Bodybuilding is the process of developing muscles by working out and changing one's diet in order to gain more muscle mass. Bodybuilding is often called hard gaining which indicates a strict regime customized for an individual who is not likely to acquire a lot of muscle mass. Individuals, both male and female, may participate in bodybuilding as a recreational activity or as a competitive sport.

As a sport, bodybuilding is referred to as competitive bodybuilding and involves having a body builder display his or her physique to a panel of judges through a series of poses intended to emphasize specific groups of muscles. These poses are a considerable part of competitive body building and most participants spend a lot of time perfecting these poses. The judges in body building competitions give points based on aesthetic appearance which may be enhanced through the use of tanning lotions and good lighting.

Bodybuilding is mostly focused on aesthetics and the balance of muscle mass, and should not be confused with sports such as weight lifting and strong man competitions as participating in bodybuilding competitions requires neither strength nor agility. As of the moment, there is a campaign to include competitive body building in the Olympics; however, some sectors are against this as they view body building as a non-athletic contest.

A number of techniques for body building are designed to be used in developing and sculpting muscle mass. These techniques may be applied both in the competitive area of body building as well as for individual use. The most common technique in body building is to gain as much muscle mass as possible for long periods of time, focusing on enhancing the ability to lift more weight every week. Upon reaching a threshold, or when a competition is nearing, the focus is then turned to sculpting the muscle mass that has been gained.

Some body building experts promote training programs that involve lifting moderate weight with more repetitions per set to be followed by the intermittent high weight sets. Other experts support concentrating on doing heavy weights with fewer repetitions and fewer sets.

Getting involved in body building requires an increase in vitamin, mineral, and protein intake. There is a wide array of body building supplements available in the market for beginners. Chemical-based supplements are also available; however, these are not recommended for a variety of health related reasons and the use of these substances is considered illegal in the world of competitive body building.

All in all, the most effective manner of engaging in body building is to consider and experiment on all available work outs to determine what works best with your body. Combine the most effective work out with the best possible diet to get the most satisfying results.