Whether you're a beginner or advanced at building the body you want, it is important to grasp the basic concepts, filling in any gaps in your knowledge. We have compiled the four key steps to building bodies. These basic principals apply to many sports on varying levels, such as rugby, league, soccer, boxing, martial arts, through to running and pilates, to name just a few.
- Stimulate the muscle – Work that muscle, put it under stress. When resistance training you break the muscle fibres down. This is the objective, on varying levels depending on your sport. As the body rebuilds it gets bigger and or leaner depending on sport and therefore better than before, as your body adapts to meet the conditions, as long as steps 2 and 3 are followed.
- Feed it – Give those muscles the nutrients they require. Although carbohydrates and fats play an important role, protein is what body builder’s need lots of. This basic principal also applies to those wanting to lean up however less protein is required. Protein allows the body to build muscle and repair the damage from training. If feeding doesn’t occur, your body will steal hard earned muscle to fuel the new growth. This should be a avoided.
- Rest it – Muscle doesn’t grow during training. It takes time to repair the damage from your workout. The muscle grows when you’re asleep. In fact while asleep your growth hormone levels rise, so make sure you get quality, as well as quantity. At least 7 – 8 hours minimum. It is also important to leave as much time as possible between re-working the same muscle groups/combinations again, obviously within reason. That’s the trick to designing a good workout routine. You must leave enough days in between for muscle recovery before attacking that muscle again.
- Repeat – commitment is everything in building the perfect body. So remember steps 1, 2, 3 and repeat !!!
If you aren’t making progress, the fault lies in one of these areas. Even those who are experienced fall into this trap, so remember to keep the basics covered. Diet is often neglected, but an essential tool in building a killer body. Click here for our Diet Fact Sheet.
