14 year old deadlift

[youngforward]

14 years old, around 5"9 and 80kg, utility forward other than hooker

Just tried a one rep max for deadlift and got to 80kg, tried 90 and couldn't really do it.

Bear in mind this is after a gym session and also a session in school (we went to the gym in PE)

Is this decent?

 

[ratsapprentice]

Who's taught you to deadlift?

 

[youngforward]

Who's taught you to deadlift?

Many YouTube videos lmao but I've had people check my form and they were hapoy

 

[ratsapprentice]

Who though?

Most people deadlift like ****.

I'm not the sort of guy to tell you you're too young to lift, but you really should try and find someone who properly knows what they're doing.
And by that I don't mean a Fitness First personal trainer, or your uncle Dave.

Find a powerlifting gym and ask them for advice.

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

Who though?

Most people deadlift like ****.

I'm not the sort of guy to tell you you're too young to lift, but you really should try and find someone who properly knows what they're doing.
And by that I don't mean a Fitness First personal trainer, or your uncle Dave.

Find a powerlifting gym and ask them for advice.

Best advice ever. I've known many ppl tell me they have been taught to deadlift only to see them arch their back and all sorts.

I've been taught and get my form checked regularly with power lifters who compete. Best advice you'll get.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Is it an old-wives tale then that heavy gym work at a young age can stem growth? 14 Year olds going at it this hard seems a bit OTT to me but I'll be the first to admit I have no basis in actual knowledge on the subject while saying that.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

All good comments and go equally for the Olympic lifts, squatting etc. Male ego, heavy weights and bad form can be a very bad combination.

Like TRF_Stormer I'd be very wary about the impact of heavy free weights on a growing body.

Not sure what value one rep max's have except for being able to tell your mates you can lift X amount. And also 80 to 90 is a hell of a jump - go more incrementally.

 

[ratsapprentice]

I would avoid olympic lifts unless you are being directly trained by someone who is extremely competent, and you are actually interested in doing them outside of rugby.

There is too much technique to master if you are only doing it do benefit rugby.

 

[Pieter Steph du Teague]

Back to the actual question of "Is this decent?" I would say, and without trying to sound like a bully or demeaning, no. To only be able to deadlift your own body weight is not ideal. 80kg isn't a bad weight for a 14 year old but someone of your size should be shifting more. I'm 90kg and deadlift 140, and I'm only a year older than you.

I'm sorry, I hate to be negative, but you asked a question and that is the answer.

 

[ratsapprentice]

The difficulty with that, Toby, is that a year can make a big difference at your age.

It doesn't really matter how much you lift at this point, so long as you're learning to do it correctly.

 

[Adakins]

Just a few things from someone who trains/competes in lifting comps:

1 - You should be able to deadlift more than your body weight
2 - I would say don't try and lift heavy after a big day of other exercising. Lifting should be a day of it's own or do it first.
3 - As previously said, please get your form checked by someone who competes or trains properly, you are too young to start having back problems because you didn't do a lift technique right.
4 - Be smart, get a trainer/lifter to help you come up with a proper training program. You will see amazing gains if you have a really good program to follow, don't just willy-nilly it.

Hope this helps.

 

[WaterboySA]

My wife's a qualified personal trainer. She's dead set against boys under 18 using heavy weights(something about growth plates blah blah). That means they can use weights around 20-30 kg's and do more reps. Any coach or parent that allows more should be shot and all that......

 

[Pieter Steph du Teague]

The difficulty with that, Toby, is that a year can make a big difference at your age.

It doesn't really matter how much you lift at this point, so long as you're learning to do it correctly.

100% it can and 100% it's good to learn to do it correctly, I won't dispute that. But my point about how much I deadlift wasn't about how much more than him I can deadlift when I'm only a year older, but how someone should be able to deadlift above their body weight. Which I don't think you can disagree with. Last year I was a similar build to this guy, 80kg and only a couple of inches taller and could deadlift ~100kg.

Again, I'm not trying to turn this into some brash d*** measuring contest, it's simply the answer to youngforward's question.

 

[ratsapprentice]

My wife's a qualified personal trainer. She's dead set against boys under 18 using heavy weights(something about growth plates blah blah). That means they can use weights around 20-30 kg's and do more reps. Any coach or parent that allows more should be shot and all that......

And I bet people who squat and deadlift for a living would disagree with her and the way that she probably teaches those movements.
The growth plates thing is all well and good, but instead of telling someone who is already lifting at a young age not to do it (something they have almost certainly heard before and ignored) it's better to make sure they are doing what they are doing correctly.

It's about as helpful as telling someone who plays rugby that they shouldn't because they could be concussed - they've already weighed up the pros/cons and decided they are going to.

With the proviso that the person is getting correct coaching from someone who specialises in strength training*, I'd say that 14 is about the time that people should start training if they are so inclined.
Someone who knows what they are doing should be able to guide you well enough that it's perfectly safe. Safer than rugby actually, I'd suggest.

*This is important - the simple fact is that most personal trainers are not strength training specialists. The vast, vast majority of them are generalists with a fairly heavy lean on "bodybuilding"/aesthetic and ambiguous "lifestyle" goals.
Strength training is fundamentally technique based - learn from a specialist. I cannot stress this enough.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

100% it can and 100% it's good to learn to do it correctly, I won't dispute that. But my point about how much I deadlift wasn't about how much more than him I can deadlift when I'm only a year older, but how someone should be able to deadlift above their body weight. Which I don't think you can disagree with. Last year I was a similar build to this guy, 80kg and only a couple of inches taller and could deadlift ~100kg.

Again, I'm not trying to turn this into some brash d*** measuring contest, it's simply the answer to youngforward's question.

Well its not really, you're comparing him to you on the basis of raw numbers when you have no idea how much training he's done compared to you, or his physical maturity compared to you, whether he's had growth spurts, his physical make up etc etc. Might the OP take from your post that he's not doing as "well" as a bloke of similar age and just go and load the bar because he thinks he's underachieving? Hopefully not. At your age you are not yet physically mature (even if you're "strong" your body is still growing and changing) and that makes a big difference to what you should be doing and how you view it - totally with Rats and Lourens on this. Out of interest, who coached you on the lifts?

 

[Pieter Steph du Teague]

Well its not really, you're comparing him to you on the basis of raw numbers when you have no idea how much training he's done compared to you, or his physical maturity compared to you, whether he's had growth spurts, his physical make up etc etc. Might the OP take from your post that he's not doing as "well" as a bloke of similar age and just go and load the bar because he thinks he's underachieving? Hopefully not. At your age you are not yet physically mature (even if you're "strong" your body is still growing and changing) and that makes a big difference to what you should be doing and how you view it - totally with Rats and Lourens on this. Out of interest, who coached you on the lifts?

My point is simply you should be able to deadlift more than your body weight. I've over complicated that in previous posts, but that is my only point. I don't think you can dispute that.

I was coached by Graham Dawe, the ex-England hooker/Just retired Plymouth Albions coach. I was in good hands.

 

[WaterboySA]

And I bet people who squat and deadlift for a living would disagree with her and the way that she probably teaches those movements.
The growth plates thing is all well and good, but instead of telling someone who is already lifting at a young age not to do it (something they have almost certainly heard before and ignored) it's better to make sure they are doing what they are doing correctly.

It's about as helpful as telling someone who plays rugby that they shouldn't because they could be concussed - they've already weighed up the pros/cons and decided they are going to.

With the proviso that the person is getting correct coaching from someone who specialises in strength training*, I'd say that 14 is about the time that people should start training if they are so inclined.
Someone who knows what they are doing should be able to guide you well enough that it's perfectly safe - the same as it is with rugby.

*This is important - the simple fact is that most personal trainers are not strength training specialists. The vast, vast majority of them are generalists with a fairly heavy lean on "bodybuilding"/aesthetic and ambiguous "lifestyle" goals.
Strength training is fundamentally technique based - learn from a specialist. I cannot stress this enough.

She's totally the opposite of bodybuilding, more concentrating on form and aerobics side of training, but yes I understand what you mean. Must add that the weight training she's against is for sports like rugby, where the gyms is at school and qualified people are not always there to guide the boys......and you know how boys get...I can do more than you, until someone gets hurt.....

 

[ratsapprentice]

She's totally the opposite of bodybuilding, more concentrating on form and aerobics side of training, but yes I understand what you mean. Must add that the weight training she's against is for sports like rugby, where the gyms is at school and qualified people are not always there to guide the boys......and you know how boys get...I can do more than you, until someone gets hurt.....

Exactly.

But it sounds like we agree on the second part - the sort of coaching you get from non-specialists is potentially "dangerous" - like those found in most schools.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

My point is simply you should be able to deadlift more than your body weight. I've over complicated that in previous posts, but that is my only point. I don't think you can dispute that.

I was coached by Graham Dawe, the ex-England hooker/Just retired Plymouth Albions coach. I was in good hands.

In general terms no of course not. But this was a specific question from an individual and we all have to be careful about how those are responded to.

Dawe was unlucky in his career. Good player doesn't necessarily mean that he's qualified to teach the finer points of S&C, but I'm sure he will have been sensible enough to get qualified if he's teaching youngsters, especially if in a club environment.

Interesting though that we're talking about youngsters lifting heavy weights. Is it a myth that New Zealanders are just running around entrenching skills at that age instead?

 

[Pieter Steph du Teague]

In general terms no of course not. But this was a specific question from an individual and we all have to be careful about how those are responded to.

Dawe was unlucky in his career. Good player doesn't necessarily mean that he's qualified to teach the finer points of S&C, but I'm sure he will have been sensible enough to get qualified if he's teaching youngsters, especially if in a club environment.

Interesting though that we're talking about youngsters lifting heavy weights. Is it a myth that New Zealanders are just running around entrenching skills at that age instead?

At nearly 60 in fitness testing Dawe was still putting some the the Albion players to shame. His back's fine even at his age so he knows how to deadlift. Obviously doing it is different to teaching someone how to do it, but he's been coaching for 2 decades, he knows how to teach it.

Good point about the NZers and how English youngsters are lifting weights. I've said before and I'll say again that players my age shouldn't be lifting weights, but at the end of the day lots of other players will be doing it so I do aswell, simply to physically keep up. And I'm sure that's why many others do aswell.