Q&A for: 3-Jul-10
2960. Q:
My son just turned 14 two months ago. he's 5'-9" tall and about 125 lbs. His legs and arms are as long or longer than mine and I am 6'-0" tall. He is interested in building up his strength but I am not sure what are appropriate strengthening exercises for his age. He has been in Judo since he was 8 but all of the guys he works out with are older and stronger which frustrates him. Is there a safe strengthening program for his age?
A:
With adult supervision, he can definitely start weight training at his age. Weight training by itself does not in any way stunt growth -- but a serious injury from weight training could, so the emphasis needs to be on safety. Whichever exercises he does, he needs to first spend time to learn how to do them with proper form. He should not be using very heavy weights which means that whatever weights he selects for a given exercise (and different exercises will be using different weights) he should be able to do at least 6-8 repetitions before coming close to being exhausted and needing a break. Finally, he should not be pushing himself quite to that point of exhaustion, because that's how most injuries happen.
As far as the actual exercises and program, pretty much any of my programs linked in my strength training article would be fine. Just again, the emphasis should be on correct exercise execution as opposed to maximum weight lifted and because of his age he should not be pushing himself to the point of muscular failure yet.
And finally, if his goal is to bulk up in size he needs to eat A LOT! Weight training by itself will not make him bigger, though it will make him stronger. But weight training combined with a lot of nutritious food every day will make him both. You and him may want to read my Nutrition article on how to eat for muscle gain. At his age and physical activity he may easily need to eat more than 3000 calories daily to start putting on significant weight and muscle.
2963. Q:
i am 15 years old and i am not satisfied with my physique. i can sort of see my abs but i want them to pop out and to get a 6-pack. What do i need to eat on a daily basis and how should i exercise. I have dumbbells and can possibly buy some more equipment if necessary.
A:
The reason you cannot quite see your six-pack is because of the layer of body fat covering it. This is very normal -- far more people, including your age group, cannot see their six-packs than those who can. So you should not expect getting to the six-pack stage to be easy or fast.
The only way to do it is to achieve lower body fat (below 10%). For an adult this would normally involve losing weight, but a teenager such as yourself has a big advantage over adults -- your body is still growing and this growth in itself is extremely energy-intensive and is the best fat-burner in the world. All you have to do is give your body 'reason' to build muscle and burn fat over the next couple of years and you should get to that six-pack stage. This means eating a lot, but with very healthy food choices as opposed to junk like sweets, pizza, fast food, or sodas. It also means staying very physically active by playing sports, weight lifting, and other activities (biking, skiing, swimming, hiking, etc). Do those two things consistently and your body will repay you by keeping you in top shape, six-pack and all.
The exact training and diet programs are not that important for you now, just eat healthy foods and stay active in every way possible. If you are not sure which foods are healthy and which aren't, read my Nutrition article. If you want to learn about weight training, read my Weight training article which will also have some sample programs. Remember to NOT push yourself too hard for now while you are still growing. Stop your sets before the point of exhaustion. You do not want to risk injury, especially while you are still growing. And again, more importantly that any specific weight training program is that you eat well and stay generally active. Good luck!
2966. Q:
how many calories do you burn doing 10 sit ups?
A:
Even doing thousands of situps daily will not make much difference in your physique all by itself. It certainly won't give you an abdominal six-pack. You need a comprehensive nutrition program and you need a whole-body exercise program. Start by reading How To Lose Fat and follow its directions.
2969. Q:
hi mike .. i weigh 74 kgs and with 5'9 height . i do weight training in morning 5 times a week and jogging in the evening thrice a week. will this combination of jogging and weight training hav a negative effect on my body as i want to tone up.
A:
That sounds like a great program, I wouldn't change anything. Great job!
2970. Q:
i want yo lose 30 in 9 weeks. how can i do this fast and safely
A:
Unless you are very obese losing 30 pounds of fat in 9 weeks is neither healthy nor productive. It is possible to dehydrate oneself on a crash diet and lose that much weight but that pretty much guarantees that all the weight will come back quickly. A much better approach is to pace yourself for a steady 1-2 pound per week weight loss. Please read my How To Lose Fat article to get started.
2971. Q:
how much daily cardio exercise should a 14 year old get? Thanks, margo
A:
I don't think there's any specific guideline, but a good rule of thumb is to be physically active at least 1 hour per day. That may mean running or playing basketball or lifting weights or even shoveling snow in the winter. More than 1 hour is certainly perfectly fine for a teenager as well, of course.
2972. Q:
If i follow the diet exatcly how it is will i gain weight, because i been plato almost a year and cant gain weight
A:
It's very simple: you need to eat more food! Except for the incredibly rare medical conditions anybody in the world can gain weight by simply eating more food. It's not always easy to stuff yourself with food around the clock, but that's what it comes down to. Find a way to eat more, hopefully healthy, food every day and you will gain weight.
My one favorite recommendation is a peanut butter banana sandwich: take two pieces of whole wheat bread, smother natural peanut butter on them (unlike most peanut butters, natural peanut butter is quite healthy -- its only ingredients should be peanuts and salt), and slice a banana and put it in the middle of the sandwich. That's around 500 reasonably healthy, fast, and tasty calories right there. Of course many many other foods are just as good. One way or another you simply need to eat more.
2973. Q:
Im about 45 pds over weight ,6' tall and not very active.Since I'm 40 now I want to get into great shape eat healthy and tone up,but I've never worked out or bought healthy food to prepare HELP HELP HELP
A:
No worries, all the information you need is right here on my website. It comes down to understanding how your body stores fat and then how to select nutrition and exercise programs to reverse the process. Start by reading How To Lose Fat and it'll give you the basic principles behind fat loss and refer you to Nutrition and Weight training articles. Finally my Fitness guide will set you up with a starter program which you'll need to customize to your tastes and preferences.
You may also want to start your own Fitness blog here -- it's completely free and I'll be able to check in on your progress there and answer your questions or suggest changes as needed.
3007. Q:
Hi Mike, just to say you have an amazing, simple and esy to follow site. I wanted ask, you have alot on diet and specific exericses, but not a lot on cardio. I am 6ft 2" and 213 lbs, I am trying to do a fat loss muscle gain diet. Can you advise what you recommend High intesity cardio or stamina cardio. Also I have a bench press, dumbells and a treadmill, anything else essential for my goals.
A:
Thank you, very glad you are finding my site useful. If you have to select one, I would go with high intensity cardio. It also takes less time. Overall I view cardio as secondary to diet and heavy exercise which is why I don't dedicate as much space to it on my website. If you have a great diet and strength program you should see very good results, regardless of the exact cardio program you select. But of course cardio is very good for your overall health, so I would encourage everybody to do some form of it whether they want to lose fat or not.
As far as the equipment needed, a pullup bar would be very helpful -- pullups in their many forms are probably the single best exercise for the upper body (squats and deadlifts being the best whole-body exercises). Even if you can't do a single pullup, a great alternative is to start on a chair in the pulled-up position and fight gravity for 3-5 seconds as it drags your body down. Without a barbell you won't be able to do conventional squats or deadlifts, but with heavy enough dumbbells, dumbbell squats (where you hold dumbbells by your sides) are a great alternative. You can supplement those with dumbbell lunges for a good lower-body workout. Hope that helps!
3017. Q:
How can I loose body fat I am fat all over my body ?
A:
Please start by reading How To Lose Fat and follow the links given there to put together a complete diet and exercise program for yourself.
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