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Body Building for the Beginner - Keep It General - Routines Come Later Anyone who wants to try body building should keep in mind that it takes patience, perseverance and discipline to stick to the sport. Almost everyone will make significant gains during the first few weeks, followed by periods of stagnancy and plateaus. There are some who quit because of disappointment and the demands of maintains. Here are some tips: Setting goals Before hitting the gym, outline your plan, goals and objectives. Why do you want to body build? What do you want to achieve with your body? How much are you willing to invest? How much time can you allocate to training each week? It is vital to set goals that are realistic, attainable and time-bound. Too many gym-goers quit during the first few months because they set objectives that are difficult to reach. Experts recommend that you embark on a program that you can effectively recover from, not one that you can maximally do. Start setting a sound budget plan to avoid overspending. Some people consider getting a home gym, but it is advised that you at least try visiting and joining a club for a few months. You may fall into the rut of buying exercise equipment that cost hundreds or thousands of dollars which you cannot use for more than a few weeks. Compare a number of gyms then take into consideration the availability of trainers, equipment and other special amenities. You may prefer a gym because of the package deals and affordable membership rates. Calculate the amount of time you can give each week to working out then build your budget around it. Beginner Must-Knows 1. Keep it simple. Start by training once or twice during the first week. Lift light weights to get the feel of the exercise and differentiate the movement and tension between using free weights and machines. It is recommended that you hire a trainer or instructor during your first sessions to help you familiarize the basic exercises. Barbells are better than dumbbells for beginners since your stronger arm may carry most of the load. Barbells help you achieve balance and feel faster. Eat basic food to get enough protein, carbohydrates, fiber and essential fats instead of investing in body building supplements right away. 2. Keep it short. Every starter should remember that you gain muscle when you rest and eat, not while working out. Your initial workouts should not last more than 30 to 45 minutes. Start with a 5 to 10-minute warm-up and stretching session and end by cooling down for another 5 minutes. Natural body builders should give their bodies enough time to rest for muscles to grow. Going to the gym frequently can lead to overtraining, thereby hindering growth and progress. If you feel sore the next day, you may take a full days rest before hitting the gym again. Master the movement and tempo of exercises before developing a routine. More Basic Tips The three main pillars of body building are exercise, nutrition and rest. You should have enough of all of these to gain quality muscle and maintain it for the long term. To help you stick to your planned regimen, try looking for a training partner who has the same goals and schedule so you can encourage each other not to skip workouts and to maintain a healthy diet and sleep pattern. Maintain a training log where you chart your progress, weight changes and lift adjustments. Focus more on basic exercises or compound movements that hit several muscles at the same time. Great ones for starters include the squat, dead lift, military press, bench press, bent-over row and barbell curl. Do about 8 to 12 sets per workout. Dividing body parts among different days of the week and isolation exercises should be done only after working out for several months and getting into the intermediate level. Do a light warm-up set before moving on to 1 or 2 working sets. 8 to 12 repetitions per set should be enough, and avoid continuing until muscle failure. Never neglect any body part throughout the course of your body building. Several beginners neglect legs and calves by focusing entirely on the upper body, then later on, regretting having lagging body parts. |
Body Building Routines for the Advanced Advanced body builders are an elite group of individuals who have successfully overcome the odds and remained consistent in their training. At this level, almost everyone has already gained quality muscle mass, as well as lost significant amounts of body fat. Their physiques may already be close to their ultimate goals. With a little polish, time and patience, you will be a symbol of symmetry and sexuality. About the Advanced Body Builder Advanced body builders are usually defined by experts as those who have already mastered both basic and complex movements. These are consistent gym enthusiasts who can easily get a feel of the muscles working. To be considered in the advanced level, you should already have known well your muscle-mind connection, levels of tolerance to stress and recovery rate. You should be able to identify on your own if your diet is in par with your training, if you have reached a plateau or are overtraining. Others classify body builders as advanced according to the number of years they have been working out. Most will only consider you advanced if you have been working out consistently for 2 to 3 years at least. Individuals in the advanced level are able to recover faster and will need to isolate each muscle group further to attain definition and cuts. While most beginners and intermediates aim for size, advanced body builders aim to refine the muscle mass they have gained. The initial two phases may be referred to as bulking stages, while the advanced phase may be referred to as the cutting phase for some individuals. Advanced body building may also be the maintenance phase wherein individuals maintain the muscle size and only intend to create a more symmetrical appearance. Mapping Your Routine The common practice among body builders is to increase the intensity of their workouts by adding more days, more sets, more repetitions and more exercises in their routines. Natural body builders, however, may find that working out 4 to 5 days per week is sufficient, while others may benefit from a 6-day-a-week workout. Always consider the possibility of overtraining so spread out the exercises, muscle groups and intensity levels evenly throughout the allowable days every week. Since you will be doing more sets, exercises and repetitions for each body part, you should also give enough time for these to recover. Many trainers recommend adding 1 to 2 more exercises for a total of 4 to 5 per body part. The exercises will be comprised of 2 to 3 compound movements and 2 to 3 isolation movements. An example for quads or the thighs would be the barbell squat, leg press, barbell lunge, leg extension and hack squat. Smaller muscle groups like the biceps, triceps and abs can be efficiently targeted with fewer sets to avoid overtraining. A total of 2 to 4 exercises for the minor groups are adequate. Other trainers recommend changing the intensity of workouts per week to prevent overtraining. Weeks or days may be classified as light, moderate or heavy. Light days are described as lifting lighter weights or loads or reducing the number of exercises and sets. Moderate days are described as lifting fairly heavy weights, while heavy days are described as lifting up to 85% to 95% of maximum. Cycle the intensity among the given weeks or days. More Techniques To add intensity to your routine, you may now incorporate techniques that produce new kinds of stress to the muscles. Proper form is essential as well as maintaining the mind-muscle connection with each rep. Make sure you extend and contract your muscles fully for optimum gains. Supersets are excellent for saving time and stressing two muscles simultaneously. More blood is pumped to the area, spurring new growth such as doing bench presses and pull-ups alternately. Another method is doing tri-sets. These are similar to supersets but you do one exercise after another for a total of 3 sets for the same body part. An example would be doing a set of barbell curls, followed immediately by a set of preacher curls then finish off with a set of concentration curls. The approach will cause a burn like never before. There is also the pre-exhaustion technique wherein you fatigue your target muscle group by doing one set of isolation exercise to failure, followed by one set of 10 to 12 reps of a compound exercise for the same muscle. The opposite is post-exhaustion where you first do a working set of the compound exercise, followed by an isolation movement to failure. Remember to give as little rest time as possible between exercises to maintain the pump and burn. |
Body Building Routines for the Beginner Every individual will respond differently to exercises and body building routines. Some of the major aspects that will affect muscle growth and condition are current strength level, activity tolerance, capacity to heal or recover, body type and genetics. Beginners should keep in mind that their workouts should never be the same as an advanced body builders. If they do they may risk overtraining and quitting entirely. Starter Tips Beginners should make their goals and objective for body building reasonable and realistic. Everyone experience body changes and improvements in their physiques during the first few weeks or months. However, growth and development will begin to slow down as they enter the intermediate level. Stricter diets and more consistent routines are required to continue progress. Do not copy everything that you read in magazines and books. Professional body building routines are not suited for beginners. Take note that most of the routines that advanced and pro body builders use are very lengthy and intense. Some of the individuals get through their programs because of the assistance of illegal substances and drugs. Do not follow someone else's routine because you plan to have the same physique as that person. Every body type is different and will develop uniquely even if you do the exact same workout. Avoid overtraining at all cost. Keep your routine short but intense, lasting no more than 30 to 45 minutes per session. You should lift weights no more than 3 to 4 times per week as a beginner. Give your body enough time to rest and grow. Muscles that are overly stressed will most likely atrophy. Always be ready for changes in your routine. Listen to your body then adjust the sets or repetitions accordingly. Focusing on Compound Movement Compound movements are defined as exercises that focus more and target different muscle groups at the same time. These are the opposite of isolation exercises that intermediate and advanced body builders incorporate in their workouts to bring out more muscle fibers and definition. Experts recommend that beginners practice with free weights first to gain a sense of balance and proper feel of the exercises. Dumbbells and barbells should be the core of your first workouts. The squat is the most important exercise for every beginner. It is entirely safe if done correctly and can do wonders for your body. The targeted muscle groups include the core or abdominals, the traps, lower back, quads or thighs, hamstrings and parts of the calves. Do 2 working sets of 12 to 15 repetitions. The bench press another effective compound movement which effectively hits the chest, shoulders or deltoids, triceps and some parts of the forearms and rib cage. Do 2 working sets of 10 to 12 repetitions. Next is the bent-over row, which targets the entire back, rear deltoids, biceps and some parts of the forearms. Also do 2 working sets of 10 to 12 repetitions. Another good exercise is the military press, which works all three heads of the deltoids, parts of the traps, triceps and some parts of the forearms. The barbell curl is very useful in developing quality biceps and forearms. The lying triceps extension is ideal for developing the triceps and some parts of the forearms. For these three exercises, do 2 working sets of 8 to 10 repetitions. Beginners may want to work out arms only 1 to 2 times per week since these are passively stressed as you do the other compound movements. Added Tips for the New Routine Do some warm-up and stretching exercises for 5 to 10 minutes before doing any lifting. A quick jog on the treadmill will suffice. You may want do 2 to 3 sets of ab crunches for 15 to 20 repetitions as a warm-up. Do a light warm-up set for each exercise to get a feel of the movement before doing every couple of working sets. End your workout with another quick jog on the treadmill and some mild stretching for 5 minutes. Only lift weights that you can adequately finish sets with correct form. Bad form can hit other muscles instead, or worse, cause injury or overtraining. Keep a training log to view your progress over a period of weeks and months, and check if you can add more weight. |
Body Building Routines for the Intermediate At this time, you should already have mastered the basic exercises and strict and proper form for consistent period of 16 to 24 weeks. There are several definitions for the intermediate body builder, but the most important thing is that you should already be prepared to take on bigger challenges and levels of stress that starters cannot tolerate. Routines will incorporate new movements that reveal more muscles. What It Means to Be an Intermediate Time is the first factor to consider if you have successfully moved on from beginner to intermediate level. Some experts believe that an individual should at least have worked out consistently for a minimum of 6 to 12 months before being categorized an intermediate body builder. Others may consider an individual graduating from starter class after a period of 2 to 3 years or after 100 to 200 workout sessions. Others use particular strength levels such as being able to bench press your actual weight, curl 50% of actual weight, shoulder press 75% of actual weight, etc. Other experts are more concerned about quality than the period of time or strength. They believe that an individual should only move on to the intermediate class after he or she has successfully improved the mind-muscle connection. You should be able to control muscle movement accordingly by hitting the fibers specifically. You will be more prepared to do isolation movements by getting to know the feel when lifting instead of basic repetitions. An individual's capacity to recover should improve before taking an intermediate routine. Beginners can risk overtraining if they train muscles too often. You will know how quickly you recover by assessing your strength level when working out the same body part again. The Routine The intermediate phase should be a time for body builders to incorporate a number of isolation movements to better stimulate the available muscle fibers. Workouts will now consist of both compound and isolation movements. However, intermediates should remember not to neglect the basic movements that build quality muscle mass. The compound exercises are the most ideal for gaining strength and mass since these stimulate your body to produce vast amounts of testosterone that leads to growth and development. This is the period when you can add more weight, more sets, more exercises and incorporate machines and angular movements that hit deep-lying muscle fibers more effectively. You may even add 1 to 2 days per week depending on your activity tolerance and rate of recovery. It is vital that you continue to prevent overtraining by limiting your workouts to no more than 45 minutes per session and no more than 4 days per week. You may now divide body parts among workout days to conserve energy and enhance recuperation. This method is called split-training. What to Do Start by identifying the muscle groups you're going to target namely chest, back, shoulders, biceps, triceps, quads or thighs, hamstrings, abs and calves. Next, divide these according to the number of days per week you plan to work out. For example, for a three day a week schedule, you can assign chest and back on Monday, shoulders, biceps and triceps on Wednesday and legs and abs on Friday. If you can recover between workouts faster, you can add more days such as working out 3 consecutive days, taking 1 to 2 days off, and then repeating the cycle again. Always listen to your body through signs like muscle fatigue, willingness to return to the gym for another workout and food cravings. Most intermediates find it most effective to split the muscle groups over 3 days then using the 4th day to work out problem muscles a 2nd time. Some muscles tend to respond poorly except if you frequently stimulate it to new growth. You may also use the 4th day to work out minor muscles such as forearms, calves, traps, lower back and abs. When choosing exercises, it is advised to select 1 to 2 compound movements, plus 1 isolation movement. An example for the chest would be bench press, incline dumbbell press and dumbbell flye. The compound movement will let blood flow through the entire area and related muscles, while the isolation exercise will hit the entire body part specifically, adding more definition and form. |