49 Pounds Of Muscle Later, No One Laughed Anymore
They tell me you can build muscle at any age. Muscle grows by increased stress, rest, recovering, and super compensating. It grows to adapt to the specific demands put on it. Male or female, it doesn’t matter.
That wasn’t the case when I was a teenager. I didn’t think anything would put size on my spider legs.
The rate at which you build muscle has a lot to do with how your life unfolds at different ages. Your hormone levels vary widely at different ages. People with higher testosterone levels, like steroid users and teens, produce muscle growth quicker. As long as they eat enough.
And that’s the kicker.
If you’re young with a fast metabolism, you must eat more than you think to grow. Your testosterone levels are high; you only need to train heavy and eat enough. When your metabolism slows down later in your 20s to 30s, you’ll find putting on muscle mass easier.
As long as you don’t overtrain.
You’ll find all this holds true for females, but you’re going to put on muscle slower than your male counterpart. Generally.
So how can a teenager build muscles fast? Well, teenagers fall in the same category as:
- ectomorphs
- hard gainers
- and naturally skinny people.
The answer is always the same. You need to eat more, lift heavy, and take adequate rest between sets and sessions.
I only trained twice weekly as a teenager wanting to put on muscle mass. I took two to three days between full-body training sessions and weekends off.
I also liked three days weekly, but it’s at the edge of recovery for most, with secondary activities outside the gym. Especially if you’re under heavy caloric demand from sports like football.
An Example Of How Much I Ate To Grow
So how much eating? I would wake up and have a protein shake. It had blended in bananas and I’d use full-fat milk. Then before lunch, I would drink another liter of full-fat milk. I would have a 12-inch long sub full of meat and another liter of milk for lunch.
Then before I got on the bus to come home, I’d have another liter of milk. At supper, I stuffed myself, and later that night, I would drink a homemade mass gaining shake.
It’s a lot. I know.
Later, I tried some supplements, but nothing was worth the money except creatine. Supplements don’t beat food.
For shakes, it doesn’t matter if it’s a mass-gaining shake you buy or something you make up yourself. Just stuff it full of protein and calories.
Does creatine work? Yes. Do you need it? No. You don’t need any supplements.
That gives you an idea how much I needed to stuff myself as a teen. And I still never gained any fat because I was what you would call a classic ectomorph hardgainer. But eating like this fixed my size problem.
Before You Go
Gaining muscle as a teenager is hard if you don’t eat enough and train too much. This is the best time of your life to train hard (not lots) because you’re full of energy, and your recovery is top rate.
Double down on those peanut butter sandwiches, steaks, and squats. You’ll be gaining muscle in no time.
Train your muscles and the 7-C’s: Confidence, clarity, concentration, constraint conquering, continuous learning, commitment and courage.
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Talk to you soon
– Ray