And the vast majority of kids aren’t getting anywhere near enough on a daily basis.
“Protein is the most important macronutrient for the youth athlete looking develop strength, speed, power, & muscle.
This is common knowledge.
The kicker though, is significant consumption isn’t limited to training days or when you feel like it.
It’s got to be every day.”
-Ray Zingler on X
It seems like it’s year-round, but especially this time of year that athletes, particularly males, are always talking about gaining weight and getting stronger.
Gaining weight and getting stronger are silly simple to do, they just aren’t easy. I know the phrase is cliché, but it is undoubtedly true.
And the only reason they aren’t easy is because they require effort. Not unrelenting effort, but calculated effort for sure.
When I chat with athletes, I break it down to them very simply.
To gain weight, we must consume more calories than we are burning.
If we don’t do that we will maintain or lose weight.
So, when a kid comes up to me and tells me that “he eats so much, but he can’t gain weight”, barring some underlying health issue which is almost never the case, I can plainly tell right then and there he is not eating enough.
It’s very hard for kids and parents even to understand just how many calories the busy, growing athlete is burning.
When you take a 16-year-old boy with testosterone coursing through his veins, a daily ball practice and a work out in the middle, your standard 2,000 kcal FDA recommended intake doesn’t come close to scratching the surface of necessary daily calories.
And the sad reality is that many kids are consuming LESS than that on a daily basis.
Our kids must increase their caloric intake. And of course, I want to say “quality” caloric intake, but in all honesty, the kids just need calories.
And while all macronutrients are important the focus for the youth athlete should be on protein.
Not only is protein responsible for building muscle, but it’s also responsible for sustaining it (notice how kids tend to lose weight during the season – this is the last time you want muscle underperforming).
So how much protein?
You can read a bunch of biased studies advocating for low protein vs high protein, but the fact of the matter is the vast majority aren’t getting anywhere near enough.
I typically encourage kids to shoot for 1g of protein per pound of bodyweight they want to weigh, every day.
You want to weigh 190lbs., 190g a day, 7 days a week.
Do that consistently, for months, and you’ll get there.
