Bodybuilding is described as the process of developing your muscles by using a combination of weight training, specific caloric intake, and getting proper rest.
Bodybuilding goes beyond building muscles simply to be fit, and requires more intense workouts.
Some people get into “professional bodybuilding” so they can compete against others who show their physiques to a panel of judges.
People involved in competitive bodybuilding, are bodybuilders who work to develop and maintain an aesthetically pleasing (by bodybuilding standards) body and balanced physique.
The bodybuilding competitors will then show off their bodies by performing a series of poses.
Those involved in competitive bodybuilding will spend time practicing their pose, as this will have a big effect on how they are judged.
In competitive bodybuilding, a bodybuilder's size and shape are more important than how much he or she can lift.
The sport of competitive bodybuilding should not be confused with powerlifting, where they are judged on actual physical strength, or with Olympic weightlifting, where the main objective is equally split between strength and technique.
Though these sports may seem superficially similar to the casual observer, each one entails a different regimen of training, diet, and basic motivation.
While exercise is certainly a key component in bodybuilding, so is nutrition. If the body doesn't get the proper nutrients to help the muscles grow, they will never reach their full potential.
Since bodybuilders require high levels of muscle growth and repair, they require a specialized diet.
A bodybuilder needs more calories than the average person of the same height and weight, because it takes a higher number of calories, above their “maintenance level”, in order to continue to increase muscle mass.
A maintenance level of food energy, combined with cardiovascular exercise, is needed to lose body fat.
Before beginning any change in your exercise or diet routines, you should consult your doctor.
Body Building Exercise Tips
When you first begin an exercise program, regardless of whether it’s weight training or cardio, your muscles immediately begin to use energy to allow them to work. For optimum health and fat burning, your bodybuilding workouts should consist of both anaerobic, and aerobic training.
Many weight training programs will tell you to do 12 repetitions of each exercise to gain muscle.
The problem with that is, this approach leaves the muscles without enough tension for effective muscle gain.
High-tension, such as heavy weights, provides muscle growth, which in
turn allows the muscles to grow much larger than without high- tension, and also leads to a maximum gain in strength.
Having longer tension time boosts the muscle size by generating the structures around the muscle fibers, which improves endurance.
The standard prescription of 8 - 12 repetitions provides a balance.
But, by only using that program when you exercise, you do not generate the greater tension levels provided by the heavier weights and lesser reps, or the longer tension achieved with lighter weights and more repetitions.
Change the number of reps, and adjust the weights to stimulate all types of muscle growth.
There are also those who perform the 3-Set rule, and while there’s nothing wrong with the 3 sets, there is nothing amazing about it either.
You see, the number of sets you perform should be based on your goals, and not on some half-century old rule.
The more repetitions you do of an exercise, the fewer sets you should do, and vice versa. By using this technique, you will keep the total number of repetitions performed of an exercise equal.
Doing 3 - 4 exercises per group is also not a good idea. Here’s why: Combined with 12 reps of 3 sets, the total number of reps amount to 144.
If you’re doing this many reps for a muscle group, you’re not doing enough. Instead of doing too many different kinds of exercises, try doing 30 to 50 reps, so it should be anywhere from 2 sets of 15 reps or 5 sets of 10 reps.
Some who first start out will make the mistake of thinking the more reps you do, or the longer time you spend working on the equipment, the more muscle you build.
A principal of bodybuilding says that you workout until the muscle is fatigued. Each exercise set you do is different.
Depending on what your set is like, if what you do taxes the muscle, it is possible to fatigue the muscles in the first set.
A good rule to follow is to create an intensity in your workout by dropping, or breaking down sets, in which you rep out or lower the weight, and continue to do reps until you either cannot do another one, or you run out of weight.
Sorting myth from truth about bodybuilding can help you design your workout, so it will be healthier and more productive.
Training your mind to follow the truth about bodybuilding is like training your body.
You can have discipline on two levels: body and mind.
