By EDWARD L. KENNEY, Wilmington (DE.) News Journal

Twelve-year-old Stacey Tiller of Wilmington lifts weights to stay in shape for basketball and other sports. The 5-foot-5-inch, 125-pounder also is a little chubby around the middle and wants to trim off some inches.

"Everybody's always teasing me about my weight and stuff," he said.

Stacey, a seventh-grader, is part of a growing number of children in their pre- or early teens who work out with weights to muscle themselves into better shape.

"I was a little bit amazed by the amount of 12- and 13-year-olds I had at first," said Ron Bender, who supervises a weightlifting program at Clarence Fraim Boys & Girls Club in Wilmington, where Stacey works out.

Bender said he started noticing participants were getting younger a couple of years ago.

"It used to be more like 14 and older because they are getting into high school," he said. "Now it's getting into the junior high. All these kids are hitting the weights earlier."

The junior bodybuilders pumping up at Fraim are among children coast to coast who are seeking the bulging forearms and six-pack abs of athletes, models and superheroes posing and flexing in everything from magazine ads to action movies.

Douglas Tynan, a child and health psychologist at Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Rockland, said the images in popular culture are a big reason the pursuit for the perfect hard-body has begun among the elementary and junior high school set. Other reasons include the proliferation of weight training across all sports, the desire to impress the opposite sex and parents who are looking toward potential athletic scholarships for their kids.

"There are now and there have always been parents who will push a child to achieve in sport because they think that is the road to success or is something they couldn't do as a child," he said.

Carol Hurley, who handles membership services for USA Weightlifting, the Colorado-based national governing body for the sport, said the group does not track weightlifters by age. But she said the youth ranks are growing, and a good indicator is a set of qualifying divisions for younger competitive weightlifters that was added this year.

The new divisions give children their own categories. That way, an 11-year-old does not have to compete against a 20-year-old merely because they both weigh the same, she said.

Before this year, the lowest qualifying weight category for boys was about 123 pounds, regardless of age, she said. For younger girls, there was only a 16-and-younger division, and competitors had to weigh no more than 95 pounds to qualify.

Beginning this year, boys and girls were assigned weight categories that begin at about 68 pounds for 11 and under and increase in increments according to age and gender, Hurley said.

Doing it safely

Dr. Michael J. Axe, who chairs the Sports Medicine Advisory Committee of the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association, said there is no reason younger children should be barred from lifting.

"My children started at age 7. My oldest is now 21, and he weighs 185 pounds and benches 315 pounds. The key is you have to be mature enough to want to lift," he said.

A bench press is a weight-lifting exercise performed while lying on a bench and pushing a barbell up from the chest. Axe cautions against children lifting weights above their heads or while on their backs, because both lifts can cause back injuries.

But he said the idea that weightlifting inhibits children's growth is a misconception.

"It's proven that if you lift intelligently you are not at risk of injury," Axe said.

Dr. Lisa Barkley, who specializes in adolescent and sports medicine in the department of family medicine at Christiana Care Health System, agreed that weightlifting should not affect normal development.

"I think they can weight lift and do it safely," she said of children younger than 13. "But I think it is important that they be properly supervised. I don't think that age kid should be left alone in the gym to do what they want."

Learning fitness early

Some parents of young children who lift weights participate in the exercise with them.

Alisa Adams of New Castle said she has no problem with her 12-year-old son, Herman Davis, pumping iron at Fraim. She also lifts weights and said it is a beneficial form of exercise.

"I monitor it real closely so it's not a strain and he doesn't do more than is needed," she said. "I know when too much is too much and when to stop.

Barkley said younger bodybuilders will not develop huge muscles before puberty sets in, but lifting weights can tone and strengthen muscles.

She said weight training also can improve performance in other sports, and that is one of the biggest reasons kids give for taking it up, especially when their heroes on the basketball court or baseball field are bulking up.

"I play lacrosse, and I wanted to get in shape for that, try to make the A Team next year, get a jump on everybody else," said Andrew Sibert, 12, of Wilmington.

Andrew is a member of a weight-training program for young people called Strong Enough, which meets at the Brandywine YMCA in Talleyville.

Laura Schofield, physical director at the Brandywine YMCA, said the program was started last year for children age 10 to 14 to help combat obesity. Graduates of the eight-week program are allowed to train on weight machines in the fitness center during designated time periods, a membership privilege previously granted only to people 14 and older.

The weekly program draws boys and girls. Another class was added recently because it was so popular, Schofield said.

Bender said the weight program at Fraim is held during the colder months and is not as structured as some programs.

"I'm just trying to get them to learn five or six basic lifts," said Bender, who supervises the teen center. "I'm not trying to bulk them up, not at this age. I'm just trying to keep them physically fit a different way, rather than using a ball."

Bender said he has been supervising weight training on and off for about 10 years. The program for boys and girls meets three times a week in the afternoon.

"A lot of them know physical fitness gives you longevity," Bender said. "If you take care of your body when you're young, your body will take care of you when you're older."