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15 year old son starting to train for upcoming football season. went into camp last july not in best shape. was a little overweight and it showed with the conditioning drills. got a little worried about this season over the winter and cut out all the junk and between the growth spurts he got tall and lost what ever baby fat he had left. hes 30 lbs lighter than last summer and is starting to hit the weights and versaclimber 5 days a week. eating like a horse but not putting on weight with all the exercise. he would to start adding some weight but not by eating alot of junk. i dont want him to lose any more weight and told him he will have to back down the exercise if weight starts to drop. doesnt look to have an ounce of fat on him now. hes passionate about playing but the health will come 1st. has been to doctor for check up and all is good just that he thinned out once puberty got going. any ideas for a healthy way to add weight or just let nature take it course? also does mma 3 days a week which adds to the exercise
15 year old son starting to train for upcoming football season. went into camp last july not in best shape. was a little overweight and it showed with the conditioning drills. got a little worried about this season over the winter and cut out all the junk and between the growth spurts he got tall and lost what ever baby fat he had left. hes 30 lbs lighter than last summer and is starting to hit the weights and versaclimber 5 days a week. eating like a horse but not putting on weight with all the exercise. he would to start adding some weight but not by eating alot of junk. i dont want him to lose any more weight and told him he will have to back down the exercise if weight starts to drop. doesnt look to have an ounce of fat on him now. hes passionate about playing but the health will come 1st. has been to doctor for check up and all is good just that he thinned out once puberty got going. any ideas for a healthy way to add weight or just let nature take it course? also does mma 3 days a week which adds to the exercise
The fact that he is 30 lbs. lighter than last year is surprising regardless of his height and weight. I wouldn't blame problems in the conditioning drills on being overweight. It is a matter of getting in the right shape for football. His exercise is not causing him to lose that kind of weight.
The biggest issue that I see is he is just now starting to hit the weights. He should have been lifting and trying to put on weight since the end of football season. In fact, many high school sports teams make the mistake of cutting back on weightlifting during the season. What happens is players lose strength as the season progresses.
He needs to be adding supplemental whey protein to his diet. At his age, body size and exercise level, I would not be worried about him eating a lot of junk food. He needs to be lifting heavy with a program built on squats, deadlifts and bench press. Each of his sets should be between 6 and 10 reps, and he should be doing 3-5 sets.
A key thing to remember is he should eat as large a breakfast as possible and never go hungry during the day. Many high school kids don't eat breakfast and are starved in the morning until lunch. He should carry some protein bars with him to school and find a time to eat one as a mid-morning snack.
Don't be worried about him getting too much exercise. Our high school quarterback is one of the strongest players on the team. He lifts heavy every day after school including during basketball season. He lifted after school, went home to eat, and came back to school for evening basketball practice. He started on a team that went to the state tournament.
last year was 5'11 and 210 at start of camp in early july. played on offensive and defensive line. quickly started to shed weight and by end of season was 190. grew over 2 inches since and is 175 now. he had decided to cut out the junk and even though the wife and i told him he was fine he eliminated the junk and dropped the the 15 lbs. at end of season i thanked the coaches and head coach told me to have him come into camp in better shape this year and i think it stuck in his head.i told him to let me know when he was ready to train as i wasnt going to force him. he came to me 6 weeks ago and said he wanted to start getting ready. started slow with some elliptical for cardio and push ups 2 days on 1 day off. now up to 4 days on 1 off and may1st its 5 days on 1 off. warms up on elliptical for short time then sets of pushups and curls with weights and on to the versaclimber for cardio back to reps with weights and push ups then back on climber doing long steps for leg strength. just dont want him to drop anymore weight with the added training. he'll be on jv one more season and the varsity does do an off season weight program
He should be squatting for leg strength and he should cut back on the cardio. He should focus more on quick bursts of exertion and not target heart-rate type cardio. Village Idiot is right, he needs weight training and not high reps, but more geared toward power lifting. If he is able to lean out like he has, he should be eating healthy food like a sweat-hog. Whey protein is a must for sure, but I would even consider going more to the extreme and go for a hard gainer/weight gain type shake. He needs to pound his body with calories and build muscle if he is going to be a lineman. Strength is key and so is being able to use quick bursts of energy and cut his recovery time down. I would even go so far as to say get him into a 3 or 4 reps per set range with 30-45 seconds between sets. He needs to be explosive.
the coaches determine where he will play. they are a little careful with the weights on this level i guess. i had asked about that at end of last season and was told to get him doing pushups and his body will limit what he can do. currently doing 10 reps with the weights. ill cut it down and add weight. i do give him whey protein isolate but not all the time. when my oldest son was running track he was taking it and developed kidney stones that the doctor said was from the protein powder. he stopped and never had another issue. the reason for the cardio now is that they run the hell out of them in the beginning and he wants to be ready. thanks for all the ideas
last year was 5'11 and 210 at start of camp in early july. played on offensive and defensive line. quickly started to shed weight and by end of season was 190. grew over 2 inches since and is 175 now. he had decided to cut out the junk and even though the wife and i told him he was fine he eliminated the junk and dropped the the 15 lbs. at end of season i thanked the coaches and head coach told me to have him come into camp in better shape this year and i think it stuck in his head.i told him to let me know when he was ready to train as i wasnt going to force him. he came to me 6 weeks ago and said he wanted to start getting ready. started slow with some elliptical for cardio and push ups 2 days on 1 day off.now up to 4 days on 1 off and may1st its 5 days on 1 off. warms up on elliptical for short time then sets of pushups and curls with weights and on to the versaclimber for cardio back to reps with weights and push ups then back on climber doing long steps for leg strength. just dont want him to drop anymore weight with the added training. he'll be on jv one more season and the varsity does do an off season weight program
If he is 15 years old I'm assuming he is in 9th grade. Schools that are serious about football have their players on serious lifting programs before the start of 9th grade. Many schools lift year round. Most other schools start their lifting program the first of January.
The program above is not going to make any progress. Forget about the curls and pushups. I would have him lifting 4 days a week, two days upper body and two days lower body. Never do the same body parts two days in a row. The versaclimber is not going to build leg strength. For leg strength, he needs squats and deadlifts. Supplemental exercises would be step ups on a box and lunges.
For upper body, he should do bench presses, pullups, rows and military presses. These should be done with a barbell. I would also include some chest work with either a pec dec machine or cable flyes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wheelz
He should be squatting for leg strength and he should cut back on the cardio. He should focus more on quick bursts of exertion and not target heart-rate type cardio. Village Idiot is right, he needs weight training and not high reps, but more geared toward power lifting. If he is able to lean out like he has, he should be eating healthy food like a sweat-hog. Whey protein is a must for sure, but I would even consider going more to the extreme and go for a hard gainer/weight gain type shake. He needs to pound his body with calories and build muscle if he is going to be a lineman. Strength is key and so is being able to use quick bursts of energy and cut his recovery time down. I would even go so far as to say get him into a 3 or 4 reps per set range with 30-45 seconds between sets. He needs to be explosive.
I suggested 6-10 reps since I think this is better for building size at this point. Clser to the start of football, I would drop the reps to 5 or less.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jg123456789
the coaches determine where he will play. they are a little careful with the weights on this level i guess. i had asked about that at end of last season and was told to get him doing pushups and his body will limit what he can do. currently doing 10 reps with the weights. ill cut it down and add weight. i do give him whey protein isolate but not all the time. when my oldest son was running track he was taking it and developed kidney stones that the doctor said was from the protein powder. he stopped and never had another issue. the reason for the cardio now is that they run the hell out of them in the beginning and he wants to be ready. thanks for all the ideas
The coaches sound like they are from the 1960s. I've seen 9th grade football and basketball players who are built like D-1 linebackers. Some kids mature earlier than others but most are getting there through lifting weights.
There are thousands if not millions of people using whey protein. Kidney issues are very rare. There was really no advantage to your oldest son using whey protein for running track. It only helps if combined with heavy lifting to build size and strength.
I don't have a problem with cardio. I think it takes some distance running to get in shape for two hour football practices. Yes, cardio will impact your maximum gains, but football requires endurance and explosiveness. Our local HS football team was extremely undersized on the line last year but made the playoffs through strength and extreme conditioning that started in the spring. Many of the skill players were also basketball players who also participated in a couple of leagues and AAU tournaments.
coaches run a great program both the jv and varsity went undefeated all season. varsity lost in the playoffs. large school division. just trying to figure this all out to help him out
15 year old son starting to train for upcoming football season. went into camp last july not in best shape. was a little overweight and it showed with the conditioning drills. got a little worried about this season over the winter and cut out all the junk and between the growth spurts he got tall and lost what ever baby fat he had left. hes 30 lbs lighter than last summer and is starting to hit the weights and versaclimber 5 days a week. eating like a horse but not putting on weight with all the exercise. he would to start adding some weight but not by eating alot of junk. i dont want him to lose any more weight and told him he will have to back down the exercise if weight starts to drop. doesnt look to have an ounce of fat on him now. hes passionate about playing but the health will come 1st. has been to doctor for check up and all is good just that he thinned out once puberty got going. any ideas for a healthy way to add weight or just let nature take it course? also does mma 3 days a week which adds to the exercise
Sounds like he's getting in great shape so I wouldn't worry much. My son is 16 and announced a couple months ago that he was going to gain 20 pounds in 6 weeks! No special reason, he just decided that it would be cool to weigh 80kg (176 pounds) So he started eating ridiculous amounts of food, healthy and junk, probably 5000+ calories a day and doing a lot more weight training. (I have been working out with him off and on since he was 12) He did quickly put on 4kg in a couple weeks, but couldn't add any more despite the huge food intake. It almost seemed like he was defying the laws of physics. He keeps getting stronger though and I tell him that it's actually better for sports if you can get strong without getting a lot heavier.
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