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

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.

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I don't agree with this statement. People all over the world participate in weight training and not once has been research with the claim being proven. With many websites and articles advising to avoid lifting pre-puberty due to injury precautions, there could be other reasons that trigger this argument.

Answer 1

In this claim we are addressing the argument that weightlifting stunts growth/makes you shorter. The short answer is no, however there are certain precautions that need to be taken if you are a teen that is interested in weightlifting. A 2020 report from the American Academy of Pediatrics that was referenced in an article by Nike states, “properly designed resistance training programs have no apparent negative effect on linear growth, growth plate health, or the cardiovascular system of children and adolescents.” As long as the training follows the age appropriate guidelines and is done in a safe and mindful way, there is no harm that should befall youth when exercising with weights. It is important that younger children and teens participate in cardiovascular exercise as it promotes a healthy lifestyle is beneficial in the long run. Lifting should be supervised by an adult and an article by UH Hospitals states, “Strength training does not stunt growth….however, maximal lifting (highest weight amount you can lift one to three times) may put you at more risk for injury to the growing areas of a child’s body. Therefore, max lifting should be discouraged until after puberty.” Weightlifting itself is not harmful to youth as long as the necessary precautions are made under adult supervision. In a 2009 issue by Sports Health they state, “injuries related to strength training for young participants were primarily caused by misuse of equipment, inappropriate weight, improper technique, or lack of qualified adult supervision, rather than by lifting itself.” There is a time and a place for everything and the misuse of proper training can affect the health of adolescents in the long run. As a whole, exercise is very important for the development of youth and weightlifting can be beneficial when practiced correctly. 

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

https://www.uhhospitals.org/rainbow/services/pediatric-sports-medicine/patient-resources/fact-sheets/weight-training-fact-sheet

Answer 2

The National Library of Medicine has conducted a study to test if weightlifting has a postive/negative correlation to height in young people. They did this test by taking in 20 reports of individuals who trained 2-3 days a week for 8-12 weeks at a time weightlifting and recorded their height and overall health. Their findings were that " Experimental training protocols with weights and resistance machines and with supervision and low instructor/participant ratios are relatively safe and do not negatively impact growth and maturation of pre- and early-pubertal youth. " ( NIH.gov). 

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17119361/