Bodybuilding and More

Just about everyone knows that exercise is an integral part of any weight loss (or weight gain) program.

However, with people busier than ever, it can be hard to find time to exercise.

This goes back to something I wrote about it a prior post about bodybuilders feeling that when people talk about eating six times per day, they feel each meal needs to be a major affair.

Not so.

The same can be said about exercise.

People will often feel that if they cannot get in a full workout, they why even bother going to the gym at all.

Bad idea.

First, once you miss a workout—it is gone and you cannot get it back.

Second, this kind of thinking makes skipping workouts o.k.

WHAT TO DO

For the sake of example, we will say that your normal workout is walking on the track at your gym for an hour.

However, today you absolutely have no time to get to the gym for your walk.

No problem.

Try walking around the block or if you need to do some shopping make it a point to walk up and down each isle.

Don’t like that idea.

Try doing some push-ups—they are simple and quick.

O.K.

I realize that push-ups are not walking, but hey something is better than nothing.

And this can apply to your bodybuilding workouts as well.

Can’t get to the gym, do an all dumbbell workout at home.

Or take the push-up example from above and try busing out ten sets of ten reps of push-ups only resting thirty seconds between sets.

MY POINT

My point with this post is to simply say—no matter what happens, try and do something everyday.

Even if it just a short walk, it is better than nothing.

UNTIL NEXT WEEK

KEEP GOING

If it is one thing people want to know about more than anything when it comes to adding lean muscle to their frames, it is this—what are the best supplements for gaining muscle?

When you think about it, this really comes as no big surprise, after all if you simply flip though one of the popular bodybuilding magazines—you will see page after page of ads.

One promising more benefits than the next.

A TRUE BODYBUILDING SECRET

If there is one thing that gets underplayed in the magazines and online, it is this.

Plenty of rock hard muscle has been built over the decades with nothing more that good wholesome food.

This is how they did it back in the sixties—good food and hard and heavy training.

No exotic supplements or anything like that.

And lo-and-behold, they all gained muscle—they did not shrink because they did not have some scientifically designed supplement that you must take right after your workout.

O.K. I am being funny there, but the truth is if you work hard on the basics and consume plenty of good food like, whole eggs, lean beef, chicken and turkey.

Along with good carb sources like oatmeal (if you like it, I don’t), yams, brow rice, beans, etc.

And healthy fats from all kinds of nuts and seeds and fatty fish like sardines—you will be good.

BUT COME ON WHAT ABOUT SUPPLEMENTS

O.K. O.K.

I know, I said in the title the best supplements for gaining muscle, so if I was pressed I would say this.

First and foremost would be a hood quality, and I MUST  STRESS GOOD QUALITY multi vitamin multi mineral supplement.

Then…

Get a good whey protein isolate to have post workout (you don’t REALLY need to add in any carbs into this if you do not want to) and a good mixed blend powder to take when you cannot grab a good meal.

That is it, that is all you need.

A WORD ON MEALS

A mistake too many beginning bodybuilders make is thinking that when they read that they should eat six times a day they have to be massive meals—NO!

A couple of boiled chicken breasts and a piece of fruit is a meal—it does not have to be fancy.

As long as you are eating, SOME, good quality protein and carbs or fat every two to three hours—it is good.

Do not make things more complicated than they need to be.

CONCLUSION

Yes, all of the fancy supplements look nice, but the truth is, if you are looking to pack on pounds of muscle, all you really need is good quality food.

This is how all of the past champions of yore did it—and you can do it too.

WORK HARD

The allure of big arms—I think more than anything is what most young men want when they first set foot in a gym.

On paper things look easy, bust out a ton of curls and your arms will grow.

The magic word here is—on paper.

After all, curls work the biceps, so if you do them, shouldn’t you get bigger arms?

While curls do work the arms—they really do not push the whole body to get bigger, the way a hard set of squats would do.

Plus, and this is something that never gets a lot of play—you cannot put on any arm size if you do not gain weight.

A NEW APPROACH

Believe it or not, your biceps and triceps (which make up two thirds of the size of the arm) get tons of work from just doing the basics.

Think about it this way, do you think the biceps come into play when you do some heavy dead lifts.

Sure they do.

Same goes for overhead presses and flat and incline benches.

GETTING STRONGER ON THE BASICS

The best way for a beginner to add some serious size to his/her arms is to simply work at getting stronger on the basics.

Work up to using some good poundage (in good form) on squats, dead lifts, all different kinds of benches and rows—and you will be hard pressed NOT to add size to your arms.

A WORD ON SQUATS

I know some of you may be wondering why squats are included—after all they do not work the arms even indirectly like the other movements listed.

Good question!

The reason they are listed is because they are so demanding that they do influence the whole body to grow.

However, if you have been around bodybuilding for any length of time you have probably read about high rep squatting.

This usually involves doing a set of twenty squats.

There is more to it, but I wanted to bring it up because I am NOT (I repeat not) a fan of this method of squatting especially for beginners—and I am not sure about advanced lifters either.

Beginners simply have not mastered the form on squats and invariably when you do higher reps, your form starts to break down, and when this happens.

And injury is usually the result.

Nothing deters progress faster than an injury—so until you have mastered squats, work in the normal eight to twelve rep range.

A WORD ON NUTRITION

I do not care how hard and heavy you train, if you are not eating right, you will not grow.

So just like the basics in bodybuilding, the basics in eating have worked for years and still work today.

Stick to eating lean beef, turkey, chicken, fish, and eggs for protein.

Yams, sweet potatoes, brown rice, and things like whole wheat breads and some fruit for carbs.

And healthy fats from fatty fish like sardines.

Eat something, focusing on protein first, every two to three hours and you will be doing yourself right.

CONCLUSION

Unfortunately, building big arms takes more than curls, but that is O.K., because if you stick to the basics and eat big—you will not only get big arms, but you will be big all over.

Not a bad thing.

STAY MOTIVATED

There is something that is talked about in internet marketing circles called shiny new object syndrome.

This simply means that instead of staying focused new (and sometimes not so new) marketers run off and by the big new release—and promises of super wealth.

I am afraid the same can be said for bodybuilding—both routines and supplements

Every month the magazines are loaded with page after page of ads—each looking and sounding better than the next.

I am afraid to say (in my opinion) that most are full of under-dosed ingredients and an over inflated price tag.

WHAT CAN BE DONE

The first thing you can do to protect yourself from shiny new supplement syndrome is this.

If something is working for you right now—why change it.

Do you like the taste of your current protein powder?

Do you feel it is working for you—either pre or post workout?

If it is, why change?

The second thing you can do is to see if you can help yourself, without the need for supplements.

What exactly do I mean?

Simple.

If you find yourself constantly in need of a pre-workout drink to get you going for your workout—and are constantly switching brands to find one that works—maybe you should consider going to be earlier so that you will have more energy for your workouts.

The third thing you can do is to simply be honest with yourself

Why are you always buying new supplements?

Is it so that you can justify not training so hard, thinking that the new supplement is going to make up for the lack of hard training.

Because if you think this way—I don’t like saying this but—no supplement is going to make up for bad training.

LAST COMMENT

Lastly, I would like to bring up one more point.

I’ll call it the common sense point.

Honestly, really deep down, can you believe the claims made about the supplement?

Rapid gains in muscle, serious drops in body fat—those take hard work and a cleaner diet.

Again, can you believe the claims?

Because if you cannot believe them—well then I would say you should save your money as it would be better off used to buy some good quality food.

UNTIL TIL NEXT TIME

WORK HARD

Saw a story on the New York Times Blog about Arnold writing his memoir.

You can check out the story by clicking here.

Reading the story I saw the mention of steroids.

I have two thoughts on this, one side of me would like to know how much he took—all though I am aware that people will not believe what he says if the dosages are below what people think he took.

On the other, back-in-the-day steroids were not technically legal, but they were not really illegal either—so it does not really matter if he took the or not.

And one could make the argument that even though the spotlight always falls on the star and Arnold was definitely the star of the seventies bodybuilding scene, I would think that almost (all though it is impossible to know for sure) all of his contemporaries were using too—so why should Arnold be singled out.

TAKE CARE

So you have decided to become a bodybuilder.

So people take up bodybuilding because of a movie super hero, others because of an older brother.

Still others do it to get better at sports.

The reasons do not matter—what does matter is how you start.

Yes, I am aware that you can always correct things as they go—but we all know that it is easier to start-out right, than have to correct (or un-learn if-you-will) our mistakes later on.

AN HONEST ASSESMENT

The ONLY and I mean ONLY way you are going to get started on the right foot, is to take stock of what you have body-wise.

By this I mean do you have naturally wide shoulders, like a Jay Cutler—or are they narrower.

Same goes for your hips, are they naturally small—or do you have wide hips.

I mention this because it would be a great idea to focus on making your shoulders as wide as possible—by working on the side delt head—if you have a naturally thick waist.

THE BIG PROBLEM

The problem I see with a lot of beginning bodybuilders is that they simply go into the gym looking to get big—and this is not a bad thing.

When you do it right.

By making the most of your strong points—ie wide shoulders or a small waist.

And minimizing your weak points—ie doing everything you can to minimize a naturally thick waist.

NOTE:

I am not talking about neglecting slow growing body parts—just making the most of what you have.

However, if you simply go into the gym and pound away—even if it is on the big muti-joint exercises—you may not be happy with the results.

MORE TO COME

Please keep looking for more Beginning Bodybuilding posts like this, because this is only the start of this series—I will be adding more to this in the near future.

TAKE CARE