Body Building Routines
Every person will respond differently to exercise and body building routines. Some of the major aspects that will affect muscle growth are your current strength level, ability to heal or recover, body type and genetics. Furthermore if you are a beginner you should keep in mind that your workout should never be the same as an advanced or pro body builder. If you jump right into a program consisting of advanced body building routines, you may risk overtraining and injuries, which could leave you wanting to give up entirely.
Body Building Tips
You should set your goal and objective for body building to be reasonable and realistic. Everyone experience body changes and improvements in their physique during the first few months. However, your growth and progress will begin to slow down as you reach intermediate level. A stricter diet and more consistent body building routines are required to keep progressing.
It’s important to not just copy everything that you read in magazines or 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 which puts the body under a lot of stress.
Some keep up with these intense programs using illegal substances and drugs. Don’t follow someone else’s routine just because you wish to have the same physique as that person. Every body type is different and will develop uniquely even if you copy the exact same routine. Try to model a person who understands this and doesn’t just teach what they do themselves.
In order to avoid overtraining you should keep your body building routines short but intense, lasting no more than 30 to 45 minutes for each session. Between each workout day you should take at least a day of, giving you no more than 3 to 4 workout days per week. Giving your body enough time to rest is just as important as working out for muscle building. When you work out you actually stress the muscle tissue, and it’s in the rest period that the actual muscle growth takes place. Also remember to listen to your body and adjust you routine accordingly.
If you want to build muscle the natural way – without spending long hours in the gym, without supplements and without drugs, then this could be the most important guide you ever read…
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Focus on Compound Movements
Compound movements are defined as exercises that target different muscle groups at the same time. These are different from the isolation exercises that intermediate and advanced body builders include in their workouts to bring out more definition.
Most experts recommend that beginners start out with light free weights to gain a sense of balance and proper execution of the exercises. Dumbbells and barbells should be the core of your workouts.
Recommended exercises
The squat is one of the most important exercises for beginners as well as advanced body builders. It is completely safe if done correctly and can do wonders for your body. The muscle groups involved include the core muscles, abdominals, lower back, the traps, glutes, quads or thighs, hamstrings and parts of the calves. 2 sets of 12 to 15 repetitions is a good starting point.
The bench press is another important compound exercise to have in your body building routines. It effectively hits the chest, shoulders or deltoids, triceps and some parts of the forearms and rib cage. Do 2 sets of 10 to 12 repetitions.
Next is the bent-over row which is easiest to do using a barbell, this targets the entire back, rear deltoids, biceps and some parts of the forearms. Also do 2 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 or dumbbell curl is a more focused exercise and 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, again do 2 sets of 10 to 12 repetitions.
Beginners may want to work out arms only 1 to 2 times per week since those muscles already are passively stressed as you do the compound movements.
You may want add 2 sets of ab crunches for 12 to 15 repetitions to the above exercises.
Additional Tips
Do some warm-up exercises for 5 to 10 minutes before doing any lifting. A quick jog on the treadmill will suffice. Before each exercise you should do a light warm-up set to get a feel for the movement and preparing the muscles before doing each workout set. End your workout with some mild stretching for 5 to 10 minutes.
Only use weights that aren’t heavier than you can complete each set using correct form. Using to heavy weights and bad form can hit other muscles instead of those you want to target, or worse, easily cause injury or overtraining. In addition to your body building routines, you should keep a training journal to keep track of your progress. And as your strength develops you can slowly add more weight to the exercises.
If you want to build muscle the natural way – without spending long hours in the gym, without supplements and without drugs, then this could be the most important guide you ever read…