I am lifting with a neighbors son and he is 14. I personally never needed to gain weight, but this kid is on the very low end of bf %. When we started lifting he was around 6.45% bf and now he is really ripped. Now, you are saying that is okay, but he is playing football, not just running. I am hoping to put on some good weight for him in the off season. Any thoughts on what he can eat to gain some weight? It would be nice to see him carry a little more weight. Are there any hard and fast rules of protein/carbohydrate amounts in a day? Any tricks? Eat at night?
Example: if he weighs 130 lbs. and wants to weigh 160 lbs., just hang out with someone that weighs 160 and eat everything that the 160 lber. eats in a day. The reason he weighs 130 is because he eats like a 130 lber. Most young people UNDER-estimate how much they really eat. A daily food log is the best place to start.
It usually will reveal the answer.
Agreed with TNT.
Get his protein above 1 gram per pound of bodyweight most importantly.
However… at that young of an age I dont think weight gain should be the focus. If it comes as a side effect of lifting and natural growth then fine. At that age focus on teaching proper technique and building a foundation for the next few years where the goal is to get much stronger.
He weighs 101 pounds. When he started 3ish months ago he weighed 99. I know he gained some muscle. His stomach is such a wash board now and when he started it wasn’t. Also his whole body looks more muscular, so I think he is heading in the right direction. 101 pounds is very small of course. The kid has the best hands on the team and is pretty fast, but it would be nice to build him up just for safety sake on the field.
During the on season we work out three days a week. All free weights, because that is what I believe in.
Thanks for the 1g of protein per pound of body weight.
If you know his %BF and his Lean Body Mass, it might be better to calculate daily protein requirement on LBM. I like to base it on LBM.
If it is based on body weight, then a 150 lb person @ 33% BF should require about the same protein as a 110 lb person at 10% BF.
Do you see the problem?
That means he must have 36-42 meals with 20-25 grams of protein with Each meals.
Energy requirements? I would go to the massive eating calculator on johnberardi.com
Supplements- Whey supremacy and casein (biotests Grow is a good start)
Also- Many people have been asking about muscle milk and the fats becoming rancid after opening. You have about a week to use the tub before they spoil.
I think the meal planning is huge. It takes time, work and effort and that’s why a lot of people fail with their diets because they take a lot of planning.
This kid is at school for around 7 hours a day so that is probably the time when he’ll neglect his eating the most.
Hi calorie post workout drink is huge as well but it’s only one meal and one meal a day won’t be the be all for your weight gain goals.
Thanks for the replies. I guess it is simple to look at what you folks wrote and see what to do, but now to get him to follow a plan. Not easy, being I have no control over his eating other than a protein shake after he works out. I did get him that. It is Whey Protein w/vitamins and quite a few calories.
I find it absolutely absurd that people will spend 1 1/2 - 2 hrs a day training but won’t spend 10 minutes a day planning or preparing meals and snacks. And then they wonder why they’re not getting the results they had hpoed for.
This is very true, but at 14 your mind is a little different than when you are an adult. I hope to get through to him about it. I think he will listen.
I saw a article on Athletes.com a few months back about nutirtion on high school athletes. The biggest problem is that alot of bad habbits are formed at a young age. In this society its mainly run of fast food. Try to wheen him off of the bad things slowly and start building healthy habbits that will last the rest of his life. no sense trying to get you athlete to gain weight if his diet is terrible.