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Bodybuilding 101
Introduction to Bodybuilding
Bodybuilding is defined as training your body to become bigger, stronger, and faster. Bodybuilding will teach you to respect your body, eat healthy, get stronger, and reduce stress. Whatever your reason may be to start bodybuilding, whether it’s for competition or personal achievement, it will become more of a lifestyle rather than a hobby. It will take time, discipline, and motivation to achieve your goals.
Basic Bodybuilding Tips
If you don't already have one, you should choose a gym. You should choose a place that you feel comfortable in. It also helps to pick a gym that is close to home or work so you can save time and money when making trips. If you go to the gym by yourself, you might find yourself making excuses why you can't go that day.
You can prevent yourself from slacking by picking a workout partner. Having a partner is good because they can push you when they think you can do better and they can spot you when your lifting heavy weights. Make sure when you pick a partner they have the motivation to go with you and help keep you on track. It also helps to pick a partner around the same strength and size as you so your goals are similar.
You should always set goals for yourself in the gym if you want to progress.
Eating healthy is also an important key to building muscle. For gaining mass and strength you should be eating one gram of protein for every pound of lean muscle on your body. Remember, just because you want to gain mass doesn't mean you should be eating fatty foods. You should stick to potatoes, lean meats, rice, eggs, etc. Make sure you start a training schedual and stick to it. Learn which muscles connect to each other and workout those muscles on certain days. Give your body a couple days of rest every week so your muscles have time to heal.
Getting enough sleep is also important in the healing process. You should be getting about eight hours of sleep every night and a little nap during the day is good too.
Be sure that during workouts you focus on your breathing and focus on the muscle you are training.
Train hard but try to avoid overworking your muscles. You will notice that your body is being over-worked if you have trouble sleeping, a reduced appetite, or if you are more sore than usual. If you notice these symptoms, take a break from the gym for a few days and try to get some extra sleep.