Workout plan for teenagers: strength and fitness for 13 to 17 year olds

Weeks 1 to 4: learning the movesEmerging evidence

Start with body weight or a light weight: 1 set of 10 to 15 in week 1, then 2 sets, stopping with 3 or 4 reps to spare. The aim is the same movement on every rep, with an adult giving you feedback. The US National Strength and Conditioning Association starts young people on 1 or 2 sets of 10 to 15 with a light load, and the 2014 international consensus on 1 or 2 sets at up to about 60% of the most they could lift once.

Write down each move, the weight and your reps: the youth guidelines recommend a training log. Four weeks for this stage is our editorial choice; take longer if you need it.

Sources 1, 2

From week 5: adding weightEmerging evidence

Pick a weight where you reach 8 reps with 2 or 3 to spare. Keep it until every set reaches 12 reps, still with 2 or 3 to spare, then add the smallest step you have, about 5 to 10%, and drop back to 8. Adding reps and adding weight both work.

Heavier sets of 6 to 8 come later, in weeks 10 to 12, and only when your coach agrees your technique holds on every rep. The international consensus moves on to 2 to 4 sets of 6 to 12 at up to about 80% of maximum once technique is solid, and to heavier sets of 6 or fewer only if technique holds.

Sources 1, 2, 3

How hard each set should feelStrong evidence

You do not need to train to failure. Stopping 2 or 3 reps short, often written as 2 to 3 reps in reserve (RIR), gives similar results for most people.

Never train to failure. In weeks 1 to 4, stop every set with 3 or 4 reps to spare, and after that with 2 or 3. End a set of jumps while every landing is still quiet.

Sources 4, 5

Rest between setsEmerging evidence

Young people recover quickly between sets: about a minute is often enough for moderate sets, and 2 to 3 minutes before heavier lifts and hard jumps. In this plan, rest about a minute between sets, and a little longer before the heavier first lifts of weeks 10 to 12.

Sources 1, 2

Lighter weeks (deloads)Mixed evidence

Not compulsory, especially for beginners. Take one in week 9, or in an exam week or a week of matches, or sooner if your performance drops for two sessions in a row and you feel run down or achy: same days, same exercises, about half the sets, and weights that feel easy (4 or more reps in reserve). Then restart at your previous weights.

Deloads are common practice: in a survey of competitive strength and physique athletes they lasted about a week, roughly every 5 to 6 weeks. Direct evidence is thin: three small trials. In trained adults, a full week off mid-programme did not change muscle growth but slightly reduced strength gains. In one small trial in 19 untrained men, with no control group, two lighter weeks neither held back nor added to gains; the second came just before testing, so it also worked as a taper. After very high-volume training, a lighter week and a week off gave similar results in 30 trained men. So a lighter week looks better than a week off if strength matters.

Sources 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Warm up like the injury-prevention programmesStrong evidence

Every session starts with the warm-up and the land and jump block of the strength workout for teenagers, about 10 minutes: the youth position statement asks for 5 to 10 minutes of dynamic warm-up.

Structured warm-ups with strength, balance and jumping cut injuries in youth sport by about half across 21 trials, and 2 or 3 sessions a week of 10 to 15 minutes were enough. In 1,892 girls aged 13 to 17 playing football, one cut overall injuries by about a third and severe injuries by nearly half. Before team sport, use the knee control warm-up, or FIFA 11+ for football from age 14.

Sources 11, 12, 13, 1

Missed days, soreness and when to stop

Missed a session? Do the next one in the order rather than doubling up. Muscle soreness for a day or two after a new exercise is common and fades as you repeat it.

Stop and get medical help for chest pain or pressure, unusual breathlessness, dizziness or fainting. If a joint pain is sharp, gets worse during a set or lingers into the next day, swap to the move's easier option, and see a clinician if it persists.

WHO notes that people without contraindications generally do not need medical clearance before light or moderate activity. If you have a heart, lung or metabolic condition, are pregnant, or have osteoporosis with fractures, ask your clinician first.

Source 14

Strength training is safe for teenagers, and it worksStrong evidence

Properly designed and supervised strength training is relatively safe for young people and makes them stronger. That's the position of the US National Strength and Conditioning Association, of an international consensus endorsed by sports medicine and children's health bodies, and of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

In trials, young people's strength rose with a large effect, more in older and more mature teenagers, and more with longer programmes and more sets. The international consensus puts typical gains from a first programme of 8 to 20 weeks at 30 to 40%.

Sources 1, 2, 15, 16

It won't stunt your growthStrong evidence

No growth-plate injury has been reported in any study that followed young people through a training programme, and programmes didn't change height or weight. The old case reports involved poor technique, maximal lifts or no qualified supervision. Jumping and landing in play can put more force through your body than strength training does.

Sources 1, 17, 2

An adult who knows the moves, every sessionStrong evidence

The NHS says young people can use weights if a qualified adult trains them to use weights correctly and supervises them. Injuries in young lifters are mostly accidents, such as dropped weights and trapped fingers, not overloaded growing bones: in 4,111 emergency visits in the US, accidents were commonest in the youngest lifters, and two-thirds of injuries in 8 to 13 year olds were to the hands and feet.

So lift where an adult who knows the moves can watch, use collars and keep the floor clear, and never use a barbell on your own.

Sources 18, 1, 2, 19

Sport, PE and the hour a dayStrong evidence

Young people need an average of at least an hour a day of activity that makes them breathe faster, across the week, plus activities that build muscles and bones on at least 3 days. PE, sport, active travel and play all count, and schools in England are expected to teach 2 hours of PE a week.

In your sport's season, strength training replaces a training session rather than adding one, 1 or 2 times a week.

Sources 14, 20, 18, 21, 2

Don't overdo the hoursEmerging evidence

In 1,190 young athletes, training more hours a week than your age in years, or doing more than twice as much organised sport as free play, went with more serious overuse injuries, and across studies, specialising in one sport went with more overuse injuries.

Keep at least one rest day a week, and keep playing more than one sport if you can (our suggestion).

Sources 22, 23, 24

Growth spurts: both sides of the evidenceMixed evidence

In elite youth sport, injuries linked to growth peak around the growth spurt, and faster growth went with more injuries in a review of 30 studies. In one football academy, injuries were about twice as common around peak growth as before it.

On the other side, a review of 12 studies rated the evidence very low certainty, and in a clinic study of young athletes, injured and uninjured athletes were growing at the same rate. So if you're growing fast, cutting back jumps and sprints before strength work is our editorial suggestion, not a tested rule. Act early on pain below the kneecap, at the heel or in the lower back: our Osgood-Schlatter, Sever's disease and spondylolisthesis guides explain.

Sources 25, 26, 27, 22

SleepEmerging evidence

Most teenagers need 8 to 10 hours of sleep a night, and the teenage body clock runs later, so stopping screens an hour before bed helps. In one small study, teenage athletes who slept less than 8 hours a night were injured more often.

Sources 28, 29, 30

Food first, not supplementsEmerging evidence

Eat regular meals with carbohydrate and protein through the day and after training, with calcium, vitamin D and iron in mind: sports dietitians advise getting what you need from food, not supplements. Children's doctors warn that supplements are often contaminated and add little to the gains of puberty and good training.

Skip energy drinks and caffeinated pre-workout drinks: England is banning the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to under-16s from April 2027, because of their effects on sleep, anxiety and concentration.

Sources 31, 32, 33

Eat enough, and know the signsStrong evidence

Training hard on too little food harms health and performance in girls and boys: this is called relative energy deficiency in sport (REDs). See a GP if you miss 3 periods in a row, your periods haven't started by 15, or you keep getting injured or feel exhausted.

Sources 34, 35

This plan is about strength, not how you lookEmerging evidence

Bodies change at different times and speeds in the teenage years. In a UK survey, more than a third of teenagers had felt upset about their body image, and 40% said images on social media had made them worry about it. Doctors who work with teenagers advise focusing on healthy habits rather than weight, and weight stigma harms rather than motivates.

This plan measures progress in reps, weights and skills, never in weight or shape, and nobody should comment on anyone's body. If food, weight or exercise is worrying you, talk to someone: Childline, Beat, or your GP.

Sources 36, 37, 38, 39, 40

Girls and boys train the same wayEmerging evidence

The plan is the same for everyone. Girls benefited more than boys from injury-prevention programmes in one review, and strength gains grow with maturity in both.

Sources 11, 16

For parents and coachesEmerging evidence

In one small trial, giving parents and coaches of 12 to 15 year old athletes information on training load, growth and recovery cut injuries. The youth guidelines ask for programmes that are supervised, well taught and enjoyable. Encourage personal bests rather than comparisons with others (our suggestion).

Sources 41, 1

How much training this isEmerging evidence

From week 5, a 3-day week gives about 7 to 8 hard sets a week for the chest, 9 for the back, 4 to 6 for overhead pressing, and about 12 each for the thighs and for the glutes and hamstrings, the same as our 3-day full-body plan. That's within the youth guidelines of 1 to 3 sets per exercise, 2 or 3 times a week, and longer programmes with more sets did better in trials.

Sources 1, 2, 16

Stop and get helpStrong evidence

Call 999 in the UK or 911 in the US if someone faints while exercising, can't be woken within a minute, or has chest pain or a pounding, fluttering or irregular heartbeat with it; for chest pain that feels tight or spreads to the arms, neck, jaw or back, or comes with sweating, feeling sick or breathlessness; and for severe difficulty breathing or heatstroke.

See a GP about any faint, even if you feel fine afterwards, and before you start if you've had chest pain or fainted with exercise, have palpitations or a heart condition, or a relative died suddenly when young.

If you're thinking about harming yourself, call 999 or go to accident and emergency (A&E) if your life is at risk. Childline (0800 1111) and Samaritans (116 123) are there any time, and in the US you can call or text 988.

Sources 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48

How to adapt it

Our suggestions, with the evidence where there is some:

• In the sport season, or a busy term: 1 or 2 sessions a week, 2 sets of each move.
• No equipment: the bodyweight track with a band, from week 5.
• No adult who knows the lifts: do the bodyweight track only, and ask a PE teacher, club or leisure centre about a supervised session. The US National Strength and Conditioning Association says young people shouldn't do resistance training without qualified supervision.
• Pain below the kneecap or at the heel: follow the Osgood-Schlatter or Sever's disease guide: cut back jumps and sprints, keep pain during activity at 3 out of 10 or less, and keep the upper-body and hip work.
• Back pain that lasts more than 2 weeks, or is worse when you arch backwards: stop the moves that hurt and see a GP or sports physiotherapist, because it can be a stress fracture in the spine (see the spondylolisthesis guide).
• After a concussion: follow our concussion guide, which uses the UK grassroots guidelines; no competition before day 21.
• Disabled young people: the UK guideline is 20 minutes of activity a day, plus challenging strength and balance activities 3 times a week; our disability guides adapt the moves.
• Type 1 diabetes, asthma or epilepsy: read the matching guide first; our guide to exercise for children links them.
• Missed a week: repeat the last week you completed.

Sources 1, 18