The bodybuilding guide for teenagers part 3

After dealing with the basics of bodybuilding for teenagers in the first part of this series of articles and the topic of training in the second part, in this third part we will take a closer look at the far too often neglected topic of nutrition and the most common mistakes that are responsible for the lack of training success among teenagers.

Nutrition plans for teenagers

Here are a few tips that can help you to eat correctly so that you can maximize your training progress.

It's important to realize that you don't have to eat perfectly to reach your goals. Focus on listening to your body, eating when you are hungry, cutting out junk food and soft drinks and eating plenty of healthier foods.

Your body needs the raw materials to build muscle. If you deprive your body of these materials or restrict your calorie intake, you will slow down your gains.

Tip #1: Develop an understanding of bad, good, better, best

There are no perfect foods. There are bad foods like Doritos, nachos with cheese and sugary soft drinks. There are good foods like pasta, beef jerky and orange juice.

There are better foods like white rice, canned tuna and low-fat milk. There are best foods like fresh vegetables and fruits, quinoa, oatmeal, whole milk and meat. Eat the best foods when you can - and plenty of them. If these are not available, then eat until you are full, going down the ladder from better to good to bad.

If you're hungry and only have junk food available, you're better off eating it than going to bed hungry.

Your eating plan doesn't have to be 100% healthy. You just need to learn to make better food choices when you can.

Tip #2: Listen to your body

Working out with weights will increase your appetite. If you're hungry between meals, eat something. Some cheese and a banana or whole milk with whey protein and a few almonds.

Eat until you are full if you feel hungry. In this context, full means that you eat until your hunger disappears.

Tip #3: Develop an understanding of the concept of calorie density

Many teenagers fear fat gain. You should understand that most teens don't gain weight because they eat a lot of good foods - they gain weight because they eat too many bad foods. In many cases, they don't even overeat those bad foods, but they gain weight anyway.

Why? The magic word is calorie density.

Processed foods and junk foods can be very calorie dense. A bag of tortilla chips and a jar of salsa can provide over 2000 kcal. It's easy for most teenagers to eat the whole bag in one sitting when they're hungry. On the other hand, you would have to eat more than 12 baked potatoes to consume the same amount of calories.

With the healthy foods that are high in calorie density, it's usually not so easy to eat large quantities. You would have to eat a large amount of cheese and avocados to get the same amount of calories as a bag of Doritos.

Tip #4: How often should you eat?

Stick to your normal eating habits and meal frequency as long as they are reasonable. You should eat several times a day. Eat healthy snacks between meals when you're hungry.

You don't have to change your eating habits, but you should think about the foods you eat at these times. We'll come back to this in a moment. Many teenagers don't have time for a big breakfast. That's fine, but I still recommend that you eat something that's healthy and high in protein. A banana, oatmeal and a protein shake require minimal preparation time and are a much better choice than sweet breakfast cereals or the like.

The only thing I would advise against is eating only once or twice a day. Your body needs energy and nutrients and if you are young, chances are you have a fast metabolism. In addition, if you are trying to build muscle, you need to consume a minimal amount of protein and calories. This can be difficult if you only eat once or twice a day.

Tip #5: Aim for at least 150 grams of protein per day

If you're trying to build muscle, then your minimum protein intake should be 150 grams of protein per day. You'll probably be better off eating 180 to 220 grams of protein per day. Not only are you trying to build muscle and maximize your recovery and repair after training, but you're also growing.

For these reasons, you should try not to stay too close to the minimum of 150 grams of protein per day. When it comes to building muscle, it's better to eat a little more protein than too little.

Female teenagers should aim for at least 80 to 100 grams of protein per day. Good sources of protein include eggs, poultry, beef, whole milk, cheese, pork, seafood, fish, turkey, protein shakes, cottage cheese, beans and nuts & seeds.

You should try to eat protein with every meal. This will help you reach your daily goal. Make it a habit to read food labels. This will help you develop a better understanding of how much protein each food provides.

It can be hard to get enough protein just from your meals at school and dinner. Snacks like cheese, almonds, cottage cheese and whole milk can really help here. You can also consider drinking a few protein shakes a day. Whey protein shakes are an excellent way to get extra protein without being too filling.

Tip #6: Fat intake is also important

Your body needs adequate fat intake to support development and growth. Healthy fats also support energy levels, regulate hormones, support brain development and function, and help maintain healthy skin.

You also need to understand that eating fat will not make you fat. Teenagers put on fat because they eat too many processed foods, too much junk food and don't exercise enough. However, if you follow the advice in this guide, you will reduce your junk food intake and increase your exercise.

However, you should avoid trans fats. Trans fats are processed fats that have been shown to increase levels of bad cholesterol while lowering levels of good cholesterol. Foods that contain trans fats include:

• Fried foods such as French fries and doughnuts
• Baked foods such as cookies, crackers and other pastries
• Margarine

Check the labels of the foods you eat and do your best to avoid trans fats.

Now let's talk about the healthy fats you should be eating. Here are some examples of high-fat foods that are good for you:

• Milk and cheese
• Cream and sour cream
• avocados
• Peanut butter
• Nuts and seeds
• Butter and olive oil
• Fatty meats
• eggs
• Coconut oil

If you find it hard to eat a healthy amount of healthy fats, then you can sprinkle some grated cheese on your meals or vegetables, add some sour cream and butter to your potatoes, drink a large glass of whole milk daily, eat more eggs, nuts and seeds or add some cream to your milk or protein shakes.

Tip #7: Choose your carbohydrates wisely

Carbohydrates are a primary source of energy for teenagers. Unfortunately, there are plenty of foods that contain a lot of low-quality carbohydrates - and it can be hard to avoid them.

It's a good idea to eat plenty of good carbohydrates:

The "bad" carbs you should reduce your consumption of include:

• Cookies
• potato chips
• crackers
• Ice cream
• Energy drinks & other sugary soft drinks
• Foods that contain a lot of sugar
• Foods that contain a lot of white flour

Good carbohydrates include:

• Oatmeal
• Fruit and vegetables
• Beans and other legumes
• Potatoes and yams
• Wholemeal bread

Tip #8: If you're not gaining weight, you're not a hardgainer

If you're not gaining weight, then you need to focus on eating more. It's not uncommon for teenagers to fall into the trap created by bodybuilding magazines and articles and think that they should only eat chicken, broccoli and rice. This is not a balanced diet and makes it almost impossible to reach your daily calorie allowance.

If this doesn't apply to you and you feel like you're eating plenty of food and still not gaining weight, then it's time to get scientific. Spend a week writing down everything you eat and drink. Do your best to calculate your daily calorie intake.

Once you've developed an understanding of what you're eating and drinking, come up with creative ways to increase your calorie intake. Here are some of my favorite ways:

• Whole Milk: Drink a cup of whole milk with one meal of the day. This is an extra 150 kcal.
• Grated cheese: Add 30 grams of grated cheese to a meal of the day. This is an extra 110 kcal.
• Sour cream: Add 30 grams of sour cream to one meal a day. This is an extra 60 kcal.
• Banana: Eat a banana as an extra snack. This is an extra 100 kcal.
• Butter: Add some butter to a portion of vegetables. This is an extra 35 kcal.
• Almonds: Eat 30 grams of almonds as a snack. This is an extra 165 kcal.
• Cream: Add 30 grams of cream to a whey protein shake. This is an extra 100 kcal.

These simple 7 tips don't require you to eat more, yet they will help you increase your calorie intake by 720 kcal per day.

If everything goes wrong, don't hesitate to eat an extra bowl of ice cream or a bag of Boritos. Eating some junk food won't hurt you if you primarily eat healthy, high-quality foods.

Supplements for teenagers

Nutritional supplements are designed to complement a good quality diet plan - not to compensate for a poor diet. The following supplements are worth considering. Discuss nutritional supplements and their correct dosage with your parents before incorporating them into your diet.

• Whey protein powder - Whey protein is a fast-digesting protein made from milk. It's a great source of protein for between meals, after a workout or whenever you're hungry and want a quick protein boost.
• Casein Protein Powder - Casein is the primary source of protein found in milk. Casein is a good choice before bedtime as it is slow to digest.
• Multivitamin/Mineral Supplements - A high quality multivitamin/multimineral product can help you fill nutritional gaps in your diet caused by inconsistent dietary patterns or poor food choices. If you don't have access to a lot of high quality and unprocessed foods, then a multivitamin product is worth considering.
• Fish oil - Many teenagers don't eat enough healthy, high-fat foods. In this case, supplementing with fish oil can supplement your diet with omega-3 fatty acids, which are good for heart health, brain function, growth and development.
• Vitamin D - Vitamin is produced by the body when you are exposed to the sun. If you get very little sun, then a vitamin D supplement is a good choice. Vitamin D helps with hormone regulation and the absorption of minerals such as calcium and phosphorus.
• BCAAs (branched chain amino acids) - If you need a healthy and refreshing alternative to sugary soft drinks and energy drinks, these are a good choice. BCAA drinks are a good choice during and after training or can also be consumed during the day if you want a drink with flavor but without empty calories. BCAAs can help with recovery and muscle repair.

Why teenagers fail at bodybuilding

Many teenagers fail to build muscle. These are potential reasons for this:

1. You set unrealistic goals. You expect to achieve amazing results in 2 weeks instead of 2 years.
2. Lack of consistency. You should only miss a very small handful of workouts per year - not numerous workouts per month.
3. You're not getting stronger. Many teenagers think that strength is not important. But even though maximum strength is not the goal when building muscle, you still need to dramatically increase your strength to build muscle.
4. You don't have a plan. Training without a plan is an easy way to burn calories using dumbbells and barbells. You need a plan and you need to stick to that plan to build muscle.
5. You jump back and forth between programs. There are no magic programs. Resist the temptation to jump from training program to training program. Trust the process, focus on your training program and get everything you can out of it.
6. You follow the advice of your friends. Your friends may be nice guys and they may bench press more than you, but that doesn't mean they really understand how to help you reach your goals. Over the years, I've found that 98% of bro advice is bullshit or unnecessary. Beware of that.
7. You are trying to train like the pros. How an IFBB pro trains today is not important. It took years of trial and error to perfect a training system that works for them and their weak points. This system isn't the best for you - it's the best for them.
8. Your exercise selection is poor. If you avoid the most strenuous and challenging exercises, you'll end up with a body that looks like it's not being challenged either.
9. You are using a sloppy form of exercise execution. Constantly bouncing the weight off your chest on bench presses, only going halfway down on squats or faking it on curls is not the way to go. Focus on getting stronger while paying attention to proper exercise form. Although an occasional faked repetition won't hurt, it will hinder your gains if you fudge on every repetition.
10. You're not eating enough protein. Your body needs protein to repair and rebuild. If you don't give it the materials it needs, you won't build much muscle, if any. There is no simpler and more direct way to say this.
11. You're not eating enough. If you don't gain weight, then you won't build much muscle - if you build muscle at all. Again, this can't be said more simply and directly.
12. You are not listening to your body. Eat when you are hungry. You won't get fat if you eat mostly healthy foods. On the other hand, you won't build muscle if you restrict your calories too much.
13. You're trying to gain mass too quickly. If you gain more than 1.5 to 2 pounds per month on average during your first year of training, you're likely to gain unwanted fat. A mass-building phase should not be too aggressive, as building muscle takes time and you can't speed it up at will.
14. You are not getting enough sleep. Sleep as long as you can. Extra rest is always a good thing. Rest helps with recovery and muscle building.

Teenager Bodybuilding FAQ

Will training with weights hinder my growth?

No, of course not. This is one of the oldest myths of all. A teenager's body can handle a lot of stress. A few sets of barbell training will not hinder your physical development. The human body is not that fragile.

I'm skinny and flabby or overweight - should I diet?

No, focus on building muscle and eating healthier. You didn't get fat because you ate chicken breast and vegetables. If you start eating right and building muscle, it will change your body for the better.

Is creatine a steroid or is it dangerous?

No. Creatine is the most scientifically studied muscle building supplement on the planet. It is both natural and proven safe.

How can I get rid of man boobs?

There are two things that can help. First, you should optimize your diet and start eating healthy foods most of the time. An increase in muscle mass also means an increase in body surface area and an improvement in body composition. Your chest area will look better from month to month.

References

1. http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/350/350-850/350-850.html

Source: https://www.muscleandstrength.com/expert-guides/teenage-bodybuilding