How to Start Bodybuilding

How to start bodybuilding and build muscles.

It’s natural to want to have bigger muscles and if that’s you, this is the perfect time to start bodybuilding and begin taking those first steps. Not only does it look good especially for guys, but it also makes us stronger, more confident and more powerful.

Through body building, overweight men can turn fat into muscle, while skinny guys can bulk up. Either way, you improve your physique when you start bodybuilding.

Learning How to Start Bodybuilding

Making the decision to learn how to start bodybuilding is a good first step, but what comes next? Here are the things you need to know about how to start bodybuilding:

  1. Find a good gym. The gym should be near enough to your home or office/school so that you won’t have another convenient excuse not to go regularly. It should also be affordable, and the gym should have complete bodybuilding machines and equipment.
  2. Find experts you can trust. Your gym should have professional trainers ready to help you achieve your goals because you won’t be able to learn what you need to know quickly. With a fitness trainer, you can get sound advice instead of having to wade through the massive amount of bodybuilding information online. You will need the help of a nutritionist to assist in planning your diet, while a trainer can help you with your workouts. The advantage of getting a pro to help you is that the diet and workout plans can be customized to suit your needs. You don’t have to follow a generic plan.
  3. Stop eating junk. You don’t need a nutritionist to tell you to stop eating fast food, processed food, and junk food. Avoid desserts and greasy burgers, and start making more sensible food choices like supplementing with high quality whole food products like the ones provided by Zurvita.
  4. Monitor your actions and results. You need to have a record of everything you do and every food you take. With today’s smartphones, you can easily find an app for that. You can also take full body pictures of yourself so that you can track your progress. By jotting down your activities in a journal, you can make accurate tweaks that can bring you better results. This is important especially if your progress has stalled.
  5. Get enough rest. While some people exert too little effort and easily lose patience, others also try too hard and over-train. You need to rest in between workouts. The muscles you stress during a workout should get about 72 hours of rest so that they can have the opportunity to recover and grow. You also need to get enough sleep very night. That means getting 7 hours of sleep minimum.

Once you know how to start bodybuilding, you don’t really stop. It takes quite a bit of time to get the muscles you want, so you need to think long term. Every few months or so, you can re-evaluate your program and make changes so that you can improve your results.

Bodybuilding is about developing good habits so that you can become healthier and stronger. Once you start bodybuilding and developing muscles, you’ll still need to workout so you can keep them; it’s not a one-time deal.

The Best Ab Workouts for Men

Build abs fast using the best ab workouts for men.

Build abs fast using the best ab workouts for men.According to some estimates, the typical American guy spends about 56 hours every week sitting down. This can contribute to a lot of medical conditions, including decreased agility, inflexibility, and back pain.

Add in the love of potato chips and beer, and you’re going to have some problems with your abs. With the best ab workouts for men below, you can really work your core; which in turn strengthens you and gives you sexier abs.

Getting into the Best Ab Workouts for Men

So what are the best ab workouts for men anyway?

They may differ for each guy, but experts agree that the following exercises are good for your abdomen:

  • Swiss Ball Rollout. Kneel on a mat, while you place your hands on a Swiss stability ball in front of you. Roll the ball forward as far as you can, while you keep your abs engaged and with your back straight. Then slowly return to your original position. Do two sets of ten rollouts each. This exercise is quite safe and easy on your lower back, compared to other similar exercises. By staying on one plane, you focus on the rectus abdominis. If you want, you can also work your obliques by rolling out to the left and then to the right.
  • Cross Crunch. Obviously, any effective ab program at some point will have to involve crunches. In this version, you lie back with your arms and legs diagonally stretched. They should form a big X. Keep them straight and lift your head, neck and shoulders as you bring the right hand and left foot together, then do that for the other hand and foot. That’s one rep. Now do 10 to complete one set. The nice thing about this workout is that it’s simple, and you don’t need any fancy equipment. It’s also quite safe. By coming at an angle, you’re working your rectus abdominis and your obliques. You also work on your lower abs when you lift your legs off the floor.
  • Bicycle crunch. This exercise combines the regular crunch, the reverse crunch that works on the lower abs, and the side to side movement that works on the obliques. Start by lying on your back with your hands behind your head, but don’t interlace your fingers. Your legs should be raised and bent. Now move your right elbow and left knee toward each other while you straighten your leg without letting it touch the ground. Your lower back should be pressed into the mat, and your abs should tighten as you raise your head, neck and shoulders for this move. Hold the crunch for a couple of counts, then do the other elbow and knee. Move continuously as if you’re riding a bike.

It’s important that you get quality nutrition and don’t stick to just one type of ab exercise. If you insist on doing just crunches or sit ups for your workout, your body will just quickly adapt to the stresses, which will then reduce the exercise’s effect on your muscles. If you want the best ab workouts for men, put in some variety. This will stimulate your muscles continuously and will result in muscle growth.

Build Muscle Mass Efficiently

Ways to build muscle mass more effeciently.Tips to Build Muscle Mass Faster and Larger

You’ve probably already learned that eating more protein helps your body to build muscle mass more effectively and efficiently. So if you’re looking to build muscle mass, eating more protein becomes a great asset in your workouts. Note that the protein you consume does not have to be animal protein because there are many other types of foods that work even better in some people than protein from animals.

Vegetarians Can Sometimes Build Muscle Mass Faster

Many vegetarians for instance manage to build muscle mass without ever putting animal protein in their body. The protein best suited for vegetarians needs to come from plant or dairy sources like beans, peas, nuts, rice and protein supplements that contain whey, rice protein, pea protein and if you choose soy protein.

The advantage to using plant and dairy sources to build muscle mass is that the fat content is less than in animals. Additionally, the fats found in plants are generally the “good fats” that your body needs and are less likely to pack on body fat, contribute to high blood pressure and cholesterol like animal fat can.

 Combine Meat and Protein Supplements to Build Muscle Mass

If you’re the kind of person who enjoys eating meat and eggs but do not like to consume large amounts every day then using protein supplements to build muscle mass is a great addition to your diet. If you’re trying to lose fat while building up muscle mass you can mix your protein supplements with water. If you want to gain weight then use milk for some added fat and calories or even opt for a complete protein meal replacement shake.

Keep in mind that it takes more energy (calories) for your digestive system to break down meat protein. Because of this, eating meat will sustain your body for a longer period of time than drinking a protein shake that digests much easier and faster. Using a good quality protein supplement can speed up your metabolism and you can be building muscle mass at a faster rate than the muscle builder who eats primarily animal protein.

Build Muscle Mass with Proper Nutrients and Doing Weight Training Correctly

What’s important to remember is that to build muscle mass and maintain a healthy body, getting proper nutrition is extremely important but so is doing weight training correctly. For example, many people believe that the harder and more often they work out the faster they’ll build muscle mass. This thinking can lead to failure because over-training can tear down your muscles and your muscles require rest in order to build back up.

Did you catch that important tip? Your muscles heal, build and grow during rest after your workouts. If you don’t let your muscles rest the muscle tissues can’t repair and build back up resulting in the failure of your muscle building plans. For this reason, when you do your weight training you’ll want to alternate days like one day on and one day off.

If you want to workout everyday your best bet is to alternate working different muscle groups such as work on your arms one day, your legs the next day and your chest, back and shoulder muscles all on different days. This does the same thing because as you are building up your muscle mass each muscle group gets the rest they need to be able to repair and grow.

The Best Way to Build Muscle Mass Effectively

  1. Be consistent but don’t overdo your workouts.
  2. Alternate workout days or alternate working different muscle groups.
  3. Your muscles need rest time to repair and build.
  4. Eat high protein foods, use protein supplements or do both.

Probably the most important thing is to avoid disappointment from trying to do too much too quickly. You now know that rest is important to build muscle mass but if you overdo it, it could lead to injury. If you injure yourself you’ll not be able to weight train for weeks, possibly months and while resting for that long the muscle mass you’ve built up so far will become lost.

If you’re just starting on your journey to building muscle mass you may not have equipment yet then the article Build Muscle Mass without Weights might be helpful and new or not Building Muscles for Men and Women may be an interesting read.