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About body-building and body sculpturing - how to get a good looking body

Body-building has two main effects: You get bigger muscles. You get stronger, and your body changes shape. If you have not set any goal for the development of your bodily proportions, and planned your training according to these goals, your body-building activities can give results you do not like.

DEFINE YOUR GOAL FOR BODY SHAPE

First of all you must define goals for the proportions between your body parts. Many people will for this goal choose a classical standard like this: Slim around the mid, flat stomach, round buttocks, muscular thies and calves, strong muscles around the shoulders and on the breast, and fairly strong arms. This classical ideal gives a balance between the lower body and upper body.

Others, however, will prefere a more v-shaped body shape with nore muscle mass at the upper body than the lower.

Then you must compare your goal with your actual body shape, and note all points that need special attention in order to achieve these goals.

- You must define which body parts have to develop greater muscle mass

- You must define which body parts need to loose fat, or perhaps gain more fat.

- You must also decide if you want changes in you posture, or correct unwanted curvatures or bendings, and you must define these changes. By consistent training you can greatly improve your posture.

Then you should consider wheather your goals are realistic, and adjust your goals if they are not so.

Then you must make a plan for your training, your diet and otherwise for your lifestyle.

 

METHODS TO USE FOR ACHIEVING YOUR GOAL

There are three things defining your body shape: The amount and distribution of muscle mass, the amount and distribution of fat and the flexibility of your spinal culumn and your joints.

Therefore you must use several different methods to achieve the wanted shape: Muscle training, condition training, right diet, possibly slimming and streching exercises.  Improvement of posture will result from the combination of stronger muscles and flexibility training.

YOUR BODY BUILDING PLAN

Then you must make a plan for your training, your slimming, your diet and otherwise for your lifestyle. A repetitive three day's plan with training 45 minutes to one hour each day will give you great results, if the plan is consistently adhered to:

In day one you perform exercises to gain muscular mass and muscular strength. You should train all your muscles, but those body parts where you have planned to get must muscles, should be exercised the most.

In day two you perform condition training. In day three you stretch out and get rest from hard exercises.

MUSCLE TRAINING

Weight lifting or analogous training where you work against reistance will develop your muscle strength and muscle mass.

To achieve the right shape, you must train the most the muscles in those body parts where you want to gain muscle mass.

The muscles in body parts where your allready have the prefered muscle volume shall get enough training to maintain your muscles and strength, but not more.

If you have posture problems, curvatures or bendings in body parts caused by weak muscles or bad habits, these can often be helped for by strengthening the muscles that flex the body parts in the opposite direction. If however, the bending is due to scoliosis or some other disease under progression, the problem need professional treatment.

CONDITION TRAINING

You must also do exercises that enhance your general condition, like jogging, swimming, playing ball, and cycling. Condition training will improve your general health and make it easier for you to loose fat.

Choose something that you find funny, and you can also vary between different activities. It is also good to invite some friends to exercise together with you on this day.

STRETCHING EXERCISES

If parts of your body are unelastic and little mobile, this wil cause parts of your body to curve in wrong directions. The most common is a foreward curvature of your upper spine and neck. To get a right body shape, you must correct this immobility and curvature by stretching exercises.

It is especially important to stretch out in the opposite directions of those where you have unwanted curvatures. Such exercises must be combined with exercises to strengthen the muscles that counteract the unwanted curvatures.

Yoga exercises are very good to enhance your flexibility and improve your general health. It is also advisable to set out some time for meditation the same day that you perform stretching exercises.

SLIMMING

When you slim away unwanted fat, the fat in all your body parts will lessen. However, it is difficult to decide where the trimming effect will be greatest. The best advice is to slim down until no body parts has more fat then you want. Body parts that seem too slender after this process, can then be built out by muscle training.

DIET ADVICES

The diet is important for achieving and maintaining a good body shape. You must eat 3-5 good meals each day, but do not over-eat.

You need enough proteins. Every meal must have some protein-rich food sources, like: Fish, seafood, lean meat, lean cheese, foul or mushrooms. Also nuts, almonds and sunflower seeds contain protein. These are good food sources, but because of the content of fat, you should not consume too much of them. Eggs are a good protein source, but eat it in moderate amounts to avoid getting too much cholesterol.

In each meal you need some fat from natural sources and you need some carbohydrates. You should however control your consume of fat and sugar. You must not add very much fat or sugar to your food, and you must not eat too much of food with a high content of fat and sugar.

Also vary between different natural fat sources to get all the essential fatty acids you need: Fat fish, nuts, sunflower seeds, almonds, olive oil, rape oil, canola oil, flaxseed oil, marine oils, nut oils and sunflower oil. Do not use only soy oil or corn oil as many people do. Neither use much butter. Do not consume chemically altered fat.

As sources of carbohydrates use mostly full corn bread or cereals, peas, lenses or beans, but also add some sweet fruit.

In order to get enough fiber, vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants, every meal must have some fruit or vegetables in a natural condition. Supplements of vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants and special nutrients can be of help.

By Knut Holt

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. This information is nutritional in nature and should not be construed as medical advice. This notice is required by the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.