Bodybuilding

Would you like to look like this one day?
Most definitely not you say, but that's okay because chances are you never will. It took years of workouts that would kill normal people, buckets of steroids and genetics that put mortal men to shame to get Ronnie Coleman where he is today. He is an icon and inspiration for any aspiring bodybuilder nowadays.
But bodybuilding isn't only for the very elite that win the Mr. Olympia every year. It's a sport that is easily accessible for anyone. It is for you, even if all you want is to grow your muscles a bit bigger and get a bit leaner.

What is Bodybuilding?

Very basically, bodybuilding is a sport in which the competitors spend hundreds of hours in a gym crafting their bodies into great big mounds of muscle. They then compete walking onto a stage and are judged on how they look. Of course, the actual competing part is a lot more complex than that with factors such as vascularity, muscular striations, symmetry and of course the all important mass coming into the decision. So whoever has the body which is bigger, leaner and overall better is the better bodybuilder. It is the ultimate expression of vanity.

What Does it Take to Get into Bodybuilding?

Getting into bodybuilding takes a few things: A gym with weights (or bodyweight if you're feeling brave), training clothes, a proper diet (this is where everyone screws up) and determination to never give up. If one of these things is missing, don't bother starting. This is pretty much all you need to get involved in this wonderful sport.

Is Bodybuilding For Me?

Most definitely. Bodybuilding isn't only for those who are willing to take it as a career and start taking steroids. Bodybuilding is for anyone who wants to grow bigger muscles and get leaner. Which is practically everyone. What you haven't been told is how easy it is to develop a great body through bodybuilding. Magazines like Men's Health always dish out bullshit training that people eat up with a spoon because they don't know any better. Would you believe me if I told you that you could like a Men's Health cover model with 1 year of solid training?Probably not, and you won't want to either once you learn more about bodybuilding. Those men with their shit, out-of-proportion bodies are not all that they look like. After a few months of training, you will realise that I am right.

Where do I start?
Before you even pick up your first weight, go and read up about weight-training. But don't pick up the GQ or Men's Health or even the Muscle and Fitness guide to weight training. Go read about on the net. PLaces like www.bodybuilding.com tell it like it is. GQ and Men's Health will tell you that you too can have a huge chest if you do push-ups (hint: you can't) and Flex will tell you that pros don't juice it but they are big because of NO and MuscleTech. Arnold's Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding is a pretty damn good book (Arnold was an incredible bodybuilder) and is cheap too. Don't buy anything that has Joe Weider's name on it. Once you are confident that you have enough info (after about a week of reading), go and give it all you have in the gym.

Beginner's Tips:

How I wish people had told me these before I started training:

1. Never give up. No matter how bleak the situation looks, it will get better. You can experiment with your diet and training but never just throw your hands up in the air and give it all up.
2. Eat a lot of the right food. Seriously.
3. A few months into the program, you should be able to train so hard that you feel like shit after training. This is good. Keep it up.
4. A beginner's program always has the big compound movements in it. You might not believe this, but no-one starts out strong enough to base their workouts on isolation exercises.
5. You are not Ronnie Coleman or Jay Cutler and you are not a combination of both. You can't benchpress 200kg for reps and there's no use in trying to do so and lift with crappy form and injure yourself. Know your limits.
6. Lift with proper form. If you can't, the weight is too heavy and you should move down weight.