Can Young Teenagers Do P90X, Insanity or Turbo Fire?

This is a question that I have heard from several people lately, and my general response is yes. If you are a teenager (13 or older) you should be fine doing P90X or any of the other Beachbody workouts. I actually started my son lifting weights, with his doctor’s consent at 11 years old. He is now 14 and does P90X and Insanity during his off season from football. That said however, there are some factors that need to be kept in consideration. First, if you are going to allow your young teenager to begin a program like this, you need to do it with them. At least in the beginning. This way, you can make sure they are using proper form and taking it seriously. You need to be mature in your workouts. A lot of injuries in working out come from using improper form or horse playing during the workout. Once maturity and technique has been demonstrated, if your teen wants to go it alone, fine. But an adult should always be present. Not necessarily in the room, but at least in the house, just in case. Another good point about doing this program with your kids is that the bonding time is absolutely priceless. The second point to keep in mind is that teenagers begin producing hormones at vastly different points in age. A teen may not see the gains right off the bat since they may not yet be producing the hormones required for the physical changes desired. But when their bodies begin maturing, their gains will blow yours out of the water. Just stick with it. You may get to your second or third round without much gain and then, suddenly take off without warning. The third point is nutrition. A teenager is growing without working out, and a growing body needs fuel. Make sure you are fueling your body properly and not restricting calories too much. Just make sure that the calories are clean (not too much fat). All the fast food and junk food has to be avoided for good gains and great habits for life.

At 14, my son is squatting over 300 lbs and bench pressing over 210. He plays football and is absolutely obsessed with the game. I can tell you that P90X plyometrics and the entire Insanity workout program has increased his speed in the 4 months we have been doing them. If your teenager plays any sport, they need plyometrics for speed. And these programs deliver without a doubt. My son has not tried Turbo Fire yet, but you can tell just by watching the infomercial that it will work in much the same way. Also, the flexibility and stretching portions of all these workouts will most definitely help to avoid sports related injuries.
In today’s world, childhood obesity is exploding right along side of adult obesity. One of the best ways to teach your kids to be healthy is to workout right along side of them. This will keep both of you motivated. They will want to show up their old man or mom, and of course, you can’t allow some teenager to beat you. P90X, Insanity, Turbo Fire and Body Gospel are excellent workout programs to do with your teenagers, but let them go at their own pace. Don’t force them or they will resent working out. If you have younger kids (7 and up), Beachbody has programs like Shaun T’s Fit Kids CLub as well.
One last thing, I took my son to his doctor before I let him start lifting and you should to. Every kid is different and his or her doctor should know best if they are ready for a seriously strenuous fitness program.