Helping out a female

[DaddySherles]

I've got this girl that wants me to help her start working out. She is 14, and has an athletic body as it is. She wants to tone up her arms, back, and legs while tightening her butt(making it tone but thicker) and showing her abs. What do you recommend I have her doing. I was thinking about having her lift weights 3 times a week, with cardio 3 times a week, and one day of complete rest? Recommend any supplements(all natural please) and what kind of workouts? 2-3 total body a week with cardio and rest? LET ME KNOW

[kc]

14 is fairly young, tho not too early. Depending on where she is....growing up wise...i'd limit her lifting to high reps w/ fairly low weights. Good cardio and diet is never too early. I was 15 when I started lifting and it did so much for my self image and all that crap...i'd totally recommend it!

[DaddySherles]

My fault, she is 15, not 14....I planned on using high reps and low weight....do u have a certain rep scheme I could have her follow? And how many times a week should be lifting with what kind of split?

[kc]

That young..depending on her goals. I'd start her on an upperbody/lower body split. See how she likes lifting and how her goals change. Maybe to a pyramid type routine, start low weight and high rep and go higher weight to lower rep...keep it around 10 or less sets per body part if you use that split. The biggest thing right now it to teach her good form, teach her how to tell if she's pushing herself and that numbers don't necessarily matter. See where that takes her.

[Warrior]

My fault, she is 15, not 14....I planned on using high reps and low weight....do u have a certain rep scheme I could have her follow? And how many times a week should be lifting with what kind of split?

Yeah, I agree with kc... its a young age but not a bad time to start. She is going through puberty and she could benefit off simply venting teenage frustrations in the gym...

I would split the body in two parts: upper and lower. For upper I would put her on a 10-12 reps per set routine. For lower, I would go to 15-20. And split like this:

Day 1: Upper Body (for example: Bench Press, Bent Rows, Front Mil Press, Tricep Dips and Barbell Curls, Abs)
Day 2: Lower Body (for example: Squats, Lunges, Stiff Leg Deads, Calves)
Day 3: Cardio (30-60min), Abs
Day 4: REST
REPEAT

Whole body worked every 5 days... as well as cardio vascular training. 10-15 minutes of an easy pace on the bike prior to weight trainig could also be added to warm her up... depending on her body type and current conditioning.

With being her coach, make sure she trains progressively (adding a bit more each time) and monitor any signs of overtraining... if she needs an extra day of rest and nutrition, that is better than her quitting in 2 months.

[BOUNCER]

I'd have her do simple cardio-weight training circuits. Her gym instructors will advise her on which machines to use etc.

[DaddySherles]

There no gym instructors, Bouncer, so I'm the one who has to help her on those, but thank you all for the good advice, I started her today on the lower body, with tomorrow being upper body, then cardio Wednesday, and rest Thursday

[Quake]

congrats on becoming a Mod Bouncer!