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From Hugo Rivera
Let's Get Started On The Path To A New You Through Bodybuiding!
To help you achieve your bodybuilding endeavors, whether these are to simply gain a few pounds of muscle and lose a lot of bodyfat to look good at the beach, to gain tons of muscle weight or to get ready for a bodybuilding competition, I decided to put together this resource guide that will point you to all of the relevant information that you will need in order to accomplish your goals.
You will find everything here: bodybuilding training routines, diet plans and bodybuilding supplements' advice. Now there is no excuse for not accomplishing your bodybuilding goals in this New Year!
1. Set realistic and measurable goals and attack them with the right mindset. I always say, aim high but be realistic. For instance, if on the next 12 weeks you plan on losing 50 lbs of fat, then that is unrealistic. Instead, settle for a loss of 1.5 to 2 lbs on the average per week and that will equate to 18-24 lbs! Twelve more weeks of dieting and you will accomplish your long-term 50 lb loss. When it comes to muscle gain we really need to be patient. If you have 14-inch arms, do not expect them to be 18 by the end of 12 weeks. Instead settle for ¼ - ½ of an inch. If however, you are an advanced stage, like myself for instance, it took me a year and a half to get my arms from 18 inches to 18.5 inches. Therefore, the more advanced you are, the more patient you need to be.
In bodybuilding, patience and perseverance will be your best allies
2. Select a training routine that fits your schedule and is designed for your goals and level of training. There are many factors to consider when choosing a training routine:
A) Training experience – How long you have been training for; are you a beginner, intermediate or advanced athlete?
B) Your training goals – Are you looking for fat loss with moderate muscle gain or are you looking to gain muscle exclusively? Or are you training for a bodybuilding competition?
C) The amount of time that you can devote to bodybuilding training – Can you train 3 days, 4 days, 5 days or 6 days? If your goal is bodybuilding competition, will you be able to train everyday?
3. Select a nutrition program that is designed to support your goals. Your nutrition program has to be properly designed to support your bodybuilding goals.
4. Use bodybuilding supplements to help you attain your goals. As I have discussed in previous articles, the amount of supplementation that you will use will depend mainly on your goals, how serious you are about your bodybuilding program (for instance are you following your training and diet to the “T”?) and finally your budget. At the bare minimum, assuming that you are training and dieting correctly as well as getting enough rest, you will need a multiple vitamin/mineral formula, some chromium picolinate, vitamin C, and a source of essential fats such as fish oils, flax oil or extra virgin olive oil. Protein shakes are convenient too as for most of us it is hard to eat 6-8 real meals a day, however small they may be
5. Do not neglect the important aspect of rest and recovery. You need 7 - 9 hours of sleep each night in order for your body to run efficiently. Deprive your body of sleep and you'll have lousy fat loss. As a bonus, you also get muscle loss, which in turn lowers your metabolism. You also get deprived hormonal production, which makes it difficult (nearly impossible really) to build muscle and as an added feature you’ll have to deal with lower energy levels, something not conductive to great workouts
Conclusion
Not a day goes by when I get asked: “What do you take to look like that?!” As you can see, it’s not a matter of “what do you take”, but more a matter of what do you do on a daily basis to accomplish your bodybuilding goals. I wish I could tell you that bodybuilding is easy and all it requires is that you show up to the gym and lift some weights. Successful bodybuilding requires a permanent lifestyle change that needs to be executed day in and day out in order to accomplish your goals. There are no shortcuts to a great physique I’m afraid. I have even seen guys (and gals) who have taken steroids hoping that these drugs would give them the flawless physique that they are looking for in no time. Sadly, due to improper training and lack of dieting these subjects do not even come close to looking the way that they wanted to. So my point is that not even steroids are the magic bullet that some people think they are. And even if they trained hard and dieted right, the legal risks (as steroids are illegal without a medical prescription) and potential issues that come with lack of medical monitoring (combined with not knowing what to do with these drugs) are unacceptable. Determination and consistency in the execution of a proven bodybuilding plan are the only way in which you will reach the physical goals that you have set out to accomplish. Wishing you the very best in this New Year!
Let's Get Started On The Path To A New You Through Bodybuiding!
To help you achieve your bodybuilding endeavors, whether these are to simply gain a few pounds of muscle and lose a lot of bodyfat to look good at the beach, to gain tons of muscle weight or to get ready for a bodybuilding competition, I decided to put together this resource guide that will point you to all of the relevant information that you will need in order to accomplish your goals.
You will find everything here: bodybuilding training routines, diet plans and bodybuilding supplements' advice. Now there is no excuse for not accomplishing your bodybuilding goals in this New Year!
1. Set realistic and measurable goals and attack them with the right mindset. I always say, aim high but be realistic. For instance, if on the next 12 weeks you plan on losing 50 lbs of fat, then that is unrealistic. Instead, settle for a loss of 1.5 to 2 lbs on the average per week and that will equate to 18-24 lbs! Twelve more weeks of dieting and you will accomplish your long-term 50 lb loss. When it comes to muscle gain we really need to be patient. If you have 14-inch arms, do not expect them to be 18 by the end of 12 weeks. Instead settle for ¼ - ½ of an inch. If however, you are an advanced stage, like myself for instance, it took me a year and a half to get my arms from 18 inches to 18.5 inches. Therefore, the more advanced you are, the more patient you need to be.
In bodybuilding, patience and perseverance will be your best allies
2. Select a training routine that fits your schedule and is designed for your goals and level of training. There are many factors to consider when choosing a training routine:
A) Training experience – How long you have been training for; are you a beginner, intermediate or advanced athlete?
B) Your training goals – Are you looking for fat loss with moderate muscle gain or are you looking to gain muscle exclusively? Or are you training for a bodybuilding competition?
C) The amount of time that you can devote to bodybuilding training – Can you train 3 days, 4 days, 5 days or 6 days? If your goal is bodybuilding competition, will you be able to train everyday?
3. Select a nutrition program that is designed to support your goals. Your nutrition program has to be properly designed to support your bodybuilding goals.
4. Use bodybuilding supplements to help you attain your goals. As I have discussed in previous articles, the amount of supplementation that you will use will depend mainly on your goals, how serious you are about your bodybuilding program (for instance are you following your training and diet to the “T”?) and finally your budget. At the bare minimum, assuming that you are training and dieting correctly as well as getting enough rest, you will need a multiple vitamin/mineral formula, some chromium picolinate, vitamin C, and a source of essential fats such as fish oils, flax oil or extra virgin olive oil. Protein shakes are convenient too as for most of us it is hard to eat 6-8 real meals a day, however small they may be
5. Do not neglect the important aspect of rest and recovery. You need 7 - 9 hours of sleep each night in order for your body to run efficiently. Deprive your body of sleep and you'll have lousy fat loss. As a bonus, you also get muscle loss, which in turn lowers your metabolism. You also get deprived hormonal production, which makes it difficult (nearly impossible really) to build muscle and as an added feature you’ll have to deal with lower energy levels, something not conductive to great workouts
Conclusion
Not a day goes by when I get asked: “What do you take to look like that?!” As you can see, it’s not a matter of “what do you take”, but more a matter of what do you do on a daily basis to accomplish your bodybuilding goals. I wish I could tell you that bodybuilding is easy and all it requires is that you show up to the gym and lift some weights. Successful bodybuilding requires a permanent lifestyle change that needs to be executed day in and day out in order to accomplish your goals. There are no shortcuts to a great physique I’m afraid. I have even seen guys (and gals) who have taken steroids hoping that these drugs would give them the flawless physique that they are looking for in no time. Sadly, due to improper training and lack of dieting these subjects do not even come close to looking the way that they wanted to. So my point is that not even steroids are the magic bullet that some people think they are. And even if they trained hard and dieted right, the legal risks (as steroids are illegal without a medical prescription) and potential issues that come with lack of medical monitoring (combined with not knowing what to do with these drugs) are unacceptable. Determination and consistency in the execution of a proven bodybuilding plan are the only way in which you will reach the physical goals that you have set out to accomplish. Wishing you the very best in this New Year!