Difference on reps?

Question

Ok, so I'm 14 that means I can't lift a lot, and I have reached the maximum weight my parents let me lift (17kg), and I understand that for growing muscle, you need to stress the muscle breaking the muscular fibers, so to stress my muscle or feel tired I need to do like 30 reps on each set (lol) while the correct ammount is from 6 to 8 if you want to build muscle.

I know i'm not going to get extremely muscular at this age, but I gained some muscle and I want to keep gaining it. I know there are no cientific studies that say you will stop growing, but my parents won't let me, so what do you recommend me, to keep working out hard?

Answer 1

Your parents are wise to supervise what you are doing to help you prevent injuring your body. An injury can be for life, so it is best to prevent them, by learning proper form and having expert instruction. Your parents are aware of your maturity level and how much they can trust you to follow your coach's instruction and how serious you are about safety and form.

That being said, you may want to share this link with them from the ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS, Committee on Sports Medicine and Fitness, Strength Training by Children and Adolescents

• They recommend that you

  begin with low-resistance exercises until proper technique is learned. When 8 to 15 repetitions can be performed, it is reasonable to add weight in small increments. Exercises should include all muscle groups and be performed through the full range of motion at each joint. .....and continue to add weight or repetitions as strength improves.

• As far as progressing your program they recommend:

  Specific strength training exercises should be learned initially with no load (resistance). Once the exercise skill has been mastered, incremental loads can be added. Progressive resistance exercise requires successful completion of 8 to 15 repetitions in good form before increasing weight or resistance.

• As far as injury concerns, most injuries are muscle strains, but they do often affect the low back, and you definitely want avoid a back injury by using proper form and appropriate weights. As far as the epiphyseal joint concern they say that while there is:

  .. concern about epiphyseal injuries in the wrist and apophyseal injuries in the spine from weight lifting in skeletally immature individuals. Such injuries are uncommon and are believed to be largely preventable by avoiding improper lifting techniques, maximal lifts, and improperly supervised lifts.

Hope this helps you have a successful discussion with your parents and instructor.

Answer 2

What country are you in? Does your country have a weight lifting tradition?

I would contact a weight lifting or olympic weight lifting club, or possibly a professional body building gym, they will know what your body can handle, will teach you proper technique so that you don't injure yourself, and they are more likely to be able to convince your parents that it's safe.

As parents, they would prefer that you take the safe choice rather than your "best" choice, because they are responsible for you, if you fuck up, they've fucked up, so you'll have to give them confidence that what you're doing is safe.