I'm 15 and need to get built for sports...

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muslimmetalhead
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26 Mar 2012, 4:54 pm

I know nothing about fitness except for carbs before, protein after.

I can do 3 sets of 30, 10 reps on a good day.

Bench maybe 80.


I am a complete noob so even the most basic stuff helps.


I work out alone at a gym btw.

I couldn't care less what people think.


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Alexender
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26 Mar 2012, 5:06 pm

Sports? Do you have a certain one in mind (such as football, basketball, soccer, etc)? Or are you more concerned with appearance? I think if you mostly care about how you look then pecs and shoulders are more important to work out.


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1000Knives
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26 Mar 2012, 7:09 pm

Probably a good resource to start with would be Mark Rippetoe's "Starting Strength" go look it up.

Basically, you wanna do powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting movements and related exercise. For sports, obviously you need to run fast, and squats are going to help you run faster. For squats, work mostly on getting really good depth, not just piling on weight and just doing it to parallel, though piling on weight might make you get bigger faster, but you want a full range of motion. Deadlifts are also tremendously great exercises, too. Olympic lifts are great, too. Snatch and clean and jerk.

Lately, I've kinda narrowed down for my purposes, I need to do a lot more snatching, I love snatching, as it develops great explosive power, and works your back and core muscles great. That, and instead of the heavy back squats I normally do to parallel, I instead need to work on doing overhead squats to the ground, as again, those are good balance and range of motion, and imo they're easier to recover from if done right, compared to like, deadlifts and heavy back squats.

For specifics on your program, you should try a 5x5 kinda program, 5 reps for 5 sets, going heavy. The main thing lifting for higher reps does is build connective tissue up, so it will lead to strength if combined with heavy lifting to build the muscles up. For the bench press, again, my opinion, the benchpress isn't too "functional" of an exercise, as you're never like, laying on a bench when someone attacks you. What you should do instead for sports is, standing overhead press, it'll give you bigger shoulders than the bench will, and it's more functional as you have to balance the weight with your legs. Be sorta careful with any overhead lifts, especially if your back isn't strong. Use the bench as an assistance to your overhead press, the incline bench has a lot more carryover than the flat bench for the overhead press. Deadlift too, imo, is a very important lift, it's in a lot of ways the most practical exercise you can do, as it has direct application to real life, as what's more useful than being able to carry heavy stuff around?

Overall, you wanna work on compound movements like that, and I just sorta personally like those. Different sports require different stuff obviously. Most athletic power, though, is from legs. Think if you're, say, pushing a car, you're not going to "press" the car with just your arms, instead, it's going to be mostly your legs doing the pushing. So the main thing you actually need to work on is legs and back muscles. However, most people just really want a big bench press, first for the pecs, and then also to brag about their big bench press, as it's just the most popular lift right now. I don't know, those are my recommendations, work on Olympic lifts and powerlifting stuff if you wanna get really strong.



Wolfheart
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27 Mar 2012, 3:53 am

http://www.bodybuilding.com/guides/

This link should help you find a suitable plan and diet for your body if you are interested in training for aesthetics. Olympic weightlifting will definitely help your strength if you are more interested in building your strength. If you are training for a martial art, explosive and dynamic exercises will help in that area.

It really depends on what sport you want to train for, the needs of a competitive body builder are different from those of a competitive athlete. Body building routines are purely for aesthetics and the goal is to maximize hypertrophy, there isn't a concern for athletic abilities such as speed or agility.

A body building program will produce rapid increases in muscle mass. Unfortunately, connective tissue such as tendons and ligaments do not adapt as quickly. Rapid mass gains leave these structures susceptible to injury and slower muscle recovery.

I suggest you read this article about Muscle Hypertrophy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_hypertrophy



1000Knives
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27 Mar 2012, 8:26 am

You know you're still young enough to do gymnastics. I mean, you're a bit too old, but not like, in your 20s yet like us. Gymnastics will make you strong as an ox, and there's chicks. Gymnasts tend to be ripped, too, and most accounts I've heard of people coming from a gymnastics background going into weightlifting, they tend to do very well (ie, someone 130 pounds deadlifting 400 and only stopping because the belt broke.) It's something to consider, you're light, too, quite helpful.



starryeyedvoyager
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27 Mar 2012, 11:55 am

From my personal experience, before you start hitting the gym, you should build a solid basis, not only so you have something to build upon, but also to not just allow your muscles to build up, but also to allow the rest of your body to accomodate to the new activity. Most folks I know that started going to the gym can't even make 20 pushups in a row, or do more that 2 pull ups, or heck, more than 10 crunches. Gym owners want to make you believe that the only way to become super fit is to use weights, weights and more weights. I'd say you'd be surprised what you can achieve just with exercises you don't need a single weight for. Don't get me wrong, I use weights myself, they are a great way to supplement your exercises. Just stay clear of machines, in my oppinion, they take away too much of the work from you.



Catamount
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27 Mar 2012, 8:22 pm

For starters, skills and natural ability are way more important than "being built" when it comes to sports. As an earlier poster said, it really depends on what sport you're talking about. The kind of exercise program you're going to want to undertake will vary widely depending on what your sport is. Sports like soccer and tennis will require a program that is more about cardiovascular fitness and speed whereas sports like football and baseball will require more of a focus on upper body strength. I was a smallish tennis star in high school and was quite happy with it. The mass came later on in life. You are far better off listening to your body and making decisions accordingly than you are in trying to tell it to do things that just aren't in your genetics at your age. Good luck.



BrooklynWoodwork
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29 Mar 2012, 8:36 am

Looks like 1000knives got to my suggestion before I could give it.

I second the notions of reading Starting Strength, as well as taking up gymnastics. Although if you just happen to be in a gym already, the wonders that a simple straight barbell can do for you are pretty incredible.



Keyman
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29 Mar 2012, 8:41 am

Only builds new muscle strength if you are in the "can't almost take it any more". :wink: