When can I start

[MartialJac]

I am 12 years old and have been training in M/A for 7 years now, I eat healthily (most of the time) and do about 10 hrs of lessons per week.
I do about 3 - 500 press-ups and sit-ups most days. I can do 25 1 arm press-ups on either arm but only 5 pull-ups(I have problems slipping off my shiny pull-up bar)but I do have problems with these.
I use dumbells a little and shadow box with them now and again and kayak a couple of times a week which on white water gives a good workout.
When can I use weights and what sort? Is a good multi-gym a good idea or a bench and weights. Do you have to have someone there if you use a bench and weights.

[Reakt]

I'm fairly confident in saying 12 is far too young to think about proper Weightlifting. It's already frowned upon for 15 or even 16 year olds to start building muscle with weights because the body is still growing and developing so I presume if you tried it at 12 years of age there would be a very high risk of injury. Plus I doubt you'd see much difference in terms of results, your body just isn't at that stage yet where muscle mass will start to bulk up in any noticable form.

Just stick with your Dumbells on a comfortable level for now, getting heavier ones as you turn 13/14/15 etc. I doubt you could even attend a Gym anyway, 99% of legit Gym's will have an Insurance policy for 16+.

And finally, 500 press-ups? I could just imagine that eating away at the muscle instead of doing any kind of efficient building. But I dont know much about that.

[MartialJac]

And finally, 500 press-ups? I could just imagine that eating away at the muscle instead of doing any kind of efficient building. But I dont know much about that.[/QUOTE]

Could that really be having a negative effect on me? I started doing 50 and just kept adding 10 each week together with my sit-ups, once I got to about 100 I started adding 50. 500 is the top end though, it is more often 300 in reps of 50 or 100.

Don't want too much muscle though - fight Muay Thai so what can I do instead to break up my sit-ups?

[narcsarge]

Great start young sir. Keep up with the push ups (press ups) and pull ups. If you are slipping off the bar, get a pair of lifting straps to wrap around it. For a more difficult exercise, try handstand pushups. Really kills the shoulders and arms. As for when is "safe" for you to start lifting, that is a personal choice. You can use dumbells for curls, shoulders, etc. The big lifts; bench press, military, deadlifts, squats, bent over rows, may actually stunt bone growth as your body rushes to build a strong frame to support this new work load. So, although no one can say 'exactly when" you should start lifting most people agree that it should be in you mid to late teens. :Angel:

[Reakt]

Could that really be having a negative effect on me? I started doing 50 and just kept adding 10 each week together with my sit-ups, once I got to about 100 I started adding 50. 500 is the top end though, it is more often 300 in reps of 50 or 100.

Don't want too much muscle though - fight Muay Thai so what can I do instead to break up my sit-ups?

To build decent Abdominals I'd suggest doing 3 sets of 10-12 Crunches per day. If you do them properly by the end of the 3 sets your Ab's should be burning pretty painfully.

I'm guessing you're just going up and down when you do sit-ups (I was the same, back when I was about 12 I used to do hundreds while watching my daily episode of Dragonball Z, gave me the motivation :D ).

If so try these and do the sets I mentioned, you'll be surprised. http://www.fitstep.com/Library/Exercises/Crunches.htm

[slipthejab]

\
Don't want too much muscle though - fight Muay Thai so what can I do instead to break up my sit-ups?

Martial Jac, where do you fight Muay Thai at 12?
Do mean you spar or you compete under full Muay Thai rules... err... at the age of 12?

[MartialJac]

Manchester area mainly, but i've fought in Liverpool and Chester as well. Mainly interclubs but i've had a few fights. The first was at Pele's Gym Beastmasters in Altringham, won that with 2 10-8 rounds and a 10-9.The last one was against a proper Thai, nearly lost a tooth in that, won in the end though.
The rules are different to adults - no head shots (believe that you believe anything) and sometimes you have to wear a bodypad (see photo) depends on the gym and always shin guards. Elbows are only allowed to the body as there are no head shots but the refs don't seem to like the downward elbow to the collarbone.
All the fights are full contact so I tend to use a lot of low kicks to the outside and inside of the thigh as that is the only good target for a stoppage

Bit off the topic though.

[iamraisen]

to be honest i would look at the following video and get some ideas from it.

http://www.rosstraining.com/videos/thehomegym.wmv

from www.rosstraining.com

also www.trainforstrength.com

if you can do that many pushups i would reccomend stopping and working on full, deep one armed pushups, hand stand pushups and single leg squats (as seen in the video)

[narcsarge]

if you can do that many pushups i would reccomend stopping and working on full, deep one armed pushups, hand stand pushups and single leg squats (as seen in the video)


OMG! Someone mentioned handstand push ups! Yee Haw! I have introduced them to the kids in my dojang. It is fun to watch them do one, two, then crumple like a stack of blocks. Hee hee hee. Wonderful exercise!

[MartialJac]

Quote: If so try these and do the sets I mentioned, you'll be surprised. http://www.fitstep.com/Library/Exercises/Crunches.htm[/QUOTE]

They are great, my stomach burns like mad towards the end of the reps, feels like there working really well. I am trying the other exercises on that site after training tonight. Thank you very much

Quote: to be honest i would look at the following video and get some ideas from it.

That video is great, so many variations, got a long way to go though that guys awesome. Thank you

[Reakt]

This is a bit off-topic but MartialJac how come you can never ever manage to actually quote someones post :confused: Do you purposly take off the first part of the code or something?

[slipthejab]

yeah I noticed that too...

[cavallin]

im impressed that this 12yr old writes far better and i mean in content and attitude than a lot of older members on here. i hope you keep it up, it's a breath of fresh air. although as long as your enjoying all of this and not geting too hung up or anything then it's cool.

[Reakt]

im impressed that this 12yr old writes far better and i mean in content and attitude than a lot of older members on here.

http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54835

It'll be because of all the fish oil brain fuelling goodness :D

[MartialJac]

It'll be because of all the fish oil brain fuelling goodness :D

Fish oil and being an only child with slightly pushy parents "If a jobs worth doing " etc

Are the quote fixed?

[Reakt]

Yes the quotes are working now.

And I'm glad you found the Crunches so effective, which they are. Just bouncing up and down with sit-ups doesn't really do much whatsoever. Just stick to the principle of if its burning its working.

[cxw]

The research on kids and weight training is rather weak. Some people state it may damage the growth plates, but lots of stuff may happen.

Kids play rugby, wrestling, boxing, ice hockey which is far more likely to cause bone damage. I remember Fred Hatfield (aka Dr Squat) pointing out that when a kid jumps out of a tree that the force on the knees can be up to 6 times bodyweight, which is way more than anybody can squat.

I really don't understand what the fear is regarding deadlifts, squats, push press's etc when we have kids participating in more dangerous activities. Yes, if form is bad then the kid can get injured.

But poor form when tackling in rugby often results in injury, and even when form is good, injuries still happen.

Does anybody know how old some of the great Eastern European weightlifts were when they started lifting?

[Reakt]

The research on kids and weight training is rather weak. Some people state it may damage the growth plates, but lots of stuff may happen.

Kids play rugby, wrestling, boxing, ice hockey which is far more likely to cause bone damage. I remember Fred Hatfield (aka Dr Squat) pointing out that when a kid jumps out of a tree that the force on the knees can be up to 6 times bodyweight, which is way more than anybody can squat.

I really don't understand what the fear is regarding deadlifts, squats, push press's etc when we have kids participating in more dangerous activities. Yes, if form is bad then the kid can get injured.

But poor form when tackling in rugby often results in injury, and even when form is good, injuries still happen.

Does anybody know how old some of the great Eastern European weightlifts were when they started lifting?

A kid might jump out of a tree with a force 6 times his bodyweight but its unlikely he'll do 3 sets of jumping out of a tree 12 times for months on end.

At that age there's almost no muscle. Even at 16 as I am now I can look down at my Chest and my Pectoral muscles are like very thin slabs of meat, almost non existant, I have been absent from weightlifting for almost a year because of my collar bone though, starting again this coming Sunday.

From what I know I think its just a long term progressive chance of body damage. The Bones are still forming, if they are getting exposed to regular heavy pressure from weights it certainly couldn't help. Plus at that age the muscles are so thin theres a higher risk of injury in ligaments etc. Of course it depends on how heavy the weight is. Most kids could probably lift at that age easily with a suitable weight, its when they try to push themselves too far through lack of decent. judgement or showing off etc (no offense when I mentioned the muscles MartialJac, its just how the human anatomy is for the majority of people).

But by all means give it a try. Visit your local Gym and have a talk with the guy on duty about what you'll like to do and see what he advises. The majority of my entire post here is based off what my Gym instructor told me when I was trying to weightlift at the age of 15.

[blessed_samurai]

MartialJac, you are ready for supervised weight lifting. You'll want higher reps and low volume but you're body is ready to handle some weight training.