Bodybuilding is a lot more than just lifting up some heavy weights. Good weight lifting workout routines
consists of several different aspects. If you want to build yourself a nice body, your weight lifting workout
routines need to have proper nutrition, daily cardio workouts, plenty of water throughout the day, nutrition,
and a good amount of rest between each of your workout days.
Warm-up
To start off, your workout needs to have some sort of cardio warm-up and little bit of light stretching before
you do any of the heavy lifting. It doesn't have to be anything intense; all you have to do is about five
minutes of running on the treadmill and then about five additional minutes of stretching. This essential to get
your blood flowing and to prevent any injuries from occurring when you're doing your weight lifting.
Another type of warm-up you should include in your bodybuilding program is warming up with your main
exercise. After you do your cardio stretching, you need to warm up your muscle groups, and the best way to
do that is by doing light versions of one of your weight lifting exercises. For example let's say you wanted to
do upper body workouts for the day and your main exercise is going to be the bench press. Your first set
should be 50% of your normal weight for 10 repetitions. In your next rep should be 60% for six reps. And
then keep on doing something similar for about three more sets. If you look at the end of this article, you'll
see a sample workout session where I'll be describing this in more detail.
Don't try to work on your muscles in the same day; spread them throughout the week
Good weight lifting workout routines need to have a certain focus on each day of the workout. You should
be grouping some your larger muscle groups together on each of the days. For example, on Monday, you
should do triceps, chest, and shoulders; on Wednesday you should do biceps and back; and on Friday, you
should do legs and abs. By working out each year muscle groups one time per week you'll give them enough
time to repair themselves and grow.
One common newbie mistake is overtraining. They workout the same muscles more than once per week,
which sometimes doesn't allow the muscles to repair. Remember that muscle growth doesn't happen during
the workout itself. Muscles only grow in mass when they repair themselves and have a proper amount of rest
in between each your workouts. The more time you give your muscles to rest in between your workouts, the
more time they will to have to repair and grow.
Workout until exhaustion for each of your days
Your muscles are only going to build if push yourself. With each new weekly should be pushing yourself by
either increasing your weight slightly (2.5 or 5 pounds) or by increasing your reps by 2 to 4. For weight
lifting to be effective, you have to keep on working until your muscles are exhausted. Exhaustion is defined
as when your muscles can no longer do an exercise properly. Keep in mind that you should always use
proper form and to use steady movements in order reduce the risks of injury.
Repetitions
If you're using the correct amount of weight, you should only be doing about 8 to 12 reps per set when
you're working on your muscles. 8 is a pretty good number, and if you reach 12 then you should probably
grab some heavier weights. If you go any higher than 12 then you're less likely to build muscle mass and
more likely to tone it.
Sets
A proper weight lifting workout routine should have about 4 to 7 sets for each exercise (this is assuming that
you have approximately 4-6 different exercises for the day; if you have many more exercises, then you'll
want to reduce the amount of sets per exercise so that you don't completely drain yourself before you
complete the workout). It shouldn't take you hours in order to finish your weight lifting workout routines; in
fact, they should only take you one hour to finish. Write down what you are able to perform so that you can
keep track of your progress.
Resting period in between each set
After you finish each of your sets, you need a resting period. For the best time efficiency, your resting
period should be about 60 seconds to 90 seconds. If you feel that you need to rest longer for the next set,
then do so.
Water
Drinking water during a workout is essential. Need to keep your body hydrated because if your body is just
even slightly dehydrated this could be a drop in your performance. If you drink enough water before during
and after the workout, then you'll feel to get the most out of your weight lifting efforts.
Nutrition
Diet is another important element of your weight lifting workout routines. To give your muscles enough
energy for the workout, you should be eating high glycemic carbohydrate foods right before the workout.
For example, a fruit would be good before the workout. Including some protein in your workout will also
help control your blood sugar levels.
After-Workout Nutrition
Within one hour immediately after your workout, you should be consuming protein and good carbohydrates.
Liquid whey protein and high glycemic carbohydrates absorb quickly, so they're the best things to eat/drink
right after your workout. This is also an important time to consume a lot of calories; your muscles need
calories in order to repair themselves and grow.
Protein
As I said before, your body needs protein (especially after the workout) as part of its weight lifting workout
routines in order to repair itself. To get the protein absorbed into the body as quickly as possible, many
bodybuilders bring along protein shakes or protein powders with liquid to drink right after the workout is
done.
You should try and avoid eating fatty foods during the 1 hour after your workout, because they will slow
down your body's absorption of essential nutrients.
Sample Routines
Do all of your sets until your muscles fail. Write down your progress, so that you can push yourself the next
week and beat the previous week's. Remember to increase your weights and/or reps each week.
Warm-Up
- 5 minutes of running/jogging
- 1st set of an exercise: 50% of normal weight, 10 reps
- 2nd set of an exercise: 60% of normal weight, 6 reps
- 3rd set of an exercise: 70% of normal weight, 4 reps
- 4th set of an exercise: 80% of normal weight, 2 reps
- 5th set of an exercise: 90% of normal weight, 1 rep
Remember, as I said before in the article, you should aim for 8-12 reps and about 4-7 sets for good weight
lifting workout routines. 1 hour is enough time to work out your muscles; spending hours at the gym isn't
necessary! If you feel that you can push yourself, then increase your sets!
Monday (Chest, shoulder, triceps)
- Warm up
- Flat Barbell Bench Press
- Incline Dumbbell Press
- Lateral Raises
- Barbell Shoulder Press
- Bench Dips
- Triceps Pull downs
Wednesday (Back and biceps)
- Warm-up
- Dead lifts
- Standing Barbell Curls
- Seated Dumbbell Curls
- Wrist Curls
Friday (Legs and abs)
- Warm-up
- Squats
- Leg Curls
- Calf Raises
- Abdominal Crunches
Want to learn more about how I build my body and lose fat? I've been working on my own fitness blog,
which contains free articles about weight lifting, diet & nutrition, weight loss, and just about every topic you
can think of in regards to sculpting your body. Read articles and get more free advice by visiting my fitness
blog, Elite Fitness Zone.
I've also written up helpful reviews of bodybuilding programs that can help you out within weeks. One of
my recommended programs is "Your Six Pack Quest", which is a program designed specifically to build
muscle mass on the average guy. It gives you a full workout routine for 52-weeks, along with full diet
schedules to maximize your muscle growth. Learn more about it here: Your Six Pack Quest review
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