From C.J. the Workout Kid to young Mikala, children are taking their health in their own hands and molding a movement of young FITSPIRATIONS.
Now next in line is Naomi Kutin, a ten-year-old who is dubbed “the strongest girl in the world.” The Jewish Daily Forward profiled the sixth-grader who squats 215 POUNDS, more than twice her 99-pound frame, and has already set two regional squatting records at 199-pound squat and a 215-pound deadlift.
Conventional wisdom says that it’s unsafe for young children to lift heavy, risking the child’s muscular and skeletal development for short-term glory. But Naomi’s father, Ed Kutin, who is himself a former powerlifter, dismisses that claim as an “old wives’ tale.”
Kutin introduced his daughter to powerlifting after she dogged a few young boys in her Karate class. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology grad, where he picked up the sport, claimed that he and his wife, Neshama, were cautious before they let young Naomi settle under the crushing weight of the squat bar (Naomi apparently started with a 14-pound bar before moving up to the standard 45-pound bar), but they did research and felt it was okay.
Most interestingly, Naomi and her family are Orthodox Jews, which, in this case, means there are few rules they have to break to make competitions that are usually held on weekends, conflicting with the Sabbath.
Either way, it seems as if little Naomi derives much pride from her weightlifting exploits. Good luck.
The Ninety-Nine Pound Powerlifter from Jewish Daily Forward on Vimeo.