I’m 15 years old 5’7.5", 151 lbs, and have been lifting for about a year. Ive been on a lean bulk since September last year and put on 20 pounds, nearly all muscle, about the same body fat percentage, same height. Ive kept it lean so i wouldnt gain any bodyfat. I want to really get stronger and bigger, should I be worried about fat gain? I have pretty decent abs, but I’m worried about excessive fat gain, since i’ve heard fat comes back easier if you’ve gained it before. I was very chunky in the past ( I used to be 160 at 5’4" at 13, i did not work out. It was pretty much all fat. )
Im currently upping my caloric intake to 3k a day. Is this enough to gain strength and muscle at a reasonable rate? I don’t want to gain much fat, but I’m wondering if me worrying about it trying to be lean is effecting muscle and strength gain. I hope i’m making sense.
I do believe this. I believe I have some “problem areas” that take too much sacrifice to keep off because of past permabulking. I have the middle-aged four-pack/love handles/veiny limbs look and I’m OK with it.
I also believe, though perhaps wrongly, that getting shredded (5-6%) at least once or twice makes getting leaner in the future easier.
Well my weight has stalled, ive been at around 150 since middle of may. Im taking this just as I need more calories. I am wondering if i could gain a significant amount more muscle and strength if i upped the calories I bit out of lean bulk range, without gaining too much fat. I am probably gonna just keep lean bulking like i have been though
My strategy for success in the weight room was one question: Am I getting stronger on most all my exercises? I started lifting weights at age 19 and about 165lbs (at 6’ 0") For the first 3 years I never weighed. Those years my strength grew. Sometimes at a steady increase, and sometimes with a plateau followed by a short spurt increase. The only diet changes I made were being more focused on eating more protein.
At age 21 I began competing and don’t know what I weighed. (There were no weight classes in the early 1970’s. Everyone competed against everyone.)
I short plateau is not sufficient to require a diet response. Your body often seeks a set point. Overcoming that “desired” set point is more your persistence than it is a signal for a change, IMO. But always strive to eat more protein regardless of your progress. Your aim is to eat 1.5 times your body weight (lbs) in grams of protein. Once you are consuming sufficient protein, just make that a habit.
Bump it up to 3200. Stay there for a few weeks and track your weight gain. If you are gaining too fast you can always drop calories a little. At your age I would not be too concerned with “lean bulking” or fear of getting fat. You are primed for growth, do not over complicate it.
Burn this look in your mind. If you have a pic of you then, place it on the refrigerator. Never forget that look until it is very far in the rear-view mirror.
I dont have any pic of myself then, but i am deeply disgusted for having let myself go that way (I was under the delusion it was good to get fat? I was possessed by some demon, ig) Im never gonna let myself get that way. And If i do gain a little bit of fat, I am still healthy and strong, i just have to slow down on eating and do a bit more cardio
Don’t get too stressed man. You’re still a kid and you’re doing a fantastic job. Keep rolling, play some sports (please), and don’t be too afraid to eat a cheeseburger. I wouldn’t force feed yourself, for sure, and what you’re doing is definitely working; I just wouldn’t personally advise getting so myopic you miss out on life unless this is going to pay your bills (like there’s a D1 offer on the line).
I want to play a sport, but all the ones at school fall into one of 4 categories:
Not really a sport, just a game
Don’t want to do
Want to do but takes too much time and/or money
Probably could do, if only the school had it
I do try to stay active though, with my lifting and also trying to get in hikes, mile runs, etc.
I can’t really get totally onboard with any of that, my young friend, but I do think you’re doing really well for a 15 year old so I’d say keep on keeping on! I will readily embrace that sports have changed enormously since I was young, so I do get that it’s a different world now.
At 15, I wouldn’t worry about abs at all. This is a prime age for growing. This is the age where your body will recover VERY well from training, and will be primed for anabolism. This is the ideal age to get big and strong. I’m turning 40 this year, and it’s stupidly easy for me to get lean, but trying to get strong like I did in my 20s isn’t nearly as easy.
HOWEVER, this does NOT mean it’s a license to eat like an unsupervised 8 year old. The opposite. At 15, the biggest favor I could have done myself was learn how to cook some simple meals, and then live off said meals. I ate way too much processed/fast food, and hamstrung myself in terms of my growth, both physically and as a whole person.
Training, with a focus on performance, alongside eating with a focus on facilitating the recovery from the training, would be my primary focus. I’d let my abs get blurry, as it would mean I was most likely in an ideal bodyfat state to grow. I’ve tried being stupid lean and growing: it went poorly, and I often got injured.
Baseball seems fun but costs a lot of money to get a bat and everything for some reason, and Football. I was thinking about football seriously the one time, and I was gonna do it but i don’t know, I was thinking, do I want to take on that type of responsibility and commitment, for something I probably don’t even really like, that could wind up in serious injury? (I woke up the one night after having a dream of throwing a football back and forth, and I thought “I want to play football”, full well knowing a lot of the game isn’t even that.)
I had also considered wrestling after my one friend said it would be a good fit for me since i’m pretty in shape, but, I don’t really feel like I want to do that.
Field hockey is a sport I want to do, but I don’t want to take that big a commitment. I just want a fun thing to do with friends ever so often, not the equivalent of a job that you don’t even get paid for.
3 seasons of wrestling was the greatest physical gift I ever gave myself. My biggest regret was not having done a fourth season (I played football as a freshman, before discovering wrestling as a sophomore).
Sometimes, it’s not the end that compels us to do these things but the means. I didn’t care about wrestling or being a wrestler: I cared about wrestling practice. The training is absolutely incredible, and the physical skillset you develop is invaluable.
Most people don’t lift weights to be the greatest lifter of weights: they do it for the benefits of lifting weights. It may be worth viewing sports from a similar lens. If you have college ambitions as well, an application featuring participating in sports (especially a varsity letter) looks better than an application that looks like it came from a kid that spent 4 years of highschool indoors playing Fortnight.
I guess I should clarify. I did ask my parents if I could do it, and my dad said that he doesn’t want me to do it. He doesn’t want me getting cauliflower ear, since he knew a guy who did wrestling in school, with the protective ear muffs, and still got it somehow. My brother tried it and didn’t like it.
And when I say I don’t want to do it, its not as in I don’t “want” to do it, I say it as I “do not want” to do it. To be blunt, it weirds me out personally.
I’m sure it’s a great sport physically. I know it has great training, Ive seen some of the kids at school they’re strong.
There is a Martial arts club at school, it focuses on Brazillian Jiujitsu, and some striking movements like kicks and punches. I’m probably going to be doing it during the upcoming school year. Its not serious but its a start at least