Should I quit strength/hypertrophy training? (16M)

Take it easy. Forget your friends and their progression. We each have different bodies with different metabolisms.

Especially at 16, your body hasn't finished changing yet. But doing exercise consistently around 3x a week, will help you develop a better metabolism over time.

Working out is something that take time for some to get results. Just don't give up. Keep at it. There are more benefits to working out than just big muscles and weight loss. It can really help your mental health as well.

You’re a teenager. Slow down. Getting to a healthy weight is great. Being physically fit is great.

Focusing on the size, shape of your muscles is probably unhealthy. Talk to a doctor.

Body dimorphism is a real problem for young men your age. And, as others have said, everyone is different. Bodies are different, they respond to exercise and diet differently, they develop at different rates and have different limits. When you’re young it’s possible to do more harm than good if you push too far too fast.

You’ve accomplished a lot, already. Get on a program that focuses on health and be patient.

You listed your current stats, but what were your starting stats? I bet they were a lot different. You should be competing with yourself, not others.

Try changing things up. I watch Renaissance Periodization on YouTube for a lot of workout science, and doing the same exercise for a really long time can let it get stale, as your body just gets too used to it. Try more variations on the movements, or different isolation exercises. Whatever you do, try it for at least 3-6 months.

my parents dont like me even going to the gym

Curious why your parents don't like you going to the gym?

Plateaus will happen, and part of the journey is figuring out how to break through them. It usually comes down to one of two possibilities: pushing yourself too hard, or not hard enough.

What does it mean to be pushing too hard? Your body needs to recover from the workouts and grow bigger/stronger. This means needing adequate food/sleep/rest and low stress. All of these variables affect each other. If you eat less, sleep less, or have a generally more stressful life, you'll have to go easier on your workouts to compensate. I understand that you don't have full control over your diet, and that's fine. We make do with what we have, and you still have control over your workouts. Some options to consider:

• Do a deload, where you go very easy (e.g. 50% of your max) for a week, then return to your usual workout. You can also accomplish something similar by dropping your training max and working your way back up by progressing the same way you normally do.
• Switch to a program with a slower progression. If you usually up the weights once a week, consider a program that does it once every 2/3/4 weeks.

What about not pushing hard enough? For that, you need to get a feel for what it's like to push hard. Renaissance Periodization's YouTube channel had a bunch of these "Training muscle X with person Y" videos, and they tend to be very good demonstrations of what it looks like to push hard. Keep in mind that workouts like these should be the minority of your overall workout plan if they're even there at all, but it's good to know what to aim for when you do have those days scheduled.

I'm my opinion, focusing on strength training is a good idea when everything else is suboptimal. A lot of gains can be made on the powerlifting movements by just practicing and optimizing your technique.

Perfect is the enemy of gains!

It takes a long time to see visible progress for most people.

If you stop now you will still be skinny fat in ten years and wishing you had kept at it.

I’m actually curious about your nutrition/diet vs. what you’re lifts/program are.

At your age, almost anything from a weightlifting standpoint should help stimulate muscle growth.

How many calories are you eating each day? Is this something you’re able to track? How about grams of protein per day?

Skinny fat is a tricky place to be because if you cut down a lot of weight, there isn’t much muscle to make it look good/worthwhile.

Are your weights always static? Or do you mix it up?

What does your diet look like? I know you said your parents aren't a fan, but you can still do some rough math and figure out what (if anything) you're lacking. My guess would be, since you're eating what you're parents make, you could be lacking protein or something. In college, our strength trainers would feed guys in your position peanut butter and honey sandwiches with protein shakes.

There are also supplements you could take... but I don't like suggesting those because your body could react differently than mine or anyone else's. Do your due diligence on those... but when I was your age (maaaaany moons ago lol) I used to take one tablespoon of glutamine direct on my tongue and wash it down with water right after a work out. Don't know if the direct approach was necessary, but it was the thing at the time.

All of that being said...don't quit. I've been in your shoes, and it's waaaaaaay to easy to go back to being a "fat fuck" and anything is better than nothing, even if your goals don't manifest immediately. It might be time to try a different workout though, check out the "Bigger, Faster, Stronger" workout (assuming it's still around). The places I've been that used it had a lot of success with it and produced some very strong individuals. If you're interested, let me know and I'll see if I can scrounge up a link or some material.

Just popping back into this post.

How you doing with it bruh?