Is the IFBB Wrong for Allowing 5 Year Olds to Compete?
I saw something on the internet recently that honestly made me feel sick. It was images of little boys and girls competing in IFBB International Amateur fitness competitions. With some Google searches, I finally found what this is all about. There are different IFBB divisions for kids to compete in. The ages go all the way up to 15 years of age. I’m all for promoting fitness and getting kids active, but this is a complete train wreck and unacceptable.
There’s a thin line between right and wrong. And in my opinion, this is wrong. Let’s use the example of little girl beauty pageants. If you’ve ever seen how competitive those parents are, think about what they would do to their kids on the fitness stage. They also have these little kids competing half-naked which I see several things wrong with. But we’ll touch on that piece later.
When competing in the IFBB takes over your life
Some little boys and girls are genetically gifted and some are simply active in order to stay lean. Then you have kids who are inactive and have some extra body fat. As a kid, a little extra body fat isn’t a bad thing, have too much obviously raises the likelihood of health issues. But what’s not to say that parents don’t obsess over their child competing and have them training with weights, dieting, and taking time away from the fun of being a kid? We all know the dedication needed for an adult IFBB competitor to do well on an IFBB stage, but kids shouldn’t be dieting unless prescribed and under the watchful eye of a doctor. Having a child diet and be calorie restricted can severely mess with the body’s natural hormone production. Now let’s be honest, not all kids will be dieting for these shows and I’m hoping it would be a rare occurrence that a parent would take things to that extreme, but we’d be reckless in thinking that some wouldn’t be.
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