[Orange Blaze]

I’ve been a trainer/strength coach for several years and a gym rat for pretty much my whole life. My experience with most supplements is that you have to be careful with what you get due to the market being unregulated by the FDA. Unfortunately many coaches at the developmental level don’t have a solid background in sports nutrition and don’t properly educate their athletes about the potential risks involved with using supplements. Many of these products contain banned substances and I know at the high school level testing for these substances is rare but the kids could run into issues down the road if they play at the next level and weren’t educated about the risks of possibly using a banned substance on accident. I would also advise anyone under 18 to stay away from any preworkout supplements because these tend to have high levels of stimulants that you really don’t need.

The only supplement that I would be ok with kids using would be protein powder and I would still be careful with that for the reasons I just listed above. I know some kids like to use creatine too and I am not arguing that it works but with a young developing body I’m not sure if they really need it at that point in their development. Teenage boys tend to have a natural surge of testosterone around 14-15 years old and at that age a healthy diet, adequate water intake, regular sleep, and a structured weight program will usually produce the results that they are looking for anyway without using any supplements.