I get this question every single week. Usually from a parent standing at the edge of the gym floor, watching their teenager deadlift for the first time, looking slightly nauseous.
"Won't this stunt their growth?"
Here's the honest answer, with no hedging: no, it won't. In fact, done properly, resistance training is one of the safest forms of physical activity a teenager can do — safer, by the numbers, than running, football, netball, or riding a bike to school.
That's not my opinion. That's 30+ years of research, summarised by the world's major paediatric and sports medicine bodies. But because I've had this conversation hundreds of times now, let me walk you through exactly what I tell parents — and why nearly every one of them ends up sending their kid through our door.
Where the "stunted growth" myth came from
The fear isn't random. It comes from a couple of studies in the 1970s and 80s that looked at growth-plate injuries in young weightlifters. The problem: those studies weren't looking at kids doing coached, progressive strength training. They were looking at adolescents maxing out on heavy lifts, unsupervised, with poor technique — often in competitive Olympic lifting settings.
It was a bit like studying kids who crashed dirt bikes and concluding that riding bicycles is dangerous.
The media ran with it. A generation of parents grew up believing that lifting weights before 16 would somehow compress your spine, close your growth plates early, or turn your kid into a shorter version of themselves. None of that is what the evidence says.
What the research actually shows
Here's the current scientific consensus, as stated by every major body that publishes on this:
- The American Academy of Pediatrics endorses supervised resistance training for children and adolescents.
- The National Strength and Conditioning Association (the peak body for S&C coaches globally) explicitly supports strength training starting as young as seven, with appropriate coaching.
- The UK Strength and Conditioning Association and Sports Medicine Australia publish similar guidelines.
The 2014 International Consensus Statement on Youth Resistance Training — signed by researchers from 15 countries — went further. It concluded that resistance training in youth doesn't just cause no harm. It produces measurable benefits including improved bone density, better body composition, reduced injury risk in sport, and improved cardiovascular health markers.
So why do injuries happen at all?
Let me be honest: injuries in teen lifting do occur. I've seen them. But in almost every case I've ever seen or read about, the cause is one of three things:
- No supervision. A 14-year-old in the garage with their dad's old barbell, Googling "how to deadlift" at 9pm. They ramp up weight too fast, round their back under load, and tweak something.
- Ego-driven programming. "Max out" days, one-rep tests, bro-split routines copied from TikTok influencers. None of this belongs in a teenager's first 12 months of training.
- Ignoring pain signals. Teens are wired to push through. Without a coach watching and asking them to rate their effort and technique honestly, small issues turn into real ones.
Each of these is preventable. All of them are what a good teen S&C coach is trained to manage — that's literally the job.
What safe teen training actually looks like
Here's what your teen should be doing in their first year in the gym, in order of priority:
1. Technique before load
For the first 4–6 weeks, we barely load the bar. We're teaching them to brace their core, hinge at the hip, squat with a neutral spine, and press overhead without shrugging. A broomstick is often heavy enough.
Only when they can demonstrate these patterns under zero or minimal load do we start adding weight — and we add it slowly, in 1–2.5 kg jumps.
2. Progression that respects the nervous system, not the ego
Teens can get stronger fast because their nervous systems learn quickly. But that doesn't mean their connective tissue is ready for max effort. So we follow structured progressions — usually 4–8 weeks per block — where the weight creeps up inside a rep range they can own.
No "max out Fridays." No "let's see how heavy you can go." Those days come later, carefully, once the kid has 12+ months of consistent training.
3. Full-body movement, not bodybuilder splits
Teens aren't mini adults. They don't need bicep-and-tricep day. They need to get good at squatting, hinging, pushing, pulling, and carrying — the fundamentals of every sport they'll ever play. Our sessions reflect that.
4. Actual coaching, on every rep
This is the non-negotiable. A good session has a coach on the floor watching every set — not a "personal trainer" half-scrolling their phone, but someone giving cues, catching technique breakdowns, adjusting load in real time.
The difference between a dangerous teen lifting session and a safe one isn't the weight on the bar. It's whether there's a qualified coach watching the bar move.
The benefits parents don't hear enough about
When I explain the safety case, most parents relax. But the reason to train your teen isn't just "it's not dangerous." It's that the benefits are genuinely substantial — and often invisible on day one.
- Injury prevention in sport. Strength training has been shown to reduce sporting injuries by around 30–50%. For teenagers playing rugby, AFL, netball or football, this is the single highest-leverage thing they can do.
- Bone density. Adolescence is the peak window for building bone. Load-bearing exercise during these years sets the ceiling for bone mineral density for the rest of their lives.
- Mental health and confidence. I've watched dozens of anxious, slight, under-the-radar kids walk taller after three months of consistent training. The link between strength training and adolescent mental health outcomes is well-documented.
- Healthy body image. Training teaches teens to value what their body can do — how much they can squat, how fast they can sprint, how much weight went up this month. That's a far more durable sense of self-worth than what they see in the mirror.
What to look for in a teen S&C gym
If you're going to send your teen to train, make sure the gym ticks these boxes:
- A coach with actual qualifications (ASCA Level 1 or 2, or equivalent). Not a PT cert, not a "bodybuilding coach."
- Small groups — six teens to one coach, maximum. Eight starts to compromise attention.
- A clear, written program that progresses over weeks, not a different "random workout" every day.
- A trial session that lets your teen be coached, so you can watch what actually happens on the floor.
- Re-testing built in. If they're not measuring progress every 6–8 weeks, they don't know if the program is working.
The bottom line
Weightlifting, done properly, is not just safe for teenagers — it's one of the most beneficial things they can do with their time between age 12 and 18. The old "stunted growth" myth is exactly that: a myth that's survived 40 years of contrary evidence, mostly because it's memorable and scary.
What is dangerous is what teens do when they lift without supervision. Unsupervised maxing, ego-driven programming, copying bad technique off the internet — that's the real hazard. And it's exactly what a good S&C gym is built to prevent.
If you're still not sure, come watch a session. Not a tour. A real session, with real teens on the floor, a coach running the room. You'll see what safe teen lifting looks like. And you'll stop worrying about growth plates.
Coach Zac Yow-yeh is the head coach of Young Knights in Lawnton, QLD. He has coached teen athletes for over a decade across rugby, AFL, netball, gymnastics, and general strength development.