17 year old male seeking general advice

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dave52

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Hello all. As is quite obvious, I am new to this forum. Thanks in advance for any insight that is offered...

I have been healthy all of my life, but with the prospect of college soon in my future, I am seeking advice on how to get in the best shape I can now so that I can be in my prime for the next few years.

First off, I am 17 years old, 5'5", and I weight 103 lbs. I have always been of smaller build (not done growing, possibly), but I am trying to gain weight now in a healthy way. No big medical concerns, blood tests are normal, etc. However, I do feel tired sometimes throughout the day, and occasionally experience weak/dizzy spells. Nothing major.

My daily activity includes running 6 times a week (10K 3x for endurance, 5K 3x for speed). I also do a small amount of weight lifting (bench press 90 lbs x 12 reps, then 5-6 sets of 5 reps), chin-ups 2x a day, and push-ups once daily before bed. I stretch every morning before I run. My times are fairly average; I average a 9 min. mile for the 10K and a 7.5 min. mile for the 5K.

However, I've recently been unhappy even with my current performance. My energy level is often low, even though I eat 3 times a day.
I eat reasonably healthy, cooking for myself a lot (oatmeal, whole grains, fruits, etc. - no fast food, candy, snack foods - don't eat out often), and I drink water and milk (seldom juice, never soda.)

I realize that I am underweight and that this is likely contributing to the way I feel. My goals are to gain some weight in muscle, without sacrificing and perhaps improving my performance while running. (This would be with the hope that I could someday try for a collegiate track team.) Don't exactly want to be "extremely" muscular, but definitely more than right now. I've read that lighter runners are better, so I don't know whether gaining weight would necessarily be in my best interest. Do any of the experienced members here have some advice for the direction I should take? Thanks.
 
Welcome to the forum, both of you!

It definitely seems likely that your weight (dave) is probably contributing to your feelings of dizziness, etc... Or rather, you're probably not eating enough throughout the day and your body is trying to tell you this by making you feel crappy and impairing your performance. Although I don't know what your daily caloric intake is, it's probably safe to say that you are not giving your body enough fuel. I think an important step for you would be to figure out how many calories you eat on a regular basis and compare that with an estimate of what you should be eating just to maintain your weight (see the Nutrition 101 link below). Keep in mind that they are just estimates, but at least you have a starting point... You can gradually increase your caloric intake until you don't experience any symptoms anymore, you gain some weight, or both. If you don't want to do the calculations, simply add some additional calories to your overall diet and keep doing this until you see the results that you're looking for. As for training and gaining muscle, the links below can explain that :)

Some of the most helpful threads/articles can be found here:

http://training.fitness.com/weight-training/weight-training-101-a-18766.html

http://training.fitness.com/young-athlete-development/young-athlete-development-program-50627.html

For the nutrition aspect of things, this might be a good link for you to read:

Nutrition 101 – www.body-improvements.com

I know it's a lot of reading... definitely come back and ask questions. One of the best things that you could do is to start a journal in the journal section... that way we can tweak your plan as you go!
 
Thank you very much for your help. One of the big questions I have is as to what kind of relationship I can expect to see between weight gain and running performance; as I mentioned, I have read that lighter runners often run faster. Assuming I maintain my current routine, can I expect to see a decrease in speed as I gradually gain weight, or will this be offset by an increased energy level? Thanks, dave
 
I would assume that up to a point, the increase in energy level would offset any decrease in speed due to weight gain. Of course, that's up to a point - if you continue to gain weight beyond a 'healthy' weight, then you may see a decrease in speed due to weight gain. That being said, if you don't take care of yourself by getting up to a healthier weight and taking in adequate fuel each day, your running career may be short-lived.
 
hello all,

with regard to the meals you sould change to 5/6 smaller meals rather than 3 because this will allow your motabolisum to keep working and burn fat and process the protiens, vitamins/minerals and carbs.

with food you sould try to eat complex carbs and high protein meals but balence these with veggies and fruits and these contain vitamins and minerals like potasium that help to promote muscle building.

with regard to your speed in running as long as you keep your muscle gains low to medium and not over do it you should see that your speed and times will ether be the same or slightly improve.

when working out you should be aiming to work out about 3 times per week using compound exercises and allways remember to strech most days as this will promote your recovery between workouts.

i hope this helps you.

Grant
 
I'm in the same position too! and dave52 we have exactly the same height and weight! except that i'm a girl and I've never worked out before this. I've done aerobics before but I don't think that helped because I only ended up losing more weight when my goal is to actually gain weight. So, I'm looking for advice too :D

Iri
 
Just for the basics, you should start eating more. You should be eating about 1g of protein for every pound you weigh and 2g of carbs for every pound you weigh. People will say that I'm over exaggerating for the protein but I've been in his position 5 years ago when I first started bodybuilding, and this worked for me. As for the running, focus more on doing very few sprints as opposed to long distance running because sprints help to increase HGH (human growth hormone) in your body and will help with overall muscle growth.
 
i am the same age an all that i have been going the gym but when i have been going i have found out that it did not work
 
Five important steps to keep in mind for gaining good muscles :-
1. Eat more foods that are high in protein.
2. Try to keep your training period to only three types of exercises for all major muscle groups each workout period.
3. Use weights and exercises that challenge large muscle groups and not small isolated areas.
4. Muscles don't grow while being stressed. They repair and grow while resting.
5. Don't overlook the importance of negative resistance.
 
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