Striving for Perfection: Bodybuilding Workouts
There are many people who want to sculpt their bodies. They want to slim up; add a little muscle and lose a lot of fat. But they do not want to bulk up. Women especially are fearful of building too much muscle and losing their sense of femininity, or of looking bigger than they are due to the muscles of their arms and thighs. This type of fitness goal, called body sculpting, is the most popular goal of gym goers. However, bodybuilding is a completely different world, and bodybuilding workouts are a lot different, and a lot more intense, than those performed by individuals wanting only to slim up. Bodybuilders desire just the opposite.
Achieving the Goal
Bodybuilders aim for much more muscle mass than the average athlete, and an even smaller body fat percentage. This extreme difference between muscle weight and fat is astounding, and pushes the body to its limits: the body is not meant for this kind of stress. Therefore, in order to be successful, and to avoid injury, bodybuilding workouts must follow strict guidelines.
Bodybuilding workouts must be short, around 60 minutes in length. After a long period of time, muscle building and fat burning hormones drop. Training beyond this point is pointless; the body no longer has the capabilities of synthesizing muscle, and the body panics and stores fat rather than burning it. Short training sessions also increase the amount of hormones released; longer exercises not only result in counterproductive effects, but are not as successful period. Rests in-between sets should also be kept to a minimum. This allows for more potential repetitions during bodybuilding workouts before the body begins to tire, and also adds an element of cardiovascular training to the weight routine. Training should also be varied. If bodybuilding workouts are not cycled, the body suffers from muscle memory, and muscle is not gained at all.
Above all, repetitions must be kept between eight and 15, for numerous reasons. Blood flows the best during these kinds of bodybuilding workouts, and it is blood that carries the nutrients to the muscles that help them recover and build. Larger amounts of repetitions also result in less injury, as this usually indicates that the weight used is realistic. Many bodybuilders attempt heavier weights when they have no business lifting them; as a result, they can only manage four to six repetitions and risk serious injury. While short periods of intense lifting is useful once in awhile, daily attempts at lifting the heaviest weights possible will result in zero progress.
