One of the biggest regrets of my life has to be not starting or when I did taking lifting seriously when I was young. I am lucky enough to have a young, energetic 12 year old at home to call my own and I was just wondering what sort of program I should get my main man on? I recently started him on an easy 4 day a week split, upper lower, I was also wondering what sort of nutrition and supplementation would be appropriate, protin, creatine, fish oils etc. I would delighted to take any advice. Thanks in advance. Barry.
Pete 26 this thread wasn’t about whether he should or should not take supps it was about which ones would be best for his physique at his age, ofcourse he needs to take something! Kids at this age need direction to make sure they don’t stray from the path. I was a young hell raiser before I started a good routine. How would it be bad?
i think getting him into lifting is a good way to keep him out of trouble but why does he need supps? i think a somewhat healthy diet with a decent amout of protein is fine for a 12 yo
Look Pete I appreciate what your saying but you obviously you don’t understand that to excel there must be sacrafice. I know that now my son might think it’s tough working out when his friends are playing soft ball but he’ll thank me in the long run when hes crushing people with hessian sacks full of muscle and having women throw their underwear at him! Wouldn’t you have loved if your father had done the same?
[quote]frenchbiceps wrote:
Look Pete I appreciate what your saying but you obviously you don’t understand that to excel there must be sacrafice. I know that now my son might think it’s tough working out when his friends are playing soft ball but he’ll thank me in the long run when hes crushing people with hessian sacks full of muscle and having women throw their underwear at him! Wouldn’t you have loved if your father had done the same? [/quote]
Troll.
And if not, you seem to have all the answers so why ask. Put him on steroids and quit wasting time.
[quote]frenchbiceps wrote:
Look Pete I appreciate what your saying but you obviously you don’t understand that to excel there must be sacrafice. I know that now my son might think it’s tough working out when his friends are playing soft ball but he’ll thank me in the long run when hes crushing people with hessian sacks full of muscle and having women throw their underwear at him! Wouldn’t you have loved if your father had done the same? [/quote]
Troll.
And if not, you seem to have all the answers so why ask. Put him on steroids and quit wasting time.[/quote]
My dad had me training a little bit with him when i was a kid. Nothing serious I went with him to the gym and lifted a little. I got burned out real fast. My advice is to just let him be a kid and get him into it in high school. It might not be good on his joints beeing that youn.
[quote]frenchbiceps wrote:
Look Pete I appreciate what your saying but you obviously you don’t understand that to excel there must be sacrafice. I know that now my son might think it’s tough working out when his friends are playing soft ball but he’ll thank me in the long run when hes crushing people with hessian sacks full of muscle and having women throw their underwear at him! Wouldn’t you have loved if your father had done the same? [/quote]
Troll.
And if not, you seem to have all the answers so why ask. Put him on steroids and quit wasting time.[/quote]
Pathetic trollery needs work.[/quote]
Yeah the trolls these days aren’t even funny. Kind of pathetic what people enjoy doing with their spare time.
yes, in order to excel there must be sacrifice. but in order to excel there must also be passion. that is what makes the sacrifice worthwhile. one thing that you might want to be wary of is projecting your passion onto your kid instead of letting him find his own. if you make him sacrifice for your passion he will likely come to resent you for it. of course direction is a good thing. encouragement. but what does he want to do? does he want to lift? are there other sports that interest him?
protein is useful when people aren’t able to get their protein needs met via food. does your son have that problem? if he doesn’t, then why feed him protein supplements? do you think it is a good idea to start noobs out on creatine or is it better to save creatine for down the track, perhaps when beginners gains are stalling?
i hope you are trolling because otherwise i do feel a little worried for your kid…
edit –
personally, i’d try and get him into gymnastics-type stuff. get him manipulating and handling his own bodyweight well. handstands. cartwheels. pull-ups. dips etc.
My dad had an entire room dedicated to home gym equipment. I don’t think he ever once made me use any of it. If I did it was just on my own but he would certainly instruct me if I asked or was interested. I was always a little interested in lifting but never really did it at home regularly. I never started lifting seriously until I moved out of my parents house when I was 20. If my dad had tried getting me to lift seriously when I was young I might have ended up hating it and not be doing it now.
Also supplements are a horrible idea but it sounds like you are not taking that advice either.
Supps seriously? A basic lifting program with instruction on the core lifts … great. A healthy and constructive diet … excellent. Supps … wtf!!! Is this is something he even wants to do?! If he’d rather be playing with his friends, then that’s what he should be doing. Let him ease into it as he likes. It is also important to make sure you are even the best instructor for him (I’d say no based on the supp suggestion alone). It really sounds this is something YOU wanted for YOURSELF, so you are trying to live it through your son.
Does he want to lift? You can’t really force kids to do anything or else they will hate it and despise you for making them do it. But if he wants to lift ease into it he has many years ahead of him to learn how to bench 500lbs and squat 315 for reps maybe start off with body weight stuff and slowly introduce the weights, all the basic stuff like bench pressing, rowing maybe save the squats and DL for when he is older i dont know if there is any truth to this but i heard squatting can cause stunted growth?. at 12 he probably weights like 110 lbs just feed him some meat rice and veggies a few times a day ha no need for anything else really.
ever thought about other physically fit healthy alternatives like football, wrestling, or mma or something?
Kids have a short attention span so circuit training is the best for them. Try giant sets with him.
Have him train with friends too, not just you. I mean. Let his friends work out with you two. That will make it more of a game to him vs you trying to just beat him into the ground.
Cardio for kids is done best with sprint…kids like interval type things remember that…
As far as suppes…id say none. He’s 12 it isn’t hard to meet his nutritional requirements…just feed him a little more every day.
Ok here it is. Alexus, I hadn’t really thought creatine through you are probably right, it would be a good thing to keep until his progress has started to lag. I do still think protein, fish oils and glutamine would be very beneficial to start at a young age though. I think you guys misunderstood me when I said supps, I’m not an idiot I wont be letting him take ‘jacked’ or any of those types of supps but I have no problem buying him a few supps if I am sure they will affect his health positively. The problem is he doesn’t eat much and there is a limit to what I can feed him. I just don’t think I can get enough protein from meat alone, thats why I feel protein would be neccessary. I understand that maybe, as I have stated above, creatine may not be a good supp to take but surely a one protein shake a day wouldn’t do it him harm?
In response to Alexus and Paulieserafini’s advice on other activities: Hes already a very active kid, he plays a little bit of football (The kids version!!) and does judo. I just feel weights would build his confidence alot more for both sports and in general. I appreciate the advice.
