What is Bodybuilding?

By Phil Sims

Bodybuilding is the act of performing weight training exercises that are designed to build muscle mass in certain parts or throughout the entire body, depending on your motivation. In bodybuilding one is typically trying to grow, shape, and show off the body’s muscle building potential. Bodybuilding generates vanity, strength, and health.

People who build muscle like this usually have one of three motivations. The first group are trying to better themselves, through a stronger body, sexy physique, and all all around healthy lifestyle derivative of a body building routine including exercise, stretching, and diet. The second group are doing it for recreation. They simply like how it feels to work out and it gives people a reason to get together to share a “sport”. Many call it a sport although officially it is not. The third group are bodybuilders for professional competitions.

Competition bodybuilders are the hardcore body builders who put in an incredible amount of time, energy, and effort to try to build the biggest muscles possible. In competition body building people work on two different principles of lifting and can be used in alternating fashion. The first one is lifting lighter weights to “failure”, which is lifting until you can’t physically lift another rep. This type of lifting will build muscles but is often geared more towards a more chiseled look.

In muscle building it is the ripping then scaring over of the muscle that generates new muscle tissues. As the tissue repairs the new muscles or layers harden and become stronger, contributing to the persons strength and muscle mass. Many competetive bodybuilders will alternate from using more weight to build muscle then more reps with less weight to shape the current muscle mass just before a competition.

It is vital when using heavier weights and less reps that you give your muscles adequate time to heal. This is also true of the more reps with less weight, but more so with the heavy weights due to the punishment (heavier breakdown of the muscle tissue) your putting your muscle tissue through. You also need to make sure your getting the proper nutrients, minerals, and protein in your diet so the body can quickly recover. These are the building blocks of your body’s muscle repair as well as other things. If you don’t give the body ample time to recover even if you do eat right, you could cause severe and sometimes irreparable damage to your muscles.

A bodybuilding routine without proper diet will do no good. You can get a range of shakes, powders, and supplements designed to contain everything you need (and more) to get the results you want very easily. There are chemical supplements that you can use to get quicker results but not only are these banned, illegal to use, and unhealthy, but they could damage other parts and organs in your body if used. It is best to be patient and go the natural and healthy route.

Some groups have been trying to get bodybuilding into the Olympic games arena for some time, but because body building is not athletic it has been denied entry. A common misconception about bodybuilding is that it is athletic or a sport and it is neither. Bodybuilding can be a very rewarding endeavor, but safety is paramount to success. Know your limits, patience is a virtue.

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