My Last Week As A Teen Bodybuilder...
My 20th birthday is this coming Easter Sunday, so I am going to take a moment to reflect on my teen bodybuilding years, share some highlights, and give some advice that helped me out.
I did my first contest at 15 years old, and ended up at the Teen Nationals at 19. I have competed in 5 contests thus far. I remember having tanner all over me when I was in highschool and I'd have to get special notes from the principal so I could eat in class haha. I'd literally bring tupperwears with steak and rice in them.
I started with the worst genetics known to man... I mean it was bad. I was 14 years old, 5'8 140lbs and FAT!!! Do you believe that!? Skinnyfat @ 140. I have extremely small bones and yada yada. Over my teen career I have gone from 140 at around 23% bf to 200 at 16%bf. It has taken 6 years to do that naturally so for all you kids who think you can pack on 30lbs/yr of rock hard muscle... haha well you must be taking muscletech supplements ;)... (that was a joke). NE ways yah I never missed a meal or took more than 2 days off during that entire 6 years. I devoted my entire life to it and made some good progress. Genetics are NOT everything, however I know that I would be much larger had I had genetics on my side.
Here are some helpful tips that I have assembled from my 6 years of trial and error/reading/college degree in Kinesiology.
1) Train your abs in the off-season. (this is obvious to many but not so obvious to others... my best bodypart in contest was always my abs.)
2) Don't be afraid to explore new routines. (many get locked into 1 style of training...try MAX-OT, try high volume training, smolov, yada yada)
3) Don't do a contest every year during your teen years (I made that mistake and sacrificed a lot of potential growth... I should have been building during these times)
4) Do a contest in the summer, so it doesn't screw up your grades (made that mistake too lol)
5) DONT JUICE AS A TEENAGER (there is no way in hell you need exogenous hormones as a teenager... take advantage of your naturally high levels of anabolic hormones and learn how to grow big naturally before your juice if that is what you intend to do. Luckuly I did not make this mistake, however I was tempted a few times when I was 16.)
6) Science isn't everything...but it is a lot. (TRUE science will support everything, but there are so many "Voodoo scientists" out there, that it's hard to know who to trust. I hate the phrase "listen to your body"... but it holds true many times.)
7) Don't get too heavy in the off-season. I know a ton of teens who get fat... I mean FAT FAT...almost to 80lbs over contest weight. Try to limit yourself to about 40lbs over contest weight, so that you don't burn through muscle trying to diet down.
8) Easy on the cardio. People always say to me in the gym "yeah you've got good musculature, but how's your cardio shape?" I always look at them and say "come do a leg workout with me". Lifting is cardio, at least the way I train, and I think many people would benefit from upping their training intensity as well.
9) Don't use a ton of supplements. Supplements are just that, they supplement a good diet/training/sleep regimen which most teens don't have anyways. Nail those down first, and then start thinking about supps. I'm talking 9-12hrs of sleep/night, 4-6 days of hardcore training/wk, and a clean bulk diet.
10) Don't act hardcore. You cannot be Frank McGrath in life and be successful...people will just think you're a ***. Don't walk around like you've got to take a **** all the time. If you're REALLY as big as you think you are, then just walk relaxed and people will take notice. Be nice to ppl, that's how we're gonna grow the sport. We've gotta get rid of this dickhead bodybuilder impression that people get.
11) Don't lift like a moron. I see guys in my gym all the time put a big thick belt on, knee wraps, load up the bar with 315 and squat down 4 inches with a spotter. Drop down to 185, take off your stupid belt/wraps and do some deep ass squats lol. That's how you get legs.
12) Surround yourself with people who are understanding of your lifestyle... stay away from alcohol and drugs. In the end, this is about health.
So where do we go from here?
I'm going to bulk until I'm 25, and then compete as a drug-free athlete in the NPC Collegiate Nationals and see what happens there. Eventually I'll go for a Natural Pro-Card. Good luck to all the teenagers coming up.
Here ends mah teenage bb years.
-Blake