Note: Although this article is geared toward teenagers, the information it contains will be helpful to anyone new to weight training.

I have been training teenage athletes and wanted to be a bodybuilder for six years. On average, I can add twenty to thirty pounds of muscle to any kid without medication or supplements. I've put a few inches on their vertical, knocked off their sprints, and added pounds.

The secret to increasing size as a teen doesn't lie in some exotic training program or supplement. I just tell my athletes what not to do. Here is a list of the most common mistakes I see teenagers make when it comes to weight training. Get out of these traps and your size and athleticism will explode!

1) Sports-specific training

Happened a thousand times. A basketball player asks how to increase his vertical jump. I explained the concept of genetic limitations and then prescribed a power clean, squats, stiff leg presses and a few other exercises. He looked at me dumbfounded and said:

"Power cleans and squats, but these are football player exercises!"

It’s time for teens to take sports-specific weight training out of their minds. Of course, professional strength coaches like Charles Poliquin do have their athletes perform certain exercises to correct imbalances and improve their performance. But, you are not a professional athlete yet! You may not train for a specific sport 365 days a year like many Olympians. At your age, a good basic compound exercise program will make you perform better in any sport.

　2) Professional bodybuilders as role models

It's possible that you are healthier and more athletic than professional bodybuilders. They use steroids and other drugs to numb the number. I know. But the thing is, you can't afford that much medicine even if you wanted to. Many teenagers seem to think they can just swallow a few pills or get some shots and boom! They became Mr. Olympia competitors. Not true at all. The truth is, even with all the medicine, the pros are still not as good as you think they are. Many people have artificial implants in their calves and pecs. Many professionals even inject their own bodies with certain oils to artificially inflate any lagging body parts. Not only is this dangerous, it's also morally dubious, and it doesn't give strength and power.

　3) Decline supplement

I recently read an "article" that was supposed to teach readers how to legally obtain steroids. A few pages into the article, the method is shown: buy a brand of supplement they claim is so good it's like using "roid." See, most muscle magazines are owned by supplement companies. If you didn't know, T-mag is owned by Biotest. It's really not a big deal, but be wary of magazines that try to hide this fact. If the supplement is good, there is no need for deceptive advertising or hidden agendas. A good company won't'

So are there any good supplements? Sure, but as a teenager you probably don't need most of them. Your testosterone levels are already high now, even higher than they were in your twenties, so you don't need any supplements to boost those levels.

4) Let your self enter the gym

​Do you want to impress people in the gym and feed your ego? Then place a few plates on these squats to make "butt grass." When you bench, use slow negatives and controlled weight. Soon you'll be stronger and bigger, and they'll look like they were having a Britney Spears sex fantasy when they were benching!

5) Listen to your high school coach

The coach might put you in the weight room, put everyone on the station, and have you lift super fast, super spastic, super high for 30 seconds. "When I have a mule kick me in the head rarely, now I get these seizures" attitude. Is this because lifting quickly makes you a better athlete? Not true. This method is used for convenience. How did he train dozens of people at the same time among other things and have time to work on theater?

The speed boost occasionally works, but you're not going to get any more size from two 50-man slots. Now, don't tell your coach that you refuse to practice with the team. I don't want one of those chimney chewers looking at me and forcing me to run "suicide" on the football field. Do his exercise and keep your mouth shut. However, this summer is yours, and as shoe commercials say, winners are built in the off-season.

6) Eating, sleeping and other hobbies

As a teenager, you are lucky. Even if you don't train correctly, you can put on muscle at an amazing rate! You can eat 3D Doritos and surge for breakfast and still have abs! when you ageWhen you are older, you may not be able to accomplish this feat! So, think about this: What if you did train and eat correctly? If there are benefits to be gained from not doing it well, think of how powerful a person you will be if you do it in the best possible way! Diet seems to be the main problem. Although this topic is too numerous and complex to cover completely, here are some tips:

.Put frosted slices and pop tarts together for breakfast. While eating junk is bad, it's not so bad to skip breakfast! Try this. Put some eggs in the microwave. Poke the egg yolks so they don't explode and make your mom pee. Wash them well with a large glass of milk. The fat won't hurt you and you'll get tons of protein. Quick, mix together some egg replacer and milk and some instant pudding mix. Boom, homemade MRP!

.Lost your lunch ticket. You may want to pack some bodybuilding foods into a cooler and keep them in your locker or car. Pack a tuna sandwich with some fruit and some milk. Throw in some simple snacks, like beef jerky or protein bars, between classes.

.This is a simple thing. Say you can't gain weight? Eat more, even if you don't want to. Say you need to lose some slack? Don't do anything extreme. I've seen 17 year olds lose 20 pounds of fat just by drinking soft drinks and junk food like gummies and chips.

Sleep is also very important. I don't care if your mom keeps you up late, you need eight to ten hours of sleep, especially when you're training. If you plan to invest in MRP, drink it before going to bed. For God's sake, stop looking at Springer! If you're going to stay up late, you'd better at least watch Playboy's "Girls Behaving Badly." And, yes, this is completely healthy and normal.

7) Overtraining

People my age (20+) train a body part every five days or so. We'll sit on the bench on Monday and we won't do it again until Friday, Saturday, or even later. We already know that we can grow more by giving our muscles time to fully recover. At your age, you may be able to get away from training more frequently. However, I have seen some young guys try to bench every day of the week! This might work for a while, but soon, you'll plateau or get injured. I often talk to these overzealous people and explain it to them. I might even suggest something novel, hey, why don't you train your legs between your chest and biceps for a while now and then? What a concept! General rule: Don't train parts of the body that are still sore from a previous workout.

In the end, stopping learning is just plain stupidity. The science of bodybuilding is evolving every day. From training to diet to supplementation, we know far more now than we did a decade agoknown. We know more about how to get bigger faster than before, how to manipulate diet, how to recover from injuries. Where will we be in the next ten years? Educate yourself. Graduation is never the end of your education.