Bodybuilding- What is it?

The goal of any bodybuilder is to gain as much muscle as possible, whilst trying to stay lean. Basically to look like you belong on the front cover of GQ magazine. Easy? No definitely not. Bodybuilding isn’t an exact science, everyone is different and therefore not every bodybuilder uses the same training techniques and follows the same diet. That is why if you are beginner it may take you a while to get to know what works for you. But if you start with the following guidelines as a basis, you’ll soon find your own way and catch the bodybuilding bug!

Where?

The best place to start bodybuilding is, yep you guessed it, a gym. I know gyms aren’t exactly where you want to spend the majority of your time but they have all the equipment you need and instructors that can help and give you advice. So check all the gyms out in your local area and find one that you feel comfortable in. Its important that you find a gym that your happy with, it also helps if you can meet new people with the same interests as you, and potentially gain a training partner. The chain gyms such as fitness first are good if you want new facilities and the use of a pool and steam room. However if you just want to get on with it and focus on your weights, the local gyms are often the best.

How to start?

As a beginner two years ago, I didn’t have a clue as to what to do when it came to using a gym properly. I was lucky enough to have a training partner that had competed and knew what he was talking about. Gyms can be daunting especially if you go to one already full of muscle bound men!
The best thing to do as a beginner is to stick to the absolute basics for the first six months. If you have found a gym that your happy with, the instructors may offer to build a programme for you and should show you how to perform each exercise.

· If you have never lifted weights before then your muscles are going to need some conditioning. If you don’t spend around six weeks conditioning the muscles and tendons then you are almost certainly going to injure yourself lifting heavy weight. So stick to machines and cable exercises and just use a weight that you are comfortable with. After six weeks you can introduce dumbbells and start putting your weights up.
· Also, learning good form is absolutely essential when starting out, the amount of people I see training with really bad form. I literally have to grit my teeth and turn round to make sure I don’t go and try to give them advice. Top bodybuilder Chris Aceto says ‘the gaol of the beginner must be to master the techniques on all the exercises’. He’s definitely right, getting good form can really maximise your gains when you start lifting heavy, so get it right now!
· Each muscle group needs a week to recover before it is trained again. So set put a sequence that you follow every week, again the instructors at your gym can help you with this. You can put smaller groups together for now. The groups that need to be trained are legs, back, biceps and triceps, shoulders and chest and abs.
· Try to add in a bit of cardio vascular work as well, preferably after your weights. This will keep body fat levels down and maintain your fitness levels.
· Each muscle group only needs between two and four exercises. Small groups like biceps only need 2-3 exercises to get a good pump, bigger groups like back and legs can include more exercises, even up to five. Remember your goal is not to spend hours in the gym, each muscle group should take around 20-40 minutes, just train them hard!
· You might hear people talking about sets and reps. A rep is each repetition of the movement, so one rep would be one bicep curl. A set is a group of reps performed one after the other, so ten bicep curls one after the other is called a set. To start with you need to be doing around 3-4 sets per exercise. Reps can vary with different exercises, and again is something that is unique to the individual. Some people respond to high reps some people respond to low reps. The general rule is to stick to between 6-12 reps for growth. However the first couple of sets need to be warm up sets and should consist of around 20 reps. Also as a beginner the reps need to be higher to condition the muscles, so don’t go any lower than 12 reps for the first six weeks.

Beginner Training Diary:

Monday:    Back and abs, 20 mins C.V
Tuesday:    Legs
Wednesday:    Rest day
Thursday:    Chest and shoulder, 20 mins C.V.
Friday:    Either a rest day or biceps and triceps, 20 mins C.V
Saturday:    Either a rest day or biceps and triceps, 20 mins C.V
Sunday:    Rest day

This can be modified to suit your schedule, but just make sure that each muscle group is trained once a week and you get at least two rest days where you don’t train at all.

Changing your diet

During this six week period you need to make sure you have started to adapt your lifestyle to your training. I’m not saying plan your life around using the gym, but you should look at your diet, lifestyle and how much sleep you get (how many nights a week you go out on the beers!). Nutrition accounts for about 60% of your results from training. I know its hard to believe but your not going to get any results if wont cut down on those takeaways! Lots of people that use gyms train hard enough for what they want to achieve, but undo all their hard work with their diet. I know its boring counting calories and grams of fat, so we’ll leave that to the professionals for now. Here are some guidelines to follow when your starting out:

· Protein, protein, protein. You might hear the big guys in your gym boasting about how much protein they can neck in one day. It is true that you will need to up your protein intake, however you don’t need to be getting up at three in the morning to get a shake. About 1.5 x your body weight in pounds is definitely enough. I’m 120 pounds so I aim for around 180g per day. Good sources of protein are egg whites, fish, and lean meat, low fat dairy and protein shakes.
· Carbohydrates are the bodies preferred source of energy, so forget the atkins diet whilst your trying to build that muscle. Basically carbs come in two forms, fast and slow releasing. Try to get the bulk of your carbs from the slow releasing family. These can be found in oats…………. Fast releasing carbs are good before and after you train, and can be found in fruit, and lactose (milk). Try to steer clear of the nasty fast releasing carbs found in sweets and cakes, basically stuff that tastes sweet and really nice! As to much of this is one go will be stored as fat. However don’t completely deprive yourself of naughty foods its ok once in a while.
· Fats from oils, nuts and seeds are fine, although you should try and keep your fat quite low if you want to build lean muscle. Avoid saturated fats, these are the bad ones and can be found in chocolate, crisps, cakes and biscuits.
· Try to eat five or six smaller meals rather than three large ones. Each meal should contain about a fifth of your daily protein intake. Your first meal should be high in carbs, as should your pre and post training meals as carbs are needed for energy and recovery. Also, as the body prefers carbs as a main source of energy, it is important to replenish after training. If your body has enough carbohydrate fuel then the protein you take can be shunted to the muscles for repair and recovery. Keep carbs lower in evening meals if you want to build lean muscle.

Ok so that’s your basic nutrition. You might want to supplement with some glutamine and vitamin c in order to aid your recovery, this will help the muscles repair quicker and help prevent from future injury, especially to joints.

 

Lifestyle, very important for someone starting out as a bodybuilder.
· You need to make sure you are getting around 8 hours sleep per night. The body recovers quicker whilst you’re sleeping, so don’t deprive it of sleep otherwise it wont be good to you the next time you visit the gym, and you could suffer from muscle soreness and premature fatigue.
· Alcohol is the devil, I know it makes nights out seem so much better than they actually are but its not doing your body any good. It’s ok now and again but try not binge drink more than once a week. Alcohol has actually been shown to inhibit muscle growth as well as giving you a beer belly, so going out on a bender after you’ve trained can be detrimental to your size gains.

Many thanks to Marnie Woolhead for this article

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