weight lifting
 

I am 15 years old and I was just wondering whats a good age to weight lift. I know that i shouldn't start off lifting heavy weights but how long til i can start lifting heavy weights? or any more information you have for me would be great...thanks

15 is old enough. Just make sure you know what you're doing before you start. If you're in high school, you should have a weight room where they'll be plenty of coaches and trainors around to help you get started. If not, just check out your local gym. Usually when you sign up, they'll give you a personal trainer to start you out. Good luck.

growth
 

It wont effect my growth of anything like that though will it?

Well I don't know how far along puberty you are, but as long as you don't go crazy with it, i.e. taking supplements and lifting your butt off, you should be alright. Just do what you can and be careful with it, you should be fine. But really, make sure you have a good spotter when lifting free weights, cause I got really messed up one time when my spotter wasn't paying attention. I really tore up my left arm muscle. Still bothers me to this day.

At 15 years (sophmore right?) old you are old enough to start weight training. Remember that strength is the easiest to improve out of endurance, flexibility, coordination, and explosiveness. Do not forget to stretch. Often people forget to stretch before and after weight lifting. Stretch at least 10 min before and after lifting. It is always good to include a little cardio such as jumping rope before you start to lift--it will generally warm up your body and allow you to train harder.

I do not know if you are lifting for general strength or for a specfic sport, but hang cleans is a great excercise that builds explosiveness, strength and coordination. It is an excercise that will improve your overall athletic ability.

Good luck and remember if you want to gain muscle you must eat a balanced diet that includes breakfast--that most important meal of the day!

By the way if you eat a balanced diet you do not need supplements! Especially Creatine!

Creatine is not meant to balance your diet. Eating a balanced diet will not give you the effects that creatine supplementation will give you.

But thats not my point. I wouldn't reccomend a large dosage of creatine for a person who is 15 anyways. greent92gt is right in that you will gain the most by concentrating on a balanced diet. Most doctors will tell you that at 15 your body is still growing and that you should not engage in heavy weight lifting. Of course no one who is interested in weight training usually listens to that anyways. I know I didn't.

As a 15 year old I would reccomend to you this. Work out hard if you choose to. But I agree with green92gt stretching is important both before and after you workout. Get plenty of rest. Your body grows while you rest not while you workout. You intentionally cause microtears in the muscles when you lift weights. You must give yourself adequate time to repair or you will hinder your development.

Eat lots of protein, ie Tuna and chicken. Try to stay away from carbs until you are working out harder and more often. Eat 1 gram of protein per pound that you weigh. I started really lifting at the beginning of January along with eatnig right (protein and carbs) and I have seen some big gains.... like 4" in my chest in 2 weeks. In your first 90 days you will see the most improvement and then plateau for a while. But keep at it!

Lift smart, stretch before and after. Start off high repitition, medium weight for a few weeks and gradually increase to low rep high weight. Meaning your target zone of repititions is 6-8 times. If you can lift it more than 8-10 times you need to go up in weight. Any lower, then go down in weight. Complete about 3-4 sets.

Its good to break down your workout into different days, but it reuqires dedication! On Monday's I'll work out my back arms (tricep) and chest ie bench, incline, decline, tricep extensions and pullover, millitary press, and butterfly.

Wed is legs, squats, leg curls, leg extensions, calf extensions.

Friday is shoulders and bicep. ie Bicep curls, shoulder shrugs, lat pulldown, rowing, etc.

Fifteen years old should be old enough to avoid any negative effects from weight lifting. The epiphysis of the bones will take a good amount of stress without effecting your growth. However, if you start experiencing bone pain...and I'm not talking about the delayed onset muscle soreness you're going to feel...ease off for a while.

At your age, your metabolism is likely pretty high as it is. Working out is going to increase that metaboic rate. Eating sufficiently (and balanced) is going to be important. I remember at your age when I was lifting, I had to eat to keep from loosing weight.

I dont' recommend Creatine phosphate supplementation...especially not at your age if at any. You receive all the creatine your body needs from your diet, especially from red meats.

FYI:

Supplementing with creatine is intended to increase the amount of creatine stored in the muscles thus increasing the length of time one can sustain maximal activities during short duration exercises before entering into an oxygen deficit.

Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is the primary fuel used by the body to produce energy. One of the phosphates is enzymatically broken off, releasing energy and forming Adenosine diphosphate (ADP).

ATP is produced via three pathways. The first to be utilized is the ATP-PCr (creatine phosphate) system. PCr is not used directly to produce energy, but rather, it is broken down by creatine kinase in a similar manner that ATP is broken by ATPase. When one of the phosphates is cleaved from PCr, energy is released. This energy is utilized to add a phosphate back to ADP, forming ATP (rephosphorilation). A phosphate is then cleaved from ATP via ATPase to yield energy. This form of respiration occurs very rapidly to supply energy for short-term, high intensity exercise. However, the body's supply of PCr is rapidly depleated. Creatine loading theoretically slightly increases the bodies stores of PCr, thus allowing one to work in a high intensity exercise for a longer period of time. This is especially beneficial for those in power lifting and training.

However, as I said before, the body has a sufficient supply of PCr in reserve. As soon as PCr is depleted, the anaerobic pathways of glycolysis take over, followed shortly by the oxidative respiration and electron transport chain in the mitochondria. Most of the ingested PCr is excreted in the urine, while only a small portion of it is stored in the muscles. This can place a heavy load on the kidneys, and there have been instances in which the kidneys shut down completely when the cycling periods were not followed. Also, there are no long-term studies on the effects of supplementation on health.

Wow, I actaully remembered some stuff from my classes...:).

--nathan

I've been lifting about 3-5 days a week since I was 14. You will be fine. I am short (5'8" or 5'9") but that has nothing to do with lifting. My dad is 5'8" and my mom is 5'2". I have a very short and stocky family.

If you want to gain weight, I don't recommend Creatine or a muscle building supplement. Eat a lot, and if you must, use a high calorie shake like "Weight Gainer 900". That's what I use. ;)