Cruz Beckham has hit the gym, but how young is too young to start working out?

A week ago, Cruz Beckham uploaded a video of himself working out on a rowing machine onto Instagram.

Taken during a day at the gym with dad David and brother Brooklyn, the clip was viewed more than 198,000 times, but not all reactions were positive.

At just 12 years old, many believe that Cruz is much “too young” to be hitting the machines, with one commenter claiming that exercising as a child can even mean your “muscles get damaged”.

But are the commenters on his video right?

Chris Smith, spokesperson for the Association of Paediatric Chartered Physiotherapists, says that actually for Cruz, what’s much riskier than working out is being inactive.

“There isn’t really a minimum age that a child can start rowing or working out,” he says.

“The effects of a child being inactive are far greater than those of child using a rower and working out in a controlled environment.”

In fact, far from a bad influence, Smith believes David is an “excellent” fitness role model for Cruz to be following:

“Children emulate their parents so it’s natural that Cruz wants to do stuff like his father,” Smith explains.

“We are seeing more gym-based classes for children and this is fine.

“Children can access gym equipment providing the child is assessed by a trained professional prior to starting a program and the child meets the height requirements to be positioned properly on the equipment.”

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