So you want to begin weight training; but what are you looking to achieve and how do you go about doing that?
The first and most important aspect is to be sure that this is what you want to do. Like anything in life, you have to want to do it if you want to succeed. The moment your weight training becomes a chore and you stop enjoying it is the moment that you will begin to fail to achieve what you set out to in the first place.
You shouldn’t see it as a short term objective to improve your build and physique. It should be more of a long term lifestyle decision and a way to live your life. Accept the way you currently look but seek to change your life choices to achieve your objectives. It will not happen overnight so having a long term outlook will ensure that you don’t get disheartened as all things take time and dedication.
With that thought in mind, it should mean you won’t start setting yourself unrealistic targets and goals. If the objectives you set are attainable then you won’t get put off so easily or lose your focus.
It is also a good idea to get a general overview about weight training and bodybuilding. No need to get too technical and specific but knowing a little information before you start planning can never be a bad thing. There are plenty of magazines and websites that you could peruse just to get an insight into the subject before plunging in.
One of the most important aspects to look at is your diet and to understand what foods are good for you and will aid you achieve your targets and which foods are best avoided.
You should also think about a workout plan. What do you need to concentrate on to help you achieve the best results? How long should each session last? How often a week should you train? This plan needs to be something that you can stick to but also has a little variety to give it balance.
So, lots of thought and lots of planning - what next? The next step, probably the biggest step, is to visit a gym. Considering this will be a place where you will spend a few hours in each week, the gym you choose is the one you feel most comfortable in. To start off with, you should ensure that the members of staff know what they are doing and what they are talking about. Most gyms nowadays run an assessment and induction program and the qualified staff will be able to discuss what you want and sit with you to devise a workout plan and dietary regime that is designed to help you achieve your goals.
You should also remember that at one stage or another, everyone was new to bodybuilding and started out in the same way you are considering now. The most important thing is to enjoy yourself.
Set Up Your Overall Goal When You Start In BodybuildingEveryone will have different reasons for taking up bodybuilding. Perhaps some dream of becoming the next world champion or maybe it is just a case of wanting to get in shape and lead a healthier, more active lifestyle.
Before starting off on this long journey, the most important thing of all is to come up with a plan and regime that you want to follow. This should include not only an exercise plan but also a dietary plan as these two go together hand in hand.
What you should look to do is to set yourself an overall goal of what you want to achieve out of your training regime. The goals that you eventually set for yourself will result from the reasons why you decided to take up bodybuilding in the first place.
Begin by asking yourself a few basic questions. What are my reasons for getting fit? Why do I want to take up bodybuilding? Do I want to improve myself to please me or am I looking to impress those around me?
With the answers to those basic questions, you will be better placed to set your goals and targets. You are also far more likely to succeed in meeting your goals if you are looking to get into bodybuilding for self improvement.
When you start out, set yourself an overall objective and goal to achieve (perhaps a target weight). It is important that this goal (and all targets for that matter) is attainable as this will help keep you motivated through your routine, Within that overall target, look at setting some intermediate targets as it is always far easier to move in small steps to a target rather than one giant step.
It’s also a good idea to keep a track on your progress so perhaps you could keep a log book of your improvements. What you will find is that as and when you review all that you have achieved to date, it will help spur you on further by seeing just how quickly you have progressed.
There is no quick fix when contemplating changing your habits and body. It will take a long time, entail a lot of hard work and perhaps making sacrifices. So you must be sure that you want to make that kind of commitment as there is little point in making promises that you are not prepared to keep. Getting fit through bodybuilding will require regular visits to the gym and strenuous exercise routines. You will most likely learn that no pain, no gain is more than just a slogan but if you are prepared to put in the hard work then it will pay off.
Exercise is only a part of the weight training regime and you will also have to consider your diet and making other lifestyle choices. The basics, though, have more to do with setting yourself realistic goals and working hard to achieve them. That hard work will almost certainly lead to a successful outcome.
Create Your Gaining Mass Daily SchedulesAs you will no doubt have now discovered, to gain weight involves a combination of training, strict diet and nutrition and cardiovascular exercise.
The key to success, apart from your commitment, is to come up with a strict plan for your exercise and workouts and your dietary intake. You ought to devise a daily schedule which you can easily follow. For you to get the necessary nutrients to help you with your overall routine, you will need to be ready to plan ahead. Your diet should be a little different depending on whether you are on a workout day or a rest day. Below is an example of a possible daily schedule that you could follow:
Daily Weight Gain Plan For Workout DaysUpon waking: A medium size banana mixed with a scoop of protein powder and a quarter of a cup of yoghurt (vanilla flavour).
Breakfast: Two scoops of yoghurt (it must be vanilla flavour) with half a cup of oatmeal. All this accompanied with five egg whites. You must eat this with two whole-wheat toasts and an apple. When you finish your breakfast, you must take one multi vitamin tablet.
Morning snack: A cup and a half of cottage cheese (2%) mixed with half a cup of peaches (canned, and without water) and slivered almonds (two tablespoons). One bagel with peanut butter (just one tablespoon).
Lunch: White meat sandwich. You will require four ounces of lean meat (preferably turkey) and two slices of brown bread, mayonnaise (low fat), baby spinach (two cups), a tablespoon of pistachio nuts, half a pear and two tablespoons of vinaigrette.
Snack – Pre workout: A cup and a half of skimmed milk mixed with one scoop of protein powder. Have this with a pear, orange or and apple.
Snack – Post workout: one cup and a half of skimmed milk mixed with two scoops of protein powder. Add honey (two tablespoons), two scoops of yoghurt (vanilla) and half a cup of juice (orange) to the post workout shake. This way you get all the carbohydrates and protein your body needs in order to recover from the workout.
Dinner: Sirloin steak (from between 6 oz and 8 oz) with a sweet potato (large) and steamed broccoli (two cups). You must remember to have only one serving and forget about the desserts.
Snack – Night time: One and a half cup of low fat milk mixed with two scoops of casein protein powder.Daily Weight Gain Plan For Non Workout Days
Upon wakening: A medium size banana mixed with a scoop of protein powder well, and a cup of yoghurt (vanilla flavour).
Morning snack: A cup and a half of milk mixed with one scoop of whey protein powder. Have with one apple or an orange.
Lunch: 6" red meat sub sandwich. You will require 5 oz of lean meat, tomato slices, some lettuce and low fat mayonnaise. Add some slices of low fat cheddar cheese and have with one glass of water. Finish off with an apple.
Mid day snack: Half a cup of cottage cheese with a half can of sliced pears with a tablespoon of slivered almonds.Dinner: 4 ounce grilled chicken breast with 2 cups of mixed vegetables with ½ cup of brown, organic rice mixed with 2 tablespoons of raisins.
Night time snack: 2 scoops of casein protein powder with one ½ cups of 1% milk.
Clearly, you will need to work your meal times around the period of the day that you plan to workout but many small meals are much better for the bodybuilder than the 3 large meals that we are generally brought up on. Your daily schedule is for you and has to work for you so do some planning and a bit of research for foods you want to eat and when to eat them.
Create Your Weight Lifting Supplements PlanUsing supplements with your existing weight training and dietary routine can enhance your physique.
The problem is how do you choose which ones you should take? Nowadays you will find that there are plenty of supplement companies competing for getting more and more customers. If you read the first pages of any of the most popular muscles building magazines in the market you will quickly realize how confusing and fierce the world of supplements is.
Before going on to look at a few supplements you could try, a word of warning. There is no point in taking supplements until you have got a weight and dietary regime in place for a number of weeks. The supplements will not work straight away as a miracle cure. Once all that is in place, you are in a position to start taking supplements.
You also must ensure that you give the supplements enough time to make a difference before you make up your mind on their usefulness. Generally, it should take you anything up to 8 weeks before making any kind of decision.
You should always do a bit of homework on the supplement you plan on taking. Many companies will make wild claims about their product so it is important that you check out any studies that may have taken place and whether the claims have been accredited. It is also important that you stick to reputable brands. These companies will be bigger and will likely have more to lose if their products don’t work.
So what supplements should you take and when should you take them? Here are a few examples:Glutamine: Take a dose of 10 grams with water when you wake up in the morning.
Vitamin/Mineral Packs: Take one pack daily after you have finished your breakfast.
Creatine: Vital if you wish to bulk up and become stronger. You could expect to see significant strength gains within a month of regular use. Take this before and after your training workout.
Weight Gain Powders: Take this twice each day with each serving consisting of 800 grams. You will find that you gain body mass pretty quickly and you will see a difference in 2 to 3 weeks. Keep a close eye on your body as you could add quite a bit of fat if you are not vigilant. Drink one serving early in the morning and the second after you have finished your workout.
Protein powders: These powders will provide for your protein supplemental needs. Take one serving as soon as you get up, one immediately after you have finished your training and a final one before you go to bed.
Clearly, there are many other options out there in the marketplace and what works for one person might not necessarily work for another; so as long as you keep in mind the tips regarding supplements mentioned earlier, you should be able to find a mix of supplements and a schedule that suits you and your needs.
Perfect Diet For Bodybuilders: Which Food Is Best?Whatever your objective for starting weight training and bodybuilding, going to the gym and exercising each week is only half the battle. For the training to be most effective, you will also need to concentrate on your diet. Indeed, a proper dietary regime is equally as important.
We all know about calories and that a high calorie count in your diet with lots of fatty foods will lead to your body producing more fat cells and gaining fat. For bodybuilding, we are looking to lose fat and gain muscle so it is crucial to structure your diet to aid you in this quest.
However, it is not just about what you eat, it is how and when you eat that is also important. For example, many of us have three straight large meals a day (breakfast, lunch and dinner) spaced out through the day. During those long periods where your body is not receiving food, it will begin to create fat deposits. The best way to avoid this is to “trick” your body and have five or six smaller meals a day which will prevent your body making fat deposits and it will also increase your metabolism as you will need energy to help digest your food.
For bodybuilders, you should be looking to eat more than you normally would but ensuring that it is foods that have the necessary nutrients which, when you train, will get used and this will enable you to build more muscle.
So what foods should you be eating? Well a weight trainer will need food items containing all categories of food: proteins, good fats and carbohydrates. The ideal meal for a bodybuilder would contain 40% carbohydrates, 40% proteins and 20% fat.
Carbohydrates (such as brown rice, wholemeal bread, fresh fruit and vegetables) are the best source of fast energy for a long period of time and they are able to be converted into glucose faster than proteins and fat.
We need proteins just as much as carbohydrates as you will not be able to gain muscle without proteins. They are the muscles’ main component and help the body to produce cells and hormones. The best proteins to eat include chicken, turkey, low fat milk, fish and beans. You should try and avoid proteins found in red meat, and dairy products as they are also rich in fat and cholesterol.
We also require fat – however odd that may sound. Fats are useful as they are concentrated energy and help transport many vital vitamins around the body. Like proteins though, there are good and bad fats. The good fats can be found in items such as olive oil, fish oil and nuts. You should look to avoid saturated fats.
You should also factor in a good sleep program into your diet as sleep is the period when your muscles recover and grow and so without a good sleep, you will not see any major improvements or results.
It is also important that you drink lots of water though not to excess. Many small drinks of water, while training and through the day, will ensure that your body doesn’t begin to dehydrate.
So to sum up, many small meals a day of healthy foods while varying the menu each day, good sleep and plenty of water - all this should form an important part of your daily routine of exercise and rest periods.
Plan Your Weight Lifting Cardio ProgramAs part of your weight training regime, you should look to include a cardio program as well.
Cardiovascular exercise is one of the most important keys in getting a muscular physique. There is science involved with cardio to heighten the results in that the amount of body fat lost is directly related to the number of fat burning elements you concentrate on.
While you are training, you should limit any cardio work to once a week. This will ensure that as many calories as possible are used to build as much muscle as possible. If however, you are in a rest phase of your schedule then look to do cardio work up to 4 times a week to ensure that your body in its quest for energy will eat into the body fat that it has stored up in these rest periods.
The best time to perform your cardio exercises is first thing in the morning when you wake up on an empty stomach. At this time, you will not have refueled your body with food and energy so your body will burn into its fat stores rather than eating into carbohydrates before burning fat.
How intense should your cardio workout be? Intensity in this case is defined as the percentage of your maximum heart rate used while performing a particular exercise. The most effective way to burn fat is to ensure that your exercises use about two thirds of your maximum heart rate. To work out your maximum heart rate, take your age away from 220 and multiply the answer that gives you by 0.65.
If you are a bodybuilder, you will clearly not be training for long endurance events. Bodybuilders use cardio exercise to increase the oxygen flow to muscles and to burn body fat. You should generally look to increase your cardio session by 5 minutes each week though any cardio sessions should not ideally exceed 30 minutes.
You should also never rush into a cardio exercise as this places unnecessary stress on your heart. Start slow and stretch before you walk and walk before you jog and then jog before you run until you hit your optimum heart rate. At the end of your workout, set aside a 5 minute period to cool down and ease your heart rate back to its normal rate.
So as an example, a program could be structured like this:In rest periods: one cardio workout per week for 20-25 minutes at 50% intensity. Week 1 of training: two cardio workouts for half an hour at 55% intensity. Week 2 of training: three cardio workouts for half an hour at 60% intensity. Week 3 of training to end of training period: four cardio workouts for 35 minutes at 65% intensity.
This, coupled with the correct diet and specific training, will give you a good head start in achieving your goals which you would have set when you first decided to take up weight training.
Different Types Of Warm Up Exercises For A Power Workout RoutineOne of the most important parts of your workout happens before and after you even think of picking up a dumbbell or other equipment.
Before you start any workout, you should make time to warm up properly before getting into your intensive training. Like most things, your body needs a little time to get itself up to its optimum speed and a few warm up exercises will increase the blood circulation running through your heart, lungs and muscles.
You should aim to do a few minutes of cardiovascular work when you get to the gym (e.g. treadmill or bicycle riding). It is also important to do some stretching exercises so that your muscles are supple and primed for the workout ahead. There are many different types of stretching exercises that you can do and a few repetitions of each should be all that you need. Many of these stretching exercises are examined in more detail below.
The final part of your warm up should be a little light training on the equipment you intend to use for your workouts.Back to the stretching exercises, what should you be looking to do? Below are a few examples and you should be looking to do a few repetitions:
Neck Rolls: A simple exercise which reduces the tension in the neck. Achilles Stretches: This exercise helps to stretch the thighs, lower back muscles and hamstrings.
Abdominal Stretches: This exercise aims to stretch the oblique abdominal muscles. Forward Bends: This looks to your hamstrings and lower back muscles. It should help to alleviate tightness in the hamstrings.Standing Twists: The aim of this exercise is to stretch the torso mainly against the resistance of the lower body.
Windmills Exercise: This is an exercise for the back and entire torso.
Back Stretches: Back stretches should be part of your daily warm up routine. There are many different stretches that you can do which concentrate on different areas of your back. The most important of these will be those that help alleviate tight hip flexors as this contributes to lower back curvature and chronic back pain. However, you should look to do a combination of these stretches in your routine.
Thigh exercises: There are a variety of exercises as each looks to stretch a different part of the thigh.Hanging Stretches: These exercises aim to stretch the spine and upper body and involve using a chin up bar to hang from.
Jumping in Place Stretching: This exercise is excellent for stretching and general conditioning.
Just as important as warm up exercises are cool down exercises after your workout. When you have finished your workout, you will find a build up of lactic acid and blood accumulated in your lower body.
The cool down exercises will help to re-circulate the blood faster to the heart and lungs and will also reduce any soreness you might feel in your muscles after the intensive training session.
You should look to do about 10 minutes of light cardio exercise as your cool down routine.Warm up and warm down exercises are a very important part of your weight training schedule and you should look to make time for them as they will help to avoid a potential build up of injuries.
Weight Training Workout For BeginnersThe weight program that you decide on will depend in what you are hoping to achieve. Do you want to lose fat or gain extra lean muscle? The answer to this will allow you to prioritize a program to suit your needs.
For fat loss, the more muscle you have will mean that you burn more calories per hour when your body is resting (50 calories an hour per lb of muscle as opposed to 5 cal an hour per lb of fat). When you are exercising, this increases to a lb of muscle burning 70 cal an hour while a lb of fat burns just 7 cal an hour so you can readily see the difference it can make.
It is important to be realistic in setting targets for yourself as a target must be attainable. Something along the lines of losing 10lbs of fat in a 5 week period whilst gaining 5lbs of lean muscle would be a good example. Whilst we would all love to gain more muscle, you should realize that it is more difficult to gain muscle than it is to lose fat.
Your weight regime needs to be structured from day one and remember it is for the long term not just a short sharp sprint. It is also important that you do not take short cuts and try and lift more weight than is comfortable. Your muscles will develop much quicker if your form is good and there will be much less stress and risk of injury to your body. As you get stronger, the more weight you will be able to cope with.
Below is an example of a possible workout regime:The best workout for beginners bodybuilders is full-body workout. On this program, you will workout 3 times per week with one days rest between each workout.
Sample Workout Plan
Day 1: Full body (Chest, shoulders, back, biceps, triceps, abs, legs, calves) Day 2: Rest
Day 3: Full body (Legs, calves, back, abs, shoulders, chest, biceps, triceps) Day 4: Rest
Day 5: Full body (Back, chest, legs, triceps, biceps, calves, shoulders, abs) Day 6: Rest
Day 7: Rest
Choose 1 exercise per body part. Below is a sample:
Stiff-Legged Barbell Deadlift
Barbell Squats
Bent Over Barbell Row
Barbell Bench Press -Medium Grip Standing Barbell Press Behind Neck Standing Barbell Curls
Pushdowns
Standing Calf Raises
Hanging Leg Raises
For all muscle groups look at a maximum of 3 sets of each exercise for 12 reps as a general rule. As you get more comfortable with the weight, then by all means add some weight but still keeping to those same repetitions. Perform 10 minutes of light cardio and stretching prior to the routine , also, you can perform one light-weight warm-up set.
Benefits of full body workout:
-saves time( keep your workout to an 45 minutes or less)
-better core development
-boosts your cardiovascular system
-train once every 3 days
-greater training frequency per muscle group
-increase your testosterone and growth hormone level
-always change the order of your workouts but start from the largest muscle group
-minimize rest time between exercise sets (15-30 seconds)
Just as important as the weight program is rest. Because you are working every muscle group each workout, full body routines can put additional stress on your central nervous system and muscles. Resist the temptation to perform this workout two days in a row. Give yourself at least 48 hours rest and recovery time between each full body workout. There is always a tendency to over train but this will result in your body using protein found in muscles meaning that the muscles are not able to grow and develop as you would hope and perhaps expect. Far better to keep to the structured plan and allow plenty of time for you to sleep and your body to rest and recover in between workouts.
Weight Training For Intermediate BodybuildersOnce you have been weight training for a period of time,( Weight Training Workout For Beginners-not longer than 6 months) you may well feel that you want to move up a level in your training programs. It is important to keep plans and programs varied as with the repetitious nature of training, it is easy for the routines to get stale and it is vital to keep the interest level high and continue to enjoy the training that you are doing.
Below is an example of a possible workout regime for intermediate bodybuilders.Separate you workout into different categories – chest, back, triceps, biceps, abs, legs, calves traps, shoulders.
Look to train each category once a week leaving your body plenty of chance to recover and rest. A 4 day split could be as follows:
Day 1 – Chest, triceps, abs
Day 2 – Back, biceps
Day 3 – Shoulders, traps
Day 4 – Legs, calves
For the large muscle groups (Chest, back, legs), look at a maximum of 9-12 sets for 10-12 reps as
a general rule. For the smaller muscle groups (biceps, triceps, shoulders, abs and calves), a maximum of 6-8 sets for 8-10 reps would be ideal.
So how do you keep things fresh and change up your routines? Rather than just doing one set of exercises, you could look at several different options and some possible examples include:
Supersets – This includes grouping together two differing exercises for opposing muscle groups such as back and chest. Do two back to back exercises, one for each group. These supersets will not only help speed up your workout but will also increase your recovery time.
Tri-sets – This involves doing three sets for the same muscle group with little rest in between each set. Tri sets are a good technique for shaping the muscles and will also increase vascularity (having prominent and visible veins).
Compound Sets – These are supersets except it involves two exercises for the same muscle group. These compound sets will really help to pump the muscles.Holistic training – With a little knowledge of muscle physiology, you will learn that different parts of muscle cells respond in different ways to various types of exercise. For example, muscular fibre proteins respond well to a heavy load whereas a cell’s energy system will respond better to high endurance training. Therefore, mixing the repetitions (high weight with low reps and low weight with high reps) will enhance the whole muscle cell.
Quality training – With this type of training look to reduce your rest time in between sets. You should still look to do the same volume of training and this method of training will enhance your muscle definition and vascularity.
Split System – Using a split system of training will see you increase the intensity of your workout. You do this by dividing your workout schedule into concentrating on one half of your body each session. So on your first workout day, you should do exercises on your upper body and the next session would concentrate on the lower part of your body. Thus, you are able to work both halves of your body harder and for longer periods.
Another option that you could consider is using a pyramid type program. This is a technique to keep your muscles using more weight each week. The more weight you use, the stronger you will become and the stronger you become, the more weight you can bear.
The system is based on the maximum weight you can use for one repetition. You then use a percentage of that weight for each set with the percentage increasing per set. Each week, you then increase the weight you being with and so on for a few weeks when you would need to recalculate your maximum one repetition weight.