Archive for the ‘Bodybuilding’ Category

The Best Bodybuilding Workouts For Women

Sunday, August 22nd, 2010

A world away from the casual Gym goer, Bodybuilding as a Sport generally is one of the most intensely demanding of all, requiring huge amounts of mental and physical discipline to succeed at.

Women’s Bodybuilding has always been unfairly seen as something of a secondary Cousin to the Male contests and competitions. Whereas the emphasis used to be on Women developing the largest muscles possible and consequently following Bodybuilding Workouts for Women that would make most men’s eyes water. Nowadays, things have thankfully moved on, and the Feminine look is back! People have finally realized that Bodybuilding Workouts for Women to make them look like Men is pointless and visually unappealing to the majority. Interestingly, Women’s Bodybuilding is becoming more popular than ever before as the Sports evolution towards the celebration of a considerably more feminine Bodyshape has increased its overall appeal considerably.

Back in the 80′s the domineering Body type that Women aspired to was that of the male physique. Yet in order to add bulk and muscle mass to anything like the extent of the men various Anabolic Steroids were a prerequisite to that type of muscular density.

Things began to change towards the end of the 80′s with people demanding a more Feminine body shape and Women’s Bodybuilding began to evolve into the Sport that it is today. Accentuating the Female form with perfect musculature whilst retaining the aesthetically pleasing curves that Women are loved for.

The Best Bodybuilding Workouts For Women

For anyone who is looking to dramatically improve their Body from beginner level upwards a four-day split is recommended.

Also, because Women tend to hold Fat more stubbornly than their male counterparts, the most effective Bodybuilding workouts for Women will include 4 sessions of Cardio exercise for maximum Fat Burning.

Bear in mind though that everybody responds differently and if you find yourself becoming tired, irritable and generally feeling blue then there is a good chance you are overtraining, so don’t be afraid to back off and take an extra rest day between sessions if required.

Each Exercise should be performed using weights that are manageable for between 10-15 reps as the focus on Bodybuilding workouts for Women is definition and toning rather than mass gain. A quick word on dispelling a Female Bodybuilding Myth: Lifting heavy weights will not turn Women into Men! Their genetic and Anatomical composition just doesn’t enable that kind of growth without the addition of Anabolic Steroids. So girls don’t panic – you wont end up with bigger Arms than your Boyfriend. Fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you look at it!

Bodybuilding Workouts For Women: Example Split

You will split your Workout over four sessions per week. Take a rest day in between each weights workout and do Cardio on ‘off days’ or on an empty stomach first thing in the morning.

Split your workouts as follows:

Lower Body:

Back and Bicep

Chest and Triceps

Shoulders

Genetics and Bodybuilding – Training Tips For Building Muscle Fast

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

The body building industry is today full of skinny body builders who, despite intense workouts, remain feebly muscled. Others have attained a marginal hypertrophy and then hit a plateau for ages. These body builders no longer dream or even hope to bulk up solely because they blame poor genetics. Multitudes of those who once ventured into body building have quit or are just about to because they have established beyond any doubt, that they are hard gainers.

The sad thing about these body builders is that they can never harness the effort necessary or the mindset crucial to explore new heights in muscle accumulation. Negative attitude whether justified by bad or good genetics always undermines muscle gain. Yet examples of men and women who have excelled in bulking up despite being hard gainers abound bin the industry. It is without question, possible to override genetics and build prize winning muscles.

How? You ask. To begin with, a hard gainer will start on a course of self development the moment he or she starts to believe something positive. Positive thinking actualizes a dream despite insurmountable barriers standing between a person and the goal. Standing taller than any preconceived limitations is where it all begins.

A boy builder who is having problems in accumulating muscles, should first identify the goal. Whether losing body fat, gaining weight, preventing aging, increasing body strength, physical fitness or whatever the goal may be, having it clear and precise is a step closer to achieving it. Despite genetic limitations, the body can be coerced to build up. A good example is ectomorph body types of body builders who are naturally thin, tall and the worst of all hard gainers. With a desperate dedication to hard work and positive believe, they too can build a muscled, strong and weighty physiques. Blessed with long arms and legs, narrow feet and hands and a short upper body, ectomorphs sometimes override their hard gainer genetics to achieve very masculine and proportional statures.

The fact is most of successful body builders have inherent physical limitations that never stop their muscle quest. The reason for this is because most never find out their physical limitations and therefore never acquire negative mindsets despite initial difficulties in bulking up. Without knowing it, people usually smash through limitations engrained by genetics simply because their determination and positive mindsets is not blurred by such knowledge.

This goes a long way to prove how important it is for a body builder to rise up and stand taller than any genetic limitation with a relentless determination and positive believe. By increasing the amount of fats taken in regular diet and then loading tons of carbs and proteins in every meal, the hard gainer can start to outsmart genetics. It is also important to adopt a superior training program that factors in the genetic limitations. Initially, hard gainers usually have to work harder than the genetically gifted body builders, but the effort pays off with triple bonus as soon as the muscle stimulation overrides genetic predisposition.

Genetics limit body building progress to the extent the body builder lets it to. Ambitious positive thinking that is not deterred at all by the default hard gainer’s mentality is the fuel necessary. Correct advice from trainers and dietitians also complement the gym sessions to enable such a body builder stand too tall to be limited by genetic limitations.

Dane Fletcher is the world’s most prolific bodybuilding and fitness expert and is currently the executive editor for BodybuildingToday.com. If you are looking for moreor information on weight training, or supplementation, please visit the bodybuilding and fitness authority site with hundreds of articles available FREE to help you meet your goals.

A Detailed Look at Some Basic Terms Used in Bodybuilding

Monday, January 25th, 2010

Strip sets to begin with, refer to one of the most effective ways of increasing the intensity and achieve new muscle growth. After doing a regular set you can continues for some more minutes even if the first one was a failure. By using lighter weights, you will be using strip sets. They should be done only once a week and involve the last set in a bodybuilding routine of every day. You have to start with a very heavy weight which you can lift around 5 times. However, you can do as many as you can. If you find that you are doing it over and over s many times, look for a more challenging weight that will limit you to around 5 times. Take a break of about 3 minutes and start over again.

Alternatively, you may try another version of the same exercise called rack. This one is done by using dumbbells. You will start with the heaviest weights an end with the heaviest ones. You will be surprised to find out how much you have been missing on a great feeling. In the end use the lightest weights. These will be those of around 10 pound. This may differ slightly for those who are used to this kind of exercise.

A superset refers to a large combination of many exercises targeted at the same body part. These combinations are usually done consecutively. They are ideal for the largest muscles in the body such as the thigh muscles. They are best done once in a while, in between a major routine workout. A common combination involves the chest, the legs and the back.

The shoulders can be combined with the legs while the chest can be combined with the back. When it comes to the les, the squat can be combined with leg press to bring about development of the ankle and calf muscles.

To perform a superset, you only need to do the first part of the combination until you fail to continue and move on to the second one. Add a few forced reps until you feel you have to give up. You may alternatively begin with a compound movement that will ensure that you have orientated all the parts involved into the task. In this case, choose a weight you can use to comfortably do 10 reps.

Compound sets are used in the same way as supersets but in this case, they are done in opposing muscles and not the same muscle groups. This is the method that will really pump energy into your muscles and make them grow beyond your wildest imagination! To begin choose the exercises you want to do. You may choose from the biceps, triceps, or the hamstrings. Perform the first exercise, rest for two minutes and do it once more. Repeat this procedure as many times as you can. After three sets, you should be so worked out that moving becomes a really big problem.