How common is it that a 12-year-old is stronger than an adult female?

I was 6 foot 1 inch when I was 12. I was very strong. It is not normal.

Umm…. Wow, you were a monster I guess. I’m happy 12 year old you isn’t around lol.

It isn’t common, but it isn’t unusual. 12 is when a lot of boys are in the middle of puberty and many of them start working out with weights.

And, while you may be 22, you don’t tell us how big or small or in shape or how strong you are,

Well, I’m 5’3. I’m in shape, I run a lot and I’m kind of skinny. I guess I’m not strong per se, but still, they’re 11 and 12…

Hormones are kicking in on our children younger & younger. The girls are getting their periods as early as 9 or 10 & the boys are growing facial hair by 11 or 12. I don’t know IF it’s all that usual but it’s also NOT that unusual either!!!

I’m 5’3 as well, but I can’t even do a push up so I think anyone could take me.
Not sure how common it is but I can’t imagine it being super uncommon either. I’m 19 but when I was 12–13 a lot of the boys my age were super athletic so I’m sure it’s possible for many of them to be stronger than an adult woman.

@LadyMarissa Maybe you’re right. They don’t seem to have hit puberty really, but they’re still quite stocky and able to push me around easily. That’s why I was asking, maybe they’re stronger than average or maybe I’m a bit weak lol

@SergeantQueen Thanks, maybe we’re a bit alike then. It’s good to know somehow.

You don’t have to tell me your weight, but if you don’t weigh that much that could be it. Doesn’t mean you’re weak.

I don’t weigh that much but still… I guess I am kind of weak and that’s ok obviously. I was just curious how common that would be, since I realized this kind of recently

My 10 year olds have always been stronger than me. All but one are now older, and stronger.

All generalizations and impressions, of course, but…

Depends on how big and heavy they are too, but kids tend to be in relatively good physical shape, and boys tend to have more muscle and sometimes focus more on physical aggression. I was about 5 feet tall at 12 years old, and I don’t know but I expect I probably was stronger than some adult women, or at least might be more willing to use more of my strength when messing around.

It seems to me that most people don’t use all that much of their strength when play fighting, and I imagine girls and women may be likely to use a lower fraction of their strength than some boys might.

Also, I’m guessing but perhaps you don’t realize how strong you are, or how much strength you could use, or how to use it effectively? Are you also holding back because it’s play fighting with kids?

@Zaku I hear what you’re saying and others have said to me, but I have to admit I wasn’t holding back lol,

No idea how common, but I know when I was a young teen I was only one of two girls in my gym class who could do pull ups. I was one of the few girls who could quickly climb a rope. Plenty of the boys could do both.

If you run, probably your legs are strong, but not necessarily your arms.

The average man is naturally much stronger than the average woman. Once testosterone starts kicking in those boys are getting stronger and stronger if they are doing any physical activity. I mean any. They don’t need to work hard at it to be stronger than a female.

My guess is you could have summoned more strength if you were angry or frightened.

My advice: take a self defense class. Not for play fighting with your brother, but because if you did t realize it before, now you know in a bad situation you are at a real disadvantage against a man. Luckily, you can run fast.

Sorry for a second post. Here’s a quote about comparative strength between genders.

Gross measures of body strength suggest that women are approximately 50–60% as strong as men in the upper body, and 60–70% as strong in the lower body.[37] One study of muscle strength in the elbows and knees—in 45 and older males and females—found the strength of females to range from 42 to 63% of male strength.[38] Another study found men to have significantly higher hand-grip strength than women, even when comparing untrained men with female athletes.[39] Differences in width of arm, thighs and calves also increase during puberty.

From this Wikipedia page: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_differences_in_human_physiology#Muscle_mass_and_strength

@JLeslie Thanks! I guess I’m just a bit below average. or maybe they’re above. Maybe both. It doesn’t really matter, but it’s somewhat annoying. Especially since I used to love play fighting with them back when I could handle them, and now it’s hard to quit since they obviously enjoy it quite a lot when they realize I’m easy prey… Oh well, I guess I had it coming lol

You can work on your upper body strength. It builds pretty quickly. Do push ups. Do what you can, let’s say it’s ten. Do the every other day. Remember to stretch your arms afterwards. After a week, try doing two sets of ten. Or, ten and then 5, until you get to ten and ten. You’ll see you’ll build up fast. You’ll get to 15 and 15. You can add some bicep work too.

@JLeslie Lol that’s great advice I suppose, but really… I’d feel extremely stupid and kind of pathetic to work out in order to hopefully be able to beat some preteen in a play fight lol. Still, working out is always good of course and I welcome your advice.

My daughter is 12 (almost 13) and she’s 5 foot 6. She and some of her friends would definitely give an adult a run for their money. I’m tall and big and if she and I were in a pushing contest, she might win or come close to winning. It’s amazing how strong and big kids are nowadays.

It won’t be long before the tables are turned & “little brother” ends up looking out for “big sis”
Embrace this impending change while still letting him know who’s boss lol

@Flowermother That’s about the age when boys start to gain their strength. If you measured between comparable average sized adult men and women in their physical prime the male will be 2, sometimes 3x stronger without any special strength training.

My 15 year old nephew is over 6 foot and 210, he could take me down. Many in the upper weight class are young so I dont think its that unusual

As far as your situation, at that hormonal stage its probably time to stop wrestling with them anyway.

@KNOWITALL I was thinking that but I didn’t want to say it. For a young boy, wrestling with a 22 year old woman might be uh, er, “exciting.”

Age and physical characteristics are not the same for everyone.

Imagine a viking child, who would be big compared to a smaller parents child.

Cultural differences play a part in genetics and characteristics.Not all in the same family obtain all the DNA of one or both as even the Grandparents,Great Grandparents genetics come into consideration as well.

How many have siblings that don’t look like either parent?

That’s because if one researched further they would probably discover that that sibling has more of the Great Grandparents genetic DNA.

As an example: One of my older brothers does not look like either parent of which he felt alienated within the family for years until we researched and located an old photograph of my late mothers Great Grandfather..and lo and behold he was the spitting image of my older brother!

Common, IMO.
My husband at eight years old, lifted car off his father.
The jack pushed through the rust on the bottom, pinning his dad.
My husband laid on his back under the rear bumper and pushed it up with his legs just enough for his dad to crawl out.
As an adult, he is stronger than most demi-gods. Lol

I know of a case where a boy who was four years behind in school (15 and in sixth grade) was reassigned to a 6th-9th grade school because he was being bullied at every turn at the K-6 school.

Only when children are young, like before age nine or ten, can they be handled by an average or slightly less than average adult. Eleven and twelve year olds, especially those who wrestle with siblings and friends, are usually on par with most adults.

@jca2 Eeew, I didn’t think that would be the case yet… But a good point I guess and another reason to stop in that case. Also, thanks for your input everyone!

@Flowermother: I guess the males of Fluther would be able to tell us whether that would be a thought in a 12 year old boy’s mind.

When I was twelve, I would have considered a 22 year old as too old for me.

But that’s still kinda the prime of life years—18 through the mid 20s, that most 11–14 year old boys are attracted to, due to the many magazines, models, and celebrities in that age range.

The big thing that you’re overlooking is your own weight. You could be very strong but have a low mass relative to the other person. Without that mass “anchoring” you, you can still be pushed around by someone else with more mass, even if you were much stronger than they are.