Top 10 Tips To Successful Teen Bodybuilding (Part 2)

By Vince DelMonte

As we talked about in “Top 10 Tips To Successful Teen Bodybuilding Part 1“, bodybuilding may begin at a really early age permitting young fitness fans a whole new world to pursue. Bodybuilding is an great way for teens to get encouraged to adopt a healthy lifestyle because bodybuilding demands frequent muscle training, cardiovascular exercises, balanced nutrition and even development of the intellect since the subject requires constant education. Muscle building can also help you erase nicknames like “Skinny Mini,” “Scrawny,” “Tooth Pick,” “Twiggy,” and in my own personal case, “Skinny Vinny!”

Sadly teen bodybuilding is not as easygoing as it looks and can result in injury, bad habits and frustration if done without structure and progression. Here are my next five tips to successful teen bodybuilding:

6. Learn Proper Technique First

How well do you think you would golf without education? How well do you think you’ll skate without training? How well do you think you’ll play piano without lessons? How much muscle do you think you’ll build without knowing proper lifting technique? Not much!

I hope you’re modest enough to accept the fact that your first move should be to get coaching from a reputable fitness trainer. I know many of your friends will not even consider this and you’ll be told, ‘just learn it yourself,’ or ‘observe others.’ Can you imagine a medical surgeon or pilot who learned this way? Yikes!

Think about it. You’re gonna be lifting weights the rest of your life. Is spending a few hundred or even a few thousand dollars, on high quality education, not gonna pay you back time and time again (for the rest of your life) if you do things properly right from the beginning? Definitely! If you don’t get injured now, most probably it will be in the next few years due to ignorance.

7. Stretch Just As Much As You Lift

Stretching is the most neglected element which is unfortunate since shortened muscles are weaker, slower and are more prone to injury. Stretching is the only exercise where the “more is better” rule applies. Stretching is one habit that can’t be overdone.

If you’re serious about teen bodybuilding, I encourage you to start this habit early. Most text books advocate stretching routines that involve 20-30 seconds per stretch. From real world experience, I’d advise stretching for a minimum of the amount of time that you lift. That means, for every 1 hour of weight training you perform, you must balance the effect of weight training with one hour of stretching. Therefore, if you weight train 4 hours in the week, you better be stretching for at least 4 hours in the week. If you’re very lazy, start stretching for at least half the amount of time that you lift. After you experience the benefits of increased strength, faster recovery and less injuries I’m sure you’ll have no trouble increasing your stretching workouts to the recommended 1:1 ratio.

Fail to stretch for a minimum of the amount of time that you lift is a guaranteed way of shortening a teen bodybuilding career or lifestyle. Remember, weight training shortens and tightens the connective tissue you train. Stretching counters the effect and ensures your muscles have room to grow!

8. Focus On Bodyweight Strength First

It amazes me at how many teen bodybuilders can barely do a set of 40 push ups, 20 chin ups and 30 dips. In my opinion, these are some standard upper body fitness tests that should be completed with ease before loading is introduced (it might take your 3 or 4 months to achieve this if you can’t do them right now). I once heard a famous fitness coach say, “You have no freaking business using a load if you can’t stabilize, control, and move efficiently using your own bodyweight.” I’d have to fully agree.

What’s the point of a sloppy 150 pound lat pull down if you can’t do 10 bodyweight pull ups? What’s the point of a 185 pound bench press with microscopic range reps, if you can push up your body a couple dozen times? What’s the point of a 500 pound leg press if you can do a set of one legged squats down to the floor? Believe me, after a few months of conditioning your body to body weight training, you will be blown away by how quickly your weights climb when you introduce loading.

9. Keep Your Workouts Under 1 Hour

Unless you’re in a teen bodybuilding contest for the longest bodybuilding workout imaginable, it baffles me what you could possibly be doing for more than 1 hour! Unless you go to the gym for mirror workouts (that’s when you spend more time looking in the mirror than actually lifting), you need to get some help with your bodybuilding workout program. If it takes longer than 20-30 minutes of even moderate intensity lifting, I have to doubt your workout intensity. Shorter, more intense workouts will always outflank longer less intense workouts.

Your goal should be to complete your bodybuilding workout quicker and quicker. This will compel your muscles to get conditioned and adapt to a heavier work load.

10. Perform your Exercises on a Full Range Of Motion

Initially, teen bodybuilding should call for building solid muscular attachments, tendons, ligaments and bones. See it this way: building your muscles is the finishing touches on a solid, strong house with a firm foundation. You wouldn’t wanna start framing the house until the foundation has been built. Strengthening your tendons, ligaments and bones would be considered building a strong foundation to build from.

What’s the best way to do this? Build from the inside out. Develop a full range of motion with each weight training exercise to guarantee all the muscle fiber gets stimulated and all the surrounding tissues are fully activated.

Initially, as a teen bodybuilder, you should never sacrifice range for load. Think about it. Partial movements will result to partially-developed muscle. Full movements will develop full muscles.

What would get you better results? Squatting 135 pounds with your butt to the floor or squatting 225 pounds for about ¼ of the way? That’s right, moving the entire range of motion with a lighter weight will involve more musculature, improve your mind-muscle connection better and strengthen all the supporting tissues more speedily.

Conclusion

If you’re serious about doing teen bodybuilding safely and effectively then take all of these tips very seriously. Don’t just pick and choose the ones you happen to fancy. They’ll all result in longer-term benefits and more fruitful bodybuilding lifestyle. To your teen bodybuilding success!