16 year old Son - Question...Wanting to start lifting weights and gaining muscle

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wsilage
wsilage Posts: 2 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
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.

Replies

  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,442 Member
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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.
  • 100_PROOF_
    100_PROOF_ Posts: 1,168 Member
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    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!)
  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,613 Member
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    I like stronglifts because it only has five lifts to learn. Start really light to learn form and then progress.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,394 MFP Moderator
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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.
  • bpotts44
    bpotts44 Posts: 1,066 Member
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    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.
  • wsilage
    wsilage Posts: 2 Member
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    Thank you so much. This was very helpful!
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
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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?
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
    edited October 2018
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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).

  • Running2Fit
    Running2Fit Posts: 702 Member
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    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.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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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.

  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
    edited October 2018
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    IHaveMyActTogether wrote: »
    wsilage 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 [

    From what I understand from the top shelf strength coaches, it's pretty much a given that most high school and even college coaches/schools have no clue how to strength train their athletes. Some of the things they have the kids do is equivalent to what commercial gym trainer's do. The kids that are strong-strong are almost always freak responders to training.
  • mreichard
    mreichard Posts: 235 Member
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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.
  • Packerjohn
    Packerjohn Posts: 4,855 Member
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    Why not ask your sons coach for an appropriate program and/or trainer to work with?

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