Top 5 Mistakes by Teen Bodybuilders

BY JONATHAN KANEVSKIY

 

#1- WEAK DIET

Too many teens rely on solely the training to get them in their desired shape. As important as training is in any fitness related goal, the diet is what separates the comments from people like “eh, you look good” to comments like “HOLY S*** you look amazing!!”. There are many reasons for teens having weak diets this could be results of laziness, peer influence, lack of nutrition education, and many mental games such as “If I start dieting, I will get too small” or “dieting is only for fat people” or “ I’m a genetic freak, I can eat whatever I want and still get ripped! ”. Some of my teen friends have recently taken up the sport of bodybuilding or have just started training to improve for their sports and tell me:

“I had some great results the first few months I started training, but for the last 6 months I look the same! I can’t put on any more mass, my strength is the same, my body fat hasn’t dropped, what am I doing wrong? I mean I increased my sets, reps, training frequency, cardio, etc.” Then I ask about their diet and eating habits…They say “I don’t really eat by a plan or keep track of what I eat, I just eat when I’m hungry and what’s available at that given time”. So as soon as they fix that area and start eating with more structure and consuming high quality meals containing adequate protein, carbs, fats, micronutrients, and total calories in their diet with an improved water intake, they become amazed of how fast they achieved results and how much they missed out on due to their poor diets.

 

#2- SO MANY SUPPLEMENTS, BUT NO FOOD.

What is about supplements that are more appealing than whole food to teens? Is it the claims, packaging, endorsed athletes who also use the same brand of supplements or all of the above? Whatever it is, it’s definitely helping the company sell their products to the younger target market. Teens want results as fast as possible. Everyone does, but teens tend to be more naive to false claims and fancy brand names. Anything in the title that includes words like muscle, max, huge, ripped, shredded, mass, ultra, mega, fusion, will sell! They are all over the magazines right next to pictures of endorsed IFBB pros, top NPC bodybuilders, and fitness models. It gives them a sense of security that if they also use that supplement they will be well on their way to match the physiques of the endorsed athletes. Supplements are not the problem, in fact, a lot of them are effective with a diet and solid training program that is already in place while taking the supplement. The problem is that many teens have the belief that supplements are far more superior than real food sources. Supplements are called supplements because they “supplement the diet”; therefore making it secondary to the diet that includes real food sources. Fat burners appeal to many overweight teens because it’s a like a quick fix, plus it has claims such as “get abs in 4 weeks”. So then they think ”If I take the pill once a day my problem will be solved”. Little did they know, the important aspects such as their diet is full of crap and their physical activity is nonexistent and then they put their trust into a supplement to work while the important things are all out of place.

 

#3- NO MIND MUSCLE CONNECTION, BAD FORM.

This goes out to teen bodybuilding athletes specifically who are not training for anything other than bodybuilding. The thing is their workout plans are pretty much spot on. They include great exercises, good number of sets, but they are not hitting the target muscles as needed to grow. They think they are doing a bench press or a squat but really all they are doing is using every force in their body to bring the weight up as soon as it goes down even if it means using a whole different area that you are not trying to train on that day. An exercise such as the bench press can be performed in many ways. It can be working the triceps, the lats, but the chest is what it’s known and intended to be worked on. It’s important to be conscious on every rep that the way you perform each repetition is stimulating the desired target muscle group the proper way. So the way to achieve mind muscle connection is directly related to the form you are using. The right form is the form you feel the muscle stimulated best. It could be full range of motion or ¾ of the full motion. Also the grip you are using will affect how you will you will feel the muscle working or maybe not at all. Everyone is built differently, we have different bone structures and muscular attachments, so everyone’s formula is a bit different when it comes to training or how they will feel the muscle best. Teens tend to learn this very late in their lifting career and realize how achieving mind muscle connection positively affects their gains and betters their physique.

 

#4- BALANCING BODYBUILDING WITH PARTYING

This is pretty common. When you’re a teen there are always temptations to go out with your friends, enjoy, relax, have a beer, have a smoke, eat some junk food. It gets almost so tempting that it could totally take you go out of your motivated mindset to working out, being healthy and looking good. Some understand that the two should not mix but still do it, but unfortunately many have no clue how detrimental being involved the party scene could be to slowing down results and progress in their fitness goals. Then they start over again the next day with training and eating well for the next 5-6 days then Friday comes around and it’s party time, they scew it all up again, and again the next day they start over hoping to continue where they left off. This only sets them up for failure and frustration. Imagine how hard you worked and then a small chunk of your week sets you back so far. It only puts a halt to their ability to make gains and get shredded.

 

#5- BEING STUBBORN TO TAKE ADVICE FROM MORE EXPERIENCED OTHERS.

One of the biggest mistakes a teen bodybuilder can make is to not take tips from others who have done and excelled way more in the sport than they have.

 

SCENARIO:

A fit teen male who already has a pretty good physique with a six pack, thick pecs, and round shoulders can quickly develop the idea that he knows that whatever he is doing is the right way to do things and that nothing else is better than what he is already doing at that time. I mean this kid is the biggest is in his high school, on his football team, he gets all the girls, and he has kids coming to him for advice. This quickly leads him to believe he is the most knowledgeable guy around and that he knows his shit. This kid got the body he has from McDonalds and Taco Bell and grew on pushups and pull-ups and he is recommending this to others coming to him for advice. But then this kid goes to compete in an NPC bodybuilding show, he did his own prep eating his usual diet of fast food and trained with calisthenics for his workout. He wins the teenage overall and is congratulated by everyone to boost his confidence. For his next show he decides to do the open division. So he enters the most competitive show in his region and does not even place in his weight class. He reads the critique from judges “glutes too soft, legs could be leaner, needs more ham drop, abs could be leaner, back could be dryer”. This kid is upset. He says, “F**k that! I have the best genetics in the whole show, no one has more potential than me. The judges were obviously blind, I was robbed! My ways were what got me where I am in the first place”. For the next 5 years he kept competing in the opens and never placed in each show while doing his usal diet and training. He had a good structure and definitely had the potential, but the condition and completeness of his physique was not where needed to win or even place well.

 

MY POINT IS-

Had he taken the action to soak in the critique from the judges as a way to better himself as a bodybuilder and improve on his lagging areas and conditioning he could have done very well in his future shows. His mistake only allowed him to keep making the same mistake repeatedly year after year. Hiring a prep coach would have been a good investment on his part making every payment of his NPC registration cards and entry fees well worth each penny knowing he had a strong second eye making sure he was well prepared to battle. In this sport you really need to get as much critique as possible, not from everyone (because there are people out there who don’t understand the criteria for judging in a bodybuilding show), but from people who have paid their dues and have done well in order to have a good idea of what weakness are needed to be improved on to make you an even better, more successful bodybuilder.