Bodybuilding Nutrition Tips for Looking Good Year Round

Many advanced bodybuilders will never step upon a competition stage. They’ll train for years, attain high levels of muscle mass, vascularity, and symmetry, and never don a pair of trunks. They’ll master every pose, but only in the privacy of their bathroom mirror. They will apply great discipline to all aspects of training, diet, and supplementation, but they will never reek of Pro-Tan. They are bodybuilders, but they will never compete in a bodybuilding show.

For this group of athletes (which encompasses about 99% of us), the need for an off-season “bulking” phase and a pre-contest “cutting” phase, and all the details and concerns that come with these phases, are not necessary. This group might train to look good 365 days a year, never letting body fat get too high (over 15%) or too low (below 8%).

These “365-ers” face a major challenge. They must find a caloric number, which is perfect for maintaining their muscle mass (and allow them to gain more muscle) without making body fat levels rise. In other words, how do they keep their existing muscle, and gain new muscle, while avoiding fat loss? A few factors to consider…

The baseline number

Write down everything you eat in one day. Add up the calories. This is your new baseline. The next day, repeat this count. Continue this for a week. Chart out your daily caloric intake. If your muscle mass and body fat stand precisely where you’d like them to be, then voila, you have the magic number. If you find you’d like to add more muscle to your frame, consider adding 200 to 500 clean calories to this daily total. A pound of muscle contains 3500 calories, so 500 additional calories per day, over the course of seven days, will provide your body with the nutrients to add one pound of muscle. However, if other factors aren’t in place (training, sleep, aminos in the bloodstream), then a portion of this one-pound weight gain will be in the form of fat.

Variations, treats, and cheats

You will want to maintain your sanity, and there will be days when you do miss meals, go out to dinner, and enjoy cheat food. There is nothing wrong with it – enjoying tasty foods are a wonderful part of life. Just be sure to compensate for the additional calories with either additional cardio, or a future caloric deficit to even out the numbers. Remember – assuming you’re at the optimal calorie number – the goal is to eat this many calories daily.

Long term planning

If your goal is to look exactly how you do today, in ten year, then keep everything on course and don’t change a thing. However, if you’d like to remain in great shape, but gain muscle over time, you will want to plan longer-term goals, and record your activity and progress to ensure you’re doing what it takes to reach those goals. Lift more, eat more, and sleep more – it’s an easy fix. Just make sure you’re doing these three things at small enough increments to allow you to remain in your great current shape as you improve.

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3 Fitness Workouts For Women That Will Make You Look Good In A Swimsuit

Are you one of those women that want to get a beach body in minimum time? Bodyweight exercises are easy fitness workouts for women and they often give fast results. The awesome thing about body weight exercises is that you can do them as a circuit. By doing them as a circuit you will get the best of both worlds, cardiovascular training and strength training. This means that your workouts will be very short and this is a good thing if you are a busy mom or business woman.

Bodyweight Squats for Legs and Thighs

Believe it or not body weight squats are one of the best fitness workouts for women to sculpt their legs and thighs. Not only does this exercise target the legs but it also benefits the core and helps to burn belly fat. The reason why this is so effective is because the legs are a large muscle group. When you target a large muscle you will burn fat faster and your metabolism will skyrocket. If you plan on developing a strength training circuit then the bodyweight squat is one exercise to not leave out.

Getting Stronger Arms with Push-ups

A feature that looks very attractive in a woman is toned arms. To develop toned arms one of the best fitness workouts for women is push-ups. Push-ups will help carve out your triceps and will also make you stronger. Push-ups are a great exercise for moms because they will help develop strength for when a child needs to be carried. Not only are push-ups good for upper body strength but they also target the core because you are lifting your whole body during the exercise. If you want a lean upper body then push-ups is an exercise that you do not want to leave out of your circuit training.

Interval Training for Faster Fat Loss

There are many fitness workouts for women to get fast results but the most important one is interval training. Interval training is a form of cardio that will target belly fat at the core. Intervals are great because they only take about 20 minutes to complete and all you need is a treadmill if you want to do them at home. Using a treadmill for intervals is recommended because this will allow you to monitor your time and speed during your workout.

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H.S Incline 3/12
Machine Flyes 3/12
Smith Machine 3/12

Chin Ups 3/12
Seated Cable Rows 3/12
Bent Over Flyes 3/12

Barbell Curls 3/10-12
Hammter Curls 3/10

Day 2
Legs,Calves, Abs
Leg Press 4/10-12
Leg Extensions 4/10-12
Standing Leg Curls 4/10-12

Seated Calve Raises 4/10-12

20min Cardio various inclines and speeds

15 AB Class when possible
Sit ups
Knee Raises

Day 3
Shoulder,Triceps

Dumbell Shoulder Press 3/12
Cable Upright Row 3/12
Dumbell LDT Raises with ball 2/15
Tricep Push downs 4/12
Dips On Machine 4/12

20 Minute Cardio
Various Intensity /times/incline

Monday-Day1
Tuesday-Day 2
Wednesday-Day 3
Thursday-Day 1
Friday-Day 2
Saturday-Day 3
Sunday-Rest

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Also – please don’t say get a trainer as I cannot afford one.

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