Bodybuilding for Amateurs

Bodybuilding involves planning your diet and fitness routine to build muscle, minimize fat and achieve the best possible physique. How you go about bodybuilding as an amateur will depend on your current physical condition and overall fitness goals. Once you understand how exercise and nutrients help you sculpt your body, you'll be able to create a plan to begin your bodybuilding journey healthfully.

Hypertrophy Training

One of the primary goals in bodybuilding is developing musculature. During hypertrophy training, you traumatize the muscle fibers to promote growth to compensate for the damage. To build muscle size, choose two to three exercises for each muscle group and complete four to six sets of six to 12 repetitions each. You must subject your muscles to adequate stress to see growth, so if you can lift a thirteenth repetition with proper form, bump up the resistance level for your next workout.

Muscle Exhaustion

The goal of hypertrophy training for bodybuilders is to achieve muscle exhaustion, but there are many ways to accomplish this. When you're just starting out, standard sets will likely be enough to exhaust your muscles, but as your body adapts, you'll need to change things up. Try pre-fatiguing your muscles by performing pyramids or super sets. In pyramids, you perform four to six sets, starting with a low weight and high number of repetitions and gradually increase the weight while decreasing the repetitions. By the final set, you should be able to complete only six repetitions with proper form. For super sets, perform two exercises for the same muscle group back to back. Other methods to achieve muscle exhaustion include assisted sets, in which a workout partner helps you perform two to three additional repetitions beyond the point of exhaustion, and resistive sets, in which a workout partner not only helps you perform additional repetitions, but also provides mild resistance as you lower the weight.

Muscle Balance

Certain muscles, such as the pectorals and biceps, get all the glory in bodybuilding, but that doesn't mean you should restrict your workouts to the more visible muscle groups. If you work your chest without working your back, or work your biceps without working your triceps, you'll create a muscle imbalance that could lead to injury. Abdominal and core strength is particularly important to create balance with the lower back and prevent lower back injury and pain.

Nutrition for Bulking and Cutting

Your current physique will determine the nutritional approach you take in bodybuilding. If you need to lose fat, you'll need to create a caloric deficit of 500 to 1,000 calories per day through diet and exercise to lose 1 to 2 lb. of fat per week. If you want to gain weight in the form of lean muscle, you'll need to increase your caloric intake by 250 to 500 calories per day to gain 1/2 to 1 lb. of weight each week. No matter what your goals, eat plenty of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, lean meats and low-fat dairy to give your body the nutrients it needs to build muscle and energize you through a vigorous workout program.

Nutrient Timing

When you eat is just as important as what you eat, especially when bodybuilding. Plan to eat a meal containing simple and complex carbohydrates as well as protein about an hour before your workout. The carbohydrates build up glycogen in your muscles to prevent premature fatigue when you exercise, and eating protein prior to exercise helps stimulate protein synthesis and muscle growth after exercise. Within 45 minutes of finishing your workout, eat a meal with a three-to-one ratio of carbohydrates to protein. During this short window, your muscles will absorb more glycogen and your body can begin the recovery process.