If you are a teen looking to get into bodybuilding, my first piece of advice is: don’t wait around or put it off. As a teenager you are in a golden, once-in-a-lifetime situation during which you can put on an immense amount of muscle mass in a very short period of time. Why? Because of hormones: and you’re loaded with them!
People go through the most immense growth phase during their teenage years, and the physical changes which occur are extreme. These changes are down to growth hormones, and testosterone. Teenagers have the highest natural production of these hormones of anyone, and, they can be used to your major advantage when it comes to muscle building.
Testosterone is the key player in muscle growth. Testosterone is the reason why people do steroids. As a teenager, you don’t need to do any kind of drugs. Simply take advantage of the fact that you are a virtual testosterone factory, and hit the weights, and you’ll grow quicker than any natural adult bodybuilder will.
First, you need to get yourself on a good program. A beginner program which has around 3 workout days spaced out with a days rest between and the entire weekend off. It should be based around compound movements, such as squats, dead lifts, bench presses, shoulder presses, bent over rows, etc. Isolation exercises are nothing but additional exercises. Each body part should be worked with at least 72 hours rest between workouts, to allow for recovery and growth.
A good rule of thumb is to go with a program which has reps of 5 – 12, and sets of 3 – 5.
When you have rest days. You must rest. Without rest, you won’t grow. If you must do physical activity, you must ensure you compensate for the calories burned by eating more calories. Calories are where it’s at: you must eat more calories than your body needs every single day, or you won’t grow, and may even lose muscle.
As for foods, you should stick to whole foods and avoid junk and simple carbohydrates. Go for things like milk, eggs, beef, tuna, chicken, cheese, rice, pasta, baked potatoes, etc. Those types of foods are the best at building muscle, and in correct moderation, will do wonders for you.
When trying to gain muscle, you need to eat between 15 – 18 calories per pound of bodyweight, and maybe an extra few hundred on top. You’ll need to adjust this as you go along and grow, naturally. By all means, check the scales to see if you are adding weight, but the most important thing is check the callipers regularly – because you may be adding weight, but how much of that is muscle?
Slow and steady wins the race.