Well for a start, a good muscle program must be aimed at the individual bodybuilder’s needs because following a program that is not suitable for you will result in little or no muscle gains.

For example, spending too long at the gym will lean to overtraining, which eventually leads to injury or illness.

The muscle program shown in the video works, so click here to find out more.

When choosing a muscle building program, make sure it gives you the following as part of the course:

The Correct Workout Length

Your workout session should last no more than 45 mins and should be intense and push your strength to the limit.

Cycle Workouts

Every 8 to 12 weeks you should cycle your workouts. This means you change your workouts completely at the end of the program period. This keeps your muscles stimulated and encourages long term muscle growth. It also helps to keep your workouts interesting.

Always Take Rest Days

You should always take days off. A good workout program will encourage this, even to the point where you have a cheat day where you eat what you like (mine is Saturday!). Rest days are when your muscles recover and grow.

Exercise Database

You need to know how to perform every exercise correctly using proper form. Look out for muscle building programs that provide videos and/or illustrations on how to perform exercises correctly.

Usable Diet Plans

A good enjoyable meal planner is extremely important to muscle growth. Therefore, ensure the muscle program you chose provides likeable meal plans that cover all calorie needs from 2000 to 6000+ calories a day.

Hopefully I’ve helped you understand what you should be looking out for when choosing a muscle building program, which can help save you hassle and money.

Also check out any testimonials from customers who’ve transformed their body using the program you are interested in. That’s a great sign to a quality muscle building program.

Stop making these 5 mistakes and you will finally start gaining muscle. Check out reviews of muscle building programs.

When you are away on vacation, on a business trip, or when you just can’t make it to the gym, it can be very difficult to keep up with your bodybuilding workout program. The result of missing workouts often will be slower muscle gains, or even muscle loss. Your bodybuilding workout program need not suffer though, as there are some great muscle building exercises you can do anywhere without any specialist weight training equipment.

Why Bother With a Bodybuilding Workout Without Weight Training Equipment?

Weight training equipment makes muscle building convenient, but there are many people who never go near a gym and still managed to build a lean muscular body.

Many bodybuilders may argue that the only true way to increase muscle mass is to lift heavy weights, but I’ve found that varying my bodybuilding workout between high and low reps can stimulate muscle growth. Weight free exercises have been used for decades by all varieties of sportsmen and women to build both strength and muscle.

At the end of the day, if you can’t make it to the gym then an alternative bodybuilding workout without using weights can be very beneficial to your overall muscle gains.

Here is an example of a bodybuilding workout that takes about 30 minutes to complete (doing 3-4 sets of each exercise until failure):

Push-ups

When was the last time you did push-ups? For many of us it was in high school, but push-ups are a great exercise to build muscle and strength in the arms, shoulders, and chest.

You can make push-ups more difficult by balancing a heavy object on your back, or using a backpack filled with objects, like books.

Squats

High repetition squats without weights are great for muscle definition in the quadriceps (thighs). Squats also hit your hamstrings and glutes.

As with push-ups, squats can also be made harder by wearing a backpack filled with heavy objects, such as books, or even bottles of water.

Calf Raises

All you need for calf raises are a sturdy object that is 3-4 inches off the ground that you can stand on with the front part of your foot. You can also place your hands against a wall for balance when lifting up and down with you feet.

As the name suggests, calf raises are excellent for developing the calf muscles at the back of the lower leg.

When doing weight free calf raises, do them slow and be sure to stretch your calf muscles at the bottom of the movement, and squeeze the calf muscles at the top of the movement.

Pull-ups

I recommend pull-ups as part of any bodybuilding workout, including workouts in the gym. This is because pull-ups require a great amount of of upper body strength. Pull-ups require a strong grip as you are lifting your entire bodyweight.

Pull-ups develop the entire back, plus the biceps, triceps, and shoulders. They are an all-round strength and mass building exercise.

Pull-ups can only be performed where there is a bar that can support your bodyweight. You can buy a relatively cheap extendible chin-up bar if you don’t have anywhere else to perform these exercises.  If you struggle with your grip then I suggest you buy a pair of wrist straps.

Crunches

Crunches are a superb all-round muscle building exercise for the abdominal muscles. You can do them anywhere, but I prefer to place my feet on a low chair and table to help keep good form.

Summary

A bodybuilding workout without specialist weight equipment is simple to do and can be performed quickly just about anywhere. So the next time you can’t make it to the gym, spend 30 minutes doing weight free workout instead.

I recommend Adding Muscle Mass if you would like to know more about creating a great bodybuilding workout, including the best muscle building exercises, nutrition tips, and complete training guides.

bodybuilding training for beginners

The beginner bodybuilder is often mislead and given conflicting information about how to plan a bodybuilding training program. Bodybuilding magazines in particular can often give advice and tips that may be suitable for an advanced bodybuilder, but not the beginner.

If you are new to weight training and bodybuilding then don’t be put off by the conflicting advice out there and start off by learning the basics. Read on for my bodybuilding training tips for beginners.
 
Eat Healthy

Very often newcomers to bodybuilding think that because they are working out often and trying to gain muscle, then they can eat anything they want. This simply isn’t true, because eating fatty junk foods will not increase muscle, it will make you fat and fill your body with bad cholesterol and other harmful substances.

As part of every bodybuilding training program, eating the correct food is very important. You need to “feed your muscles” by eating foods that are filled with muscle building protein, like eggs and lean meat such as chicken and turkey breast. Also, be sure to eat other foods that are rich in vitamins and minerals, such as fresh fruit and vegetables.

Keep fat content low and eat only a moderate amount of foods high in carbohydrates. This includes wholegrain wheat based products such as pasta and bread.

Design a Bodybuilding Exercise Routine That Suits You

Before you go to the gym, plan exactly what exercises you will be doing. Plan your bodybuilding routine to take no longer than 45 minutes to complete, based on around 1 ½ minutes rest between each set.

You will want to begin by doing no more than 2 exercises per main muscle group from your back, chest, arms, shoulders, abs, and legs. Also, do no more than 3 sets of each exercise and aim for 10-15 reps.

As you progress and gain experience you can split your workout routine in separate days of the week, so you train different body parts on different days. At this stage you can introduce more exercises per muscle group.

Keep a Workout Log

Record the exercises you are doing at each bodybuilding training session with a workout log. This includes recording the sets and reps you did against each set.

When building mass you will need to make minor improvements each week in either the amount of weight you lift, or the number of reps you do.

Understanding Gym Etiquette

Gyms are often crowded and therefore equipment can be limited. So if you plan to do a certain exercise you may have to wait for a piece of gym equipment to become free. If it looks like there might be a long wait then go and use another piece of gym equipment instead.

Don’t get frustrated as there is always an alternative. For example, if you wanted the bench press machine, but there was a queue, grab a set of dumbbells and do your bench press with those instead.

After you’ve finished with a piece of weight training equipment, always wipe it down with a towel. Some gyms provide paper towels for this purpose, as it’s not very nice going onto a piece if gym equipment that is covered in someone else’s sweat.
 
Keeping Motivated

It is very important to remember when starting your bodybuilding exercise program that building lean muscle is a slow but very rewarding process.

In your first weeks you can experience a lot of muscle aches and pains. This is normal because you’re making your body do exercises that it’s not used to doing.

Don’t think of this as a negative thing though, as your body will work overtime to repair the damaged muscle tissue. When your body repairs your muscle it actually over compensates and repairs it better and stronger each time (as long as you eat and rest correctly). This is how muscle gains are made and why your strength increases.

In reality you might not see any changes in muscle mass for up to four weeks. Some people get discouraged by this and decide to stop going to the gym altogether.

If your bodybuilding training program is not going quite as well as planned then seek help. In this situation I would recommend that you hire a personal trainer, find a training partner, or speak to other experienced bodybuilder’s in the gym. Most people in the gym will be more than happy to help a beginner.