Many of us have a hard time achieving our goal to build those big muscles that we so desire. We may have developed the best plan of diet, training and supplements, yet we fail to see significant results. Indeed, it may have nothing at all to do with these key areas but rather our own discipline and consistency in training. Needless to say, frustration soon follows and bodybuilding becomes just another one of those sometime goal. If this sounds all too familiar to you, here are 6 tips to help you make that breakthrough:

1. Motivate Yourself (Push)

Remind yourself as many times as is needed why do you body build? Perhaps you want to have an absolutely great body for others to admire. Maybe you are tired of that skinny label or maybe just to take your mind off things. Whatever the reasons, you must have a strong enough motivational push before your mind will obey.

2. Picture Yourself (Pull)

Begin with the end goal in mind of where you want to get to. By picturing yourself as having attained your goal is a good motivational pull that will make every weight you lift and every push-up you do a pleasurable experience.

3. Make Time For It

Sure, there are many things going on in your life such as family, social of work obligations that impact your plans, such as that last minute office meeting, the report you have to submit, that home project you would like to complete and so on. The truth is nothing will change about you until you change.

4. Invest Money

Have you ever had the experience where you received something for free or it came cheap, you soon forget about it? Compare it to something else which cost you a lot more like a gym membership or a complete home workout equipment. I assure you that you will soon be finding ways to maximize its use

5. Find a Training Buddy or Group

Human nature is to not disappoint another person. You can work this to your best advantage by scheduling trainings together, in which case both of you will benefit. Likewise if you were to join a gym, there will be people there who will expect to see you.

6. Fun and Relaxation

Bodybuilding is like a safe habor where you can dock. By having your mind focused on something else other than some of life’s negative preoccupation, it becomes a form of fun and relaxation that will help you keep consistency in training.

There are indeed many different things that can hold you back from your bodybuilding goals. So apart from having the right diet, training and supplements, a bodybuilder needs to have the right mindset, motivation, discipline and endurance in order to succeed. Interestingly, these are also character building attributes that comes as an added bonus with bodybuilding.

Here are the basic guidelines to make the most of your workout:

• Choose the method of exercise. These can be exercise machines, free weights or even using your own body weight. If you are a beginner, exercise machines are probably the safest. Once you feel that you have cultivated sufficient muscular strength and endurance, you can progress to free weights. The advantage of free weights is it will provide for greater muscular development since there is now an added element lateral motion control that was previously provided by the guides of the exercise machines.

• The second step is to select the exercise for each of the main muscle groups e.g. arms, chest, shoulders, abdomen, hips, legs, thighs and back. You should usually select around 8 to 10 exercise types covering all of these muscle groups.

• To figure the ideal weight to carry for each type of exercise, perform a series of 10 to 12 reps for that exercise each time progressively adding weights until you find that you have reached the limit where you cannot go beyond the last rep. It is good practice to keep a journal of your progress for each type of exercise.
  
  
• As the name resistance training suggests, do not be tempted to jerk the weights, rather pump the weights in a controlled manner i.e. at a constant speed and motion. As a general guideline, you should take approximately 3 seconds to lift the weights and another 3 seconds to bring it down. Breathe normally throughout the exercise. After 2 to 3 cycles of the same exercise, change to another exercise.
  
  
• This is the beginning of a workout routine. Remember, it takes clockwork discipline, consistency and patience. Combined with the right diet and supplements, you can expect to reap the desired benefits in the long run.

Whether you are intending to gain greater muscular mass or reducing your body fat, bodybuilding supplements is one of the key ingredients for success in any bodybuilding program. A person taking supplements usually experience improved performance as well as rapid muscular growth. Hence, its wide use by athletes and bodybuilding enthusiasts.

To understand what types of supplements are available, we can classify these into two broad categories, namely dietary and exercise supplements. Proteins, amino acids and meal replacement diets fall under dietary supplements, whilst creatine and pro-hormones fall under exercise supplements.

Dietary supplements are primarily used for bodybuilding by providing the body with the essential nutrients. Exercise supplements on the other hand are intended as a source of energy to help the muscle contract better, thereby reducing exercise fatigue and a faster recovery rate in between high intensity workouts such as bodybuilding activities.

To further elaborate on the specific types of supplements :

Proteins – as a dietary supplement, it is high in amino acids useful for bodybuilding. There are various different types of proteins, namely egg, soy, casein and whey proteins. These are mostly in powdered form to be taken immediately after a workout session to help the body repair the muscle tissue and facilitate muscle growth.

Branched chain amino acids – these form the building blocks of protein which is another popular dietary supplement for bodybuilders.

Glutamine - in certain instances, this naturally occurring human amino acid may be depleted by rigorous exercises. It not replaced by supplements, it could lead to muscle waste and/or a weakened immune system.

Meal replacement diets – as the name suggests, these are meal replacements to control weight gain and are mostly formulated to be rich in vitamins, proteins, minerals with low carbohydrate and fat content.

Creatine and pro-hormones – widely used by bodybuilders as exercise supplements for reasons described earlier. Its effectiveness is greatly enhanced when used in conjunction with a high protein diet.

It is confirmed. Muscles grow in your sleep!

In the bodybuilding community, we are all fully aware the blueprint for absolute success is to have the right combination of diet, weight training and supplements. However, the one ingredient that is most often overlooked is in the area of sleep. Not just sleep per se but undisturbed plentiful healing sleep, as though I cannot describe it enough.

To put it in simple terms, activities in the gym stimulate muscle growth. However, a major part of the growth occurs when the body is in a deep state of rest. This is the time when the body’s natural growth hormones are released helping to repair those damaged muscle fibers and in the process help the muscle grow.

If you deny your body of this important event, your muscles may not be able to achieve its maximum potential growth that comes with your intense workout. In fact, what could possibly happen is you return to the gym only to find that you are not able to have the same intensive workout you had in the earlier session. This is a sure sign your muscles have not had sufficient healing rest to recover fully.

So how much sleep do you require? It varies with people although generally more is better. On average, a good 8 to 10 hours undisturbed sleep each night would be ideal.

To conclude, you will achieve greater progress with better muscle growth results if you do not overlook the importance of good sleep in between workouts. This is a key strategy for successful bodybuilding.

The right combination of diet, weight training and supplements all go a long way into building muscle mass with the desired tone and cut. These are the three basic rules of every successful bodybuilder. Let’s explore each of them in greater detail:


Rule No. 1: The Right Diet

• No amount of workout is going to help you achieve your ultimate goal of building body mass without having the right diet in place. The general rule is you will need to consume specific foods for the workout activity that you plan to do, not so much as after the activity is complete. If you did the opposite, you are more likely to accumulate fats rather than build muscle mass. Hence, the following points should be considered:
• Drink lots of water up to 8 glasses throughout the day to keep yourself hydrated during your workouts.
• Skipping meals will not help you lose weight the way you plan it. This is a pure myth. The body in effect senses this and as a natural self-protection automatically adjusts its metabolic balance to keep the fats in reserve whilst cannibalizing muscle mass for use as energy instead of fats.
• Instead, consume up to five small meals a day instead of the standard 3 square meals. Doing this will trick your body into a continuous slow burn of the calories hence fat whilst keeping your hunger at bay. What you really wish to avoid is an increase in the overall intake of food.
• Limit your carbohydrate intake during the initial weeks of your workout.
• Conscientiously keep track of your calorie intake by keeping a journal, including a record of your workout activities and weight changes. This will help you decide if you need to increase or decrease your food consumption. With today’s technologies, we have the option to use any off-the-shelf PC or handheld software that can do this for us effectively.
• Keeping a close watch on nutritional information and sodium content in the foods that we buy everyday is important. Salt or sodium has the effect of causing water retention in out bodies.

Rule No. 2: The Right Weight Training

• Heard of the statement “No Pain, No Gain!”. This is great as a motivational statement but should not be taken out of context, at least not in weight training. Successful weight training is about progressively building up your muscle capacity for lifting heavier weights beginning with resistance training.
• Lifting weights heavier than what your muscles can currently handle will only result in serious injuries. Even the Olympians carefully and progressively choose the weights they carry during a weight lifting competition. For our purpose, once you have reached the right weights to carry, focus instead on repetitions to build muscle mass and capacity for the next level of weights.

Rule N0. 3: The Right Supplements

• Proteins are the basic building blocks of lean tissue mass. Whenever we do weight training or engage in other high strength activities, our muscular tissue is constantly undergoing a cycle of damage and reconstruction. Proteins therefore play an important part in rebuilding with lean tissue mass. Obviously the more we train, the more protein we will require.
• Traditionally, we get our sources of protein from food items like eggs, milk, cheese, fish, poultry and red meat. However, we do not always get this dietary balance in our food intake. Dietary supplements like specially formulated protein powder will help.

In summary, never lose sight of these three basic rules when building up your body i.e. right diet, weight training and supplements.

So you've just joined or are planning to join a local gym. You've bought those shiny new dumbbells and can't wait to get started on building those great big muscles that everyone will adore. The new you is rising.

Strength training is only one-half of the story. Really, the right path to fitness is an exercise program that combines strength training with a cardio workout. In short, your heart muscle development is as important if not more than your body muscle development as it will form the cornerstone of your total fitness. Think of a sports car with a beautiful body. Much effort has been put into its design and we all expect it to outperform just as perfectly. What if someone forgot about the engine under the hood? Can you imagine what a letdown once you step on the gas? Worse, the engine dies on you.

Contrary to popular belief, weight training will not help to keep your heart muscles in good shape nor will it be 100% effective in helping you reduce weight. So let's do this right and begin by learning the basics of a good cardio fitness program. When you engage in regular aerobic exercises, your heart will be caused to pump faster and in so doing develop stronger heart muscles. A strong heart ensures your blood will flow more efficiently throughout your body supplying every part of your body with the much needed oxygen and nutrients. Naturally, your muscles will benefit directly from this and when combined with strength training, will grow faster and better.

The other side effects or should I say the benefits of engaging in regular cardio workouts is a significant 20% to 50% reduction in the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, including the risk of heart attack or stroke. We might be tempted to say it will never happen to us, but this couldn't be farther from the truth. In reality, most of us today live in a fast foods, fast paced, high stress and often sedentary work environment which contributes greatly to this risk.

Regular cardio workouts also lead to the body developing higher metabolic rates which in turn causes the body to continue to burn fat outside of your workout session. What a great weight loss program! Sounds too good to be true? Well it is your body's natural slimming spa. Soon you can say goodbye to that beer belly and start walking tall. Your feeling of all round wellness will return, rapidly I might add.

So how do you begin? Well, it is free and you can begin the program anytime. However, I would strongly recommend you first pay a visit to your doctor to ensure you are ready for it. If you have not been exercising for a long time, you can gradually work towards a faster pace including running over longer sustained periods. You can also join an aerobics class or a gym with thread-mill equipment to help you achieve the same result. The idea is to raise that heart rate for a controlled period of time to work those heart muscles. Remember to warm up with those stretching exercises both before and after the workout.

You body is your best advisor. If during your cardio workout your body is telling you to stop, you should pause to rest before deciding to go on. Many people fail to understand or ignore this warning which may result in serious consequences. Everything should be done in moderation at a pace comfortable to you. Know your body, know yourself.

A good cardio workout program must complement your strength training. Two to three days of weekly strength training combined with your cardio workout should give you the best result. On this note, I wish you every success in reaching your goal of a leaner, healthier and bigger you.