program for the last year or so with a personal trainer/group type training. He transitioned from the middle school group to the HS group after football season. He is a summer birthday and would fall on the older side of the grade, so physically he was ready for it I have no doubts, plus maturity wise he needed to be in a group with older kids as opposed to some of the 6th graders that were just starting in the middle school group.

Anyhoo, the middle school group does some light dumbell type stuff as well as conditioning and body weight resistance but little to no traditional strength training (ie bench press, squats, etc..). It wasn't that long ago that he was all excited because he finally got to 100 lbs bench press (I'll say just before Christmas), now he's already transgressed to doing 135 lbs 2 times (they have to do it 3x consecutively for it to be considered their high mark FWIW) needing the spotter on his 3rd attempt. They just started him on squats last week and for now its just the bar (45 lbs) while he works on his form.

I have total faith in the program and gym that he's going to, they work with a ton of young athletes and all of my nephews have gone thru the program as well as my father used the couple who runs the gym as his trainer when they were just starting out. But rarely do I talk to them, its mostly just drop off and pick up an hour later, so I guess what I'm looking for are what are good goals for him? They have a chaulk board on their wall where they mark people's personal bests, but it doesn't start until they cross 185 lbs. My son who hated the idea of doing the training when we first signed him, there were actual tears shed the first day has fallen in love with the idea of hitting that mark by mid summer. I don't think its anyone in the gym pushing him that direction, I think he found a personal goal which has always been a struggle for him in the past. I'd love to see him hit that mark, and know he will someday, but by mid summer (start of football) seems like it would be uber aggressive and possibly not in his best long term interests. However, rarely has he set goals like this for himself, so achieving this would be a huge boost of confidence.

I've seen online that the average 14 year old boy can bench 50-80% of their weight, at 175 lbs, that would be 140 lb bench press and I have little doubt he is going to be there by the end of this month, heck maybe by the end of next week. Is there a good target to aim for? Is there a safe zone that he could speed pass? I have tried to remind him that with things like benching and getting stronger, its not about competing against someone else, its about competing against yourself and bettering yourself. Baseball season will kick into high gear here in about a month, right now he goes to training 3 x a week, baseball, school and math tutoring might limit that to just once or at most twice a week here soon.

If anyone has advice, I'd love to hear it. Cautionary tales, what to say when he hits a plateau aside from the obvious "its just a plateau"

[Boston Red]

Given his age and size, I would say that as long as he's using good form the sky's the limit on the amount he can bench. No reason for putting any artificial limits on it. It seems unlikely to me that he'd be working out with 185 anytime soon, but it's certainly possible that he could get pretty close to maxxing that by the summer. I WOULD think it important that he generally concentrate on doing multiple sets of higher reps on bench with lighter weight instead of fewer reps at higher weights. His max will naturally improve, but there's no real reason to max out really ever IMO other than just wanting to know.

[WildcatFan]

It’s a great habit to form at that age, cool to hear he’s so into it. A trainer is going to be crucial to his development. I agree that I wouldn’t set any goals other than continuing to see numbers go up. Once he’s 18, you can start looking at the old powerlifting metric of: bench your body weight, squat 1.5x body weight, deadlift 2x body weight. But at his age, with coaching, he won’t have to worry.

[Redsfaithful]

Read Starting Strength, gold standard and will answer your questions here: https://www.amazon.com/Starting-Stre.../dp/0982522738

I'm a big believer in Strong Lifts 5x5 and how it handles plateaus: https://stronglifts.com/5x5/

[Tommyjohn25]

Read Starting Strength, gold standard and will answer your questions here: https://www.amazon.com/Starting-Stre.../dp/0982522738

I'm a big believer in Strong Lifts 5x5 and how it handles plateaus: https://stronglifts.com/5x5/

Doing a 5x5 program on flat bench press brought my max from 225 to 335 in less than a year. Granted at the time I started I had been lifting for several years, but I can say that I'm in my 40's and my bench is still increasing. My body weight stays between 200 and 210, so it's safe to say this program works at least for some people.

[bucksfan2]

I was never a power lifter, just someone who did it to stay in shape. I have lifted somewhat regularly for about 20 years now, I was more serious in college, now I have a home guy with a knock off peloton bike dumbbells and a curl bar. Its enough for me to do what I want.

All that said, the one thing I wish I would have done more (and should do more now) is yoga and stretching. Flexibility goes a long way (and helps with your muscles) both as you bulk up as well as age.

[medford]

Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it.

I know the trainer has them back off at points, shortly after he lifted 100 3x he was working out at 75 lbs bench and building up from there again. I really only lifted seriously in HS for football, which pretty much consisted of one of the coaches putting together a lift schedule then everyone moving around in groups that lifted similar weights and going thru the stations. I think we typically did 8 x 3 sets of bench, but never did we cycle down in weight, just kept going until we broke thru the next plateau. Similar stuff with squats, incline, lunges, etc.... What he is doing is way more in depth than what I was doing all those years ago.

[ShyGuy]

Kind of a funny story here with some truths thrown in. I mentioned to my mom I was interested in weight lifting as a teenager. She had Jane Fonda's workout videos and recommended I watch one "Workout With Weights". I kinda of just laughed in her face at the time. But sometime later out of curiosity I did watch this workout video and believe it or not thought the exercises were very good. And she looked good as well with her tight outfits. But it's still the weight workout I use today. Focusing on 3 sets of 10 with different exercises designed for the biceps, triceps, and chest.




Then eventually gradually increasing the weight for the reps. If that is I find enough time and energy to stick with it.


It's cool to know how much you can bench or lift but imo I think reps are better. Also, I am far from an expert but while teenagers bones are still growing I'm not sure how healthy that is too overwork them lifting real heavy weights.