Strength training for 12 y/o?

[SC MMA MD]

My son just finished his first season of football for his middle school team. He plays guard and tackle, and he wants to lift with me from now until spring practice starts to get stronger for next season. He did "weight training" with the team every Friday during the season, but they did not really follow a rigid plan- it was more about teaching them about how to do some basic lifts.

Anyways- my plan is to start him on the same modified Starting Strength program I do (I add pull-ups to failure and ab work to every session), focusing on learning the lifts and refining his technique and only adding weight when he is doing the lifts well (which I expect will take a while). He will probably only be able to lift Saturday and Sunday as the Olympic weight room I have access to is at the academy I train at and we don't let kids in there so he can only do this with me when the academy is "closed".

Does that sound like a reasonable plan for his off-season?

 

[Chocolate Shatner]

I started at 11, so it is possible.

The key for a kid that age, and I don't know your son's fitness level, is to build a broad based foundation. Sure, go in with Dad to lift on Saturday or Sunday (I'm calling your town's First Baptist, you heathen!) but he can challenge himself with lots of other things the rest of the week. Bodyweight calisthenics, gymnastic work, etc.

The big thing, and this is from personal experience, is that he might be frustrated with weights for a long time. I started lifting at 11, and within 3 months my "bench" was 110 pounds. There that fucker stayed until after my freshman year of high school at 13, when it went from 110 to 250 in the course of 4 months.

Of course we know why, my balls dropped and my voice changed and all that other wonderful stuff that one associates with puberty. Janet Jackson got a lot more interesting to me, that's for damn sure.

So to keep him interested and still getting fitter/stronger for what he can do until his body is ready, alternative modalities are going to be important, if not essential.

 

[1031]

strength training for a 12 yr old? As long as it's not static weight-lifting...

 

[SlapheadGiraffe]

Personally I would like to think functional training would be more useful than static lifting. Then again, as a kettlebell trainer I would say that...

I'd suggest one day kettlebells, one day Crossfit style lifting - i.e. More cardio based but NOT silly shit like deadlifts for time

 

[Lord Vutulaki]

Teach him the Oly lifts or have someone teach him if you arent familiar

You can learn to bench/squat/DL later in life but olys are a bitch to learn as Im finding out

 

[Leigh]

I've made a thread on how I strength train and I'd recommend it for anyone. In a nutshell, a few compound lifts 5x5 at around 65% 1rm. I do it with bodyweight exercises but you could do it with squat and bench. I NEVER go to failure, so my CNS (and the rest of my body) isn't beat the fuck up. And I'm very strong.

 

[Pitbull9]

Push ups
pull ups
bodyweight squats
sprints
crab walks
agility latter
cone drills
Burpees
mountain climbers

etc etc etc

I think this is best at first. A year of this and then consider weight training.