How Can a Teenager Get Buff?

Diet

• Both what teens eat and how much they eat are crucial to proper muscle growth. The diet is the energy that fuels the exercise and is therefore integral; simply exercising without changing the diet will not make a teenager buff. Because your teen is looking to buff up, he will need to eat over maintenance, which means he will need to eat somewhere between 500 and 1,000 calories more than he currently eats. His diet should focus on the three main macronutrients important in building the body: carbohydrates, protein and fats. Healthful carbohydrates include wholegrain products, rice and starchy roots. Healthful proteins include lean meats, dairy and fish. Healthful fats are not what we commonly consider to be fats; healthful fats are foods such as plant oils and nuts. Aim for a meal plan that allows your teen to eat some of each of these macronutrients every day.

Weight Training

• For getting buff, teens should focus on weight training. Weight training is the main tool athletes use to build muscle, and it works the same for teens. Teenagers should aim for at least three days of weight training per week for optimal growth. Ideally, they should plan one rest day between successive weight training days, as it is during the rest days that the muscles grow. While training, teens should focus on one or a small set of muscles. For example, for a three-day weekly routine, a teen might consider working on the upper body on Tuesday, the core on Thursday and the lower body on Saturday. This way, each area of the body gets adequate rest between training days.

A Sample Weight Training Routine

• The market is saturated with weight training guides and trainers giving advice that varies widely from the standard to the wacky. Teens should stick with what works, leaving experimentation for adulthood. A standard weight training routine contains approximately five exercises per day. Each exercise should hit the target area. Teens should perform these exercises five times for five sets. For example, if one of the teen̵7;s exercises for the upper body day is the bicep curl, he should perform five bicep curls with each arm, rest for three minutes, and repeat the process four times, making a total of five sets. In total, he will have performed 25 bicep curls with each arm, which is enough of a weight training exercise to gain noticeable muscle growth.

Cardio

• While cardio does help with overall health, it can sometimes be detrimental to muscle growth due to its characteristic of burning calories. Burning too many calories leads to weight loss, not weight gain. Regardless, teens should still engage in some cardio for a healthy heart and respiratory system. However, teens should focus on cardio that puts more resistance on the body, training the muscles at the same time. Exercises such as boxing, punching-bag training, or uphill running all put extra resistance on the body while it engages in cardio. Teens should engage in about three days of cardio per week at approximately 40 minutes per session, all the while watching their diet so as to prevent a caloric deficit. This means eating more if they add more cardio to their exercise routine.