Let’s Get Physical

With an abundance of food out there to choose from, you might be excused from knowing which ones really can have some benefit and which ones are bad for you. At the present time many nutritionists recommend soya as an alternative source of protein for example. Sports supplements, whey protein and other dairy based protein supplements are a good source of protein and soya can accompany that source too.

Soya is said to be low in fat, is high in antioxidants called phyto-oestrogens and isoflavones, which are thought to pass on disease-preventing properties to the body. Soya plants produce a bean from which many recognised foodstuffs are made. For example, you will have heard of tofu, margarine and soya mince which are all freely available at good food stores.

Although we get quite a large amount of protein from meat, you can include soya up to three times a week in your diet. There are soya based yoghurts you could try or perhaps make a meal from soya mince instead of mince meat? Meals like spaghetti bolognaise, and shepherd’s pie for example. You can also buy the raw bean itself to make up recipes of your own.

The back is one of those areas that can be difficult to train and easy to strain. Many weight lifters and trainers use a belt for support for example. Also, this area seems to take the strain on many exercises without people really warming it up properly. The back needs to be strengthened and with this strengthening you will be able to improve your other exercises.

A good exercise to try is a cable stretch. This exercise will increase the flexibility in the lower back plus help to stretch the hamstrings. The exercise is also designed to loosen the areas before a more vigorous session is undertaken.

Sit facing the cable machine and spread your legs as far to the sides as possible. Now, grasp the lower pulley collar with both of your hands and allow the weights to slowly pull your arms and torso forward. Then, pull yourself back to the original sitting position and start the movement again. Remember to keep your elbows straight, only moving your pelvis.

You will need to take a sports supplement drink and/or water with you to the gym when you’re doing vigorous exercise, but don’t forget to take swigs between the warm up exercises too as this will help you avoid dehydration.

When is the best time to move on with a new bodybuilding program? Well, when you’re ready is the precise answer although 12 weeks has been mooted an alternative gauge. After about 12 weeks you should be looking to change some aspects of your regime.
It might be a few small details like a new squat to accommodate the fact that you haven’t made as much progress here as you might have. Or perhaps you might just try adding a bit more weight to an existing exercise.
Probably the biggest change in routine will come when a beginner wants to move up a gear so to speak. To move from beginners program to one of a more intermediate nature takes a few adjustments.
A good intermediate program should see you training chest, back and arms on day 1, and shoulders, legs and abs on day 2. You can work the program on a Monday/Wednesday/Friday basis with some cardiovascular exercises done on the other days.
You may want to step up your sports supplements intake too or certainly revise the kind of diet you’re on because the intermediate program will require more calories and energy than the beginner’s program. Just make sure you’re not falling short that’s all.

When you start out bodybuilding there are plenty of people and articles that are willing to pass on their advice to you. This should be seen as a good thing; what you need to do is to choose advice is best suited to sort of routine you want to pursue. Also, think about whether the advice is practical and achievable? This last point (about it being ‘achievable) is particularly pertinent.

Without goals, training becomes a rather meaningless process in which the only ‘goal’ is to do the allotted time and get home. Whereas, if we become more scientific and calculated in what we want from the session, the session takes on a whole new meaning and, more importantly, has a focus.

Similarly, diets need to be focussed and changed to suit particular goals. You may start off with a goal that requires weight gain supplements and foodstuffs but later on once you have achieved this goal you might need to change your dirt to suit your new program. After all, if you want to tone down slightly you may need to reduce calories rather than increase them.

All the best gyms will help you set goals and give you reasonable plans on how to achieve them. It is up to you then to keep reassessing those goals in light of new challenges which may surface along the way.