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Comment by dan-robertson | Hacker News Reader

Kids can have good strength-to-weight ratios and be flexible. Their problems are likely to be not being able to reach as far, being potentially a bit uncoordinated, and not being able to get much stronger with training (so eg struggling with things that require more strength or finger strength). And maybe not being great at being coached though adults can have that issue too. Overall, climbing is pretty kid friendly though a climbing parent probably helps a lot.

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Put ‘em in gymnastics. Some of those girls id be afraid of.

From what I’ve seen, gymnastics tends to have some weird cultural… quirks… that aren’t as common in climbing.

Go on…

Or circus. Aerial silks, hoop etc

While gymnastics is a great all-around sport, it's sadly one of many which is not viable to do your whole life. Gymnastics is very hard on your body with tendon and ligament injuries being commonplace. Most gymnasts retire in their early twenties at the latest, often when faced with the medical reality of either giving up the sport or having joint pain for the rest of their life. While the sport is a marvel to see as a spectator, it comes at the cost of wearing out the body of the performer over a fairly short period of time.

You don’t have to try and excel at everything you do. Kids should do gymnastics to gain the spatial and body awareness, and ligament strength that they would not otherwise get from other sports. Climbing, parkour would also teach more practical application of balance, awareness and different movement patterns.

What would be a good target for someone who wants to get out of the house and be a bit more active than just generically going to the gym, and doesn't want to anticipate winding up with "oh no I'm awake" pain later in life?

In terms of what the minimum and maximum baselines would be discipline-wise.

> and not being able to get much stronger with training

Actually, the problem is the opposite. Their muscles get too strong too quickly and then they blow a pulley because their tendons aren't strong enough for the forces that their muscles are easily capable of producing. This happens in adults too, but AFAICT it's more common in kids and adolescents (but perhaps that's because most adults who get into the sport later don't ever climb as hard). Growth plate injuries are less common but devastating.

Avoiding these sorts of injuries is probably the biggest reason why training or a team is worth the $.

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