Bodybuilding Beginners Tips

When it comes to looking for ways to shape your body as well as increasing strength, bodybuilding tops the lists. An ultimate muscle building system, it reduces stress levels and teaches you to eat healthier. All you need is a will to maintain a strict fitness schedule and an undying motivation to transform yourself from being lean to being fit. For amateurs, however, there are certain things that one should keep into consideration before taking a step ahead. The foremost thing that one needs to realize is that he/she is a beginner and that there can be no comparison with professional body builders, at this stage.

For those of you who are new to weight training, or would like change to your routine, check out this program that I was first introduced to. This weight training program is exactly what I started with and it enabled me to start training safely and familiarize myself with the gym, at a welcoming pace.

If this is your first time in the gym, do one set of each exercise, for 10 reps. Once you are comfortable with this program, perform the number of sets and reps mentioned.

Rest about 1 minute between sets.
For intermediate to advanced lifters your rep range will depend on your goals. For size, train in the 8 - 12 rep range. For power, train in the 2 - 5 rep range.
For endurance, train in the rep range of 15 - 30.

As a beginner, you can train more frequently than intermediates and advanced trainers. The reason is simple: as you get more experienced, you learn to push your muscles harder and inflict more damage that takes longer to recover from. Beginners, on the other hand, get sore but bounce back quicker since the muscular damage isn't as severe.

If the word "damage" makes you flinch, don't worry. It's a good thing for a bodybuilder to incur limited muscle damage, because it nudges the body to recover and overcompensate (grow) slightly to prepare for future workouts. This is what bodybuilding is all about - a continuous cycle of one-step-back, two-steps-forward, repeated over and over on a weekly basis.

With this in mind it is also easy to see why rest and sleep is extremely important, since this is the time when the body does the two-steps-forward phase.