December 4, 2009
The key to body building for beginners is to perform Compound Exercises with perfect form and get your diet right. I can’t stress this enough, and to work up in weight incrementally.
You can probably lift more than the weight you should begin with, but the key is to do the exercises consistently.
For true body building success, you must stick to the program and not over-train; beginners should be disciplined and not be disappointed with the lack of immediate results.
Compound exercises are just the start, wherein you will develop and reinforce the muscles, afterward comes the isolation exercises which you will perform after acquiring substantial strength.
Compound exercises are ones in which at least two joints are used to do the exercise movement, so for chest & triceps, you’ll want to do DIPS or BENCH PRESS, for lats and biceps you’ll want to do PULLUPS or LAT BAR PULL DOWN, for legs… it’s SQUATS and then DEADLIFT (which also hits your lower back).
For your shoulder & triceps, you’ll wan to do MILITARY PRESS, CLEAN & JERKS or SQUAT PRESSES.
CALF WORK, because of the unique nature of that muscle group, requires the intensity of CALF RAISES & DONKEY PRESSES which only work one joint, so they tend to be an isolation exercise.
Once you have designed your exercise scheme, you need to figure out the reps and sets.
It’s suggested that beginning bodybuilders, for the first two weeks do light weights and high reps to get your muscles primed for the growth phase, so you want to start with 1 or 2 sets and work your way up to 4 or 5 sets of 12 to 15 reps (this includes your warm-up sets).
Then you’ll want to swap out exercises, so if you’ve been doing WEIGHTED DIPS it’s time for BENCH PRESS, and you’ll want to raise the weight maybe 15 or 20% and do less sets and less reps (say 2 or 3 sets of 6 to 8 reps), stay on this course for two weeks, then it’s it time to bring the weight back down and do 4 or 5 sets of 10 to 12 reps for one week, then you can jump up in weight from the heavy phase, but do less reps and sets.
The key element here is to a) switch up the routine so your body has to constantly adapt b) build strength and mass by alternating what intensity of weights you pump. What it adds up to is better calorie burns, stamina and strength through one heavy set of exercises per week partnered with light yet repetitive exercises for the remaining days of the week.
Once you’ve been on the compound exercise cycle for about 6 weeks, you can start to slowly work in isolation exercises, these are exercises that use one joint to move the weight.
For example, do the barbell or PREACHER CURL, instead DUMBBELL CURLS. You want to do the FRENCH PRESS instead of ONE-ARM TRICEP PRESSES, LEG EXTENSIONS instead of LEG PRESSES, and so on. By the time you have reached the body form you wanted, you can start trying out some of the more exotic exercise routines. Although it’s nearly impossible to do “spot work,” you can eke out specific gains by alternating your routine and the reps/sets combinations.
For instance, when doing EZ-BAR BICEP CURLS, instead of doing 4 or 5 sets of 12 to 15 reps, do two sets of 21s; 21s for BICEP CURLS are when you do 7 reps of vertical to 90 degrees, then 7 reps of 90 degrees to the full contraction, and then finally 7 reps of the full motion… all without a break. That’s a burn that you won’t forget, and it’s a great way to shock you muscles if you’ve reach a plateau.
The discipline required to stay on the right course, even though it might not be “sexy” in the beginning is the key to making the progressive gains that you want.
Also, getting more than enough rest and eating right, actually eating more than ever have before.
Your diet is the most important thing whether you’re first starting out or a seasoned pro. If your diet is right, then you’ll have your biggest gains, if not, it’ll be hard to tell if you’ve worked out at all.
Let me leave you with one more thought. The best trainers say that you must only venture to weight lifting when you have already gone through bodyweight exercises.
For that reason, you may want to start out doing bodyweight exercises.
September 22, 2008
Whilst travelling around the world on bodybuilding seminars the most commonly asked question that is asked repeatedly by concerned bodybuilders is “Is it possible to build muscle and burn fat with a full body workout?”
Well you will be glad to know that the answer is a categorical yes. Have you ever heard the old wives tale saying that when you stop training your muscle will turn to fat, well a lot of old rubbish.
Muscle cells and fat cells are totally different and both respond to different types of stimulation. To basically increase your number of fat cells you need to increase your calorific intake and lead a sedentary lifestyle with a lack of physical exercise. Muscle cells on the other hand are stimulated to grow larger and multiply by applying resistance in the form of weights. Once the muscle has been subjected to this increase in resistance it requires adequate rest or recuperation time and most importantly correct nutrition in order in repair and increase in size. So in order to build muscle burn fat you need to incorporate brief high intensity exercise into your routine this will stimulate growth in the muscle cells and attack the cells which will in turn breakdown to release energy. You need then to ensure that you adhere to a well-balanced reduced calorie diet consisting of high protein, complex carbohydrates and good sources of fat.
Aim to reduce your daily calorific intake by 500 to 1000 calories below your base maintenance rate (body weight x 15) to ensure a gradual depletion of your body fat stores. As the number of intake calories are reduced the body looks for alternative sources of energy, the stored body fat is this alternative source. Muscles require extra calories for growth so you’ve guessed it the more muscle you build the more calories you burn. Follow these simple but effective guidelines and you will build muscle and burn fat guaranteed.
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