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Thread: Long and lean 15 year old

  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2017
    Posts
    52

    Default Long and lean 15 year old

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    My son turned 15 in February and is interested in strength training. He has been doing various stuff at gym class in school which he likes, but it's obviously not an ideal situation since typically they are broken up into groups of around 4 or 5, limited time, all over the board as far as exercise selection, etc.

    He is almost 6-03 and weighs 148 lbs (yep he got the body style from his old man). I have stressed to him, constantly, how important it is for him to eat eat eat. He gets it, and tries to eat more, but he is a typical teenager so he does not always prioritize food. The biggest issue I see is that his metabolism is in hyperdrive.

    He wants to keep lifting when summer break arrives. Do y'all think it's okay to get him going with SS or is it better to make him wait until he starts packing on extra pounds, which will take a while to say the least? Or any other modifications that might work for him?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Savannah GA, and White Springs FL
    Posts
    390

    Default

    A gallon of milk a day, and the SS novice program.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2015
    Location
    Boston, MA
    Posts
    697

    Default

    I am in the same situation. Mine is 14 but ready to start, at least according to him.

    Here's the deal: according to Rip's writings, if he is Tanner stage 4 or beyond beyond, yes he can train and run his novice LP.
    Most likely your 15 year old is past this stage. With my son, the training and the eating will go hand in hand. No need to wait.
    One often drives the other. If he is skinny now and not training, he will not see any reason to eat for effect. If he trains, he will likely begin to understand at least intuitively that he needs to eat to grow, and needs to grow to get stronger. No one likes to plateau early, he will realize simply by training he has to eat to get stronger. (You may want to show him Wolfe's and Matt Reynolds articles about eating.)

    GOMAD and a lot of food around the house can work wonders for a young buck, even half a GOMAD to start. Also, I have been taking him to the gym with me to watch the movements, which seemed to work because his first time deadlifting on the platform his form was impressive, which he attributed to simply watching.

    Forgive the long response. Yes, my opinion, and I am not a SSC, is to get him running his LP and make sure he understands he has to eat a lot more than he thinks. I also plan to take him to a one day Starting Strength Squat and Deadlift camp so that he hears it from some seriously strong people, not just his old man.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2017
    Posts
    52

    Default

    Thanks for the responses and good suggestions. Food and LP it is.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2017
    Posts
    4

    Default

    I agree, my son has been training with me for a year and a half now and his nutrition is still not on point but he is improving all the time. Start with lifting and having a good time and pretty soon nutrition and extra sleep will follow. Training with my kid has been the best thing ever.

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