Young football player needing guidance on which supplement to take.

[iggy]

Hi. I'm a junior in high school getting ready for my senior year next year. I didn't lift hard my sophmore year and played junior varsity my junior year. I was somewhat ashamed playing jv as a junior. But everyone is hyping me up to try to win a spot if i work really hard. Needless to say, i've been working my ass off in the weight room. I normally do a hard day of Upper body on Monday, Lower on Tuesday, Wednesday is my day off, Thursday i do Upper body again, And saturday i do lower. I threw in a whole arsenary of auxilaries to do after my benching pyramid. Which i'm on the 220 one now. which goes 8 reps of 150, 6 reps of 160, 4 reps of 170, 3 reps of 180, 2 reps of 190, 1 rep of 200, and last 4 reps of 160. I was on Creatine awhile, but then when off of it after i had to go to the doctor's because my kidney was damaged, and my mom told me it was creatine, allthough i didn't think that the cause was creatine. I am currently taking 31 grams of Soy Protein Isolate made into a shake with a blender about a half an hour to forty-five minutes after a workout. I wanted to know if i should take creatine with Soy Protein Isolate, or just take Soy Protein Isloate alone. My max's now are 200 bench 350 squat 185 clean. Todays date is december 24th, and it is 5:13am eastern time. At January 8th we are maxing out. I hope to get 215 bench, 365 squat, and 200 clean. This is my senior year and i'm going to make the best of it. An all-state halfback even told a friend of mine that hes seen how hard i've been pushing myself. My auxilaries consist of doing a super set of stand-up flys 15 reps with 3 sets, then running over to a bar and curling 100 lbs 10 times, then fliping my hands and doing reverse curls. Then i do one-handed incline press with forty pound dumbells. 8 times left, then right, 3 sets, nonstop. Then i do military press on a machine, from the lowest possible, all the way to the most i can do, then back on the lowest, 3 reps all the way down and up and 3 sets of this. Then i will do burn-outs and some lats back and a thrusting machine. Thats an arms day for me. Before i go to bed every night i do 30-20-10s, which consists of thirty push-ups, and thirty crunches, down to 20, 20, and 10, 10. In my leg day i do squats, and power cleans, but i'm not sure how to deadlift correctly. I just wanted some input on whether taking creatine while taking soy protein isolate would be good for me. I'm sixteen turning seventeen in april.
And if i should take creatine, how should i take it correctly?
I need to work my biceps a little more too, all my other muscles are good for now though.
Constructive Criticism on my workout would be appreciated.
Which kind of meals should i eat that will help me gain muscle quicker?
Thank you.

 

[Protobuilder]

That's one helluva post. LoL I'll just address a few points. First, FOOD is the only thing you NEED. It's what makes you grow bigger and, with the proper training program, stronger. You can take creatine with or without the soy protein. It doesn't really matter. Just follow the directions on the creatine container--it'll probably have 5 day loading phase, etc. The soy protein isolate is just a convenient way to add more protein and calories to your diet, which is a good idea especially if you aren't eating enough. Taking it immediately after your workout is a good idea. Just try to eat a good meal after your workout.

Foods that'll help -- ANYTHING!!! If you're 16/17 and playing a tough sport, you're burning a lot of calories. If your bodyweight isn't moving up at all, then you just need to eat more. If you're having trouble adding extra bodyfat, stay away from some of the higher calories foods (e.g., fast food, pizza, icecream, etc.). But at your age, you can probably get away w/ eating just about anything. Just EAT more of EVERYTHING, including meats and grains.

For future reference, check out Bill Starr's book, The STrongest Shall Survive. It's for football players.

 

[dce2956]

If it used to live, eat it. That combined with boatloads of lifting will get you in great shape by spring football (assuming your highschool has that, mine did). Also, I'm not sure what position you play, thats real important. If its something like linebacker or fullback, I'd say that you don't have any speed work in there. Even a lineman should have SOME speed work in the offseason. The hard part about getting big is keeping the speed, if you can do that, it'll make a huge difference.

 

[iggy]

I'm 5'7, 194, i was 180 this year and 160 the year before. I'm training to be a defensive lineman and i don't think i'm eating as healthy as i should.

 

[glennpendlay]

ive trained a couple of high school football players who have had some success. by success i mean making it in D1 football, and having pretty outstanding numbers when it came to strength, speed, etc. OL style squats in the 500 to 650lb range, powercleans in the 350 to 400lb range, bench presses in the 350-400lb range, vertical jumps in the 35 to 40 inch range, and running pretty good pro-agility and 40 yard tests also. and by the way, ive had a couple of high school quarterbacks, white kids who weighed under 200lbs achieve the numbers i mentioned, so its not just 300lb linemen getting strong.

i only say that to show you that ive had some experience, not to brag.

what you want to do, what you need to do, is develope a workout that is similar to the "5 by 5" training program that is talked about a lot on this site, but incorporates some of the more explosive moves like powerclean and push press that may be left out of the routines of guys who are just trying to get big. weight training 3 days a week is plenty for you.

Then, you need to do a reasonable speed/agility program. nothing dramatic. focus on starts, 10, 15, and 20 yards, and some basic footwork skills. dont spend more than 30 minutes 3 times a week on this. actually you should spend less right now, increase it during the summer as sthe season approaches. 5 or 10 20's 3 times a week would probably be good for now. dont overdo the speed work while you are trying to get stronger. do the minumal amont, increase later.

you also need to develope a short ab/lower back program you can do everyday, just some conditioning to get your core strong. something short, that wont interfere too much with the strength training is best, and it will pay dividents later when you get more serious about speed work.

then, you need to eat. eat, eat, and eat. dont tell anyone you cant gain weight. if you are not gaining, you are not eating enough. 20lbs of muscle wont slow you down if its muscle built with squats and powercleans! it will make you faster. from my experience, there aint a 16 year old in the world who has enough muscle on his body that a little more built the right way wont help him in athletics.

the recipee for using the weightroom to become a better, faster, stronger and more explosive football player is simple, specific, and it works. if you think you have a chance to play varsity now, then in 6 months if your squat is up 100lbs, your clean is up 50lbs, and your bench and push press are up 50lbs, your 40 yard dash is a couple of tenths faster, your vertical is a couple of inches higher, and you weigh 20 more pounds, then im guessing that playing varsity will be a foregone conclusion. this can be done, and it isnt rocket science, the only question is whether you will do it.

 

[dce2956]

I'm 5'7, 194, i was 180 this year and 160 the year before. I'm training to be a defensive lineman and i don't think i'm eating as healthy as i should.

If you think you aren't eating healthy enough, then you probably aren't. Cookies and soda isn't gonna get you strong or fast, or help at all. Yeah its gonna put on weight, but not muscle...

The baisics for your diet should consist of stuff like the following:
MEAT!!!(can't stress that enough...)
fruits
vegtables
pasta
rice
oatmeal
eggs
milk

and ya know what, if you want a cookie, sure, have it, but don't eat a whole package with the intention of using that to get bigger, it just won't help. thats room in your stomach that could have been filled with chicken or beef.


and on lifting, i think you have the right idea. the compound movements are whats gonna help you the most in football, so squat away, powerclean like theres no tomorrow, and benchpress your brains out. if you have a trainer that can teach you to do snatches, those are good explosive movements too that will really help. From my graduating class on my football team in highschool, there were 4 players that are now playing D1 football, including the nations best center, who now plays for Notre Dame. He said he was eating up to 4 pounds of meat a day! I'm not sure if that was true or not, but when he graduated he was squatting 425 and benching 315. He was also a state champion wrestler...

so go, EAT!

 

[Madcow2]

And if i should take creatine, how should i take it correctly?
I need to work my biceps a little more too, all my other muscles are good for now though.
Constructive Criticism on my workout would be appreciated.
Which kind of meals should i eat that will help me gain muscle quicker?
Thank you.

Iggy, I know Glenn's post above probably isn't exactly what you had in mind from reading most sites and BBing literature, but I cannot emphasize enough that it is by far the best advice you will get. Worry about the big 95% block first and get it right, then deal with supplements and biceps training which along with all other garbage makes up the remaining 5% at best.

Glenn is by far the most knowledgable person about training on this board (which means very little) but is also one of the most highly respected and regarded strength coaches in the nation (this means a lot) so even if you aren't sure about his advice, going on faith alone would be reasonable in this case. Here is an interview if you want to learn a bit more about him: http://www.readthecore.com/200503/reynolds-glenn-pendlay.htm

Not that Glenn needs my stamp of approval (or that my stamp is in any way worthwhile) but I am trying to save you from the mistake of falling into a giant pool of useless bullshit and thinking his opinion is just an outlier.

 

[JIMguy]

I can already imagine you reading glenn's advice and thinking its bullshit b/c he left out isolation bicep curls 4 times a week... but pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee... follow every word he said to a t. Research the single factor 5X5 program. Theres tons of info on this site.
Good luck

 

[tay1506]

At January 8th we are maxing out. I hope to get 215 bench, 365 squat, and 200 clean.

We maxed out and had a thing called lift athon my junior year and it was a big thing to us. I don't know if thats something like ur doing, but i don't see u getting 15 lbs. stronger in everything. However that does not mean u can't go up 15 lbs. in all your max lifts. I suggest u take about a week off and maybe during that week work on form and technique. U could also maybe practice the 1-6 principle that has really helped me alot. I brought my bp up one time 10 lbs. to 260 by doing that. I have never tried it on squats or cleans, but i bet it works. Also make sure u eat perfect the day of the lifts and maybe the day before. I know it will help u oh yeah and just don't over eat right before i know ive done that a few times.

Good luck!

 

[Jim Ouini]

Anyone else always feel like going to the gym after reading one of GP's posts?