My 6yo wants to body build?

[CJJ]

So my 6yo wrestles for 5 months a year and he really likes it hes strong for his age. He really likes improving his pushups/pull ups etc. Ive asked him several times at different parts of the year what he wants to do when hes not wrestling and he always comes back with bodybuilding.

Now im well aware that he probably shouldnt be training with free weights etc and im not gonna take him to the gym but is this something I should nip in the butt and tell him no?

Is there stuff he can do that young like a bands workout or something where he can see and keep track of what hes doing?

Ive worked out for years ive but I have 0 experience or knowledge with young kids. Hes not stupid hes gonna wanna keep track and make sure hes getting stronger etc.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

[Heisman2]

Pediatrician here. Completely safe for him to do any type of resistance exercise (including free weights) as long as he maintains good form, and I strongly advise again maxing out or getting close to maxing out. I'd stay with him while exercising to ensure the good form.

From what you stated you are going to want to watch for the development of an eating disorder or body image disorder of some sort. I know of some wrestlers his age who are advised to cut weight for meets, which likely isn't great from a mental relationship with food/drink standpoint, and if he really wants to get into bodybuilding for the purpose of looking a certain way this could be the start of a dark road. If he simply likes to exercise/push himself and he follows your recommendations while doing things safely I think that's fine.

[CJJ]

Pediatrician here. Completely safe for him to do any type of resistance exercise (including free weights) as long as he maintains good form, and I strongly advise again maxing out or getting close to maxing out. I'd stay with him while exercising to ensure the good form.

From what you stated you are going to want to watch for the development of an eating disorder or body image disorder of some sort. I know of some wrestlers his age who are advised to cut weight for meets, which likely isn't great from a mental relationship with food/drink standpoint, and if he really wants to get into bodybuilding for the purpose of looking a certain way this could be the start of a dark road. If he simply likes to exercise/push himself and he follows your recommendations while doing things safely I think that's fine.

His fascination with bodybuilding seems to stem from some type of artistic influence he likes drawing etc. He will watch random youtube videos with me and pickout stuff he doesnt like. This persons arm is too big/small etc. As far as the wrestling goes im the youth coach I dont allow kids to cut weight and I make it very very clear to the parents.

He was prediabetic weighing almost 80 lbs at 4.5 years old ( hes my step son I wasnt around at this point his grandmother had him living on chicken nuggets,popcorn and hot dogs) Now at 6 he weighs 53 lbs and has won several tournaments. He takes a lot of pride in changing how he looked.

[Heisman2]

Got it. Be aware that until he hits puberty he is not going to put on any appreciable muscle mass with lifting; if you think that's why he wants to do it then be honest with him about realistic expectations. For that same reason it may be more fun for him to have a large number of different goals with different exercises as it will give him more things to strive for.

[jademonkey]

Got it. Be aware that until he hits puberty he is not going to put on any appreciable muscle mass with lifting; if you think that's why he wants to do it then be honest with him about realistic expectations. For that same reason it may be more fun for him to have a large number of different goals with different exercises as it will give him more things to strive for.

I've coached plenty of 6 to 10 year old boys (gymnastics) with ridiculous amount of muscle, for kids anyway And they looked more muscular for their size than many adults, tho they don't get the noticable v taper til puberty

[CJJ]

He will probably just wanna see some type of change in strength/size im not sure he will care about how much.

Do I treat it like a normal workout and have him do like a push/pull/legs split or upper lower im completely baffled how to approach this for a kid.

[Redfish225]

It’s never too early brah.

[hardyboysare]

It’s never too early brah.

Great show me up again thanks. Just rub it in.....

Damn good technique as well a lot better then many I see attempting the snatch lol

[Redfish225]

Great show me up again thanks. Just rub it in.....

Damn good technique as well a lot better then many I see attempting the snatch lol

lol, that lil dude is awesome

[Heisman2]

I've coached plenty of 6 to 10 year old boys (gymnastics) with ridiculous amount of muscle, for kids anyway And they looked more muscular for their size than many adults, tho they don't get the noticable v taper til puberty

Thanks for posting this. It didn't go along with my general belief that you need to be at puberty to start getting significant hypertrophy. So I went through this again (https://www.researchgate.net/publica...rrative_Review) and realized that I'm likely wrong on that notion; most of the studies showing significant strength improvements without hypertrophy likely were not long enough as the rate of gain will be slower in prepubescent children then adults.

So I stand corrected; it is realistic to gain muscle mass.

Regarding what program to follow, I would just let him do whatever he wants at first and see if he enjoys it and wants to stick with it. Start by teaching him a variety of exercises and asking him which ones he likes and wants to keep doing. If that goes well then you can hopefully create a whole body workout for him consisting of exercises/movements that he enjoys. You can scan through the tables in the above link to see a compilation of different studies targeting children and the exercise protocols used. There aren't many but the ones that do resistance training typically did training 2-3x/week doing 2-3 sets/session of 8-15 reps per set or so. I think you can start there and if he really enjoys it, is recovering well, and wants to do more then you can let him do more.

[sooby]

So my 6yo wrestles for 5 months a year and he really likes it hes strong for his age. He really likes improving his pushups/pull ups etc. Ive asked him several times at different parts of the year what he wants to do when hes not wrestling and he always comes back with bodybuilding.

Now im well aware that he probably shouldnt be training with free weights etc and im not gonna take him to the gym but is this something I should nip in the butt and tell him no?

Is there stuff he can do that young like a bands workout or something where he can see and keep track of what hes doing?

Ive worked out for years ive but I have 0 experience or knowledge with young kids. Hes not stupid hes gonna wanna keep track and make sure hes getting stronger etc.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

I don't think there really is anything that suggests against a child weight-training. I think we're already well past the myth that lifting stunts your growth. If you really think about it, depending on the sport, that sport is a form of resistance training just like weight-training is resistance training.

Having a child play tennis for example, holding and swinging that racket is likely a form of resistance training for their arms. Shooting a basketball over your head the same thing. Wrestling is likely another form of resistance training for a child, actively trying "resist" the forces placed against them or trying to apply their own force onto somebody else. Doing basic push-ups and sit ups which every kid does is resistance training.

Using weights is just a method of applying resistance to your muscles. If you think about it this way, why do people shun weight-training for children when sports are just another form of resistance training for children. Arguably, sports such as soccer, basketball, wrestling, running carry a larger likelihood for children for injury. Hell, we have little kids playing american football in 7th grade full contact, bashing each other's heads in yet somehow weight training is dangerous, lol. It's a bit hypocritical.


But like with most sports, the kid should be supervised to ensure they aren't hurting themselves. It can be easy to hurt yourself with weights if you don't know how to perform and do the exercise properly and use too much weight. But if you supervise/teach the child how to they probably won't and the risk is very low. I would probably stick to higher reps and avoid maxing out/failure training. And use dumbbells (a 45 lb barbell is probably too heavy for them anyways although there are lighter barbells like 15 lbs which should be okay). Bands can even be great, bodyweight stuff such as push-ups, sit-ups, assisted pull-ups.

I say just let him do what he enjoys rather than putting him on some strict structured split, pick out a few exercises he would like and just have him do them

[snailsrus]

Thanks for posting this. It didn't go along with my general belief that you need to be at puberty to start getting significant hypertrophy. So I went through this again (https://www.researchgate.net/publica...rrative_Review) and realized that I'm likely wrong on that notion; most of the studies showing significant strength improvements without hypertrophy likely were not long enough as the rate of gain will be slower in prepubescent children then adults.

So I stand corrected; it is realistic to gain muscle mass.

Regarding what program to follow, I would just let him do whatever he wants at first and see if he enjoys it and wants to stick with it. Start by teaching him a variety of exercises and asking him which ones he likes and wants to keep doing. If that goes well then you can hopefully create a whole body workout for him consisting of exercises/movements that he enjoys. You can scan through the tables in the above link to see a compilation of different studies targeting children and the exercise protocols used. There aren't many but the ones that do resistance training typically did training 2-3x/week doing 2-3 sets/session of 8-15 reps per set or so. I think you can start there and if he really enjoys it, is recovering well, and wants to do more then you can let him do more.

i started gymnastics, dance and competitive cheer at 3 to this day the best six pack I had was before puberty lol estrogen, I did start weight training at 11 and ended up the shortest in my family, 5’2 my sisters 5’11 so idk bout the height thing