OT: Adding lean muscle

[2300 Nueces]

My son just turned 13 and does a lot of swimming. He is 5'8 and 103 lbs. How to put on lean muscle without too much bulk? Or is this even a concern at 13 yo?

Edit: He will be at regionals this week. He gets beat by kids that are shorter but are more developed.

 

[TX1972]

If he was my boy, I'd just let him swim and eat. How muscled up is Michael Phelps? And how many other swimmers make a living at it? Most boys should play for the love of the sport. Amateurs.

 

[ASURAM2010]

My son just turned 13 and does a lot of swimming. He is 5'8 and 103 lbs. How to put on lean muscle without too much bulk? Or is this even a concern at 13 yo?

Edit: He will be at regionals this week. He gets beat by kids that are shorter but are more developed.

Peanut Butter and chocolate milk (the whole milk kind) before bed.

 

[clob94]

at this age, the metabolism is running roughshod on most kids. it burns calories so freaking fast at that age.

Protein, LOTS of it. Or you can take the short cut and put them on Winstrol or D-bol.... but I would not recommend this......

 

[Belldozer1]

im certainly not suggesting steroids but this thread made me think of this guy I work with. He’s in his late 30’s and ripped up pretty good but not overdone. He told me that he takes testosterone replacement therapy for “low testosterone “ prescribed by his doctor. I think he’s actually convinced himself that it’s not really a ‘steroid’ that he’s taking and that he’s just naturally ripped. What’s funny is he’s a huge ego maniac and no way in hell can he stop taking his steeoids because he’s too insecure. Vicious cycle that’s pretty comical to watch.

 

[speedstrength]

Has he started puberty yet. If he hasn't then don't worry about it. If he has then he will have very high levels of testosterone and and growth hormone. He is going to put tons of calories into just growing at that stage so if you want to add lean muscle mass on top of growing and swimming then he is going to have to eat a ton of food. If he is doing a lot of training then do 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight so 103 and finish up with healthy carbs and fats. My two brothers and I are 43 months apart. When we were in 6th, 8th, 9th grade my parents said our food bill was more than our mortgage.

 

[Pumpedup55]

My son just turned 13 and does a lot of swimming. He is 5'8 and 103 lbs. How to put on lean muscle without too much bulk? Or is this even a concern at 13 yo?

Edit: He will be at regionals this week. He gets beat by kids that are shorter but are more developed.

The bulk would mostly come from caloric intake. Which I wouldn’t recommend dramatically increasing calories.. I guess a swimmer you want to develop your lats (If I’m right). Things like widegrip pull-ups, push-ups, core exercises will all likely help. Doing them consistently that is. At that age I used to do tons of push-ups, pull-ups and then got more serious and did free weights a lot. Hope it helps.

 

[2300 Nueces]

Good info.. I was wanting to keep it natural... mom wouldn't approve.

 

[horn wild]

Think strong but flexible(lots of stretching) kinda like a pitcher.

 

[Oldmanastro]

My daughter, like your son, is 13. Swims 5 nights a week, feed her like a furnace. The filling out will come.

 

[clob94]

Has he started puberty yet. If he hasn't then don't worry about it. If he has then he will have very high levels of testosterone and and growth hormone. He is going to put tons of calories into just growing at that stage so if you want to add lean muscle mass on top of growing and swimming then he is going to have to eat a ton of food. If he is doing a lot of training then do 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight so 103 and finish up with healthy carbs and fats. My two brothers and I are 43 months apart. When we were in 6th, 8th, 9th grade my parents said our food bill was more than our mortgage.

"PROTEIN!!!!!!"

Gawd dang it Speed.... don't you miss the days when we could pound a 36 oz steak at UR Cooks and then still crush a large pizza after spending 4 hours on 6th street?

Wake up the next morning, take a massive dump-- head to the locker room and weigh yourself and go---- "Shit!!!!!! Two pounds lighter than yesterday!!".

Miss them days.

 

[speedstrength]

I was a pretty good distance runner who always wanted to run fast and jump high. I was 5'10 155 in college and I was also flat broke so I don't know if I could have afforded a 36oz steak . I remember I could eat 2 double quarters, large fry and a 10 piece nuggets for dinner on Friday and then go drink 8-10 beers and maybe a 20-30 second keg stand at some point (I am so glad cell phone cameras didn't exist back then) and wake up the next day at 155 after a massive morning dump. When I got really into weights I managed to get myself up 175 in my early 20's. Those days are gone. I ballooned up 223 when I was working on my doctorate. Its taken me 3 years to work back down to 190. Metabolism has slowed way down and I just can't recover from hard workouts as fast. I have flirted with the idea hormone replacement therapy but my family has an issue with prostate cancer so I don't think taking extra testosterone and HGH at this point in my life would be a good idea.

 

[TX1972]

How optimistic are you? 40 year old man goes to the doctor. Asks " Doctor, when I was in high school, when I got an erection, I couldn't budge it right, left, up down. Then I turned 21, could budge it a little up and down. When I turned 30, I could budge it a little from side to side. Doc, how strong do you think I'm gonna get?"

 

[clob94]

I'm considering hgh as well. You just have to get your blood tested every six months. Prostate problem solved.

I was a pretty good distance runner who always wanted to run fast and jump high. I was 5'10 155 in college and I was also flat broke so I don't know if I could have afforded a 36oz steak . I remember I could eat 2 double quarters, large fry and a 10 piece nuggets for dinner on Friday and then go drink 8-10 beers and maybe a 20-30 second keg stand at some point (I am so glad cell phone cameras didn't exist back then) and wake up the next day at 155 after a massive morning dump. When I got really into weights I managed to get myself up 175 in my early 20's. Those days are gone. I ballooned up 223 when I was working on my doctorate. Its taken me 3 years to work back down to 190. Metabolism has slowed way down and I just can't recover from hard workouts as fast. I have flirted with the idea hormone replacement therapy but my family has an issue with prostate cancer so I don't think taking extra testosterone and HGH at this point in my life would be a good idea.

 

[FlourBluffHorn]

I would leave him alone and let him grow the way God intended, my son was short and Chubby at that age then he hit 26 and started eating..lol everything in house, at 18 he was 6ft7 and 245 before he went into Navy and now 225 in Navy cause of the fitness requirement, in 2 yrs after meeting a nice young girl he may only want to swim with her..LOL after having 5 boys and having to buy out HEB every week , you never know whats gonna happen, their mines and bodies change everyday.


Hook'em

 

[UTGrad87]

My son just turned 13 and does a lot of swimming. He is 5'8 and 103 lbs. How to put on lean muscle without too much bulk? Or is this even a concern at 13 yo?

Edit: He will be at regionals this week. He gets beat by kids that are shorter but are more developed.

I will also offer my advice as I have some experience in this regard. When I was at UT, I was 6'2" and 170 lbs. I was a skinny little basketball player who could jump with the best of em. But muscular? Nope, not close.

About age 26 my knees started bothering me so I dropped basketball and pocked up the weights. Today at 55 I'm 235 lbs, 15% body fat and can hack squat and dead lift over 400 lbs and bench around 300 on a good day.

Now this is nothing compared to guys on the UT football team but for my naturally skinny little ass, it's nothing short of phenominal. So how did I make that transformation?

Well, a couple of things happened.

1st. I got older and my metabolism slowed down. This actually helped me to add and keep muscle. No help for your son here, sorry.

2nd. I radically changed how I ate. No more eating 2 or 3 meals a day. I kicked that up to 5 times a day with the 5th meal often coming at 3 am. Massive amounts of PROTEIN and GOOD FATS. Think of building your body like building a house. Proteins are the wood and metal while Fats are the nails, cement and screws. You have to have both to be successful. And consume clean carbs when possible. Look at glycemic indexes and total calories for that. You want those low.

3rd. I stopped doing aerobics. I noticed that I would put on good muscle when I would stop running on the treadmill and lose it when I started back up. Long duration exercises burn muscle . . . do intense, short duration sprints instead.

4th. Lift weights with perfect form and heavy. If you can do more than 12 reps, up the weight. Do basic, multiple muscle group movements. Bench, squat, deadlift, lat pulls.

5th. Go to sleep! I can't emphasize this one enough.

Nueces your son is very young so this both hurts and helps. His metabolism will take off muscle and fat as fast as he can put it on. You have to slow down the former and speed up the latter. Lift, eat, sleep, eat again.

And dont worry about him getting bulky, not gonna happen unless you start shoving Anadrol tabs down his throat.

Hope this helps.