Doing bodybuilding is not just doing strength training, but also devoting a lot of time to intensive training, showing great willpower. For a beginner who decides to become a bodybuilder, it is not enough to just go to the gym. It is necessary to have a sufficient supply of knowledge and basic principles of bodybuilding. Otherwise, it will be simply impossible to create a rational training program. A solid foundation allows the beginning bodybuilder to adapt to regular strength-training exercise. The main thing is to approach the training process wisely and not overload yourself right away. There should be no rush. The main thing in bodybuilding is the correct distribution between loads and recovery.
Training diary
To monitor your own progress and timely adjust the program if the need arises, the first thing any novice bodybuilder should do is keep a training diary. The following items should be written down in your personal notebook:
- results;
- workout;
- outlines of training programs.
Thanks to the diary, the athlete has the opportunity to monitor his progress and set new goals. In addition, achieving certain results recorded in a notebook is a motivating factor.
Is it possible to perform only isolated exercises?
Not all women are happy to perform basic exercises. However, it is the base that helps you lose weight in a short time, strengthen muscles and speed up the process of hypertrophy. Basic movements are the most energy-intensive, as they involve several large muscle groups at once. It should be noted that without squats and lunges (basic exercises for the hips and buttocks) you will not get strong, round buttocks.
However, not everyone’s goal is to create harmonious proportions; for some, it’s enough to simply work out problem areas and tighten certain muscle groups. In such cases, isolated loads are indeed sufficient, but one should not expect a pronounced fat-burning effect or a rapid change in body proportions from such training.
The best isolation exercises for the lower body:
- leg extension from the lower block;
- stepping onto the platform;
- swing your legs while lying down with weights;
- abduction of the leg to the side while standing;
- abducting the legs upward while standing on all fours;
- abduction and extension of legs in the simulator.
These movements will strengthen the glutes, thighs, and calves, but will not achieve significant hypertrophy. For a better effect, they should be performed with weights, for example, wearing weights attached to the leg.
For back, chest and arms:
- pulling the block from above behind the back or to the chest;
- pull of a horizontal block to the belt;
- linkage;
- press up in the simulator;
- chest press in the simulator;
- flexion and extension of the arms from the upper block.
The listed exercises will help tone your body without barbells, dumbbells or working with your own weight. However, those who really want to achieve success in bodybuilding cannot do without basic movements.
Proper nutrition is the basis for success in bodybuilding
Bodybuilding is not only a rational approach to training and recovery, but also a thorough approach to the choice of products included in the daily menu. Food for a bodybuilder is a source of energy and material for building muscle fibers. A balanced diet for a bodybuilder requires compliance with certain rules, which boil down to the following points:
- separating carbohydrate sources rather than mixing several foods at once;
- drinking large amounts of water during the day;
- careful portion control through weighing;
- lack of foods with a high concentration of fats and carbohydrates in the diet;
- using olive oil for salad dressing;
- excluding “empty” calories from the menu - soda water, chips, factory-made juices and other drinks with additives, as well as snacks;
- eating no earlier than two to three hours before the start of training.
Important! If you really want to eat, you can have a snack, but an apple or something similar. The main thing is to eat the fruit half an hour before class, and not later.
Body-building. Let's train and grow muscles correctly!
Bodybuilding is one of the many sports that is ideal for those who want to be, first of all, healthy, keep their body in athletic shape and always feel in a positive mood.
The definition of bodybuilding is the process of building and developing muscles through weight-bearing exercise and high-energy nutrition, with a high content of nutrients, in particular protein, sufficient for the growth of muscle fibers.
Permitted and prohibited products
There are foods that are healthy and unhealthy for your figure. One is an obligatory part of the diet, while the other, on the contrary, is extremely undesirable and harmful. The latter can minimize all the effort and effort that a bodybuilder puts into training.
Healthy food
To build good muscle mass, your diet must include foods high in protein:
- veal and chicken fillet (you can choose one of two);
- cottage cheese and eggs (chicken);
- seafood;
- legumes
The food listed above helps the athlete obtain building material for building bulky muscles, since it contains a lot of protein.
For effective training, an athlete needs energy, which enters the body along with food containing carbohydrates:
- various cereals, but mainly buckwheat;
- apples, cucumbers, greens, tomatoes;
- pasta.
The latter must be prepared from durum varieties.
What foods are bad for a bodybuilder?
It is impossible to achieve good results without giving up some foods. Be sure to exclude from your usual menu:
- smoked meats;
- soda;
- pickles;
- baked goods (buns, pies);
- semi-finished products;
- confectionery.
Adhering to strict nutritional standards is half the success. Beginners need to immediately review their diet and make appropriate adjustments. Otherwise, you won’t be able to gain good muscle mass. Carbohydrates and proteins provide the greatest benefit after you finish training. They should be consumed within the first 20-40 minutes after the end of class.
Athlete's diet. What it should be like.
The main components of bodybuilding:
- Workout
- Proper nutrition
- Sports supplements
- Recovery physical and mental
1. Competent and correct exercise with weights.
➞ Exercises for bodybuilding
2 . High-energy and healthy nutrition , rich in nutrients such as proteins and carbohydrates.
➞ Proper nutrition
3 . Sports nutrition , in particular protein powders, creatine, vitamin complexes that the body needs under increased stress.
➞ Sports nutrition
Recovery : sleep, rest, bath, swimming pool, massage.
These components are quite enough to gain the desired muscle mass and be in ideal shape.
Video: What is bodybuilding?
Normalization of the graph
Bodybuilding is not just a workout, but a lifestyle. If you want to benefit from exercise in the gym, you need to give up bad habits. No smoking, alcoholic beverages or lack of sleep. You need to sleep at least eight hours a day. Daily routine is of utmost importance. It allows the body to adapt to upcoming stress and feel alert and full of energy.
Full supercompensation, that is, the absence of fatigue, makes the training effective and most effective. In other words, you should only come to the gym if you are well rested. This does not mean that you need to give yourself a long recovery period. The main thing is not to bring yourself to a state of overtraining and not to exercise when you feel unwell.
How to start practicing at home
For independent bodybuilding training, beginners will need sports equipment for work - dumbbells, fitball, hoop, jump rope, expander, towel for back stretching. Gliding discs or paper plates will replace the elliptical trainer; instead of running on a rubber band, use exercises to develop explosive strength - burpees, different versions of jumps.
Men need: a barbell, stools, a crossbar, parallel bars, a gymnastic roller for pumping up the abs. If there are no problems with sports equipment, you will have to master the techniques and create a training complex yourself. If you don’t distinguish basic techniques from isolated ones, or have no idea how to start doing fitness, buy a subscription for at least 1-3 months or study a ready-made training program for girls and a complex for men for a week. Basic training is designed to work the entire body.
The concept of load progression
From the first lessons you cannot load yourself to the point of complete failure. Results should be improved gradually. Progressivity of loads varies. It involves either reducing the speed of performing an exercise or increasing the intensity of the training. Both options are more suitable for experienced athletes. For a beginner, it is better to focus on working weights, which are gradually increased. This approach is due to the fact that beginners cannot yet clearly sense the signals sent by the body.
Forced repetitions will only cause many mistakes and can cause a slowdown in progress. To prevent this, you should increase the working weights and master the technique, and not chase an increase in the number of approaches performed. This approach should be followed in the first year of training. After 12 months of intensive and regular training, it will be possible to focus on complicating the training program itself.
To learn to understand the signals that the body sends and listen to your own body, you should not immediately start with complex exercises. Experts recommend focusing on basic movements first. Honing your technique in basic exercises allows you to move on to more complex ones without any problems with correct execution.
Who are the loads suitable for?
To stay in sports, you don’t need to be biased towards bodybuilding training and do it under duress. With this attitude you won’t even last a month. Only with an informed decision, the ability to get positive from the process, and the correct selection of a program in accordance with physical capabilities, will you achieve good results.
Moderate and gentle fitness training for beginners is suitable for almost everyone. The list of contraindications is short:
- the presence of an endoprosthesis and a pacemaker;
- oncology;
- serious cardiovascular pathologies;
- epilepsy;
- psychical deviations.
Many sports clubs offer a service called fitness testing. You tell the doctor information about your health, and based on objective indications, he allows or prohibits classes.
Training program
Competent selection of exercises for a beginning bodybuilder is the most important stage on which the athlete’s further success depends. A properly designed program is the key to establishing a neuromuscular connection that allows the body to respond to the movements being performed, and also makes it possible to prepare for heavy loads, that is, progression. This allows you to not only lay a good foundation for more intense training, but also reduce the likelihood of injury. And if experienced athletes can already create their own program, a beginner should definitely listen to the advice of an experienced coach.
The first sessions should be devoted to circuit training. They consist of basic elements, which allows you to quickly master the technique, as well as improve your physical fitness and move on to more complex exercises without any serious problems. If you listen to this advice, then increasing the load will not become a problem.
Circuit training is great for absolutely all beginners, but only in the first stages. The further program is drawn up taking into account the individual characteristics of the bodybuilder, as well as the goals that he sets for himself. If the training plan is generic or nonexistent, real progress simply cannot be achieved.
First time in the gym? Training for a beginner! Lindover Stanislav
Warm-up
Every novice bodybuilder must master the technique of performing three basic exercises - deadlift, bench press, squats. Of course, these movements alone cannot constitute a program. It must be complemented by other elements. The main thing is not to forget that excessive loads and the addition of other complex exercises can lead to overtraining, as well as to a decrease in efficiency in mastering the correct technique.
The first thing a beginner should take care of when entering the gym is to determine their working weights. It's not very difficult to do this. A suitable weight is the one with which the athlete can perform ten repetitions for each exercise. The last repetition should be such that the next one is simply impossible to do. If the set is easy, it means the weight is light. When you can’t do ten repetitions, giving it your all, therefore, the load is too heavy.
First cycle -1-4 weeks
After determining the starting weight with which to start working, they begin training. The main thing to remember is that the load must be gradually increased. Each subsequent week, 5 kg are added. For the bench press, the weight increase is 2.5 kg. This allows you to increase the load, but without overvoltage. Beginners should do even those exercises that in the future, when an individual program is drawn up, will become optional.
Second cycle - 5-8 weeks
There are no fundamental differences in the approach. The weights continue to be increased in each warm-up set. When the moment comes that the sets begin to be given with maximum difficulty, the weight gain is reduced by half, that is, by 2.5 and 1.25 kg, and not by 5 and 2.5 kg. You need to rest for at least one and a half minutes between individual sets.
4NoVICHKoff: 1st TRAINING PROGRAM
A set of bodybuilding exercises for beginners after the preparatory stage:
Tuesday
Chest 1. Bench press 4x12,12,10,8 2. Angle flyes 4x12,12,10,8 Back 1. Wide-grip barbell row to the waist 4x12,12,10,8 2. Wide-grip overhead pull-down (mast) 4x12,12,10,8 Biceps 1. Standing biceps curl 4x12,12,10,8 2. Hammer (neutral grip dumbbell lift) 4x12,12,10,8 Press 1. Leg raise lying on a bench or floor 3x15,15,15 2. Twisting using the upper block 3x15,15,15
Thursday
Shoulders (deltoids) 1. Dumbbell press sitting on a bench (both together) 4x12,12,10,8 2. Dumbbell raises in front of you (alternately) 4x12,12,10,8 3. Dumbbell raises to the sides in an incline 4x12,12, 10.8 Triceps 1. Bench press with a narrow grip 4x12.12.10.8 2. Row of the handle of the upper block while standing at the expander 4x12.12.10.8 Legs 1. Platform press in Arnold machines 4x12.12.10.8 2. Calf raises in the machine (calf) 4x12,12,10,8 Press 1. Leg raises lying on a bench or floor 3x15,15,15 2. Crunches using an upper block 3x15,15,15
Here is such a simple bodybuilding program for beginners of a more advanced type. You can change the exercises at your discretion, the essence is that you perform one basic exercise and one isolating exercise to emphasize the load on the target muscle or one of its parts.
And remember that in order to do a bunch of exercises on one muscle you need two things:
- Already pumped up healthy muscle
- Sports pharmaceuticals car
Only in this situation will you have results, but to achieve the goal, initially point number one must already be present. And you can create a big muscle only by doing basic exercises and a little isolation. A training program for beginners is not something unrealistic and scary - you just don’t need to steam your brains with all sorts of nonsense from supposedly famous athletes who are sitting in chemistry and giving everyone advice left and right.
Basic tips for beginners
Experienced and professional bodybuilders need a longer recovery period than beginners, who may train more often. This difference is due to physical aspects. Experienced bodybuilders strain their muscles much more. Beginners can afford to visit the gym more regularly, but it should be noted that the results will become noticeable for some after six months, and for others by the end of the first year of training.
Recovery is also required for those who have recently joined the gym. It helps damaged muscle fibers return to normal. In this context, damage refers to “microtraumas”, which force the body to direct its forces to restore muscles, and, therefore, prepare for the next exercise. In other words, the athlete takes one step back, but at the same time takes two steps forward.
For training to be of great benefit, you need to constantly monitor your exercises. In the diary you should definitely note the number of repetitions performed, working weights and other important nuances. These notes become the basis for drawing up the next program.
Bodybuilding classification
Professional bodybuilding – IFBB Professional League
In the modern bodybuilding industry, a professional is usually defined as a bodybuilder who has won an amateur qualifying competition and earned a professional card - the Pro Card from the IFBB (International Federation of Bodybuilders).
➞ Training program for beginners
Bodybuilders who become the owner of a PRO card automatically become professionals and have the right to compete in tournaments that are one step higher than amateur bodybuilding. For example, in such as “ Arnold Classic ”, “Night of Champions”, as well as other professional IFBB tournaments with significant prize pools.
Winners and athletes, in turn, who have shown high results in professional tournaments, are given the opportunity to participate in the Mr. Olympia competition. The Mr. Olympia title is the highest award in professional bodybuilding.
➞ About the gym. How to choose a fitness club
Amateur bodybuilding – Amateur Bodybuilding
Amateurs in bodybuilding include all athletes who are involved in this sport, but have not yet become holders of a PRO card. However, there are huge differences between athletes who practice professionally and ordinary amateurs.
Professionals , as a rule, do 5-6 workouts a week, and several times a day, in order to achieve maximum results, they use professional equipment during the training process and strictly follow a diet. Sports nutrition is a must in their diet. Amateurs train every other day, but do not always have time to get to training. They do not focus much attention on nutrition, and their attitude towards sports nutrition is neutral.
The most important difference is that professional bodybuilding is hard work, which involves the use of additional necessary drugs for the body, and amateur bodybuilding , in turn, brings pleasure and health.
Competitive bodybuilding disciplines:
- Men's Bodybuilding.
- Classic bodybuilding (Classic Physique).
- Beach bodybuilding (Men's Physique).
Natural bodybuilding - “no chemicals”
There are organizations such as NANBF (North American Natural Bodybuilding Federation) and NPD (Natural Physique Association) that promote so-called natural bodybuilding . These associations are trying to eradicate the use of anabolic steroids and other pharmacological drugs in bodybuilding.
Athletes involved in “chemical-free” bodybuilding believe that their method is more focused on natural competition and a healthy lifestyle.
➞ Cool exercises to train leg muscles
Bodybuilding female
The foundation of women's bodybuilding can be considered the first women's national Physique championship, held in the USA in 1978 in Canton, Ohio. This championship is the ancestor of women's bodybuilding , in which winners were judged solely on their musculature.
Since then, many women's competitions have been held, the most prestigious of which is Miss Olympia . Rachel McLeish became the first Ms. Olympia title winner in 1980.
There are the following female categories in bodybuilding:
- Fitness. Athletic form, flexibility, and dance movements are assessed.
- Fitness bikini. The softer appearance of the muscles is assessed. Participants have a higher percentage of body fat (12-14%).
- Women's physicist. The renamed category “Women's Bodybuilding” in 2013. More attractive girls began to be evaluated. Marks will be reduced for obvious masculine traits.
- Body fitness. A similar category to fitness bikini, but with more pumped and voluminous shapes. Skin fat in the body is within 10% -12%.
