The process of achieving muscle growth sometimes seems very complex and intricate, seemingly reserved for a few people with a personal trainer. Nothing could be further from the truth. There are several factors that accelerate muscle growth. Below you’ll find the tips and factors that form the basis for bodybuilding for beginners.
Bodybuilding Training Schedule
Exercises
If you want to build the best body, you must use the best exercises. The most effective exercises are compound exercises and bodyweight exercises. When starting strength training, it is advisable to begin with machines. These limit the range of motion of the exercise, reducing the chance of incorrect execution and injuries. If you want to continue making progress, once you have mastered the exercises, you should start working more with free weights and bars. Many of the exercises in your routine should consist of basic exercises, or compound exercises. The basic exercises for strength training are: bench press, lat pulldown, squats, and deadlifts.
*alternatives are push-ups and pull-ups if body weight provides the appropriate resistance.
Heavy Sets
If you want to stimulate muscle growth optimally, you’ll end up with a routine of 6 to 12 repetitions per set. Doing many more repetitions than 12 develops muscle endurance rather than growth. If you can perform certain exercises more than 12 repetitions, it means you need to increase the weight. Doing a first set of 15 repetitions as a specific warm-up for the exercise is of course no problem, or even recommended.
Perseverance
Perseverance means continuing to train with the right frequency and paying attention to your diet, even when you don’t feel like it. You cannot develop muscle growth if you don’t train for it and skip workouts when it’s not necessary for rest. This is the basis of strength training. If you don’t train, nothing else matters.
Good Nutrition
You can train as hard as you want, but if you don’t consume the right nutrition, you won’t grow maximally. Good nutrition for strength training and muscle growth is more than just eating healthy. You need to be aware of the number of calories you need per day and the distribution of these macronutrients: carbohydrates, protein, and fats.
Progression
If you don’t challenge yourself in the gym, your body has no reason to create extra muscle tissue. Therefore, you must find a way to break through limits and surprise your body again. The simplest way to do this, whether you’re a beginner or advanced, is to increase the weight you’re training with. When you add weight to the exercises you’re currently performing, your body will quickly respond by creating extra muscle tissue. If you always perform exercises with the same weight, your body will have no reason to create these extra muscle cells. Note! Adding more weight should never compromise form. Experienced strength trainers know how to train heavier without increasing the weight (for example, by performing the exercise more slowly).
Balance
To keep your body in balance, you must evenly distribute your strength training across different muscle groups. For example, if you often train your chest but less frequently your back, your muscles will become imbalanced, which can lead to injuries. The same applies if you often train your abs but your lower back to a lesser extent. A good training schedule is balanced and ensures that almost all muscle groups receive equal attention.
Bodybuilding Lifestyle
Bodybuilding is not just a way of training, but a way of life. The adjustments you’ll need to make in terms of training and nutrition are not one-time or short-term. If you want to achieve and maintain results, you really need to make your training and nutrition a lifestyle.
Avoid Overtraining
A common phenomenon among beginners in strength training is that they start very enthusiastically. This can result in overtraining, where the body can no longer handle the training. The definition of overtraining is:
When the balance between load and capacity is greatly disturbed and results in a negative effect on sports performance.
By load, we mean everything the athlete’s body undergoes. Capacity is what the human body can physically and mentally handle.
Therefore, it’s important to incorporate enough rest into your training. This is already included in the training schedules on this site.
