My 12 Yr Old is Stronger Than You

I normally don't put any photos of my kids on the internet.  I hope that this will be ok as you can't really see their faces well enough to identify them and put them in danger.

My twelve year old son is stronger than most adults I know, and he is getting stronger every day.  He can do thing that most adults in this country have never done and will never be able to do.  

My son has been skinny since he was a baby.  He will likely never bulk up.  Yet he is stronger and more capable than most adults in Australia.  He loves exercise, and loves strength training, and will never be overweight or obese as he gets older because being strong and fit has been normalised for him.  What a great start to life.

He thinks nothing of his strength and ability because even though he is skinny he has always been strong.  He has true strength.

An old swing set being used to train for back lever

Benches are good for strength training

You can train for strength almost anywhere

Not many adults would even try this!

Ignore the mess, this is impressive for a 12 year old

As well as some of his more impressive feats of strength, he also trains for endurance, balance, and capability.  He is skinnier than most kids his age, yet he is vastly more capable than most kids his age.  I am very proud of him.

One of the things I love about training with my kids is that they think because they are young and thin that everyone is stronger than them and can easily do what they can do.  They are humble.  They have no concept that few adults can achieve this, and very few children their age are fit and strong enough to attempt such things.  

They are happy to do what they can, and don't get upset when they try something new and fail.  If they don't fail, then they will never push themselves further.  If they have no fear of failure, then they won't push too far and risk injuring themselves.  When they succeed, they are glad, and then they start to think of what the next challenge can be.  Exercise and strength training is fun to them.

Ever since he was tiny he could balance and hold up his body weight.  This has paved the way for more difficult body weight exercises.

He has been doing this for years

Prochnost training - strength, balance, and control

Push up handles coming in handy

I hope seeing my twelve year old doing these impressive things will inspire someone to do a little strength training.  Don't try to do better than someone else, you should aim to improve yourself.  Be more!

We have push up handles, monkey bars, and an old swing set that I let my son use when I am there to supervise.  Sometimes we train together, sometimes we don't.  I won't let him use my free weights or dumbbells as they are not great for growing bones if not done properly.  Body weight exercise is much safer.

Other than that he does push ups and other bodyweight exercises that require no equipment, and look at what he can achieve.  This is a twelve year old who is incredibly thin, if you put in some effort perhaps some day you can be as strong as my 12 year old son!

Do some strength training, be more.