Teen Workout Plan (ages 10-17)
Here is a teen workout appropriate for people ages 10-17. Contrary to myths you might have heard, working out IS good for teens and it will NOT stunt growth. Here are seven great reasons why teens should work out according to the American Academy of Pediatrics:
- Increased strength
- Improved long term health
- Reduced bodyfat – eliminate obesity and get 6-pack abs
- Increased cardiovascular fitness
- Increased bone strength
- Improved cholesterol levels
- Improved mood
This workout is for everyone, doesn’t matter if you are skinny, fat, weak, or the star of the wrestling team – I show you in this video how to do a workout appropriate for your ability level. Doing this workout consistently will make you feel great!!! By the way, its always a good idea to talk to your doctor before starting any workout program.
Now, I know you are dying to get to the lifting weights part but this teen workout has TWO parts and this part is just as important. If you want to get ripped so you can see your 6-pack abs, you need burn off some fat, and to do this you need to spend at least 30min a day, preferably an hour or more, playing! Playing soccer, playing basketball, playing football, skateboarding, biking. Playing sports is a very important part of this teen workout because the running and jumping is going to be your leg workout, in the weight workout we are not going to do legs. So, find a sport that you enjoy and do it every day! If you are over 180lbs, its best to start with a low impact form of exercise like walking, biking or swimming until you have reduced your weight. By the way, this is what people call cardiovascular exercise, or cardio for short.
The second part of this teen workout is a 45min upper body workout you will do 2-3 times a week. There are seven exercises to workout pecs, lats, triceps, biceps and abs. I have carefully chosen the exercises so that they provide a challenging, killer workout with maximum safety. 95% of weight room injuries come from either using too large a range of motion or using bad form. All the exercises I recommend here are self-spotting which means that they safely limit range of motion and prevent bad form when done as illustrated.
You will do this 45min upper body do 2-3 times a week, doing it more often than that will hurt your rather than help you. There are seven exercises we are going to do to workout pecs, lats, triceps, biceps and abs. You will perform all these exercises in the order shown, then repeat the whole thing two more times so that you end up doing three sets of every exercise.
| Bodypart | Exercise | Number sets | Number reps | Tempo |
| chest | pushups | 3 | 8-15 | 2s up 2s dn |
| chest | dumbbell flys | 3 | 8-15 | 2s up 2s dn |
| chest | dumbbell press | 3 | 8-15 | 2s up 2s dn |
| lats | pullups | 3 | 8-15 | 2s up 2s dn |
| lats | dumbbell rows | 3 | 8-15 | 2s up 2s dn |
| abs | crunches | 3 | 8-15 | 1s up 1s dn |
| biceps | sofa curls | 3 | 8-15 | 2s up 2s dn |
| triceps | dumbbell french press | 3 | 8-15 | 2s up 2s dn |
For each exercise we want to do between 8 and 15 reps. We are always going to lift slowly, 2s up and 2s down. Try counting out loud “One one thousand, two one thousand UP, one one thousand, two one thousand DOWN” – that’s how slowly you should be lifting. If you can do more than 15 of these slow reps then its too easy for you and you need use more weight. If you cant do 8 slow reps then you are using too much weight and you are likely to get injured, so reduce the amount you are lifting.
Lets talk quickly about expectations. You are going to feel better and have more energy after your very first workout! You will notice yourself getting stronger after the first month. If you were a total beginner, after 6 months you will probably double your strength, that feels really good. Now for the bad news – you are probably wondering how long it will take before you get massive like a pro bodybuilder. Adding muscle is a very slow process, it can take decades – so don’t expect to see anything at all in the mirror for a few years.
Good Nutrition is vital both to gain muscle and lose fat. Please check out my website for information on good nutrition. Just a word of warning, most people who *think* they have good nutrition, really have horrible nutrition so please do some research.
Supplements. You hear lots of people talking up some hot new supplement, don’t believe it. As a teen, you need good basic nutrition – not supplements. Not even creatine! Some of the supplements can even stunt your growth so please just stay away from them.
OK, that’s it for the teen workout. Please make sure to take some photos of yourself before you start working out so that a year from now you can send me your before and after photos so I can put you on the success stories page of scoobyswork.shop!!!