Bodybuilding School Project…

A few weeks ago I was contacted by one of my younger online followers who wanted to interview me about the basics of bodybuilding training and nutrition for a school project that he was doing.

I thought it was pretty cool that he wanted to interview me. And as you know I’m always willing to offer a helping hand, be it helping someone build their body, or in this case help build a better body and hopefully better grades in school as well 😉

The exact e-mail that I received below…

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Hey Lee,

Thank you for your time.
Joe
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So I helped Joe out and did an interview with him for his school project and I posted it up below. I thought it would make for an interesting blog post because we covered some good solid fundamental bodybuilding information. You can check it out and then please post your feedback in the comments section.

1. How do you personally define Bodybuilding?

The term bodybuilding can have different meanings depending on the context it’s used. In its pure essence “Body Building” is simply following a diet and exercise routine to Build The Body.

Some more advanced people will refer to the sport of Bodybuilding. This is where competitors (i.e. bodybuilders) will train for a competition and get on stage to compete and see who has the best built body in terms of muscle mass, definition, symmetry, and proportion. I am competitive bodybuilder myself and have been competing regularly since 1995.

However, in my business I use the term “Total Fitness Bodybuilding” which basically means taking consistent action through diet and exercise to build your body and improve your overall fitness level. Most of my online followers and coaching students are NOT competitive bodybuilders, they just want to use weight training, cardio, and proper nutrition to improve their physiques and get in their best shape.

2. Why is it important for bodybuilders to have knowledge of muscle groups?

The primary exercise for building the body is weight training. And this involves isolating the major muscle groups of the body and performing specific exercises to work those individual muscle groups. Now you don’t have to have a degree in Kinesiology, but you do need to know what all the major muscle groups are and their primary functions.

The major muscle groups that bodybuilders will work in the gym are:
– Chest
– Back
– Shoulders
– Biceps
– Triceps
– Quadriceps
– Hamstrings
– Calves
– Abdominals
– Forearms

Very often bodybuilders will group complementary muscle groups together in the same workout.

So for example, a common bodybuilding workout is training the Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps together in the same workout. These muscles are all primarily pushing muscles and when you do any kind of pressing exercise for the chest; the shoulders and triceps come into play as secondary muscle groups. So bodybuilders will often group them together in the same workout routine.

Another common group is grouping Back, Biceps, and Forearms together in the same workout as these are all pulling muscles and when you do any type of rowing or pulling movement for the back; the biceps and forearms come into play as secondary muscle groups.

And finally the muscles of the Legs and Abdominals are usually grouped together and trained in the same workout. When you do exercises for the legs the quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, and even the abdominals come into play.

One of the most popular 3-day bodybuilding split routines is:

Workout 1: Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps
Workout 2: Back, Biceps, and Forearms
Workout 3: Quadriceps, Hamstrings, Calves, and Abdominals

I’ve got a series of workout videos on YouTube that cover a complete
3 Day Basic Bodybuilding Workout Split Routine

3. By how much will the results of a builder who uses proper form and good tempo differ from those of a builder who rushes his circuit and has sloppy form?

The main thing when it comes to building muscle is placing stress and demand on the muscles so that they have to adapt and grow stronger. This is achieved with progressive overload, meaning that you have to constantly try to lift heavier and perform a greater workload in order to give the muscles a reason to grow bigger and stronger.

Now you can actually accomplish this by using sloppy form in the gym. Granted this is NOT what I recommend, but you will often see bodybuilders who are big, strong, and muscular using poor lifting form. The reason they are still growing is because the workouts they are doing are still providing stress and demands to the muscles and stimulating them to grow. However, the risk of injury is very high when you use poor lifting form. It’s easy to pull or tear a muscle, tendon, or ligament when using poor form and jerky movements. A much better and safer approach is to use good lifting form and maintain proper control of the weights at all times and not letting momentum takeover. This is what I strive to do myself in my own workouts and what I teach my coaching students as well.

Remaining injury free is critically important when it comes to making long-term bodybuilding gains. If you get hurt you can potentially be laid up and out of the gym for weeks or even months. And this will hinder your muscle gains a lot more then taking your time and lifting more conservatively and using proper exercise form while in the gym.

So in the long term using good form and staying injury free will allow you to make better overall gains and stay consistent with your bodybuilding workouts.

4.How does nutrition apply to bodybuilding?

Nutrition is a very critical aspect to any bodybuilding routine. You can be consistent with your workouts, but if you don’t fuel your body properly you will NOT get optimal results.

You can compare your body to an engine. For example, if you have a high performance sports car would you fill it up with low octane gas and cheap low-grade oil? Of course not, you would only use premium gas and high-grade oil in the car. And you should treat your body the same way, only fuel it with quality nutrition.

Feeding your body lots of lean protein, green veggies, complex carbs, and healthy fats will go a long way to improving your overall strength and energy levels. It will also speed up your recovery from training and aid with muscle growth.

Another way to look at it is lets say you had a million dollar race horse, would you go out and feed that race horse pizza, ice cream, and French fries and expect it to run at it’s best? Probably not, I mean with that kind of money on the line you’d do everything you can optimize it’s performance by feeding it properly, training it regularly, giving it adequate rest, recovery, etc. to make sure the horse is in perfect health. Your body needs that same kind of respect as well when it comes to nutrition and lifestyle to function at it’s best as well.

5. Is there positive progress made by a builder who’s awareness of nutrition is poor?

Even though nutrition is very important, you can still make some progress with sub-par nutrition.

I’m often asked: “What’s more important – Diet or Exercise?”

Now while both are very important, I would have to give a slight edge to Exercise. The reason is that everyone has to eat. But you don’t have to exercise. So just by being active and working out on a regular basis you will still reap some benefits. Just like a high performance sports car will still run on low octane gas. Now the car’s performance will suffer and the low grade fuel may cause some engine damage over the long term, but the car will still run non-the-less.

What I often suggest for new people just starting out is to focus on their exercise routine first. Once you get that down pat and you are consistent with working out. Then focus on improving your nutrition. Often times the momentum that’s created from following a proper exercise routine will help motivate you to improve your nutrition and eating habits as well so that you can get even better gains in the gym.

6. Why should bodybuilders take nutrition seriously?

Bodybuilders who want to maximize their muscle gains and lose excess bodyfat need to take their nutrition program seriously. The more advanced you get as a bodybuilder the more important nutrition becomes. At the high levels of bodybuilding competition, the show is often won by the bodybuilder who has been the most disciplined with sticking to their nutrition program.

7. How can conditioning (i.e Aerobic Exercise) improve bodybuilding?

The primary form of bodybuilding training is lifting weights to stimulate muscle growth. But a secondary form of bodybuilding training is cardiovascular conditioning through aerobic exercise and this is mainly to aid with fat loss. The ideal bodybuilding physique is having a big muscular build with a lack of bodyfat. So that’s why cardio is very important.

In addition to helping with fat loss, cardio training improves your work capacity, endurance, blood circulation, metabolism, etc. So what you’ll often find is that bodybuilders who are in better shape cardio wise will recover faster from their workouts and this in turn will help them build more muscle mass and stay leaner.

8. Which is more important, nutrition or conditioning; or are both equally important?

Like I mentioned before, both are very important, however I would have to give a slight edge to Exercise or Conditioning. The reason for this is that everyone has to eat. But not everyone has to exercise. And when you get consistent with the exercise portion of your routine, it’s only natural that you’ll want to improve the nutrition portion of your routine as well. After all, no one wants to waste their time in the gym and miss out on potential muscle gains simply because they are
following a poor nutrition program.

9.What leads some bodybuilders to the use of steroids?

When it comes to bodybuilding the natural progression usually goes like this:

You start going to the gym and lifting weights.

• Once you maximize the gains you get from just working out, then you start focusing on improving your nutrition program.
  
• Then once you maximize the gains you get from proper training and proper nutrition you start looking into sports supplements to help get an extra edge.
  
• Then after you maximize the gains you get from training, nutrition, and supplements you may push the boundaries and look into performance enhancing drugs such as steroids.

It’s usually only advanced bodybuilders who really want to push the limits on what’s possible resort to steroids and other performance enhancing drugs. Now granted there will always be some ignorant beginners who think they can shortcut the whole process and just jump into taking drugs right away, but this rarely ever works. The foundation of proper training and nutrition is a must before supplements or even steroids can make any significant differences in your muscular
build.

10. If you could give any advice to future bodybuilders, what would it be?

My number one tip would be to take action and get started NOW. A lot of people procrastinate and put things off. You’ll often hear people say that they’ll start exercising when they have more time, etc. But the truth is you are always going to be busy and you will always have other things going on in your life. You just have to bite the bullet and DO IT NOW! Don’t wait to start.

To help with this, try to surround yourself with people who are in better shape and more advanced than you. When you are around successful people the positive influence will inspire you to improve. Having friends who are in great shape will help pull you up and motivate you to get in better shape just so you can stay on the same level as they are.

And finally, you need to view bodybuilding and fitness as a healthy lifestyle. This is not some quick fix that you are only going to do for the short term. You have to commit to lifelong fitness if you really want to achieve all the benefits that bodybuilding can provide.

11. What influenced you to become a bodybuilder?

I started working out at 12 years old. My father was always an active person. He used to jog, ride bicycle, lift weights, etc. That had a big positive influence in my life while growing up. Just like a lot of kids, I wanted to be like my dad 🙂

But the big thing that really sparked my love of muscle was when I first saw
Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Conan The Barbarian Movies.

I didn’t even know what bodybuilding was at the time, but I was just blown away that someone could actually be that big and look like a real life comic book super hero. I was determined that I would someday look like that myself. That’s when I got bit by the bodybuilding bug. All during high school I was obsessed with working out. I also participated in martial arts at the same time, taking karate lessons for 5 years. Then in my senior year of high school I entered my first bodybuilding competition. The 1995 Newfoundland Provincial Bodybuilding Championships. Bodybuilding just seemed to click with me and I enjoyed it right from the start. I was always a shy kid growing up, but for some reason I felt very comfortable on stage competing in bodybuilding. From 1995 on I have competed pretty much every year in local and regional bodybuilding competitions. My most recent competition (as of this interview) was the 2011 NLABBA Championships that took place on November 19, 2011.

Lee Hayward: Age 19 in 1997

12. What challenges do you face as a bodybuilder?

For a lot of bodybuilders dealing with social settings can be a challenge. Whenever we get together with family and friends it’s usually over food and drink. So if you are trying to follow a clean eating bodybuilding diet plan you’ll often be tempted with junk food, alcohol, etc. And you have 2 choices, either give in and indulge. Or be looked on as a social outcast because you don’t want be like everyone else.

It is like peer pressure on a higher level. Because not only are you tempted by “BAD” things like drugs, cigarettes, booze, etc. but even simple things junk foods and stuff that average people don’t consider bad will hinder your progress and cause you to gain excess bodyfat.

So hands down the biggest challenge that a serious bodybuilder faces is sticking with a healthy muscle building nutrition program while also dealing with people and everyday life. And the hardest part is that it’s usually our closest friends and family members who are the ones trying to tempt us with the bad foods.

If you have any questions, comments, or feedback about this interview;
please feel free to post them in the comments section below and we’ll discuss them there 🙂