Hey im matt and im athletic and play sports but got a little fat i wanna get off and get abs. I have been working out in my room for about 2 monthes doing pushups, arm and shoulders, and a really hard abb workout for 5 minutes straight. The total workout is about 20-30 minutes but its exuasting. I ride my bmx bike everyday, sometimes going all out to through my naborhood about 1 and a half miles. Cant see much of an improvement exept the area around my shoulders. Any tips at getting abs and losing that little fat?
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13 years old, not overweight but trying to lose some fat and get abs
- Thread starter Mheilman17
- Start date
At 13 years old I can only give one piece of advice when seeking to get defined abs through super low body fat required to have them. Don't!
I know this will be the last thing you want to see but I am serious and will explain why, you will like that even less, but if you don't take it seriously you will regret it, guaranteed.
My son is a little younger than you and home educated so when he started hitting the early stages of puberty I decided to learn as much as I could and teach him so he was as prepared for this part of his life as possible. Subsequently this is not based on old wives tales and if you want to check it I would invite you to do so.
Pubescent growth and development is not a nice steady line, it is something that happens in bursts and when it happens it requires massive amounts of energy so is accompanied by increased appetite and fat loss at the same time, something you won't get again naturally. The testosterone flow will also fuel muscle growth again using fat stores for energy.
If there is no energy these processes, will be delayed, in the most extreme cases (unbelievably rare) it can cause permanent stalling to development. So while having a veneer of fat over your abs can be an annoyance when you want a body like an adult celebrity, not having it could delay your development toward manhood, including delayed height gain, muscular and sexual development.
You are at a time when everyone and their dog will be telling you the choices you make now will effect the rest of your life. This one shouldn't because unless you are incredibly stupid you will only delay development, but I would still advise you to have a bit of patience and view a 6 pack as your adulthood target not a juvenile one. As someone whose development was delayed by stress, I can tell you catching up late is not great, better to do it on time.
I know this will be the last thing you want to see but I am serious and will explain why, you will like that even less, but if you don't take it seriously you will regret it, guaranteed.
My son is a little younger than you and home educated so when he started hitting the early stages of puberty I decided to learn as much as I could and teach him so he was as prepared for this part of his life as possible. Subsequently this is not based on old wives tales and if you want to check it I would invite you to do so.
Pubescent growth and development is not a nice steady line, it is something that happens in bursts and when it happens it requires massive amounts of energy so is accompanied by increased appetite and fat loss at the same time, something you won't get again naturally. The testosterone flow will also fuel muscle growth again using fat stores for energy.
If there is no energy these processes, will be delayed, in the most extreme cases (unbelievably rare) it can cause permanent stalling to development. So while having a veneer of fat over your abs can be an annoyance when you want a body like an adult celebrity, not having it could delay your development toward manhood, including delayed height gain, muscular and sexual development.
You are at a time when everyone and their dog will be telling you the choices you make now will effect the rest of your life. This one shouldn't because unless you are incredibly stupid you will only delay development, but I would still advise you to have a bit of patience and view a 6 pack as your adulthood target not a juvenile one. As someone whose development was delayed by stress, I can tell you catching up late is not great, better to do it on time.
So you are saying not to workout? What about running cause im starting to do that.
Not even close. Workout as hard as you want within the limits of still forming bones. My son is doing weights, circuits, endurance, trampolining, co-ordination, running, cycling etc. and I encourage this.
Training well at your age will improve, posture, health of heart, bones, joints etc. It will also set you up for training as an adult by teaching you good form so whatever you want to pursue later in life will be easier for you.
What I am saying is don't try reducing your body fat in the name of getting a six pcak, if you have a 1 pack (lines between abs and obliques clear but not chiselled) at your age that is safe, but getting to the really low % needed to have all the abs showing could cause delays to your development.
In short train to be fit and capable primarily, appearance will be better than those who don't train. When you have finished growing and developing then go for as insane an aesthetic desire as you want.
Sorry for the confusion.
Training well at your age will improve, posture, health of heart, bones, joints etc. It will also set you up for training as an adult by teaching you good form so whatever you want to pursue later in life will be easier for you.
What I am saying is don't try reducing your body fat in the name of getting a six pcak, if you have a 1 pack (lines between abs and obliques clear but not chiselled) at your age that is safe, but getting to the really low % needed to have all the abs showing could cause delays to your development.
In short train to be fit and capable primarily, appearance will be better than those who don't train. When you have finished growing and developing then go for as insane an aesthetic desire as you want.
Sorry for the confusion.
Thanks for the reply and when im lifting weights i push as hard as i can until i cant do anymore is that ok?
Unfortunately not at the moment. If you want to check this out google bone growth to see what I mean.
If you are doing a set of 10 you should be using a weight you could manage for 12, set of 12 weight you could manage for 14 or 15 etc. When this gets to a level where you are doing 50 or so in a set then the weight is so low that stopping due to exhaustion is safe but in the lower building or muscular strength endurance area this presents risk. Personal guidance, I would avoid sets below 10 for the next 2 to 3 years at least, get other opinions on this from people who know your capabilities, I could be wrong here, but if someone tells you to regularly do sessions of purely 6 rep and below sets, sack them and get a better coach. My son hates me telling him this, partly because he sees me pushing to my limits so frequently and knows that he is far stronger than I was at his age so sees no reason not to push harder.
The why.
At the moment most of your bones will be in 3 parts, for this example we will use the femur aka thigh bone. The top part that links to the hip will be relatively solid because it doesn't need to grow much in the coming years, as will the lower part that connects into the knee joint. In the middle is the growth band, which crazy as this will appear is not fully connected to the other two parts, because it is growing too fast to be fused to the very slow growing ends.
This growth band is what will be giving you the dramatic growth spurts you will get during puberty, the fact it is softer than fully formed bone was why many assumed weight training was dangerous for youths and some of the worst research ever proved this to be the case, we have proven otherwise since. Weight training within the parameters explained above is not only safe for growth but beneficial to bone density and strength.
If you put too much pressure on the bones on a regular basis you can delay growth or in the most extreme cases like child labour camps (where the dodgy research saying weight training is dangerous for youths came from) you can force the growth plates to connect to the ends early and stunt growth permanently. Everyone on this earth will do something to delay development on occasion or have external factors that do it for them, from diet, stress to substance abuse and injury, something will happen. The trick is keeping this to a minimum and avoiding stupidity to a level that will permanently damage you.
The good news.
The training you do now will give you an immense number of head starts later in life. When the growth plates have finished growing, they will fuse to the ends and the overall bones will be stronger than the bones of people who haven't trained. Your muscle will be stronger, as will your tendons and ligaments, you will have better endurance enabling faster recovery, hopefully a top notch cardio vascular system enabling your body to keep going while others are falling by the wayside. On top of this you will be used to performing a wide range of exercises so while others are learning technique you will be able to jump straight in to gain from more intense workouts as a young or old adult.
The name gives away what I am and you will need to be a year older to sound like my age. I train at home now so don't get this during training anymore but I still get younger people asking how I can do what I do at my age at work and in general life. The answer is generally by starting before I was your age, something that some appreciate and others don't. There is no maximum age to getting into shape and improving fitness but the benefits of starting young and keeping at it are phenomenal.
Being the sort of person who has kept fit my entire adult life has meant most of the 'age related' issues people complain about haven't effected me. My ability to recover from damage would put most half my age to shame, my blood pressure and pulse rate are consistently perfect, my brain is well fed meaning it is less likely to incur issues associated with age, middle aged spread has been mostly due to muscular growth rather than additional blubber.
There is always a price to pay of course, in my case it seems to be that I look far younger from behind than the front where the 'needs ironing' face and rapidly disappearing hair is evident. Last year gave a perfect example of this while I was out running in the height of summer in shorts and shoes, a car of girls in late teens early twenties drove past with one calling out a physically related compliment, then another pointing out that I was 'really old' when they had gone past me and could see my face. I just laughed as the person complimenting me became embarrassed, and carried on running. It does however bring me to the last advantage of being a lifelong fitness fanatic. There are more important things in a relationship than looks but it hasn't done me any harm to be appealing to my wife for the last 15 years, one of many ingredients to a very happy marriage.
If you are doing a set of 10 you should be using a weight you could manage for 12, set of 12 weight you could manage for 14 or 15 etc. When this gets to a level where you are doing 50 or so in a set then the weight is so low that stopping due to exhaustion is safe but in the lower building or muscular strength endurance area this presents risk. Personal guidance, I would avoid sets below 10 for the next 2 to 3 years at least, get other opinions on this from people who know your capabilities, I could be wrong here, but if someone tells you to regularly do sessions of purely 6 rep and below sets, sack them and get a better coach. My son hates me telling him this, partly because he sees me pushing to my limits so frequently and knows that he is far stronger than I was at his age so sees no reason not to push harder.
The why.
At the moment most of your bones will be in 3 parts, for this example we will use the femur aka thigh bone. The top part that links to the hip will be relatively solid because it doesn't need to grow much in the coming years, as will the lower part that connects into the knee joint. In the middle is the growth band, which crazy as this will appear is not fully connected to the other two parts, because it is growing too fast to be fused to the very slow growing ends.
This growth band is what will be giving you the dramatic growth spurts you will get during puberty, the fact it is softer than fully formed bone was why many assumed weight training was dangerous for youths and some of the worst research ever proved this to be the case, we have proven otherwise since. Weight training within the parameters explained above is not only safe for growth but beneficial to bone density and strength.
If you put too much pressure on the bones on a regular basis you can delay growth or in the most extreme cases like child labour camps (where the dodgy research saying weight training is dangerous for youths came from) you can force the growth plates to connect to the ends early and stunt growth permanently. Everyone on this earth will do something to delay development on occasion or have external factors that do it for them, from diet, stress to substance abuse and injury, something will happen. The trick is keeping this to a minimum and avoiding stupidity to a level that will permanently damage you.
The good news.
The training you do now will give you an immense number of head starts later in life. When the growth plates have finished growing, they will fuse to the ends and the overall bones will be stronger than the bones of people who haven't trained. Your muscle will be stronger, as will your tendons and ligaments, you will have better endurance enabling faster recovery, hopefully a top notch cardio vascular system enabling your body to keep going while others are falling by the wayside. On top of this you will be used to performing a wide range of exercises so while others are learning technique you will be able to jump straight in to gain from more intense workouts as a young or old adult.
The name gives away what I am and you will need to be a year older to sound like my age. I train at home now so don't get this during training anymore but I still get younger people asking how I can do what I do at my age at work and in general life. The answer is generally by starting before I was your age, something that some appreciate and others don't. There is no maximum age to getting into shape and improving fitness but the benefits of starting young and keeping at it are phenomenal.
Being the sort of person who has kept fit my entire adult life has meant most of the 'age related' issues people complain about haven't effected me. My ability to recover from damage would put most half my age to shame, my blood pressure and pulse rate are consistently perfect, my brain is well fed meaning it is less likely to incur issues associated with age, middle aged spread has been mostly due to muscular growth rather than additional blubber.
There is always a price to pay of course, in my case it seems to be that I look far younger from behind than the front where the 'needs ironing' face and rapidly disappearing hair is evident. Last year gave a perfect example of this while I was out running in the height of summer in shorts and shoes, a car of girls in late teens early twenties drove past with one calling out a physically related compliment, then another pointing out that I was 'really old' when they had gone past me and could see my face. I just laughed as the person complimenting me became embarrassed, and carried on running. It does however bring me to the last advantage of being a lifelong fitness fanatic. There are more important things in a relationship than looks but it hasn't done me any harm to be appealing to my wife for the last 15 years, one of many ingredients to a very happy marriage.
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