Youth in the gym - can a child or young person exercise in the gym?

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Is gym exercise healthy for your child or young person? And what should be considered when a young person starts exercising?

The blog features interviews with personal trainer Tomi Luosujärvi and coach Viljami Kunts.

Starting gym training

A child or young person can easily start exercising in the gym without too much worry. Sometimes you hear claims that gym training has a negative effect on height growth or other aspects of a child's development, but as long as you make sure that you eat and rest enough during the day while exercising, gym training will not have a negative effect on your child or young person's development.

However, every child and young person develops at their own pace and this is something to take into account when starting gym training. Whether or not your child has previously participated in another sport or activity will also have an impact. If gym training is the young person's first sporting activity, it is important to start with professional guidance.

Safety first

When starting training, safety must be a priority. Care must be taken to ensure that the young person learns the correct path of movement from the very beginning. It is easier to start when the young person has good guidance from the start and a professional ensures that the movements and techniques are correct. The same applies to children and young people starting out in the gym as to other beginners, whatever their age: good guidance from the start and a controlled progression.

It's a good idea to start with a moderate workout, focusing on good movement technique with light weights, before pushing your limits and lifting heavy weights. In the gym, young people should focus on safe multi-limb movements. For example, different types of equipment work well for this, as the trajectories are always the same. Free weights or other more challenging movements should be approached calmly with the help of a coach.

It's best to start with 1-2 sessions per week in the gym, as beginners can improve with less training. Young people already use a lot of energy for normal growth, so training several days a week is not a good idea. It is of course a good idea to gradually increase the amount of training and the volume and intensity of the training, while still taking into account the young person's overall workload in everyday life.

It's worth remembering that if you let a young person go to the gym alone, they may learn from other trainers at different levels, risking injury and stunting their own development. Even if the coach has been helpful in getting the young person into the gym, a carer or other more experienced trainer should continue to monitor the young person's training.

The red thread of training

If the young person is involved in another sport and the gym training serves as a supplementary training to support the sport, it is a good idea to involve the sport coach in planning the gym training. The personal trainer and the sport coach can work together to plan the workouts, so that the gym workouts take into account the sport, safety and good movement techniques.

If the young person has no sporting goals, it is important to find another goal that motivates them to continue going to the gym. As with others, it is important for the young person to find a clear, fun goal and purpose for going to the gym. Good goals for a young person might include improving mobility, increasing strength, gaining muscle mass or a health goal such as changing body composition. With a goal, gym training becomes a fun hobby, and going to the gym doesn't feel like a compulsion. After all, no one is forced to go to the gym, so you need to motivate and encourage the young person to want to go.

The most important thing is that the young person enjoys the sport. Exercise should be fun and meaningful. You should go to the gym with enthusiasm and a feeling that you know what you are doing. Like young people, it is important for others to have fun in the gym and to make exercise fun and meaningful.

Young LadyLinella

At LadyLine, a young person aged 15 or over can train independently with the consent of a parent or guardian. With mother-daughter membership, 11-14 year olds can train together with a guardian or other adult. The price of LadyLine's Mother-Daughter membership is half the normal price. Children over 15 years of age train at the price listed in the price list.

We recommend that you book an appointment with a LadyLine personal trainer for your child or young person for a free exercise consultation. During a physical activity consultation, an individual and comprehensive physical activity plan is developed for your child or young person to support their growth and development.

The child's guardian must attend the physical education counselling session with the child. It is possible to buy personal training sessions for the child at the end of the sports consultation, or later afterwards, if the child's guardian so decides.