Teen Fitness Training

Teen fitness training has become an issue of importance in today’s youth. Gym membership has increased significantly, attributed heavily to the increase in post-pubescant teenagers exhibiting strong desire to get into shape for a variety of reasons. Beginning physical exercise at such an age can be an important routine to get involved in, allowing the fitness lifestyle to remain a priority for many years to come, but must be practiced with caution as not to damage a young growing body.

Two main considerations and precautions must be noted in the early years involving fitness training, to make sure injury and physical irregularities do not reveal themselves later in life.

1. Heavy and strenuous fitness training should only begin in the years FOLLOWING the onset of puberty. It is internationally noted that young gymnasts remain undeveloped and stunted in their growth, due to the stress placed on the body at such a young age. a. The best age to begin involving a fitness routine into a regular schedule most often occurs at 15, yet this remains different for each individual. Wait until most of the physical changes introduced through puberty have completed to insure the highest level of safety.

2. The second and most important consideration comes through abstaining from over supplementation, noted by the early obsession with “quick and easy” gains. I have often witnessed muscle bound teens devouring protein, creatine, and much more, by the bucket load with the ideology of gaining more through consuming more. The teenage years of fitness training are best observed through the natural growth process set by the body, without outside influence. Of course the high protein diets are excellent for encouraging this growth, but so long as the protein sources do not lay solely in powders and pills.

The routines used for teen fitness training generally do not vary from those of older age, but instead must be practiced with wisdom and caution. The growing periods within the body are important to lifelong health standards, so respect the body and it will respect you, and further develop in the time that it needs.