Just starting and confused

[prodii]

14 years old and weigh about 180 lbs. Recently got into weightlifting and want to gain strength for football. Not really going for aesthetics, more just raw power. I have a bunch of questions and I get lots of conflicting answers.

So my routine is 4 days, where day one is leg day, day two is push muscles (triceps, chest, shoulder) and day 3 i do pull muscles (back and biceps). Day 4 is cardio. Im mostly doing free weight with basic lifts like overhead pressing, squatting, and benching. I plan to integrate machines into my routine also. Im unsure about whether to do deadlifts or not because of health concerns. I mostly do high sets and low reps. Just any advice in general or thinks to improve my schedule would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Heisman2]

At your age you can do deadlifts and other exercises. I'd preferentially do moderate rep ranges (ie, 8-15) as opposed to low as keeping form really good is important and typically easier for beginners to do when not going too heavy on weight. That said, you can go down to 5 rep sets on the bigger compound exercises if you can keep your form well. Feel free to read through the stickies in the workout programs section to get an idea of some basic workouts you can do. Most important thing is getting good form down on the lifts; you have many years to get stronger and you'll want to be doing lifts correctly throughout those years. Building good habits at the start is so much easier than correcting bad habits down the road.

You may not care about aesthetics which is fine but eating healthily is also going to help you out in the long run. Try to stick to mostly nutritious options and let hunger guide how much you eat if nothing else. How tall are you?

[NearlyBigAngus]

How tall are you?

You mention health concerns - what are these? Do you have any existing medical issues?

[prodii]

How tall are you?

Im 5'10 right now. My form on most lifts is already good, however its the deadlift i think i should work on the most with form. When squatting i can do 225 for about 2-3 reps until my form gets worse. At that point i just terminate the set. Ive been getting all my info from the internet, and there are tons of conflicting sources about the deadlift. I know there are huge benefits, but some of the risks mentioned make me want to just use a trap bar to be honest.

[Heisman2]

At 5'10" and 180 pounds at age 14 your weight is higher than it should be for overall health. It would be worth it to try to lose weight slowly (up to 1 pound per week) until you get down to 155-165 or so.

Deadlifts are safe for your age. However, they are not necessary (unless you want to compete in powerlifting), and you could definitely use a trap bar instead of a conventional bar if you would like.

[weiss1967]

there is no "huge benefit" to deadlifts specifically. It is just another exercise, nothing special about it. Lower back and glutes can be targeted through other exercises.

Your schedule seem a little too relaxed. 3 days a week for lifting should be doubled to 6, and cardio should be like a second training session, maybe twice weekly. Like 30 minutes morning run (before school), with lifting workout being in the afternoon. Actually, the cardio can be more sport-specific rather than just running. This kind of schedule leaves you one day a week for rest, and all muscle groups rotated twice per week.

[prodii]

there is no "huge benefit" to deadlifts specifically. It is just another exercise, nothing special about it. Lower back and glutes can be targeted through other exercises.

Your schedule seem a little too relaxed. 3 days a week for lifting should be doubled to 6, and cardio should be like a second training session, maybe twice weekly. Like 30 minutes morning run (before school), with lifting workout being in the afternoon. Actually, the cardio can be more sport-specific rather than just running. This kind of schedule leaves you one day a week for rest, and all muscle groups rotated twice per week.

Im not on a weekly schedule lol its 3 days work, 1 day cardio, and repeat. so technically i guess i do the split twice a week

[prodii]

At 5'10" and 180 pounds at age 14 your weight is higher than it should be for overall health. It would be worth it to try to lose weight slowly (up to 1 pound per week) until you get down to 155-165 or so.

Deadlifts are safe for your age. However, they are not necessary (unless you want to compete in powerlifting), and you could definitely use a trap bar instead of a conventional bar if you would like.

Im aware, but as i mentioned my goal is to get bigger and generally stronger for next season.

[Heisman2]

Im aware, but as i mentioned my goal is to get bigger and generally stronger for next season.

I get that and if you're training for football and have to play the size game so be it but do realize you can get much, much, stronger at your age without gaining weight unhealthily.

[weiss1967]

Im not on a weekly schedule lol its 3 days work, 1 day cardio, and repeat. so technically i guess i do the split twice a week

thumbs up

[prodii]

I get that and if you're training for football and have to play the size game so be it but do realize you can get much, much, stronger at your age without gaining weight unhealthily.

Yeah im aware, but the truth is football is also a size game. Im hoping to gain about 20 pounds withinone year. Also hoping to grow height wise.

[Montymaginn]

Yeah im aware, but the truth is football is also a size game. Im hoping to gain about 20 pounds withinone year. Also hoping to grow height wise.

that is a doable target, I gained 20lbs over summer. Just eat eat eat but not junk food.

[Montymaginn]

At 5'10" and 180 pounds at age 14 your weight is higher than it should be for overall health. It would be worth it to try to lose weight slowly (up to 1 pound per week) until you get down to 155-165 or so.

Deadlifts are safe for your age. However, they are not necessary (unless you want to compete in powerlifting), and you could definitely use a trap bar instead of a conventional bar if you would like.

When i was younger i did lots of trap bar, good advice. the skill and muscle will transfer over to conventional deadlift so its a good starting point.

[Montymaginn]

thumbs up

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