A Bodybuilder is an athlete who strives perfect his physique. This sport requires dedication to performance, schedule, nutrition and rest. An individual beginning in this sport should plan a bodybuilding schedule that will allow him sufficient time to exercise, eat right, and rest properly each week.
An effective schedule should be broken into three categories. These are exercise, eating, and resting periods. The exercise portion of the bodybuilding schedule should focus on specific muscle groups within a weekly routine. A muscle group should be exercised to complete exhaustion by using both compound and isolation lifting exercises.
A good exercise routine should split large muscles with smaller muscles and focus on using opposing muscles groups. Combining muscle groups in this manner is typically referred to as a three-day split routine. With this routine, day one is focused on chest and back, day two is legs, and day three is arms and shoulders. This type of bodybuilding schedule allows for the complete exhaustion of each muscle group once per week.
The human body is an incredibly adaptive organism that reacts to physical conditions to protect the cells of the body. Bodybuilding is a process of exercising muscles by tearing muscle fibers to stimulate cell growth. This process requires periods of rest and effective nutrition between exercise days. Most muscles require 48 to 72 hours of rest for full recovery from an exercise routine. It is critical to include rest days for muscle groups within any bodybuilding schedule with sufficient sleep on all days.
A three-day split routine allows a muscle group six days to recover. This body building schedule requires one day of exercise and one day rest throughout the week, with each exercise day focused on a specific muscle group. During a rest day the bodybuilder needs to relax and ensure he follows a nutritional diet. Working muscles before they have recovered interrupts the process of rebuilding muscles and prevents growth.
Effective eating is another critical component in a bodybuilding schedule. Most bodybuilders log all food and water consumption throughout the day. This ensures proper nutrients are available for muscle recovery and growth. A good eating schedule should include proper carbohydrates and protein consumption on lifting days to enable for high-intensity workouts.
Most bodybuilders follow a six-meals-per-day schedule with a maximum time between meals of two to three hours. This type of schedule ensures the body remains in a metabolic growing stage throughout the day. Additionally, the first meal of the day should include fast-absorbing carbohydrates as the body has typically been deprived of food for at least eight hours.