My 14 year old son is interested in getting weights and a punching bag for Christmas. He’s got a natural gymnast body and ability, doesn’t participate in any school or extra curricular sports, and is just interested in “buffing up” a bit in the comfort of his own home. We have around $200 to spend to get started.
What do you recommend we start out with and why?
Bench press (adjustable if you can find it), 45-pound bar, cambered (EZ) bar, and plates.
Buy used if you can- it’s more cost-effective when starting out.
Forget the punching bag- without instruction, it’ll teach bad form, and that’s the kind of thing you can’t unlearn without a lot of work. Buy him a speed bag if he wants to do work with his hands.
Oh, and a copy of “The Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding.” I cannot recommend it enough.
Isn’t a 45-pound bar a bit heavy for a 14-year-old beginner, even if he is a gymnast?
He could just press the bar. 22.5 a side doesn’t sound unreasonable.
Does he have a gym at the school? He could work out there, saving your $200 for the food bill (because if he does get into lifting seriously - well, you’ll see).
Tell him to sign up at www.forum.bodybuilding.com and read the newbie threads. It’ll save him a lot of time.
If he is 14 yo, I imagine he weighs more than 45 lbs. Aren’t gymnast supposed to be able to lift their own bodyweight? 45 lbs should be nothing.
Go over to http://www.stumptuous.com/cms/index.php, print out the relevant newbie areas, ignoring all the girly stuff, and have him commit to memory. It’s accurate, concise and refreshingly free of bullshit. It’s also, more importantly, not a site that’s aimed at selling you stuff and devoid of the usual macho crap.
Other than that, if you think a 45 lb olympic bar is too heavy, get a couple of spinlock dumbell bars–they’ll last you a lifetime, plus you can reload them with different plate totals as your kid gets stronger. Although, if he is a gymnast, I doubt he’ll have problems lugging around a 45 lb bar. All the gymnasts I’ve known were freakishly strong for their size.
This is good advice.
If it was me I would get him a flat bench (very basic, incline would be nice,like this ) and a few sets of dumbells.
A pair of 15lbs., a pair of 20lbs, 25s, 30s, 35s, and 40s.
Not a huge investment and doesn’t take up a lot of space yet very versatile.
