The men's fitness blog

Your teenage years are full of changes, both physical and psychological. Surely one of the most important is the interest you begin to tae in the opposite sex (Don't worry - this isn't going to turn into an awkward sex education lesson). Teenaged boys will go to great lengths to make a good impression on the girls. And, since the teenage years are relatively stress free, many teenagers have thought about using their spare time to hone a nice body by pumping iron, lifting weights as part of a bodybuilding routine.

If you are no longer a teenager, perhaps you can still remember those days of comparing muscle gain with your buddies. Some things never change! But as body image becomes more and more important (whatever the reasons), the fact is that working out to gain a toned, muscular body is now becoming common among teenage boys.

Parents normally rightly support this practice - wanting their teenager to be fit and healthy and develop high self esteem and confidence. Having a healthy and muscular body can do wonders to a teenagers self belief.

However, as is the case in adult muscle building, some boys try to cheat by taking steroids, hoping to gain muscle fast or with little effort. If you are considering this, remember that, apart from the danger of seriously messing up your hormones at this important growth period in your life, you will also lose the satisfaction and self belief gained from having to work hard in the gym to see muscle gains.

The old fashioned body building routines have proved time and time again to be unrivalled - this includes a healthy diet and a regular weight training schedule. the furst step in deciding on your diet and nutrition is to work out whether you are too heavy or too skinny (use this Body Mass Index calculator to get a rough estimate) If you are overweight, you need to begin by doing mostly cardiovascular work, like cycling, swimming or running, to burn off the excess fat. After this, you can start increasing the amount of weights you are lifting.

Your diet should cut down significantly on fat and carbohydrates (bread, pasta, etc); while increasing your intake of protein (meat, fish, nuts, etc). If, on the other hand, thing are a little easier, since you can start immediately with weight exercises for building muscle, combined with a protein-heavy diet for fuelling this growth.

Remember that since you are still growing and probably haven't done any body building routines, you need to gradually ease yourself in to this weight training program. Go go all out straight away, but give your body enough time to adjust to the rigors of resistance training. Always make sure that you get plenty of rest, and your body will do the rest by repairing and growing muscle for you.

Perhaps most importantly of all, make sure that you have the right attitude before you start working out. You will not see instant results, and therefore must be prepared to be patient for a couple of months. If you are committed to putting in the hard work, you will definitely see big improvements over time.

Of course, these aren't the only points to contemplate, but they are a very good start. Essentially it all comes down to having the willpower to succeed. If you have this, then get out there and make a start!