Healthy bodybuilding is about maximizing your muscle gains within the limits of your genetic potential. You may not achieve the extreme musculature and size of the muscle men in the magazines, but you can certainly achieve your bodybuilding goals of transforming your body into one replete with sculpted pectorals, bigger shoulders, wide v-shaped back, big arms and muscular legs.
Use Free Weights
The bulk of your workouts should be with free weights--barbells and dumbbells. Free weights have to be balanced and controlled by the user, as opposed to resistance machines where the weight stack is moved along predetermined lines set by the guide rods. The effort of balancing and controlling a barbell or dumbbell brings more muscles into play, and results in a better anabolic or muscle-building response.
Do Compound Movements
Compound movements involve the use of more than one joint and bring into play the major muscles of the body. For example, the barbell bench press, which involves the elbow and shoulder joints, works primarily on the pectorals or chest muscles and has a secondary effect on the anterior deltoids and triceps. Another example is the squat, which involves the hip. knee and ankle joints and works the large muscles of the quadriceps and glutes, with a secondary effect on the hamstrings and calves. Intense weight training focused on the major muscles give a rapid increase in your strength and ability to handle heavier weights. This will in turn lead to bigger muscles.
Weights, Duration and Intensity
To build muscle, you have to use heavy weights allowing a repetition range of six to 10. You should do no more than five sets per exercise, including two warm up sets using lighter weights with a repetition range of 10 to12. Keep the rest between sets to a minimum, perhaps one minute, or enough time for partial muscle recovery. The combination of heavy weights and short intervals between sets will ensure a short, intense routine that will stimulate your muscles into growth. This routine should be performed three times per week, taking no more than one hour per session. This program will ensure that you avoid the pitfalls of over training--going to the gym too often and doing too much--which can result in little muscle growth or at worst, injuries and muscle loss.
Rest
Get enough rest and be completely recovered from your previous workout before your next visit to the gym. This is of utmost importance in bodybuilding.
Your muscles do not get bigger while you are in the gym. They are merely stimulated by the workload they are subjected to. They react and adapt to the stimuli, by getting bigger and stronger whilst you are resting, away from the gym. Getting enough rest, means a minimum of other athletic and physical endeavors outside the gym and getting enough refreshing and restorative sleep at night.
Nutrition
You must eat plenty of nutritious, quality food to succeed in your bodybuilding goals.
To give yourself the best chance, you have to ensure that muscle-building nutrients are always available in your system. This means that you have to eat frequently--small- to medium-sized meals every three hours or so. Those ripped muscles are not built on a diet of fast foods and sodas. You need complex carbohydrates that will provide sustained energy and power your workouts. Examples of complex carbohydrates include, oats, brown rice, sweet potatoes, whole wheat pasta, whole wheat bread and other whole grains.
Good quality protein with the eight essential amino acids comes from animal sources such as beef, lamb, pork, chicken, eggs and fish. Proteins provide the building blocks for muscles.
A variety of fruits and vegetables, which provide essential micronutrients and trace elements, like vitamins, minerals and enzymes, for optimum functioning of the body. An optimum functioning body is a healthy body. A healthy body will respond more readily to bodybuilding and your muscle growth will be more significant.
References
- "Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding"; Arnold Schwarzenegger; 1985
- Dr. Squat: ABC Training Made Real Simple! Part I: Movements
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