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This is all mostly dependent on the person, their goals, their age, their fitness level, etc.
Nothing new or stunning here. Drink plenty of water, eat clean, carbs are not the enemy, your body doesn't grow in the gym, abs are made in the kitchen, blah blah blah.
Dirty bulking isn't more calories, it's just worse calories. you can bulk on junky fast food or you can bulk on clean good food but you'd have to eat more of the latter. A good bulk is a clean one and that is very hard to do so most just increase the junk they eat (e.g. cheat meal 5x/week rather than one).
1) Get in enough protein. 0.8g per lb of lean bodyweight is generally what most bodybuilders consume.
2) Since muscle is built more slowly than fat, "leanbulking" is generally better than "dirtybulking" (i.e. having a daily 300-500 calorie surplus instead of a 1000-1500+ surplus). Though, leanbulking is generally only recommend for skinny people; for average or overweight builds, weight loss or body recomposition is better.
3) Progressive overload. You need to increase weights, reps or intensity to build strength. Train yourself to near failure.
4) Be mindful! It's not just about reaching the highest weight or reps you can, but are you doing the form correctly? Are you feeling the exercise in the muscles you intend it to? Are you doing the range of motion the exercise requires?
5) Slow down. Some exercises, it's best to do it slowly to make sure the muscles you're targeting are getting a full stretch. Doing them too quickly can get you a lot of reps, but may not be the best for muscle development.
6) Patience. Muscle builds slowly. If you're a total beginner, it might take at least a year before you even look like you actually lift, so don't get discouraged early.
I'd like to hear any other tips you have.
These are all great points! Here are a few additional tips:
Consistency is key. Stick to your workout routine and diet plan over the long term to see results.
Recovery is important. Make sure to get enough sleep and allow your muscles time to rest and recover between workouts.
Stay hydrated and eat a balanced diet rich in fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains to support your muscle growth.
Don't neglect cardiovascular exercise. It's important for overall health and can help improve your endurance and recovery.
Listen to your body. If something doesn't feel right, don't push through it. It's better to rest and recover than risk injury.
- When doing squats wear a belt designed for weightlifting, unless you want to pop a couple of hernias. Because I knew I wasn't going to be squatting with more weight than I originally bought, approximately 328 lbs, I made the mistake of believing I didn't need a belt. I'm 59 now and know I have a couple of hernias, no doubt from weightlifting, squats to be exact.
- Don't obsess over becoming huge or how much you can lift, and stay away from steroids & HGH. While some women like guys who put on a massive amount of muscle, my experience proved more women are attracted to guys with very low body fat who are muscular and athletic looking, but not overly big. And they like the muscle to be evenly proportioned. I received more attention from women about a month after I first started lifting weights than I did a year later when I had more muscle on me and instead of being 2 or 3% bodyfat was 4 or 5. And we're talking women slamming the brakes on their cars just to watch me walk down the street. Shocked the heck out of me the first time I received that type of attention. I always shake my head when I see these young guys who put on about 10-15 lbs of muscle or more who act like they are the first ones to ever do so, or they are going to be the next Arnold.
- Since I lifted alone at home I never allowed myself to bench press more than 260 lbs. It was a good resistance for my body type, and when it felt too easy I added sets and reps. Turned out it gave me better stamina and I'm glad I limited myself in that way. I used free weights and didn't need to take a chance of getting a bar with 300 lbs on it stuck on my chest when I tried to push one too many reps up. When they showed the bench press at the NFL Combine I used to be shocked at how few reps some of those huge OL and DL players put up at 225. Those same guys could probably press 500 or 600 one time, but that adds nothing to stamina in a game that is all about playing hard for four quarters. So my suggestion is to not worry about what others think about the weight you're lifting, it's about increasing strength and stamina, you don't need to bench press 800 lbs to do so!
- Split routines are something to strongly consider. Whenever I took a break from lifting for a couple of months I'd start out working full routines that could take 2.5 to 3.5 hours for the first 1-2 weeks, then I broke it down into split routines that would generally take about 2 hours at first, and within a month I could have that same routine down to 45 minutes because I'd superset not taking rest time between sets, or taking very little to take a drink of cold water.
- You need to understand that while getting and keeping your body fit and strong, you're also putting wear and tear on your joints and ligaments. I now have terrible arthritis in my knees. The orthopedic surgeon said he can't operate on the injuries to my left knee because the arthritis is as bad as it gets. My father and two older brothers didn't/don't have arthritis like this, so I suspect very highly that the weightlifting I did in my 20s and early 30s led to this. I still would have lifted simply because it helped me stay healthy for much longer than I probably would have been otherwise. Just a warning of what may be in your future. If I'm dealing with it after lifting relatively light weight compared to others, imagine what others my age are probably dealing with. Knee replacements, etc.
- Accept that when it's over, it's over. Hurt my right shoulder two times, and my left shoulder three times. It was the last one to my left shoulder when I knew it was over. No doubt they were slight separations if not worse. Could hardly lift my arm six inches until it healed on it's own. Unfortunately, at age 33 years and one month old I stopped lifting. Would have preferred lifting with Nautilus but didn't want to go to the gym and couldn't afford it for home, so used free weights. But Nautilus would have been safer and I wouldn't have separated my shoulders multiple times each. Such is life. Enjoy the stage of life you're in and all it brings in positive ways. Can't be young forever, can only hold back father time for so long. Believe me, I miss those workouts and how I felt afterwards, but after giving it up I had so much more time for other endeavors.
The most important things if we're just talking about bodybuilding and not weight lifting or strength training:
1. PEDs....this is, by far, the biggest factor in why professional bodybuilders look the way they do.
2. Diet. The ideal bodybuilding diet isn't actually healthy. Just about every professional bodybuilder yoyos up and down between offseason and in-season, often gaining and losing 50+ pounds throughout the year. At their leanest, their lives are at risk due to the lack of bodyfat and the dehydration show prep entails (not to mention the PEDs used for prep).
3. Training. While some form of hard training is required, successful bodybuilders have followed every kind of program under the sun, including "powerbuilder" strength-focused routines like Ronnie Coleman's to lighter, higher-volume, machine-focused, time under tension programs that are probably more popular than programs like Coleman's was.
Bodybuilding is silly, and I don't get the point. I'm into fitness and strength, not doing unhealthy things to my body to make me look a certain way when I stand on stage. Bodybuilders generally don't care how much they can lift, and they don't care about anything they can do. To me, fitness is about what you can do.
I received more attention from women about a month after I first started lifting weights than I did a year later when I had more muscle on me and instead of being 2 or 3% bodyfat was 4 or 5. And we're talking women slamming the brakes on their cars just to watch me walk down the street. Shocked the heck out of me the first time I received that type of attention. I always shake my head when I see these young guys who put on about 10-15 lbs of muscle or more who act like they are the first ones to ever do so, or they are going to be the next Arnold.
Ha, 2-3% bodyfat before you "bulked" to 4-5% bodyfat? I think you're understating things a bit. Pro bodybuilders who have striated glutes and are on pharmaceutical cutting agents get down to 4-5%. 2-3% is potentially fatal. Abs show up around 12-14% for most people, and very few guys who are in local gyms are below 8%. No one, and I mean no one, is walking around at 2-3% regularly unless they have some sort of health condition or are experiencing extreme starvation.
Ha, 2-3% bodyfat before you "bulked" to 4-5% bodyfat? I think you're understating things a bit. Pro bodybuilders who have striated glutes and are on pharmaceutical cutting agents get down to 4-5%. 2-3% is potentially fatal. Abs show up around 12-14% for most people, and very few guys who are in local gyms are below 8%. No one, and I mean no one, is walking around at 2-3% regularly unless they have some sort of health condition or are experiencing extreme starvation.
You've got that backwards, I was about 4-5% bodyfat and got down to 2-3%. It is not unheard of, there are professional athletes that have done so, why would it be impossible to believe others could as well? It was a very hot August when I started lifting, I was eating one meal per week, which is no exaggeration, and lifted up to 3-4 hours per day during that first month before changing things up to a split routine.
But hey, disbelieve all you want, don't really care.
The most important things if we're just talking about bodybuilding and not weight lifting or strength training:
1. PEDs....this is, by far, the biggest factor in why professional bodybuilders look the way they do.
2. Diet. The ideal bodybuilding diet isn't actually healthy. Just about every professional bodybuilder yoyos up and down between offseason and in-season, often gaining and losing 50+ pounds throughout the year. At their leanest, their lives are at risk due to the lack of bodyfat and the dehydration show prep entails (not to mention the PEDs used for prep).
3. Training. While some form of hard training is required, successful bodybuilders have followed every kind of program under the sun, including "powerbuilder" strength-focused routines like Ronnie Coleman's to lighter, higher-volume, machine-focused, time under tension programs that are probably more popular than programs like Coleman's was.
Bodybuilding is silly, and I don't get the point. I'm into fitness and strength, not doing unhealthy things to my body to make me look a certain way when I stand on stage. Bodybuilders generally don't care how much they can lift, and they don't care about anything they can do. To me, fitness is about what you can do.
That's a ridiculous statement. Bodybuilders brag about how much they can lift as much as the meatheads in the gym who try to impress everyone with how much they can lift. Go back and read how much Dorian Yates claimed to bench and squat when he was competing versus what he is saying in interviews now what his max was. Big difference, and he's not the only one.
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