16 year old Son - Question...Wanting to start lifting weights and gaining muscle
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wsilage
Posts: 2 Member
Hi My son wants to start working out and lifting weight. He does play basketball and he is very lean and tall.
I want to guide him in the right direction. What type of exercises can he do to gain muscle and is there routine you can help me start him on? Any recommendations would be awesome!
We do have an old gym set Weider 148 that he could use, but just not sure what kind of workout plan he can do daily.
I want to guide him in the right direction. What type of exercises can he do to gain muscle and is there routine you can help me start him on? Any recommendations would be awesome!
We do have an old gym set Weider 148 that he could use, but just not sure what kind of workout plan he can do daily.
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Replies
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Has he done any weightlifting before? Does he know form? If not, I’d get him a couple of sessions with the trainer before turning him loose on his own.
After that, StrongLifts 5X5 is a great beginner program. And you can download the free app to track weights and progress.4 -
Form is so important! I'd start with teaching him proper form. ( It's actually more difficult then it sounds. Believe me I have teen boys as well so I know all about it!)0
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I like stronglifts because it only has five lifts to learn. Start really light to learn form and then progress.1
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https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1
First thing i would do it get a session or two with a trainer to teach for.. second, pick a structured beginner routine. Third, track pregress.. i think there are apps to help that out. But writing down what you did is vital to knowing if you are increasing weights/volume each session.0 -
Is the purpose of this to increase his athletic performance or just to gain mass? They may be one in the same but not necessarily.1
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A couple of thoughts:
-my son is 16, 6’4” and 160, so maybe like your son in terms of body composition. He started strong lifts in March during school basketball offseason but right as AAU was getting going. 5 sets of 5 squats per week was too much for him, and he ended up with overuse problems in his knees. This was exacerbated by insufficient flexibility even though he was really careful with his form. He had to stop doing squats and do pt for months. He also had to stop jumping high for months, which mean almost no dunks during AAU season, which he really hated. I’d advise scaling back squats if your kid is doing basketball training.
- StrongLifts and other programs stress starting light and going up 5lbs per session per exercise. I’m sure there are lots of people that works for, but I don’t think many of them are tall skinny basketball players. My kid was able to go up 5 pounds per session until he got some very modest weight on the bar (115 bench, 135 squat, 200 deadlift, 85 overhead press), then his progress slowed down A LOT. Strong people will likely say this isn’t the program’s fault, that my kid isn’t eating enough and I’m sure that’s true, but... a really common characteristic of tall thin guys is that they struggle to eat enough to put on weight. My kid tried for s long time to force himself to eat and pretty much failed. His buddies on the basketball team experienced the same thing. It is what it is.
- If you google lifting for basketball, there is a great set of 10 exercises that the Oak Hill strength coach has his players do. They are great for basketball players, but note that several of them (power cleans, front squats) really need to be taught by someone who knows what they are doing.6 -
Thank you so much. This was very helpful!0
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I suggest you look at lifting 3x week rather than daily. He can focus on cardio and agility and plyo on the off days. Have you talked to his coach /instructor for an age appropriate program?1
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If he is in season, I highly recommend not using a LP program(Stronglifts especially). Its way too draining while playing a sport such as basketball or soccer. More importantly it's not designed with hypertrophy as a priority since that is his goal.
If off season he would be better off with a general fitness or hypertrophy program that incorporates cardo at least twice a week(unless he is playing regularly).
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Hi My son wants to start working out and lifting weight. He does play basketball and he is very lean and tall.
I want to guide him in the right direction. What type of exercises can he do to gain muscle and is there routine you can help me start him on? Any recommendations would be awesome!
We do have an old gym set Weider 148 that he could use, but just not sure what kind of workout plan he can do daily.
Stronglifts 5X5, then once he's maxed out on that (year or two), a high volume bodybuilding program.8 -
He should look into if his high school offers a weight lifting class. I know mine did and it would be good for him to learn proper form and get some knowledgeable supervision. A PT would be good too but pricey.0
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16 is when I started lifting. I played football and was a track and field sprinter. I lifted within the confines of what my coaches in the two sports specified and programming was different in season vs off season and also position dependent. I guess I'm just a little surprised that while playing an organized sport at school that there wouldn't be a structured lifting protocol specific to his sport and position.
I guess it's somewhat difficult to make a suggestion here as certain lifting protocols could hinder his ability on the court...ie, running something like Starting Strength or Strong Lifts during the basketball season could gas him and would likely be too taxing on his CNS, but could be a good option during the off season. Depending on his position, putting on too much mass could also cause performance issues on the court...lots of ins and outs and whatnots...and again, I guess I'm just a little surprised that there isn't already some kind of structured protocol in place.
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IHaveMyActTogether wrote: »Hi My son wants to start working out and lifting weight. He does play basketball and he is very lean and tall.
I want to guide him in the right direction. What type of exercises can he do to gain muscle and is there routine you can help me start him on? Any recommendations would be awesome!
We do have an old gym set Weider 148 that he could use, but just not sure what kind of workout plan he can do daily.
Stronglifts 5X5, then once he's maxed out on that (year or two), a high volume bodybuilding program.
If you are running a LP for more than 4-5 months, you either don't understand how to run a LP or don't care about your training and literally wasting time that could be used towards more advanced training and actually gaining strength in a efficient manner.cwolfman13 wrote: »16 is when I started lifting. I played football and was a track and field sprinter. I lifted within the confines of what my coaches in the two sports specified and programming was different in season vs off season and also position dependent. I guess I'm just a little surprised that while playing an organized sport at school that there wouldn't be a structured lifting protocol specific to his sport and position.
I guess it's somewhat difficult to make a suggestion here as certain lifting protocols could hinder his ability on the court...ie, running something like Starting Strength or Strong Lifts during the basketball season could gas him and would likely be too taxing on his CNS, but could be a good option during the off season. Depending on his position, putting on too much mass could also cause performance issues on the court...lots of ins and outs and whatnots...and again, I guess I'm just a little surprised that there isn't already some kind of structured protocol in place.[/b [
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At my kid’s high school, the strength training is so intermittent (due to competition for the weight room among top many teams) as to be useless.0
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Why not ask your sons coach for an appropriate program and/or trainer to work with?0
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