Puberty In Males

What is puberty?

Puberty is the time in life when a young person starts to become sexually mature.In boys, puberty begins around 12 years as age, but may start as early as 9 years of age. Puberty is a process that goes on for several years. Boys mature at about 15 or 16.

What are the first signs of puberty in boys?

The first sign of puberty in most boys is an increase in the size of the testicles.

Know that you will go through a growth spurt. You have not grown this much since you were a baby. Usually boys start their growth spurt about 2 years after puberty starts. When you are done going through puberty, you will be almost as tall as you will be when you are a grown up. Maybe you are worried about how tall you are or how tall you will get. How tall you get depends a lot on how tall your mom and dad are. If they are tall, you are likely to be tall. If they are short, you will probably be short too. You will also start building some muscle. Again, you may be worried that other boys seem to be getting bigger faster. But puberty happens for each boy on their own body schedule. You cannot rush it. Eat well, sleep well, and stay physically active to help you grow well. Some boys want to lift weights to build muscles. You will not be able to build muscle until you are in puberty. Before puberty, lifting weights will tone your muscles, but you will not build muscles yet.

Expect Lots of Body Changes:

Your body makes hormones to get puberty started. Here are some changes you will start seeing. You will:

Most boys start puberty somewhere between the ages of 9 and 16 years. There is a wide age range when puberty starts. That is why some kids in 7th grade still look like young children and others look really grown up. Know that girls usually start puberty earlier than boys. That is why so many girls are taller than boys in 7th and 8th grade. Eventually many men end up taller than women when they are adults. Accept changes in your body. Try to be comfortable with your body changing. If you are stressed about changes, talk to your parents or a provider that you trust.