Son's first workout(JS or others comments welcom)

[thick]

Yesterday was my boy's first workout. He is 7 years old and has been on me wanting to lift. The first few weeks he is going to concentrate on form and do whole body w/o's. Than I was thinking maybe pressing movements and squats on monday's. Pulling movements and deadlifts on thursdays. Any suggestions?? Anyone have kids that they trained to give me an idea of what they are capable of or respond well to? Obviously I am not going to be having him doing heavy workouts for quite some time. First w/o was 2 sets of 10 reps for all exercises. I had him do bench 2sets of 10 with just the bar 7.5 lbs(bar for plastic weights.) dumbell rows using 5lb plates, incline presses with 2.5 lb plates, shoulder presses 2.5 lb plates, chinups body weight(he can do 3 or so on his own. so most of it i assisted), squats- just the bar. I am planning on adding pushups, decline situps, deadlifts and either upright rows or shrugs. Any suggestions, comments, additions are much appreciated as well as workout frequency. I am planning on always being in the 10 rep range at least for the next several months. Possibly add weight when he can get 15 reps??

 

[Grizzly]

Damn, Thick, you're boy is a puss. Those are girl weights! LOL, JK, bro.

I don't know all too much about training for young'n's. He'll definitely get a fine workout and strength gains just from wrestling, though.

 

[thick]

I agree, I am having him pushing against me (while i push him back and side to side)at home just to increase his proprioception and help his ability to naturally end up on top or stay on his feet. He is all excited. we went to dollar general and got a notebook and 4 color pen to chart all of his progress. ( i still have some of my lifting notes from 5th or 6th grade lol). He weighed in at a whopping 58 pounds. I know he isn't really going to be gaining any size but strength will definitely go up. I was the only one in my class who was lifting in grade school and it carried over to highschool b/c i could lift more than anyone in our highschool(bench only) Too bad back than i didn't know what a squat or deadlift was. My dad lifted but didn't know much back than either. It was always 3 sets of 10 3 days a week. Definitely got stronger but not bigger(diet was another very weak point at the time)

 

[Grizzly]

What kid's diet isn't horseshit?

 

[thick]

Good point. However, I am strict on the food my kid eats. He doesn't drink pop or have a bunch of candy. I don't want to deprive him of the good shit b/c later on that can backfire. I had an aunt that wouldn't let her kids eat shit. Breakfast was a small bowl of cereal. Never seconds, never snacks etc. I starved when i went there. Now two out of the three kids are lard asses and the 3rd is only 21 so time will tell on him

 

[peytonpaw]

son

One of my sons is 7 and he goes out with me to the garage to work-out all the time....Last year he wrestled for the first time which was awesome....He does push-ups and pull-ups...Lat pull-downs and some other things...I think it's kinda cool watching him get into it, and it gives us something to do together

 

[thick]

that's awesome. this is my son't first year wrestling. He missed last year b/c i was moving 6 f'n times in that year and this year we went to florida so he missed the first few meets. he is definitely way behind but is eager to catch up.

 

[Freddy]

JS always said you can train young kids pretty hard, but afterward let them be a kid.

Let them run around, have fun, hang out, be dumb....just do kids stuff.

Put them through the workout, but don't make them gulp down protein shakes or abstain from "play time".

 

[Bob Smith]

Good points Freddy. Kids should be kids.

Thick, I would stick to the basic movements, and train him with full body wo's to start. He doesnt need to have a split routine at that age. 2-3 workouts per week is plenty. Feed the kid some good food, let him have fun lifting, and he'll get a little bigger in size, but youll notice the most gains in strength.

 

[Freddy]

Something else I thought of...

...don't make him do any tricep extension or skull crusher movements. Like Bob Smith said, stick to basic compound movements 2-3x a week. Maybe something like HST (minus all skull crushers).

I would hate for a 7 year old to have bad elbows.

 

[Bob Smith]

All isolation movements should be dropped. Stick with what is effective. skull crushers, upright rows, crap like that should be avoided. bench, squat, dl, military, close grip, curl, and rows/pullups should make up the vast majority of his work.

 

[Bob Smith]

I wonder how an HST program would work for someone that young.

 

[Phreezer]

Ahhh...Big thick teaching little thick....Making little thick into what will someday be bigger and younger thick...Then bigger and younger thick will make the previously known Big thick into little thick by kicking his ass around the house for every cookie that was ever denied him....

I'm glad to hear that your boy has such a strong interest!

To add something to what bob and Freddy said...Not too long ago, I watched a program on the Discovery channel about a six or seven year old kid that was squating 3x bodyweight for like 50 reps...(very impressive) and the host of the show interviewed an Orthopedic surgeon..and the good dr. said the exercise he was doing was fine..but he should avoid exercises that focused on a lot of shoulder rotation...Like Pullovers, hang cleans..etc...(probably similar to why kids shouldn't throw curve balls untill they are older)

 

[thick]

LMAO at Phreezer. Like rocky 8 or whatever. Rocky trained the dude that ends up wanting to kick his ass lol. Thanks for all the feedback guys. Right now I was planning on 2x/wk. than going to 3x/week. Definitely sticking with the basics. I am not expecting much in size changes but I know he will get much stronger. After a 4-6 weeks of getting used to the exercises and neural adaptation I will consider HST. Probably do a 15, 12, 10, 8 rep scheme rather than to 5 reps. What do u guys think about this??? Freddy, u r definitely right about letting him be a kid. I want to make this fun and enjoyable for him. Yesterday his legs were kinda sore from the squats lol I was like welcome to weightlifting. Now if you don't ever stop you won't ever have this initial soreness again

 

[thick]

another bump for any other suggestions. Added farmers walk with him carrying db's. still doing bench, incl db's, rows, chinups, squats, military press, close grip, curls, decline situps, deadlifts, pullups. He won't do all of these in one workout but will do all of these exercises at least 1x/week. yesterday he had a great workout. We added 5lbs to his bench. First set he did 7 shaky reps. the next 2 sets he did 10 really easy. the coord. is improving very fast. any additional comments?

 

[Freddy]

another bump for any other suggestions. Added farmers walk with him carrying db's. still doing bench, incl db's, rows, chinups, squats, military press, close grip, curls, decline situps, deadlifts, pullups. He won't do all of these in one workout but will do all of these exercises at least 1x/week. yesterday he had a great workout. We added 5lbs to his bench. First set he did 7 shaky reps. the next 2 sets he did 10 really easy. the coord. is improving very fast. any additional comments?

Haha...farmers walks...thats a great idea!

You know what I think would be cool for the lil guy...is medicine ball throws. I'm not even sure how one would go about teaching that to a young kid...but I would imagine that if you combine it with the rest of his routine, it would definitely improve his athleticism.

 

[thick]

lol, i think the farmers walk is a definite winner. he hates em. Funny u bring up the medicine balls. i have been really considering this also. When i get more room i definitely am going to incorporate them. Any different suggestions on what to do for a w/o w/them?

Haha...farmers walks...thats a great idea!

You know what I think would be cool for the lil guy...is medicine ball throws. I'm not even sure how one would go about teaching that to a young kid...but I would imagine that if you combine it with the rest of his routine, it would definitely improve his athleticism.

 

[Freddy]

lol, i think the farmers walk is a definite winner. he hates em. Funny u bring up the medicine balls. i have been really considering this also. When i get more room i definitely am going to incorporate them. Any different suggestions on what to do for a w/o w/them?

I've been thinking about it...and I think the medicine ball stuff is a must. Hehe. Plus, he'll probably think they're fun...at least at first...lol.

I would have him do a med ball workout 2-3x a week. Start out with just 2 a week and see how he does. If its no problem, than do 3.

For the workout, have him do chest-passes with you. This is common with basketball players, boxers, and powerlifters. Also, have him do 'overhead throws' with it. He would perform these by squatting down with the ball held in front of him...than explosively jumping up and hurling the ball backwards over his head. Have him aim for a wall behind him. Make sure he doesn't throw the ball straight up...cuz it would hurt if it landed back on top of him!

As he gets stronger...increase the distances. Make him stand further back from you when you do the chest passes...and make him stand furthor and further away from the wall when doing the overhead throws. When the distance starts getting really far...buy a heavier medicine ball and decrease the distances and start over again.

In the beginning...don't make him do too many throws per workout. I have no idea how many he'll be capable of when he starts. Just take it slow, and make him do more and more. Don't superset the two different types of throws...do chest passes, than do overheads, or vice versa.

When he can do both types of throws without much breaks or "down-time" in 10 minutes, than increase the distance. When the distance is too far, increase the weight and start all over.

I hope I wasn't too redundant...oh, and let me know if I left out anything.

 

[thick]

those r some great points and u r right. He will have fun with that. Where is the best place to look? I get some medical magazines with these but the prices dont seem to competitive. thanks for your time freddy. I always chart all of our w/o's so it will be cool to reflect back on this every few months

 

[Grizzly]

Yeah, medicine ball throws! Those are fun. Get the 10lbers and send him to wrestling practice with a few of them. We used to play dodge ball with the medicine balls when I wrestled. It was fun!