Body Building Routines for the Advanced

Overall Rating

No Ratings

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Advanced body builders are an elite group of individuals who have successfully overcome the odds and remained consistent in their training. At this level, almost everyone has already gained quality muscle mass, as well as lost significant amounts of body fat. Their physiques may already be close to their ultimate goals. With a little polish, time and patience, you will be a symbol of symmetry and sexuality.

About the Advanced Body Builder

Advanced body builders are usually defined by experts as those who have already mastered both basic and complex movements. These are consistent gym enthusiasts who can easily get a feel of the muscles working. To be considered in the advanced level, you should already have known well your muscle-mind connection, levels of tolerance to stress and recovery rate.

You should be able to identify on your own if your diet is in par with your training, if you have reached a plateau or are overtraining. Others classify body builders as advanced according to the number of years they have been working out. Most will only consider you advanced if you have been working out consistently for 2 to 3 years at least.

Individuals in the advanced level are able to recover faster and will need to isolate each muscle group further to attain definition and cuts. While most beginners and intermediates aim for size, advanced body builders aim to refine the muscle mass they have gained.

The initial two phases may be referred to as bulking stages, while the advanced phase may be referred to as the cutting phase for some individuals. Advanced body building may also be the maintenance phase wherein individuals maintain the muscle size and only intend to create a more symmetrical appearance.

Mapping Your Routine

The common practice among body builders is to increase the intensity of their workouts by adding more days, more sets, more repetitions and more exercises in their routines. Natural body builders, however, may find that working out 4 to 5 days per week is sufficient, while others may benefit from a 6-day-a-week workout.

Always consider the possibility of overtraining so spread out the exercises, muscle groups and intensity levels evenly throughout the allowable days every week. Since you will be doing more sets, exercises and repetitions for each body part, you should also give enough time for these to recover.

Many trainers recommend adding 1 to 2 more exercises for a total of 4 to 5 per body part. The exercises will be comprised of 2 to 3 compound movements and 2 to 3 isolation movements. An example for quads or the thighs would be the barbell squat, leg press, barbell lunge, leg extension and hack squat. Smaller muscle groups like the biceps, triceps and abs can be efficiently targeted with fewer sets to avoid overtraining. A total of 2 to 4 exercises for the minor groups are adequate.

Other trainers recommend changing the intensity of workouts per week to prevent overtraining. Weeks or days may be classified as light, moderate or heavy. Light days are described as lifting lighter weights or loads or reducing the number of exercises and sets. Moderate days are described as lifting fairly heavy weights, while heavy days are described as lifting up to 85% to 95% of maximum. Cycle the intensity among the given weeks or days.

More Techniques

To add intensity to your routine, you may now incorporate techniques that produce new kinds of stress to the muscles. Proper form is essential as well as maintaining the mind-muscle connection with each rep.

Make sure you extend and contract your muscles fully for optimum gains. Supersets are excellent for saving time and stressing two muscles simultaneously. More blood is pumped to the area, spurring new growth such as doing bench presses and pull-ups alternately.

Another method is doing tri-sets. These are similar to supersets but you do one exercise after another for a total of 3 sets for the same body part. An example would be doing a set of barbell curls, followed immediately by a set of preacher curls then finish off with a set of concentration curls. The approach will cause a burn like never before.

There is also the pre-exhaustion technique wherein you fatigue your target muscle group by doing one set of isolation exercise to failure, followed by one set of 10 to 12 reps of a compound exercise for the same muscle. The opposite is post-exhaustion where you first do a working set of the compound exercise, followed by an isolation movement to failure. Remember to give as little rest time as possible between exercises to maintain the pump and burn.

Body Building Routines for the Intermediate

Overall Rating

No Ratings

At this time, you should already have mastered the basic exercises and strict and proper form for consistent period of 16 to 24 weeks. There are several definitions for the intermediate body builder, but the most important thing is that you should already be prepared to take on bigger challenges and levels of stress that starters cannot tolerate. Routines will incorporate new movements that reveal more muscles.

What It Means to Be an Intermediate

Time is the first factor to consider if you have successfully moved on from beginner to intermediate level. Some experts believe that an individual should at least have worked out consistently for a minimum of 6 to 12 months before being categorized an intermediate body builder.

Others may consider an individual graduating from starter class after a period of 2 to 3 years or after 100 to 200 workout sessions. Others use particular strength levels such as being able to bench press your actual weight, curl 50% of actual weight, shoulder press 75% of actual weight, etc.

Other experts are more concerned about quality than the period of time or strength. They believe that an individual should only move on to the intermediate class after he or she has successfully improved the mind-muscle connection.

You should be able to control muscle movement accordingly by hitting the fibers specifically. You will be more prepared to do isolation movements by getting to know the feel when lifting instead of basic repetitions.

An individual's capacity to recover should improve before taking an intermediate routine. Beginners can risk overtraining if they train muscles too often. You will know how quickly you recover by assessing your strength level when working out the same body part again.

The Routine

The intermediate phase should be a time for body builders to incorporate a number of isolation movements to better stimulate the available muscle fibers. Workouts will now consist of both compound and isolation movements.

However, intermediates should remember not to neglect the basic movements that build quality muscle mass. The compound exercises are the most ideal for gaining strength and mass since these stimulate your body to produce vast amounts of testosterone that leads to growth and development.

This is the period when you can add more weight, more sets, more exercises and incorporate machines and angular movements that hit deep-lying muscle fibers more effectively. You may even add 1 to 2 days per week depending on your activity tolerance and rate of recovery.

It is vital that you continue to prevent overtraining by limiting your workouts to no more than 45 minutes per session and no more than 4 days per week. You may now divide body parts among workout days to conserve energy and enhance recuperation. This method is called split-training.

What to Do

Start by identifying the muscle groups you're going to target namely chest, back, shoulders, biceps, triceps, quads or thighs, hamstrings, abs and calves. Next, divide these according to the number of days per week you plan to work out. For example, for a three day a week schedule, you can assign chest and back on Monday, shoulders, biceps and triceps on Wednesday and legs and abs on Friday.

If you can recover between workouts faster, you can add more days such as working out 3 consecutive days, taking 1 to 2 days off, and then repeating the cycle again. Always listen to your body through signs like muscle fatigue, willingness to return to the gym for another workout and food cravings.

Most intermediates find it most effective to split the muscle groups over 3 days then using the 4th day to work out problem muscles a 2nd time. Some muscles tend to respond poorly except if you frequently stimulate it to new growth. You may also use the 4th day to work out minor muscles such as forearms, calves, traps, lower back and abs.

When choosing exercises, it is advised to select 1 to 2 compound movements, plus 1 isolation movement. An example for the chest would be bench press, incline dumbbell press and dumbbell flye. The compound movement will let blood flow through the entire area and related muscles, while the isolation exercise will hit the entire body part specifically, adding more definition and form.

The World of Professional Body Building – Do You Aspire

Overall Rating

No Ratings

The World of Professional Body Building - Do You Aspire to Go Pro?

Body building is a very extreme sport requiring a lot of discipline, careful planning and nonstop preparation and conditioning. Although exercise, nutrition and rest are the 3 cores that make up a good athlete, there is one thing that separates the pros from the regular lifters - genetics. Not everyone has the propensity to build muscle regardless of how sound their program is. Do you have what it takes?

Tips from a Pro Body Builder

The first thing that every body builder has to realize is that not everyone can become a pro. Only 1 out of every 10,000 individuals are genetically endowed to build and keep muscle, burn fat, last through intense workouts and recover fast enough. Great examples are Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sergio Oliva and Jay Cutler. Even though there are thousands of mesomorphs around the world, their bodies can only acquire so much muscle mass, even with the use of anabolic drugs.

All pros have weaknesses, particularly because of genetic traits. Some are blessed with 22-inch arms, others with 8-pack abs and others with full round muscle bellies and small joints. Others have to deal with small lagging calves, wide hips and high lats.

These are just some of the aspects that cannot be changed except through drastic surgical measures. It is a fact among professional body builders that almost everyone uses anabolic steroids. If you are aspiring to go pro, you should be ready to face the reality that you may not win contests.

Steroids have gotten more potent through the years, which is becoming a concern among enthusiasts. Champions are sacrificing symmetry and shape in exchange for mind-blowing mass. Compared to athletes in the past, recent exhibitors are showing almost-impossible proportions such as 24-inch arms, 60-inch chests and bloated stomachs because of internal organ enlargement.

Show Secrets

The main idea behind body building contests is that whoever has the most strengths and least weaknesses, or whoever presents a well-rounded muscular physique and excellent symmetry at the same time wins. There are 7 mandatory poses that display all the muscle groups wherein contestants will be judged. Criteria for judging usually include muscle separation, conditioning, muscle mass, presentation or how well the athlete poses and, at times, audience impact.

Some of the events include special performances which require a lot of charisma and style. Body building is a sport highly involved in other social affairs as well. Winners or champions are usually invited to be spokespeople for programs or products.

Top pros earn a lot of money from shows, exhibitions, guest posing and product endorsements. In contests, the top 6 contestants can earn anywhere from $5,000 to $250,000 a show depending on their placing and sponsors. Additional prizes may be included such as a brand-new vehicle or watch.

Shows require a lot of preparation which often results to mental and physical fatigue. Strict dieting and intense routines are used by every serious body builder to hopefully get to their target weight. This is the time when daily caloric intake is counted accurately and special supplements bring out the best definition and condition possible.

Athletes need to make sure that water gets to their muscles and not under the skin to prevent a flat and smooth appearance. Other preparations include practicing for a performance (if required), tanning and shaving.

How to Qualify

The IFBB is the top pro body building federation in the world. To become a pro, one should enter a NPC USA competition. There are 6 weight classes in the NPC Men's National Championships namely the bantamweight, lightweight, middleweight, light heavyweight, heavyweight and super heavyweight.

The winners of each class may request professional status. Pro aspirants may enter the IFBB World Championships, wherein winning a class makes a contestant eligible in the pro ranks. The same applies for the IFBB North American Championships.

There are qualifying contests to make one eligible to join the NPC Championships. The most prestigious pro body building contest of all is the Mr. Olympia, followed by the Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic. Only top-ranking pros in qualifying contests can earn invites to these major events. Winners or those in the top ranks are considered to be the best in the world.

Preventing Common Bodybuilding Injuries

Overall Rating

No Ratings

Bodybuilders, as other athletes, must be prepared for injury when participating in their sport. To ignore the possibility of injury is to invite disaster that can interfere with your routine, cause you to miss training or even end a career.

What can you do to avoid injury? How should you handle occasional injuries so that you can get back in top form as soon as possible? Here are some points for beginners AND experienced bodybuilders to keep in mind.

PREVENTION COMES FIRST

Any bodybuilder, whether training daily or occasionally, is likely to experience injury from their training. However, there are important steps you should take to prevent injury and reduce the occurrence of strains, sprains and more severe injuries.

WARMING UP AND STRETCHING

Every session, every time. No matter what routine or exercise you are about to engage in, your muscles need to be prepped beforehand.

Warming up by using a bike, treadmill or quick repetitions with a light weight, will get blood circulating in the muscles and make them more pliable. Stretching them to their fullest degree and holding for 30 seconds will also encourage flexibility. Flexibility and pliability are very important in preventing muscle injury and improving the muscle's ability to respond to the exercise.

Stretching after your routine will also improve recovery time, thus reducing soreness after a session.

PROPER TECHNIQUE

Proper technique is crucial when bodybuilding. Physical laws (including the law of gravity) limit what your body is capable of lifting and the range of motion any muscle can reach. Bouncing or jerking motions and improper grip can cause the weight to pull your muscles and overextend their range, resulting in injuries. Injury can range from minor strains to more severe sprains or ripping that can prevent you from training for an extended time.

Having a trainer show you proper technique is important, as is knowing your boundaries for the amount of weight you can safely work with. You may decide to use wraps on your joints or back to help distribute the weight more evenly, which will also reduce the chance of injury.

If you are training with very heavy weights there are some exercises that should only be performed with reliable spotters on hand. Whether you are spotting for a friend or asking for their assistance to spot you, be sure that the spotter is focused and quick to help or you could face extreme injuries.

PAY ATTENTION AND BE READY

Distraction and fatigue can quickly ruin your progress and put you out of commission (and away from the gym) by causing an accident.

Lifting heavy weights requires concentration and attention to your performance. Chatting with friends or watching other people is distracting and can cause you to lose form and drop weights, pulling and tearing muscles. A dropped weight may also fall on you or a neighbor, causing serious, long term injury.

Over training when your body is not in optimum condition can also cause you to lose grip or push your body beyond its ability to handle the weight. Not eating, lack of sleep, training too often, using too much weight or training without proper preparation or safety can ruin all your hard work, so always train prepared and in good condition for the best results.

If you do experience injury, treat it right away. Minor injuries may just need a day of rest, compression and ice to reduce swelling. Severe injuries should be checked by a doctor as soon as possible or healing time will be longer. Take care of injuries properly to avoid more damage and to start training again as soon as possible.