Whey Protein

[Travis30]

I am 16 years old and have been weight training and practicing martial arts for a long time. My weight training has seemed to reach a peak and i havent been noticing much change latley. I was wondering if it would be safe for me at my age to start taking some type of supplememnt like Whey Protein? Also, I was wondering if there are any long term effects of Whey Protein??

[fa_jing]

Whey protein is completely safe. Just make sure you have plenty of toilet paper.

What's your routine like? We might be able to advise you there, too.

[Chief Fox]

Instead of drinking a protein shake you could just eat more protein rich foods like eggs, chicken, tuna and cottage cheese.

Or if you really want to drink protein shakes I don't see a reason why you shouldn't. Just make sure you have a balanced diet and then add a shake or two a day.

[Serpent]

Quite right - check your protein intake from your diet first before you supplement. We can help you with that too if you don't know how to do it.

[Toby]

Originally posted by Travis30
I am 16 years old and have been weight training ... for a long time. My weight training has seemed to reach a peak and i havent been noticing much change latley.

You've been weight training for a long time and you're only 16? What's a long time? And you've plateaud? Mate, you're still pretty young. I'd worry more about lifting form than putting on weight. At 16 most people aren't fully developed. IMHO most people keep filling out until their mid-20s at least. But yeah, whey's safe.

[Travis30]

Thank you all for your advise. I have been keeping a record of everything I eat everyday. I carry a little book to help me know what i am taking in. I have a pretty busy schedule so i always seem to be busy. I weight train on Mon,Tues,Thur, and Fri. On Mon I normally do traps and shoulders. Tues. I lift biceps and back (lower and upper.) Thurs. I do legs. Finally on Fri. I do triceps and chest. I am trying to get toned more than big bulky muscles. Plus I go to school of course and I go to Wing Chun practice aroung 4 times a week. To Toby i have been lifting about three years to me thats long but to an expierenced weight lifter maybe that seems novice. On a normal day I take in about 70-80 grams of protein. From what I have read and heard i should be having more than that. I would appreciate any other advice or training tips! :-)

[Serpent]

What do you weigh? Also, don't say "toned" - you sound like a blonde treadmill bimbo. What are your actual goals from weighttraining?

[Travis30]

I am 5'9 and i weigh 140 lbs. And my goal for weight training is being the best martial artist I can and being healthing is very important to me. I want to start young so I can have a great body and I want to be ripped! Does that sound better than toned!?!

[MoreMisfortune]

i dont know, "ripped" always sounded kinda gay to me

[Serpent]

Originally posted by Travis30
I am 5'9 and i weigh 140 lbs. And my goal for weight training is being the best martial artist I can and being healthing is very important to me. I want to start young so I can have a great body and I want to be ripped! Does that sound better than toned!?!

OK, protein intake.

If you're trying to build muscle, you should be looking at around 1.5 to 2.0 g of protein per kilogram of bodyweight. To translate for the Yanks, that's 0.68 - 0.90 g per pound of bodyweight, at least. Therefore, you weigh 140lbs:

140 x 0.90 = 126 grams of protein per day.

However, your main goal is not great hypertrophy (muscle size increase), therefore your protein intake will be more than enough if you are close to 100 - 120 grams per day. You say you get around 70 - 80 grams, so you might want to up that a bit, but not too much.

OK - weight training for strength and improved performance is great. Keep at it. However, if you want to get "ripped", it's not the weight training that's important. Your diet is.

The ONLY way to get ripped is to reduce your bodyfat down to around 10% or less. This involves a pretty strict regime of what you can eat, coupled with an extensive cardio program to burn fat. If you have massive muscles or puny muscles, this same rule applies for being "ripped".

Some people are genetically more inclined to being ripped than others. Why do you want to be ripped? Vanity? Get over it. It's healthier to be closer to your natural state and enhance that with smart training.

[Vash]

Originally posted by Serpent
OK, protein intake.

If you're trying to build muscle, you should be looking at around 1.5 to 2.0 g of protein per kilogram of bodyweight. To translate for the Yanks, that's 0.68 - 0.90 g per pound of bodyweight, at least. Therefore, you weigh 140lbs:

140 x 0.90 = 126 grams of protein per day.

However, your main goal is not great hypertrophy (muscle size increase), therefore your protein intake will be more than enough if you are close to 100 - 120 grams per day. You say you get around 70 - 80 grams, so you might want to up that a bit, but not too much.

OK - weight training for strength and improved performance is great. Keep at it. However, if you want to get "ripped", it's not the weight training that's important. Your diet is.

The ONLY way to get ripped is to reduce your bodyfat down to around 10% or less. This involves a pretty strict regime of what you can eat, coupled with an extensive cardio program to burn fat. If you have massive muscles or puny muscles, this same rule applies for being "ripped".

Some people are genetically more inclined to being ripped than others. Why do you want to be ripped? Vanity? Get over it. It's healthier to be closer to your natural state and enhance that with smart training.

It's getting correct in here, so put on all your clothes!

[Serpent]

No, no - take 'em off! Take 'em all off and shake that ripped booty!

[Vash]

*begins unbuttoning cargo pants*

[Oso]

LMAO...and you guys were giving him **** about the way he sounded....

...sadly, Vash, being a product of the 80's as I am, 'cargo pants' just makes me think of parachute pants and 'Vash' + parachute pants = not pretty.

[Ming Yue]

Originally posted by Oso


'Vash' + parachute pants = not pretty.

Something like......... THIS?