Body Building

Body building is very popular activity among youngsters and the older generations alike, but what exactly does this term define? Body building is a systematic way to develop a wonderful physique through the use of proper nutrition and exercise program that can sculpt strong, solid muscles. The result of this disciplined effort is the existence of solid, toned muscles that lends a charming aesthetic appeal to anyone who is willing to pay the price. While bodybuilding certainly offer some very attractive benefits, how do you ensure that all standards will be met and what could be the best way to achieve it? To answer that accurately, you need to be aware that the two most effective ways is using targeted weight training and proper nutrition.

Getting Started

1. Great - you've decided to try bodybuilding. Perhaps you want to build mass, tighten up your midsection or slim down; those are all possible with strength training. Body building is a life time commitment. It is not about just looking good, but about being healthy. I say that because so many in the body building world today do things to their bodies that is totally against good health in the pursuit of getting bigger and looking better.

2. It is important to include Stretching exercises as part of your regular fitness regimen. As for what you have shown concern, Stretching exercises can help you avoid injuries in addition to improving your level of flexibility. The minimum recommended schedule for Stretching exercises is three times per week - include your major muscle groups.

Designing Your Exercise Program

Before getting into your program, you need to develop an understanding of how and why you're building your exercise routine. Although we've gone ahead and designed a program for you, just about everything in ti can be changed depending on your particular circumstances. Your primary objective here, as a beginner, is to build a solid foundation - and not just any training program will take you there in an efficient manner. Study the following points to better understand your bodybuilding training programs.

Build Muscles

Body-part Training

Bodybuilders group exercises by bodypart and train one muscle group at a time. Working one are with 1-3 exercises ensures that you train it thoroughly. Experience says that this type of training is the most efficient for bodybuilding.Compound exercises work supporting muscles too and are generally done for mass and overall strength gain. Isolation exercises work specific muscles or even part of muscles. It is very common among bodybuilders to do compound exercises for some months and when they are satisfied with bulk, they do isolation exercises to rip off the unnecessary bulk and get that chiseled look.

Every major muscle group should be developed to prevent muscle imbalance and the risk of injury. The major muscle groups include legs (quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, glutes), chest, shoulders, back (Trapezius, lats, erectors), abdominals and arms (biceps, triceps).

Exercises

You can choose from any number of movements that target a particular muscle group, but beginners should stick with the basics to develop a solid foundation. The first exercise you do for a given bodypart should be a compound movement. (A compound or multijoint movement, unlike an isolation exercise, has movement at two or more joints and thus brings in a greater number of assisting muscle groups. Note: Some bodyparts like biceps, triceps and calves can be worked with pre-dominatantly isolation exercises.)

Weight Training

Some basic movements can be done in a number of ways; for example, you can do a bench press with a barbell, with dumbbells or on a machine. Eventually, you'll learn how to do them all and use the in your training arsenal.

Two similar exercises can target a muscle differently. For example, the bench press is a good exercise for most of the chest, but the incline press (essentially a bench press done on an incline bench) works the upper pectorals more effectively. When you put exercises together to form a routine, you'll want to include those movements that hit the same muscle in different ways. That's why you normally include 2-3 exercises when you work each bodypart.

No amount of weight training will remove the fat or convert it to muscles. To lose fat you need to do aerobics & dieting. Muscles are hard, fat is softer. You gain fat when you eat more calories than you burn. Fat gain goes hand in hand with muscle gain when bodybuilding because you've to eat too many calories although fat gained this way is not much and doesn't look bad because of bulging muscles. You can never gain lean muscles. Spot reduction is a myth.

How Much Weight

1rm is the weight with which you can do no more than 1 rep. Of course it varies for different exercises. This is a good measure of weights you should lift. You should lift from 50% to 80% of your 1rm for regular bodybuilding. For strength training you should lift to up to 90% of 1rm. If you can't find the 1rm, use weight with which you can do no more then the reps you sought.

Work Out Plans

Even an experienced lifted should always do his first set as a warm-up with practically no weight to flush to target muscle and connective tissue with blood. On the second set, add a couple of small plates and do the exercise again. Was it still east? If so, and assuming you used good form, add more weight. If you struggled to reach 12 repetitions, add just a little bit of weight. (Adding weight on successive sets is called pyramid training and is one of the safest ways to train.)

Continue adding weight until it becomes tough to complete 8-12 reps. Your goal is to train in the range where you reach muscular failure at 8-12 reps. Once you find a challenging weight, stick with it. So you'll become stronger and be able to increase the number of reps. Once you can do 12, it's time to increase your training poundage by about 10%. At this heavier weight, you won't be able to do 12 reps, but with time you'll once again be able to. Keep working in this fashion.

The principle behind this type of training is known as overload. It states that for improvements to occur, you must impose a demand on your muscles greater than what they're accustomed to (for bodybuilding purposes, about two-thirds of your maximal strength). Your muscles compensate for this strain on the cellular level by adding protein to grow thicker and stronger. At that point, the same load is no longer sufficient to induce further changes, more load must be added. That is, you must progressively add training stimulus to make continued improvements.

How Much Sets

A set is a combination of any number of reps of a single exercise. As a beginner, you'll normally want to do 1-2 light warm up sets of each movement (especially the first movement for a given bodypart) before doing 1-3 heavier sets. That equals 2-4 total sets per exercise.

Body Builder

How Much Repetitions

Repetitions decide the results of exercises. If they are less then 5, you gain more strength and less (negligible) muscles. 5-10 Reps enhance muscle growth. 10-15 Reps help build endurance. So, you should ideally use weights that take 6-12 reps to reach exhaustion. You work from lower to upper weight wise and rep wise. This is called pyramid technique.

A rep is a single execution of one exercise. if you do a set of 10 bicep curls consecutively, that's 10 reps. During your first week or two, keep the weights very light so that you can complete about 15 reps in good form. This is a change for you to practice good form while you work on your neuromuscular coordination and lean the proper 'feel' for the movement. Developing that feel with become even more critical later on because it will tell you if an exercise is working.

After that initial break-in period, to build size and strength you want to do 8-12 reps per set (after your warm-up set of 15 reps, which you should do at the start of each exercise). Use a weight that allows you to do the recommended number of reps and still reach muscle failure.

Muscle and Fitness

Muscle failure means that you cannot do any more reps with good form. If you can't do eight strict reps, the weight's too heavy. If you can do more than 12, the weight's too light. Adjust the weight for your next set. (Note: The numbers eight and twelve are not arbitrarily derived. Exercise scientists have conducted numerous tests and have found that working with a weight about 70% of your one-rep maximum produces the fastest results. Most bodybuilders can lift about 70% of their one-repetition maximum 8-12 times).

Though you don't have to train to muscle failure to grow, you need to come pretty close. Bodybuilders call this intensity. How do you know if you're close to working at 100% intensity? Simple: If you can do another rep with good form, do it! If you can do still another, do it.

Speed of Movement

Use a smooth, controlled motion during all phases of the lift. This deliberate rep speed produces the greatest results for bodybuilding purposes. Super-fast reps with ballistic movements and jerking can be harmful to muscles and connective tissues, while slow training accomplishes very little. In general, most bodybuilders use a formula that approximates a two-second positive contraction (raising the weight), a momentary squeeze of the muscle at the point of peak contraction, and a two-second negative contraction (lowering of the weight).

Building Muscle

Breathing

Most people don't think much about breathing until they begin lifting weights, but it should still come naturally. Start each set with a deep inhalation and exhale as you push through the most difficult part of the lift. Inhale at the top (or the easiest portion of the lift) and exhale as you push.

Rest between Sets

In between sets, you need to take rest for about 30-90 seconds. You should rest only as long as you may feel able to do another set. If you rest more then that, your body cools down increasing the risk of injury. Smaller muscles need less rest then the bigger ones. For example, biceps are small and legs are big. For splits, you need to rest for a day or two. Again smaller muscles need lesser rest. If you delay the next split too much, you won't gain mass that fast. If you do more often, you'll over train.

Gain Muscle - Rest

If you want to emphasize strength, take a little longer rest between sets. On the other hand, less rest means you won't be able to lift as heavy, but you'll be stressing your endurance. Of note: How much you can lift on a given set and the number of reps you do are directly related to the length of your rest period.

What & When To Eat

Proteins are necessary to build the muscle structure. Carbs/Fat are required for energy supply. Vitamins, Minerals and Water are necessary for normal bodily processes. You should eat some carbs and protein rich easily digestible diet (preferably liquid) within 1 hour of workout. Take a carbs and protein diet (very light so that it may not mess with blood supply)before exercise too so that your body has the required stuff when it needs.

Bodybuilding Diets

Water is very essential. Eat lots of water all day long, before exercise, in between workouts and after workouts. This will ensure that muscles remain fully hydrated. Hydrated muscles recover fats. Lots of water also help vascularity so that you have those much sought veins. Always go for mineral water. Distilled water may dehydrate you (osmosis). Eat often and never miss a meal. In regular meals eat lots of eggs, meat etc. Milk is an excellent source of protein.

Training Frequency

Say you train your entire body on Monday. Should you do it again on Tuesday, or wait until Wednesday? The answer is that your body requires a minimum of 48 hours to fully recover after exercise, sometimes even longer. Physiological processes at the cellular level require rest and nutrients before you can train that same muscle group again. A good rule of thumb: If you're even slightly sore, you're not ready to train that bodypart again.

Workout Routine

If you're an advanced bodybuilder and split up your workout into, for example, one day for upper body and another for lower body, you can train on consecutive days as long as you don't repeat the same workout. As a beginner, you don't want to go more than 96 hours (four days) without training the same muscle group again. Timing too infrequently results in submaximal gains.

The answer for the beginner, then, is to train every 2-3 days (or three times a week). A Monday - Wednesday - Friday (or similar) schedule is ideal.