Weight Training

Does squating, Leg pressing, or Deadlifting stunt your growth in any way?

Dan's answer

Dan Wirth, MA, CSCS

No research has ever shown that any form of weight training will stunt your growth. Weight training has actually been proven to be safer than soccer! Not too many people know that, but it's true.

However, if you do an exercise like squatting incorrectly you can pull or strain a muscle. But, if you tackle somebody wrong or if you throw a baseball incorrectly you can pull or strain a muscle as well. Just like in anything, if you learn how to perform something correctly, any physical danger is dramatically reduced. So, if you weight train correctly you will never have any problems. If somebody says that weight training will stunt your growth they are severely misinformed.