Nobody can be at 100% all of the time. When athletes try to play with that intensity, they usually wash out of their game after a few years. Those professionals who have the ability to step back for a few months every off-season to allow the bodies – and more importantly their minds – to rest are usually those with much greater longevity in the sport of their choosing. When it comes to bodybuilding, the same tenets apply. Those bodybuilders who take 2 to 3 months off of continuous training following a tough competitive season are usually the guys that end up being able to compete for 10 year or more. On the other hand, the men who complete a show, take the afternoon off, then return to the gym ...

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Achieving bodybuilding muscle mass is the goal of everything we do in the gym. When we sit down at dinner to throw down our 50 grams of protein and 100 grams of carbohydrates every 180 minutes during the day, bodybuilding muscle mass is at the forefront of our mind. It is a process that can take months and years to complete. But in the end, you will look like a new person. You just have to start slow, follow a good game plan, and show a lot of patience if you want to develop the level of muscle mass that makes you stand out from your peers, even in the gym. In the beginning, as you start your bodybuilding journey, mass is the name of the game. You work to achieve it at ...

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The most essential elements for women bodybuilders are vitamins and mineral formulas. To be specific, vitamin C should be divided into 3 equal portions and each portion should be taken after every meal throughout the day. This means during breakfast, lunch and supper. Calcium is the most appropriate of all minerals to the female bodybuilder. The compound from which it is absorbed into the body is called calcium citrate. To add onto the minerals, you ought to take Chromium Picolinate which is best taken together with the necessary fatty acids which come from many animals such as fish and cattle. In fish, the products are called fish oil. Other options include extra virgin olive oil and flax-seed oil. To boost the effectiveness of these supplements, it is advisable that women bodybuilders use meal replacement procedures of their choice which should go hand in ...

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Are you interested in using creatine, but aren’t familiar with the product? Here are a few points that all bodybuilders, advanced and novice, should consider before utilizing this very useful product. Variants There are several different types of creatine available on the market. The original, and still most popular, is the unflavored, pure micronized creatine monohydrate. It is effective when mixed with water, but most bodybuilders prefer to mix it with juice. The sugar in the combination allows it to be absorbed into the digestive system much more readily. Because of this, supplement companies have come out with a new product offering which pre-mixed creatine with sugar. This is then mixed with water and consumed. This product costs about double what you would pay for plain creatine powder. There are other compounds, including ...

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Back width is perhaps the single most important factor in determining who walks away with the overall trophy in bodybuilding competitions.  We’ve seen men like Lee Haney, Dorian Yates, and Ronnie Coleman dominate in bodybuilding competition, despite injuries and conditioning shortcomings, simply because they had the biggest and widest backs in the sport at the time.  When they turned around, it was “Lights Out!”  In fact, in 2006, Ronnie Coleman sustained nerve damage in his lat muscle, the exact same year that Jay Cutler entered the show with the widest back he had ever shown on a pro stage.  And, true to tradition, Cutler walked away with the Sandow trophy.  Bodybuilding standards are simple – the man with the biggest back usually wins the show.  Obtaining the biggest – more specifically, the widest – back onstage isn’t an easy thing for ...

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Great athletes are often born, not built. Usain Bolt was without a doubt, the fastest 3rd grader, 8th grader, and 10th grader at his school. Of course there were people in his class who probably trained harder and ran the track more often. They might have even had cleaner diets, and wanted it more than Bolt did. However, thanks to genetics and circumstances, Bolt reached the apex of his sport, winning multiple gold medals and shattering world records, while we’ll never hear of those schoolmates who outworked him a decade ago. In track, as with most sports, the tools you are both with will dictate your success. Bodybuilding is different in that you really do wear your work. There will always be genetic freaks such as Ronnie Coleman who will dwarf most lifetime trainers without even ...

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As we reach our 30s and 40s, the temptation to use hormone replacement therapy to boost your body’s lagging testosterone levels becomes greater and greater. When you’re in your twenties, you think about steroid use, but you never “need” it. When you’re 42 and your testosterone levels suddenly crash on you, the need for testosterone just to enjoy a normal sex drive or lifting prowess may facilitate the need to use artificial testosterone. However, before you jump in, there are a number of questions you should ask yourself. Do you have a genetic predisposition to prostate cancer? Talk to your parents, aunts, and uncles. See what, if any, ailments of the prostate your older relatives encountered. You’re probably safe if your weekly dosage of testosterone is low (50 to 100 mg). It’s only when you inch into ...

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Muscle catabolism occurs when there are more negative than positive agents working in the body. Muscles are always either growing or shrinking – there is no holding pattern. Stress and poor diet/training/sleep patterns can lead to muscle catabolism, and it results in the bodybuilder-feeling run-down, losing muscle, and gaining fat. How can one escape this catabolic state? Here are a few tips in each of the four major areas (nutrition, supplementation, sleep, and training) for leaving the catabolic state, and entering the anabolic state. Nutrition This is the most important aspect of recovery, and therefore leaving the catabolic state. Eat. Eat more. Eat more red meat. Include more simple carbs after training – Very important, as it decreases post-training cortisol production. Eat Oysters. Eat 8 times per day. Eat once during the night. A glass ...

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The male body acquires some changes that are termed as ‘masculinity’ when the person attains the age of puberty or adolescence. These changes are critical to the development of the person and as such they must be discussed in the context of bodybuilding because in a certain way they do influence the results that are acquired courtesy of the effort that the individual puts in this sport. It is because of these changes that the bodybuilder needs to be aware of certain aspects that will indeed be influential in making some decisions. The changes that we are discussing in this article are mainly due to the influences of the hormone testosterone. When the body reports an excess of this hormone then signals are emitted that communicate that a reduction in the levels of the hormones responsible for follicle stimulation and leutinization ...

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Have you ever turned off your mp3 player in the free weight area of your local gym, and listened to the conversations being had by the young beginning bodybuilders, ages 16 to 20? Ignore the usual filler about females, school, sports, and music, and instead try to catch the discussion on training and supplementation. Very often, beginner bodybuilders will pay far greater attention to measuring the doses of their daily supplements, than they will to the form and methods they employ in the gym, or the foods they put in their bodies. They’ll consume two poor meals (under 100 grams of protein total) and a few cans of soda in any given day. They’ll train in an unsafe, ineffective manner, creating muscle group imbalances and really wasting a great deal of time in the gym. ...

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