Introduction
The quest for developing a great and competitive physique through the sport of Natural Bodybuilding can be a tough job but it isn’t impossible. The first thing that comes to the mind of a novice is fear and intimidation. Getting started is possibly the most difficult task. Once you mentally and spiritually prepare yourself for the journey, it will all come together.
Just work on overcoming the fear of working out daily without seeing immediate results. The first and most important thing to remember is that it is going to require discipline and dedication. The fruits of your labor will not be immediate and for most, it will take many years of hard work.
This will not only require time in the gym, but also in the library, Internet and in the kitchen. At this point, you are probably asking yourself “Why does it take so long?” Well, it is important to remember that you should always research different techniques and find out what others are doing and perhaps try it for yourself.
Once you’ve found out that something has been working very well for others, you should begin applying it to your routine and see if it works the same way for you. Just because it works for others does not mean that you will have the same success.
You will need to make adjustments that will better suit the personal needs of your body, try it and wait for a period of time to see if it works for you. That’s why it takes so long. It needs time till you get to know your body really well. This applies not only to experimenting with your workout routine, but also with your diet and supplements as well.
I would be lying if I were to say that I’ve completely discovered how my body responds to external influences but I’ve come a long way in discovering and realizing what works best for my body and particular needs. I continue to make changes and improvements in this area.
The most important thing to remember is that through your own knowledge and understanding of your body, you have the ability to achieve your personal goals. If you leave here with a better knowledge and a little more understanding than you had before you started, I would truly feel that I have accomplished some of what I am trying to convey to you.
Training Information
As a natural bodybuilder my first concern is to do everything possible to keep the catabolic processes down as much as possible. I do this by keeping the time for working out around 40-50min. per a session. This way I avoid the release of catabolic hormones, which is one of the most important things in the Natural Bodybuilding.
Once I’ve taken care of that my next concern is to promote muscle growth. For that reason my workouts are very intensive.
I lift heavy weights and take short breaks between the sets. However, the breaks allow for about 75 – 80% breath recovery. I don’t start a set before I made sure I can bread normally.
The number of different exercises and sets vary. I train a particular muscle group till I get the feeling of soreness, coming from the micro-tears in the muscle tissue.
I use partial and negative reps as well as other methods for increasing the intensity of a workout in order to promote strength enhancement and muscle growth. However, one should be aware that these techniques could be dangerous if performed too often. They can lead to overtraining.
I don’t change my training philosophy no matter if I’m in off-season period or I’m preparing for a show. The workout is always short and intensive and the weights are heavy.
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For the duration of my training experience I’ve tried many different training plans. This is something that every serious athlete has to go through. The process of experimenting never stops due to the constant changes of our bodies and the fact that sooner or later our bodies adapt to the type of resistance training and no longer give us the response we desire.
This is a short explanation why over the years I’ve constantly been adjusting my training routines towards the most recent needs of my physique. However, there is one major routine for grouping the different body parts that has shown overtime to be the most effective longer term:
1. Back, shoulders
2. Chest, quads, hamstrings
3. Biceps, triceps, calves
Except for some completely different training routines that I have tried, this is the main one and everything else is based on it.
Here is one variation that worked well for me:
Pre-contest workout plan
1 day: back, delts
2 day: back, trapezes
3 day: chest, quads, hamstrings
4 day: arms, calves
5 day: day off
Off-season workout plan:
1 day: back, delts, trapezes
2 day: chest, quads, hamstrings
3 day: day off
4 day: arms, calves
5 day: day off
Another training plan, based on a completely different philosophy is the so-called Hypertrophy-Specific Training (HST). I adapted this one to meet my specific needs. Here is what it actually looks like:
Workout days:
Monday, Wednesday, Friday – same routine every training day:
Squat
Leg curls
Incline dumbbell press
Dips with extra weight
T-bar rows
Chin-ups (with weight)
Shrugs
Lateral dumbbell raise
Bent over dumbbell rear delt raise
Shoulder press
Barbell biceps curls
Cable triceps extensions
Seated calf raise
· I do the whole cycle for 6 weeks, which I divide in three two-week sub-cycles.
· I do one warm-up set and one work set of each exercise.
· First and second weeks I do 10 reps of each set. Third and forth weeks – 5 reps, and fifth and sixth weeks – 5 negative reps.
· I increase the weights with 2.5 – 5 LB every following workout.
· The entire 6-week cycle is followed by a week of complete rest.
This is a good routine for a few cycles. It definitely helps keep my body guessing.
Yet, another one is the training routine, completely tailored to help me place the accent on the body parts that need special attention. It’s based on the idea that the lacking body parts are to be trained two times a week as opposed to those that don’t need special attention, and which I train once a week:
Monday: back, shoulders
Tuesday: biceps, triceps
Wednesday: chest, legs
Thursday: – – –
Friday: back, shoulders
Saturday: biceps, triceps
Sunday: – – –
This training routine also requires a week away from the gym after 6 weeks of training.
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Now let’s talk about the cardio. You can’t get lean if you don’t do it but if you do it right, along with a proper diet not only can you get lean but also you can preserve your strength and hard gained muscle tissue.
How does this work? If you do High Intensity Cardio you promote the Human Growth Hormone (HGH) release, which in turn causes Insulin like Growth Factor – 1 (IGF – 1) to be released.
Both hormones (especially the second one) are well known to be strongly anabolic and in the same time lipotropic (causing the fats to be used for energy) agents. That doesn’t happen in such extend if you do regular cardio. The other main advantage is that the High Intensity Cardio is much shorter in time and it’s an activity, similar to weight lifting kind of work out.
High Intensity means that for a time period between 30 sec and 1 min the heart rate goes up to about 85-90% of the max heart rate and then for a similar period of time, or up to twice longer, it drops down to about 60-65%. Then you repeat the same cycle again. The High Intensity Cardio usually lasts a half of what the regular cardio does or around 20 min for me for instance.
Here are my preferred HIIT cardio activities:
· On the street: 30 sec sprint with 80-90% of my capabilities followed by 1 min walking. I do this for 20 min.
· On the treadmill with 9 degrees inclination: 1 min sprint followed by 2 min walking. Again I do that for 20 min
· On the static bicycle: 1 min fast pedaling on a moderate level followed by 1 min fast pedaling on a high level followed by 1 min slow pedaling on the lowest level. I do that for 20 min too. Weight lifting and cardio workouts are very important, especially if you are a natural bodybuilder. But, you must always remember that these things will not work without a proper diet plan.
· On the treadmill with 15 degrees inclination: sprint to exhaustion followed by brisk walking till my heart rate gets down to approximately 120.
My contest training programs:
My 8-week training program for the Musclemania Universe’08 – includes the last 12 days until the day of the show.