Bodybuilders today are often perceived to be pure mass monsters, who look more like cartoon characters then real people. It seems that in the bodybuilding world, bigger is always better. However, back in the 1930s and 1940s, before modern advances in knowledge, training equipment and performance-enhancing substances, bodybuilders were not so obsessed with size. They trained to improve their health and had much more aesthetically pleasing physiques than those you might see on stage today. This era is considered by many to be the golden age of bodybuilding, when famous names like John Grimek, Jack Lalanne and Joseph Hise graced the stage.
Step 1
Lift weights three times per week, hitting the entire body each time. Most bodybuilders now use split routines, where they train six or seven times per week, focusing on a different body part each session. However, according to John Grimek, one of the most successful bodybuilders of the 1940s, splits were almost unheard of in his era, and every trainee would perform full body sessions.
Step 2
Base your workouts around compound exercises. These are exercises that use more than one joint, for example, squats, bench presses, deadlifts, overhead presses, chin-ups and row variations. A good workout to start on is Bill Starr's 5x5. In this workout, Monday's session consists of squats, bench presses and barbell rows, doing five sets of five reps on each exercise. Wednesday's workout is squats, incline or military press, and deadlifts, for four sets of five on each exercise. To finish the week, on Friday the program prescribes six sets of squats, six sets of bench presses and six sets of barbell rows with varying rep ranges. Hyperextensions and sit-ups can be added as assistance exercises on any day.
Step 3
Eat a variety of whole foods. To put on muscle, you need to take in a lot of calories. To work out how many calories you should eat, take your body weight in pounds and multiply this by 18. Aim to eat this number of calories every day from foods such as meat, eggs, milk, fish, fruits, vegetables, nuts and oatmeal.
Step 4
Rest. It's vitally important to train hard, but if you don't take breaks from training, you run a high risk of suffering from overtraining syndrome, fatigue and injuries. To avoid these, take a full week of rest away from weight training at least once every eight weeks.
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