Help with 17 yr old

[dean001]

I have a 17 yr old son that is very athelitic, he plays football and baseball at a 5A HS in Louisiana. He is approx 5'10 190lbs. Bench 235, squat 400 and clean 265. Runs about 4.9 40... He has seen other kids get bigger, faster and stronger than he and not work as hard. I, as a parent am against steriod use, but want to know if ther is something else out there to help him. Just wondering and would appreciate any help.

Thanks

[seanw]

Well at 17 years old that is a very wise move to stay away from gear. The best thing to do is look at his diet. Diet is they key to growing, steroids just make it happen quicker. Whats his bf% . You might want to look at this UNoffical "How to Bulk" thread and sample diet... to give you an idea of what he should be eating to get bigger. Make sure he is getting around 250 to 300g of protein a day. You might try some Creatine as well.

[MrMondodondo]

Best I can give you is to have him eat a ton of quality(preferrably) food. High protein to be sure. At this age a solid high protein diet is about the best thing, besides vitamins etc.....I am finding that most High School athletes do not eat enough for all of the activities they are engaged in. I coach Varsity Football and most of our kids eat like crap. I am constantly on them to have a "good steak".

[dean001]

how do you find out what his body fat % is?

[seanw]

how do you find out what his body fat % is?

Well I guess the question was meant to be, is he fat, but I was trying to be subtle. It doesnt realy matter I guess. The info you have been given so far still applies. Oh and you can measure body fat at the gym, they have callipers that they use to measure fat on different parts of the body.

[dean001]

okay thanks.... but he is not fat, 32" waist and chest and stomach is very hard

[LB55blitz]

Some kids just have better genetics, plain and simple. I got sick of kids making bigger gains than me in high school even though I was outworking them.

What will make the biggest difference, like mentioned above, is diet (assuming his training is in order). I started making much bigger gains in H.S. when I improved what I ate. Sounds like he has a fast metabolism, so my advice is to eat, eat, and eat. I would also suggest some speed training as well.

[MrMondodondo]

Some kids just have better genetics, plain and simple. I got sick of kids making bigger gains than me in high school even though I was outworking them.

What will make the biggest difference, like mentioned above, is diet (assuming his training is in order). I started making much bigger gains in H.S. when I improved what I ate. Sounds like he has a fast metabolism, so my advice is to eat, eat, and eat. I would also suggest some speed training as well.

Same advice throughout!!!!

LB55, did hit what I forgot to. Speed training in this case would be very valuable as 4.9 is not exactly fast.....Sprints up hill is a great start.

[zuke]

is he getting plenty of rest? jmo, but it sounds like he may be overtraining a bit...

[LB55blitz]

Same advice throughout!!!!

LB55, did hit what I forgot to. Speed training in this case would be very valuable as 4.9 is not exactly fast.....Sprints up hill is a great start.

Yep, uphill sprints are great. Have him do a lot of explosive movements. I like powercleans, explosive squats, lunges, and other movements such as bounding.

Just keep in mind that while speed training, you do NOT want your sets to last a long time. A lot of people get the idea that the longer you do a set, the more it is going to work your fast twitch muscles. This is very wrong.

Your fast twitch muscles are fatigued after about 10 seconds. So make sure no running excersizes last longer than this.

As far as weighted excersizes, those are what is really going to make a big difference. Sets of about 5 are great, that's what has worked best for me by far.

[Badgerman]

We like that west coast workout combined with plyos, speed drills, and tempo running

[MrMondodondo]

We like that west coast workout combined with plyos, speed drills, and tempo running

OK fine. but what position is he going to play???? Plyos often times can take weight OFF........