training procedures suitable for adults, while older but less sexually mature
youngsters cannot.. Consider the -year-old boy who still looks like a -year-old. Compare
him with a classmate who is visibly as physically mature as a man. ough
the same age, one is a boy and one is a man. e “boy” cannot benefit from
the hard and heavy training that the “man” may be able to, but he can damage
himself by using adult training methods, and erase whatever interest he has
in training.. But keep even this maturity factor in perspective. A -year-old boy still has
a -year-old skeleton, even if his musculature is well developed for his age.. e necessary maturity needed for serious weight training is not just physi-
cal. Serious weight training is a very regimented and disciplined activity.
Before starting systematic weight training the teenager needs to be suf-
ficiently mature to be able to deliver of his own volition the required disci-
pline.. All youngsters will benefit from safe and practical training, especially those
involved in competitive sport. By strengthening muscles, joints and liga-
ments the youngsters will achieve greater resistance against injury. But this
safe and practical training does not have to be formal weight training.Some general guidelines
. e very early teenager, both pre-adolescent and adolescent, can derive
abundant benefit out of exercises that use the bodyweight as resistance.
Pushups, dips, chins, crunch situps, and slow back extensions without any
hyperextension will thoroughly work the upper-body. High-rep step-ups
holding dumbbells (or stair climbing) together with regular running activi-
ties can round out the program.. Once in the later teens— or for most—comes the time for more serious
training. As long as low reps are avoided and exercise execution is safe and
controlled, regular squats and deadlifts should be included.. Maximum-effort low-repetition work is out for a long while yet. Maximum
singles do not even come into consideration, and neither do forced reps, nega-
tives and the like. If competition is wanted, have it for high reps—“Who can
do chins with the most weight?”