Bodybuilding for beginners: program, exercises, nutrition

Most gym goers are faced with a lot of questions. Their progress depends on the correct answers to these questions. There is a lot of misinformation on the Internet, especially about exercise in the gym. Bodybuilding for beginner athletes seems mysterious and difficult. The information from the article will help you properly organize training and recovery. Progress after reading is inevitable.

What exercises should a beginner do?

Only heavy basic exercises will turn a beginner weighing 65 kilograms into a huge athlete, whose weight fluctuates around the coveted hundredweight. Even if the goal is not to become that big, you will still have to make a base. Although there are exceptions everywhere.

The best exercises for an athlete who is just starting out are:

Bodyweight exercises
(pull-ups and dips).
Squats and deadlifts
(after a month of training and strengthening the lumbar spine).
Extensions, hyperextensions and crunches on the abdominal muscles
(it is necessary to perform exercises to strengthen the core and prepare the body for heavy deadlifts and squats).
Classic bench press
(will strengthen and pump up the shoulder girdle).
Swing dumbbells into stolons from different positions, “reverse butterfly” simulator
(for uniform pumping of all bundles of deltoid muscles).
Leg press, lunges with dumbbells, hack squats
(an alternative to the classic squat for the first month of training).
Seated dumbbell press with emphasis on a bench
(the best basic exercise for the shoulders).
Upper side row
(great for athletes who don’t know how to do pull-ups).
Biceps curls, hammers
(exercises for building arm mass).
Bent-over dumbbell row with one arm, resting on a bench.

Exercises in simulators are also important and useful, but nothing can replace a barbell and dumbbells. They will be present in the training program for beginners, but only for variety, warming up the muscles, ligaments and joints.

Bulgarian split squats

A very interesting type of lunge that allows you to work each leg separately in a slightly different way. Such squats place quite high demands on the athlete’s coordination, which is necessary to maintain a stable position.

It is unknown where the name of such split squats comes from. Perhaps they were used by Bulgarian athletes. However, this exercise is perfect for women who want to improve the shape of their buttocks, and men should not forget about it.

It is performed in this way: the starting position is approximately the same as if you were about to do lunges, but you need to place your back leg on a low bench. It turns out that you will squat on one leg, and the other will be suspended. Since it is easy to lose balance when doing this, I advise you to start mastering this exercise in a Smith machine, and then, as your technique improves, move on to free weights.

Useless exercises for a beginner athlete

In order not to get injured at the beginning of your journey, you need to know which exercises to perform with caution, and it is better to avoid them altogether. Such movements include:

Weightlifting exercises: snatches, cleans and jerks.
Great for strength or endurance training, but not for building muscle. In addition, they are very traumatic and require perfect execution technique.
Concentrated biceps curls and half the other isolation exercises.
There's no point in them.
All exercises for calves and traps with free weights on the shoulders or in the hands.
Firstly, there is no benefit from such movements; if your calves are genetically weak, then no amount of calf raises will help. Secondly, the load on the spine during such movements is enormous and unjustified.
Forearm exercises.
Big forearms have nothing to do with a beautiful body. Only armwrestlers and armlifters need to develop these muscles.
The standing barbell press
is a great exercise for developing the shoulder girdle, but not for beginners. The peculiar technique, which requires good flexibility of the shoulder and wrist joints, will not allow a novice athlete to quickly master the movement. In addition to the difficult technique, it is worth mentioning the excessive load on the spine.
Bent-over barbell row.
You perform the movement in a tilted position, so the load on the lumbar spine is prohibitive. Let's leave the exercise to professionals and semi-professionals.

The remaining exercises, if performed correctly, only bring benefits and accelerate progress.

Zottman Curls

A fairly rare but effective exercise for the biceps and forearms, it is very similar to dumbbell curls with supination, but has a number of differences.

It's quite simple to do. You take a dumbbell in each hand and perform bicep curls with supination. But at the highest point you should turn your hands in the opposite direction, that is, with your palms down, and then slowly lower your hands. The next repetition begins with lifting and turning the hands and everything is repeated again and again.

Technology is an important component of progress

Without proper technique in basic exercises, you won’t see big and beautiful muscles.

The first three months you need to train according to the Full body program.

(you can read the training program at the end of the article) to prepare the body for a long time of work on itself and establish the correct execution technique.

It would be ideal to work with a trainer for the first three months. If this is not possible, no problem. Do not hesitate to approach the instructor on duty and ask to show you how to perform the exercise correctly. If he is clueless (this often happens), ask for help from experienced comrades. There are many videos on the Internet with the correct technique, watch them before training, or before performing the movement and try to repeat.

When determining the correct technique for performing the exercise, you need to use light weight so as not to get injured. Record the exercise on your phone camera, then view and analyze what is missing to perform the movement correctly.

Stretching is the basis for proper exercise. Without stretching, you won’t be able to develop good technique in squats and deadlifts. Give it at least 15 minutes every day, preferably half an hour. The main thing is not to strain your muscles and ligaments intensely before training - this is a quick path to injury. Pay special attention to the flexibility of the spine, hamstrings and shoulder joints.

Read also: Muscle recovery after training

Bodybuilding from A to Z

Leonid Ostapenko

Part 1

Bodybuilding, as our own practice shows, as well as serious research by Western specialists, where this sport has longer and more established traditions, can eliminate or significantly reduce the degree of exposure to such risk factors as:

overweight; Bodybuilding creates a body free of excess fat deposits through an appropriate exercise regimen and a specially adjusted diet;
hypertension; Regular exercise and a healthy diet with reduced salt intake help lower blood pressure and curb this, as they say in the US, “silent killer”;
high cholesterol; The low-fat, high-fiber diet favored by bodybuilders reduces the risk of cholesterol deposits on the walls of blood vessels; under the influence of systematic exercise, the percentage of high-density lipoproteins in the blood increases, which further reduces the likelihood of cardiovascular diseases;
hypokinesia, or lack of movement; Bodybuilding gives you the best combination of strength (anaerobic) and endurance (aerobic) exercises to keep you in optimal health;
smoking, alcohol and drugs; They, like other painful addictions, have no place in the life of a true athlete, since foreign substances entering the body can negate your efforts to achieve success in this sport;
emotional stress; bodybuilding switches the nervous system to physical activity, thereby reducing the impact of stress, calming the nerves, which is good in itself, and, in addition, reduces the predisposition to being captured by destructive bad habits, which are usually used to relieve these stresses.

In addition, by improving blood circulation in general, by opening reserve capillaries and creating an additional circulatory network, as well as improving blood supply to the brain in particular, bodybuilding creates the opportunity for fruitful mental work, a low-calorie and low-fat diet high in dietary fiber, supported by multivitamin complexes, can reduce the risk of colorectal cancer, and regular exercise and an emphasis on consuming calcium-rich dairy products help prevent osteoporosis, which affects nearly half of older women and one in eight older men.

At any age, you can participate in athletic competitions, and if you don’t win them, don’t be upset: you won the competition against your inactivity, creeping obesity, and the risk of heart attacks. You have won the battle for your health and longevity.

The ancient motto “A healthy mind in a healthy body” takes on the meaning of a guide to action, rather than a statement of fact. Let's create a healthy body, which is why we need a healthy mind. Man must face the difficulties of the present day and enter the future healthy and powerful, for even greater tasks and deeds await him ahead, requiring a healthy mind and a healthy body.

If we managed, dear reader, to interest you in a sound practical approach to bodybuilding - a fascinating sport - let's start training together. I would like even experienced athletes to read this book. I am not consumed by vanity, but I know from my own experience that even when reading a book that seems unnecessary at first glance, you can learn something from what you read. Moreover, even experienced athletes who have already mastered fairly advanced bodybuilding technology sometimes need to return to simple basics, and the benefits of such a return are beyond doubt. However, those who have never trained with weights may have a reasonable question: how to start bodybuilding?

This question may seem simply stupid to some people.

I am sure that many people, who have touched iron at least once, are quite capable of taking upon themselves the courage to say that they already know thoroughly how to start practicing.

To an outsider, bodybuilding seems very simple. The scheme seems like this: you go to the gym, move heavy barbells, dumbbells, or pull the handles of blocks until you are stupefied, and after some time you become big, muscular and sculpted; All you have to do is apply makeup, go on stage to the enthusiastic cries of the ladies in the audience - and the champion title is in your pocket. Sometimes this opinion is formed under the influence of articles and books by self-proclaimed “experts” in strength training, who make illiterate recommendations for organizing training. Our literature market is not particularly rich, but you can find a dozen domestically produced brochures describing “guaranteed” training systems, and for those who believe in the power of Western schools of bodybuilding, professionally published books by champions with shiny, beautiful covers are offered. These guys definitely know how to start practicing!

Yes, that's for sure - they probably know how... they started it themselves. Unfortunately, in most cases this is where it all ends. I have in my archives at least four dozen books of champions that I translated, and I must tell you that, unfortunately, although they represent a certain kind of textbook on life, they suffer from at least one common flaw: they are copied from this champion to the last letter , and no more. And if so, then everything that helped him become such is presented as universal laws. Unfortunately, this doesn't work in the vast majority of cases. Proof?

Well, where did you see the second Schwarzenegger, the second Zane, the second Columbo, the second Haney, and so on (the list could be continued, but why?). One of the nice exceptions that I know of is Bill Pearl's book Keys to the Inner Universe, in which this greatest champion, perhaps equaled only by John C. Grimek, carefully describes the his personal experience, but makes certain methodological generalizations. The second pleasant exception is the books of Robert Kennedy and books co-authored by others. This great publisher, having started as a journalist in the field of bodybuilding in the 60s, trained himself and greedily absorbed the experience of others, so that later, leaving champion ambitions alone, he generously passed it on to bodybuilders of any level of fitness. The third excellent and sensible methodologist is Stuart McRobert, but, unfortunately, the translations of his books and articles are poorly done, and sometimes they distort the very essence of his methods.

Next, where have you seen many great champions raise many like themselves? The late Vincent Gironda, John Parillo, Charles Glass, George Turner and a couple of other names appear in Western magazines as “trainers of champions” in bodybuilding. Lou Simmons, Bill Seno, Greg Reshel and Bill Starr in powerlifting and strength training... Don't stress, you won't remember more if you don't read all the English language lifting and bodybuilding literature over the past 30 years. Moreover, remember that a good athlete is not necessarily capable of becoming an equally good coach or methodologist.

Another criticism for Western “schools”: they were all born on the basis of a financially and politically calm social system, a prosperous and organized life, and a nutritious and balanced diet. Is it possible to characterize our state of being in this way? Yes to completeness!

And finally, I personally cannot stand the word “school” and all its combinations in the context of our conversation (Canadian hockey school, Russian chess school, American or Lithuanian bodybuilding school, and so on). Remember, friends, everything related to physical education and sports cannot be assessed according to the criteria of political fights. All this is subject to strict and unshakable laws of anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, theory and methods of sports training, which are universal. Another thing is who first began to creatively and intelligently use these laws and other people's experience in order to build their body. Here, “thanks to” the efforts of our sports establishment in the 60-80s, we fell far behind, but now, due to the openness of ideological borders, we can use the experience of others.

However, do not believe that there are no prophets in our fatherland. There are excellent, thoughtful trainers and good methodologists, but not all of them are eager to pass on their experience to others in printed form, unfortunately. This is where self-proclaimed “champions” are born, some of whom are simply mentally flawed and poorly educated in terms of theoretical and practical training. However, the most zealous of them has the audacity to declare to all of Russia in the presence of a familiar and obsequiously smiling TV journalist that “in Russia there is no theoretical basis for bodybuilding,” “sports competitions are judged by people who have only seen dumbbells on TV,” and so on. Our magnificent coaches and methodologists, as well as the judges on whom this creature craps, sit in their clubs, pretend that they are not talking about them, and think only about their own shirt, allowing them to desecrate this sport, all its representatives, and take away laurels and well-deserved fame from true champions... Remember that this will continue as long as you keep silent. It's a pity!

But let's get back to our main topic. Let's avoid all the above mentioned evils of bodybuilding publications. Let's agree to use generally accepted scientific, rather than vulgar and amateurish terminology, rely on basic laws about the human body and... think a little about what they will tell you. For my part, I promise you that, as a person who has devoted more than 30 years to collecting and analyzing information about strength training, and has been working in the field of bodybuilding for about 20 years, I will convey to you my personal experience and the experience of the best specialists in the world, and not in “ naked” form, but adapted to the conditions of our existence. I hope you have already agreed that we live in slightly different conditions and under slightly different laws. Consequently, our methods should be somewhat different.

On this hopeful note, we will begin to develop the topic that interests us.

In order to successfully start classes, you need to have at least the desire and real opportunity to do so. The desire must be firm and confirmed by real efforts. Forget all the fairy tales that bodybuilding is very simple - like “take a heavier dumbbell and do more repetitions.” This will only cause you to get high blood pressure. Your desire should also be based on as realistic an assessment of your genetic potential as possible. Let's look at this briefly.

As the once outstanding Soviet sports physiologist Ya. M. Kots said, “champions are born.” This phrase brings all dreamers down to earth. However, in order to conclude that you were not born a champion, you must first exhaust all your available genetic potential, and this takes several years. These few years spent in competent training will in any case be an invaluable investment in your health and appearance!

Let's look at some genetic limitations. If, for example, the distance between your outermost (acromial) shoulder blades is less than 40-42 centimeters, then you will never be able to develop the expressive taper of your torso necessary for a competitive bodybuilder. Equally disadvantageous for success in this field is a pelvic width equal to or greater than the acromial width. You will never correct the curvature of the tibia, although it can be somewhat masked by increased development of the inner heads of the calf muscles. You will never exceed your genetically determined body length (that is, your height) after the epiphyses of the tubular bones ossify (this happens in men around 19-20 years of age). You will never be able to build sufficient muscle mass if your muscular system is characterized by a predominance of slow-twitch muscle fibers.

However, the latter can be determined either through a muscle biopsy (examining a small extracted piece of muscle under a microscope) or through various restraint training programs and then analyzing their effect on your muscular system. So you will still have to train and experiment. By the way, a good coach can almost always draw fairly accurate conclusions about your prospects based on a visual examination.

The second condition is normal health. Weight training involves pushing yourself beyond your current physical limit. Every time you exercise, whether you use weights or not, you expose yourself to some risk of injury and test your adaptive capacity.

If you are over 25 years old and have spent the last five years doing exercises that consist solely of pressing buttons on your TV remote control, first make sure you are healthy. You've heard this advice many times, and it's usually thought of as a warning to smokers on a cigarette pack; however, find a physician who is familiar with athletic training. Ask him to do your electrocardiogram under stress and check your heart under these conditions. Personally, I use a simple and powerful rapid testing computer program that I wrote that can help determine the health of your major functional systems, so don't hesitate to get in touch.

If the doctor gives you guarantees that you are completely healthy, you can be sure that there are no hidden conditions that can create real problems when you start training.

The third step to getting started is to find a good trainer with a good gym. It is not as difficult now as in the old days; gyms are multiplying like mushrooms after a warm rain, but many of them, being well equipped, amaze with the dullness of the coaching staff, who care primarily not about the growth of their own professional level, but about the commercial well-being of their establishments. My advice to you: when getting acquainted with such a gym, ask whether the coaches create training programs for their students, or rely on posters on the wall describing the programs of champions. If such programs are compiled, compare two such programs for trainees with different types of build. If these programs turn out to be very similar, leave this club without regret.

If you decide that a commercial gym is too much for your budget, then your next step is to buy a small barbell weighing up to 100 kg and two collapsible dumbbells, with as much weight as possible. Provide yourself with as many plates as possible, especially light weight ones, to use for building up weights based on your gradually increasing strength. You will also need squat racks and a good, strong bench, usually 28 cm wide and about one and a half meters long, 42 cm high. It would be nice if this bench was adapted for bench press.

The above is the minimum for successful entry-level home workouts. It is worth mentioning that bodybuilding is a fairly high-tech form of physical culture and sport, and amateurish advice to buy rubber bandages for practicing it or make do with a pair of cast iron irons is equivalent to recommendations to learn rowing, sitting in a trough for distributing feed to livestock and using a shovel instead of oars .

However, you don't necessarily need to start lifting weights right away, especially if you haven't exercised on any periodic basis for more than 2-3 years; The risk of overexertion can be avoided if you are willing to spend a few weeks building your physical foundation before lifting weights. In the next issue we will describe a short introductory program that will help you with this.

Bodybuilding from A to Z. Introduction

How many times a week should you exercise

For the first three months, according to the Full body system, you need to exercise 2-3 times a week so that the muscles and ligaments have time to recover before the next workout.

After finishing classes on the Full body system, create a new training program. The split can even consist of 6 workouts per week. The main thing is that they are competent, and the body has time to recover.

If you can't decide on the number of workouts, then choose a standard three-day training split. After a year of training, experiment and find the best option.

Simple conclusions about natural bodybuilding

If you decide to switch from a sedentary lifestyle to natural bodybuilding, then you can expect to gain 17 kg of muscle if you allocate 3 hours for training and 6 additional hours for sleep per week, train with an effort of 60% in a volume of 75 approaches per week, progressing in approaches according to your well-being and maintaining a 25/25 calorie balance, provided that you gradually accustom the food pipe to 2 grams of protein per kilogram of fighting weight.

Best time of day to exercise

The training should be carried out during the maximum performance of the body. For most people, this window is from three in the afternoon to six in the evening. There are exceptions!

If you like to train in the morning, train! Nothing wrong with that. The main thing is that your body feels good during and after exercise.

Modern realities of life dictate their own rules. Many people have to train late in the morning or at night. To bring yourself to your senses, it is recommended to take a shower, sometimes you can use a pre-workout complex, but you should not overuse it, otherwise you will get used to it.

Spider Curls

Another interesting exercise for the biceps, designed to bring some variety to the training process. For this exercise we will need a barbell and an incline bench. The bench should be set at about 30-45 degrees, lie on your stomach on it, pick up a pre-prepared barbell and bend your arms. Elbows should be kept pressed to the body and not spread to the sides. This exercise can also be performed with dumbbells instead of a barbell. The weight of the weights in this exercise is quite modest and you should not chase the scales.

Duration of training

Rumor has it that a workout should not last more than 45 minutes. That's bullshit! People are different, some people need to rest for 3 minutes between sets, but for others one will be enough. How to perform 6 exercises if the rest between sets is 3 minutes? No way.

It is important to monitor not the duration of the workout, but the time the muscles are under load. It is heavy loads that lead to poor recovery and overtraining, not long training.

By training intensively, you can load your muscles in 30 minutes. And if you train slowly, measuredly, then 90 minutes will not be enough. These figures do not include warm-up, cool-down and stretching.

Exercise as you feel and enjoy it, but remember that long rest (more than 5 minutes) negatively affects muscle growth . The main thing is not to chat, but to work!

Benefits and possible harm

The benefits of bodybuilding are obvious: this sport allows people to get a harmoniously developed body, increase muscle strength and endurance. At the same time, the cardiovascular and respiratory systems are trained, and the person’s immune status increases. People with developed muscles look aesthetically attractive.

However, bodybuilding is not always beneficial. Some athletes, in pursuit of quick results, overload the body, which leads to overtraining. Most medical professionals believe that intense physical activity is beneficial in moderation, and exhausting training is more likely to harm health than improve it. Excessive stress on the muscles, heart and blood vessels can significantly damage these organs.

Another risk factor is the addiction of some athletes to steroid drugs that stimulate anabolic processes in the body. Hormonal medications can cause multiple and very serious complications, such as:

Gynecomastia – hypertrophy of the mammary gland in men;
Masculinization – transformation of the body according to the male type in women;
Kidney and liver failure;
Coronary heart disease, heart attack;
Testicular atrophy in men, infertility, erectile dysfunction.

These effects occur with prolonged use of hormonal drugs and increasing dosage. Officially, professional bodybuilders are prohibited from using anabolic steroids. However, hundreds of amateurs around the world freely use steroids that guarantee maximum mass growth with a minimum of effort. The use of doping is the most pressing problem in bodybuilding.

How to select the weight of the projectile

There is no single recipe for selecting weights. The weights of the shells do not increase quickly. Throwing weights on the barbell every workout won’t work. If in the last leg workout you performed squats with a weight of 100 kilograms for 12 repetitions, then this time you can try squatting 102.5 kilograms for 12 repetitions. It is unlikely that you will be able to complete the planned 12 repetitions; you will end up with 10-11.

If the exercise is new to you, then you need to start with light weight. From approach to approach, the weight of the projectile must be increased based on sensations. This makes it easier to position the equipment and determine the working weight.

Natural Bodybuilding Exercises

Muscle growth is determined not by the equipment, but by the effort achieved in the strength exercise.

This effort should be more than 60% of the maximum.

An effort of 60% is achieved if the exercise is performed for no more than 16 repetitions.

Any strength exercise with iron or body weight that you cannot do more than 16 times will stimulate muscle growth.

For men who cannot do push-ups and pull-ups 16 times with strict technique, it is better to start natural bodybuilding classes at home without iron.

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Nutrition Basics for Beginning Athletes

Without proper nutrition, it is impossible to achieve impressive results.

To progress at the initial stage of training, it is enough to adhere to the following rules:

Fractional meals.
At the initial stage, five meals are enough (excluding sports nutrition).
Sports nutrition is not necessary, but you can use it.
The main thing is not to get hung up and understand that these are additives to the main diet and nothing more.
Sweets, flour, fatty foods, fast food and other unhealthy foods will have to be excluded from the diet.
Most carbohydrates should be consumed before two o'clock in the afternoon. After 5 hours, only protein and fiber.
Increase your caloric intake by 15-20%.
Training takes a lot of strength and energy, so when you start training you need to eat more.
Forget about snacking, eat strictly according to plan.
An hour before training you need to refuel well, whey protein is perfect.
Within 45 minutes after training, you need to eat easily digestible food, such as bananas or mass gainer.
Human tissue is 80% water. Consume about 3 liters of clean drinking water.
Eat more fruits and vegetables to provide your body with all the nutrients it needs.
Vitamin C, vitamin B6 and B12, fish oil are supplements that should definitely be present in your diet.
If money allows, then buy a vitamin complex so you don’t have to eat a bunch of pills.
Before going to bed, eat cottage cheese or drink casein protein.

Read also: Sports nutrition: how to take it?

The main thing to remember is that without the right food, training is useless, and you won’t be able to build the body of your dreams.

Nutrition in Natural Bodybuilding

Nutrition in natural bodybuilding is subject to the principle of “feed the muscles, waste the fat.”

This means that, first of all, the calorie intake should be balanced in proteins and fats. This balance is determined by the proportion 25/25.

Moreover, 25% of protein in caloric content should correspond to two grams of protein per kilogram of fighting weight - weight without excess fat.

Typically, people do not eat enough protein, so the protein in the diet should be gradually increased as the volume of training increases and according to the 10% principle.

The strict adherence to nutritional rules is the main difference between bodybuilding and other types of strength training.

Create a strength training program

How long will it take to see the results of training?

It is impossible to answer this question specifically. Metabolic rate, natural testosterone levels, food digestibility, health, physique, predisposition to bodybuilding - these are just some of the factors that influence progress.

Let's take an average guy, with average health and capabilities. After about six months, his friends and family will begin to say that he has become broader in his shoulders, bigger in his arms, and generally matured. Of course, you can’t become an athlete in six months, but you can become slim and fit.

After 2-3 years of training, any gym visitor, with proper training and nutrition, will look like an athlete. Six-pack abs, 40-centimeter arms, relatively large legs and a generally toned body are guaranteed after a couple of years of working in the gym. Pointing fingers and saying “how huge!” They won’t, but no one will definitely call you a jerk.

Short story

The history of bodybuilding begins in ancient times: man has always strived for physical and spiritual perfection.
Antique sculptures that have survived to this day are excellent examples of the harmonious development of the human body. Bodybuilding as we know it began to emerge at the end of the 19th century. In those days, weightlifters and strength athletes looked little like modern bodybuilders, but rather looked like representatives of a beer club. Among them stood out a group of people who, in addition to purely strength training, were engaged in the development of a harmonious physique. One of these athletes was Evgeniy Sandov, who is considered the founder of modern bodybuilding.

This athlete organized the world's first beauty contest for athletes in 1901. Sandow later developed a special system of strength exercises to increase muscle volume and strength. The athlete was considered the strongest man on the planet - his chest supported the weight of a platform with three horses, with one hand Sandov lifted a barbell with an additional load in the form of two adults. The athlete is considered the first bodybuilder in the world: his bronze profile is still awarded to the winner of the Mr. Olympia competition.

The peak of bodybuilding popularity occurred in the second half of the 20th century. In the 50-60s, comics began to be published, the characters of which had carefully drawn muscles. Bodybuilders are increasingly being invited to Hollywood films.

A popular athlete-film actor was Steve Reeves, who starred in the role of the ancient Greek hero Hercules. Later, in the seventies, multiple winner of the Mr. Olympia title Arnold Schwarzenegger received recognition and love from the audience. This athlete significantly exceeded the bodybuilders of the past in terms of mass and muscle volume and made a huge contribution to the development and popularization of bodybuilding.

In the modern bodybuilding industry, a professional is considered an athlete who wins a qualifying competition. Such an athlete receives a card from the International Bodybuilding Federation and has the right to compete in professional competitions - such as the Arnold Classic or Night of Champions.

The Mr. Olympia competition is the most significant international bodybuilding competition, which is held under the auspices of the International Federation of Bodybuilding. The first competition took place in September 1965 in New York. Since 1998, competitions have been held almost constantly in Las Vegas. At the same time, bodybuilding competitions among women are held: representatives of the fair sex are awarded the title “Miss Olympia”.

During the existence of the competition, 13 people became champions: Arnold Schwarzenegger (Austria) won the title seven times, Lee Haney (USA) became the champion the same number of times, and Ronnie Coleman (USA) eight times.

What results can be realistically achieved without the use of prohibited drugs?

A question that concerns most people who come to the gym for the first time. If the goal is to become a competing athlete in heavy weight categories, then you can’t do without drugs, but we are talking about training for health and a beautiful figure, so the body’s testosterone is quite enough.

Any gym goer can weigh 80 kilograms and have 6-pack abs. The cherished 100 kilograms of lean muscle is not an easy goal, but doable! You will have to spend many years to achieve it, but it is worth it.

California press

The exercise is practically not found in modern gyms; it trains the triceps of the arms and is a kind of hybrid between the French press and the close-grip press.

The technique of execution is something like this: the athlete lies down on a bench, takes a moderately weighted barbell, performs a French press with the apparatus lowered onto his head, then pulls the apparatus lower onto his chest and presses upward. It turns out that the first phase of the exercise is similar to a French press, and the second is similar to a close-grip press. We try to keep our elbows pressed to our body.