How do you safely put weight on a teenage athlete?

[BeepBeepInMyJeep]

I have to say it makes sense to do everything besides creatine (see my prior post) for about 3 months and then when he plateaus add in the creatine with more water. The creatine will push him to another level. Yes the gains will diminish somewhat when he eventually stops the creatine.

Thanks, I really do think there's a lot to be gained from a daily routine. When 40 year olds start workout regimens who would otherwise be a lump on the couch, 3 days a week is fine. But for someone looking to compete at a high level and with youth on their side, they can work out 5 days a week at minimum, ideally 6. I think some adults fall into this trap a bit too and get frustrated about not seeing results when running or exercising 2-3 days a week.

Unlike pitching a baseball, your body IS made/built to run and exercise daily. Now that I'm almost 40 and have lost any meaningful athletic ability I ever had (I also smoked for a number of years), I enjoy the 5-10k races. If you're doing couch to 5k and just want to walk half the time and finish in 35 minutes, 3 days a week is fine. If you want to run a 6-7 minute mile pace at my age, you just have to run at least 15 minutes virtually every day.

I'm not a personal trainer but I'm just of firm belief that all things being equal, doing it 30 minutes a day for 6 days a week is better than 1 hour 3 days a week, especially for strength.

 

[hawkeyekid]

Lift heavy things. Eat a lot and get adequate protein. Sleep. Avoid getting hurt.

Creatine Monohydrate​

Benefits: Creatine monohydrate supplementation increases creatine phosphate and creatine kinase in the muscles to produce energy for the phosphocreatine bioenergetic pathway.[11] In short, this provides more energy (ATP) for the skeletal muscles during movements that require high force and power production. This contributes to increased training volume tolerance, strength, and intramuscular hydration for anabolism. In addition, there is data suggesting an increase in the number of nuclei in a muscle cell, which would increase the amount of protein that can be synthesized by the muscle itself.[12] Neurological and cognitive functions have also been shown to improve with creatine ingestion, notably during sleep deprivation and natural impairment from aging.[13] This has sparked ongoing trials that research the effects of creatine ingestion on neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Cerebral Palsy.

Dosage: Take 3–5g/day, everyday. There is no need to “load” it. The muscle cells will saturate sufficiently over time.

Timing: Timing is not as important as consistency but some of you will experience gastrointestinal distress after consumption. To avoid an unpleasant interruption to your training, begin taking this post-training or at any other less risky time of day. Better safe than sorry...

11. Buford TW, Kreider RB, Stout JR, Greenwood M, Campbell B, Spano M, Ziegenfuss T, Lopez H, Landis J, Antonio J. International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: creatine supplementation and exercise. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. 2007 Aug 30;4(1):1.
12. Olsen S, Aagaard P, Kadi F, Tufekovic G, Verney J, Olesen JL, Suetta C, Kjær M. Creatine supplementation augments the increase in satellite cell and myonuclei number in human skeletal muscle induced by strength training. The Journal of physiology. 2006 Jun 1;573(2):525-34.
13. Cooper R, Naclerio F, Allgrove J, Jimenez A. Creatine supplementation with specific view to exercise/sports performance: an update. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. 2012 Jul 20;9(1):1.