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The Best Muscle Builder for Teens

May 26, 2011 | By Eric Brown
The Best Muscle Builder for Teens
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The best muscle builder for teens is a combination of heavy resistance training and a good diet. A program based around compound exercises will not only help build muscles, but will improve your posture and strengthen your still-developing skeleton and connective tissues. Combined with proper nutrition, you can not only add muscle as you grow, but improve your health. Consult your physician before starting a diet or exercise program.

Compound Exercises

Compound exercises are those that not only work the largest muscles of the body, but the smaller ones at the same time. Exercises such as the squat, deadlift, bench press, military press, chin-up and row should be the basis of your routine. Utilizing these exercises not only builds the muscles that show, but the smaller muscles that stabilize your joints and protect you from injury, as well as provide stability as your skeleton develops.

Training and Routine

The order of exercises is important, not only to get as much out of each as you can, but to reduce your risk of injury. Perform the most skilled movement first, which should be the squat, as you do not wish to have your skills dulled by fatigue. Never deadlift before squatting, as this will tire your lower back and again increase your risk of injury. Train with intensity, and short rest periods, as this will help increase the hormones that control growth, which, as a teen, you should be producing plenty of them.

Diet

It does not matter how solid your routine is if your diet is not up to par. You need protein because you are growing, and the fact that you are more active means you require even more, according to Dr. Peter Lemon of the University of Western Ontario. You need essential fatty acids such as omega-3 and omega-6 for hormonal production and regulation, and you need carbohydrates for energy, not only to replace what you burn but to fuel your next workout. Get your protein from beef, chicken, eggs, milk and fish, and your carbohydrates from fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Essential fatty acids can be found in fish oils, nuts, seeds, flax, and sunflowers.

Rest

Rest is an important aspect of any training program, and for the growing athlete, even more so. You do not grow muscle in the gym, you grow outside of it. So keep your lifting sessions short, and only train a few days a week. Spend the rest of the time eating wisely and resting. The use of large, compound exercises is a strain on your endocrine system, which is why you can achieve a hormonal response that you will not get with isolation exercises, but like any strain, you need to recover from it, so rest well.

References

Article reviewed by Kirk Ericson Last updated on: May 26, 2011

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