There is no definite age to start body building, especially if you just intend to make a hobby out of it. Beginners can start by following the steps provided here so that they can be well on their way to become bodybuilder certified.
Before starting each bodybuilding session, always remember to focus on one part of your body at a time. Since you are just feeling your way with bodybuilding, it is important that you start slow and concentrate on a single body part per week. Don't be too eager and over-train yourself. You might lose muscles instead of gaining it. Train your body part in the order of largest down to the smallest.
1. Crunches, 3 sets, 10-20 repetitions. This will work your upper abdominals section.
Lie flatly on an exercise mat with knees bent and feet together. Cup your hand behind your ears and without moving from the hips down, curl up toward your knees. Make sure you use your shoulder blades to lift, and not your back. Do it for 10 to 20 times, depending on how much you can do.
2. Incline press, 3 sets, 12-15 repetitions. This workout is for your upper chest, as well as the shoulders and the triceps.
To do it, lie on an incline press. Make sure your back is flat against the bench. Hold the barbell and lift it off the rack. This is the starting position. Lower the barbell until it touches your chest. Raise the barbell again to starting position.
3. Barbell Squat, 3 sets, 12- 15 repetitions. The primary muscles worked by this exercise are the quadriceps. The hamstrings and the buttocks are benefited as well.
Grasp a barbell palms down. Stand before a rack as high as your chest. Lift the barbell below your neck and across your shoulders. Straight your back and point your toes forward. Knees should be bent slightly. Squat down until your thighs are parallel to the ground. Then stand up again to the starting position.
4. Lying leg curl, 3 sets, 10-12 repetitions. With this exercise, your hamstrings are being worked out.
Lie facing down on a leg curl device. Knees should be below the bench. Your heels should also be placed behind the roller pads. With toes pointing down, extend your legs at the knees. Keep your hips flat on the bench. Bring up your heels toward the buttocks. Slowly go back to starting position.
5. Standing calf raise, 1 set, 12-15 repetitions. Your calves will be worked out with this routine.
With a dumbbell on the left hand hanging down on your side, stretch down to let your heel extend off. Keep your back straight. Put your face up and lock your legs. Get on your toes, rising up as high as you can get and hold for a second. Flex your calf muscle while doing it.
Do these routines from Monday to Friday. Assign Saturdays and Sundays as your work-out day offs. It is also possible to take Wednesdays off your workout schedule. That should still be fine. You can also add in a variety of different exercises so as not to make each day the same as the day preceding it. Variation is also important.
It is also important to do some type of cardiovascular workouts for about 10 to 15 minutes before proceeding to a more rigid set. You can run in place, use the treadmill, or jump on the rope to put your body in good condition before a scheduled workout.
Dieting is also important. Take in protein-rich food and cut on cholesterol and calories. Protein-rich foods are dairy products, meat, fish, tofu, and dried beans like peanuts. The general nutrition guidelines should also be followed.
Bodybuilding requires having a positive mindset to succeed. Beginners should have the right amount of commitment before going ahead with it. There is a lot of work to do. There are a lot of steps to undergo. It will be a long process but the results will all be worth it. Start today. Go on and build that body.
Chest Triceps Biceps Shoulders Back Legs
There is an array of exercises that work these muscle groups, many of which involve free weights (dumbbells, barbells, etc.) and exercise machines. Of the two, free weights are better for building muscle mass as these involve more muscles for balance and stabalization. But whatever the exercise, it's important to reach muscle failure at every set to experience muscle growth. For many bodybuilders, the best way to do this is to find a weight that you can lift 6-8 times per set before muscle failure. It is important to do two sets as a warm up with the first set at about half the full weight you normally do for the exercise. So, five sets which would include two warm up sets is good. Failure is a term used for the last repetition you can perform in a set of which you are using correct form.
Chest:
A basic exercise for the chest is the bench press. The bench press is usually done by lying flat on your back on a bench. You then press a barbell (or a pair of dumbbells) over your chest with both arms. Repeatedly extend your arms until they straighten without locking, exhaling as you go, then lower the weights to chest level. Keep the back of your hand in line with the back of the forearm when performing this exercise.
Triceps:
A popular exercise for the triceps is the overhead triceps extension. This may be done with a barbell or E-Z bar, but beginners can use a lighter weight dumbbell and do one arm at a time. With two hands, hold the barbell, or E-Z bar firmly over your head. Repeatedly bend your elbows until your forearm forms a 90-degree angle with your upper arm, then return the weight over your head again. The important part to remember is that with any tricep exercise the upper arm should not move, just the lower arm.
Biceps:
The easiest and probably the best-known biceps exercise is the barbell curl. In this exercise, you simply hold the barbell at thigh level with both hands facing forwards and shoulder-width apart. Tuck your elbows in beside your ribcage and keep them close to your hips and steady. Bend your elbows and curl your forearms up towards your upper arms, then lower the barbell to thigh level again. Do not bring your elbows forward as so many people do, also try to keep the back of your hands in line with the back of the forearm.
Shoulders:
There are also a number of exercises that can be done for the shoulders. You can use free weights or specialized machines. The exercises for the shoulders include the military or dumbbell press, lateral raises, rear raises and the upright row.
Back:
For the back, there are three basic exercises that can be done with free-weights or specialized machines. These are the front pull down (note: lat pulldowns should never be pulled to the back of the neck), barbell row, one arm dumbbell row and pullovers.
Legs:
Working the legs can be tricky as specialized gym equipment is sometimes needed to target specific areas or regions. The workout routines include barbell squats, Smith Machine squats or leg presses, leg extensions, leg curls and calf raises.
The abdominals can be worked by either performing crunches of which there are many variations or leg or knee raises. The important part to remember to achieving a 'six pack' is that it is what you don't have, i.e. much body fat that makes this achievable. You can have the best abs in the world, but if they are covered with too much body fat you will not see them. Diet is the important factor here, and body fat reduction.
Your gym instructor can give helpful advice regarding the best gym routine for you. Whatever your routine, however, it's important to do some warming up with 5 to 10 minutes of cardiovascular exercise and stretching of the muscles you are going to work before pumping iron.
This will loosen your muscles up, improve blood circulation, and help prevent injury. You should also stretch the muscles worked after exercise to help reduce the build up of lactic acid and soreness. Keep these things in mind to have a safe, enjoyable trip to the gym, every single time.
Both Steve Hudson & Cliff Baker are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.