Move a muscle! A 2018 study found that people with low muscle strength are 50% more likely to die earlier than strong people.
If you want to live a long life, you need to consider becoming a bodybuilder. But you can’t just hit the gym and expect to have big muscles. You need to learn all about how to get stronger.
What resources do you need to perform great exercises? What exercises should you perform, including cardio ones? What else do you need to do besides work out?
Answer these questions and you can build a strong and muscular body in no time. Here is your quick guide.
Take Stock of Yourself
It’s hard to start building muscle if you don’t have a good sense of what your body is like. Weigh yourself so you know what your raw weight is.
But don’t stop there. Take a look at your lean body mass and your body fat percentage. It’s okay if you have a high body fat percentage, as you can use your fat reserves for fuel.
You should also take measurements of your chest, waist, and limbs. Take your measurements around the midparts of your muscles and write down the figures as precisely as possible.
You should measure your weight, body fat percentage, and parts of your body every month or so. You may gain a little weight over time, as muscle weighs more than fat. Try to cut down on your body fat percentage while growing your arms, chest, and legs.
Study Your Body
A good bodybuilder will improve every part of their body. Your shoulders contain three separate sections, and you should strengthen each one. The more strength you have in your shoulders, the more flexible your arms will be.
Your chest contains many different muscles, including two separate muscle groups in your pectorals. You should find exercises that will let you strengthen each individual muscle, though you can strengthen a few muscles at once.
Many people prioritize their front muscles, but you need to think about the back of your body. Your back muscles create mobility and provide support for your limbs and the front of your body. You can target these muscles using weights and leg stretches.
Develop a Goal
You can become a bodybuilder for any reason. But it’s hard to track your progress and improve your exercises if you don’t have a set goal in mind.
Think about what you want to do in bodybuilding. You may want to win a competition, or you may want to find bodybuilding jobs for yourself.
You can also set a more personal goal for yourself. You can make your arms or legs bigger, or you can cut down on your body fat percentage.
Whatever your goal is, write it down on a sheet of paper and come up with ways you can reach your goal. Impose a deadline for yourself so you have the drive to reach your goal in a short period of time. One or two years is usually enough.
Join a Bodybuilding Gym
You may be a member of a gym already, and your gym may have bodybuilding equipment. If you really like the gym, you can stay there and use the equipment.
But you can find a gym specifically for bodybuilding in most cities. Trainers at the gym are professional bodybuilders, and they can give you muscle-building tips you can incorporate into your routines. You can also make connections and learn from other people at the gym.
Use Machines and Free Weights
When people think about bodybuilding exercises, they usually think about free weights. Free weights are good tools because you can use them for many different exercises.
But you shouldn’t forget about machines. Machines can support you if you have weak knees or a strained back, and you can watch television while working out on a machine.
If you’re new to intensive exercises, you should prioritize using machines at first. As you develop your skills, you can transition to free weights. But you can return to machines in order to target particular muscles, including deep ones in your chest and back.
Try Out Intensity Techniques
Intensity techniques force your muscles to work harder during very short periods of time. These techniques can increase the size of your muscles within a few days as long as you don’t overexert yourself.
Giant sets are sets of three or more exercises for the same body part. These sets let you target weak areas, but they can result in strain. Try to perform one or two giant sets every two weeks or so.
If you want to improve multiple parts of your body at once, you can do pyramiding. You complete one set, then you increase the weight while decreasing the reps and perform another set. You continue to do this until you are done with your workout.
To finish off your workout, you can perform partial reps. You complete only part of the full range of motion within your exercise, letting you target particular muscles. You can do a half squat, stopping before your thighs become parallel with the floor.
Break Down Your Body
You should focus on specific parts of your body on certain days. You can do chest and tricep exercises one day and then back and bicep exercises the next day.
Targeting particular parts of your body like this will let you create muscle definition throughout your body. You will also prevent yourself from pulling a muscle or wearing down your bones.
On a particular day, you can do a few different exercises. Pick two or three so you don’t get bored during your workout, but make sure the exercises are distinct from each other. You can do one exercise on a weight machine and another with free weights, or you can try stretching.
You should also vary your reps and weights. During the start of your exercise, you can use heavy weights, as you have more strength and energy at the beginning. As you start to get tired, use lighter weights but perform more reps.
You can perform one compound exercise per day. Squats and lunges can help with most of your lower body muscles, and you can get support for your arms by holding free weights during them.
Find Good Warm-up Exercises
Warm-up exercises work best when you activate your muscles and increase your blood flow. You can do any type of cardio exercise you want, including jumping rope and jumping jacks.
Your exercise can take 15 to 30 minutes. You should slowly build in intensity until your heart is beating at a fast pace.
If you prefer to stretch, you should try dynamic stretching sequences. These sequences let you move your muscles and joints in a full range of motion, improving your flexibility and activating your tissues. You can try walking on high knees, which involves lifting your knees up and swinging your arms.
Stretching can help you relieve stiffness. But you risk pulling a muscle or tendon if you stretch too aggressively.
Perform a few basic stretches and monitor how your muscles are feeling during the workout. If you’re feeling stiff or sore, you should take a break.
Create an Exercise Schedule
You should try working out three or four times a week. If you exercise every day, your muscles don’t have time to repair themselves, which prevents them from growing. You also risk tearing a muscle or ligament, which can make it hard to exercise for weeks.
Try to target your upper body on two days and your lower body on two days. You can focus on your chest one day, then on your arms the next day. On the days when you are not exercising, you should rest.
Your workouts can last a couple of hours, and you can schedule them whenever it is convenient for you. Try to pick what exercises you will do in advance so you don’t waste time deciding what to do. Give yourself a little time to take a break or use the bathroom.
Don’t Forget About Cardio
Performing warm-up exercises is one way you can improve your cardiovascular fitness. But it is important to take other steps because you need a strong heart to pump blood to your muscles. It also lets you burn excess body fat, which can help you lose weight.
Your cardiovascular exercise sessions can be shorter than your muscle-building sessions. You should give yourself time for a warm-up and cool-down exercise, but your whole session can last less than an hour.
Try to perform your cardio exercises early in the morning. When you don’t have food in your stomach, your body will use fat stores for energy right away. However, you can eat if you are feeling hungry or are worried that you will pass out.
Don’t do cardio on the same day that you do intensity techniques. You will overexert yourself and strain your tissues. It’s better to do cardio on the days when you are not lifting weights, but if you must exercise on the same day, you can do cardio and then rest for a few hours before lifting weights.
Eat Well
Your food has three essential macronutrients: protein, carbohydrates, and fats. Each of these macronutrients contains calories, which gives your body the energy it needs to complete exercises. You should have substantial amounts of all three.
However, you should prioritize protein, as protein gives your muscle tissues amino acids to construct themselves with. You should aim to increase your protein intake significantly, though you should not neglect carbohydrates and fats.
You should eat three meals a day and incorporate at least one snack into your day. For breakfast, you can eat eggs or yogurt with fruit and nuts. For lunch and dinner, you can try salads with grilled chicken or salmon or stuffed peppers with beef and seafood.
Don’t eat too much red meat, as it contains saturated fat and cholesterol. Try to get lean proteins and foods with omega fatty acids in them. Avocados, nuts, and olives contain high amounts of these fatty acids.
Avoid eating sugar and processed carbohydrates. Your body burns through sugar quickly, preventing you from getting energy from it. Try to eat whole grains like brown rice and quinoa, which burn slowly in your body.
You can consume some supplements, though it’s a better idea to get your nutrients through meals and unprocessed foods. You can buy SARMs, but you should talk to your doctor before you start taking them.
Hydrate Yourself
You must take steps to hydrate yourself before, during, and after your workouts. At every meal, you should drink at least one glass of water.
You should also drink water while you are exercising. Whenever you are feeling thirsty or lightheaded, you should stop and drink water.
Avoid drinking caffeinated and alcoholic beverages, as these drinks can dehydrate you. It is okay to have a cup of coffee in the morning, but don’t exercise until you have had a glass of water. If you want to add flavor to your water, you can squeeze a lemon or lime into it.
Start Becoming a Bodybuilder
You can start becoming a bodybuilder in no time. Assess your physical health and figure out what your fat reserves are like. Then find a gym you can visit a few times a week.
Bodybuilding means strengthening all parts of your body. Work on your upper body twice a week, then on your lower body twice. Integrate some cardiovascular exercises into your routine as warm-up exercises and eat complete meals with plenty of protein.
The more exercises you perform, the more muscles you can strengthen. Read informative guides to muscle-building exercises by following our coverage.
