A video of 7-year-old fitness sensation Brodie Bowen dead-lifting a 43kg barbell with impressive determination has sparked a heated debate on social media, with some praising her dedication and other expressing worries about her health.
Brodie, who is the daughter of fitness instructor and Instagram influencer Jes Bowen, has been following in her mother’s footsteps from a very young age, and has been showing remarkable progress lately. In of the recent videos her mother posted on social media, Brodie can be seen dead-lifting a 94-pound (43kg) barbell under the watchful eye of her father, Jordan. The impressive video was picked up by the popular House of Highlights Instagram page which shared it with its 17.7 million followers, causing it to go viral. While some declared their admiration for the young fitness enthusiast, others expressed concern for her health.
Photo: ZOE Animation Studio/Instagram
“Um … is this even safe for her at that age?” Australian golfer Karl Vilips asked.
“This is so stupid, we shouldn’t praise this. He ruining her body at a very young age,” someone else commented on the video.
“Too much weight. Gonna be detrimental long term,” another Instagram user agreed.
Brodie started attracting attention when she was only 5-years-old and executing impressive weightlifting techniques like the hang clean with 15 pounds, but she has come a long way since then, adding more techniques and a lot more weight to her training regimen.
Other impressive videos show Brodie Bowen squatting with 70 pounds, or supporting her whole body weight on her arms, and her mother Jes says that she is very dedicated to her fitness routine.
Despite the controversy regarding Brodie’s well-being, there were many people who showed their support for both the 7-year-old and her mother, and even those who claimed that lifting so much weight at her age was not detrimental to her health, and most certainly did not risk stunting her growth. Apparently that is just a myth that has been debunked by science.
The debate around pushing kids too hard for fame and social media success has been raised before, including with 6-year-old Instagram sensation Arat Hosseini and 10-year-old gymnast Lyza Brooks Mosier.
