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I'm 13 years old (14 in June) and I've been working out for some time.

I'm getting what I feel like are awesome results in definition and size of the muscles, but I feel the actual quantity of weight I can lift is growing at a pretty slow rate (I haven't figured out what the problem is).

The other guys at my gym are telling me I shouldn't worry, but I can smell they are telling me that only because they don't want me feeling bad about it; consider that they are older than me (a couple of guys aged 17 have been coming to the gym in the last weeks, but their knowledge is worse than mine), the youngest one is 18/19 (unless there is someone younger coming at different schedules, which is unlikely if you know my gym).

Last week I went to a nutritionist who made me a diet which I'm following right now, but I want to do more, I want to up my game, I'm a really competitive dude.

I asked my gym mates their opinion on the matter, they told me they think I'm too young for that.

But I don't see why, I'm pretty sure it doesn't mess up someone's growth (I'm talking about growing up, not gym-related growth).

Why do they think that? I have the motivation to do it, is there something important I'm unaware about?

I'm hoping that taking them would give me a boost.

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    What's your training program? Unless you're on a solid strength program it won't matter much what supplements you're taking.
    – Eric
    Commented May 7, 2017 at 11:16
  • @EricKaufman 3 days a week (I'm thinking about going 5 times a week), day 1 chest and biceps, day 2 abs, torso and triceps, day 3 legs
    – Tommaso Thea
    Commented May 7, 2017 at 11:18
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    Yeah, you need to do something like stronglifts 5x5 or starting strength, read up on those. Best advice I can give anyone is to follow a real program. I'll toss in an answer later on supplements but your training needs a 180 overhaul.
    – Eric
    Commented May 7, 2017 at 11:21
  • I agree with @EricKaufman. Changing up your workout routine can do wonders for your results. Assuming endurance and stamina are not a problem, supplements will do little to help you now.
    – Frank Owens
    Commented May 7, 2017 at 17:06
  • "Supplements" is meaningless since it covers essentially everything that isn't food. Your program and diet make so much more of a difference it's barely with thinking about anyway. Without knowing specifics it's impossible to speculate but so far it just sounds like you're impatient.
    – Dave Newton
    Commented May 7, 2017 at 17:18

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At your age you will start to see massive amounts of improvement soon if you just keep going with lifting, one of the biggest factors in making muscle/strength gains are you hormonal levels which will be quiet high during your teen years. I suspect you have no idea the things people (20+) do to try and get their hormonal levels to similar to what your body produces now. I wouldn’t be concerned with supplements and focus more on right eating and sleep.

The biggest misconceptions I find with beginner lifters (and many intermediate people as well) is trying to use supplements to replace proper food (I leave out advanced lifters here as people who don't understand nutrition wont ever make it to this stage). This is not something I would recommend, especially at your age given the amount of nutrients required for growth (I’m not talking about the gym here). If you don’t understand what your body needs then do not try to supplement it, focus on eating and sleeping right. Taking supplements won’t give you the results you think it will; start researching nutrition – once you understand what your body needs you won’t need to ask the question here. But hey the placebo effect might motivate you until you know better.

Also when researching nutrition keep in mind that most of the research was done on adults; knowing this I would follow advice given by your nutritionist.

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