Ghul

Hey guys,

Im 14, and almost 6ft, and want to start lifting. I'm too young to start yet (right?), so I've decided I'm gonna get a head start and prepare my body for it. I have full access to a local gym, and a gym at school 7 days a week.

I went to the weights instructor at my school gym, and he gave me this plan,

3 days a week:

5x20 Pushups
5x5 Chinups
5x10 Shoulder Presses
5x 30 sec bridges
5x5 Lunges (with weights)
5x5 Dips
5x8 Bench pulls
5x8 Bicep Curls
5x5 Renegade Rows
5x10 squats (with weights)
5x8 flys

All the reps are a little low, but each week I'll raise em a bit, cos I'm not too strong yet :P. On my off days I do light cardio, pushups, crunches, sit ups, and curls.

Is this good? Or should I be doing more to prepare my body? I plan to start lifting when I hit 15/16.

Thanks In advance,

- Ghul

Malley

I am not a fan of 5 sets of everything, thats just dumb. Trying doing 3 sets instead. Bodyweight is definitly alot different than weights, but being 14 you are right at that age. You are 6 feet.....how tall are your parents? Do you think your done growing? Honestly I dont see a problem with starting a weight routine now.

jared

i started liftin when i was fourteen and i havent stunted my growth or anything. i just wouldnt lift to heavy.

j1r!!!

Welcome to the board and good luck on your workouts.

fitnessfreak

ye mate 5 sets is a bit 2 much specially considering your just starting off.The reps are fine as long as it's not easy for you,in other words make sure you've got enough weight to challenge yourself a bit.Good luck,hope you achieve your goals.

Boki

yea i think i grew about 2 inches when i started lifting, got stretch marks

Striker

If i were you I would lift all I could to stop growing lol, I wouldn't want to be much more taller then 6'.

Big Guns

Drop the flys....stupid until you have some good chest developement.
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Train safe and smart. Any injuries now will last a lifetime....Beleive me!!!! Take care of your shoulders....you have many years ahead of you in the sport.

Ghul

Hey again guys,

I've changed my routine and diet a bit, so this is now what it looks like....

3x7 pull ups
3x8 shoulder presses
3x15 lunges (With weights)
3x10 squats (With weights)
5x5 dips
3x12
x10
x8 Bench Pulls
3x12
x10
x8 bicep curls
3x20 flys
3x25
x30
x35 sit ups
3x15
x20
x25 crunches
3x8 Bench Press
3x20 leg press
5x30 sec planks (Side and norm)
5x5 renegade rows
5x20 pushups

I do that 3 times a week, Monday, Thursday, Sunday. I've also fixed my diet a bit, with more protein, and I'm starting to drink shakes. I'll the weights for each exercise next in two days when I go.

I've got three questions however:
1) I weekly board at school, from monday to friday, so I have almost 24/7 access to a gym, so how many times should I be going to a gym?
2) Is tuna good source of protein? I have cooked meals almost 3 times a day at school, however, to get extra protein, I buy tuna to eat 1-2 times a day to keep my levels of protein up, is this ok?
3) How many times per week should I be drinking protein shakes? And is it suitable for me to be drinking them at this age?

Thanks in advance,

- Ghul

Sens

I think that that's fine if you're an absolute beginner, because I suppose you can change things when you know a little more about your goals, how much you can lift and what kind of things affect your body.

I see no deadlifts in there, which in my opinion are a must. Also I don't understand your routine, do you do this all on the same day.

This will try to answer some questions:
You should work out 3 or 4 days a week, if you do more make them cardio sessions. Your days should be nicely spaced, not 3 days on, 4 days off, to give each set of muscles time to recover and grow before the next session.
At this stage you want to concentrate alot of FORM, get the movement right, don't worry about how much weight you're lifting, you can add to that later. Hell you can probably bench about the same as me right now and i'm 5 years older than you. But I like to think my chest is nicer than yours

When I started lifting when I was about 14 or 15 (had a few years off, wish I hadn't) it didn't take long before I was going 3 times a week with a pretty standard routine set up. And yes I ate quite alot of tuna, it's cheap and there was always some in the kitchen. Pretty much you want any kind of meat you can find (proper meat, not processed junk), and ideally you want something bulky with that protein, like pasta or rice.

Your meals sound pretty good at the moment for someone just starting out, I was too cheap and didn't understand proper diet and I feel I suffered for it, so it's good you've got your head screwed on in that department.

As for protein shakes, nothing wrong with having them, just don't base your diet around them, they're a supplement, not gods gift to bodybuilders. You can't live off them, they're also (I would've thought) really expensive for a 14 year old. But if you can afford them, there's nothing wrong with having 1 or 2 servings a day.

Hope that helped a little, I'm off to have 4 eggs and some wholemeal

Big Guns

DROP THE FLYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There are at least 5 articles in THESE forums dealing w/ Diet. Ask where to find them. Protein drinks are considered Meal replacements and should be taken EVERY day whether you train or not. I would spend some time FIRST learning about diet and how it will affect you, before I start worrying about my workouts. Poor diet = wasted workouts and wasted time.

Ghul

By no means am I strong for my age, if anything, I'm weaker than most my peers, thats why I decided it was time to start eating healthy and doing this.

As for the cost of protein shakes, thats what my loving family is for :P.

Alrighty then BG, I'm gonna drop the flies. I think I've got my diet down pat, this is what it looks like:

Meal 1: 2-3 Eggs (Hardboiled), a bowl of cereal, 2-3 peices of toast, fruit salad.

Meal 2: Protein Shake.

Meal 3: Tuna sandwich.

Meal 4: 2 Tuna sandwichs, and whatever hot food is available at school.

Meal 5: Protein Shake.

Meal 6: Whatever is available at school, generally it looks like this:
- Mon: Steak with veggies.
- Tues: Rice with some sort of meat.
- Wed: Pasta with meat.
- Thurs: Rice with some sort of meat.
- Fri-Sun: I'm at home, So I can have whatever I like.

I train 3 days a week, and I'm not generally allowed to do deadlifts, (younger kids aren't allowed to do certain things at the school gym).

If I think the food at school is bad, I can make myself pasta.

Thanks again,

- Ghul

Sens

Looks good to me, only thing I'd do is swap my last meal and my last shake around, but that's personal preference. If you have the shake afterwards you can fit in more real food (dinner) and then have the shake a little bit before you go to bed so you've got something to grow with through the night.
Last night I ate a pizza just before I went to bed :P

Big Guns

DOES NOT LOOK GOOD TO ME!!!
Yu have no carbs listed. 3 eggs is not enought. ate least 8. I have added what you need.