Bodybuilding is a step-by-step process of defining the body. Like many sports, the art of bodybuilding does not happen overnight. You have to go through several stages to achieve your Bodybuilding training goals.

the body with a strong resistance. All bodybuilders should undergo basic training exercise and core training exercise to enable the body to adjust to the compelling activities you will be facing.

An exercise training program for bodybuilders have several body function benefits such as strength, flexibility, body composition, muscle, posture and injury prevention.

When you perform a strength training exercise, the muscles increase in size, power, endurance, and strength. It helps you to perform daily tasks with comfort.

An effective body weight training exercise helps your muscles to move flexibly. When this happens, back and muscle pains could be prevented while improving overall body flexibility.

In Bodybuilding training, you should not focus on overall weight loss. Instead, focus on body fat measurements. In the beginning of your cre training exercise program, you will not loose weight - you will gain muscles and lose fat, while retaining your weight.

Weight training exercise, when combined with proper nutrition and performed properly, could make your muscles more defined and firmer.

Strength training exercise at home or at the gym could improve your posture. As you develop your muscles, the muscles on your back, ab muscles, neck, should and hips becomes stronger enabling you to stand and sit with good posture.

By following your weekly weight training exercise schedule, your ligaments, tendons and muscles become stronger. Because strong muscles increase bone strength and density, injuries are less likely to occur.

Among the many muscles in the body, your basic exercise fitness training should start with the “core”.  The core muscles, which are muscles from the abs, lower back, spine and hips, work together to provide strength to the upper and lower body.

Core training exercise is an important part of basic bodybuilding because most injuries and health problems come from these core parts.

Weight training and beginner exercise, such as abdominal sit-ups, incline ab sit-ups and lying superman raises, should be the backbone of your core training.

Weight training exercise instruction, which is mostly given by gym instructors, can also be as simple as ABC. You could perform these exercises in the comfort of your home. The difference between home gyms and gym centers are spotters - a person that could watch over your training, especially with heavy weights.

Therefore, for those planning to undergo core training exercise at home, make sure you have a spotter or exercise buddy to keep you from any kind of danger.

Swimming off-season Strength Training Workout

The swimming off-season strength training comprises supersets for opposing muscles, allowing more work to be completed - and greater strength and mass to be developed - in less time. The movement patterns in many of the exercises (e.g. lat pull­down) replicate those in swimming, although you may change the exercise selection within each muscle group to mimic the actions in a particular stroke more closely.

Frequency: 2-3/week on non-consecutive days.

Workout time: Approx. 45 min (excluding warm-up and stretching). Click for doing warm up and it’s exercises.

Rest: Approx. 60-90 s between exercises.

Training Tempo: 2 counts for the concentric (lifting) action; 3 counts for the eccentric (lowering) action.

Swimming off-season Strength Training Workout

Swimming in-season Strength Training Workout

This swimming in-season strength training workout is designed to increase muscular endurance and simply maintain strength and hypertrophy (muscle size). Greater emphasis is placed on back and shoulder movements as these muscles are used to the greatest extent in most swimming disciplines. No specific exercises for the arms are included as they recieve sufficient stimulation for the sports requirements with the other exercises. A circuit format is used, and the total workout time reduced sligtly to allow more time to be devoted to swimming strength training.

Frequency: 2/week on non-consecutive days.

Workout Time: Apr. 30 minute (excluding warm-up and streching).

Number of Circuits: 3

Rest: Apr. 20-30s between exercises and 2 minute between circuits.

Training Tempo: 2 counts for the concentric (lifting) action; 3 counts for eccentric (lowering) action.

Swimmer in-season Strength Training Workout

Football off-season Strength Training Workout

This strength training workout for football includes exercises for each muscle group to promote balanced development, as all muscles are important in football. Rather more emphasis - i.e. more sets - is placed on compound exercises for the lower body, as these muscle groups are used more than upper-body muscles in football. Moderate to heavy weights should be used as the goal is strength and hypertrophy (muscle size). It is important to include a hamstring exercise as these muscles receive less work compared with the quadriceps in this sport, which can lead to imbalanced strength and increased injury risk.

Frequency: 3-4/week on non-consecutive days, alternating workout 1 (lower body) and workout 2 (upper body).

Workout Time: Apr. 45 min (excluding warm-up and stretching. Click for doing warm up and it’s exercises.

Rest: Apr. 60-90 s between sets and 1-2 min between exercises.

Training tempo: 2 counts for the concentric (lifting) action; 3 counts for the eccentric (lowering) action.

Football off-season Strength Training Workout 1 (lower body)

Football off-season Strength Training Workout 2 (upper body)

Football in-season Strength Training Workout

The strength training workout for football continues to include exercises for each muscle group. The football strength training workout is designed to maintain muscle strength and increase muscular endurance, hence the reduction in sets and increase in reps.

Frequency: 2/week on non-consecutive days, alternating workout 1 (lower body) with workout 2 (upper body).

Workout time: Apr. 30 min (excluding warm-up and stretching). Click for doing warm up and it’s exercises.

Rest: 60-90 s between sets and 1-2 min between exercises.

Training Tempo: 2 counts for the concentric (lifting) action; 3 counts for the eccentric (lowering) action.

Football in-season Strength Training Workout 1 (lower body)

Football in-season Strength Training Workout 2 (upper body)

Athlete off-season Strength Training Workout

The athlete strength training workout includes exercises for each muscle group, with a particular emphasis on compound exercises, to cause maximum muscle stimulation in athlete. There is equal emphasis on lower and upper-body exercises to build balanced muscle development. Moderate to heavy weights should be used and the prescribed sets and reps are designed to develop muscle strength and hypertrophy (muscle size).

You may change the exercises according to your particular athletic event. This program is more suitable for sprinting events but the amount of upper-body work should be increased and lower-body work reduced for events such as javelin or discus. Longer distance running events require more muscular endurance and less muscle mass, so the reps should be increased and the weights reduced.

Frequency: 3/week on non-consecutive days, alternating workout 1 (lower body) and workout 2 (upper body).

Workout Time: Apr. 45 min (excluding warm-up and stretching). Click for doing warm up and it’s exercises.

Rest: 60-90 s between sets and 1-2 min between exercises.

Training Tempo: 2 counts for the concentric (lifting) action; 3 counts for the eccentric (lowering) action.

Athlete off-season Strength Training Workout 1 (lower body)

Athlete off-season Strength Training Workout 2 (upper body)

Athlete in-season Strength Training Workout

The athlete in-season strength training workout places more emphasis on isolation exercises and less on compound movements. As the goal shifts to strength and mass maintenance, and developing muscle endurance, the number of repetitions are increased and the total number of sets are reduced slightly. Like the athlete off-season strength training workout, the exercises are designed to promote balanced development of all muscle groups.

Frequency: 2/week on non-consecutive days, alternating workout 1 (lower body) with workout 2 (upper body).

Workout time: Apr. 30 min (excluding warm-up and stretching). Click for doing warm up and it’s exercises.

Rest: 60-90 s between sets and 1-2 min between exercises.

Training Tempo: 2 counts for the concentric (lifting) action; 3 counts for the eccentric (lowering) action.

Athlete in-season Strength Training Workout 1 (lower body)

Athlete in-season Strength Training Workout 2 (upper body)

While fitness athletes and bodybuilders train primarily to change the appearance of their physiques, other athletes can tailor a strength training program to improve various aspects of their sports performance. When designing a sports strength training program, however, it has to be specific to the requirements of your sport. You need to consider the following:

• The movement patterns of your sport, and which muscles are used.
• The relative importance of strength, power, hypertrophy and muscular endurance in your sport.
• Which muscles or joints are most prone to injury and therefore need strengthening.
• The priorities of your sport’s season - i.e. off-season, pre-season, in-season and post­season.
• Your fitness level and training experience.

General Guidelines for Strength Training for Sport

1. Use different programs for each season, focusing on developing only one of these goals (e.g. strength). Attempting to improve in two or more areas (e.g. strength and muscular endurance) simultaneously will produce only mediocre improvements.
2. During the off-season focus on developing your strength and hypertrophy.
3. Pre-season training should focus on one particular fitness aspect (e.g. power, muscular endurance or strength) that is relevant to the sport. Use one of the programs detailed below.
4. During the season, concentrate on maintaining your fitness and staying
   injury free. The frequency and duration of your strength training workouts should be reduced and the exercises should be more sport-specific.
5. Include mostly compound exercises in your program. They will increase your balance and co ordination while increasing strength. Keep isolation exercises to a minimum and schedule at the end of your workout.
6. Keep rest periods fairly short (between 60 and 90 seconds) to mimic the demands of your sport.
7. Choose a weight with which the set becomes difficult by the last 1-2 repetitions.
8. Maintain strict form for each repetition, using the complete range of movement.
9. Emphasize quality rather than quantity.

Now here are different Sports Training Programs depending on your sport:

• Athlete strength training workout

• Strength training workout for Swimming

• Strength training workout for football

Each of the workouts given above are further divided into two sections of in-season strength training workout and off-season strength training workout.

Periodization refers to the planned manipulation of training volume and intensity throughout a series of specific training phases or cycles. Periodization is an application of the principles of progressive training - you vary your repetitions, sets, weight and intensity during each cycle - and is a method used to make continual improvements in performance throughout the year, thus avoiding reaching plateaux. If you follow the same workout for any length of time, the body soon adapts to the constant load and your gains diminish. However, by structuring your long-term training goals in a number of training cycles, you will be able to make gains in strength, mass and definition all year round, and will also avoid overtraining and injuries.

Proof that periodization works better than sticking to the same routine week after week comes from a study at Apalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, and the USA Weightlifting Development Center in Shreveport, Louisiana. The experienced weight trainers who followed a periodized program made significant improvements in strength (as measured by their 1RM (one-rep max) for the squat), whereas those who followed a standard program did not show any improvement.

A periodization programme is divided into a number of distinct cycles. The longest cycle is called a macrocycle and usually spans a period of one year, although shorter macrocycles can be used - for example, two macrocycles per year are used in a double periodization program. This would suit those who cannot commit themselves to a year-round program or those who want greater variety in their training.

The year is then broken down into 2-6 shorter training cycles (mesocycles), each spanning several weeks. Each mesocycle emphasises a particular training goal (e.g. muscle size or muscular endurance) and involves a gradual increase in training intensity. The aim is to peak at the end of your mesocycle. For strength trainers, this may be gauged by the amount of weight that can be lifted.

Each mesocycle is then followed by a short period (1-2 weeks) of relative rest, which is important to allow your body to recover and recuperate before beginning the next mesocycle. Provided this rest phase lasts no longer than four weeks, you will not experience a detraining effect (see also here). During this time, you should do only very light training, or a completely different activity such as golf or recreational swimming that does not tax your energy systems or central nervous system in the same way.

Each mesocycle is then divided into week­long microcycles, around which you plan your day-to-day workouts.

There are many variations on periodization program, dependent on your goals, training experience and lifestyle. The example programs given below may be used as a basis for designing your own program. You may commence training at any time during the year - simply change the month headings. Also you may change the timing of the rest periods to fit around holidays and other lifestyle commitments. The important point is to follow the mesocycles in the given order, and to gradually increase your training intensity within each mesocycle.

The maximum strength program should only be followed after a minimum of two years bodybuilding or weight training experience because of the very heavy weights used and the stress imposed on the central nervous system.

Maximum Strength Workout Overview

Aim of Maximum Strength Workout

The aim of this maximum strength workout program is to increase pure strength as well as muscle density. There will be little increase in muscle size but the density of the myo­filaments in the muscle will increase. In addition to power lifters, anyone training for muscle size would benefit from including a maximum strength phase in their training cycle. It can help you get through a sticking point by allowing you to lift more weight and further increase your muscle size when you resume your regular routine. This type of training will produce harder, stronger muscles, improved joint stability, better symmetry and greater aesthetic appeal.

Progression during Maximum Strength Training Workout

You can incorporate this program into your bodybuilding program for a period of 4-6 weeks. It involves heavier weights than the bodybuilding program since maximum strength is only developed by using near­maximal weights - at least 85% 1RM(one-rep max). This type of training causes maximum stimulation of the powerful FT muscles fibres and hence greater muscle strength. If you do not know your 1RM, find a weight that you can just lift for six strict repetitions. This will approximate to 70-80% 1RM. As with the bodybuilding program, you need to increase the weight you lift gradually over time.

Maximum Strength Workout

The maximum strength workout comprises mostly compound exercises and should be performed twice a week. It is important to warm up thoroughly (click to do warm-up and it’s exercises)- perform two or three sets of that exercise using very light weights - before embarking on the heavy sets. You should also allow longer rest periods between sets (3-4 minutes) than in the bodybuilding program to allow full recovery of your fuel system. Ensure you use the full range of movement for each exercise and train using perfect technique.

Maximum Strength Workout

Frequency: 2/week

Workout time: Apr. 45 min (excluding warm-up and stretching). Click for doing warm up and it’s exercises.

Rest: 3-4 min between sets and 3-4 min between exercises.

Training Tempo: 1 count for the concentric (lifting) action; 2 counts for the eccentric (lowering) action.

Note: Begin with weights equal to 70-80% lRM and perform 6-8 repetitions. Progress to 80-90% lRM, performing 3–4 repetitions.

Back to Weight Lifting Programs

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