Natural Bodybuilding For Men And Women
Next, Let Us Move On To Rest
As mentioned before when performing resistance training your muscles will experience microscopic tears, and rest heals these microscopic tears using cells called fibroblasts which aid in the recovery of muscle tissue resulting in bigger and stronger muscles, (Kirsten Nunez, 2019). Depending on how hard you trained it is recommended to not train the muscle you worked out for 1 - 2 days to optimize recovery, (Kirsten Nunez, 2019).
Another aspect of rest is how long you rest between sets, now from a body-building standpoint you would ideally like to rest for a shorter period of time. A study conducted by the NIH found that resting for ‘30 - 60 seconds would be optimal due to greater acute levels of growth hormone during such workouts’, (Belmiro Freitas De Salles, 2009).
Next, let us move on to volume
Volume, in regard to weight training, can be defined as the total amount of tasks you engage in. (Paul Rogers, 2021) This can be measured in the amount of repetitions you do on a certain exercise or even the amount of sets you do on a certain exercise, (Paul Rogers, 2021). Volume can be measured either daily, weekly or even monthly, but most measure it on a weekly basis as it is the easiest way.
So taking that information into account how many sets should we perform each week?An article written by experts suggests that ‘10-30 sets per muscle group per week is optimal’ but anything above 20 sets is unnecessary, (Expertpt, 2021).Lastly Let Us Discuss Diet
In general, if you want to build muscle it is important to eat between ‘1.2 - 1.6 grams of protein per kilo of body weight’, (Lindsey Desoto, Et Al, 2022). But adding on to that it is also important that you eat a variety of other healthy foods such as vegetables, fruits, unsaturated fats, healthy carb sources, etc. in order for your body to function optimally.
Now depending on if you want to lose fat, gain muscle, or even do both it is imperative that you eat in either a deficit or a surplus. It is recommended to have a 10% - 20% calorie surplus in addition to your maintenance calories to gain muscle whilst not gaining too much fat, or in other words (‘the number of calories your body needs to support energy expenditure’, (Gavin Van De Walle, MS, RD, 2019)) to prevent ‘dirty bulking’, (Daniel Preiato, RD, CSCS, 2019). The same applies to eating in a deficit, it is recommended to eat in a ‘10 - 25 %’ calorie deficit depending on your maintenance calories in order to lose weight at a conservative to moderate pace, (Cleanimpleeats Editors, 2022).
To find your maintenance calories go to this website https://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html Training Splits And Exercises To Do
Push, Pull, Legs, And Arms Split
Push (pushing exercises), Pull (Pulling exercises), Legs, Rest, Arms, Rest, Rest
This ensures that each muscle group gets 48 - 72 hours of rest optimizing muscle growth.
Upper Body, Lower Body Split
Upper body, lower body, rest, rest, upper body, lower body, rest
This split ensures that each body part gets 72 hours of rest whilst also getting everything done quicker.
Now here are some exercises I recommend for certain body parts.
Chest (Clavicular head) - Inclined Bench Press, incline dumbbell press, inclined machine press
Chest (Sternal head) - Flat Grip Bench Press, Dumbbell Press, Machine Fly, Cable Crossover
Shoulders (Lateral Head) - Lateral raises
Shoulders (Anterior Head) - Front Raises
Shoulders (Posterior Head) - Rear Deltoid Machine, Standing Bent Over Lateral Raises
Shoulders (All Heads) - Overhead Press
Back (lattisimus Dorsi) - Pull-ups, Lat Pulldowns, Rows
Back (Erector spinae) - Deadlifts, Rows
Back (Trapezius) - Bent Over Barbell Rows, Shrugs
Legs - Squats, Leg Extensions, Bulgarian Split Squats, Hamstring Curls, Hacksquat, Deadlifts.
Legs (Quadriceps) - Leg Extensions, Squats, Bulgarian Split Squats
Legs (Hamstrings) - Hamstring Curls, Romanian Deadlifts
Legs (Glutes) - Barbell Glute Bridge, Squats
Legs (Calves) - seated calf raises, standing calf raises, farmer walks
Biceps (Long head) - bicep curls, preacher curls
Biceps (Short Head) - spider curls
Biceps (Brachialis) - Hammer curls
Triceps (Long head) - Tricep Pushdowns
Triceps (Lateral head) -Dips, Skull crushers
Triceps (medial head) - Reverse Grip Pressdowns
How Do Body Builders Train?
Although there are several types of bodybuilders the general consensus of bodybuilding is to build as much muscle as possible whilst having both symmetry and definition, (Ragami Chaves Alves, Et al., 2020). Therefore the training practices that bodybuilders practice on a daily basis aim to maximise skeletal muscle hypertrophy.Regardless, the main way bodybuilders achieve their look is through their resistance training, The aim of this resistance training is to achieve near-to or too-muscular failure, which can be defined as ‘the moment when no additional repetitions can be achieved’ in that muscle, (P. Debraux, 2021). This is because muscle mass increases as an individual challenges themselves to perform higher levels of resistance otherwise known as muscular hypertrophy, (Jayne Leonard, 2020). Adding on, Though training methods slightly differ for each individual I would like to point out the 6 main things I have found during my training that have a great correlation regarding muscle mass with those being rest, caloric intake/outtake, rep specificity, volume, training to failure, and progressive overload.
Next, Let Us Move On To Progressive Overload
Progressive overload, which can be defined as ‘a type of strength training that involves gradually increasing the intensity or difficulty of workouts over time’,(Zia Sherrel, MPH, 2022). has quite a big relation to muscle mass, this is due to the fact that progressive overload negatively ‘affects the mechanical loading stimulus, (force applied to muscles when resistance training, (Eddie Bye, 2021)) which subsequently leads to hypertrophy', (Chris Beardsley, 2019).
Next, Let Us Move On To Rep Specificity
I mentioned that training near or to failure was quite important in regards to muscular hypertrophy but the rep range and at which you go to failure plays a great impact on muscular hypertrophy. An NIH article explains that moderate loads from ‘8 - 12 reps with each rep being 60% - 80% of your 1 rep max’ optimizes muscular hypertrophy, (Brad J Schoenfeld, et al, 2021).
Firstly Let Us Discuss Training To Failure
15 studies were reviewed by the Journal Of Sports And Health Science in which all the participants of these studies had to meet the criteria below.‘Random distribution of participants (of any age) in the experimental groups’‘Comparison of the effects of training to failure vs. not to failure’‘Measurement of changes in muscle strength and/or hypertrophy’‘An experimental protocol of at least 6 weeks’‘Participants in apparently healthy’
In total, there were 394 people (all of which were young adults). Of those people, there were 129 women and 265 men of which only 6 were individuals regularly trained in resistance training. After a close analysis of the studies, which looked at the change in the subject’s 1 rep max (the total amount of weight an individual can pull in a chosen exercise), 6 rep max, 10 rep max, as well as muscle hypertrophy, the Journal of Sports and health science found that training to failure had no significant impact regarding the hypertrophy in non-trained individuals, although it played a ‘significantly greater impact in regards to muscular hypertrophy of those individuals which were regularly trained’, (P Debraux, 2020.)Though this is the case it is important to note that the subjects were close to failure, meaning that they had ‘a few reps in reserve’, (P Debraux, 2020). Though the study did not specifically mention how many reps a few reps in reserve were, it is believed that having ‘4 or less reps in reserve’ would provide enough stimulus for hypertrophy, (Shaun Lafleur, 2019).