Need some advice on training 14 year old son

[Robiokick]

Came to this forum cause I am 35 and you guys tend to be more experienced.

So 14 year old 5’11” and about 170lbs wants to start lifting. I would like to get him to the point of doing starting strength eventually but am not sure where to start him. Took him to the gym for first time yesterday and had him do some bench, squats and military press with bar only to see what I have here and he was having a hard time with the bar.

Should I keep working with him on compounds with the bar only or do some isolations to get a little strength on him? Any advice is appreciated.

BTW I have been lifting for 1.5 years and am on Madcow 5x5 and have done starting strength multiple times with great results so I have a general idea of what I am doing but still have alot to learn.

Thank you all

[pastorgbc]

I would stay with your compound lifts, and it is okay to start with just the bar. I think that a 5x5 program is a great starting program for young people.

Isolation movments generally do not put strength on, unless you reach a level where you are going heavy on them. Having said that, since he is new to lifting, once he gets his coordination down, just about any type of weightlifting exercise is going to put "strength" on him in the beginning.

Ray

[Robiokick]

Yea, I figure it is a good idea to get him used to the compound lifts from the start. Its just strange watching him wobble all over the place with the bar. I made sure to tell him how good he did and that it always feels funny the first time. I just wanted to get some advice from others who have been here with there kid.

[hochspeyer]

If you're using an Olympic bar, at 14 it might be a bit daunting for him. He might get more encouragement by trying a "standard" bar. These things vary in weight, it seems, but might be just the thing to get some gains happening, some confidence built and some desire to come back.

[pastorgbc]

Yea, I figure it is a good idea to get him used to the compound lifts from the start. Its just strange watching him wobble all over the place with the bar. I made sure to tell him how good he did and that it always feels funny the first time. I just wanted to get some advice from others who have been here with there kid.

Kids that age are all over the map; there is no one size fits all. Some kids grow faster and have to get used to there bodies. Some kids have grown at a slower pace and have been able to adjust more easily.

Do not compare him to other kids. It will drag him down and and isn't fair. If he is committed to working out, and you are committed to supporting him, then eventually everything will come together. It may not be as fast as you like it, but patience is the key here, especially for a 14 year old. We all wobble when we try new things.

Good luck,
Ray

[snoack]

Came to this forum cause I am 35 and you guys tend to be more experienced.

So 14 year old 5’11” and about 170lbs wants to start lifting. I would like to get him to the point of doing starting strength eventually but am not sure where to start him. Took him to the gym for first time yesterday and had him do some bench, squats and military press with bar only to see what I have here and he was having a hard time with the bar.

Should I keep working with him on compounds with the bar only or do some isolations to get a little strength on him? Any advice is appreciated.

BTW I have been lifting for 1.5 years and am on Madcow 5x5 and have done starting strength multiple times with great results so I have a general idea of what I am doing but still have alot to learn.

Thank you all

my son is a week shy of his 13th birthday. 5'8", ~190# (he's a rock, been lifting for about 5 months now). Here's what I did with him-

now, I started him back in June right after his spring baseball season ended. I started him circuit training 2x per week along with running and baseball practice. Mixed his circuits this way- push/pull/legs. Eventually dropped the legs as our running got more involved. He quickly outgrew that, and about 6 weeks ago I changed gyms because the local Y has what I believe to be an idiotic rule of not letting anybody use the free weight area until they're 16.

Long story short, here's what I have him doing now-

we have a 4 day split that we're currently working (decided to put in some isolation work for arms a couple weeks ago)

arms-

upper body push-

BP
cable x-overs
shoulder press
flies
dips
-tire flips-
abs

upper body pull-

deads
seated row
lat pulldowns
pull overs
pullups
abs

legs-

squats
leg press
quad ext
hamstring curls
calf raises
abs

S,T,Th we run as well, with T,TH,Sat including light baseball work (primarily throwing and hitting mechanics) as well as working with the Prowler and doing tire flips

anyway, to address your concerns and what you're trying to do-

I'd build your son a basic routine that is anchored by compound movements, specifically the 'Big 3'. This is going to be the fastest path to solid foundational strength for him and will be great for him to build on.

Good luck, and enjoy the ride. I know how much I personally love having a real workout partner now.

[ironwill2008]

......... have done starting strength multiple times with great results

I think you answered your own question. I assume you have the book.

[rpaul11]

If you're using an Olympic bar, at 14 it might be a bit daunting for him. He might get more encouragement by trying a "standard" bar. These things vary in weight, it seems, but might be just the thing to get some gains happening, some confidence built and some desire to come back.

some good advice here

I aslo agree that starting strength might be a good a good route to go. good luck to him

[hypnocrip]

Does he play sports? It would help to know if he had an athletic background/athletic lifestyle etc..

[snoack]

Does he play sports? It would help to know if he had an athletic background/athletic lifestyle etc..

this is a good point. My son is a baseball player, and I built his program and training schedule around that with research that I did. Right now, we're into the offseason phase, which is a heavy focus on strength and core training.

[hypnocrip]

this is a good point. My son is a baseball player, and I built his program and training schedule around that with research that I did. Right now, we're into the offseason phase, which is a heavy focus on strength and core training.

My son turned 14 in Oct. and is 5'11 188 and just finished his final year of junior high football. I started the weights with him at 12 mostly working on proper form and beginnings of plyos. Basically now he works out 4-5 days a week with me, but I emphasize the explosive movements and plyos with him. Sports, in my experience, has always been the best springboard to lifting.

[snoack]

My son turned 14 in Oct. and is 5'11 188 and just finished his final year of junior high football. I started the weights with him at 12 mostly working on proper form and beginnings of plyos. Basically now he works out 4-5 days a week with me, but I emphasize the explosive movements and plyos with him. Sports, in my experience, has always been the best springboard to lifting.

we do a lot of plyos pre-season, do a lot of speed drills in season and during the summer (he plays spring and fall). Sports definitely seemed to help get him going, as he wants to be the biggest, strongest, best conditioned kid on the field. He'll have a new manager in the spring, can't WAIT until the guy sees him at that point.

At our gym, we have a performance room with weight sleds, a tractor tire, speed ladders...all kinds of good stuff. Right now we're doing tire flips and pushing the weight sled 2x per week. He went from not being able to lift the tire by himself a few weeks ago to going from back to front in the room, 10 flips each way. Got him working on his speed with it now. NOTHING like having your kids into training with you.

[hypnocrip]

we do a lot of plyos pre-season, do a lot of speed drills in season and during the summer (he plays spring and fall). Sports definitely seemed to help get him going, as he wants to be the biggest, strongest, best conditioned kid on the field. He'll have a new manager in the spring, can't WAIT until the guy sees him at that point.

At our gym, we have a performance room with weight sleds, a tractor tire, speed ladders...all kinds of good stuff. Right now we're doing tire flips and pushing the weight sled 2x per week. He went from not being able to lift the tire by himself a few weeks ago to going from back to front in the room, 10 flips each way. Got him working on his speed with it now. NOTHING like having your kids into training with you.

My son plays ol/dl, of course prefers dl. A week ago he benched 175 with a pause so he's shooting for at least 200 before he enters high school. He wants to go straight to varsity so he knows his work is ahead of him. We are really hitting the power cleans and slowly introducing jump squats (power bands right now). My 11 year old is chomping at the bit for iron, but I have a self imposed rule of no iron before 12yo, just body weight stuff.

[jmcginn13]

Came to this forum cause I am 35 and you guys tend to be more experienced.

So 14 year old 5’11” and about 170lbs wants to start lifting. I would like to get him to the point of doing starting strength eventually but am not sure where to start him. Took him to the gym for first time yesterday and had him do some bench, squats and military press with bar only to see what I have here and he was having a hard time with the bar.

Should I keep working with him on compounds with the bar only or do some isolations to get a little strength on him? Any advice is appreciated.

BTW I have been lifting for 1.5 years and am on Madcow 5x5 and have done starting strength multiple times with great results so I have a general idea of what I am doing but still have alot to learn.

Thank you all

I've been doing starting strength with my 2 boys now for about 3 months. One is almost 13, 5'7" or so, about 115lbs, the other is 15, 5'9" and about 150lbs. We started olympic bar on all exercises and moved up from there doing the SS program (they do rows instead of power cleans being the only difference).

So far they have both shown good progress and no injuries despite:
1. Not eating enough
2. Missing some days when other more "important things" are tempting them.

Latest weights Youngest Oldest
Squat 95 155
Bench 65 115
Deadlift 65 145
Overhead 45 85

My youngest one has issues with keeping a full erect lower back so I have him do extra back exercises on off days (hyperextensions or super mans). I've also kept him at his current weight while he gets better form/back extension.

The only other exercises they do on a regular basis is abs and a 10 minute cardio warm up, plus whatever they get at PE at school.

I believe with your boys size, his problem with the 45lbs bar probably isn't the weight, but just his form. Everyone feels shaky when they first start lifting for the first time ever. If you don't have it yet, get the SS book, it has enough coaching information in there to have him lifting correctly in no time. For instance the tip on looking at a point on the ceiling while benching instead of looking at the bar has helped all 3 of our bench form.

Good luck!

[ddeacon22]

Lots of good advice on programs here. SS for a beginner being my favorite which is similar to what I did with my son. He started at 12 and did a slightly modified version of SS based upon the equipment I had at the time. Right now he is 14yo, 5'-8", 155lb and doing a Texas Method Routine I set him up with mostly because it is football season and having light and med workout throughout the week doesn't conflict with FB practice and games as much as doing a linear progression does.

His lifting stats are:
Squat (1RM/5RM) - 245/215
Bench Press (1RM/5RM) - 170/150
Deadlift (1RM/5RM) - 260/230

My advice beyond doing SS is the following:
1) Proper/constant supervision until his form is perfect. I personally spotted my kid for every single rep for at least 6 months. Now I just spot on heavier sets but supervision is so important until they are consistent with their form.
2) Don't sweat it if they miss workout and don't try to force him to workout. He'll just feel like it is a chore and be turned off for good. At this age he may just want to experiment and not take is too seriously.
3) That being said, if he is into sports and sees a great impact on his sports performance as a result of training, he is more likely to take the weights seriously and be more committed. This played a HUGE factor with my son.
4) Eat properly...I still can't get my kid to do this. If only he'd eat right.

Good luck,
D

[ironwill2008]

My advice beyond doing SS is the following:
1) Proper/constant supervision until his form is perfect. I personally spotted my kid for every single rep for at least 6 months. Now I just spot on heavier sets but supervision is so important until they are consistent with their form.
2) Don't sweat it if they miss workout and don't try to force him to workout. He'll just feel like it is a chore and be turned off for good. At this age he may just want to experiment and not take is too seriously.
3) That being said, if he is into sports and sees a great impact on his sports performance as a result of training, he is more likely to take the weights seriously and be more committed. This played a HUGE factor with my son.
4) Eat properly...I still can't get my kid to do this. If only he'd eat right.

Good luck,
D

Some excellent advice right here.

[Robiokick]

Thank you for the advice guys. Much appreciated and am going to get him prepped for starting strength once the bar becomes feathers with great forum for him. Today was his second work out and he improved greatly and felt more comfortable with the bar.

[thor93]

Kids that age are all over the map; there is no one size fits all. Some kids grow faster and have to get used to there bodies. Some kids have grown at a slower pace and have been able to adjust more easily.

Do not compare him to other kids. It will drag him down and and isn't fair. If he is committed to working out, and you are committed to supporting him, then eventually everything will come together. It may not be as fast as you like it, but patience is the key here, especially for a 14 year old. We all wobble when we try new things.

Good luck,
Ray

I like this post."All over the map" Really Sums it up.

When i turned 14,i was a mere 4'11 and 90 lbs soaking wet.
I distinctly remember the weightlifting room they opened for the 7th and 8th graders a few months before i turned 14.They had a couple of football team coaches as the primary supervisors.I remember feeling comfortable with benching,deadlifting and squatting. Mr Z deemed me as the strongest "LB 4 LB". Using the wrist roller machine made me so much stronger with the bat. During the exhibition portion of that season,At one particular at bat,I belted the baseball around 280 ft. An astounding distance for a pip squeek of a kid i was. I also remember mowing down all these much bigger and taller kids at the end of that season when i started the last two games as a pitcher. I carried my size easily,especially with all that ligament and tendon strength i had attained during the pre-season.

I gained maybe 5 lbs from those 2 months of strength training but my strength probably increased a good 40-50%.

[jellodirt]

I would concentrate on perfect form on the compound movements.

[getz1]

As a former college baseball player, the one thing I wish I knew back when I was playing was the importance of core strenght and flexibility. I think adding a day of power yoga into the mix would greatly benefit younger athletes as it focuses on adding flexibility as well as functional strength.