My son is 14 and a high school freshman. He is 6'5" and weighs 145pds. He is SUPER long and lanky, but also super powerful and is throwing 83mph. But every coach says he needs to put on weight. The boys eats all the time. I don't want to use anything unnatural or use supplements, etc., but did anything help your skinny player? thanks.
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Ask your pediatrician.
murdocks- May I ask why you don't want him using any workout supplements?
I was the same way through high school. A little shorter at 6'3, but I only weighed 145 at graduation.
I ate everything not nailed down, but I was burning it all off. I managed to play football at that weight and not get killed, so it's not as if your son needs to gain weight. It will probably happen naturally, but if you are concerned, see his doctor to be sure.
At one point my son was 5'11" 135. It was after growing seven inches in senen months. He gained 25 pounds over the next four months. Aside from living with his head in the fridge he drank protein shakes twice a day. He worked out and didn't play high school basketball. He was always lighter at the end of the basketball season.
My son now a college Soph (was also 6'4" beanpole) now has said the one thing he would do different if he was in HS would be to get to the gym sooner with an high quality workout program, which would include the proper nutrition and supplemental proteins and amino's.
If he is a pitcher the program should be a "pitcher program" and there is nothing wrong with proper loading of high quality proteins and aminos before and after a workout.
I would find someone who can help you with both the workouts and diet. If he starts this now he will be way ahead of the curve by the time he is a senior.
Good Luck!
Murdocks5:
There is a thread called "OFF SEASON WEIGHT GAIN" from 2011 under Strength & Conditioning in the SKILLS and TIPS section.
Here's an excerpt from my contribution to that discussion. My son maintained a pretty consistent rate of weight gain that averaged about a pound and a half per month. He wrestled 140 as a freshman and 215 as a senior. The answer is constant daily attention to keep his stomach filled with a sensible balance of healthy food.
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Here's what worked for us:
1) A hot, hearty breakfast every day. No cold cereal, no breakfast bars, no pop tarts. Real food: eggs, potatoes, meat, toast, and juice. Vary the routine with breakfast burritos, omelets, chicken/gravy/biscuits, and other recipes.
2) Pack extra sandwiches and fruit for him to eat between classes and after school before practice/workout.
3) Normal lunch during school lunch period.
4) Big dinner waiting on the table the minute he gets home.
5) Peanut butter sandwiches or cottage cheese at bedtime.
Don't let him sleep in on the weekends. If he really needs some make up zzzzz's, wake him up at the usual schoolday time, make him eat his usual breakfast, then let him go back to bed.
Most kids who say they can't gain weight actually eat a lot less than they think they do. A typical day for these kids starts with a skipped or junkfood breakfast, a school lunch suitable for a small non-athlete as early as 10:00 or 11:00 in the morning, then nothing until after practice ends. Then they binge on fast food and other junk because they've been starved for eight hours. They think they're eating a lot, when in fact they're just backloading useless calories.
Fill him up with good food when he gets up, give him a sensible snack every two or three hours all day long, and top him off again with something that has both fat and protein when he goes to bed. Do this every single day. It works, and it's much cheaper than fast food or supplements.
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Best wishes,
P.S. I don't have anything against supplements. I just don't know much about them, and I'm too cheap to buy them when home cooking works just fine.
Let me reinforce my comment on sleeping in.
If you let one of those teen-aged calorie burning engines run for ten or twelve hours without adding fuel, it will start to consume itself.
A teenager who sleeps til noon on weekend or summer mornings misses at least three feedings that he won't get back: the full breakfast he'd normally eat at 6:00 am on a school morning, his early morning snack, his late morning snack, and maybe his lunch.
Given that growing bodies constantly crave sleep, these missed feedings will naturally happen unless you actively prevent it.
Make him get up and eat--real food, on time, every day. (You'll also get more yard work out of him, but that's just a side benefit.)
going to try to embed a video of my son at pitching last weekend - he is in middle in gray shirt - 6'5", age 14, RHP, 82 mph
<iframe src="http://www.facebook.com/video/...id=10151313886258401" width="226" height="400" frameborder="0"></iframe>
My lanky guy likes the following smoothie: fruit (usually banana & strawberry), milk, greek yogurt (very high in protein), a scoop of vanilla whey protein. Blend them. You can even add almonds and hide a little leafy green vegetables like spinach or kale. We have these after workouts. Huge amounts of protein with good carbs.
RonBon,
Spot on.
Ronbon is on the money. I had to implement a huge calorie diet to my 2015. He started just after Christmas and is maintaining a 13lb. Gain, of solid muscle. He was 6' 155lb. Now at 168. Goal of at least 175 by start of season. Mega calories is the way to go, 5 meals a day.
For some kids it just takes time and is genetic. I was 6'5" out of HS and probably only 180-190, yet around your sons age I was not too far off from where he is(from what I can remember). I grew to be 6'7" and eventually reach 240. Even at that weight I still looked slim because I was tall. My son is following a similar pattern in that he is 6'5", but is still in his boys body, barely reaching 200, and is only a solid 195. This despite a college workout program and all the food he can eat.
An old school way of kids gaining is eat plenty of bananas and drinking lots of milk. My son is not a big banana kid. My son made some weight gains using a product from GNC called AMP Amplified Mass XXX.
The bottom line is that your son will not become a mass of muscle, nor would you want him to be. It may take years for him to put on substantial weight for his height, and baseball coaches wanting weight gain, might want it for the wrong reasons.
BTW - If he is already throwing 83 at 14 years old, he is on the right path regardless of his weight.
Vector - thanks for the info! I think one problem for my kid is that he is SO active. He plays Varsity volleyball and basketball all while doing baseball training. And if he isn't away doing a sport, he is doing basketball in the driveway, so probably just burns off all the food we give him. BTW - thanks, yep, age 14 and throwing 83 at last week's pitching session.
My response is MMEIC (meat, milk, eggs and ice cream). I know you said you didn't want to go with supplements, but whey protein is not a bad idea. A couple of shakes in between meals mixed with whole milk would help. Optimum whey is a good product in my opinion.
If he can do 4 real meals per day plus one shake that would be good. If he can only do three meals and a snack, then go with two whey protein shakes.
Finally, a milk shake with whole milk and ice cream at night would be a good end to the day.
The other thing to consider is that he might not be done growing. He could eat and eat and simply grow another inch taller and get a little broader in the shoulders and wider in the hips and not really gain weight. As the extra calories are supporting the growth. Sometimes, it just takes time.
Or, he could get married. That's a sure fire way to put on 35lbs quickly.
You won't gain unless you consume enough calories.
Good advice in this topic, but do keep in mind what has been stated, much of it is genetic, and for some it takes a very long time.
Haven't been able to read every response so sorry if I'm repeating anything.
First of all, son is only 14 so there is no reason to get too worried. The good thing here is that at his age (and considering he appears to be naturally lean), he's going to be able to gain weight without it being "bad" weight. I was not a naturally lean person so I think the prospect of having to eat MORE than I think I need to sounds fun!
As far as things to buy, a protein supplement would be completely benign and ultimately saves you money on buying expensive meats. A website like bodybuilding.com will be significantly cheaper than a storefront like GNC and will have a better selection and a (somewhat) useful review feature. Don't forget that they will make it seem like you should buy all kinds of things that you don't need, though.
Beyond that, think about calorie density. I assume part of the issue is that son eats until he feels full, but he has not gotten adequate calories when he feels full. The first solution to this is getting more calories in before the full feeling hits. Peanut butter, milk, olive oil are simple things to add to meals that pack a caloric punch. Whole grain breads and oats can be useful as well. Frequent eating isn't necessary but may be useful if he has trouble eating a lot in one sitting.
With physical activity, while he certainly ought to be active maybe increase his focus on weight training and sprint-oriented work instead of endurance stuff. I realize some of this may be out of your control, though.
Be very careful about purchasing supplements from GNC. MLB players have tested positive for PEDs from supplements GNC sales people have told them are safe. We bought all natural protein from Whole Foods.
Recently our son a 16 year old junior began to work with a trainer to improve strength. His trainer reccomended that he use Cytogainer to gain weight (purchased at Nutri-Shop) He has gained five pounds and grown an inch in three months. I don't know if the gain comes from the Cytogainer or the tough workouts, but he is pleased with the results!
Be very careful about purchasing supplements from GNC. MLB players have tested positive for PEDs from supplements GNC sales people have told them are safe. We bought all natural protein from Whole Foods.
Always a good idea to check with banned substance databases since some things that are legal for the layman are not legal for competitive athletes in certain organizations.
Jpontiac,
Where could we find the data base on banned substances? We assumed that anything reccomended by the trainer and sold in a nutrition store would be legal for athletes. Thank you for heads up!
You can google NCAA list for banned substances.There is also a site that sells all collegiate approved substances.I cant remember the name of it?
Cytosport is one company that has the NSF for sports testing,which is what players in the minor leagues are suppose to use .There is also a site for NSF approved substances.This testing ensures that the companies have not mixed any supplements to where one could get contaminated.
Thank you RJM and Fanofgame. This is important information.
I also wanted to point out that cytogainer does have creatine.Many athletes take creatine but from my research of supplements its better to take it separately after a workout.If your drinking the drink just for weight gain I would drink cytosport muscle milk,or optimal nutrtion pro complex gainer.Many drink these drinks before bedtime,and no reason for creatine except after a workout.Thats just based on what I have read.
