Beginners Bodybuilding Info for Teens

Beginners Bodybuilding Info for Teens

Teen bodybuilding has gained increasing popularity over the years, where young teens hit the gym almost everyday. There's much upside to teen bodybuilding such as high self-esteem and confidence, becoming fit and healthy, and looking good for the ladies. Teen bodybuilding at the same time help the teens develop good habits not just in bodybuilding, but it trickles down to other facets of life such as good work ethics and discipline. This site is intended as a source of information regarding weight training, bodybuilding, powerlifting and general fitness for anyone interested regardless of age or sex.

by Fellow Lifter, Danial Samar

Body Part Training
Bodybuilders group exercises by body part and train one muscle group at a time. Working one muscle with 1-3 exercises ensures that you train it thoroughly. Experience says that this type of training is the most efficient for bodybuilding.

Every major muscle group should be developed to prevent muscle imbalance and the risk of injury and so you don't look like a freak. I see some of the guys at my school who have a huge chest, back, arms, traps, but have the smallest legs. They might be able to put up 375 lbs 5 times (not a joke), but when you look at his legs, you notice he have never, ever even trained them. His arms might 16", or whatever, but his claves are no bigger than 13".

Exercise
There are many exercises for each muscle in your body. Now I am not going to bother listing each and every exercise for each and every muscle group. 

Sets
Warming up is one of the most important things you should do before going into your sets (other than stretching). This will help prevent injury. Also it will help you lift more weights, so you can totally overload your muscles. Do 1-3 sets of warm up before, with lightweights and build up. Say for example you can bench 200 lbs a certain amount of times. You would start by doing 100 lbs 10 times, then 150 about 8 times, and top it off with one rep of 195. This will get blood into your muscle preparing them for what is coming. Never go to failure on your warm up. This will hinder your chances of overloading your muscles.

You should have somewhere between 2-4 sets for each exercise of the muscle. And have 3-4 exercises for that muscle. Never going more than 10 sets for each muscle. What might work for someone, might not work for you. Some guys on the Teenbodybuilding site can do a shit load of sets, and exercises and never over train. I personally can do the same, and see only great results.

Reps
Reps should be kept below 10. For great intensity 4-6 reps would do. But the optimal reps per set is 6-8. These two types of reps should be done to increase strength and mass.

AST-SPORTS says the same for when you are cutting. Making the Reps higher will not do jack shit if you are cutting. I suggest and so does AST-SPORTS that you keep the same reps and sets while you are cutting. The whole higher rep thing 12-14 is worthless since you are not challenging your muscles.

Proper Form
Now I think that a set done without form is like a set not done at all. It's best to have perfect form, than to go heavy and have no form at all.

Take for instance my friend; he has been training for over a month. He started with 25 lb dumbbells a month ago. Since he has no form at all, he is still at 25 lbs today. This is no joke, no it might not all be from improper form, but in my opinion the improper form really helped him get nowhere.

It's up to you on what you want to do.

Speed of Movement
Use a smooth, controlled motion during all phases of the lift. This deliberate rep speed produces the greatest results for bodybuilding purposes. Super-fast reps with ballistic movements and jerking can be harmful to muscles and connective tissues, while slow training accomplishes very little. In general, most bodybuilders use a formula that approximates a two-second positive contraction (raising the weight), a momentary squeeze of the muscle at the point of peak contraction, and a two-second negative contraction (lowering of the weight).

Slow movement in my eyes ups the intensity of your set. Fast movement is a load of shit.

Breathing
Most people don't think much about breathing until they begin lifting weights, but it should still come naturally. Start each set with a deep inhalation and exhale as you push through the most difficult part of the lift. Inhale at the top (or the easiest portion of the lift) and exhale as you push.

Rest between Sets
Rests should be from 45 seconds to no more than 120 seconds. Experiment first with what works for you, each person is different.

Use a Full Range of Motion
Use a full range of motion in your exercise movements. You want to work each target muscle through its natural range of motion for complete development and to prevent injury. And it gives you a great stretch in that muscle.

Training Frequency
Say you train your entire body on Monday. Should you do it again on Tuesday, or wait until Wednesday? The answer is that your body requires a minimum of 48 hours to fully recover after exercise, sometimes even longer. Physiological processes at the cellular level require rest and nutrients before you can train that same muscle group again. A good rule of thumb: If you're even slightly sore, you're not ready to train that body part again.

The answer for the beginner, then, is to train every 2-3 days (or three times a week). A Monday - Wednesday - Friday (or similar) schedule is ideal.

If your like me though, I started with 4 days a week, and have kept it like that.

Training Duration
If you follow the exercises, sets, reps and rest prescription, you should complete your resistance training in about an hour. Never go above one hour, unless you are more experienced.

Flex Bodybuilding: Beginners Bodybuilding Info for Teens

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