[UNLTD]

Hello. I’m a 16-year old male.
I’m 184 cm (6 feet) and weighs 67 kg (150 pounds).
I’ve worked out for about 13 months now, with a 1.5 month break last summer.
In the first 6 months I worked out 2 times a week, after that it’s been three weeks - generally.
I focus on weighttraining and here is my program, and it has been for the last 4 months:

Barbell bench press - 3-4 sets of 10 reps (Chest and triceps)
Assisted pullup, cableseated low row, lat pulldown - 2 sets of 10 reps each (Lat and biceps)
Dumbbel biceps curl - 3 sets of 10 reps (Biceps)
Triceps pushdown - 3 sets of 10 reps (Triceps)
Ab crunches on machine - 3 sets of 20 reps (Abs)
Ab twist thingy on machine - 2 sets of 15 reps on each side (Oblique abs)
A variety of crunches on the floor - 3 sets of 30-50 reps (Abs)
Crunch twist - 2-3 sets of 50 reps total, 25 on each side (Oblique abs)
Back extensions with weights - 3 sets of 20 reps (Lower back)
Machine chest flye, and an exercise where you have your arms over your head, and lift weights by rotating your arms down towards your legs - 2 sets of 10 reps each (Chest)
Chairdip on machine - 3 sets of 10 reps (Chest and triceps)
Kind of row on machine - 4 sets of 10 reps. 2 with vertical grip, 2 with horizontal (Lat and biceps)
Machine lateral raise - 3 sets of 10 reps (Shoulders (deltoids))
Walking lunges (60 steps total) or machine bench press (3 sets of 10 reps)

Before this I do approx 5 minutes of biking or running. I drink water while working out, and stretch out the primary musclegroups after workout.

I run 3-4 km 2-3 times a week. I have been doing this for a few weeks only.

My goal with my workout is to get in good condition, to get healthy, and to loose some unnecessary bodyfat.
But also to build muscle - get a little bigger and get ripped

Nutrition:
For breakfast I eat oatmeal (with fruit or raisins) or müsli ( mix of oat meal, dried fruit etc.) with either lowfat milk, or lowfat, nonsweetened youghurt.

Later on the day and for lunch, I eat a few pieces of rugbrød (translated on the internet to brown bread, black bread and rye bread) with ham, peanutbutter, cheese, liver pate or sausage. Perhaps a piece or two of fruit.

Later I eat some fruit, dark bread, or oat meal.

For dinner I eat a variety of stuff, including rice, pasta, potatoes, meat, fish, a lot of vegetables.

If I get hungry after that I eat some dark bread, fruit og oat meal again.

I try to stay away from chips, candy, cakes, soda etc. I also rarely eat fastfood.
In the weekends though, it can happen that I eat some of that, and alcohol in the shape of liquorice vodka, cider or beer.

I live with my parents and two younger siblings, so major changes to nutrition isn’t that easy.


Do you have any tips for my workout? Do I do too much? Too little? The wrong exercises to achieve my goals? Do I need to stretch out before workout? What should I eat drink just before/after my workout?

Do I run too short distance? Too frequent? Not frequent enough?

Do I eat healthy enough to achieve my goals? Do I need to change something?

Protein powder: Is that healthy for me to consume at my age?
I drank 15-20g of soy protein in a glass of milk after my workout for approx. 6 weeks. I would drink this about 30-45 minutes after I finished working out. Is that late? Too early? Should I drink protein before working out? During perhaps?

What should I eat/drink just before/after running?

I know I’ve got a lot of questions, and that’s why I took my time to write a wellwritten post, with all the info I find useful. I hope there are some helpful souls out there, that will help me get the most out of my workout!
Thanks a lot!

Ps. Sorry, english is not my native language. :)

[Eileen G]

Hard to comment on your diet, as it varies, but at 16 you can get away with a lot. Just stick to fresh whole foods and keep away from the junk.

Protein powder (whey, I assume?) is fine at your age. Heck, babies get a form of it if they are bottle fed. Ideally, take a protein shake immediately after your workout, or at least within 30 minutes. Water before and during workouts, whey after. Sugar solutions like powerade are popular before workouts, but they are not useful unless you have a very long session. For a normal training session, water is fine.

Workout: It looks like you have a lot of machine work, and far too much abs, and not enough compound exercises.

Get away from the machines, head over to the free weight area, and put together a program based on deadlifts, barbell bench press, squat, pull-up, bent-over barbell row, dips, stiff leg deadlift, lunges or step-up, hyper-extension, plank or weighted crunches, wood chopper.

Aim for 3 set of eight reps with a weight that causes you to really struggle to finish those eight reps. When you can do ten reps, increase the weight. If you are doing 20 reps, you have far too light a weight.

If you are not familiar with those exercises, get a trainer to show you the correct form. ExRx (Exercise Prescription) on the Net is a great site as well.

Do some cardio and bodyweight exercises to warm up before you lift, and do some stretches while cooling down. Do cardio and lifting on different days.

[UNLTD]

Thank your for your answers!

I was just at the gym, exchanged some machine exercises with dumbbel and cable exercises. Tricep extension, lat exercises etc.

I cut down on ab exercises - 2 sets of 15 weighted situps, 2 sets of 15 weighted crunches, 2 sets of 15 on each side of a sideways oblique crunch exercise.

Is this the way to go?

[UNLTD]

PS. It's soy protein. :)

[Eileen G]

Yes, it's better, but don't be afraid of the barbell. You'll progress faster if you lift more weight. Endless reps with a light weight will not give the same result as some decent barbell work.

Soy protein is fine.

[UNLTD]

Thank you a lot for your help!