Bodybuilding in adolescence: all the pros and cons. Bodybuilding in adolescence: all the pros and cons Travel, food and accommodation are at the expense of the sending organizations. Rent of the competition venue, award paraphernalia and final banquet

I will never forget my first bodybuilding goal, when I was only 15 years old. I figured that by doing everything by the book, training hard, and following a proper bodybuilding diet, I would look like Arnold Schwarzenegger within 3-4 months. Despite the fact that I achieved some pretty good results over the summer, I was still nowhere near my idol.

Unrealistic bodybuilding goals are one of the many mistakes young athletes make in their first days of training. In this article I will tell you about the main mistakes that are made in the early stages of bodybuilding and how they can be avoided.

Teen Mistake #1: Unrealistic Bodybuilding Goals

By far, one of the most common mistakes among teenage athletes is having unrealistic expectations. As I already said, I made this mistake myself when I first started bodybuilding. I can’t say exactly how much muscle you will be able to build, since this happens at different rates for everyone, but I can confidently say that if you manage to get 10 kg of clean muscle mass in your first year of training, it means you are a natural athlete.

Building a champion body requires a lot of time, as well as consistent use of a good bodybuilding training program, proper diet and rest. Bodybuilding is an activity where you need to be patient. To make sure that you are following the right path, it is enough to track your progress. My advice is to take a photo of yourself every 4 weeks, watch your weight and size. This way you will see in which direction your body is “moving” and, if necessary, adjust your program. A picture is "worth a thousand words" and you'll be amazed how much more a picture can say about your progress than just regular measurements.

Teen Mistake #2: Lack of Consistency

Some young men think that after a few weeks of hard training, they can take a week or two off and then get back into the gym and pick up where they left off. Unfortunately, they will be disappointed. Lack of consistency will set them back in time and have to start all over again.

Be relentless and consistent with every aspect of your program (training, diet and rest). In the end, consistency will be one of your strongest allies in bodybuilding.

Teen Mistake #3: Unplanned Workout

I have seen many times when teenagers wander around the gym, grab all the exercises in a row and do as much as they can. Neither rhyme nor reason. This is not only a path to mediocre results, but also the possibility of injury. It is very important to have a good workout plan with you before you go to the gym. Take a look at the articles in the Beginners section for more information on exactly what a good bodybuilding training program should look like.

Teen Mistake #4: Following the Champion Program

Another serious mistake that most teenagers make in bodybuilding. This training schedule is too difficult for young bodybuilders. Only after 10 years of experience in bodybuilding training does an athlete learn how his body best responds to training. Advanced athlete programs are aimed at strengthening weak parts of the body while maintaining strong ones. In addition, the Pro program has more isolation exercises, which is not at all suitable for teenagers. Finally, the volume and frequency of Pro training is significantly higher.

A program from a seasoned athlete can ultimately lead to overtraining in one area and at the same time undertraining in another. Also, high volumes and high intensity can lead to serious injury.

Teen Mistake #5: Improper Exercises

Again, a mistake that occurs when teenagers use more advanced training programs. A muscle building program should be short (1 hour maximum) and focus primarily on free weight exercises. Frequent use of isolation machines will result in poor results, if any at all.

Teen Mistake #6: Too Much heavy weights and incorrect execution

Most aspiring teen athletes use heavy weights in their exercises to achieve maximum results. In my opinion, teenagers should not strive for large volumes, since at this age muscle growth occurs much faster than the growth of tendons and ligaments. "Maximum survival" usually leads to injury, especially if the correct technique is not used. Keep in mind that in bodybuilding, Weight is just a means to an end. We use the weight as a tool to apply controlled tension to the muscles and thereby cause hypertrophy (muscle growth).

We are not powerlifters. Focus on correct execution 8-15 repetitions in each set and you will be amazed at the results of performing exercises with safe light weights.

Teen Mistake #7: Bad Diet

Sometimes a situation arises where young athletes do not make all of the above mistakes, but still cannot make significant progress. And the reason for this is a bad diet. Remember that mental training initiates the process of muscle growth, but it is diet that fuels this growth. Without the right materials it is impossible to build anything. This statement is also true for bodybuilders. No food - No growth.

Teenage Mistake #8: Eating Everything

Too many calories (especially from simple fats and sugars) will make you simply fat. You only need a slight calorie surplus to achieve quality muscles. Follow a structured meal plan (example diets). Remember, six small meals a day at 2-3 hour intervals, consisting of complex carbohydrates(brown rice, oatmeal) to fuel energy, protein (chicken, fish) to build muscle, small amounts of fat (olive and flaxseed oil) to ensure good hormonal levels.

Teen Mistake #9: Not Getting enough Sleep

Most teenagers prefer to stay up until late at night, sitting at the computer or meeting with friends, especially on holidays and weekends. It is important to remember that muscle growth occurs at night when you sleep. By depriving yourself of sleep, you will reduce your level of hormonal activity (your natural steroid production), which will cost you valuable growth. If you dedicate part of your life to bodybuilding, then you need to take sleep more seriously. Daily night sleep from 8-9 hours will give you maximum growth. The minimum you can afford is 7 hours.

Teen Mistake #10: Expecting sports supplements will do everything for you

Teenagers are fooled into thinking that supplements are the most important part of bodybuilding. The key to success in bodybuilding is based on three constants: Training, Nutrition, Rest. So stop chasing the latest discoveries that “allow you to gain 10 kg of muscle in 1 month” and focus on the real things. You should also stick to proven supplements that actually work and are essential for your workouts, such as vitamin/mineral supplements, essential fats, and protein powders. For the most advanced teenage athletes who have been training for over three years, creatine and glutamine can be very powerful allies in the fight for results.

Now that you know what the most common bodybuilding mistakes are made by teenagers, try not to fall victim to them.

Every year bodybuilding becomes more popular. Today people understand that having beautiful body– it’s not only fashionable, but also very healthy. Some beginners start working out in the gym as early as adolescence. Of course, at the beginning of your journey it is almost impossible to avoid mistakes, but we believe that with the right approach you can make your training very effective even at the beginning. In this article we will talk about bodybuilding for teenagers, consider common mistakes and we'll give general recommendations according to the training method.

Before you start training with weights, you must develop some kind of base. When we talk about basics, we mean the ability to train with own weight. Before starting classes in the gym, it is advisable that you can do pull-ups on the horizontal bar at least 10 times and do push-ups on the parallel bars more than 15 times. In this case:

  • You will not be ashamed of your low strength indicators;
  • Your joints and ligaments will be prepared to work with additional weights;
  • You will be able to build muscle faster due to the presence of neuromuscular connections.

After exercising on the horizontal bars and visiting the gym, do not rush to work with maximum weights. The next step will be to study correct technique performing exercises, many teenagers skip this stage and therefore their progress is not very fast compared to those who know the technique. Also, beginners who do not know the technique are often injured. Therefore, the first month in the gym should be devoted to studying the techniques of the main basic exercises(squats, bench presses, deadlifts) and the development of muscle sense. We call muscle sense the ability to focus the load on one muscle group in certain exercises. For example, in the bench press professional athletes are able to partially disable the triceps from work, which is why pectoral muscles are processed much more efficiently. Developed muscle sense will allow you to quickly increase muscle volume.

After a month of learning the technique and working with light weights, it's time to move on to heavy basic work. Your arsenal of movements should only include:

  • On your feet - , ;
  • On the back - , ;
  • On the chest - barbell or dumbbell presses on a bench with different inclination angles;
  • On the shoulders - and.

Basic exercises stimulate muscle growth much better than isolated work. In the first six months, there is no point in training muscle groups such as trapezius, arms, forearms or calves. All these small muscle groups, one way or another, will be involved in basic exercises, and therefore will grow. After six months of training in the gym, you can begin to add a little isolation to the basic work on the biceps, triceps, deltoids, and chest. You can follow your own training program or choose one ready plan from .

1) Don't take training advice from inexperienced athletes seriously. Take your example only from those comrades who have achieved significant results. Also surround yourself with people who have the same interests as you. Often, teenagers’ close circle does not understand why you are training; many beginners give up and lose motivation because of this.

2) Be realistic. Getting everything at once – that doesn’t happen. If you gain 5 kg of muscle mass in the first year of training, this is already a great success. Also know that during adolescence, the key to success in sports is regular training. Lack of regularity will make your workouts ineffective.

3) Another main mistake is the lack of understanding of the correct technique for performing the exercises. You can train incorrectly for a year and achieve nothing. To achieve tangible results, you will still have to return to studying the technique. Value your time.

How to do bodybuilding as a teenager?

You may have "sky-high" bodybuilding goals that you want to achieve "right now," but let me tell you a secret: don't treat your hobby like it's going to make you money or make you famous and thereby make you famous. help you. It should be something that simply makes you happy, gives you satisfaction. Bodybuilding is a great hobby because it helps you maintain health and lead a normal life.

Having said that, I understand that there will be someone who will find a lot of negativity in what was said. My goal is to help you learn how to separate one from the other. I have been gaining my knowledge about bodybuilding and muscle development longer than you have been alive. I can't imagine best award than what your body can achieve with knowledge and experience.

If you were my son, I would give you exactly the same advice. Use this wisdom! If it helps, you can think of me as “the friend or father you never had.”

Tip 1 // Find a mentor

The advice to find a mentor, or someone who is suitable for this role, is not “hard but fast” advice. But after you go through what body transformation requires of you - especially for a pageant - you will realize how important it is to have someone who shares your passions, inspires you, and “pushes” you to take it to the next level.

Your mentor doesn't have to be a professional or someone who competes at a national championship level, although they very well could be. The mentor may be older than you, or may be your age. He may not even be the one who directly trains you, helps you develop a workout program or nutrition plan - although he may well do all of this for you.

What a mentor does for you is very vague, vague - and very important in the long run. It helps you be more responsible. He keeps your interests at heart and motivates you with his personality. It doesn't sound cool, but remember: bodybuilding is a lifestyle, almost more than any other sport. You can become strong without anyone's support, but without it it is difficult to remain strong.

Tip 2 // Surround yourself with the “right people”

When bodybuilding is new to you, you're trying to learn, grow, achieve your goals, the last thing you need is people around you who don't "get" what you're doing. Spending day after day around people who don't understand why you're working out can cause you to lose motivation and stop "putting in the time."

This doesn't mean you have to stop having close relationships with family and friends. You just need to get to know the bodybuilders around you better, gym. Maintain relationships with those who understand what you are doing and why, with whom you can maintain friendly relations and exchange experiences. Bodybuilding is too difficult to do alone.

Tip 3 // Get information from reliable sources

There is so much information on the Internet about bodybuilding (and other things) that it is difficult to believe for those who grew up in “pre-Internet times.” This is both good and bad. A lot of what you get by typing a simple query could be wrong. This will slow down your progress, cause harm, and may harm your health in the future.

This is especially true regarding social networks and forums. Everyone on this planet is entitled to their own opinion, and there is no way to determine whether they know what they are talking about. One of the worst things you can do is post your meal plan or workout plan on a forum and ask for advice on it. Half will say it's cool, and the other half will say it's stupid. This will lead to you getting confused and starting to jump from program to program, based on the advice of complete strangers.

What could be the solution? Be skeptical, be patient. Find good, reputable resources for bodybuilding information. A site like muscle.rf can provide you with verified information based on research and years of experience. Avoid pseudoscientific information (in the style of “7 seconds before the end of the last set you need to take...”), beware of the opinions of those you do not know on Vkontakte, Facebook, Twitter, and on randomly found forums.

Tip 4 // Trust yourself

When I first started training, I lived in a city where I didn't know anyone involved in bodybuilding. I was interested in sports, and I decided to compete in my first competition, a small one, local significance. I had been training hard for months, I was in good shape, and I was feeling emotional seeing what I had achieved.

Two weeks before the competition, my friend took me aside and told me that I had no chance of winning. He wasn't a bodybuilder, but he was local, and he swore I had no chance of winning because I was new to the scene and the judges were too political.

By the time he told me this, I was already an active bodybuilding enthusiast. I trained long and hard, and the event was about to happen, so his opinion did not change anything. I went and won this competition, but what if he gave me this “information dump” when I was just starting to train for the competition? Most likely, I would have believed him, would have quit training, and, of course, would not have won the competition.

Perception and judgment are part of bodybuilding. Unfortunately, everyone sees the world differently. In the end, you decide for yourself: how much humiliation and failure you are willing to endure, and how far you are willing to go. You may have the best mentor in the world and an amazing community, but ultimately the decision is yours.

Listen to advice from those who know what they are talking about. But when it doesn't ring true, check the facts and make a decision based on how you feel.

Tip 5 // It's all about the mindset

The last piece of advice is the most important: it's all about your mindset. It means more than metabolism, your metabolism, your genetics, whether you have a trainer, or even what gym you have access to. If you are determined, believe in yourself, and continue to act despite obstacles, you will achieve your goals.

You can do bodybuilding for many years. But one day - this may happen much sooner than you think - work, children or life in general may stop training. But perhaps you will continue to train hard when you are 60. Young bodybuilders are the future champions, with the right mental attitude you can achieve what you dream of in the sport.

Leave your comments below. Tell me how I can help you achieve your goals and move to the next level.

Many teenagers are attracted to bodybuilding, which is certainly a good thing. Learn about all the advantages and disadvantages of bodybuilding as a teenager.

The content of the article:

Teen bodybuilding in last years becoming more and more popular. Teenagers are starting to visit gyms, wanting to make their figure more attractive. Of course, this circumstance can only make us happy. To succeed in bodybuilding, you need to constantly increase your level of knowledge, which makes your brain work. Bodybuilding in adolescence: all the pros and cons? This is the topic of today's article.

Any person coming to the gym for the first time, teenagers are no exception, wants to know where to start. Nowadays you can find a large number of different training programs on the Internet, and there are also many specialized magazines. There is a lot of information and you need to understand it. Here are some tips for young people who decide to start not an easy path bodybuilder.

Duration of classes during adolescence


It is very difficult to think of what you can do in the gym for more than an hour. The time of your session can be one of the main indicators of the intensity of your training. In the case when you devote more than half an hour to training, then we can confidently talk about low intensity. Short, intense sessions are much more effective than long sessions.

It should be remembered that every new training session should complete faster than the previous one. This will provide the muscles with excellent condition and adapt them to ever-increasing weights. The volume of muscles directly depends on the amount of work they perform.

Exercise technique for teenagers


Every person will agree that, say, in football or basketball, the team whose players are better at performing various techniques will win. Actually, without mastering the technique, you won’t even be able to hammer a nail, but rather, you’ll simply knock off all your fingers. A similar situation has developed in bodybuilding. The technique of performing the exercises is of paramount importance.

Before mastering a new movement, you should approach the trainer and ask him to explain all the nuances. You should not rely on your intuition or knowledge obtained from magazines or YouTube. With almost one hundred percent probability we can say that you will waste time, but you will make a large number of mistakes, which will invariably affect the effectiveness of the training.

The best option is to hire a trainer for money. You do not need to use its services constantly, but rather do it for a month or a little more. It all depends on how quickly you master the basic exercises. The funds spent will quickly pay off, and you will be able to admire your figure, which will become more and more beautiful view after every lesson.

Working with a trainer initial stage It is also important for the reason that if you do not master the technique immediately, then it will be quite difficult to correct the situation. It is necessary to try to strictly follow the technique from the first repetitions. Then you will do everything fully automatically.

No steroids during adolescence


If you didn’t already know how you should feel about steroids, then the time has come to think about it. When talking about the topic: bodybuilding in adolescence: all the pros and cons - this is one of the most important questions. On the other hand, you shouldn’t think too much. You definitely shouldn't use anabolic steroids.

Now no one is trying to say that bodybuilders do not use steroids. That would be cheating. Professionals, and some amateurs, actively use them. However, there are a large number of nuances here:

  1. Should not be used under 25 years of age.
  2. The use of anabolic drugs is a real and very complex science. If you do something wrong, you will not cause harm to your health.
You should use anabolic steroids only when you have reached your genetic potential and cannot overcome this limit only with the help of training. Steroids are also necessary when natural hormone levels are not enough to continue muscle gain. There are more than enough hormones in a teenager's body.

Those people who will persuade you to use AAS have only one goal - to make money at your expense. Train and if after a few years you are sure that you need steroids, then start taking them. Just think carefully about why you need it.

Nutrition program for teenagers


Another important and difficult question. You will have to give up many old habits, including nutrition. It is very important to accustom yourself to proper nutrition. You will thank yourself for this in the future. You probably know that an athlete’s diet must be balanced. However, this should be the case for every person. But still, the diet of bodybuilders has significant differences from the diet of an ordinary person.

You need to use clean carbohydrates, say oatmeal or potatoes. Protein compounds will be required in large quantities. In addition, the protein should be different, which means including chicken, dairy products, fish, etc. in the diet. Of course, the topic of nutrition in bodybuilding is very extensive and requires a detailed description.

What exercises to use in adolescence?


You can find a lot of information on the Internet that each training day should be devoted to specific muscle groups. However, this approach to the training program is necessary for experienced athletes. A teenager should do things differently.

You need to lay the foundation of your figure, and if you immediately start training individual muscle groups, it will be impossible to do this. At the first stage of your career, you should develop all muscles at the same time. The best option for this there is a “golden three” of basic exercises: deadlift, free weight squats and bench press. Thanks to them, you will harmoniously develop your body and be able to create the necessary base. There is no need to think about various isolated exercises. All this is still ahead of you.

That's all I wanted to say today on the topic of bodybuilding in adolescence: all the pros and cons.

About bodybuilding in adolescence, watch this video: