My 15 Year Old Son

[OHIOSTEVE]

OK GUYS my son has been half assed lifting with me for a few months...today he asked me if he could start getting serious and going with me every day and eating the way I eat...he is a shade taller than me...is actually thicker than me I believe, and weighs about 220...( he sprained his wrist bad once and the doc xrayed it and came back and told us he looked at the growth plates and be prepared for JAKE to be a BIG man) ANYWAY..I have been reading the teen section and don't like a lot of what I read there so I am gonna ask you guys for a couple points of advice...#1 should a 15 year old actually go on a diet or just eat as much as he wants but eat clean( no pop...doritos..pizza..etc) Should he be lifting max weights or low weights high reps( he wants to get big) also how can he deal with the timing for meals during school?

[Runnin12]

Sup Steve,

Your son is definitely not healthy I imagine he is just fat. He needs to cut out all of the unhealthy stuff in his diet. No more candy, dorittos, soda, etc. Tell him just to drink water and milk. (You get used to it, and eventually you will like it)

The teen section is really for skinny teens to gain pack on some muscle. I gained 30 pounds of solid muscle so my area of expertise is more putting on muscle. But read the stickies and read the articles about "CUTTING" to lose wieght. I had a friend who was 30 pounds overwieght and I told him just to replace everything he eats with stuff thats healthy (without saturated fat, fat, sugar, etc) and he lost the 30 pounds in 2 months. He still ate whenever he was hungry just replaced it with good food. If your son does this for the first couple months he should lose a good amount of wieght and it will help him get used 2 healthy living. Then if he hits a platue then he will have to start taking in less calories and go on a diet.

1- I recommend him to do aerobic exercise. Jogging, bike riding, going on hikes etc.

2- Wieght training 3-5 days a week 45 min to an hour each day.

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hreadid=143006

(this is a very good thread on routines and demonstrates proper form and exercises. Also I HIGHLY recommend you use freewieghts instead of machines if you want you and your son to have good results. Machines really help you cheat and not get much of a workout.

If you have any questions feel free 2 pm me. But it really comes down to how bad do you guys want to be healthy and in shape. Your son can continue to be lazy and make excuses or he can get serious and loose some wieght. Once you get used to living a healthy lifestyle its becomes easy. If you follow the fundamentals you guys should definitely see some very good results.

-Runnin

[Mikey170]

Check your Private messages Steve I sent you a link that I think will help you wrap your mind around where you are weight wise and where you want to be.

As far as your son is concerned I would check out his bodyfat levels. If he is falling into the obese levels I would try to get those levels down..That might mean diet..If he is at about 20% I don't see why he can't start to build some muscle which will help with the BF levels. He is due for a muscle mass spurt any monent, so go for it if he is not fat.

I wouldn't let him go crazy on the weight just a core building routine like the local football coaches use on the kids..

[bukem]

ohiosteve,

I started weight training at an early age, although at that time it wasn't for muscular size, but strenght. 15 is a good age to get serious about BBing especially these days as kids seem to physically mature quicker. It is a good time to take advantage of naturally high test levels. In regards to diets at 15 my personal opinion is that an adults bb diet is probably not a good idea but a more well balanced nutritional diet would be better to start with.
My advice on rep range would be to treat a 15yr old the same as any other student, high reps (12-15) for 6-7 months and slowly drop them over a period of months( mainly to protect the tendons-ligaments) and choose you exersices wisly.
I must add one thing, There is no golden rule to say that low reps are the only way to build muscle. In the past I have had very good gains doing reps 15-30, some times higher, high reps are definatly safer and less demanding on joints, ligaments etc, Back in the early 80's mostly all pro builders did this and there physics show the results. My opinion is that the huge advance in AAS since the 80's is the reason pro's are bigger today and not the mystical 6 rep range. Good luck

[pict]

my son is a 16 year old shot/discus thrower and is starting to get into highland games with me. i don't encourage him to max lift (a normal trait in teen boys). he trains with me, on compound lifts bench, push press, deads, etc we stick to a 5x5 plan. we do pulling movements: snatch, cleans, high pulls (from the floor or hang) on a 3x3. we lift 3 days a week off season and throw 2 days, in season we lift 2 and throw 3.
we don't eat much junk at all and we live in a rural area so fast food isn't all that available, but he eats what he wants (like me he has more trouble keeping weight on than losing it).
i seldom miss workouts, but with school activities and a social life, my son probably misses one weight and 2 or 3 throw workouts per month and i think it does him some good, we try to stay flexible so he doesn't burn out.
we do 4 movements per weight workout and 10 throws per emplement 2 emplements per throws workout.
i think maxing is bad for cns so we only do them a couple of times per year, and my son has a good work ethic so if he needs a break i go along with it. we have a small farm/ranch so sometimes hauling fence posts and barbed wire, throwing hay, hauling and splitting firewood, etc count as training. we get a lot of that at certain times of the year and it really pulls a lot of strength together, sort of dinosaur training, good stuff.
make sure he warms up before training, eats well, and gets plenty of sleep. good luck, live strong.