Tips for teens

I will keep adding to this as time goes by, so please do not take it as all there is.

Most teen diets (and typical American diets also) SUCK and are simply not suited for maximal mass gain. Just throwing in a ton of calories and not getting enough protein just makes most guys fat. Having said that SOME (the minority) with screaming metabolisms will get by on some junk food ALONG WITH clean food to boost calories.

You need 1.5 grams of protein per lb of bodyweight--especially at your age.

If you have not weighed and logged your food in something like fitday.com, the VAST majority of you will have inadequate diets to grow well. Simple as that. If you are guessing, you are likely WRONG.

There is no reason for a teen age lifter to be doing a keto diet. It drives me nuts. You guys see the advanced older guys doing it for contest prep, or in some cases lean massing and assume it is what you need--YOU ARE WRONG. I have NEVER put a teen on a keto unless they were getting ready for a competition, and then only the last 6 weeks or so out.

Lots of you think the more workload (sets/lifts/frequency) the faster you will gain--wrong again. Most of you will gain on low-mid volume routines done 3 days a week.

You are NOT advanced bodybuilders at your age--QUIT DOING 5 day a week bodypart splits.

At your stage of the game strength training IS size training. Quit asking if a routine is good for hypertrophy. If it is getting you stronger, it will get you bigger given time and good diet.

Rippetoes works well for many BEGINNERS. If it doesn't work for you QUIT DOING IT. Just because it has a cult following on BB.com does not mean it is the ultimate routine for young lifters. Many people simply do NOT have good enough CNS recovery to squat 3 times a week.

You NEED to be taking a good multi-vitamin and fish oil. Using a one a day does NOT cut it. See this thread. http://www.ironaddicts.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=18735

You should not be specializing on any bodyparts unless you bench at least 250 for reps, squat 350 for reps, and pull 350 for reps. That is for teen lifters. The numbers are higher for adults but some teens do develop good physiques and can benefit from extra workload.

If you are not a rank beginner and are gaining 1 lb a week, you are likely just getting fat.

If you are too lazy to research do this routine:

http://www.ironaddicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8050

It's not perfect and some of you will need less, and others MAY benefit from more workload. But it will work for the vast majority of you if diet is good.

You do NOT need 3-5 lifts a bodypart at this stage. You need 1-2 GOOD lifts that you can continually get stronger on.

If you are not squatting and deadlifting you are wasting your time--simple as that. Those lifts work 75-85% of your musculature. Something like a curl works less than 5%. What do you think will make you grow more?

What worked for you when you first started lifting may not work at all after the newbie gains are dried up. That is why you see so many guys that never grow. Like most people they started with high frequency volume work and grew a lot. So they assume they have found the key. The reality is almost anything would have worked on an untrained body. But......they always equate the initial gains to what works........even after it quits working. Same thing with Rippetoes. They do it, build up to some OK lifts, and then think since it worked so well at first it is all they need. Few lifters can PRODUCTIVELY squat 300+ lbs 3 x a week.

It should go without saying you do NOT need, nor SHOULD NOT be doing steroids or pro-hormones. If you are not patient enough to wait until you are 22+, you are not patient enough for this sport. This is assuming you live somewhere this is legal (it still is in MANY countries) or we are talking about legal pro-hormones.

While you should not continue doing a routine that isn't working, jumping around from routine to routine is useless for most of you. It should take about 4 weeks to determine if a routine is working for you. How do you know it is working? Strength should be going up. That should be your primary indicator of success.

Neural gains precede all size gains. You will have to get stronger before you get bigger and most initial gains are neural. Lots of people do a routine for 4-6 weeks, get a lot stronger and then dump the routine because they look in the mirror and don't look like Arnold. It takes TIME.

If your diet sucks (not enough protein/cals) you can get a lot stronger without getting much bigger.

You are trying to mature a young body and grow muscle at the same time. LOTS of you will have bodies that will simply prioritize maturation over muscle mass. Be patient, and if you are getting stronger and not bigger (over the course of MONTHS NOT WEEKS) it is likely your diet that is stalled, not your training.

When you stall you need time off, a deload (cut volume in half, or intensity to 85% for two weeks) or a new routine. If a lift stalls, small changes will likely make it move again. Change reps, hand or foot spacing, and other small variable before scrapping the lift.

Your body adapts to rep ranges first. Lifts second. All you guys that think you can run 5 x 5 with the same lifts forever are clueless.

The two biggest attributes most of you lack are consistency and patience. Most teen lifters give it their all for a few weeks or few months, then backslide. Few are patient enough. You will DRAMATICALLY change your physique the first year lifting if you are consistent and do everything correctly. After the first year gains will slow a lot. It takes years for people that do not have great genetics to build a great physique. If that is too long, find another sport. It is a lot easier to be consistent if you are making good progress. Most of you have incompatible diets and routines that are MUCH TOO ADVANCED for your current level to make good gains. Start at the beginning

IA