When it comes down to building a great physique, many factors come into play, there is a load of information out there, and it can be overwhelming for beginners.
Even though the process is simple, many things can contribute to the success you will eventually have as a lifter.
This post will cover ten bodybuilding tips you have probably ignored throughout your lifting career.
Once many guys get results, they stop trying to learn; they think they know it all and ignore helpful tips that could improve their physique.
Even though you have probably heard these bodybuilding tips, you are ignoring them.
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Ignoring the lateral and posterior deltoids
The front of the shoulder muscle is called the anterior deltoid, and most guys lifting in the gym have an overdeveloped anterior deltoid compared to the lateral and posterior deltoid.
Most guys like to do heavy bench presses, and by doing that, you train your anterior deltoid.
It gets trained “automatically,” even though you may not focus on it.
That creates a very unbalanced shoulder muscle where the lateral and posterior deltoid is lacking in size.
That’s why many bodybuilders focus on training the middle(posterior) and back of the shoulder (lateral) muscles to create a balanced physique.
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Most guys ignore this advice and do tons of anterior deltoid movements on shoulder days.
You can use light weights to build huge muscles.
Many lifters are obsessed with looking strong in the gym and have a huge ego as soon as they step into it.
Even though heavy weights can be suitable for many purposes, light weights can be highly beneficial to muscle gains.
That’s why many pro bodybuilders use lightweights with many reps in many exercises with perfect form.
Using lighter weights gives you much better control over the movement, and the form will be better.
Many guys go into the gym ego lifting, constantly maxing the weight out in each set which may work to some degree, but lightweights are consistently used by most pro bodybuilders who build muscle for a living.
Sleep 8 hours
I think most of us are aware of the insane downsides of sleeping too little.
One of them is lower testosterone levels which directly affect how much muscle you can build.
On top of that, we have downsides such as lower energy levels, concentration, and stamina.
These are all critical factors when it comes down to building muscle.
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When you are training, you want your body to be optimal for that training session, and a lack of sleep will make your body sub-optimal in your workout.
Don’t use bulking as an excuse to be fat.
Many lifters are weak-minded and lack the discipline to follow a good nutritional pattern.
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They might be training very hard, but you know they say, “You can’t out-train a bad diet.”
So many of those guys start saying they are bulking because they are embarrassed about how fat they are even though they train 5+ times per week. (Unless you are Kyriakos Grizzly the strength king who can lift insane amounts of weights.)
Of course, some guys are legitimately just bulking up and still eating relatively healthy, while many lifters are lazy and use it as an excuse to be fat.
Under one-hour workouts are great.
As Arnold did, many guys believe you need to train for 4-5 hours daily.
Arnold was a special breed; if you look through his workouts, you can see how much he was doing in these 4-5 hours; he wans’t taking many breaks.
What many lifters do is that they spend 1,5-2 hours in the gym, but their workouts aren’t intense; there is a lot of chit-chat going on and horsing around.
They spend 2 hours doing a workout they could have completed in 45-minutes.
45-minute intense workouts are better than a 2-hour workout slacking off; it doesn’t matter how long you stay in the gym; it matters what you do in the gym while you are there.
Enough Protein
Many lifters think they are getting enough protein when they are not.
You can’t comprehend if you are getting enough protein without measuring your protein intake a few times to see what it looks like.
Arnold Schwarzenegger aimed to get around 1 gram of protein for every pound he weighed, which was over 200 grams per day.
To get 200 grams, you must eat high protein consistently throughout the day.
Meats, eggs, fish, protein shakes are, therefore, stable in the diet of every serious lifter.
You have to make an effort each day to get the required protein intake tto to build muscle.
Many lifters think they are eating enough when in reality they are simply not getting enough protein.
Time Under Tension
You can see two different lifters use the same weight in the same exercise, but one is getting much more stimulation from the training and benefits than the other lifter; how could that be?
Time under tension is crucial when it comes down to lifting weights and stimulating the muscle; if your negative movement of the exercise is slow and controlled rather than fast, you are stimulating the muscle more.
Just think about a guy bench pressing who drops the bar fast on his chest and almost bounces it with his belly/chest back up versus a lifter who slowly goes down with the bar on his chest in a very controlled manner.
Of course, the guy who has time under tension will get more stimulation from each rep; think about this the next time you lift.
Get A Coach
A coach can be a viable asset to you if you have the right coach who knows what he is doing.
Please don’t get a coach who hopped on steroids, competed in bodybuilding once, and thinks he is an expert when he really is not.
Get a solid track record coach who knows exactly what he is doing, don’t just hire the next meathead who can’t provide you with anything but a cookie-cutter diet and workout plan.
Leave Your Phone In The Locker
This one is going to piss a lot of people off because now everyone uses their phone for their music.
However, a phone can be a huge distraction when training in the gym; you get a call and may end up spending 10 minutes on a call, and in that time, you lose your pump and momentum from the workout.
Get an iPod or something for your music and leave the phone in the locker room to guarantee you won’t get distracted in the gym.
You won’t be scrolling through social media in between sets and waste valuable time you could be using to train even harder.
Track Your Body Fat
You may be thinking, why do I need to track my body fat?
Also, track other stats such as your weight and measurements around your waist, arms, legs, etc.
By having stats on your current physique, you can see how the things you are doing in the gym and your diet work.
If you gain 10 lbs, but your fat percentage is also way higher, was it just 1 lb of muscle and 9 lbs of fat you gained?
You don’t get these stats unless you have measurements and statistics over your physique, and by doing that, you can find the right formula that works for your body type.
You will also find out what does not work.
