Weight lifting for a 14 year old?!
Question: Hey im 14 years old and im kind of chubby. I am 6 foot flat and i am not supper fat or supper muscular but kind of thick... i weigh 185. My whole family is composed of people like this...but i have done some research and i can not find anything on getting a wieght lifting program that can build enough muscle that you can be considered buff hahah.. also i want to know if i should go on supliments too, next year i am going to be swimming for the best hight school team in the nation and i want to be good... keep in mind i do not want to lose weight i just want to gain muscle... i would be fine of gaining more weight if i got off my flab (fat) and put on some muscle. Please dont refer me to a general web sight like bodyforlife.com because i have no idea where to look even though i found some pretty cool stuff on that sight. Im kind of new to this whole thing. O yeah i dont want to do like 2 miles a day and do stuff like that.. but if necessary i will... anything will be good.
Answers: Hey im 14 years old and im kind of chubby. I am 6 foot flat and i am not supper fat or supper muscular but kind of thick... i weigh 185. My whole family is composed of people like this...but i have done some research and i can not find anything on getting a wieght lifting program that can build enough muscle that you can be considered buff hahah.. also i want to know if i should go on supliments too, next year i am going to be swimming for the best hight school team in the nation and i want to be good... keep in mind i do not want to lose weight i just want to gain muscle... i would be fine of gaining more weight if i got off my flab (fat) and put on some muscle. Please dont refer me to a general web sight like bodyforlife.com because i have no idea where to look even though i found some pretty cool stuff on that sight. Im kind of new to this whole thing. O yeah i dont want to do like 2 miles a day and do stuff like that.. but if necessary i will... anything will be good.
I could make a really specific workout plan for you, but there is so many good ways to workout that I think ill just put out the basics and let you figure out what you like best and make your own routine.
Your body technically only does the actual muscle building while recovering so don't overdo your workouts. 3 or 4 times a week will be enough to build muscle, keep the workouts simple and short and let yourself rest the other days. Lots of sleep too! You might think you need to workout all the time so you feel like you are doing something to your body, but if you lift too much your body won't change a bit because you arn't letting it recover.
You can basically break down the body into 3 major muscle groups. You can throw in some isolation exercises (calf raises, curls, abs) if you want but you can really cover the entire body with 3-4 exercises.
There is a push muscle group. pecs, triceps, front delt.
The pull muscle group. lats, rear delt, biceps.
Last there is the legs group. calves, hams, quads, gluts, and also often uses the core muscles for stabalization
Ok so when picking exercises keep these things in mind.
If an exercise uses more weight it is either a smaller range of motion, or uses more muscle. If you are using more muscles at once you are building muscle more effieciently, and probably hitting more muscles in general than if you just did a bunch of isolations.
THE EXERCISES
First off try not to use machines. They tend to do part of the work for you because you don't need to stabalize or guide your motion. Stuff like calf raises are fine because the stabalization helps you lift a significant amount more weight.
Push: Benchpress and dips are amazing. You can add weight to dips with a dipbelt. Tricep extensions do good isolation on the triceps. Chestpress is ok too except for it usually uses a machine but some of the machines have a very natural motion to them, and you can use that some if you want. It is very similar to benching but easier for begginers.
Pull: Chinups are pretty much all you need to do. You can also add weight with the dipbelt for chins. Lat pull downs are pretty much the same at chins. Seated rows, Bent-over rows are also great pulling exercises. You can isolate the biceps with curls. curls helps increase forearm strength if you switch up between different types of curls (overhand, underhand, hammer curls). This also prevents wrist pain.
Legs: Deadlift. Deadlift also does a tremendous amount for the core, lower back, delts, and shoulders. If you can find a trapbar, or hex bar, you are set for life. Trapbar deadlift does amazing things for you. Squats are really great too. Try box squats, and full squats. Different ranges of motion on squats will work certain muscles more than others (true with most exercises really). Calf raises are pretty neat too, just keep your knees and hips still and do a full range of motion. There is always leg press and lunges as well if you like those!
For abs do weighted decline situps or anything with weight really. There is about a million ab exercises out there, just pick something that challenges your strength.
Ok you can split pull push and legs up and do one per day of the week you workout or do them all every day, or do somethign like 2 mixed upper body days and 1 lower (that's what i do anyways). Any way is pretty effective. For beggining i recommend doing all of them each day so you learn the motions faster. Do sets of 5-12 reps 1-4 times for each exercise or until you are tired and that will be a good workout. You can also do high rep once you start to improve your strength a bit. It really doesnt matter as long as you work your muscles hard and challenge yourself with higher weights and more reps.
Eat a lot of protein, and drink a lot of milk. You need it to grow muscle. Then get your sleep.
If you are chubby you want to eat enough food to build muscle but not so much that you can't burn fat. Make sure you do some cardio about every day. At your age sports are best, swimming is great for building muscle too.
email is jogogoman@hotmail.com if you have questions. There is a lot of information on how to do these lifts if you just google.
o, boy, u already wrote what u re not going or do not want to do and the main thing u want to - look good. so u want to look good and do not want to do anything. well, ask parents for a plastic surgery then. another thing - if u have flab which equals fat on your stomach it means u re fat. and if u go to gym u will probably get some muscles somewhere there, under that fat of yours, but nobody ever would see them. well, maybe u will increase in size since u will get all those muscles UNDER that flab of yours. because people do not lose weight and gain muscles simultaneously. first they lose flab then they gain muscles. so u don't need to walk 2 miles a day, U HAVE TO RUN 5 miles a day. maybe more. u have to maintain heart rate 80% of max for 1 hour minimum to lose flab. then u may go to gym and pump those muscles. u do not need to take any supplements - those re for skinny people who need to gain mass. u obviously do not neeed that
i was raped and killed when i turned 14
be careful! dont end up like me
I think what you are really trying to say is you want to be healthy. Start one of your weight lifting classes at school and take off from there but if i were you i would try jogging at least once a week to loose some weight and i know you dont want to but being lean is better than being chubby. healthy is the way to go Teenbodybuilding.com might help you out.
eat healthy
do a sport that you will truly love eg. gymnastics,netball,touch,hip hop, jazz, basketball, athletics or going down to your local pool and swim a few laps . i do gymnastics and it sure make you lose alot of weight and get huge muscles and a big 6-10 pack you should definitely try it it is alot of fun.
good luck
Well I myself took this one 12 week training course that started me off on my weight lifting journey.
My upper body looks great just coming out of that 12 week course, but my abs don't. So I found another site with great exercises to help it. I'm on my way!
Here are the sites. Don't worry, they are not general websites.
Here's the 12 week training course (The first workout is what you want, it's called "How to Be Ripped Like Brad Pitt From Fight Club in 12 Weeks or Less." It doesn't really get you ripped like Brad Pitt though, but it definitely starts you off)
http://www.mensworkoutguide.com/home.htm...
Here's the ab exercise site
http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/Ar...
Good luck!
Hey, if you are only 14 you really should NOT be doing any weight-lifting regimes. It's not good for a body that young to have to try and add extra muscles to a developing musculature.
If you want to tone up, stick to circuit class type stuff and exercises, e.g. squats, lunges, situps etc, not weights. And keep swimming, swim a lot! Swimming is one of the best ways to overall tone up your body, just keep mixing it up, alternate short sprints and longer distance stuff.
1) you do need to lose a little weight in order to gain muscle. So start running that 2 miles a day, in sweats. and don't just run on flat surfaces, run up hills too. (use your arms, its a helluva lot easier).
2) I'm not really sure if you want to start lifting really heavy weights yet, because of your age, but lifting light to medium weights is good. The more muscle you gain, either through cardio or weightlifting, the faster the fat burns.
3) Change your eating habits. It's going to be hard, but try eating smaller meals more frequently throughout the day. (And please don't skip breakfast!)
4) It sounds like you don't want to work that hard, but that's the only way you're going to get the body you want. Swimmers need both endurance and strength, so suck it up, and don't make excuses to skip the gym (or your runs).