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Bodybuilding
Program Basics
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Training
for Competition
Moving
From Beginner To Intermediate Level Bodybuilding
by Rick Mitchell
By now you've made significant progress in your bodybuilding
career. For the past three to six months you've learnt
how to perform the core lifting exercises in a technically
correct manner. You've also conditioned the body and
developed sufficient core strength to prepare yourself
for a whole new level of intensity. Hopefully you've
also built some rock solid muscle! But that's only the
beginning.
In recent weeks your workouts have probably lost some
of their effect so, even though you're lifting bigger
weights, your muscles now need even greater stimulation
to generate maximal growth. Don't expect miracles though
- from this point onwards, every little bit of improvement
will take even greater and more intensive work than
before.
Because you'll be working your muscles more intensively,
they'll also need more recovery time to adapt and grow
and that's why you'll be reducing your workouts to three
a week. Each primary muscle group trained will now need
one full week to recover. After being used to whole
body sessions and more workouts per week it may seem
as if you're not doing enough but the point is, you'll
be working your muscles very, very intensively and making
better use of your time.
As you gain more experience you'll be able to tweak
or re-design your basic muscle building program to suit
your own individual needs, but the program described
here should provide a useful starting point. What I'm
proposing is basically a 3-split of the body on Monday,
Wednesday and Friday.
MONDAY (Chest, Triceps, Shoulders)
1. Chest Exercises
Incline dumbbell press - this is a compound exercise
that targets the chest but also works the triceps and
shoulders to a lesser extent.
Pec-deck flye - this is an isolation exercise that
works the pectorals.
2. Triceps
Dips - this compound exercise targets the triceps but
also works the chest and shoulders.
3. Shoulders
Front military press - this compound exercise targets
shoulders but also works the triceps.
Dumbbell lateral raises - this isolation exercise works
the shoulders only.
Bentover dumbbell laterals - this isolation exercise
works the rear delts.
WEDNESDAY (Back, Biceps, Forearms)
1. Back
Front lat pulls - compound exercise that targets lats
but also works the biceps and mid-back.
Deadlifts - compound exercise that targets the back
and quads but also works hamstrings, calves and glutes.
Dumbbell rows - compound exercise that targets mid-back
but also works biceps and lats.
Dumbbell shrugs - isolation exercise that works traps.
2. Biceps
Dumbbell biceps curl - isolation exercise that works
the biceps.
Dumbbell hammer curls - isolation exercise that works
the biceps.
3. Forearms
Barbell wrist curl - isolation exercise that works
the forearms.
FRIDAY (Lower Body)
1. Legs
Squats or leg press - compound exercise that targets
the quads but also works the hamstrings, calves and
glutes.
Leg extension - isolation exercise that works the quads.
Leg curls - isolation exercise that works the hamstrings.
Standing calf raise - isolation exercise that works
the gastrocnemius calf muscle.
Seated calf raise - isolation exercise that works the
soleus calf muscle.
You could start this program by aiming for two sets
of 8-10 reps per exercise but as your strength and size
increase you should really introduce techniques that
boost the intensity even further. This can be achieved
in a number of ways including the use of pre-exhaustion,
super sets, partial reps, isometric contractions and
forced reps. These techniques are covered in detail
elsewhere in this series of articles.
About the Author
Rick Mitchell is the creator of the bodybuildingadvisor.com
website that provides guidance and information to athletes
at all levels of bodybuilding experience. Go to Bodybuilding
Advice to learn more about the issues covered in this
article.
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