LyricKid got hand weights today.

A friend of his who's going on vacation for the next month (and who will sadly miss LyricKid's birthday at the end of this month) came over today to give the little guy an early birthday present. One part was a Naruto poster--yay!! The other part was a set of 3 lb hand weights.

Now, *I* have no idea about these things. LyricKid freaking loves them (go fig?) and says he wants to learn how to lift weights. Keep in mind, he will be NINE on said upcoming May 31st birthday. That seems a bit young for weight-lifting to me. Still, he's really eager about it. He says that they do bar pull-ups in gym class and he can't do more than two, and he wants to be able to climb the climbing rope in gym more easily.

So does anyone here know anything that he could do that's age-appropriate and safe, and that will help him build some more strength in his arms? We don't have anything but this set of 3 lb hand weights and a decent-sized yard, but suggestions for stuff he can do to get better at pull-ups would be very welcome. Apparently, this has been a source of embarrassment for him at school, and as most of you know, we're trying to help him "fit in" and feel more self-confident.

For the record, he's not overweight, but he's borderline--I think summertime and extra play time outside will help a lot with that. We had a tough winter, so he spent a lot of time inside until recently.

Second-day syndrome will set in tomorrow and you had better have some Icy Hot on hand.

I didn't want to let him mess with them until I knew what to tell him to do. :blush:

I *DID* tell him explicitly that they are NOT toys. He's really nagging to try them out, so I figured that I could ask around here. We have quite a few big, hulky types, so I was hoping one of them might know something about this sort of thing.

:hi:

She's a petite thing, but very strong. Well, all three daughters are, but she is the one that uses the weights. It is best to go slow with those things. It doesn't take long to build up the endurance - two weeks or so. Have him start with 10 or so curls and PUT THEM DOWN! That will be enough to start. Going too far might cause discouragement. My wife and I bowled 5 games each yesterday and my left ass cheek is KILLING ME! On the plus side, that was just long enough to go through two pitchers of beer so we didn't feel anything at the time.

He pretty much can't hurt himself with 3# weights unless he drops them on something.

I had to get a set to stop the kid from begging a while back, and he's a bit younger. I ran it by the local expert, and after conceding that maybe we do need a test :eyes:, he figured it'd be fine.

If he just wanted to mess around with them, it's one thing, but he said specifically that he wants to "make his arms a lot stronger." As someone who's never lifted weights, I have no clue about how to do so properly.

I have to say, he *seems* serious. The kid hasn't put them down since he took them out of the gift bag. But I don't want him to be terribly disappointed if these little hand weights aren't going to do anything to help him, ya know?

I showed him how. And I bug him to move slowly and breathe, when his natural inclination as an eight year old boy is to do everything at a million miles per hour while talking at a mile a minute.

He got some 2.5 lb weights about 6 mos ago, those proved to be too light, so he got an 8# set to do some things with once I was sure he wasn't going to throw them at the cats or drop them on his foot or anything crazy like that.

He's not going to bulk up appreciably- that takes hormones he doesn't have at the necessary levels yet. But he'll get stronger if he keeps at it.

about kids and strength training.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/strength-training/HQ01010/NSECTIONGROUP=2

That was very helpful! Now I just need to find out what the "proper techniques" are, so I can teach him. I really can't afford a personal trainer and there isn't a coach available to us right now.

:hi:

It's important to not try to isolate strength training for one particular activity (pull ups).

That said, pull ups are mostly an exercise involving the back muscles, not the arms. The triceps are involved, but to a much lesser extent than the lats and rear delts.

Now, trap specific exercises would be:

single arm dumbbell rows
bent dual arm dumbbell rows
mock t-bar rows (bent and the waist, each hand holding a dumbbell, palms facing each other, pull towards the sternum)...my own invention...I think
bent dumbbell reverse flyes

Keep it simple, at least in the beginning. 9 isn't too young, but he should take it slowly. He'd also do well (since the bodybuilding bug may bite him) to do simple bodyweight resistance exercises like pushups, to develop the tris and pecs.

I'm here if kiddo needs any help.

translate those exercises to n00b language for me? I have him right here beside me with his weights, so I can talk him through it and supervise.

:hug:

Thank you so much!

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Now, flvegan trick #1: see how he's holding the weights, knuckles out? Turn the hands thumbs down, so that when in start position, he's holding the weights as if he were holding his bike handlebars, keep the elbows slightly bent through the entire motion. Don't "push" with the forearms. The hands should be somewhat loose, and pulling entirely from the back muscles.

Do both grips of this exercise.

Slowly, and not letting the weights clank together when he's bringing them down?

I've got him practicing this now--I told him to do ten, and to do them slowly.

No swinging, no using momentum. Smooth through the range of motion. Slow up, slow down. This is how it is through all exercises. If he sticks with it, I'd be interesting in introducing him to super-slow and pause/hold techniques when he's more advanced.

Sorry, these are with a barbell, but the dumbbell is ultimately the same movement, just done single handed or with both.

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flvegan trick: again, do this exercise with this hand grip, and also with the grip with the palms of the hands turned into the body, like this:

Okay, here's a pic of the finish position. Picture his hands facing each other, holding dumbbells. Bent over, pull back from the knees.

I'll bookmark this thread and he and I will go through this every day until he has it all down. When the 3-lb weights get too easy, we'll see about getting him something a little heavier.

THANK YOU again!!!

:hug:

1. Those weights are going to get pretty light to him pretty soon. If money is an issue, keep a couple empty gallon milk jugs. Filled with water, you have two 8lb handled weights. Practically kettlebells.

2. If you have a Play It Again Sports around you, small dumbbell trees are easily found and fairly cheap. If the training bug sets in, drop me a PM and I'll see about getting you a gift card or store credit so you can pick some up for him.

3. See if you can get him interested in some arm, chest and shoulder exercises as well. He's not going to put on a lot of mass, but his muscle will "lean out" and seem more pronounced. If he can SEE the progress, he's more likely to stick with it. He can't really see his back muscles, and many people give up when they can't physically see progress.

Good luck to him! Please keep me updated, and any questions are more than welcome.

In the beginning, focus on the movement and concentrate on executing the rep properly. Once he's got the exercise down, that's when it matters to start counting. 3 sets of 8-12 reps/set. If the weight is too light, try giant sets. Meaning 3 sets of one exercise, intertwined with 3 sets of another. So 1 set of one exercise, followed immediately by 1 set of another, and so on for 3 full giant sets.

Lastly, keep a log. If he's a numbers kid, he's going to want to beat what he's done in the past. Plus, you can track progress. Don't move up in weight too quickly. That's begging for injury.

Form, focus, intensity...not numbers.

:P