I have a cousin who is 15 and is 5’10 185 and lifts occasionally. He’ll be playing hockey and football, I was going to get him on probably a form of creatine/glutamine pre-workout, Surge post-workout, and some Grow! (for protein needs), and a multi-vitamin. I think this is the safest to start out with. Any comments?
Mack,
Your choices dont look to bad. I will give you my little list in order of importance for a teen such as your cousin.
1= Food/diet (nail this now and this kid will find great results in the future. Many of us here could be much further along if we had taken the time to learn how to eat early on. Dont overwhelm him. Just take it a step at a time.)
2= Surge (PWO nutrition is the second most over looked aspect. Surge will take care of this)
3= Tie here Between Grow! and Proper rest/relaxation away from the GYM. I lean toward the Grow! for a teen. (This due to Most not having a proble sleeping and lounging enough.)
4= A good multi. This will be more or less important depending on diet, but either way is a great addititon.
The rest is an option and not rerally needed I feel for a teen. But, I would say give him the creatine. This will m make him feel special. Give him the help of the creatine as well as a placebo effect of a teen, he can tell his friends “man I am on creatine and gettin huge” Though most will be due to nailing proper nutrition, rest and training.
Dont waste your money on anything else. Save all the extra cash for food and dates for him.
Make it fun yet a challange.
Hope this helps
Phill
A perfect post by Phill!!!
Don’t waste money on supplements…buy training equipment or programs designed specifically for hockey by John Berardi, Christian Thibadeaux, or Coach Davies.
A 15 year old show grow like a weed with adequate training, plenty of quality food. Check out Lonnie Lowery or John Berardi articles for diets and meal plans.
Good luck!
I don’t see the point in having him use creatine since it’s not going to do anything for him in the long term. In fact, I think he’ll be better off using as few supplements as possible at this point.
He’ll likely make better gains if you work with him on his diet and training. Help him with the core essentials and he can always add supplements down the road. Introduce too many supplements now and the focus may shift away from proper diet and/or training.
Thanks for the replies, I’ll probably just go with the Surge, Multi-vit, and Grow!. And talk to his parents about nutrition and set him up with a good program. I wish I had a cousin and parents like he has when I was that age!
Mack, I have a 15 year old son who has been lifting since he was 13. Diet is by far the #1 priority, in the past 6-8 months he has been eating properly and has made amazing gains. He takes Surge postworkout, has 1 sometimes 2 Grow! shakes a day, but his diet is where he gets the majority of his calories and protein. Just last month he started using 5 grams of creatine a day, and the stuff does make a difference, but I would make sure everything else is in order first. Another thing that made a noticible difference was proper sleep habits. Going to sleep aand waking up at the same time seems to be just as important as how much sleep you get. If you’d like I’ll post a typical daily diet that my son uses, he logs his food also. How much he is willing to do and sacrifice depends on how motivted “he” is, not anybody else. You can point him in the right direction, but don’t try to force him to do it, let him find his own way, I know, I have another son that doesn’t give it the same priority and to try and push him does not work.
[quote]piper1 wrote:
Mack, I have a 15 year old son who has been lifting since he was 13. Diet is by far the #1 priority, in the past 6-8 months he has been eating properly and has made amazing gains. He takes Surge postworkout, has 1 sometimes 2 Grow! shakes a day, but his diet is where he gets the majority of his calories and protein. Just last month he started using 5 grams of creatine a day, and the stuff does make a difference, but I would make sure everything else is in order first. Another thing that made a noticible difference was proper sleep habits. Going to sleep aand waking up at the same time seems to be just as important as how much sleep you get. If you’d like I’ll post a typical daily diet that my son uses, he logs his food also. How much he is willing to do and sacrifice depends on how motivted “he” is, not anybody else. You can point him in the right direction, but don’t try to force him to do it, let him find his own way, I know, I have another son that doesn’t give it the same priority and to try and push him does not work.[/quote]
Ya, that would be great if you can post that diet. He said he’s feeling a little bit of pressure to perform well because he’s moving to a new HS with an excellent hockey/football program. He’s used to dominating his peers, but now he’s a freshman and there will be kids bigger and better than him. Thanks.
Mack,
Everything everyone has said here has been solid advice. The only thing i would add on is a BCAA powder. Trainers like Poliquin and Thibaudeau have preached the effectiveness of BCAA’s, and from my own personal experience they are awesome.
Here is a typical day for this summer, obviously it is a little harder during school, but he still does pretty good:
Meal 1: Oatmeal, 2 eggs (boiled usually), 1 serving of Grow protein, 2 fish oil capsules, multivitamin
9:00 A.M.: workout, 1/2 serving of surge during workout, 1 serving of surge post workout with 5 grams creatine
Meal 2: 1 chicken breast, rice, carrots, 2 fish oil capsules
Meal 3: spinach salad with chicken tomato, broccoli cucumber and carrots
Meal 4:2 cans of Tuna, 1 banana
Meal 5: top sirloin steak, baked potato, corn, 2 fish oil capsules.
Meal 6: Plain yogurt with an apple.
9:00 P.M. 1 serving of Grow!
9:30 P.M. 3 ZMA capsules bedtime.
He also has nuts and various fruit he’ll snack on throughout the day, and drinks nothing but water, other than the shakes. The list changes from day to day, but follows this general guideline, that was yesterday. Tuna, Chicken and steak are mainstays, as well as yogurt, fruit and vegetables. Sometimes he’ll have fish instead of one of the other protein sources. On this he has made amazing gains, which has made him all the more committed. People have literally been asking him if he’s on something.
Tflex,
I’m considering BCAAs but feel that they are very plentiful in the protein I take right following my lifting. But I have read more kudos regarding them lately. Do you like them because of added strength or you just feel more enduring in the gym? Thx.