Every guy wants that classic bodybuilder physique

Every guy wants that classic bodybuilder physique. We all would like bigger muscles and smaller waists, but we don't always go about it the best way. Bodybuilders have the time and genetic gifts to isolate every muscle and hit it with lots of sets in workouts that last more than an hour. But most of us with full-time jobs, families, and average genes don't have that luxury. If you want better results in less time, you have to be smarter about your training. That's why we've created the New School Bodybuilding program, to offer you a more scientifi c and streamlined approach to building a lean and muscular body along with loads of functional strength. Try it for four weeks, and you'll see how modern thinking can get old-school results.

Target Muscles:
Chest and Shoulders. Abs. Legs.

Why It Works:
Rather than train a different body part each workout, you'll work your entire upper body in one session and your lower body and abs in another. This allows for more recovery between workouts—and more of the hormonal release necessary for growth. You'll use slow negatives (the lowering portion of a lift) on some exercises to hit your muscles extra hard, and a variety of rep ranges to ensure you hit every type of muscle fi ber. Best of all, nearly every exercise works your muscles in a functional way, so the strength you gain is applicable to life and sports.

Workout Level:
Intermediate

Frequency:
Perform each workout (1, 2, 3, and 4) once per week.

Time Needed:
45 minutes

How To Do It
Exercises marked with a letter (6a, 6b, for example) are done in sequence. Perform one set of a, then one set of b, etc., and repeat for all the prescribed sets. Exercises without a letter are done as straight sets—complete all the sets and then move on to the next exercise. To get the most out of each workout, adjust the weights you use like this: The fi rst week, use weights that you know are a little too light. For example, if a set calls for 10 reps, and you know you can use 100 pounds, use only 90. In your second week, increase the weight so that your reps are difficult to complete. By the third week, increase the load again so that you beat last week's performance—you may go to failure. On the fourth week, increase the weights again. You may miss some of your reps, and that's OK. In the fifth week, start the cycle over again.

4 Workouts for Guaranteed Muscle Gain

When it comes to fitness, there are certain exercises that have stood the test of time and will always be recommended. Exercises like drop sets, work-stretch sets, and the ever-praised squat have proven their success over and over. For consistent, sure-fire muscle gains, try these four no-fail exercises.

1. Drop sets:

Drop sets are a technique where you perform an exercise and then reduce the weight and continue for more reps until you reach failure. They can be performed with any exercise that involves moving weight around, like the bench press. Free weights are even easier.

The reason why drop sets are so effective is that in any given set, you are only recruiting a certain amount of muscle fibers. Reducing the weight and going lighter engages different muscle fibers, which helps muscles achieve growth that couldn’t be achieved by sticking with the same weight.

Typically, you drop off 10% to 30% of the weight per set. “The primary focus of drop sets is to shock the muscle by adding stress to a standard set. This added stress induces hypertrophy within the muscle amplifying muscle growth,” Valeria Fazio advises in an All Max Nutrition article.

2. Work-stretch sets:

A work-stretch set is a fancy name for stretching in between your lifting sets. It’s a simple technique, but one that works wonders for your body. Stretching between sets counteracts the muscle stiffness that lifting can cause, keeping you flexible and loose.

When stretching is properly integrated into a weight-training program, it can actually speed up your muscle growth; it stretches the connective tissue that surrounds the muscles and enables the muscles to grow bigger and stronger. It also improves the shape of your muscles and is a major player in injury prevention.

“It is the ultimate for preventing injuries; in fact, at least 50% fewer over-extension injuries are reported with athletes who use a regular stretching routine compared to those who don’t,” Brian Klepacki, MS, CISSN, CSCS explains.

Try to stretch your whole body equally throughout your workout, as focusing on only one part of your body could cause an imbalance.

3. Squats:

Squats are almost always recommended and for good reason: they work. Squats are one of the most effective exercises you can do, using weight or body weight. Squats call for the use of your whole body, not just your legs.

As a heavy, compound exercise, it takes a lot of core power to push through a squat, making it a must-do exercise for six-pack chasers. Unlike most other exercises that involve big weights, squats help improve flexibility, especially when you go for the full, deep squat.

And, most obviously, squats put on the muscle. It’s one of the best exercises for building and trimming. Because your leg muscles are so large, working them with squats will leave your body burning calories even after your workout.

4. Supersets:

Supersets involve doing two exercises, one after the other, with no rest in between. You can either superset within the same body part or you can train two different body parts. Research suggests lifting in supersets can be just as effective as normal sets at building strength while adding an additional cardio component.

“Typically, you’d do three or four supersets in this fashion, resting between each superset. This is a very common practice as a means of exhausting a single muscle group to promote the muscle fiber breakdown that can lead to muscle growth,” said Joe Wuebben and Jim Stoppani, PhD in their book, Stronger Arms and Upper Body.

Unlike a straight set, supersets require your body to lift twice as much weight in the same amount of time, keeping your heart rate up. Because of this, supersets provide a better cardio workout than other traditional lifting techniques.

Bodybuilding health is a new concept that finds a very stratified society

Bodybuilding health is a new concept that finds a very stratified society. We are bodybuilders and they are just fitness trainers. The feeling is mutual the other way round. The concept of marrying health and fitness into bodybuilding training is alien to us and even opposed at some quarters. Let us take a brief walk through the history of bodybuilding so that you may appreciate why bodybuilding health is the hybrid engagement that best fits your life.

Eugen Sandow, our honored father of the modern bodybuilding as we know it, started the art at around 1880's. His sole intent was to reconfigure his physique attractively for public display. To him muscles became the ultimate achievement of bodybuilding training. That is the heritage granted us all through the decades up to the moment Dexter Jackson lifted up the 2008 Mr. Olympia trophy, and even today. Through all these years, bodybuilding was never been meant to improve one's health and quality of life. It was all an addiction to muscle mass, muscle strength, pump and physique dimensions.

When the first-ever grand bodybuilding competition hit the America continent on January 16, 1904 at the New York's Madison Sq. Garden, Al Treloar won because he was the most masculine and not because he was healthy or because he was leading a good life.

Joe Weider and his brother Ben came into the game to facilitate a more specialized muscle-based bodybuilding training that had nothing to offer the health and fitness of an individual. Theirs was the muscle mass business. Larry Scott, the muscle legend, Sergio Oliva and Serge Nubret were the stars of the 60's muscle mass decade.

Every bodybuilder worth his or her salt loves the three decades spanning from 1960 to 1990. These were the decades in which bodybuilding became the most noble of all training regimens ever known to man. It gained prestige and prominence across the globe.

Just ask the IFBB. They will tell you a tale of smudging success and infinite returns. But what do you know? These were the decades in which anabolic steroids came into the scene and ruled bodybuilding training. Anabolic steroids became a staple diet not only in bodybuilding but also in others sports. Nevertheless, it was in bodybuilding that it lived as a legit diet until the governments came to the rescue with policy enactments.

We who are conversant with the bodybuilding lore know that these decades saw the rise of unbelievable mass monsters. Name the greatest among them, the indomitable Arnold Schwarzenegger or the peers along him the likes of Lou Ferrigno, Franco Columbu, Dorian Yates and Lee Haney. Do not forget the building of a man, legendary Ronnie Coleman or Paul DeMayo for that matter. These noble men defied all norms, crafted history, set trends, dominated the globe and touched the zenith of bodybuilding glory. However, while looking like gods from the outside, most of these legends were living on anabolics, the amount that would fell an elephant.

The debate here will not be whether they were right or wrong. It is not even, whether anabolic steroids are good or bad. It is about what medical research has authenticated. Bodybuilding on anabolic steroids is buying a ticket to the grave. It is a total disregard of health. The sad thing is that even if anabolic steroids are banned and regulated today, they are the chief aides in modern bodybuilding even now. A cursed inheritance it is, accrued from ages when health and fitness were separated from bodybuilding training.

Every time an individual pursues a bodybuilding program without the sole intent of developing a supremely healthy and fit physique, he or she falls prey to anabolic steroids soon or later, or at least to the abuse of bodybuilding supplements. At the end, a bodybuilding program becomes the path to cancer, to kidney failure, to hypertension, to heart problems, to dysfunctional sexual organs, to skin complications and to a myriad of health complications.

That is why modern bodybuilding emphasizes the hybrid of bodybuilding training with contemporary health and fitness practices. We have learnt from the mistakes of the past and we are determined not to make them again. Our health depends on it, even as we pump iron. To any natural bodybuilding fan, bodybuilding health is the new dimension that marries bodybuilding programs to health and fitness.

There is a link between a bodybuilding lifestyle and optimal health. Once an individual strikes that link, he or she attains optimal physical fitness as a by-product. With the right information, you can easily set up a training regimen that is centered on bodybuilding health. From this program, muscle mass and strength will accrue and with it physical fitness.

There is a link between a bodybuilding lifestyle and optimal health. Once an individual strikes that link, he or she attains optimal physical fitness as a by-product. With the right information, you can easily set up a training regimen that is centered on bodybuilding health. From this program, muscle mass and strength will accrue and with it physical fitness.