Fitness by Working on Machines?

Question

I have a 11 years old son who is a swimmer in a swimming team, he is taking fitness class for the swimming, lately his fitness coach start to let him work on the machines in the Gem twice a week lefting from 5 to ten kilos, I heard that it is not right for this age to left weight, the coah said it's OK, I wonder its right to let him do that or he should stop, just have dryland excercise only ?

Answer 1

I wouldn't let him do that. It's really bad for him and could lead to back problems because he is so young.

Answer 2

Years ago I was captain of my swim team & I had a full college scholarship with all my expenses paid for so I know quite a bit of what you're talking about.  I also went to a swimming camp during the summer & we used weight training to increase our strength & speed.

It's a very excellent idea to use weight training to improve your swimming just as long as you know what you're doing. I did quite a bit of weight training on machines {universal gyms} when I was a swimmer. You have to remember not to over do it. 11 yrs. old is not too young to start lifting weights, in fact, it's a perfect time to start since you son will be growing & developing a lot over the next few yrs.

This weight training & swimming will get your son in excellent shape very fast & he'll have excellent fitness habits that will last for the rest of his life. Getting started now will make it much easier when he gets older.

The important thing to remember here is not to use too much weight. As your son gets stronger, he can always increase the weight. This weight training for swimmers is not the same as someone training for weight lifting or body building competition. It should be used to suppliment his swimming workouts.

You mentioned 5 & 10 kilos which is kilograms & that's not a lot of weight so don't worry about that. If you know your conversions {454 grams= 1 pound, 1000 grams= 1 kilogram}. This means that 5 kilos is 5000 grams or just over 11 pounds; 10 kilos is just over 22 pounds. This is not a lot of weight & it would be dangerous to use for training.

I would definitely allow you son to do the weightlifting-he'll get stronger much faster & become a faster swimmer. If you want to help then make sure he's doing excercises for his chest, arms, shoulders & legs since he'll primarily, use all these muscles, to improve his swimming. All your world record swimmers do a significant amount of weight training. In fact, quite a few of them do quite a bit of running or jogging, since this strengthens the legs & will improve your endurance, wind and breathing.

Answer 3

well i dont really have any backup support. But when you start working out before the age of 15 it can stunt your growth. So at 11 it could have some effect but i dont know how much he would have to work out for it to be a factor to stunt his growth.

and for swimming, mainly for sprints hes going to want to be taller/leaner and working out might stop that. I would ask around for other parents/ think about it and see if any of them know whats up.