It almost seems like the debate between using free weights versus using machines in the gym is like an intense rivalry between professional sports teams. At any given time, a heated argument could ensue as each side argues their position. The bodybuilding purists see free weights as the only true option for building serious muscle while those who prefer machines put down the caveman like muscle heads for living in the past. There are certainly merits to each argument, but is there one clear winner in this free weight versus machine debate?

First of all, using free weights to build muscle will most certainly work your muscles more completely and efficiently. When you’re working with free weights, your stabilizing muscles, or the smaller ones surrounding the muscle group you are working, must come into play to keep the weight secure throughout the movement. This helps to build up your overall strength as well as your size as you perform each free weight movement. This is a fantastic benefit of using free weights and is one of the main arguments that proponents of free weights use when discussing the subject. In addition, because bodybuilding started with free weights, they often want to keep the sport alive as their predecessors did by using the traditional means and tools of the sport of bodybuilding.

When looking at machines, however, a different thought process goes into play when speaking about the benefits of these newer and more technical pieces of workout equipment. Machines differ from free weights in that your body will follow a guided path whenever you are performing a specific exercise. Your movements are limited to those movements that the machine can make and this can largely take the efforts of your stabilizing muscles out of play. Those who favor machines say this negative is overcome by the fact that you can specialize on working each individual muscle group more specifically because of its targeted effect. For instance, when using a chest press machine, you may not be working the stabilizing muscles of the shoulder as much as if you were doing a bench press, but your pectoral muscles will receive much more direct stress as you focus on this one muscle group. In addition, they make the point that you are much less likely to be injured when working out with machines than with free weights. This is another great benefit of utilizing machines in your bodybuilding workout.

The fact is, there may not be one clear winner in this age old debate. Both free weights and machines have their merits in the gym and it is through a carefully designed bodybuilding program that includes both machines and free weights that one can build their body to their fullest potential. You may choose to work out very heavy with free weights when you’re trying to grow your muscles, but then switch to lighter weight higher rep workouts using machines when looking to build definition and give your muscles a rest. Looking for ways to incorporate each into your workout can help give you much more benefit than simply by choosing one or the other.

If you are interested in making continual progress in bodybuilding, the following bodybuilding tips will be worth the read. First, you must keep in mind that there is going to be a time where you aren’t getting the results you want, or even any results at all. There are reasons for this, and in order to continue to make progress (or even to start seeing progress), you need to be familiar with why this occurs.

Even the bodybuilding pros have experienced the dreaded plateau, where all the work they put in just seems to go nowhere. What you need to remember is that this cannot get you down. If you give up just because you aren’t seeing results, you are giving in to failure! Not only can you succeed if you put in the effort to break free of a plateau, but you can also feel good about the fact that you didn’t throw in the towel at the first sign of difficulty.

Now, what are some key bodybuilding tips you can use to overcome stagnation? First, think about your daily habits. If you are consistently eating the same number of calories every day, it is possible that your body is too used to it. One method that many bodybuilders utilize is staggering their diet. For example, on a day with a heavy workout, they will eat 5000 calories, and on their off days, they might eat 3000. This type of decision will encourage muscle growth and match your nutrient intake to your workout routine better.

Never forget that you gain more muscle if you rest. You should already know that the act of weightlifting will actually break down your muscles, and in order to really gain a benefit from those sessions, you have to take a day off in between each one. However, if you have been doing this and you still feel like you’re not making any progress, you might consider taking a week off and letting yourself fully recover––especially if you’ve been at it for over three months. When you do this, you will feel rested and rejuvenated, and can get yourself back into bodybuilding with potentially more muscle and energy than before.

Some other bodybuilding tips include adding a little bit of cardio into your routine. You might be worried that any cardio will burn up the calories you’ve consumed, making you less able to bulk up from your workouts, but there are two things to remember: just being muscular doesn’t necessarily translate to overall health, and adding some variety can encourage growth. Plus, building up your lungpower allows more oxygen to reach your muscles, and that will only improve your success.

These bodybuilding tips can help you with overcoming the plateau. If you feel like you’re stuck, try incorporating some or all of these into your routine. Just make sure you keep at it.

There has been a lot of research conducted on bodybuilding, and separating the wheat from the chaff when it comes to proper bodybuilding techniques can be a challenge. Fortunately, if you study the facts about bodybuilding, you will be able to tell when someone is full of it and when someone truly knows what he’s talking about. Not only this, but you can rely on tried and true bodybuilding techniques and get the results you want.

Among the many bodybuilding techniques you should know is the rule on how to do a single repetition. Believe it or not, some people think that if they do the rep really fast, it somehow makes them stronger or better than someone else. This could not be further from the truth. If you want to master bodybuilding, you need to take your time on every rep. The more your muscle has to work, the more your muscle will grow on your day off. If you concentrate on slow, deliberate movements, you will make the most of every rep.

You might be wondering why this is. Well, for one thing, if you are lowering your weight quickly, you might be letting gravity or momentum help. This is not going to get you the muscles you want! When you lift and lower your weights in a controlled manner, everything you are doing is coming from the strength of your muscles. It’s the definition of success in weightlifting: more resistance means more muscle.

If you want to maximize your performance in various bodybuilding techniques, try counting to five on your way up, and five again on your way down. That means that you should take at least ten seconds on an average rep. If you haven’t been doing this, you might be surprised, but if you think about the science behind it, you can understand why this is so beneficial. In addition, you might try holding the weight at the top for a count of one. This forces you to really slow down and then stop, and in this situation, there is absolutely no momentum or gravity helping you to support the weight. Then, once you’ve held for a count of one, your muscles have to work harder to lower the weights again.

Hopefully this isn’t news to you, but if it is, that’s an indication that you need to be more solidly familiar with all the bodybuilding techniques out there. This kind of knowledge will be instrumental in actually achieving your desired results. Imagine only knowing one half of how a sport like football is played. Let’s say you only understood how defense worked. That means that a whole half of the sport is foreign to you, not to mention the fact that you don’t understand how the two halves relate to the overall picture. If you don’t understand all aspects of weightlifting, you’re selling yourself short.

Make it your mission to learn as much about bodybuilding techniques as you can, and you will find success.

While the goal of many diet and exercise programs is to get as small as possible, the goal for bodybuilders is usually to get as big as possible. Big as in lots of muscle, not fat. Getting big in this case can be just as hard as it is for overweight people to get small through dieting and fat loss. Muscle takes time to build and also requires specific exercises and foods to help the process along. Simply going to your local gym and picking up a few weights is not going to help you build significant muscle. Instead, you’ll have to follow tried and true principles of body building that some still regard as secrets because of the lack of people that actually follow the advice.

One of the first keys to building muscle mass when bodybuilding is to use the proper weight. In order to build muscle, you have to go heavy. It’s really that simple. Your muscles only grow after they have faced a challenge that makes them experience stress needed in order for them to be damaged and then have to repair themselves. It is this repair process that results in your gaining bigger muscles. If you choose to go light, your body will very quickly become used to the workload and no growth will occur. A good rule of thumb is to use a weight that you can only lift for 10 repetitions in a strict manner. If you are able to perform much more than 10 reps, you are probably not doing enough work for your body to gain muscle. In addition, if you cannot perform 10 strict reps, you may be using a weight that is too heavy and you risk damaging yourself.

The next bodybuilding secret we’ll talk about is that of compound movements. Compound movements are those in which you will use several muscle groups at one time to perform the exercise. When you are working more muscle groups at one time, you are able to lift much heavier weight and will therefore speed up the process of adding muscle to your entire body. One of the best examples of a compound exercise that is effective in helping you build muscle is the squat. This exercise will work almost your entire body and certainly all of the muscles of your lower body very effectively.

While there are certainly more techniques we could list that will help you in your process to gain muscle, the last one we will mention in this article and perhaps the most important one you’ll ever learn is rest. The fact is your muscles will only grow during periods of rest. I am not talking about the rest between exercises but instead the rest you experience while sleeping at night and the time between actual workouts. Getting adequate amounts of rest at night and between workouts is vital to your gaining muscle. All too often, be generous will work out day after day and never give their body any time to rest. They are then surprised by their lack of muscle development and become frustrated. In addition, this often leads to overtraining which will certainly halt the progress of new muscle. Make sure to get significant amounts of rest each and every night and after working out for two or three consecutive days, take an entire day off to give your body time to recover.

While the above may not exactly seem like well guarded secrets, they do represent some of the most effective admonitions you can take advantage of when trying to build muscle through bodybuilding.

Whether you are totally new to bodybuilding or a self-proclaimed pro, there might be bodybuilding myths out there that are ruining your chances of maximizing your workouts, and in some cases, even causing you harm. If you are open-minded enough to challenge some of your beliefs about bodybuilding, you can set better set yourself up for success.

There are lots of people who go to the gym, do some halfhearted workouts a few times per week, and then give up when they don’t see results. They don’t know the right way to maximize results and they observe people who know just as little as they do.  Never forget that bodybuilding is based on science. While some topics out there might change over time, solid scientific concepts don’t go away. If anything, they are merely expounded on in the future.

This is how you should look at bodybuilding. In addition to what you read here, find out further information about what is true in bodybuilding based on science, not based on questionable companies trying to sell you a product or on other guys who claim they know what to do. Only once you understand the science behind bodybuilding can you recognize bodybuilding myths when they come up.

With that said, here are some bodybuilding myths you have probably heard countless times. For one, you might think that if you do more repetitions with lighter weights, you will get better results than doing fewer repetitions and more weight. This is the opposite view you should take. The science behind weightlifting says that the muscle won’t be triggered to grow without a proper stimulus, so if you don’t shock the muscle into growth, it won’t get bigger. This happens when you lift fewer reps of more weight, not the other way around.

Another myth is that you should just work out one part of the body every day if you want results. The two problems with this are that you will feel off and look imbalanced if you don’t work out your whole body equally, and that you always need to give your body at least a day off between workouts so your muscles can recover. When you work out, you’re actually injuring your muscles. This isn’t a bad thing, though, because they’re doing their job. Once you’ve used your muscles and they’re sore, they simply are rebuilt stronger because your body recognizes that you need muscle.

Finally, of all the bodybuilding myths, this might be the most harmful: you shouldn’t worry about getting enough sleep. In reality, sleep is one of the most important parts of a successful bodybuilding session, as well as your overall health. If you don’t get adequate sleep, your body doesn’t have the chance to actually rebuild your muscles, because sleep is the only time when your body does this. As a result, you will be just injuring yourself over time.

Hopefully you internalize these bodybuilding myths, and learn how to avoid other bodybuilding myths in the future.

Many people who are looking to lose fat don’t normally think about body building as much as they think about aerobic activities like running or riding a bike. They generally assume that bodybuilding workouts are only designed for those who are looking to get incredibly huge muscles and get slathered with oil and start posing on stage. This is a common misconception and as it turns out, the activity of bodybuilding may be your best and most effective tool for burning significant amounts of fat.

The reason that bodybuilding is so effective at burning fat is because of the extreme amount of calories burned during the exercises themselves. When lifting heavy weights and doing so in a workout but is performed both consistently and to speed, the body will be burning hundreds and hundreds of calories per hour and can often be as effective at burning calories as a strenuous run on the treadmill.

One of the reasons why bodybuilding can be so effective at burning calories and in turn burning fat is because of the large muscle groups that can be worked when one is bodybuilding. Let’s take the squat for instance. The squat is probably the most powerful exercise you can do for your body for both building muscle and losing fat. When you perform a squat, you are activating almost every muscle group in your body. You are certainly targeting the lower body but this includes huge muscles such as your thighs, your lower back, and you’re gluteus maximus. As these huge muscle groups are put into action, they use up large amounts of calories in order to perform the work required of them.

Now, as bodybuilders put on muscle as they become advanced in their efforts, they begin to burn fat automatically even when they are not working out. This is because muscle itself speeds up the metabolism and will burn fat just simply by its existence on your body. When you are building muscle, you are actually building little “fat burning ovens” all over your entire body that will help to speed up your metabolism and burn fat on a regular basis. So don’t just look at the increased muscle you will develop, but instead think about the decrease in fat your body will experience.

Finally, let’s look at the diet of a bodybuilder to uncover one more reason why bodybuilding can be your answer to burning fat. Bodybuilders need significant amounts of protein in order to maintain their muscle mass and build new muscle as well. This is true whether or not you are trying to compete for Mr. Olympia or are just trying to maintain or build muscle for a particular sport that you are involved in. Body building is not necessarily about building huge muscles all the time, but maximizing the muscle you do have so that it is the most effective it can be for your body type. No matter what your goals, you want to increase your intake of protein to make sure that new muscle can be built and that the muscles you do have recover properly after strenuous workouts. Because bodybuilders often have diets that are heavy in protein and low in carbohydrates, this can result in their body beginning to burn existing stores of fat for fuel as their diets often lack the carbohydrates needed to fuel their intense workouts. As the body burns fat for fuel, your muscles will look more defined and your body fat percentage will significantly decrease.

So if the usual diets and fat burning workouts have not been working for you, you might want to give bodybuilding a try and see just how well picking up a few weights can do to burn fat off your body.

In order to truly become the best bodybuilder you can be, you can’t forget that bodybuilding facts are based on science. If you want to succeed, you must immerse yourself in the facts surrounding the act of bodybuilding. Think of what would happen if you tried to drive a car by pushing the brake when you wanted to go forward and pushing the gas when you wanted to stop. Similarly, if you aren’t doing the right things in bodybuilding at the right time, you won’t see the results you want.

Bodybuilding facts are based on science. For one thing, your body isn’t automatically made to be massive and muscular. Your body only becomes strong because it you convince it that you need more muscle to survive. Getting washboard abs, a firm chest, and large biceps is all a matter of understanding the numbers behind it. That means you’ll need to know what types of exercises there are, know how many reps and sets to do, and know how to support your program through caloric intake, supplements, and the proper ratio of macronutrients.

One thing to know is never to work the same muscles two days in a row. One of the most critical bodybuilding facts to know is that the act of working out is harmful to your body. It breaks down your muscles, and it can injure you. The act of rebuilding comes when you sleep and rest. If you strain your muscles day after day, you will not only be crippling your results, but you will probably get to a point where you’ve permanently injured yourself. It’s absolutely essential for you to have rest between workouts.

With that said, you might try splitting up different muscle groups depending on the day. For example, you could focus on the upper body on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, the lower body on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and rest on the weekend. You might decide to group them differently, like chest and triceps one day, and shoulders and legs another day. The important thing is that you stagger your workouts so that all the muscles have days when they can rest before they are used again.

Any days you have off from weightlifting, you can choose to spend doing some light to moderate cardio workouts. This doesn’t have to be anything fancy, and if you are truly hoping to be a bodybuilder, it can work against you to do too much cardio, but doing some will jumpstart your metabolism and improve your lungpower, which in turn will get more oxygen to your muscles during a workout. Also, there’s less advantage to having muscle if it’s all covered up by fat, so burning fat during your off days can enhance the work you are doing with weightlifting.

These bodybuilding facts are a solid foundation in your bodybuilding journey, and hopefully, you take them with you and build on them.

There is very little else that can make or break your success with bodybuilding like your bodybuilding diet can. Not only can you hamper your results with a poor bodybuilding diet, but you can also cause yourself harm if you are using your body too hard without giving it the nutrients it needs to keep up. Imagine doing your best to look and feel good, only to sustain a serious injury because your body simply didn’t have the resources to maintain your level of exertion. Don’t let this happen to you.

The truth of the matter is, there will always be different diets out there that claim to be the definitive expert. Of course, there are very few that actually do what they tell you they will. Most of the time, it’s all about lining the program creators’ pockets with some easy cash. As a bodybuilder, it’s your job to be on the lookout for people who will try to convince you to do their diet regimen. If you use your common sense and truly understand what will help your body, you can weed out the scams and find the gems.

Now, there are some valuable things you can learn about a proper bodybuilding diet right here. First of all, it should always be about feeding your body what it needs to maintain its functions, and then to grow. Whether you are a bodybuilder or not, you need to realize that your body relies on nutrients to survive, and if you aren’t giving it what it needs, eventually you will get sick or injured. You probably know of people that spent years sitting on the couch with a bag of chips and a six-pack of beer in their free time, and now they have diabetes or heart disease. Your habits will determine how healthy you’ll be, and how successful your bodybuilding endeavor will be as well.

First of all, a bodybuilding diet should include carbohydrates, lean protein, and essential fats. You will want an approximate ratio of 40:40:20. The reason for this is, carbohydrates give you the energy you require to actually do the exercise, while protein is the building blocks used for building up your muscles. The fats are useful in promoting good overall health. On top of this, you should strive to get all of your essential nutrients, especially antioxidants, since you will be creating more free radicals with your exercise, and if these go unchecked, then can lead to a higher risk of chronic diseases.

Finally, don’t forget the value of water. While almost everyone probably needs more water than they are currently drinking, this goes doubly for anyone who is doing a lot of hard exercise. Dehydration is dangerous, and you are at risk for it if you are working out hard without fluids. Some might suggest an exercise or energy drink, but these often have more sugar than you should consume, especially if you’re drinking them frequently.

If you master the bodybuilding diet, your results will noticeably improve and you’ll feel healthier overall.

Many bodybuilders love to brag about the time they spend in the gym. They are happy to talk about their marathon 2 hour workouts where they hit every body part known to man and saw just about every club member come through the door. The fact is, these long workouts are often much less productive than short, intense ones are.

Your best bet is to get in and out of the gym as quickly as possible while still having completed a strenuous muscle building workout. Below are some tips to help you make your workout much shorter BUT more effective.

1. Quit the Chit Chat-Hey, everyone loves to talk about their favorite TV show they saw last night, but gabbing about it while standing in front of the leg press machine doesn’t do ANYBODY any good. If you want to talk, call or email your buddy…the gym should be about exercise and that’s it. Saying hello and goodbye is fine, but 15 minutes of talking is a waste.
2. Plan your workout before you get to the gym-When you get to the gym is NOT the time to start planning your workout. Decide which bodyparts you are going to work BEFORE you get to the gym and your workout will go much more quickly and be more effective as well. Grab a notebook and start splitting up your week with your different workouts as well as the required rest days in between. This can knock off as much as 10 minutes off your time in the gym.
3. Shorten your rest between sets-If you are truly BODYBUILDING, the less rest between sets the better. You don’t need to do a set, then rest for 5 minutes. So many gym goers rest a ridiculous amount of time between sets that it is like their bodies get fully recovered for the next set. You need to tax your muscles and keep working them at full intensity CONSISTENTLY. In addition, DO NOT SIT AT THE EQUIPMENT THAT YOU ARE WORKING ON BETWEEN SETS! People take up residence on pieces of equipment as if they are moving in. Other people should be allowed to work in sets while you are resting.
4. Don’t go during peak hours-It makes common sense that if there are tons of people in the gym when you usually go, you will be waiting for equipment and your workout will be longer as a result. It may take some scheduling, but try to work on scheduling your workouts so that you hit the gym when it is not busy. The alone time will be good for your focus and allow you to move from exercise to exercise unfettered and greatly cut down on the time you are in the gym.

Remember, bodybuilding and spending time at the gym should be about results, NOT socializing with friends. Get in, get out, and get your work done to get the bodybuilding muscle building results you are after.

As you probably have heard if you have done any amount of bodybuilding at all, it is extremely important for bodybuilders to consume adequate amounts of protein in their diets. Protein is not only helpful in that it is the building block for muscles but it also helps muscles recover and heal both during and after strenuous bodybuilding workouts. It is helpful to consume extra amounts of protein before and after your workout as well so it is usually recommended to supplement your diet with a high quality protein powder. These powders are often mixed in milk or water with whey protein being the most popular choice.

As far as the exact amounts of protein you should consume, thoughts on this vary. By most recommendations, a bodybuilder who is performing extremely taxing strenuous workouts should consume between 1.5 and 2 g of protein or pound of body weight. Now, most of us don’t get anywhere near this amount in our regular diet and this is exactly why a protein supplement is recommended. In addition to protein powders, an active bodybuilder can get much of what he or she needs in their regular diet.

Quality protein can be found in many healthy foods including lean chicken, beef, various types of healthy fish, nuts, and of course egg whites. The are many bodybuilders who will eat upwards of 20 egg whites per day to help satisfy their bodies need for extra protein. In addition, it is also common for bodybuilders to keep protein bars with them on a regular basis so that they can add extra protein to their diet throughout the day. In addition to simply building muscle, increasing one’s intake of protein can be helpful in losing body fat as well.

It is very common for many people’s diets to consist of a large amount of carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are very prevalent in our diet especially considering processed foods and sweets such as sodas and candy. These carbohydrates are often stored by the body as fat because of our inability to use all of them as energy at any given time. Carbohydrates are necessary in the process of building muscle, however, because they provide the glucose needed as it is the main fuel for muscles when performing work. As long as the body is getting enough carbohydrates to provide fuel for the muscles during strenuous workouts, the increased amount of protein a bodybuilder eats can often replace the excess amount of carbohydrates that they don’t need. This results in the body oftentimes not getting enough carbohydrates for the total work output that it is doing and it will begin to burn existing body fat as fuel instead. This can result in significant fat loss for the bodybuilder and is a technique they will often use in order to lose the most fat possible and achieve that lean ripped muscular look.

Make sure that if building muscle is your goal that you get adequate protein for your body’s needs.