Teenage Workout Beginners Guide To Building Muscle

Posted on July 4, 2013 by Shreddybrek — No Comments ↓

As a teenager looking to build muscle fast, I was left wondering after months of training why I had not gained much mass, never mind building muscle fast. I was wondering why I was “skinny” but didn’t have a 6 pack. As a teenage working out to gain muscle, it’s an overwhelming and daunting experience. Which workout to build muscle should you follow? Which fat loss for teenagers diet will get you looking ripped the quickest? What are the best mass building supplements? Which bodybuilding supplements are a waste of money? How can i have my own skinny to muscle transformation?

This guide aims to give you some basic fitness tips and information, to help you build muscle fast, and to help you avoid some of the mistakes many, myself include, teenagers make when first starting to workout.

The Basics

Don’t design your own workout plan – use a tried and tested workout plan for teenagers
As a beginner you will no virtually nothing about working out, and building muscle. You could pick a slew of random exercises, bundle them together and called them a workout. Bicep curls, following by hammer curls, followed by dumbbell curls, followed by a bench press Monday-Friday sounds good right? Wrong. Follow a workout plan designed to build muscle from an experienced lifter.

Check out my workout log here.

Resting
Muscle doesn’t grow in the gym. You may be shocked to hear this. When you’re in the gym, you are tearing down the muscle fibers by exercising. Your muscle grows when your body rests and is provided with sufficient nutrition. Training the same muscle group within 2 days should never be done. Not providing it chance to rest will result in over training, and instead of the muscle repairing and growing back stronger, it will continue to be damaged. Your rest days will be part of your workout routine.

Diet For Teenagers Working Out
Bulking – Cutting & The Inbetween
There’s more to building muscle than just protein. One of the biggest any beginner can make when working out, not just a teen, is thinking that protein is the holy grail of muscle building. Chicken breast after chicken breast, washed down with a protein shake will not add a huge amount of muscle. In order for your muscle to build muscle mass you need carbohydrates. Your body converts these carb’s into glycogen. This fills and is stored in the muscle, providing your muscles the energy needed when working out. If you’re running on low to no carbs, then forget about building muscle.

Your muscle building diet, needs to contain carbs, protein and fats. How much you have of each is referred to in the bodybuilding and fitness world as macros. This is short for macro nutrients. Your macros will depend upon your goals. Fat loss, mass gain, lean muscle gain, body recomposition.

Healthy Carb Sources
Rice
Potato
Wholegrain Bread
Oats
Cous Cous
Fruit

Healthy Protein Sources
Lean Meat (Chicken, Turkey, Steak, Ground Lean Beef)
Eggs
Milk
Cottage Cheese
Fish

Health Fat Sources
Nuts
100% Peanut Butter
Flaxseed Oil
Egg Yolks

The most common 2 types of diet are “bulking” and “cutting”

Bulking
Bulking is the term commonly used within the fitness world when an individual is looking to build muscle mass, and gain weight. In order to do this you must consume a calorific surplus. This means you intake more calories than your body burns off. A bulk should not be an excuse to eat everything in sight for the sake of gaining weight. Gaining fat does not help you build muscle fast. This being said however, when consuming a calorific surplus, in 95% of the case, you will gain some fat. The key is to minimise fat gain by eating healthily and training effectively.

Cutting
After the bulk comes the cut. This is when a teenager looking to build muscle has undergone a bulk to add muscle mass, has gained some fat, and wants to cut down to a leaner, more aesthetic appearance. The challenge here is maintaining your muscle mass, whilst losing only fat. This is where correct nutrition comes into play. A “cut” will require you to create a calorie deficit, along with performing cardio on top of your weights to enable your body to lose fat.

Diets here

Shakes, meal replacements and supplements
Food is the best source of protein. A protein powder should be used to supplement your diet. You shouldn’t rely on supplements as your largest % of intake. You can find cheap supplements using our myprotein discount codes or ones from http://cheapproteindiscountcodes.co.uk Protein powders are best consumed post workout, and when time does not permit to cook and eat a regular meal.

When bulking and try gaining muscle mass, you may find it difficult to consume a larger amount of calories through eating. In this case, shakes are a useful way to easily consume calories. If you are the type who has a large appetite, or are trying to lose weight, avoid meal replacement shakes, fruit juices and drinking milk. These will not fill you up like food does. So following a weight loss for teens diet may lead you to being hungrier than normal. Drinking a glass of fruit juice will not provide a feeling of fullness, and will use up a few hundred of your calories for the day.

Bodybuilding or weightlifting?
You may thinking lifting weights and a good diet will lead to a good physique, but this isn’t the case. Depending on how you train will determine the physique you end up with. If you are simply concerned with lifting heavier weights, then your muscle growth will ability to build muscle will not be as effective as someone who is training using correct form and a bodybuilding workout routine. Whilst your rep ranges, rest times etc will vary depending upon which workout routine you decide to follow, you should always train with correct form. Perform each movement slowly, keeping the muscle you are working under tension. Contract the muscle, and squeeze it. Slowly lower the weight during the negative part of the movement. Simply “lifting” weight will not provide the muscle building results you desire.

How To Get Abs
Abs are not obtained by doing 100 crunches every day. You can train abs 3 times a week, all year long, but if you are carrying too much body fat, you wont be able to see your abs. If you’re goal is to get a visible 6 pac, then you need to look at performing cardio and following a weight loss diet for teens.

Best Bodybuilding Supplements For Teenagers
Supplements are not essential but can certainly provide help and aid you in building muscle fat, or helping with fat loss as a teenager. You should not rely on any supplements, and before you spend any money on your supplements, your diet and training should be in check. If you’re on a limited budget, spend it all on food. Supplements are always secondary to diet.

Diets for teens, whether you’re wanting to build muscle fast, or are just following a weight loss for teens, can be supplemented with the following basic supplements

Whey Protein Powder
Creatine
Glutamine
BCAA
Maltodextrin

Post Workout Shake
Many believe the post workout shake to be the most important eating session of the day. Whilst science has debunked that idea over the years, it is still crucial to feed your body after an intense workout. In the past I combined protein & carbohydrates together. I now consume only protein or only carbs immediately after a workout, then consume the other 25 minutes later.

However many sources combine them, and for simplicity its what I did when I first started out, and I was able to get results. A post workout shake should contain a fast acting protein, Whey or hydrolysed & a fast acting carb such as maltodextrin or dextrose.
So there is a run down of the basic to help you get started as a teenager looking to build muscle, lose fat and get into shape. What I would recommend is that you absorb as much information as possible. In the fitness world there is no 1 right way to build muscle and get into shape, however there are a lot of wrong ways to do it. Wrong ways include following a bad diet, skipping workouts, training with poor form, not training legs. Be mindful of what more experienced lifters have to say. Read as much as possible and use common sense. If advice sounds too good to be true, then read up on it and look into it further before jumping into trying something out.

Of course make sure to stay tuned to shreddybrek by subscribing to our newsletter for more FREE workout advice and fitness tips. Remember to get your daily servings of muscle building goodness over on the Shreddybrek Youtube Channel.

Get clangin’ & bangin’ guys!