Bodybuilding

What person just starts down the right path to anything? Hardly any of us. The first time we are introduced to structured learning is in kindergarten. That type of learning follows us into grade school, middle school, high school and maybe college. So why is it that so many bodybuilders just "do stuff?" It is not as if we are born with the instincts to even tie shoes without somebody showing us the way.

At 16, I did not know what to do. I started reading this book by Bob Paris, and some Muscle and Fitness issues. Nevertheless, I knew even then it was not natural and that I would never take any drugs to propel myself to what I wanted. Those books had some good stuff in them but it was not exactly written for me as a natural bodybuilder. I almost felt like in order to be in shape and to be big, you just had to be that way naturally. I will be you can guess what happened next...

I did some more stuff. No structure. In fact, up until I was 27 years old, I did what everybody does. Just stuff. Maybe a heavy bench session here and there, just shooting for whatever reps I could get. No idea what I had done previously. No structured training program and no idea of nutrition other then it's common sense not to eat candy all day and I needed to eat or eat less if I wanted to make changes. Needless to say...

Nothing changed. That is right. Imagine, yourself doing something since you were 16 years old and at age 27 you were "fit" but not really at your goal, not really that big and not anywhere close to what you wanted to accomplish. Yet people, who worked out maybe 2 years, were exactly where you wanted to be. Moreover, you saw plenty of people cheating their way to the top. I could not even figure out a good diet let along contemplate anything more complex.

Make no mistake... I was frustrated. The reason I was frustrated for all those years was that I never started out in kindergarten and worked my way up. My point is...

If I could get into a time machine I would go back and hand myself a small brochure called:

Please don't be confused... these simple steps are for anybody, no matter what age, male or female, who might be looking to start off on the right foot and not waste a lot of time.

Okay, so what can you do? Let's go step by step and figure this out.

Pre-Requisite - Body building isn't just about getting massive. It's not just for men. The word should actually be two words all the time so there's no confusion. You are building your body. That can mean anything to anybody. So the first step is...

1. Pick A Realistic Goal

With that said, if it's too easy, it's unlikely you'll give it enough attention to really focus on it or care. "I'm going to make it to the gym tomorrow," is hardly an earth shattering revelation for most. To make matters worse... If it's too difficult, you'll get frustrated with the lack of progress and your confidence in actually doing it will be compromised. That means...

You need to create goals in such a way that with a continual, concentrated effort, you know you can get the job done.

Imagine a mountain top with a red flag at the very top. That is your long term goal (specific too). But it's unrealistic to think you can achieve that in 2 months. But if you had little yellow flags along the path to that red flag, those would be short term, achievable goals you could look forward to with a sense of urgency because they could have a shorter deadline and time to completion. How about losing 1 lb a week of fat?

How about gaining 2 lbs a week for those who are on a bulking cycle?

How about writing one question and answer a day for the original Beginner's Guide to Fitness and Bodybuilding? (That's how I got all 250 pages of my first book done.) Short term thinking but with long term results.

If you know you can get the job done, your passion for doing it will rise.

2. Determine a Starting Point

For most, this simply means you will need to determine how many calories a day you'll need. While calorie counting is not the end all be all of nutrition, it's very difficult to figure out how to adjust if you have no baselines from which to make judgements.

Step 1:

Take your current body weight in pounds (lbs) and multiply by 11.

Example: 194 lbs x 11 = 2134 calories

This is what I need to just keep what I have, without moving. But remember, you do move. So you have to then calculate your metabolic factors into this... so off to step 2...

Step 2:

Figure out your metabolic factor according to the table below.

But first, some definitions to help you determine where you might fit in:

Slow Metabolism: You basically look at food and you seem to put on pounds. You can gain weight by eating salads but it's difficult to lose the weight.

Moderator Metabolism: You can gain weight if you try. You can lose weight if you try. You really don't have trouble losing weight depending on what you want to do.

Fast Metabolism: You are the skinny guy or gal who can eat *ANYTHING* and it makes no difference. Gaining weight is difficult. Losing weight can happen overnight. Just by watching T.V. you seem to shed pounds.

Metabolic %

Under 30 years old Slow Metabolism- 30% Moderate Metabolism- 40% Fast Metabolism- 50%

30-40 years old Slow Metabolism- 25% Moderate Metabolism- 35% Fast Metabolism- 45%

Over 40 years old Slow Metabolism- 20% Moderate Metabolism- 30% Fast Metabolism- 40%

Example: 2134 calories x 35% = 746.90

I took my calories needed above just to sit here and not move and multipled it by my metabolic factor and I find that I need an additional 746.90 calories because of my specific metabolism.

Step 3:

Put it together.

2134 + 746.90 = 2880.90 calories

I need 2,880.90 calories to maintain my current weight with my current activities.

Note: You can also adjust your metabolic factor if you do something that might take you to the next level. If you are a moderator metabolism person but you do distance running, it might make more sense to put your self in the fast category since you burn a lot more calories.

Step 4:

Now change the above with about 500 calories every day to reach your goals!

Lose Weight: I would take 2880.90 - 500 = 2380.90

Maintain Weight: I would just leave it at 2880.90 and continue what I was doing in my activities

Gain Weight: I would take 2880.90 + 500 = 3380.90

Note: 500 calories a day is just a general term everybody uses to say that adding this amount is within safe limits. Eat too much, and you end up storing fat. Cut too many calories and your body just goes into starvation mode and ends up retaining more fat. 500 is a safe, recommended guideline.

Step 5:

You must track what you are eating so you'll know if you've made your goal for the day. And tracking food does not have to be complicated with weights and scales.

It's a shame that so many people just start training and never figure out what they need to eat daily to reach their goals.

You can keep doing the math over and over as you reach a goal. If you are bulking, your requirements will change as you progress. And when you lose weight they will as well. You might want to lose weight, reach a target weight and then maintain. So you will do this formula again when you have hit the weight you want.

3. Stick to the Plan

This is where you'll need to find what drives you or what motivates you. What is your reason for reading this hugpage today? Dig deep and find something positive that will motivate you.

Rather than pick a negative motivational factor, look for inspiration.

Tom Ventuo is my personal motivation. He's an all natural bodybuilder who's stuck to the plan.

Give your chosen program time to work. If you don't see results in a week, that's not enough time. Any decent program should be followed for around 4-6 weeks before completely switching routines entirely. You simply must give it time to work. Far too often I hear a person start a plan and by the weekend if they haven't seen results, they assume it must not be working.

Your body is changing but slowly. Stick to it. If after 4-6 weeks, which is a good amount of time to see progress, you see nothing, it's time to change.

4. Exercise and Stay Active No Matter What Your Age

Listen closely! The term 'lifestyle' means ON-GOING and NEVER ending. A shortcut has no place in bodybuilding and certainly no place in getting into the best shape of your life. Just last week, my friend (Yes I really have spoken on the phone with him several times) Tom Venuto sent out a issue asking people to take a look at the natural bodybuilders all over the Internet for inspiration.

Tom Venuto wrote:

"There ARE heroes and role models to look up to today, and you will find them in the drug-free bodybuilding movement."

He's RIGHT. In fact I know an older gentleman, Scott Hults, who's a big fan of natural bodybuilding and has done wonders in this sport to educate himself and others around him that taking shortcuts isn't the way to go and that hard work can pay-off at any age. If I can be in as good of shape as Scott when I'm older, I'd be lucky.

Scott was older when he started bodybuilding. He's now a Pro Bodybuilder and pushes himself to the limits. He only proves it's never to late to start and you can make fantastic progress at any age. He's not a genetic freak. He's a real honest to good guy.

Think about it.

5. Monitor Your Progress

I cannot tell you how many people do not follow this rule. If you don't take measurements, track your progress or inspect yourself in a mirror, it's pretty difficult to impossible to know where you've been to know where you are going.

Making small daily goes is a wonderful method of keeping the momentum moving forward and keeping yourself motivated to reach your goals. This is difficult when you don't keep track of what you just did in order to beat a personal best.

It's also the #1 reason why people get so frustrated with nutrition and training and progress in general. They just look at themselves at that very moment and decide immediately if the last 4 months of effort was worth it. They don't take into account they did better then the last workout and they don't quite realize they lost a pant or dress size. They just make judgments on what they perceive to be reality at that moment.

Methods of tracking your progress include:

Tracking what you eat Tracking your workouts in a notebook or other method Taking periodic measurements of standard body areas using a variety of methods Taking periodic photographs

When you measure your progress on a frequent but not daily basis, you will soon see that your efforts are paying off. And if there is a course adjustment necessary you can quickly correct it before it's too late. This critical stage is often overlooked because most people barely can figure out what to eat let alone be bothered to track their progress.

You will start to notice people around you year after year complaining of the same things they complained about the year before.

Would you build a house without tracking its progress? Would you drive your car without monitoring its performance and getting regular tune-ups? For those of you with children, you look at report cards and homework quizzes as a method of tracking your child's scholastic performance. You know where there might be a problem and can correct it before it becomes a major issue. Many of you track the performance of your portfolio holdings.

So why not track the progress of your workouts?

Dave Draper said it best when.. "The secret is there is no secret." He simply meant that with all the crazy diets, workouts, technical information on pre and post workouts and such, it gets downrigth confusing.

Exercise must be consistent to be effective. Getting to the gym when you don't want to go. Those nasty rainy days. The days when you have low energy or didn't get the best nights sleep. Pushing past all those excuses and just doing, giving what you can for that session...

Over and over for years is consistent behavior. Over time, your physcial conditioning will change.

The best routine or the best laid out nutritional plan means little if you are not consistent in your efforts. A break in consistency is the erosion of your foundation. Without structure, no plan will matter.

It's perfectly fine to make mistakes. I did for years but my consistency paid off. Keep at it no matter what, no matter the setbacks and regardless of the obstacles.

Finally..

Celebrate your success!

Set aside time to reward yourself for the smallest accomplishment. Allow yourself a cheat meal, take a day off or anything that you can look forward to week after week. Many people get far too caught up in perfection and make drastic changes.

Set aside a meal or a time of day at the end of the week to do something you like. Eat that piece of chocolate cake, have that glass of wine, let yourself have a small reward for doing so well during the week. While it may sound insignificant, if you eliminate too much too quickly, you'll have cravings. Let yourself have a little success along the way.

"There are no secrets. You simply have basic God-given genetics, body chemistry and bone structure. And provided the attributes of discipline and determination, you apply yourself full bore, and your body potential emerges, slow and sure."

- Dave Draper

"I believe that the human body is the only machine on the face of the earth that wears out and breaks down from not using it enough."

- Tom Venuto

"Those who lack courage will always find a philosophy to justify it."

- Albert Camus