{"id":15540,"date":"2026-03-11T00:25:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T00:25:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=15540"},"modified":"2026-03-11T00:25:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T00:25:21","slug":"way-too-young-viral-9-year-old-bodybuilders-new-record-raises-health-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=15540","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWay Too Young\u201d: Viral 9-Year-Old Bodybuilder\u2019s New Record Raises Health Concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>For decades, a long-standing question has silently hung over the world of youth athletics: Should children lift heavy weights? The subject, usually limited to talks between coaches and concerned parents, has resurfaced on the world stage with renewed urgency after a nine-year-old girl from Long Island broke records and sparked worries about how young is too early when the weights become heavy.<\/p>\n<p>As TaraBull on X shared a video with the caption, \u201cIncredible 9 year old Lucy Milgrim dead lifts 180 lbs,\u201d the internet collectively paused to watch a fourth-grader do what many adults cannot.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>The 84-second clip, filmed at the XPC Powerlifting meet during the Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, Ohio, on March 8, 2026, shows Lucy preparing with quiet focus. Volunteers carefully arrange the barbell as a spotter positions himself behind her.<\/p>\n<p>She gathers herself, takes her time, and then, with a controlled explosion of strength, lifts the 180-pound weight to a full lockout, pausing at the top before lowering it with the same deliberate precision.<\/p>\n<p>The crowd erupts as she just demolished her own American youth record of 165 pounds in the 43 kg class. However, the young bodybuilding prospect from Saw Mill Elementary School in Bellmore, New York, is no stranger to heavy weights.<\/p>\n<section class=\"consent\"\/>\n<p>She holds the title of 2025 USAPL Youth National Champion and was named Best Female Overall Lifter, having set American records in squat (131 pounds), bench (74 pounds), and deadlift (165 pounds) last year. Her father, Brett Milgrim, a wrestling coach since 2005, introduced her to the sport around age six, and she now trains over ten hours a week in the family\u2019s home gym.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>However, as the video amasses millions of views on social media, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.essentiallysports.com\/bodybuilding-news-definitely-stunted-his-growth-concerned-fitness-world-worry-about-ten-year-old-kid-rowan-o-malley-shattering-heavy-lifting-records\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:concerns have grown equally loud;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;concerns have grown equally loud&quot;}\" class=\"link \">concerns have grown equally loud<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"heading\">The bodybuilding community united with concerns for the 9-year-old<\/h2>\n<p>It\u2019s not every day you see a nine-year-old pick up 180 pounds. And even though the lift took place at a reputed bodybuilding event, the fans were concerned for her safety, as one comment read, \u201cImpressive but way too young to be weightlifting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Giving the scientific reason, one fan conveyed, stating, \u201cI don\u2019t like it. Putting that kind of resistance on a small child\u2019s body isn\u2019t natural in a child\u2019s musculoskeletal development. There\u2019s a reason we give foals a few years to grow before we start trying to ride them.\u201d Similar concerns grew, as this comment read, \u201cNot a great idea for a little kid to lift heavy with growth plates a decade away from being formed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>However, the American Academy of Pediatrics once supported strength training for kids, stating, \u201cAppropriate strength-training programs have no apparent adverse effect on linear growth, growth plates or the cardiovascular system.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For fans, their concerns were directly towards her safety, \u201cI\u2019m very proud of her but my next question is how are her growth plates? She could easily slip one, never mind her spine. That belt is also useless. It\u2019s just floating on her waist. Kinda scares me.\u201d Another fan wrote, \u201cKids should not be lifting seriously at that age.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The bodybuilding community isn\u2019t stopping her from chasing her career goals, but they are genuinely concerned about her health, owing to how dangerous this sport can be.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/articles\/way-too-young-viral-9-192550516.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For decades, a long-standing question has silently hung over the world of youth athletics: Should children lift heavy weights? The subject, usually limited to talks between coaches and concerned parents, has resurfaced on the world stage with renewed urgency after a nine-year-old girl from Long Island broke records and sparked worries about how young is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":15541,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>\u201cWay Too Young\u201d: Viral 9-Year-Old Bodybuilder\u2019s New Record Raises Health Concerns - World Bodybuilding News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=15540\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201cWay Too Young\u201d: Viral 9-Year-Old Bodybuilder\u2019s New Record Raises Health Concerns - World Bodybuilding News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For decades, a long-standing question has silently hung over the world of youth athletics: Should children lift heavy weights? The subject, usually limited to talks between coaches and concerned parents, has resurfaced on the world stage with renewed urgency after a nine-year-old girl from Long Island broke records and sparked worries about how young is [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=15540\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World Bodybuilding News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-11T00:25:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"World Bodybuilding News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"World Bodybuilding News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=15540#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=15540\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"World Bodybuilding News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d84bf475351cac13351c44d62b00dcd2\"},\"headline\":\"\u201cWay Too Young\u201d: Viral 9-Year-Old Bodybuilder\u2019s New Record Raises Health Concerns\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-11T00:25:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=15540\"},\"wordCount\":549,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=15540#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/ce1b5327114ca9d0b3712b48b5e57241.jpeg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=15540#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=15540\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=15540\",\"name\":\"\u201cWay Too Young\u201d: Viral 9-Year-Old Bodybuilder\u2019s New Record Raises Health Concerns - 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