Weight Training on a Budget

Let's face it, teens. Unless your parents are loaded, you don't have a lot of money. Probably you either work for a low wage or get a little money from Mom or Dad. As a result, you may read with hopeless envy about the great gyms, expensive supplements and vast quantities of high-quality foods that older bodybuilders seem to take for granted. It's true that these things can make progress much faster and easier, hut it's also true that many great physiques were built under impoverished conditions, If you're wondering how to get the best bodybuilding results out of your limited funds, here are some ideas.

Buy food in quantity.

Every part of the country now has membership warehouses like Price Club and Costco. You can buy huge amounts of eggs, milk, chicken breasts, ground beef, rice and pasta at discount prices from these places. Check your local newspaper for supermarket specials on meats. If you keep your eyes open, you can find deals all the time and get plenty of high-quality protein without spending a fortune.

Find a deal on a gym membership.

Many hardcore bodybuilding gyms offer discount memberships for students, but don't overlook the neighborhood YMCA or Boys' Club of America- many of them have very well-equipped weight rooms. You don't need all kinds of space-age machines to grow, however. You can build a great physique with nothing but barbells and dumbbells. In fact, bodybuilders who get very strong on exercises like barbell squats, bench presses and deadlifts almost always have more size and thickness than those who fool around with cables and machines all day.

Share magazine subscriptions and books.

Can't afford all the magazines and books you need to keep up with the sport? If you find a friend or two who share your interest, pool your resources, Maybe together you can get all the magazines and won't miss a thing. Then you can all stay informed.

Make your own supplements.

While you probably can't whip up your own creatine monohydrate, you can certainly make weight-gain or protein shakes. All you need is a blender, milk, eggs, ice cream and fruit-or whatever you want to use to flavor your concoction. Use these shakes either to add protein and calories to a meal or to replace a meal when you're on the run.

Wear normal clothes.

Those striped tights, designer sweat shirts and special "bodybuilding" athletic shoes look neat, but do you really need them to pack on muscle? Not at all. As long as you're comfortable while you train, you're doing fine. The old-time bodybuilders all trained in generic T-shirts and sweats, and their development didn't suffer. Training is what really matters.

These are just a few ideas. Necessity is the mother of invention; so wrack your brain and see what else you can come up with. There are plenty of ways to get big now.