concerning weight-lifting myths...

My name is Omar, and I'm 16 a month and a half from being 17 and I'm 5'3 [Quite short aren't I].

I've been body-weight training since I was 12 in preperation for weight-lifting, since I believed that I should learn to carry my own weight first before adding additional weight. However, for any person who's been body-weight training, he'll soon realise that in time intensity will be an issue because there isn't any way you can increase it without adding additional weights.

Now I believe I'm ready to start lifting because honestly I'm quite bored of having to do loads of reps just to feel some pressure (normally I do 80 reps for a squat...thats how bored  am), however I heard that weight-lifting as a teen can do 3 things:

1- Fuse the growth plates thereby preventing further growth

2- Encourages growth due to increase osteo-blasts

3- If lifting excessively the first scenario will happen

Now my problem is knowing which of these is a fact and which of them is a myth? I know lots of celebrities (such as arnold schwartzneger) lifted in their early teens and grew up to be over 6 feet tall, though I have heard stories of people who stopped growing tall after lifting. With all these conjectures being made right and left I don't know what to believe anymore.

So can someone please seperate fact from friction for me?

And another question...although this one will be short, will drinking protein shakes have any implication on my body?

Another "rumor" I heard was that once your body gets used to protein shakes you can't gain muscles without them...and that you might suffer from impotence.

Thank you in advance and for anyone who helps e by answering this =]

Pick up Starting Strength from Amazon.com That is the best weight training book for beginners. 

Well I really don't think any of those statements are true.

Right now I am 16 years old and 5'6" (maybe 5'7") and have been weight lifting since I was 11.

And as far as I know it is your genetics that determine when you grow, so I don't think weight lifting would be able to 'stimulate' growth.

And as I am an average height for a woman I don't think weight lifting stunted my growth or made me taller.

oh, and to  answer  your question about protein shakes, I would say they are fine to drink. I drink them ...

 Also, I don't think protein shakes are habit forming (your body doesn't become 'used' to it) because (hmm i don't know how to explain this) .... well, because your body doesn't have to work harder in the beginning because it is being given what it needs so there is nothing for your body to become used to.

Either way, if you lower your protein intake you will not gain as much muscle, whereas if you up your protein intake then you will gain more muscle.

So obviously if you stop drinking protein shakes your body won't be able to put on as much muscle as quickly as you would when you were drinking them.

It's the same concept as with protein from any other source (chicken, fish, etc.). If you eat more protein you'll gain more muscle, if you eat less you won't gain as much.

I think the answer's you seek are being answered. Make sure you have a solid nutrition and dont rely on your protein shakes to being the only thing contributing to muscle gains. 

Just take your first year slow before getting "hardcore" about lifting.

Getting into advanced lifting/bodybuilding/supplementation, it is can actually be worked that correct supplementation can increase your height. Through lifting, and raising of HGH levels within the body (whether naturally [l-glutamine, l-arginine etc.] or synthetically), you may actually grow in height, as being still young, your growth plates are "growing", and an increase in HGH levels may lead to a slight increase in height.