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Bodybuilding:All
The Truth, None Of The Lies
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Bodybuilding Training
- What exercises should I do for different
bodyparts?
- How many days per week should I train?
- How much muscle will I gain?
- I spend hours in the gym, why am I not gaining
muscle?
- How can I get stronger?
- How can I get a 6-pack of abs?
- I'm a woman, will weight training make me overly
muscular?
- Will weight lifting stunt my growth?
- Why am I sore after a workout?
- What should I eat before and after workouts?
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Body parts
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Suggested Exercises |
Frequency |
| Trapezius |
Barbell/Dumbbell Shrugs, Upright Rows |
1-2/wk |
| Biceps |
Hammer Curls, Barbell/Dumbbell Curls, Cable Curls, Preacher Curls |
1-2/wk |
| Triceps |
Skullcrushers, French Press, Close Grip Bench Press, Dips |
1-2/wk |
| Legs |
Squats, Lunges, Leg ext., Leg Curls |
1/wk |
| Abdominals |
Reverse Crunches, Crunches, Oblique Crunches |
2-3/wk |
| Back |
Pullups, Good Mornings, Bent-over row |
1/wk |
| Deltoids |
Side/Front Raises, Shoulder Press |
1-2/wk |
| Chest |
Flat/Incline bench Press, Flies |
1/wk |
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Type of Athlete
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Frequency
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Sets Per Exercise
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Reps
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Weight
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Rest |
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Bodybuilder
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3-5/wk
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2-3
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8-12
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Medium-Heavy
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1-2 min.
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Powerlifter
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2-3/wk
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1 at varying weights
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1-5
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Heavy-Very Heavy
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3-5 min.
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Endurance Athlete
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4-5/wk
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3-5
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10-16
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Low-Medium
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1-2 min.
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Determining how much muscle you could
possibly gain can be gauged by several factors. Your genetic potential,
how much you eat, what you eat, how hard you train, and your training experience
all play a role in how much muscle you gain expect to gain. First, your
genetic potential plays a huge role in muscle gains. Some people known as hard gainers
will have to try very hard to put on even a pound of muscle. Other people
will make muscle gains extremely easy. Secondly, how much you eat will
dictate how much weight you gain. If you are barely getting by on calories
odds are you will not gain very much muscle at all. On the other hand, if
you try very hard to eat a lot of quality food you will make weight gaining much
easy for yourself. A lot of people say, 'Well I am eating a lot', then
they tell me what they are eating and it turns out to be only 2,000 calories.
Make sure you count your calories and know how much you are getting.
Next, what you eat is very important. You could be eating 5,000
calories a day of fast food and ice cream and then ask me why your not making
good gains. The answer is obvious to make good gains you have to eat good
food. This means getting a lot of high quality protein, complex
carbohydrates, and fats. Then, how hard you train also determines what
kind of progress you will be making. Training hard does not mean grinding
away in the gym 24/7. Training hard means going to the gym anywhere from
2-5 days a week and training the right way for your athletic type, whether it be
bodybuilder,powerlifter, or an endurance athlete. Lastly, your overall experience
will play a role in your muscle gains. Beginners tend to but on muscle at
a rapid rate, use this time wisely. Then as you get more into the
intermediate and advanced stages your gains tend to taper down as you progress.
This problem could go
two ways, it could be very easy or very difficult to solve. If you are
really spending a few hours a day in the gym many days a week that's your
problem. This would be severe over training and your moving in the wrong
direction if your hoping for any kind of muscle growth. Resting for a
while and then coming back to training is a good way to get rid of over training
syndrome. You should notice an immediate gain in strength and overall
performance after coming back from the resting period. Now, if you are a
severe hard gainer it will be a challenge to put on muscle. However, being
a hard gainer isn't an excuse to say ,'Oh, I don't gain muscle because I am hard gainer.'
It still is possible to gain muscle, just not at the rate a normal lifter
would. There are special routines designed for hard gainers, I recommend
reading about Hardgainer
Training.
There are a number of things you can do to get stronger. Lifting
weights alone will make you stronger but if you are looking for raw strength
there are a few additional things you can do to increase strength. First,
Eat more quality protein and carbohydrates. A bigger diet full of quality
food make for more muscle hence more strength. Next, change your workout
to a low rep high weight workout. 3-6 reps will be effective for gaining
strength, while 8-12 will be more for mass.
A good routine for bench will be as
followed:
If you bench press 400lbs as a max,
this is what you would do (don't get scared this is just an example adjust
accordingly)
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135x10 reps (warmup)
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315x1
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185x3
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365x1
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225x2-3
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405-410x1
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275x1
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Then, do Overloads for 3-5 reps (Overloads use a weight heavier
than you can lift, make sure you spotters on either side helping you lift the
weight as you need it) This will help mentally prepare you for greater
lifts.
Then come down to a medium-heavy range and do 3 sets of at least
5 reps.
Lastly, another great strength increaser is pushups, do as many
as you can.
I almost put this article under diet, but I figured most people
would come to the training section looking for it. Getting a visible set
of abs can not be achieved no matter how many thousands of situps,leg raises,
and oblique crunches you do if there is body fat present over the abdominal
region. Losing body fat is the key to getting your abs to show, there is
however one exception to this rule. If you are incredibly skinny odds are
you do not have enough muscle to make them show. In this case you need to
performed various types of weighted crunches about twice a week and aside from
that start packing in the food because your to skinny. Once you start
losing the body fat to your delight you will start noticing more and more of
yours abs.
No. Women generally cannot get as big as men. If you are very
worried about this, just stick to low weight and high reps. Using this
method you are sure not to add to much size. Weight-training can be very
helpful to women in that it will increase the total numbered of calories burned
in a day and it may help stop bone-loss. So don't be afraid to pick up
some weights, it won't do you any harm.
Under most circumstances, weightlifting will not stunt your growth. Many
people think this because a lot of bodybuilder and weightlifters are short.
Being short and a weightlifter can be to your advantage because you can in
most cases add mass quicker and get more leverage due to your smaller
frame. This is probably the reason you see a lot of short people in
the sport. That is why people think weightlifting causes you to be short.
So if your a teen, don't be afraid to start lifting weights. Just
make sure you lift responsibly and don't try to show off to your friends how
much you can lift. And above all don't just lift for your biceps and
chest.
Assuming your muscles are sore and you have not injured yourself, it is
called DOMS (Delayed On-set Muscle Soreness). Depending on the muscle
group it should only last 1-3 days. DOMS is just very small tears in the
muscle indicating muscle damage. The body doesn't like to have stress on
itself so when it heals the muscles it will make them a very little bit larger
to prevent further damage. To help prevent or ease DOMS you should
take vitamin C and E after a workout and be sure to get some protein and
carbohydrates in you as soon as possible after you are finished weightlifting.
Don't confuse this with the burn you feel during the workout, that's just lactic
acid buildup.
Before workouts its good to get some form of complex carbohydrates whether it
be a brown rice or a maltodextrin powder. Post workouts some form of
protein and simple carbohydrates should be taken in, a protein powder mixed in
milk would be fine.
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