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Question:

I’m a 16, male, have been lifting for about 2 years, i weight about 160lbs and my wrestling season just got over. Before wrestling, started I had about 12% body fat, then I dropped about 8lbs for wrestling. Anyway, I will be a junior in high school next year and I started varsity as a sophomore at linebacker. I hope to play college football at a linebacker, but I need to gain some weight, and I was wondering: -What is the best way to gain a lot of muscle fast? -What muscle will give you best success on the field? -Which ones to work on the most, and are there any supplement’s you would recommend?

Now I feel where you’re coming from because I was in a similar situation in high school. My primary sport was baseball, and it was the sport I wanted to focus on. But, I wrestled from the 6^th grade through my sophomore year in because I liked the sport and the competition.

The hard truth is, wrestling is not exactly the best sport if you want to pack on the pounds - I didn’t know any better, but I remember eating only a small bagel and a glass of ice water for my lunch, and then following it up with a grueling practice - not exactly a good way to bulk up.

Nutrition

I did this so I could stay in my weight class.. This of course is before I learned some more advanced nutrition principles that would’ve allowed me to eat more and stay lean… Ohh if I could go back in time with what I know now.. Haha.

Anyway, long story short, I ended up quitting wrestling, because I didn’t want to stay at a scrawny 145 pounds for baseball - and it was a smart move. I wanted the strength and mass to hit doubles to the fence and, of course, the occasional homer :). I went from the 145 weight class to a playing weight of about 174 my senior year.

Here’s the BIG secret when it comes to gaining mass for someone like you who is already lifting.

Listen carefully now…

IN ORDER TO GET BIG, YOU HAVE TO EAT BIG.

Seriously - Write this down on a few pieces of paper, put it in your school locker, in your bathroom at home, and keep one in the car (if you drive yet, haha).

This is a quote I read a few years ago that stuck with me. I’m not sure who said it - it’s almost too simple, but it gets right to the point. You can lift and lift, until it feels like your arms and legs are going to fall off, but if you don’t eat big, you’ll never be big.

And this is why wrestling is a terrible sport to go along with football.

Think about it - there’s a conflict of interest. Wrestling rewards a body that’s strong relative to its bodyweight. Even if you’ve trained hard and gained a bunch of strength, in wrestling, you can be disqualified from competing just because of your weight.

But in football, relative weight doesn’t matter. If you’re a 160 pound linebacker and you’re strong for your weight, it’s not going to help you much. The 200 lb running back that has more mass is going to run you over - simple as that.

All the matters is how you perform on the field. Now even in football, you don’t want to have too much excess body fat as this may slow you down, depending on your position. But, the fact is that these are two sports that just don’t go together.

So step 1, if you’re serious about playing college football, you need to give up the wrestling. This will allow you to get on a more appropriate nutrition program for a 160 pounder like yourself. (HINT: it will involve having a fork in your mouth most of your waking day). Just make sure you’re getting your veggies and protein, and leaving out the sugar, chips, soda and other crap.

Okay, I didn’t mean to beat a dead horse there, and hopefully you understand how important it is to eat big and eat often.

Exercise Selection

As far as lifting, you asked what specific muscles will benefit you in football and how to train to get these muscles. Like I’ve said before on here, it’s not worth worrying about which muscles you need to develop - there are too many to keep track of.

But I can tell you..

Stick to compound movements that will build mass. If you learn to do these lifts and to do them with a lot of weight, the muscle mass on the “muscles you need” will come automatically. Think of these as your “Super-Lifts”

• Deadlifting variations
• Squat Variations
• Rowing
• Horizontal Pressing (like bench press)
• Overhead Pressing (like military) - Unless you’re a quarterback
• Weighted Pull-ups
• Power movements
  • Cleans
  • Push Press
  • Speed Pulls
  • Speed Squats
• Single leg movements
  • Bulgarian Splits Squats
  • Single Leg Squats
  • Lunges

(Notice I didn’t include biceps curls, lateral raises, or even core work here.)

This list of Super-Lifts should get you on the right track. Just don’t go out today and do all of them with a ton of weight right away - First, you need to learn the proper form before you can add these movements into your program. And once you do, don’t start getting heavy until you’ve practiced the movement to perfection. After all, it’s hard to lift anything when you’re injured and can’t move - Trust me, I’ve been there - it’s not cool.

And speaking of a program, make sure you get one drawn up for you by someone who knows what the heck they are doing.

If I were you, I’d print off this list of exercises right away, and take it to your strength coach - Ask him for help in teaching you these movements. He’ll probably be glad you asked and will be glad to help you - after all, it’s his job.

As for supplements, you’d be okay for now to just focus on getting your diet handled. After you do this, a quality protein powder will help you get the protein you need in between whole food meals. I’d also recommend adding a teaspoon (no more than this) of creatine monohydrate to a hot beverage (black coffee or tea) once a day.

Good luck with your career. Now go make yourself a big bowl of chicken and rice and start learning your lifts!

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