I just wanted to comment on the parent asking you if age thirteen was too young to lift weights. I myself started lifting weights at the age of eleven. I started lifting as a result of seeing weightlifting in the Olympics in 1976. By age thirteen, I was ranked in the top three in the country for my age category. I later won the Junior Olympics three times, the Junior National Championships one time, and was picked to represent the United States in the 1983 Junior World Championships in Cairo, Egypt.

I say all of this to drive home the point that weightlifting at the age of thirteen is safe. Obviously you need proper supervision, at least until you know what you are doing, but weightlifting had a great impact in my life. It taught me discipline, concentration, and self-confidence that I will carry with me for life.

It never ceases to amaze me, though, how parents can deny sometimes a child the benefit of weightlifting based on some conceived chance of injury, but have no problem putting their ten-year-old on the football field where there are many times more injuries and other things to be concerned about.