13-year old girl sets new record in weight lifting

[SuperMillionaire]

New powerlifting world-record holder is a 13-year-old girl from Colorado | Prep Rally - Yahoo! Sports (http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/highschool-prep-rally/powerlifting-world-record-holder-13-old-girl-colorado-194316479.html)

13-year old Abbey Watson weighs only 105 pounds, but she has shown to be capable of lifting as much as 176 pounds, well over 50% more than her own weight. She has also set numerous weight-lifting records, and she's only been into the sport for the last three years! Now that's what I call a girl with muscle!

[Depression Moon]

She doesn't even look built to me.

[Jiro]

Puberty will be interesting.

[GhandiOwnsYou]

I knew a girl that did something similar in middle school. In 8th grade she decided to join the JV high school track team on a lark (middle schoolers were allowed to compete in high school JV in our school system.) She proceeded to break the state record the first time she threw shot put. She then proceeded to actually learn how to throw, and within the first four meets had smashed the Discus, Javelin, Shot, and Hammer throw records for her age. The coach was so impressed with her (he was a college track star in the same events) that he took her under his wing and started training her in his NEW hobby. The Highland Games.

Needless to say, this was a girl feared by everyone in the school.

[Slothy]

She doesn't even look built to me.

She wouldn't have to. Most people assume that when you start lifting really heavy weight people just start to look like a brick tit house and a mountain of muscle, but it's not the case for most people without either training specifically for hypertrophy or taking steroids. You'll end up muscular, don't get me wrong, but the freakishly large bodybuilder type physique requires a pretty specific combination of training and genetics to accomplish.

I know a lot of women who look fit but not huge, and are strong as hell, including one who's maybe 5'2" and 120-ish lbs. if she's not cutting weight for a powerlifting competition and her max deadlift is up to about 360 lbs. last I heard.

Probably the best part for this particular girl in the story is that assuming she keeps at it and doesn't have any career ending injuries later in life, she won't hit her peak for another 20-30 years.

[Ouch!]

Puberty will be interesting.
Puberty is more likely to be nonexistent for her.

This is disgusting, not because she's a girl lifting weights, but because she's thirteen years old lifting almost double her body weight. There is a time when it's too early to start lifting, and I'd say thirteen definitely is that point. Aside from the ways it's going to stunt her growth, it's especially dangerous for young women to start doing this because the increased testosterone levels can really screw with proper physical development and have some longterm consequences.

[Slothy]

There is a time when it's too early to start lifting, and I'd say thirteen definitely is that point.

Here's the thing though, unless you're an experienced and knowledgeable strength training coach who has a strong history training teenage kids, your opinion on when it's too young to start isn't worth much, and I'm not saying that to be rude by any stretch. A lot of the "common knowledge" that your average individual knows about strength training to begin with doesn't amount to much more than silly bullshit, and though I'm far from an expert on training teens and certainly can't speak to all of the dangers that exist in training young teens, I do know from speaking to people who are strength coaches, who have done their research, and who have trained teens that such things as strength training stunting growth are a myth. Since I've never seen anyone present any studies showing otherwise I can't say I'm inclined to doubt these people (particularly when I have first hand experience with how strong their knowledge is, and the results of the people they train).

Strength training can be engaged in by teens and, with proper programming and supervision, can be done safely. To simply make a blanket statement that she's too young without detailed knowledge of what her programming is, let alone the relevant experience to even allow one to make that determination is a bit silly.

[Ouch!]

There is a time when it's too early to start lifting, and I'd say thirteen definitely is that point.

Here's the thing though, unless you're an experienced and knowledgeable strength training coach who has a strong history training teenage kids, your opinion on when it's too young to start isn't worth much, and I'm not saying that to be rude by any stretch. A lot of the "common knowledge" that your average individual knows about strength training to begin with doesn't amount to much more than silly bulltit, and though I'm far from an expert on training teens and certainly can't speak to all of the dangers that exist in training young teens, I do know from speaking to people who are strength coaches, who have done their research, and who have trained teens that such things as strength training stunting growth are a myth. Since I've never seen anyone present any studies showing otherwise I can't say I'm inclined to doubt these people (particularly when I have first hand experience with how strong their knowledge is, and the results of the people they train).

Strength training can be engaged in by teens and, with proper programming and supervision, can be done safely. To simply make a blanket statement that she's too young without detailed knowledge of what her programming is, let alone the relevant experience to even allow one to make that determination is a bit silly.
That's fine, except I'm not talking about common hearsay about growth stunting. I'm basing my statements on discussions I've had with a number of coworkers and professors at a university gym with strong exercise physiology and kinesiology programs. We're not talking about 15-16 year-old starting weight lifting here. This is a 13-year-old girl lifting weights that most adults will never lift, and she's been doing it, according to the article, for a few years. She started weight training then at--what? Ten? It's one thing to do weight training for a team sport in high school, but come on. I'd love for you to find me an expert who's willing to recommend any kind of weight training starting that young.

Hopefully she's doing this in the right way, but the consequences from starting so young could be disastrous for her growth--and not just from a potential height perspective (which, admittedly, can be avoided assuming that her diet compliments the lifting well enough). Such intense physical activity can cause a lack of menstruation via athletic amenorrhea, and during such a crucial developmental period for young females, this kind of activity just strikes me as horribly irresponsible.

[Shattered Dreamer]

I say fair play to her. She's a role model for other kids & teens. Power lifting at her age on the other hand could have possible negative effects on her bone & muscle development. But seriously breaking World Records is a tremendous achievement.

The part of this video where he trainer says she can lift weights some adults struggle with made me laugh pretty hard. If you're an adult male & you can't dead lift 175lbs/80kg for shame really! Deadlift is by far the easiest of all the powerlifting techniques. I've been going to the gym twice weekly since May of last year & from experience your strength increases at a surprisingly quick rate without having to put in a super human amount of effort. My deadlift at the moment is 275lbs/125kg.

[Mirage]

She doesn't even look built to me.

Yes. It is a myth that females will become she-hulks from lifting weights. Even world champion female weight lifter look pretty normal with their clothes on when they're in a medium-weight class. That's why girls shouldn't fear free weights when they want to "get toned", as they call it.

[Peegee]

I'm just going to say that it's pretty awesome that she can lift that much weight, considering I limit myself to about 55-60% of that, and I do it for reps.

But I don't do Oly lifts.

[Shiny]

As long as she doesn't start taking steroids I see no problem with this. It's obviously not stunting her physical development at all. And yeah, lifting 176 pounds isn't going to make her look like a man. :p