Fourteen-year-old powerlifter draws praise, concern

Meet Jake Schellenschlager. He's 14 years old. And he can deadlift more than two times his body weight.

Schellenschlager weighs only about 119 pounds, but can deadlift 300. He's been lifting for the past two years under a coach's supervision. The Post notes that children can begin competing in powerlifting competitions at 14, but that some children begin lifting at age 8 for fun.

The question for someone so young, of course, is whether lifting at such a young age can have detrimental effects later in life. "Powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting sports are different because they usually are involving maximum lifts — the squat, bench press and the dead lift," Paul Stricker, a youth sports medicine specialist at the Scripps Health Clinic in San Diego, told the Post. "There is high risk to heavy maximal lifts or explosive lifts during their rapid growth phrase. That is our biggest caution. We just don’t recommend they do maximal lifts or explosive lifts until they have finished the majority of their growth spurt."

“He doesn’t feel he can be defeated," says his trainer, Mike Sarni. "It is that inner strength that tells him, ‘I can do this.’ Usually, you only get that in older, more mature people.”



So, your thoughts. Is 14 too young for this activity, or is it no more damaging than any of a half-dozen other sports kids could be playing?

Full story HERE

gross and wrong

I've always heard this isn't recommended, because at 14, your bones are still growing.

He might damage/wreck his body.

This is too much.

That's downright scary.

Creepy.

Somewhere Richard Sandrak is shaking his head at this. This is what happened to him until his father finally left him and his family alone.

airbrush...

the body that

s liftin is way smaller

that the first pic.

I have heard before, as UptownNY stated, that such heavy lifting at such an early age stunts growth.

King: it's not photoshopped...google this kid and you'll see he's jacked;

While he's not as freakish as that Sandrak kid, I just hope that he doesn't bust a gut or something at such a young age lifting crazy weights.

PurpleJedi said:

I have heard before, as UptownNY stated, that such heavy lifting at such an early age stunts growth.

King: it's not photoshopped...google this kid and you'll see he's jacked;

While he's not as freakish as that Sandrak kid, I just hope that he doesn't bust a gut or something at such a young age lifting crazy weights.

shuttayouface...