| The three main cornerstones of bodybuilding and fitness in general are exercise, nutrition and sleep. For bodybuilding, there is a fourth one, which is supplementation. In the most simplest way, I will describe all of the cornerstones and what is essential for your goals; whether it be to lose weight or gain muscle mass.
===EXERCISE===
Weight Lifting: In order to gain muscle mass, you MUST lift. There is no getting around that. However, not many people know that in order to lose weight, you must also weight lift. Weight lifting burns quite a lot of calories on its own, but it also helps maintain the muscle mass you already have. More muscle mass means a higher metabolism. Even if you don't want to get bigger, you don't want to look like a human twig either (at least I hope not).
Lifting will consist of a routine split that targets different muscle groups each day. To efficiently get the best results, you never want to train the same body parts multiple times a week (it will give the muscle less time to recover leading to over training and inadequate time for muscle development). The muscle groups that require the least time to recover are the calves and abs (thus they can be trained every other day). I will not give a specific routine, because you can go onto any site and find any exercise for a specific muscle group, but the general rule is to pick at least 3 or 4 for each muscle group. Make sure you're doing everything with full range of motion (stretch and a contraction) and without using momentum.
Sets and Reps:
Strength: 3 sets of under 6 reps
Hypertrophy (gaining muscle): 4 sets of 6 to 12 reps
Endurance (toning): 4 sets of higher than 12 reps
You should be going to muscle failure during the last few reps of the last two sets with an average of 30 seconds of break time between sets (up to one minute). Have a spotter help you finish the last few reps you can't do by yourself. If working out by yourself, you can do drop sets (go into lighter weights and continue to failure), partial reps (doing partial range of motion till failure), or forced reps (using your other hand to help you complete the last few reps).
Routine Split:
Day 1: Chest, Triceps, Abdominal
Day 2: Back, Biceps, Calves
Day 3: Shoulders, Traps, Abdominal
Day 4: Quadriceps, Hamstrings, Calves
Day 5: Rest
Repeat
Cardio: For a healthy heart, healthy cardiovascular system and general well being, cardio should be done. However, losing weight and gaining muscle does not actually require cardio. Weight lifting can be done and the average person can get incredible results as long as their weight lifting session is intense (being out of breathe and sweating are good signs). However, if you want faster results, are competing in bodybuilding, or want to live an overall healthy lifestyle, cardio should be done. Anything that gets your heart pumping is good cardio. To prevent catabolism (breaking down of muscle tissue) make sure it's no more than 45 minutes. The best times to do cardio is after lifting weights and first thing in the morning before breakfast (although the latter can be controversial).
===NUTRITION===
For fat loss and building muscle mass, nutrition is the most important and the one most taken for granted. What you put into your body is what is used to make up your body composition. Diets high in protein yield the best results. Each gram of protein consists of 4 calories, each gram of carbohydrate consists of 4 calories and each gram of fat consists of 9 calories. Alcohol contains 7 calories for those curious. The general rule is 1g of protein for each lb of body weight. So if you weigh 170 lbs, you should be consuming at LEAST 170 lbs of protein. If gaining muscle mass or competing in bodybuilding, this tends to be more (up to, but not exceeding 2g of protein per lb of bodyweight). The rest of the calories can be distributed at your discretion. The macro-nutrient split of 40% of calories from protein, 40% from carbohydrates and 20% from fats is the most typical. Your caloric intake should be your body maintenance calories minus 500 for weight loss or plus 500 for muscle mass gain. It'll take experimentation to find your accurate maintenance calories, but it should be around your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR can be calculated online)
Good sources of protein:
Chicken, turkey, fish, lean meats and egg whites
Good sources of carbohydrates:
Vegetables, SPAM, whole grain bread, brown rice and sweet potatoes (yams)
Good sources of fats:
Nuts (almonds), fish oil, flaxseed oil, peanut butter and almond butter
===Sleep===
8 hours minimum. Your body needs to recover from working out and in order to grow, you need to sleep.
===Supplementation===
I won't cover supplementation in depth here, but you can always message me or catch me in the chat room if you want more information or recommendations on this. The basic supplements are a multivitamin, fish oil and protein powder. I would only recommend supplements if you have everything else down and you are bodybuilding.
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You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take
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CHAT
