How To Start Bodybuilding

A lot of people are aspiring bodybuilders out there.

This article is basically written to a younger me.  That doesn't mean it's not useful for others either.  In fact, anyone can use this information to start their bodybuilding journey.

No one wants to start, everyone wants to be 250 lbs and ripped to shreds.  Unfortunately, it takes years of training, recovery and proper diet to reach that.

Here's what you need to do to start bodybuilding.

1) Pick a diet you can stick to

I don't care how hard you workout, if you're in the military, or used to play college football.  If your diet sucks you will look like shit.  If you can't handle that then find something else to do.  You won't look the way you want to through consuming junk food.  The guys that tell you they eat whatever they want are rarely jacked and ripped.

Now, you need to pick foods you will consume.  If you like steak, and beef, don't follow a fish and rice diet.  Follow a diet that you can stick to.

If you're broke buy hamburger patties, eggs, cans of tuna, and oatmeal for carbs.  Lack of funds is no excuse to not get started.  Eat hamburger and white rice if you want to bulk.  Eat at least 4 meals per day and then gradually increase to 5.

2) Find a gym with a squat rack

If your gym doesn't have a squat rack it's not a real gym.  Pick a gym that has a squat rack, because squats are the best exercise for building your physique.  If you're too lazy to squat, get your balls cut off and get a sex change.  Yes I really just said that.

3) Don't train more than 3 days per week

The main issue most people have when they first start training is that they try to do too much.
I demand that you train no more than 3 days per week when you first start training.  For your first year don't touch anything that's not a barbell.  The one exception I will tolerate is working your calves on a calf machine.  If you try to train more than three days per week you will fall on your face and want to quit.

You need to build the habit of training.

Now that I covered the fundamentals, I will tell you exactly what steps you need to follow.

Now, you need to analyze where you are right now.  If you're a 250 lbs lard ass, you will need to diet.  The fastest way to lose body fat is to eat a low carb diet, if you're too much of a pussy to do keto, have 1 carb meal of oatmeal, nothing else.

If you're less than 200 lbs and you're not fat, I recommend slowly bulking for at least your first 3 years.  I made the silly mistake of yo-yo dieting.  Don't do what I did, bulk until you're at least 200-220 lbs.

This can be done.  To bulk multiply your body-weight x 20, if you're getting too fat with those calories reduce it to body-weight x 18.

Here's a sample meal by meal bulk diet.

Meal 1: 4 whole eggs cooked with olive oil, 2 slices of bacon, and 1 cup of plain steel cut oatmeal

Meal 2: 2 handfuls of cashews and 2 chicken thighs and green vegetables

Meal 3: 8 oz of beef with 2 cups of white rice

Meal 4: 8 oz of beef with 2 cups of white rice

Meal 5 Shake: 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 cup of whole milk, 2 whole eggs, egg whites, fruit of choice, banana, strawberry, 2 tablespoons of peanut butter: Drink this shake either meal 5 or 2.  Drink this shake exactly as written once per day.

Meal 6: Can of tuna with green vegetables

If you can't build muscle on that diet, you didn't do it right.  I gained 35 lbs following this exact diet.

Now, if you're looking to lose body fat this is what you'd need to eat every day.

Meal 1: 3 whole eggs, cooked in olive oil

Meal 2: Snack: 2 handfuls of cashews

Meal 3: 6 oz chicken breast with green veggies

Meal 4: 6 oz of beef 80/20 is fine, with green veggies

Meal 5: same as meal 4

Now, that we covered the diet it's time for you to follow exactly what I write in the gym.

Workout A:

Low bar squats: 2 x 5 reps, 1 x8

Flat bench press: 2 x 5 reps

Power cleans: 5 x 5 reps

Barbell curls: 2 x 12 reps

Tricep extensions: 2 x 15 reps

Workout B

Low bar squats: 1 x 5 (warm up sets don't count, 1 good set of 5)

Incline bench press: 1 x 12 reps

Dead-lifts: 1 x 6-8 reps (no warm ups, 1 hard set of dead-lifts)

Dumbbell curls 1 x 15 reps (make the set count)

Close grip bench press: 3 x 8 reps

Workout C: 

Low bar squats: 3 x 5 reps, 1 x 20

Flat bench press: 3 x 5 reps

Barbell bent over rows: 3 x 5 reps

Calf raises on a machine: 3 x 15-20 reps

Follow this workout exactly as written and take at least one off day in between.

It's perfectly fine if you take two straight off days.  You want to master these exercises.  If you don't like bent over rows, use chin ups instead.  I'm fine with seeing people do chin ups.

The volume is low like this on purpose.  I want people to be able to continue to show up each week.  Try to add weight each week on every exercise, if you can't it's okay.

These are the best bang for your buck exercises, get good at these exercises and you'll see the progress in your physique.

You must squat, low bar squats will allow you to lift the most weight and target the most muscle fibers.

Power cleans and dead-lifts will build your entire posterior chain.  Flat bench and incline bench press will build your upper body.

Since everyone loves curls and training arms, you'll be training them twice per week which is more than enough.

Thank you for reading.

Share this article with everyone.

If you do the program exactly as written you will make gains.

This is the program I wish I had followed for my first two years of training.