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 By: Patrick Thornton
This is my first article written on bodybuilding for teens. I have been known around my school and inside the gym as the consultant to go to when advice is needed on bodybuilding. I have read countless articles on bodybuilding and know my stuff. Bodybuilding has turned into my life and it is the best thing that has happened to me. Since this is my first article I will keep everything general and hopefully can help out all the readers.
  Click Image To Enlarge. Patrick Thornton. Have you ever heard your parents and their friends talk about how, "when I was your age, I was in the best shape of my life?" Well now is the time to actually realize your potential and be in the best shape of your life. Bodybuilding is something widely known by all people. Most of young beginners entering the world of bodybuilding do it to look good, let's face it; we all want to look good. Weight lifting can and will get you into the best shape of your life. In this article I will discuss how to burn that excess fat and tone up your body, and actually get a lot stronger while doing it. Like I mentioned above, there are 2 major components to making your body look good. There's fat loss, which removes the excess fat that covers the muscle tissue beneath it. Then there's building muscle.
I find that this is the less important aspect of shaping your body, lets be honest with ourselves, if you're the skinny kid, this isn't really your concern and jump straight down to Part 2, but on the other hand, if you're the one with the weight problem, you should focus on this section until you get yourself to a manageable weight.
Understanding how your body works and how it processes what you eat is the first step, before you begin any diets. Fats: Fats are digested very slowly and are a good source of energy for the body; fats are not necessarily a bad thing. Carbohydrates: The forbidden carbs, not such a bad thing, yes the carbs will turn into fat if not used, but for the average bodybuilder, energy is a necessity, so don't worry to much about your carbohydrate intake. Protein: Protein, by far the most important of all the categories, however, since we are discussing fat loss it doesn't play that major of a role, but eventually once we move down to toning then it will be important. Vitamins: Vitamins are important for all athletes and all bodybuilders simply because in now-a-days we just don't always eat correctly, and even if we did we still couldn't reap all the benefits as a small pill can give us. Water: I cannot stress the importance water enough, water hydrates your body and if your body is not hydrated properly it cannot function the right way, with breaking down of foods, absorption of nutrients, and especially with exercise and weightlifting. There are many, many diet plans out there. I have read all of them and find that for a teen, not too many are appropriate. I feel as a growing adolescent, nutrition is one of the most important things you can do to aid your growing bodies. I believe if you cut out the sweets and fatty foods, and try and follow the food pyramid as much as possible; weight loss will naturally follow, especially when combined with exercise.
Some people will be able to achieve fat loss results with diet alone, others will be able to pull it off with exercise alone, but generally both are optimal for success and to accomplish the best shape of your life. There are countless forms of exercise and I don't believe its necessary for me to go in depth on them but I will briefly explain, Aerobic Exercise is defined as with oxygen, any aerobic exercise is when the heart rate and oxygen levels are increased for a long period of time, for example: playing sports like tennis, basketball, soccer, distance running or jogging. Heart Rate: Exercise is not limited to the suggestions above either. Exercise doesn't always have to be long hard runs either, it can be fun playing sports with your friends, your probably burning calories without even knowing it when your having fun with your friends playing games. Like it or not, it is almost necessary to incorporate aerobic exercise into your routine.
Building muscle is outstanding; it makes you stronger, more confident in your appearance, better in sports, and just overall is great for your body. There are many different programs you can follow to build muscle, and all of them work great as long as you are consistent and disciplined. Consistency and discipline are the most important things you can do when you are weight training. There are other things involved too.
Supplementation is important as well, knowing what to take and not to take is crucial in your gains. These are some brief descriptions of supplements: Protein: A necessary nutrient in muscle building, most commonly used is whey protein, which comes in the form of bars or shakes. Many people take protein supplements and for good reason too.
Creatine: Creatine uses water to make your muscles larger, and many people see great gains by using it.
Glutamine: Glutamine is a common amino acid used for the recovery of muscle tissue. This is great to help you get back into the gym faster.
Amino Acids: More commonly known as BCAA's (Branched Chain Amino Acids) are the acids responsible for building protein.
Multi-Vitamins: Multi-Vitamins are absolutely necessary to keep your body in shape, people don't always eat according to the food pyramid, and now that we have multi-vitamins we can make up for it. Multi-Vitamins allow your body to get all the necessary vitamins needed to keep you running smoothly.
There are many more, these are just some of the common supplements, for more information visit the Bodybuilding.com store.
Alright enough of the supplements, lets talk about the real thing now. As I mentioned before consistency and dedication are crucial for building muscle. There are a few different types of training:
 Click Image To Enlarge. Patrick Thornton.
This concludes my article, it was very general, and meant to be a starting guide, further research could be done on any of these topics for more information. Recommend this article to a friend by e-mail here! Visitor Reviews Of This Article!
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