The Best Way to Build Lean Muscle For Young Athletes

Young athletes gather around!

The weather is warming, school's almost out, and the time is now.

This is the season to build muscle.

Look to at your teammates: to the left; to the right. Many need the same thing. One typically stands out with bulging biceps and zero fat. You ask him what he’s doing.

Depending on the individual, you get a range of amateur advice that may do you more harm than good:

• I take creatine
• I lift heavy and do the same workout I’ve been doing for the past twelve months
• I eat a bunch of rice before I train
• Muscle milk is the answer, etc.

The truthful answer is: “I was born like this; or, I’m pharmaceutically enhanced and, therefore, a cheater.”

The reality is that building useful muscle for the vast majority is fairly technical.

Training the right way is a big part of the battle with highly individualized solutions, solutions too technical to cover in a blog.

However, we can provide some clear nutritional guidelines.

First, let's make a few generalized statements:

• You have to be healthy to add muscle and expect to keep it—no easy shortcuts
• You can’t be overweight (have a high body fat percentage) and expect to add usable muscle

Assuming that some of our readers are a little on the chunky side, you must first lose that junk.

Here’s how you do it (we assume your training protocols are exceptional and you’re training hard—really hard):

• Cut out carbs completely with the following two exceptions
• Add sugar to a post-workout shake. We recommend the following two:
  • Ucan
  • Quadricarb by Poliquin
• An alternative solution is to add fruit juice to your shake
• Include gluten-free carbs in your first meal after your workout
• Ensure you’re eating enough fats before training

Get down to 10 – 12% body fat, and then proceed to the next step—building lean muscle! 

Now that you have a two-pack, you’re right where I want you: in a position to easily change your body composition. Here are some simple tips to build muscle when you’re lean:

• Add a bunch of carbs to your dinner—only gluten-free carbs
• Continue eating carbs in your first meal after training
• Take 5,000 mg of branch chain amino acids in the morning, during your workout, and at night before bed
• Be sure to take a B Complex vitamin whenever taking BCAA’s

These are all general guidelines.

No matter what, they will aid in improving your sports performance as a young athlete.

There are many healthier, long-lasting approaches to building lean muscle. If you’re interested in finding out more, give us a call at 949-722-7070 or email info@StarkNation.com.

Here’s a great video on the same topic as well

And remember, it’s your health—man up!