Building A Muscular Body

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Getting Started

First and foremost, check with your physician to make sure you are in good physical condition to start a weight lifting or bodybuilding program! I recommend that beginners to bodybuilding start with a simple workout plan. This plan should consist of one exercise per bodypart, working the entire body 3 times per week.

Bodyparts are divided as follows:

● Chest (pecs)
● Back (lats)
● Shoulders (delts)
● Triceps (back of upper arm)
● Biceps (front of upper arm)
● Forearms Abdominals (abs)
● Quadriceps (front of thigh)
● Hamstrings (back of thigh)
● Calves (back of lower leg)
● Here is an example of a workout:
● Bench press
● Lat pulldowns
● Military press
● Tricep pushdowns
● Barbell curls
● Crunches
● Leg extensions
● Leg curls
● Standing calf raises

You should start out each exercise with a warm up set. For this set, choose a relatively light weight that will allow you to do 25 reps without killing yourself. This prepares the muscles and tendons to move bigger weights. Then perform three sets per exercise, 8-10 reps each.

For your first set, choose a weight that will allow you to 10 reps without struggling too much. Rest for 30-60 seconds, then increase the weight for your second set that makes 10 reps considerably harder. For your third set, choose a weight that is heavy enough that you cannot do any more than 8-10 reps no matter how hard you try. This is called muscular failure. You must take your muscles to the point of failure or they will not grow. It is at this point that your muscles will be triggered to grow because they are being asked to do something they never did before and their natural response is to become stronger.

Keep an accurate record of the amount of weight you use on each set, so you can track your progress.

It will take a bit of trial and error until you find the correct weight in each exercise. Be sure to take care when you first start out not to load the bar up with some ridiculous weight that may cause injury to your muscles, tendons, or your foot when you drop it!

As time goes on and you are diligently following your training program, you will notice that when you get to rep number 10 on your last set, you feel like you can do one or two more. This is good! Continue the set for eleven or twelve total repetitions. When you are able to do this for 2 or 3 workouts in a row, it is time to increase the weight in that particular exercise.

If you are training a relatively large muscle group, such as chest or quads, you may try increasing the weight by 10 or 15 pounds. If you are doing biceps or delts, then maybe increase only 5 pounds or even 2.5 pounds. The new weight should limit you to 7 or 8 reps on the last set. Soon you will be back up to 12 with the new weight, and then you will bump the weight up even more. These increases are what you are working so hard for. Increased weight means increased strength, which means increased muscle mass!

Make sure you take good notes as you work out. This is very important for several reasons. First, you may not remember what weight you used in a particular exercise the next time you workout, and you will waste time and effort having to figure it out again! Second, you need be able to gauge your progress as time goes on. It is an awesome feeling and great motivation to see that a month ago you were using 10 or 20 pounds less in a particular exercise than you are using now! I recommend getting a good training journal, but you can use any pad of paper. Create a space for the following data for each workout:

● Date
● Muscle Group worked
● Exercise name
● Number of sets
● Number of reps in each set
● Weight used each set
● Personal Notes

Write things down that may have a positive or negative affect on your workout, such as energy level, whether you were tired or still sore from your last workout, or maybe your left shoulder has been bothering you, etc. If you are detailed here, you may be able to learn some important clues as to what makes you have a good workout verses an "ok" workout. Maybe you'll find that when you workout right after work you have more energy than when you wait until 8 o'clock. Perhaps you will notice that eating certain things before training causes you to feel stronger and more energized. Write down if you have a cold, or if you are recovering from an injury, or if any particular exercise hurts you when you do it. Some of these notes will be important in the future.

Use this program for 4-6 months and you should see some real progress. At that time, you may want to start to include some advanced techniques to increase your workout intensity in order to continue making good gains.

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By: David Monyer - David Monyer works out regularly in his basement gym, and has been involved in bodybuilding for 20 years. For more articles on training, equipment and supplements, visit http://www.RockSolidBodybuilding.com

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