Alejandro Romero He is a teenager who barely has two months left until he turns 16. For seven months He goes to the gym to polish his bodybuilding. He is constant, and tries to train five to six days a week.
Before, during the pandemic, when he was only 12 years old, he began trying at home with some weight lost in the storage room. He was interested in strength exercises, he had seen videos on the Internet of boys who trained and he liked his body. But his parents wouldn’t let him go to a gym: in fact, they came to scold him when they saw him with some weight. “It’s not good for your age, it will affect your growth”they told him.
When the pandemic ended, given the refusal of his parents to allow him to do bodybuilding, he tried other types of physical activities: basketball, parkour, or skateboarding, but nothing filled him. He was still searching for something that would help him look better. His desperation led him to look for reports that would indicate if what his parents had told him was true. And to his surprise and joy, no, it wasn’t: it was a myth.Strength exercise was not harmful at his age.
What happened to Alejandro is not an isolated case. There are still many prejudices about adolescents (10-19 years old) doing bodybuilding. But are they solid beliefs? “Scientific evidence says that strength exercise in adolescents is not only not harmful, but it is necessary, always advised by professionals”he asserts forcefully Alberto Garciamanager of the National Federation of Entrepreneurs of Sports Facilities (FNEID).
According to the latest update made in 2020 by the World Health Organization (WHO), children and adolescents should do at least one hour of moderate or intense physical activity every day of the week. “And obviously, Among this exercise is the strength one”indica Montserrat Romaguera, family doctor and member of the Semfyc Physical Activity and Health Working Group. “A few years ago everyone was only talking about cardiovascular exercise and not about strength, which we see that every time is more important for the development and prevention of problems, especially of the musculoskeletal system. Improves quality of life”.