DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: My son idolizes the wrestlers of World Wrestling Entertainment and is fixated with attaining a similar body for himself. He pushes himself at the school gym twice a day, five days a week. It is my understanding that the body needs time to recover between trainings, but he thinks that demonstrates weakness. What is a healthy routine for a 15-year-old boy, and how do I convince him that having a WWE body is unrealistic?
He won’t listen to Dad
Chris, 20, San Pedro CA
Dear Dad of Hercules Jr.: It is normal for boys this age to want a muscular physique. I, too, wanted a chiseled chest and bulging biceps around that age — and I, too, made the mistake of working out twice a day, resulting in two herniated discs in my lower back. Intense workouts are not the best thing for growing teens and working the same muscles twice a day is the WORST thing you can do for muscle growth. Not resting will only slow down and possibly damage development. Have a P.E. teacher help your son determine a healthy routine.
Dominic, 22, San Luis Obispo CA
Don’t discourage your son, just find him a trainer. When you work out you are essentially tearing muscle fibers which need rest to regenerate.
Katie, 15, Auburn CA
Maybe this will help. If a 15-year-old boy approached me looking like a WWE athlete, I would run the other way.
Graham, 15, Fair Oaks CA
Your son is going to hurt himself. Get him a personal trainer. It may be expensive, but not nearly as expensive as your son ruining himself by working out improperly and for the wrong reasons.
Jack, 18, Fair Oaks CA
As long as he isn’t working out the same body parts too frequently he should be fine. I’d be more worried that he is fixated on obtaining a body like those wrestlers and may view them as heroes. Most use steroids and have other unhealthy habits. In 2007, pro wrestler, Chris Benoit, after using steroids for multiple years succumbed to “roid rage”, killing his wife, son, and then himself. Keep an eye on your impressionable son.
DEAR DAD: I hope your son listens to his peers, because they are right. I validated their points by talking to two professionals. Joe Rodriguez of the National Strength and Conditioning Association says, “Lifting weights without giving the muscle opportunity to rest can actually shrink muscle over time rather than build it.” He also says the reason most gyms don’t allow kids to train without supervision is because over-training can damage growth plates.
Vance Mueller, former Oakland Raiders running back and owner of Mueller’s Elite Training in Cameron Park, California, loves weight training for teens because healthy, chemical-free training is the top antidote for stress, which is the biggest cause of disease and illness in today’s world. “But you have to train smart,” he says. “The bodies of WWE athletes are not real. They are all chemically enhanced. And anytime you take anabolic steroids you affect the pituitary gland and enter uncharted and dangerous territory.” Mueller says successful weight training depends on rest interval, diet, hydration, and sleep — and proper rest interval means resting muscle groups 3 to 7 days between workouts, depending on the rigor of the workout.
I’m thrilled your son is working out, too, but he needs a respected trainer and good role models. Because he idolizes the WWE athletes, he may feel pressure to use steroids, which would allow him to skip the rest interval, over-train, and build mass unnaturally. These drugs are readily available on the black market and taken without a doctor (which the pros use) are wildly dangerous. If he can’t relate to liver and kidney damage, other side effects in males are shrunken testicles, erectile dysfunction, breasts, baldness and acne. Maybe he’ll hear that.
——-
