Utilizing Bodybuilding Basics to Achieve Success

Bodybuilding is the sport of developing muscle fibers through the combination of weight training, increased caloric intake, and rest. Competitive bodybuilders display their physiques to a panel of judges, who assign points.

The sport isn't to be confused with strongman competition or powerlifting, where emphasis is on actual physical strength, or with Olympic weightlifting, where emphasis is equally split between strength and technique.

Though superficially similar to the casual observer, the fields entail a different regimen of training, diet, and basic motivation. Bodybuilders aspire to develop and maintain an aesthetically pleasing (by bodybuilding standards) body and balanced physique. A bodybuilder's size and shape are a lot more important than how much they can lift.

The growth and repair, however, can't occur without the essential building blocks. These are provided by high quality nourishment. Bodybuilders require a very specialised diet. Broadly speaking, bodybuilders require anything between 500-1000 calories (2000 to 4000 kilojoules) above their maintenance level of food energy while trying to increase lean body mass.

A sub-maintenance amount of food energy is combined with cardiovascular exercise to lose body fat in preparation for a competition. The ratios of food energy from carbohydrates, proteins, and fats vary depending on the goals of the bodybuilder.

Supplements can help muscle gain, although some are unproven and many are ineffective. Two supplements that have been shown to help bodybuilders gain and maintain size (without unhealthy side effects) are Creatine and L-Glutamine. Like all supplements, these only help if used in conjunction with a solid nutritional base and weight training program.

Some bodybuilders may use drugs to gain an advantage over results due to natural hypertrophy, especially in professional competitions. Although a number of these substances are illegal in several countries, in professional bodybuilding the use of anabolic steroids and precursor substances such as prohormones are sometimes crucial to competing in world-class contests.

Most steroids enables your body to be in a more anabolic state. Substantial negative side-effects accompany steroid abuse, such as liver damage and negative feedback resulting in a decline in the body's own testosterone production, which can cause testicular atrophy and possible infertility.