Teenagers and Home Gym Equipment: What the NHS and UK Chief Medical Officers Say About Strength Activity and Supervision

A home gym often becomes a teenager’s gym as well, and many parents ask what the official guidance says about young people using weights. The UK Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) publish physical activity guidelines for children and young people aged 5 to 18, and the NHS turns them into practical advice, including a condition on using weights. This article summarises both. It is general guidance, not personal medical advice, and it is separate from the site’s guide to keeping young children safe around home gym equipment.

What the CMO guidelines say for ages 5 to 18

The CMO guidelines, published on GOV.UK, say children and young people should engage in moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity for an average of at least 60 minutes per day across the week. That can include physical education, active travel, after-school activities, play and sports. They should also engage in a variety of types and intensities of physical activity across the week to develop movement skills, muscular fitness and bone strength, and should aim to minimise time spent sedentary and, when physically possible, break up long periods of not moving with at least light activity.

The evidence summary attached to the guidelines makes a further point. It says the review found broad support for the health benefits of vigorous intensity activity and of activities that strengthen bone, but no strong evidence for specific numbers or durations of bouts of moderate-to-vigorous or vigorous activity per day. The guidance is therefore about an average across the week and about variety, not a fixed home gym schedule.

The muscle-strengthening frequency that appears in the same document, at least two days a week, is stated for adults aged 19 to 64. It is not the young people’s guideline, which is expressed as variety across the week.

What the NHS adds

The NHS says children and young people aged 5 to 18 need two types of physical activity each week: aerobic exercise, and exercises to strengthen their muscles and bones. It describes moderate intensity as raising the heart rate and making a person breathe faster and feel warmer, with a simple test: if a person can still talk but not sing, they are working at moderate intensity. Examples it gives of activities that strengthen muscles and bones include gymnastics, football, jumping and martial arts, and, for young people, sit-ups, press-ups and similar exercises and resistance exercises with exercise bands, weight machines or handheld weights.

A GOV.UK infographic from the Department of Health and Social Care summarising the guidelines lists benefits of physical activity that include building confidence and social skills, developing co-ordination, improving concentration and learning, strengthening muscles and bones, improving sleep and making a person feel good. It names workouts, skipping and climbing among the activities that help develop movement skills and muscle and bone strength.

The supervision condition on weights

The NHS sets a clear condition: young people can use weights for resistance exercise if a qualified adult trains them to use the weights correctly and supervises them. The guidance does not list a minimum age, and it does not define what qualifies an adult. The condition applies to weights, and the NHS lists bodyweight exercises separately.

The NHS also lists general safety points for exercise by children and young people:

• get medical advice about exercising if they have a health condition;
• do exercise that is suitable for their age, ability and experience;
• start any new exercise slowly and increase it bit by bit;
• use protective equipment, for example for cycling and skateboarding.

Young people with a disability

For children and young people aged 5 to 18 who are living with a disability, the NHS says to aim for 20 minutes of physical activity a day, split into smaller chunks if needed, and to do challenging but manageable strength and balance activities three times a week. Medical advice applies, as with any health condition.

Turning the guidance into a home gym plan

The sources do not give equipment advice, but the conditions they set can be applied to a plan:

• Decide who supervises. If weights are used, the NHS condition means a qualified adult should teach and supervise, and the household should agree when the equipment may be used.
• Begin with the movements the NHS lists. Bodyweight exercises and resistance bands appear among its examples, and starting slowly is one of its safety points.
• Match the load to the person. The NHS advice that exercise should be suitable for age, ability and experience points towards handheld weights or machines that suit the individual, not adult loading.
• Keep it varied. The CMO guidelines emphasise variety across the week, so home gym sessions can sit alongside sport, walking or cycling.
• Keep the room safe when unsupervised. The site’s guide on children in the house covers anchoring, storage and treadmill safety keys.

Frequently asked questions

Can a teenager use weights at home?

According to the NHS, young people can use weights for resistance exercise if a qualified adult trains them in correct technique and supervises them.

Does a teenager need to strength train?

The NHS says children and young people need exercises to strengthen muscles and bones each week, and it counts activities such as gymnastics, jumping and martial arts, so a gym is not required.

Is 60 minutes of exercise every day required?

The guideline is an average of at least 60 minutes a day across the week of moderate or vigorous activity.

The bottom line

The UK guidance for 5 to 18 year olds is built on an average of 60 minutes a day of moderate-to-vigorous activity, a variety of activities that build movement skills, muscle and bone strength, and less sitting still. The NHS allows young people to use weights when a qualified adult trains and supervises them, and advises starting slowly, choosing suitable exercise and getting medical advice where there is a health condition. A home gym can be part of that mix, provided the supervision condition is met.

Sources

• NHS, “Physical activity guidelines for children and young people”
• Department of Health and Social Care, “UK Chief Medical Officers’ physical activity guidelines”
• Department of Health and Social Care, “Physical activity for children and young people: 5 to 18 years (text of the infographic)”