Muscle Building
Body Building Tips–Sculpt Your Body The Right Way
Body building has become popular either as a past time or a sport mainly because of the benefits one gets from it. Aside from improving physique and physical strength, it also generally results to a healthier body. Body building also builds discipline and subsequently, confidence.
However, to get the most out of your body building program, you need to be faithful to it. As much as possible, you should follow every instruction to the dot. It may sound restrictive but as with anything else, there is always that right way to do it.
It might prove daunting at first to see other people’s progress and achievements and make it yours. But with the right amount of diligence and perseverance, you too can achieve the results that you aim for. To help you, presented here are some body building tips that can aid you as you go through your body building program. Take some time to read and absorb as much as you can.
• Set goals – a mission always has a goal, and body building is sort of a mission. Different results take different degrees of dedication and amount of time. You can choose whether you do it for competition or merely for its physical benefits. The important thing is to have a target that will keep you focused and dedicated.
• Consult those who know – body building also involves risks. These risks can be minimized by taking advice from people who know a good deal about body building. Some people can even plan a good body building program that will work best for you.
• Balance your workout – a superb body builder looks good all-around. Work to develop your whole body other than specific areas like arms and chest. Proportion also counts, not just size.
• Be conscious of what you eat – your body building program must go hand in hand with a well planned body building diet. Nutrition is of utmost performance for people who want to get a great body. Focus on proteins to build those muscles. Complex carbohydrates can provide energy without risking too much weight gain.
• Wear appropriate Gear – while working out, use the proper body building gear. They are designed to maximize safety and comfort during your routine.
• Get some rest – as much as you want to train longer to get faster results, body building isn’t all about working out. Rest is also an integral part of your program since most of that muscle growth and repair happens when you are at rest.
• Stay focused – always keep in mind that you have goals to achieve. It is best to keep your eye on the goal for you to gauge how much more you need to go. This can help you improve your program to get your desired results.
• Don’t overdo it – a very important reminder. Be aware of your limits and never push your body to exhaustion. Injury is a very big risk for people who push themselves to the limit.
Most of all, remember that body building is supposed to be fun. Enjoying what you do is the primary factor that will keep you in the program. It is a thing that you love to do, never a thing you must do.
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“Top Pick” Muscle Building Guides
1. The Truth About Six Pack Abs
2. Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle
3. Vince del Monte Fitness: The No Nonsense Muscle Building & Your Six Pack Quest
4. Muscle Gaining Secrets
Body Building Diet Essentials
Body building isn’t all about going to the gym and working out those muscles to surrender. It is also about proper nutrition. Weight training basically breaks down the cells in the muscles causing the need for the body to repair it. As the body replenishes the health of muscles, it also makes it stronger. This muscle growth is what body builders are after to better their physique.
However, these repairs will be minimal if the right nutrition is neglected. There is that need for body builders to focus on foods which help in this process and those which can further enhance the body. Body building nutrition, though, isn’t as varied as one might think. It generally consists of:
• Protein – the building blocks of life; this makes up the muscles. A high protein diet, therefore, ensures adequate repair and growth among muscle cells. Aside from muscle repair and growth, protein also increases the metabolism being a hard food to break down. It also assists in the efficient release of energy from carbohydrates. Protein-rich foods include lean red meat. Meats approximately contain 7 grams of protein per ounce. Leaner meats are better choice since they contain less fat per serving. Chicken meat and fish meat are good sources of protein. Eggs and dairy products also contain a good amount of protein. For vegetarians, beans, especially soy, is a great source of protein, as do nuts and seeds.
• Carbohydrates – these are the body’s main source of energy. And body building exercises require a huge amount of energy to perform. An important thing to note though is that not all carbohydrates are recommended. For body building, low-glycemic or complex carbohydrates are advised. This is because this type of carbohydrate allows a timed release of energy. High-glycemic, or simple carbohydrates, though is still necessary after a workout so that a body builder can replenish his/her glycogen level. Sources for complex carbohydrates include oatmeal, sweet potatoes and corn. Broccoli, carrots, cauliflower and green beans are also good sources of complex carbohydrates. They are also good sources of dietary fiber which aids in digestion.
• Healthy fats – it is emphasized here that the fats to be consumed must be healthy. This is because there are fats, namely saturated fats and trans fats, that are simply unhealthy and counterproductive in a body building diet. While taking a back seat to carbohydrates and even further back to proteins, fats are still important because it is involved in most chemical reactions of the body. Its use is especially seen during hormonal production. Testosterone is a hormone and is essential in muscle building. Although a body builder won’t be taking much, daily requirement still needs to be filled. Canola oil, peanut butter and flaxseed oil are good sources of healthy fats.
An efficiently designed body building diet goes well with a good body building program. Diet and nutrition must always go hand in hand with the body building workout for best results. Body building supplements can also help greatly so don’t hesitate to use one if you feel you lack in some aspects.
Unique Lean-Body Workouts for the Time-Crunched Individual
Warning: this style of workout is WAY different than anything you’ve ever tried before and may result in a dramatically leaner, stronger body so that your friends no longer recognize you in a matter of weeks!
Alright, I exaggerated about your friends recognizing you, but this workout is still great for busy people that always use the excuse that they don’t have time to go to the gym, or even for the normal gym rat to try out for a few weeks to break out of a plateau.
Please keep an open-mind and don’t worry so much about what other people think, because this is quite different and you may get some funny looks, but you’ll get the last laugh with your new rock hard body! To be honest, most people are too self conscious to try something like this. If that’s the case for you, then that’s your loss.
Here’s how it works:
Instead of doing your traditional workouts of going to the gym 3-4 times a week and doing your normal weight training and cardio routines for an hour at a shot, with this program, you will be working out for just a couple minutes at a time, several times throughout each day, 5 days/week.
The program will consist of only bodyweight exercises done for about 2-3 minutes, 6-8 times per day, throughout each day. Now obviously if you work a normal office job, you are going to have to not be shy about doing a few exercises in your office and having your cube-mates watch you. Actually, I’ve found that some people that have tried this have actually gotten their co-workers to join them!
If you have a private office, then you don’t have to worry about anybody watching you. If you work from home, or are a stay at home mom, there’s no reason you can’t fit these in throughout the day while at home. If you end up having a busy day with meetings and so forth, and can only fit a couple of these 2-minute workouts in, then so be it, but try to get as many done each day as you can.
If you’re on a normal 9-5 office schedule, I recommend doing your 2-minute workouts every hour, on the hour, with the exception of lunch. For example, you could try 9 am, 10 am, 11 am, 1 pm, 2 pm, 3 pm, and 4 pm.
Some of the exercises that are the best to focus on are:
bodyweight squats (and variations)
pushups (and variations)
forward, reverse, or walking lunges
up & down a staircase if one is available
floor planks (holding plank position from forearms and feet)
floor abs exercises such as lying leg thrusts, ab bicycles, etc.
one-legged bodyweight Romanian deadlifts
This list is not fully comprehensive, but I wanted to keep it relatively simple. If you know other good bodyweight exercises, you can add those to your routine also. If you want to keep it real simple and don’t want to get down on the floor for anything, you can stick to squats, lunges, and pushups and still get great results.
The good thing about these workouts is that you do enough in 2-3 minutes to get your blood pumping, heart rate up a bit, a large portion of your body’s muscles worked, and body temperature raised. However, it’s usually not enough to break a sweat in only 2 or 3 minutes, so you don’t have to worry about sweating in the office or where ever you may be. At most, you might just get a little moist on the skin.
Here’s an example routine (adjust the reps up or down based on your capabilities):
Mon/Wed/Fri
9 am – 10 pushups/15 bodyweight squats, repeat 1X for 2 sets
10 am – plank holds (hold the planks as long as you can taking short rest breaks for a total of 3 minutes)
11 am – 5 pushups/10 bodyweight squats, repeat for 4 sets
1 pm – plank holds (hold as long as possible in 3 minutes)
2 pm – 8 pushups/12 bodyweight squats, repeat for 3 sets
3 pm – plank holds (hold as long as possible in 3 minutes)
4 pm – max pushups/max bodyweight squats in one set (no repeat)
Tues/Thurs
9 am – 6 fwd lunges each leg/6 rev lunges, repeat 1X for 2 sets
10 am – one legged bw Romanian deadlifts (RDL) 6 each leg/floor abs for 20 sec, repeat 1X for 2 sets
11 am – 3 fwd lunges each leg/3 rev lunges, repeat for 4 sets
1 pm – one legged bw RDL 3 each leg/floor abs for 20 sec, repeat for 4 sets
2 pm – 5 fwd lunges each leg/5 rev lunges, repeat for 3 sets
3 pm – one legged bw RDL 10 each leg/floor abs for 30 sec (no repeat)
4 pm – max fwd lunges each leg/max rev lunges in one set (no repeat)
In order to progress on these workouts, you could either add 1 or 2 reps to each set per week, or you could progress to more difficult versions of each exercise each week (for example, close grip pushups, one leg raised pushups, squats with arms raised straight over head, etc.).
The above routines are just a couple examples of how you can use this very unique style of training. Use your creativity and come up with your own. Think about what you’ve accomplished with these “mini” workouts completed throughout each day… You’ve increased your heart rate and pumped up your muscles 6-8 different times throughout each day, burning a lot of extra calories and stimulating your metabolism.
Even though each “mini” workout was a very short duration, you’ve accumulated lots of repetitions for almost every muscle throughout your entire body, and you didn’t even have to break a sweat during any of the “mini” workouts. And there’s hardly any excuse for not being able to take a 2-minute break once per hour and do a couple of exercises.
Another benefit of this style of training is that now you don’t have to devote any time before or after work to going to the gym because you already got your workouts little by little throughout the day. You’ve now got some extra free time on your hands!
Try this type of routine out for 3-4 weeks and then go back to your normal gym routines. I think you’ll find that it was a great way to break out of a plateau and stimulate new results in your body. You can try mixing in a cycle of these “mini” workouts every couple of months to keep things fresh.
Keep in mind that this is only one method of training and doesn’t mean that you should only stick to this method for eternity. You will hit a plateau on any given training method, so I’d recommend just rotating it into your arsenal of various training methods. And by all means, don’t worry so much about what other people think…have the courage to try something a little different. In the end, you’ll be the one laughing back at all of the “blubber-bellies” that are giving you funny looks while they eat their donuts!
If you liked these training ideas, the internationally best-selling ebook The Truth about Six Pack Abs contains hundreds of more innovative training ideas to lose stubborn body fat and carve out a rock hard set of abs.
