Anon Does doing gymnastics from a young age stunt growth?

[Anonymous Post]

hi! im writing an essay about this topic, if anyone would like to elaborate. Any information /opinions are appreciated

 

[Anonymous Post]

I Google it several years ago and found only a couple of studies, which showed that for the average gymnast, the answer is - no. For high performing gymnasts, growth often was delayed but than once training hours decreased, growth resumed.
Personally, I tend to think that the sport just tends to attract smaller athletes to begin with. They tend to have an easier time learning the skills. Not sure this is still happening now but many years ago, high level coaches would look at parent bodies to determine the child's future height.

 

[JBS]

Based on my experience as a coach of having many gymnasts over the years that are average height or taller... I'm going to say that it does not stunt your growth.

 

[Anonymous Post]

Biologist here; the answer is no; there is no good scientific evidence to prove that gymnastics, or any other high level sport stunts growth.

 

[Anonymous Post]

I think it depends, lets say we are talking specifically about high-level gymnasts who train high hours. Training at that high intensity can cause a gymnast to have low body fat and delays puberty. Now I don't know if you're talking about height or overall growth, but I think that gymnastics can stunt growth both ways. For example, during covid, we had to take 2 1/2 months off, and some of my teammates and I grew a couple of inches or so. Then when we got back to the gym we didn't grow anywhere near as fast. (We kept track of this because some of us track our height on a wall). Now I don't know if it was coincidence or not but that is just my experience and I think it just all depends.

 

[JBS]

You can find tons of studies online. Here's a fun one for everyone to read...

Age of onset of a normally timed pubertal growth spurt affects the final height of children - Pediatric Research

The exact nature of the relationship between the age of onset of puberty and final height in normally maturing children is controversial. Some authors have claimed that the age of pubertal onset does not affect final height, and others have claimed the opposite. We hypothesized that both height...

www.nature.com

Be sure to read this one very carefully...

Conclusions:​

Final height is influenced by both height and the age of onset of the PGS in normal maturing children. A normal but early puberty exerts a negative effect on final height. A delayed PGS exerts a positive effect on final height.

 

[Aussie_coach]

As others have said, gymnastics does not generally stunts anyone’s growth.

It’s a really outdated mode of thinking. People tend to look at the end result and draw conclusions. Gymnasts are more often on the shorter side because people are drawn to sports they do well in.

Gymnastics can be easier if you are short - lower centre of gravity, less strength needed to pull your body around etc. So shorter kids are more likely to choose gymnastics, stick with gymnastics and reach higher levels in gymnastics.

Just like basketball attracts taller players, but playing basketball does not make you tall.

 

[-GymnastOnTheVault-]

I would say no. I'm a gymnast and I'm 5'5" and I know some other tall gymnasts. So if gymnastics does stunt growth, it's only by a little.

 

[RTT2]

I definitely don't think gymnastics stunts growth. I am a little puzzled by the height trajectory in my own family. I'm the shortest female in a couple of generations in my family (5'2) and my daughter has stopped growing at almost 5'1. I don't think it's gymnastics, but I can't figure out where our extra inches have gone since mothers, grandmothers, aunts, great-grandmothers were all a few inches taller.

 

[Anonymous Post]

I’m not sure why this was posted anonymously, but it seems like many good threads are.

My understanding is that extreme exercise can retard growth and definitely some gymnasts exercise to that degree. This paper is one that looks at this issue from a couple different points of view: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8614759/

So, I think in sum, smaller people tend to gravitate towards gymnastics (and wrestling for boys) because most sports select on large size. They end up doing better, on average, because moving a big body is harder than moving a small one. So more small people stick with it long term, and then ultimately suffer from mildly stunted grown at the extreme end of the training spectrum.

So, maybe it’s a 5’1 woman who ends up 4’11 (my non-gymnast sister’s height btw) after a lifetime of gym. But it’s definitely not a 5’11 woman who ends up 4’11 due to gym.

With all that said, it seems like the ultra tiny (my daughter is 4’1.5 and 47lbs at almost 10) gymnasts are the exception not the norm. My daughter has been the girl at every gym that she has trained at. It’s only at states that we see multiple similarly sized girls.

 

[Anonymous Post]

I don't think it "stunts" growth per-say, but I do indeed think that it certainly delays girls that work high intensity / hours at that young age. I feel like this absolutely happened in my daughter. During Covid her training literally stopped and once back her hours were cut, guess what? she grew more than she has ever grown at once. Now that she has been back to her normal workouts and has very very low body fat she has not grown much at all. Just my theory from my own child.

 

[Anonymous Post]

I don't think it "stunts" growth per-say, but I do indeed think that it certainly delays girls that work high intensity / hours at that young age. I feel like this absolutely happened in my daughter. During Covid her training literally stopped and once back her hours were cut, guess what? she grew more than she has ever grown at once. Now that she has been back to her normal workouts and has very very low body fat she has not grown much at all. Just my theory from my own child.

It’s irrefutable that under nourishment leads to stunted growth.

It’s not that far of a leap to suspect that normal nourishment combined with high hours leads to insufficient caloric intake to support normal growth on top of the training.

Michael Phelps ate 8-10,000 calories a day when he was seriously training. I definitely don’t know any 30 hour a week gymnast who eats like that, and some of them are growing kids!

 

[Anonymous Post]

It’s irrefutable that under nourishment leads to stunted growth.

It’s not that far of a leap to suspect that normal nourishment combined with high hours leads to insufficient caloric intake to support normal growth on top of the training.

Michael Phelps ate 8-10,000 calories a day when he was seriously training. I definitely don’t know any 30 hour a week gymnast who eats like that, and some of them are growing kids!

Absolutely! Even though I want to think of that as a slap in the face as a parent that it sounds like i underfeed my kid, i know its a fact that there is no way she would eat enough to sustain the 30 hours a week of training she was doing. Even now i know she should try and eat more..

 

[Anonymous Post]

Absolutely! Even though I want to think of that as a slap in the face as a parent that it sounds like i underfeed my kid, i know its a fact that there is no way she would eat enough to sustain the 30 hours a week of training she was doing. Even now i know she should try and eat more..

I get it. My daughter, since birth, has tracked in the 5th percentile of height and weight. She's almost 10 and currently below the "normal" growth band for an 8 year old. I've never measured her body fat percentage but it's definitely lower than mine has ever been, even when I was exercising and dieting for looks as a shredded 20 year old. Is it because of her gym and eating? Possibly to some extent. Or maybe it's because her dad (me) is a 40 something man who's 5'7 and 135 pounds (with an adult 4'11 sister) and her mom was around 5'1 and gained like 30 pounds while pregnant.

I think that it's natural for the human body to adapt to the tasks that you make it perform. The body will tell you when it's not getting what it needs. My max lift decreased, and my recover time increased, dramatically when I started to get really lean. If I didn't listen to my body I got injured. If your kid can do high hours at gym without getting constant repetitive stress injuries then clearly her nutrition is on point.

 

[Anonymous (785b)]

As a coach, I want to reassure you that gymnastics, when done properly, doesn’t inherently stunt growth. In fact, gymnastics can contribute positively to a child’s physical development. It's important to emphasize proper technique, a balanced training regimen, and adequate rest.

That said, rigorous training and high-impact routines need to be managed carefully. Overtraining or not allowing for enough recovery can put unnecessary stress on the body. Ensuring that young gymnasts have a well-rounded approach to their training—including flexibility, strength, and technique—along with proper nutrition and sleep, supports healthy growth and development.

Overall, a balanced approach to training is key to helping young athletes reach their full potential without compromising their overall well-being.

 

[Anonymous (e795)]

I always heard it can delay puberty if you are training 25+ hours a week an not eating enough. Overtraining and under eating can stunt growth, atleast temporarily. But a well fed high level gymnastics should be fine.

 

[Anonymous (8805)]

As others have said, gymnastics does not generally stunts anyone’s growth.

It’s a really outdated mode of thinking. People tend to look at the end result and draw conclusions. Gymnasts are more often on the shorter side because people are drawn to sports they do well in.

Gymnastics can be easier if you are short - lower centre of gravity, less strength needed to pull your body around etc. So shorter kids are more likely to choose gymnastics, stick with gymnastics and reach higher levels in gymnastics.

Just like basketball attracts taller players, but playing basketball does not make you tall.

Im an identical twin. I did gymnastics, my sister didn't. I'm very slightly taller than my sister so - no.. however back in the day gymnasts used to starve to stay smaller. And even take puberty blockers in some countries. This may have stunted growth. These days it's a healthier sport. Gymnastics used to focus on athletes with a naturally smaller build and as girls got taller and broader they would be moved out of elite sport. It's a fact that poor nutrition when combined with intensive exercise can stunt growth but this definitely doesn't have to be the case.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

There's as much evidence that gymnastics stunts your growth as there is that basketball boosts it.

In other words, gymnastics doesn't make you short, but being short is an advantage in gymnastics, and therefore taller athletes are less likely to make it to the higher levels.

 

[RTT2]

I see that I responded to this thread almost 3 years ago. Funny that nothing has changed. My daughter is still 5’1 and an inch shorter than me, who was always the shortest in the family. I still don’t necessarily think gymnastics influenced DD’s height, but it doesn’t add up based on genetics going back to the early 1900s.