Weightlifting makes you shorter

Question

There is a big argument that weightlifting will make you shorter over time. However, bad posture and muscle imbalances while doing workouts such as squatting, is the reason for appearing shorter.

Comments

Yeah, I totally agree with you. Weightlifting doesn’t shrink your height, and it’s weird how that myth keeps getting around. It’s mostly genetics and things like your nutrition and sleep that affect your growth, like you said. But I wonder, where do you think this misconception started? And do you think enough trainers or coaches talk about proper form and health balance when it comes to young athletes?

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Also, it’s interesting that you mention the challenge of setting up an experiment to test this.

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Hmmm that's a good question. I think high school sports especially, encourages weight lifting for their athletes, even providing students and student athletes with weight lifting classes to educate them about different muscles you can work on and how to correctly do so. Personally, I think because of that, younger generations aren't so quick to think that weight lifting affects their height. In my opinion, I think it may be the older generations who sees the "danger" and the intimidating intensity of weight lifting. There may be a lot of sources where this myth could come from as well.

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I think it's interesting as well. I took statistics in high school and they talked a lot about how difficult it is to conduct an experiment without being biased, using mixed up samples such as using a healthy AND a sick person on the same experiment, etc.

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This statement is not true, weightlifting is for improving strength but as said may lead to injury if not done with proper form. Also the website/blog it came from is very unreliable with ads and promotions on the site. Making it harder to trust the information but when it comes to this claim it's totally not true but was interesting to read about.

Answer 1

Weightlifting does not stunt growth. In an article written by Sara Lindberg, she proves that weightlifting, for both children and adults, does not hinder growth. Supervised training programs are said to offer many health benefits, such as increasing strength, improving bone density, reducing the risk of fractures and sports-related injuries, and boosting self-esteem. Studies show that the only way weightlifting could potentially stunt growth is if a person injures one of their growth plates.

 My research 

https://www.healthline.com/health/does-lifting-weights-stunt-growth

https://orthoinfo.aaos.org/en/diseases--conditions/growth-plate-fractures

Answer 2

This claim is false. There is a belief that weightlifting can injure growth plates which either stunt your growth or reduce them, but this is false. The University of Austin Texas claims that there are no studies to actually prove that these growth plates are being harmed when weightlifting enough to make you shorter. They talk about how weightlifting can actually improve your bone health which leads to chances of you bone structures like growth plates from becoming injured. An article from healthline talks about how often times when people have a decrease in growth from weightlifting it is due to poor form or lifting the weights wrong all together, but if done normally, weightlifting can not make you shorter. Nike found research claiming that with proper form, there is absolutely no evidence of weightlifting stunting growth because it doesn't affect the growth plates and instead training like this can result in positive long term health benefits.

https://sites.utexas.edu/think-twice/2022/03/09/does-weight-training-stunt-growth/

https://www.healthline.com/health/does-lifting-weights-stunt-growth#Why-do-people-believe-that-lifting-weights-stunts-growth

https://www.nike.com/a/can-weight-lifting-stunt-growth

Answer 3

The claim presented in this statement is false and contributes to the spread of misinformation. The idea that weightlifting makes an individual shorter is a well known myth that continues to resurface time and time again. Healthline released an article including a statement by Dr. Rob Raponi, naturopathic doctor and certified sports nutritionist, who stated "the misconception that lifting weights stunts growth likely stems from the fact that injuries to growth plates in immature bones can stunt growth." Taking this information into account, it is not the action of weightlifting that causes someone to grow shorter, but rather it is injuries they experience related to the growth plates in their bodies. In the same article by Healthline, it also states "15 to 30 percent of all childhood fractures involve the growth plates." The blog used in attempt to support this claim includes no scientific evidence or opinions from credible sources such as a doctor or sports therapist. 

source: https://www.healthline.com/health/does-lifting-weights-stunt-growth#Why-do-people-believe-that-lifting-weights-stunts-growth

Answer 4

This statement is false, The article posted says that weightlifting may lead to things like a worsen posture which may make your APPEAR shorter, but not actually cause growth or shrinking. growth comes from getting proper nutrition and exercise during younger years, but that is only for growth.

Answer 5

This claim is false. The article states that weightlifting itself is very unlikely to cause a change in the real size of your bones. However, bad poster and improper form while lifting weights can make many appear shorter. Additionally, weight lifting does not stunt growth in individuals under the age of 18. Adolescents participating in a safe training program will experience benefits such as enhanced bone and muscle strength as well as lower fracture risk.

The article you used for this claim was recently updated, about a month ago. It was written by Ihor Shymeckho who has been a weightlifter for over 25 years. He is also a certified coach after finishing his professional weight lifting career. This article was uploaded to a website called Torokhtiy which is a popular website that has to do everything with weight lifting. With all this being said I deem this to be a valid and reliable source, but I wonder if there is any chance of bias within this article since the author and website used to call out this information are all pro-bodybuilding.

To back up my argument against the claim stating that weightlifting makes you shorter, I did some external research. In an article NIKE wrote, author Carol Mack who is cscs certified (Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist) "There's no evidence that weight lifting stunts growth... there should be a focus on building proper form for this population before adding weight or resistance to their movements"(Nike). This further proves the argument, stating that weightlifting, when done correctly will not stunt an adolescents growth. Her argument is backed up by Frontiers in Physiology, a hospital that specializes in research.

Nike. “Can Weight Lifting Stunt Growth? Experts Explain.” Nike, 26 Oct. 2022, https://www.nike.com/a/can-weight-lifting-stunt-growth  Accessed 23 Oct. 2024.

Answer 6

This claim is false the act of lifting does not directly stunt your growth. Nike talks about how form can affect different things like posture however that does not directly relate to your overall height. This persons source lacks the sources inside the source to. This claim is correct in saying that it appears you are shorter. The source given for this argument goes into more depth about how the appearance of your posture making you shorter but that is not true. Nike sports talks about how you are never losing actually height you are strictly losing posture which can be fixed. The sources inside of this clam is also weak because they don't source extremely credible studies which can lead to misinformation or can lead to skewing of data. 

Answer 7

I ended up finding in my research that this claim is false. We can see in this University hospitals article that this doesn’t in fact stunt growth, but it is still a risk for injury for those lifting pre-puberty. Another suggestion they make is to make sure any pre-pubescent weightlifters lift with kids equipment. 

https://www.uhhospitals.org/rainbow/services/pediatric-sports-medicine/patient-resources/fact-sheets/weight-training-fact-sheet#:~:text=Strength%20training%20does%20not%20stunt,be%20discouraged%20until%20after%20puberty.

Answer 8

The title, Weightlifting Makes You Shorter is highly exaggerated. The article does not go on to prove how weightlifting may make one shorter but instead refutes that by claiming that posture and muscle imbalances are what may give that same effect. Though the title Weightlifting Makes You Shorter is exaggerated and false, the article does explain how one may think that to be true.