6 Secrets to Bodybuilding Success

redspy

6 Secrets to Bodybuilding Success

by Clayton South

Have you ever stopped to wonder why so many bodybuilders and athletes fail to make the gains they desire? Why is it that many athletes fail to see results for their hard work?

All athletes, regardless of skill level, must frequently evaluate and re-evaluate their goals, as well as their planned course of action in light of results obtained; perpetual progress is possible only by doing this. And, no better time exists for this evaluation to occur than the point at which stagnation sets in and results begin to wane, or worse, fail to materialize.

In business it is necessary to constantly evaluate and re-evaluate ones goals, objectives, plans and ideas. Without this constant real-time evaluation, a business runs the risk of performing poorly, becoming married to an idea based on yesterdays conditions, missing opportunities for growth, and / or flying blindly into disaster. The same holds true for an athletes career. Evaluating marketing conditions, for example, comes down to evaluating the marketing mix. This mix consists of product, price, promotion and place. Is it a good product or is it junk? How much does the product cost to manufacture, and what is the expected rate of return at this-or-that retail price? How do we best communicate the benefits of the product to the consumer? And, lastly, how is it that we can remove obstacles to buying and deliver the product most easily into the hands of a willing buyer? These factors can be controlled for.

Like in business, a bodybuilder must constantly evaluate and re-evaluate the controllable factors specific to his or her career. Do I have the objectivity required for a successful bodybuilding career? Am I eating in a hormonally correct way? Is my supplementation program effective? Am I exercising correctly? If so, is my exercise selection ideal, or is there room for improvement? These are but some of the questions that an athlete must be answer on a continual basis. But, because most people act only in the face of necessity, this type of real-time analysis seldom occurs unless and until the crisis of stagnation has already arrived. At this point any action taken is reactive instead of proactive. It is this approach that is largely responsible for the fact that scores of bodybuilders and athletes are seemingly trapped in bodies that fail to adapt to applied stimulus. When one is forced to react instead of pro-act, results of any kind are virtually impossible to achieve.

This article will examine the bodybuilding mix the 6 variables that are within the control of the bodybuilder in an attempt to help athletes evaluate their training to produce maximum results.

1. OBJECTIVITY
Being objective is the first step to identifying, understanding and solving a problem of any kind. Objectivity is also required to make sound decisions about the course, direction and mission of ones bodybuilding career.

The influence of the ego and the desire to see oneself in a positive light often interfere with objective analysis. Consequently, it is beneficial to surround yourself with objective observers who can provide unbiased feedback. This means excluding the feedback given by those with dependencies or self-interests i.e. employees, spouses, friends, family.
If and when you solicit anothers opinion and you are told that you look "good", do not settle for this answer. Instead, attempt to see if the person is deceiving you or withholding information by asking: "how do you think I could look FANTASTIC?" Any answer given to this question will reveal the true nature of their opinion, and it will tell you if they were being kind in their evaluation, telling you what you wanted to hear, or were trying to avoid giving negative criticism.

2. HORMONALLY CORRECT NUTRITION
Adaptive adaptation to stimulus can occur only if ones nutrition regimen is sufficient so as to allow adaptive adaptation. Biochemistry makes clear that macronutrient consumption is, in part, determinative of hormone profile, and that a failure to eat in a goal-oriented fashion will have negative hormonal consequences that will negatively impact anabolism and muscle growth.
This realization necessitates obtaining ones food from clean sources, including lean meats, nuts and fruits and vegetables. Processed food and the preservatives and colorings accompanying them well destroy the health of any body athlete or non-athlete.

Clean sources of food aside, eating correctly for hormonal profile means consuming the proper ratios of carbohydrates, fats and proteins so as to maximize anabolic hormone levels, and minimizes catabolic hormone levels. Only in this way can muscle gains be maximized and muscle loss and lipogenesis averted. Bodybuilders must always be asking: Am I eating correctly to derive as much benefit from my hormones as possible while I suppress any possible inefficacious effects?

3. CORRECT RECOVERY
Recovery from exercise of intense but appropriate duration is largely a function of hormone profile. Hormone profile is influenced by nutritional intake, circadian rhythms and sleep.
It is suggested that the average person requires eight hours of sleep nightly to physiologically and psychologically properly function. In fact, it is estimated that the average human being will spend thirty-three percent of their life sleeping. It stands to reason, therefore, that bodybuilders and athletes require more sleep due to an increased activity level.

Sleep aside, correct recovery is also dependant upon circadian rhythms natural rhythms that regulate autonomic bodily functions like core temperature, hunger, hormonal secretion, and heart and respiratory functions. Circadian rhythms are responsible for the secretion of anabolic and lipogenic hormones during sleep periods. The failure to obtain adequate rest can greatly impair immune function, anabolism and the muscle growth that accompanies it. In light of this, bodybuilders must constantly be evaluating their recovery plans and asking: Am I eating enough? Am I sleeping enough to allow my body to fully recover from my exercise regimen? Could I be sleeping more? If so, how will this increased sleep allow me to achieve even greater results?

4. SUPPLEMENTATION
A supplementation regimen should supplement, and not constitute, an appropriate nutrition regimen. When used in conjunction with an appropriate eating and stimulus plan, dietary supplements can elicit tremendous changes in body composition, and can often be the difference between mediocre and outstanding results.

Bodybuilders must always be asking the question: Is this supplement effective at eliciting body composition change? To assess a products efficacy, athletes must be taking measures to collect data. Data collection can occur only when one is a) aware of the appropriate questions to ask and b) when one asks those questions. Continuing to spend money on an ineffective supplement defies common sense and will divert valuable financial resources away from necessary athletic expenditures like food purchases and gym memberships, for example.

5. APPROPRIATE APPLICATION OF STIMULUS
To be effective, stimulus must be correctly applied, intense and of appropriate duration.
Any changes to body composition as a function of exercise stimulus will result from the effects of stimulus on hormone profile. To correctly affect hormone profile, exercise must be applied so as to maximize growth hormone, IGF-1, glucagon and testosterone. These anabolic and lipolytic hormones will favorably impact body composition and facilitate fat loss and muscular hypertrophy. By contrast, incorrectly applied stimulus will induce catabolism and muscular atrophy through cortisol release.

At approximately 45 minutes into an exercise session, growth hormone levels peak, and then begin to decline. This means that after forty-five minutes, an exercise sessions effectiveness at promoting anabolism and lipolysis declines, and begins instead to promote the release of cortisol a hormone that destroys muscle tissue [under certain conditions]. The typical bodybuilders diet, with its emphasis on carbohydrate consumption, makes the effects of cortisol after this forty-five minute mark even more destructive.

Bodybuilders must always be asking themselves: Is my exercise form correct? Am I actually working hard, or am I just under the perception that I am working hard? And, am I exercising within an appropriate time frame so as to elicit as much hormonal benefit from exercise as possible?

Also of importance is the object of your training are you working your muscles, or your central nervous system? The answer to this question is of critical importance, because training failures routinely occur as a result of an exercise program that is designed to achieve one objective, but that ultimately achieves another.

After fifteen seconds of continuously intense work, the body switches from the anaerobic energy system to the aerobic system, and this is where muscle glycogen depletion occurs and lactic acid enters the picture. Powerlifting, because it does not involve working the aerobic energy system, is primarily concerned with central nervous system training. Bodybuilding, by contrast, involves muscle glycogen depletion and lactic acid buildup. Because of the difference in the two training styles, the results obtained from each system will not be identical to the results achieved by the other.

Many bodybuilders claim to bodybuild, but in actuality fail to see muscle gains as a result of incorrect stimulus application. Using a poundage that is too heavy and that does not allow one to complete the mandatory number of repetitions will result in central nervous system fatigue. After the central nervous system has been fatigued, depleting muscle glycogen stores becomes impossible.

So, bodybuilders must always ask themselves: Am I training my central nervous system, or my muscle tissue? Is my application of stimulus effective at depleting muscular glycogen stores, or, in training my central nervous system, am I simply limiting my ability to train my muscles?

6. APPROPRIATE EXERCISE SELECTION
Exercise selection, within the context of appropriate exercise application, is determinative, in part, of athletic and bodybuilding success. The effectiveness of stimulus applied to the body decreases over time as physiologic homeostatic mechanisms influence hormone levels and elicit physical adaptation.

Many athletes fall into a "plateau." This plateau, mentioned in the opening paragraphs of this article, results largely from a failure to examine, in real-time, ones goals, objectives and direction. Consequently, many athletes, without realizing it, perform the same exercises in the same way for extended periods, and results grind to a halt. It is by default and inaction that situations of this type occur. Falling into a routine is simple - routines are easy, desirable and, once established, require little active effort to maintain. Once one "falls into" a routine it is easy to continue going through the motions unconsciously. However, it happens more often than not that by falling into a routine, the athlete instead falls into a disaster, characterized by diminishing results and increased frustration.

It is typical for athletes, because of ease and personal preference, to perform some exercises to the exclusion of others. This practice can, over extended periods, decrease muscular functionality and strength, result in physique imbalances, and give rise to spinal subluxations and vertebral abnormalities. Modifying stimulus at regular intervals by modifying exercise selection and application will disrupt physiologic homeostasis and force the body to undergo continual hormonal and physical adaptation. To avoid plateaus, bodybuilders must ask themselves: Is my current selection of exercises appropriate and effective at eliciting the results I desire? If so, could I elicit even greater gains by making modifications?

CLOSING THOUGHTS
All athletes, regardless of skill level, must frequently evaluate and re-evaluate their goals, as well as their planned course of action in light of results obtained; perpetual progress is possible only by doing this. Bodybuilders must be cognizant of the bodybuilding mix the set of 6 controllable variables that impact exercise efficacy, hormone profile, and body composition and must conduct real-time analyses on a continual basis. A failure to understand and control these variables can result in aimlessness, stagnation, frustration and disaster.

Perpetual progress and adaptive adaptation to exercise is possible, and now that you understand the bodybuilding mix and how each variable impacts your progress, you can control these factors instead of letting them control you.

Nick500

Really good post Redspy, learnt a lot from that !

3 things which i found most interesting:

Am I sleeping enough to allow my body to fully recover from my exercise regimen? Could I be sleeping more? If so, how will this increased sleep allow me to achieve even greater results?

- they say that a normal person should try and get 8 hours sleep, and that bodybuilders require more. On average i get 6-7 hours

Modifying stimulus at regular intervals by modifying exercise selection and application will disrupt physiologic homeostasis and force the body to undergo continual hormonal and physical adaptation.

- I haven't changed my routine for months, and generally haven't seen the point. Time to switch some stuff around i think !

At approximately 45 minutes into an exercise session, growth hormone levels peak, and then begin to decline. This means that after forty-five minutes, an exercise sessions effectiveness at promoting anabolism and lipolysis declines, and begins instead to promote the release of cortisol a hormone that destroys muscle tissue [under certain conditions]. The typical bodybuilders diet, with its emphasis on carbohydrate consumption, makes the effects of cortisol after this forty-five minute mark even more destructive.

- this is really important i think. i didn't realise what cortisol's role in the whole thing was. my normal workout is between 1 hr 15 and 1 hr 45, so maybe i'm gonna try and get some high GI carbs after that 45 minute mark for sure or cut down time spent training (but increase frequency of sets)

really useful to know.

nick

Nick500

on a side note, would taking something like Designer Supplements Lean Extreme, (http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/design/lean.html) which is a cortisol blocker, be worthwhile to run all the time?

nick

razg

Treat the cause, not the symptoms. Adrenal stress hormones such as cortisol are released as a product of extremely low blood sugar, and can lead to muscle catabolism.

A possible course of action would be drinking a slow release carb formula during the workout to keep blood glucose levels from getting so low.

NOTE: High GI carbs which are consumed post workout go directly for glycogen synthesis. However in a normal situation, they could trigger an insulin spike which could then cause a drop (depending on factors such as insulin sensitivity, and activity level) causing cortisol release. So IMO, stick to dextrose/maltodextrin for a PWO shake, not a during workout drink.

Also, I can definately certify that you need more sleep nick :P

redspy

There are a couple of issues here. One, I've never seen any studies on 7-OH or even blood tests to determine whether it's effective. I used the 7-OH Diaceate (injectable version) and didn't notice any effects.

Secondly cortisol plays an important role in your body and only high levels will cause problems. Activities like overtraining will increase cortisol, but if you have a good training regimen and diet you shouldn't have any problems.