off-bike weight training without damaging growth
 

Im currently 5'9" and I'm 16. What exercises can I do that won't keep me from growing. My goal is 6'.

well having a goal of reaching 6'0 is nice but it's all depends on genetics if your parents on both sides are are tall you may6 hit 6'0

for work outs do plyometrics and exercises using your body weight and you should not effect your growth.

stay away from any supplemnts natural or otherwise that manipulate your hormones in anyway.

your growth paltes really do not close until your early 20's generally speaking of course

I didn't realize that weight lifting made you taller or shorter

FWIW my dad was a powerlifter and I started going to the gym with him when I was around 11 or 12 years old. Weight lifting won't make you shorter if that's what your'e afraid of. I was squatting 315pounds for reps at your age and I'm 6 foot 1.

it won't really make you shorter but there is potential to injury your joints when your young

I've been doing a full body 5x5 program for about 6 months. That's 5 sets of 5 reps. You find a comfort zone/weight that you can lift push or pull 25 times by the end of the routine - lasting an hour. I found this was a good and healthy way to find reasonable weights for all my major muscles. Some stations or exercises can go with higher reps, and I mix them in. You'll find what you can and can not do and that's a natural limiter. A 5x5 program is very good for building muscle mass so long as you consume enough protein. Keep up your research and don't overdo anything, not any weights and not any food groups. Moderation is key, so is patience. A word of caution - stay away from heavy weights on any leg raise machine - it can damage the channel your kneecaps moves on laterally.

Moderation, patience, consistency, clean diet. Also, try to work in pullups and pushups, these are two important exercises as evidenced by the fact that 2 branches of the military use them as their sole measure of fitness, one branch uses one, an the other branch uses the other. I think it's the marines and the army. I forget which ones uses which.

Stay injury free, because some injuiries last a lifetime. Protect your knees, it's so easy to eat up that cartiledge. Careful with the shoulders too.

well, how young do you need to be?

Like I said, I started powerlifting with my dad around age 11 or 12

you aren't going to hurt your joints. just don't get stupid

that's true for any age

How tall are your parents and older siblings and when did they finish growing? As mentioned above it comes down to genetics primarily. I think the other component is good nutrition. If you look at the Japanese population pre-WWII and post-war, there's a rather remarkable increase in average height. Their diet improved greatly in the years after the war. It is possible you've already reached your max height, as many people are done growing by age 16. I certainly was done growing vertically. If you are still growing the best thing you can do is eat as healthy as possible.

My son plays baseball and there have always been pitch-count limits due to proven damage to kids arms. He is 13 now and I don't know at what age the pitch count gets to be adult level.

eat eat eat son!

I don't think there are any exercises that will keep you from growing.