First things first, yes, as teens your bodies are different from adults. But the difference isn't huge, so it's not as though a 15-year-old training has to have some obscure, crazy program.
A couple of the major concerns people have regarding teens and training are injuries and stunting of growth.
Here's the deal: IF you train with good form, pushing progression but at an appropriate pace, leaving a little bit left over at the end of each set (eg ending a set 1-2 reps before you might fail), have supervision from someone who knows how to lift properly to ensure you are training safely, you eat properly and you sleep properly, the risk of injury or stunting your growth is very low.
If, however, you have a crappy, unbalanced program that focuses on your mirror muscles, you train with substandard technique, you push yourself to failure (and then some), don't have supervision from someone who knows what they're doing, have a piss poor diet and don't sleep properly, you can almost count on ending up short and injured.
Good technique is too much to cover in this post alone. I highly recommend anyone wanting to train read the book "Starting Strength" by Mark Rippetoe, even if you never do the program itself. It will teach you how to squat, bench, press, and pull safely and efficiently. If your older brother or dad teaches you things about training that drastically contradict this book, then you're probably being raised by a fully qualified bro scientist (AKA someone who knows next to nothing useful about training; is probably educated via fitness magazines). There is also an importance to technique in cardio and in any sport you play. If you play a sport, your coach has probably nailed down technique for your sports skills with you already. With cardio, I can't think of any good written resources for good technique, but I assure the flailing about that 99% of people do on treadmills or along the side of the road ain't it. Watch an Olympic sprinter in action for a better idea of good movement patterns. (Also, please note that running is not the only form of cardio, nor is it necessary to have good cardiovascular fitness).
Your exercise program, from a strength point of view, should contain deep knee bends (squatting), lifting weights above the head (eg bench press, overhead press), picking weights up off the floor (eg deadlifts, rows), and bodyweight exercises (eg dips, pull ups). Your exercise program should also emphasise the back half of the body at least as much as the front.
Most of you probably have body composition goals. You want to build muscle, or you want to lose fat, or both. Strength is the bottom line for all these goals. Strength stimulates muscle growth if you eat for it. Strength also maintains fat-free mass when eating for fat loss.
You need to eat. Yes, YOU. The western world's gotten very paranoid about food lately, to the point that a lot of people (and I would say this is especially true for teenagers) feel guilty about eating. This mentality has to stop. Now. Obviously the following advice won't apply fully to vegetarians or vegans (who need nutritional advice from someone more qualified than myself), but you should be eating meat, eggs, fruit, lots of vegetables, and grains. You should also be drinking milk and fresh juice. If you need to decrease bodyfat, eat less grains and drink less milk. If you need to build muscle mass, eat more grains and drink more milk. Avoid artificial sweetners and preservatives (that means pretty much anything with "diet" on the label, longlife juice, and 99% of fitness nutritional supplements (yes, seriously)).
As growth is an issue, if you're under 18, I recommend against aiming to lose more than 1lb/month - which you won't even be able to measure on a scale for several months, as your scale weight will fluctuate by 5lb easily every day due to water weight, food in the stomach, etc. So don't even worry about losing weight. Just eat healthy foods like the ones I mentioned above. Also, if you don't NEED to lose weight to be in a healthy weight range (or more importantly, to have a healthy bodyfat%), I advise against even thinking about having weight loss as a goal until you know you won't be growing any taller.
Normal recommendations for weight gain, maintenance or loss are as follows:
- 500kcal/day = 1lb/week.
- Therefore to gain 1lb/week, consume 500kcal above maintenance, and to lose 1lb/week, consume 500kcal below maintenance. As I said above, if weight loss is the goal, do it slower than that. You can probably eat the same number of calories, just do half an hour of strength training 3 days/week, and eat healthy foods, and you'll be right.
Don't max out. When you train, as I said earlier, always leave some gas in the tank. You shouldn't know what your maximum weights are for certain rep ranges on exercises. Just work up to a weight that's challenging but not impossible, while focusing on good form. Then add an extra rep or a little more weight next time.
Finally kids, get to bed and go to sleep. Typically you'll need 8hrs/night. What time do you have to get out of bed in the morning so that you can be READY for school by the time you walk out the door at 8:30? For 9/10 kids, that's about an hour earlier than they actually are waking up. You should have plenty of time to shower, eat breakfast, make lunch, pack your bag, do your hair, brush your teeth, etc. If you leave home at 8:30, you should probably be getting up around 7-7:30 (of course, this will be variable depending on how long it takes you to actually get ready). Say you need to get up by 7, that means you need to be asleep by 11pm, which may mean going to bed at 10:45, or it may mean going to bed at 10, depending again on what you have to do to get to sleep.
So, eat healthy, sleep properly, train safely and efficiently, progress while always focusing on form, leave some gas in the tank, train frequently (3 days/week wholebody is best for most people), live long and prosper.
A couple of the major concerns people have regarding teens and training are injuries and stunting of growth.
Here's the deal: IF you train with good form, pushing progression but at an appropriate pace, leaving a little bit left over at the end of each set (eg ending a set 1-2 reps before you might fail), have supervision from someone who knows how to lift properly to ensure you are training safely, you eat properly and you sleep properly, the risk of injury or stunting your growth is very low.
If, however, you have a crappy, unbalanced program that focuses on your mirror muscles, you train with substandard technique, you push yourself to failure (and then some), don't have supervision from someone who knows what they're doing, have a piss poor diet and don't sleep properly, you can almost count on ending up short and injured.
Good technique is too much to cover in this post alone. I highly recommend anyone wanting to train read the book "Starting Strength" by Mark Rippetoe, even if you never do the program itself. It will teach you how to squat, bench, press, and pull safely and efficiently. If your older brother or dad teaches you things about training that drastically contradict this book, then you're probably being raised by a fully qualified bro scientist (AKA someone who knows next to nothing useful about training; is probably educated via fitness magazines). There is also an importance to technique in cardio and in any sport you play. If you play a sport, your coach has probably nailed down technique for your sports skills with you already. With cardio, I can't think of any good written resources for good technique, but I assure the flailing about that 99% of people do on treadmills or along the side of the road ain't it. Watch an Olympic sprinter in action for a better idea of good movement patterns. (Also, please note that running is not the only form of cardio, nor is it necessary to have good cardiovascular fitness).
Your exercise program, from a strength point of view, should contain deep knee bends (squatting), lifting weights above the head (eg bench press, overhead press), picking weights up off the floor (eg deadlifts, rows), and bodyweight exercises (eg dips, pull ups). Your exercise program should also emphasise the back half of the body at least as much as the front.
Most of you probably have body composition goals. You want to build muscle, or you want to lose fat, or both. Strength is the bottom line for all these goals. Strength stimulates muscle growth if you eat for it. Strength also maintains fat-free mass when eating for fat loss.
You need to eat. Yes, YOU. The western world's gotten very paranoid about food lately, to the point that a lot of people (and I would say this is especially true for teenagers) feel guilty about eating. This mentality has to stop. Now. Obviously the following advice won't apply fully to vegetarians or vegans (who need nutritional advice from someone more qualified than myself), but you should be eating meat, eggs, fruit, lots of vegetables, and grains. You should also be drinking milk and fresh juice. If you need to decrease bodyfat, eat less grains and drink less milk. If you need to build muscle mass, eat more grains and drink more milk. Avoid artificial sweetners and preservatives (that means pretty much anything with "diet" on the label, longlife juice, and 99% of fitness nutritional supplements (yes, seriously)).
As growth is an issue, if you're under 18, I recommend against aiming to lose more than 1lb/month - which you won't even be able to measure on a scale for several months, as your scale weight will fluctuate by 5lb easily every day due to water weight, food in the stomach, etc. So don't even worry about losing weight. Just eat healthy foods like the ones I mentioned above. Also, if you don't NEED to lose weight to be in a healthy weight range (or more importantly, to have a healthy bodyfat%), I advise against even thinking about having weight loss as a goal until you know you won't be growing any taller.
Normal recommendations for weight gain, maintenance or loss are as follows:
- 500kcal/day = 1lb/week.
- Therefore to gain 1lb/week, consume 500kcal above maintenance, and to lose 1lb/week, consume 500kcal below maintenance. As I said above, if weight loss is the goal, do it slower than that. You can probably eat the same number of calories, just do half an hour of strength training 3 days/week, and eat healthy foods, and you'll be right.
Don't max out. When you train, as I said earlier, always leave some gas in the tank. You shouldn't know what your maximum weights are for certain rep ranges on exercises. Just work up to a weight that's challenging but not impossible, while focusing on good form. Then add an extra rep or a little more weight next time.
Finally kids, get to bed and go to sleep. Typically you'll need 8hrs/night. What time do you have to get out of bed in the morning so that you can be READY for school by the time you walk out the door at 8:30? For 9/10 kids, that's about an hour earlier than they actually are waking up. You should have plenty of time to shower, eat breakfast, make lunch, pack your bag, do your hair, brush your teeth, etc. If you leave home at 8:30, you should probably be getting up around 7-7:30 (of course, this will be variable depending on how long it takes you to actually get ready). Say you need to get up by 7, that means you need to be asleep by 11pm, which may mean going to bed at 10:45, or it may mean going to bed at 10, depending again on what you have to do to get to sleep.
So, eat healthy, sleep properly, train safely and efficiently, progress while always focusing on form, leave some gas in the tank, train frequently (3 days/week wholebody is best for most people), live long and prosper.
Last edited:
