From the perspective of a 22+ year strength coach
Every young athlete dreams of playing at the next level.
Maybe that means making a high-level hockey team, earning a spot on a competitive football roster, playing college soccer, basketball, baseball, lacrosse—or eventually competing professionally.
Talent matters. Skill matters. Coaching matters.
But one area that is often overlooked during the teenage years is building a strong, powerful body.
If you want to compete at the next level, you can't rely on skill alone. As competition gets better, athletes become faster, stronger, more explosive and more physical.
That's why strength training and developing muscle mass during your teenage years can be such an important part of athletic development.
1. Build Your Physical Foundation
Your teenage years are an important time to develop the physical foundation you'll carry into adulthood.
A well-designed strength-training program can help young athletes develop:
- Stronger muscles
- Stronger connective tissues
- Better coordination
- Improved balance and stability
- Greater body control
- Increased power
- Improved athletic movement
The goal isn't simply to become "big."
The goal is to become a stronger, more athletic version of yourself.
A young hockey player needs strength to battle along the boards.
A football player needs strength to absorb and deliver contact.
A basketball player needs strength to establish position and explode toward the basket.
A soccer player needs strength to win challenges, accelerate and maintain control.
Different sports require different physical qualities—but strength is a foundation for almost all of them.
2. Muscle Mass Can Help You Compete Physically
As you move up through competitive sports, you're going to encounter athletes who are bigger, stronger and more physically developed.
That's reality.
You can have incredible skill, but if you constantly get pushed off the puck, knocked off your route, lose position or struggle to absorb contact, your physical development can become a limiting factor.
Building appropriate muscle mass can help you create a stronger frame and give you a better physical foundation to compete.
You don't need to become a bodybuilder.
You need to develop the muscle and strength necessary for your sport.
That means training movements such as:
- Squats
- Deadlifts
- Presses
- Pull-ups
- Rows
- Lunges
- Carries
- Jumps
- Throws
- Sprints
The goal is athletic strength, not simply lifting weights for the sake of lifting weights.
3. Strength Can Help You Become More Explosive
One of the biggest reasons athletes strength train is because strength is an important component of power.
And power shows up everywhere in sports.
Acceleration.
Jumping.
Changing direction.
Exploding off the line.
Driving through contact.
Throwing.
Swinging.
Pushing.
Chasing down an opponent.
The ability to produce force quickly is a huge part of athletic performance.
That's why I don't want young athletes spending all of their time doing endless cardio.
You need conditioning—but you also need to develop the strength and power that allow you to move faster and more explosively.
4. Get Strong Before You Worry About Looking Like an Athlete
Social media has created a strange situation for young athletes.
They're constantly seeing professional athletes, fitness influencers and bodybuilders and thinking:
"I need to look like that."
That's not the goal.
Your goal should be to perform like an athlete.
Don't chase a certain look.
Chase:
- A stronger squat
- A stronger deadlift
- A stronger press
- A faster sprint
- A higher jump
- Better movement
- Better conditioning
- Better recovery
- Better athletic performance
The physique will come with the right training, nutrition and consistency.
5. Learn Proper Technique Early
One of the biggest advantages of starting strength training as a teenager is learning how to train properly.
Good coaching matters.
Young athletes should learn how to:
- Squat correctly
- Hinge correctly
- Brace their core
- Push and pull properly
- Control weights
- Move through appropriate ranges of motion
- Warm up properly
- Recover properly
- Progress gradually
You don't need to see how much you can lift every workout.
Technique comes first.
Then consistency.
Then progressive overload.
Then heavier weights.
Your goal isn't to impress everyone in the gym.
Your goal is to become a better athlete.
6. Strength Training Can Help Build Confidence
There is another benefit that doesn't always show up on a spreadsheet.
Confidence.
There's something powerful about watching yourself get stronger.
You start with a certain weight.
A few months later, that weight becomes easier.
Your technique improves.
Your body changes.
You move better.
You become more confident in the gym—and eventually that confidence can carry over onto the field, ice or court.
Strength training also teaches young athletes an important lesson:
Results don't happen overnight.
You have to show up.
You have to work.
You have to stay consistent.
You have to deal with days when you don't feel motivated.
Those lessons extend far beyond sports.
7. Don't Forget Nutrition
If you're trying to build muscle as a teenager, you can't expect training to do everything.
You need to fuel your body.
Young athletes are growing while also demanding a tremendous amount from their bodies through practices, games, school and training.
That means nutrition matters.
Focus on:
- Enough total calories
- Quality protein
- Fruits and vegetables
- Carbohydrates for training fuel
- Healthy fats
- Plenty of water
- Consistent meals
- Adequate sleep
And don't fall into the trap of thinking that supplements are more important than food.
Food, training, recovery and consistency come first.
For teenagers especially, nutrition and supplementation should be approached appropriately with parents/guardians and qualified health professionals when needed.
8. Recovery Is Part of Training
More training isn't always better.
Young athletes need to recover.
That means getting enough sleep, eating enough food, managing training volume and allowing the body time to adapt.
You're not getting stronger while you're lifting the weight.
You're providing the stimulus.
Your body adapts afterward.
Train hard. Recover harder.
9. Don't Wait Until You're 18 to Start
One of the biggest mistakes I see is athletes waiting until they're almost finished high school to take strength training seriously.
By then, they may be competing against athletes who have spent years developing their physical abilities.
You don't have to wait.
Starting with appropriate, supervised strength training at a young age can help you develop good movement patterns and build a foundation for more advanced training later.
The key is having a program that is age-appropriate, properly coached and focused on long-term development.
The Goal Isn't Just to Get Bigger
This is probably the most important point.
Young athletes shouldn't train simply to gain weight.
They should train to become:
Stronger.
Faster.
More explosive.
More athletic.
More resilient.
More confident.
Adding muscle can be part of that process—but it should support athletic performance.
If you're 15 years old and want to play college hockey, football, soccer, basketball or another sport, don't wait until you're there to start preparing your body for that level.
Start building the foundation now.
Because eventually, everyone at the next level is talented.
The question becomes:
Who has put in the work to build the body capable of using that talent?
My Advice as a 22+ Year Strength Coach
I've spent more than two decades working with athletes and helping people get stronger.
If I could give a young athlete one piece of advice, it would be this:
Stop looking for shortcuts.
You don't need the newest training trend.
You don't need a complicated program.
You don't need to copy a professional athlete's workout from Instagram.
You need a well-designed program, good coaching, proper nutrition, recovery and consistency.
Build your strength.
Build your muscle.
Build your athletic foundation.
Then keep improving it year after year.
Don't wait until you reach the next level to start training like you're trying to get there.
12 Fitness
At 12 Fitness, we help athletes develop strength, muscle, power and athletic performance through structured training programs designed around their goals.
Whether you're training in person in Calgary, Alberta, or looking for online strength and conditioning, the goal is the same:
Get stronger. Get faster. Become a better athlete.
Thank me later
Coach Mitch