I NEED MY ATHLETE TO GET BIGGER, STRONGER, FASTER, MORE EXPLOSIVE!
Usually when parents bring their children to PFP to begin training, this is the starting line. These are the goals that all athletes want now, but they are achieved during different time frames.
There are many variables to take into account in order for a young athlete to begin seeing muscle growth and ultimately, achieving the end goals they have in mind.
Before diving into this must see formula to make it happen, I must preface that you should never want your athlete to “get bigger muscles” at the expense of speed and power. Some athletes "get big" and end up performing worse.
At PFP our training philosophies are geared toward athletic enhancement and not body building (a sport in its own right that doesn’t always transfer to performance on the field).
Control the controllable… today this simple approach has been clouted with social media and seeing genetic lottery winners dunking basketballs at age 12 while weighing 220 of lean muscle (thanks Zion Williamson ) and we begin to think this is the norm or achievable by everyone!
We must first understand that we are all born with physiological gifts and limitations.
We cannot control when these young athletes will go through puberty… this is a HUGE factor for athletes trying to build lean muscle mass.
Some young men hit it early, and some later. I sympathize with a lot of the athletes struggling with this because I was the undersized kid doing “everything” I could to build muscle and never was successful. I stayed patient and continued working toward goals and for me my major “burst” of growth was at the end of my senior year to freshmen year of college.
Here is the not-so-secret secret to putting on muscle:
TH x HCS x MS + R + T= Muscle Growth
TH: Training Hard, which your athlete gets at PFP, but they must continue to be inspired and motivated to become a harder worker. We all need that ;) For most of us, training with tenacity long term is a matter of developing an internal drive to be all we can be.
HCS: Healthy Caloric Surplus, if you want your athlete to put on muscle, they must be putting in more calories than they are burning (most athletes are missing this one because they have zero guidance)
MS: Managing Stress. Athletes must adequately handle stress for a wide array of reasons-- stress influences poor food cravings, jacks up the metabolism, affect recovery time and injury risk, and finally can affect muscle growth since cortisol is catabolic.
R: Recovery. Most athletes are under sleeping, under stretching, and have no "Yin Time" which could lead to never fully recovering after training… or it could lead to injuries halting training altogether. Muscles grow at rest, we all know this but still struggle to apply the concept of rest!
T: Timing. Puberty is a big influencer here. Until the growth spurt hits, control the other 4 variables to maximize the benefit when this timing hits! Encourage your athlete to stay consistent!
I love this process because it parallels to life… it teaches student athletes delayed gratification and stick-to-it-ive-ness, the constant pursuit to get better.
This process was pivotal in me becoming the man I am today and helped ingrain a love of the process. I like the say Honor the Hustle…. And this is an area it certainly holds true!
We need this lesson now more than ever as we are a society that shows by our actions we are just as infatuated with the quick fix and the next shiny thing as ever before… the recipe is simple, but simple is not always easy!
Dedicated to your athlete's success,
Coach Travis Bewley
P.S. If you would like your athlete to get a comprehensive assessment of their nutrition, their mindset and ability to manage stress, their current strength and power markers, and how much muscle mass they have throughout every limb in their body, fill out the form at www.pfpfit.com
Let's get them on a path to muscle building and success.
