Natural Bodybuilders Fitness chapters

Bodybuilding is basically tearing down the muscle by intense exercise and then re-building it by a combination of proper food and sufficient rest.

Natural bodybuilding does not use illegal drugs such as anabolic steroids or growth hormones.

Bodybuilding with illegal drugs can damage your health. Natural bodybuilding done properly will improve your health, your state of mind and longevity.

THE THREE WISE RULES

There are three wise rules to always remember when you are training:

LIFT BIG

EAT BIG

SLEEP BIG

You need an equal combination of each of these to make optimum progress.

The difference between bodybuilding and weightlifting is that weightlifting involves lifting as much weight as possible. Lifting heavy weights in bodybuilding is of course important but not what you should be striving for. You must aim for feeling each muscle being exercised. To exercise each muscle properly you must contract it. The best way to do this is to STRETCH and SQUEEZE. For example when you flex your biceps you are contracting (or squeezing) the muscle. When you are bodybuilding you are aiming to do this to every muscle in your body. First you stretch the biceps when you feel the weight hanging from your arm. As you curl it up you squeeze the muscle and it contracts. When you contract it in a way it has never been contracted before the muscle fibres produce little tears on them. When you are not training your body wants to repair these muscle tears so that the muscle is strong enough to do this exercise again. It thus repairs the muscle slightly bigger and stronger than before. Therefore the next time you exercise the muscle you have to hit it even harder again and so on and so on. To repair the muscle you need the two other ingredients of the bodybuilder’s diet FOOD and REST. Muscle fibres are made of protein so it makes sense to consume protein to repair them. However you also need a combination of carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals and even fats for optimum muscle growth. When you sleep or rest is the time when the muscle grows. So if you train every day the muscle won’t have enough time to grow and you won’t make any progress.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

1. No drugs, protein powders or any substance available will make you big without you first training intensely and correctly.

2. Your aim is actually to tear down the muscle fibres by INTENSE TRAINING and then to rebuild them with a combination of FOOD and SLEEP. Aim to feel the muscle when you are working it. You can feel it by squeezing it as you train. If you can’t feel the muscle as you work it then you either have too much weight or you are using improper technique. You should be going for the full range of movement. For example when you do dips you go all the way up and all the way down. You squeeze the chest muscle at the top and stretch it when you go down.

3. Your body needs more protein but can only digest a certain amount at once. So if you think eating bigger meals will give you bigger muscles then you’re wrong. It will only make you fatter. You must eat five or six smaller meals a day. Or your normal three meals and a snack of milk and fruit between these. Protein shakes will allow you to build more mass but they can tax your digestive system causing diarrhoea. Normal food has all the proteins in it you need as long as you eat the right type. You need a lot of tuna and chicken for protein and pasta and potato for complex carbohydrates. Your muscles are actually made up of mostly water so it is essential you drink several pints a day. You should drink a carbohydrate drink after the workout to replace the glycogen used up in the workout. I recommend lucozade.

3. Find a training partner who can spot you and motivate you. A good training partner should be able to make you train harder and not help you lift the weights too much. You must do all the work.

4. You must warm up before training. You must do at least five minutes on the stationary bike and then stretch all the muscles. If you pull a muscle because you didn’t want to spend fifteen minutes warming up then how will you feel having to stop training for four weeks?

5. You must not overtrain. Do not train everyday. Your muscles actually grow when you’re resting. So if you don’t rest they won’t grow.

6. You do not need to train for three hours in the gym. You have to train for one hour with maximum intensity. Every fibre of your being has got to be intent in making this workout your best ever. Don’t chat with your friends at the gym just train. A good workout need not last for more than one hour.

7. Regularly shock the muscles - you will find that at first you will grow quickly because your muscles aren’t used to the new stresses being put on them. But as you go on the muscles become used to the exercise and progress will become limited. When you find you cannot add extra weight with a particular exercise stop doing it and try an alternative one that hits a slightly different part of the muscle. This part of the muscle is not used to the stress and the cycle starts once again.

8. Bodybuilding comes only with consistency and discipline. You are not only training your body but also your mind. You will sometimes find yourself lacking the motivation to train. When this happens think about the reasons why you started training in the first place and what you will lose if you give up. To make progress you only need to train for three hours a week. Don’t miss a workout due to lack of motivation. Set yourself goals. When you achieve these goals this will give you confidence in all aspects of your life.

9. Keep a diary of your training. Before each workout go over in the diary what you did in the last workout. During the workout try and improve on the last one by either adding a little bit more weight or doing a couple more reps (repetitions.) You will get stronger by SLOWLY trying to add weight. If your diary shows you can easily do 15 reps for an exercise with a certain weight then try and put more weight on the bar. If you try to add weight too quickly then you can get injured because your joints can’t keep up with the new stresses being put upon them.

10. Never give up. You do need to stop for a week or so to let your body fully recover. But you should only be thinking about what exercises you will be doing the next time you hit the gym.

YOUR TRAINING QUESTIONS

1. How often should I train?

The best training schedule is four days a week:

DAY 1 CHEST AND BICEPS

DAY 2 LEGS

DAY 3 REST

DAY 4 BACK, TRAPS AND ABDOMINALS

DAY 5 REST

DAY 6 SHOULDERS AND TRICEPS

DAY 7 REST (well this is the bible!)

This actually means you are only training your whole body once a week. This is because growth comes with rest. However when you do train each body part train with MAXIMUM INTENSITY. Only rest for as long as it takes for you to catch your breath or for your partner to do a set. A good workout lasts between 45 minutes and 1 hour. A good notification to see how hard you’ve trained is when you’re finished. If you can take your T-shirt off easily then you haven’t trained hard enough. You should need someone to pull it off you because your arms have exercised BEYOND anything they’ve ever exercised before. Or if you’re training legs you shouldn’t be walking up the stairs but crawling up them after a good leg workout!

If you find you don’t have time to do four workouts a week then you can still do three. Although four is the best way to make progress, three will still be extremely beneficial.

DAY 1 CHEST, BICEPS and THIGHS

DAY 2 REST

DAY 3 BACK, TRAPS, ABDOMINALS and CALFS

DAY 4 REST

DAY 5 SHOULDERS, TRICEPS and HAMSTRINGS

DAY 6 REST

DAY 7 REST

2. How many sets and reps should I do?

A REPETITION:

This is one complete movement from the start to the finish position for any exercise (SEE DIAGRAMS) If you move the weight 10 times you have done 10 repetitions (reps)

A SET:

This is the number of repetitions you do for an exercise at one time. For example if you do 10 repetitions and then stop, you have done one set. You may then put more weight on the exercise and do another set of 10 repetitions and so on.

You need to do three sets per exercise each time gradually increasing the weight. The first set should be quite light because it is essential to warm up the muscle first. You need to do between 8 and 12 repetitions per exercise. If you can do 20 easily then you should put more weight on the bar and try for 10. You won’t make any progress by doing 50 reps with a light exercise. You have to overload the muscle and you need fairly heavy weights to do this. You should only rest between sets only long enough for either your partner to finish their set or for you to catch your breath. Don’t waste time talking between sets. It lowers the intensity and therefore reduces your progress. You must mentally think of your workout as ONE BIG SET. You only rest when you have trained everything with maximum intensity.

This 3 sets per exercise is basic training for beginners. As you start improving and you get stronger your body will quickly adapt to the exercises you are doing. You therefore have to change your workout slightly every two to three months to shock your muscles into new growth. Remember your muscles grow when they have been forced to do something they’ve never done before. Also as your training improves do the exercises as mentioned in the final chapter: WAYS OF RAISING INTENSITY.

3. What equipment do I need?

Wearing gloves helps you grip the weight and is advised. You usually sweat when weight training so slippery hands can cause you to lose concentration. You don’t want any distractions when you’re training.

Wearing a belt is important as long as you’ve strengthened the lower back first. If it hasn’t been strengthened then using a belt will actually make your lower back weaker causing more injuries. So remember to exercise and strengthen your lower back before using a belt. When it is strong it is very advisable to use a belt to avoid injury.

Finally another good piece of equipment to really help you grip heavy weights better is STRAPS. Using these will actually help your grip MORE than gloves and they are extremely beneficial in exercises like deadlifts and lat pull-downs. These are highly recommended.

WAYS OF RAISING INTENSITY

You need to make your body train harder than it has ever trained before to make any progress in bodybuilding. To do this you have to go beyond failure. Failure is the point when the muscle is exhausted. It is after failure that the muscle starts breaking down. Muscle growth comes when your body repairs this muscle BIGGER and STRONGER than before.

THE 7 DEADLY WINS:

1. FORCED REPS

You need a partner to do these. When you have done the exercise with strict technique to the failure stage get your partner to help you force more reps out. It is essential that your partner doesn’t help you too much or too early.

2. DROP SETS

If you are training alone (or even with a partner) and you have reached the failure point with one weight then drop the weight in half and do a couple more reps. Continue until failure and drop the weight once again.

3. REST PAUSE

Train until failure and then rest for ten seconds or so before trying again. The rest should have given your body enough time to force more blood into the muscle.

4. THE CHEAT PRINCIPLE

This means when you have done as many reps as possible with strict technique that you do a few more with improper form. Such as swinging up the weight in biceps curls. You are still using your arms and so they will still benefit (but so will other muscle groups you are not training ie) shoulders in this case)

5. PRESS UPS

When you have done the last upper body exercise to complete failure, instead of lifting more weights do a set of 50 press ups. This will make your body use any strength it had left in it, but you can be sure it has been well exercised.

6. SUPER SETS

This is another good last set exercise. As soon as you’ve finished your last exercise to complete failure, do another exercise that hits the same muscle, but from a different angle. For example follow a set of upright rows with some lat raises. This will completely exhaust the whole muscle.

7. PARTIAL REPS

For some exercises partial reps or half reps will continue to put stress on the muscle and encourage growth. They are particularly effective on lat raises for shoulders. When you have finished a set of complete reps to failure DON’T STOP. Continue lifting the weights as much as you can. Even lifting the weights just a fraction of an inch can encourage growth in the muscle. Stop doing partial reps only when you can’t move the weight at all. They’ll hurt but pain is the only way forward.

Conclusion

‘make it count’

Approach bodybuilding with 101% commitment, mental and physical.

The hardest part of bodybuilding is giving up.