A BALANCED weight program is fine. I do stress balanced here i.e strengthening opposing muscle groups. It amazes me the amount of pushups I see kids do at trainings by coaches with no thought to strengthening the antagonostic muscles. Wanna screw up a shooting action, just keep doing pushups only. It shortens the pectoral muscles, causing rounded shoulders and making it difficult for the shooting arm to be placed in a perpendicular position. To compensate players will turn their bodies to the side to allow the arm to straighten to the perpendicular position. Take a look next time, you'll see their feet pointing at 45 degrees to the basket or they'll have the 'chicken wing'. As most teams do not have access to gym equipment at training, pushups should be banned!
I would not be worried about growth being stunted as long as nutrition and appropriate recovery is included. In fact some studies have suggested that weight training can improve growth rate! However, I believe the overwhelming factor here is, as I mentioned, nutrition and recovery.
Oh and one other thing, an incorrectly designed program will lead to a decrease in flexibility a big no no for a basketball player. If you are real keen I would incorporate yoga as well.

Hey Arnie, I am assuming that you have some knowledege in this area otherwise you must be a complete nutter to share this info with us. So how can you get these ill-informed coaches to stop making the kids do push-up. Last week, my sons team were made to do approx 40 in 38 degreees heat inside the stadium, because they werent paying attention. Must be other ways to punish the kids than by this ill-informed, outdated method.

Starting weights to young can cause side-effects:



These include looking like a scared little girl.

lol

Weights never hurt me when I was growing up!

seeing as you seem to know your stuff arnie, can you please recommend a weight program. Any particularly suitable one that's online perhaps?

lol. that's a brilliant photo bizzy!

#175603: "So how can you get these ill-informed coaches to stop making the kids do push-ups"?

Get the kids to start paying attention!

Hey Daddy-O agree with you BUT - if the punishment is doing more harm than good wouldn't it be better for all concerned if the Coaches were educated about this.

repitions of weights of 10kg or less will help in the strengening fields, I knew a kids that spent a year out of basketball stress fracture in his back from lifting heavy weights when he was 12.

Anon, pushups are an easy mass penalty to dish out for most coaches and that is why they do it. As I said, pushups are not necessarily bad in themselves as long as an appropriate counter balancing exercise is incorporated, i.e some rowing or pulling motion. Chin up bars are perfect! Most kids (and in fact a lot af adults) will not be able to do one chin up with good form to begin with. You can however start with 'negatives' (start in the 'up' position and slowly lower yourself down over about 8 secs). As strength improves you will be able to do 'normal' chins in a fairly short time. As a quick penalty at trainings I prefer 'knees to chest' jumps.
I will add, if you are going to dive into a full on gym propelled weight program try the Olympic lifts (yes, instruction in proper technique is needed here.) Gains made here are more specific to basketball than what you will find in a more 'traditional' weight lifting gym.

A.Schwarzenegger, it has been a long time since I have heard such good advice about resistance training in a junior basketball setting. Well Done.

OK, some good information for those who are interested here:

http://www.muscletalk.co.uk/article-olympic-lifting.aspx

I would certainly recommend professional instruction though if starting out.

A.Schwarzenegger - we all know how you used to recover from a hard training session , just glad you did not recommend that regime to the kiddies .

The NSCA's (National Strength and Conditioning Association's) position statement for youth resistance training (kids lifting weights) states:

"1. A properly designed and supervised resistance training program is safe for children

2. A properly designed and supervised resistance training program can increase the strength of children

3. A properly designed and supervised resistance training program can help to enhance the motor fitness skills and sports performance of children.

4. A properly designed and supervised resistance training program can help to prevent injuries in youth sports and recreational activities.

5. A properly designed and supervised resistance training program can help to improve the psychosocial well-being of children.

6. A properly designed and supervised resistance training program can enhance the overall health of children."

Key point I believe is the "properly designed and supervised" part. Where early development of good form (technique) can also give them a head start for when they do decide to lift heavy when older, they will not hurt themselves, as the motor pattern for good form is already learnt.

Good points by A.Schwarzenegger re muscle balance, I too cringe...

It is generally also accepted amongst most strength and conditioning coaches that real young kids do not lift heavier than their 10RM.

I have heard people comment on weightlifting for kids being unsafe, common misconception... Weightlifting for ANYONE can be unsafe if done incorrectly. This brings us back to the "properly designed and supervised" comment again... and if done correctly there are large benefits with no more risk than adults in my professional view.

A point that I have heard, and now often use as an example is that when you jump you land with (about) 12 body weights, I am yet to meet a kid (or anyone) who can squat 12 times their body weight, and this is a controlled movement. So do you stop your kid jumping?

Now I am not saying you should go buy your kids wieghts and say "go your hardest son" as yes this would be dangerous. Get someone who knows what they are doing (ie a certified professional of some description) to teach your kids correct form. Spend a year with them at least, so you know your child is safe. The cost of this would be outweighted by trying to correct injuries caused by poor form later on, and then having to re-learn good form later. Again I know I am repeating myself, but want to emphasise the "properly designed and supervised" part.

Good luck.

Hey A.Schwarzenegger just read the article, good read, I love the quote "exercises do not injure people, people injure people" sums it up pretty well I think.

Also some videos of such olympic lifting can be found at the NSCA Website (yeah I know I reference it a lot, but they have a lot of good stuff there)

Obviously there are progressions to be learnt before doing these exercises as you know, and I agree they are great exercises, but would learn some basic movements such as the front squat (same position as the catch in a clean) and deadlift (similar to the first pull in both the clean and the snatch) before launching into an Olympic lift with a training age of 0, personal opinion, not to say it can't be done. You are dead on about professional instruction as well, very good points.

How about 6 year olds doing weights?