Recent Articles
Bodybuilding & weight training guide
We all know the importance protein plays in bodybuilding and of course one of the biggest sources of protein is red meat, so how does the vegetarian bodybuilder work out? There have been many successful vegetarian bodybuilders including Al Beckles, Andreas Cahling and Bill Pearl who went on to win the Mr Universe title in 1971 with arms measuring 21″ and a weight of 242lb, standing at 5` 10″ he achieved this title while on a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet combined with plenty of hard work and without the use of steroids.
Bodybuilding & weight training guide
The biceps are a smaller muscle than the triceps and can be found on the front of your upper arm, below this muscle is the brachialis and this is the muscle which is seen between the biceps and triceps when the body builder flexes their arm. The triceps is the muscle on the back of the upper arm and when developing these muscles as with any other group of muscles it is essential that you practice the exercise in the correct form.
The secret to getting these muscles well defined is to avoid over training the muscles, the arms are also used in exercises for the chest, back and shoulder so care should be taken they don’t become over trained. Great exercises for toning and shaping the biceps and triceps are:
Bodybuilding & weight training guide
Never attempt to exercise without performing warm-up exercises first no matter how long you have been doing a routine or how long you have practiced body building for. Going straight into exercising will only result in you injuring yourself; you should warm up for about 10 minutes before going into your usual routine by doing a form of aerobic routine. Listed below are some exercises which you could include in your workout:
Bodybuilding & weight training guide
For the purpose of weight training the body can be divided into ten major muscle groups, the larger muscles of the lower body are usually put to work before the smaller ones as these require more physical and mental energy. The core muscles of the torso are trained before the shoulder and arm muscles with the stabilising muscles in the waist being trained the last of all. Listed below are the muscle groups and the most common exercises used to train them.
Bodybuilding & weight training guide
What are the first things we all think of when the word bodybuilding is mentioned, rippling arms, a big chest and of course that washboard stomach, the well toned six-pack. Nothing enhances the body more than that six pack but to get it you will have to put in a lot of effort and devise a well planned exercise routine. So which exercises will help you achieve your goal? Listed below are some of the more common one you should fit into your daily workout:
Bodybuilding & weight training guide
When you are designing your workout for weight lifting you will have to decide which type of equipment you are going to use, will you be using mostly free weights or will you go for the machines or maybe a bit of both. Both types of equipment have their advantages and disadvantages and these are explained below:
Bodybuilding & weight training guide
Muscle dysmorphia is a disease where the person either male or female believes that they are not muscular enough, it stems from the disease body dysmorphic disorder which is a compulsive-obsessive disorder. It is sometimes commonly called bigorexia, people who are affected by this disease are commonly body builders and they will obsess about their size believing they are small and underdeveloped.
Very similar to the anorexic who firmly believes them selves to be fat even when in fact they are painfully thin the person suffering from muscle dysmorphia will see themselves as underdeveloped and will continue endlessly lifting weights and doing resistance training in order to bulk them selves up. The person may use weight gaining powders to dangerous levels along with other muscle building drugs with some even resorting to taking steroids.
Bodybuilding & weight training guide
How exactly is natural bodybuilding defined, is it exercising simply without the use of illegal drugs such as steroids or does natural bodybuilding mean the exclusion of all drugs including supplements. Let’s focus for a moment on what matters and that of course is achieving a fantastic well toned muscular body, but does it really make a difference how you get the results?
To some people in the body building business it doesn’t, as we know from hearing of them being disqualified from tournaments when caught, it clearly doesn’t matter to them how they achieved the results.
These people are much like the little wooden puppet in Pinocchio; no not for the long nose when lying, unless you count them lying to themselves and their fellow bodybuilders, but clearly they need a conscience, not to mention scruples.
Bodybuilding & weight training guide
In order to set up your weight lifting routine you first have to decide what it is you want to achieve, you have to determine your goals for example do you just want to tone up your body and add a little muscle or do you want to delve deeper into competition bodybuilding or weight lifting. Whichever route you choose to take if you are a beginner then you will have to build up slowly and start with a beginner’s bodybuilding routine.
How muscle is built
In order to build muscle you have to give the muscle resistance and this can be achieved by lifting weights, this can either be what is termed as free weights which are dumbbells and barbells, using weight lifting machines or by using your own body weight by including exercises such as chin ups or dips.
Bodybuilding & weight training guide
The muscle groups
Bodybuilders group muscles together and work on certain muscle groups at one time, by working one set of muscles two or three times this will ensure that they are trained thoroughly per session. Experts in training recommend this as the most effective way to build muscle mass, you should however give all muscle groups a workout during your routine regardless of if you want to enhance just a specific area of your body.
By exercising all muscle groups you will lessen the chance of injury and keep your overall body toned and in proportion. The major muscles groups include the legs which comprises of quads, hamstrings, calves and glutes. The chest, shoulders and back which consists of traps, lats and erectors and the abdominals which consist of the biceps and triceps.