Bodybuilding centers on building the body’s muscles through a combination of weight training/lifting and nutrition.
Whether it is pursued recreationally or competitively, bodybuilding is often considered a lifestyle. This is because it involves both times spent inside and outside the gym.
To maximize the results obtained in the gym, we at HealthEd Academy believe it’s crucial to focus on the diet that is consumed. This is due to the fact that eating the wrong foods can have a detrimental effect on achieving the goals of bodybuilding.
Bodybuilding is different from Olympic or powerlifting because it’s judged on the competitor’s physical appearance, not on his or her physical strength.
Bodybuilders, therefore, aspire to develop and then maintain a well-balanced, muscular, and lean physique.
To achieve this, a large number of bodybuilders begin with two ways of eating – one for the off-season followed by another for the season itself. This is often referred to as bulking and cutting, respectively.
In the bulking phase, which can last anything from months to a number of years, bodybuilders try to eat as high a calorie, protein-rich diet as they can, while intensely lifting weights. The goal is to build as much muscle as possible.
The cutting phase that follows concentrates on the athlete losing as much fat as he or she possibly can while maintaining the muscle mass they developed in the previous bulking phase. This can be achieved with certain changes made to the diet and exercise regimes over between 12 and 26 weeks.
When bodybuilding the training and the dieting are typically divided into these two phases of bulking and cutting. The bulking goal is to build up muscle. The cutting goal is concentrated preserving the muscle but losing any body fat.
Bodybuilding offers several associated health benefits. To maintain and build muscles, bodybuilders must exercise frequently, during which they have to perform both resistance training and aerobic training.
The resistance part of the training increases strength and muscle size. This strength has a high correlation to lowering the risk of dying from various illnesses including cancer, kidney and heart disease, along with other critical conditions.
The aerobic exercise tranche not only reduces body fat, but it also enhances heart health, significantly lowering the risk of developing and dying from heart disease.
By focusing on nutrition as well, bodybuilders, with careful planning, are able to eat in ways that not only support their efforts in the gym but helps keep them healthy too.
Having a healthy eating pattern, and including nutrient-dense foods from all food the groups in the appropriate amounts, can seriously reduce an athlete’s risk of succumbing to chronic diseases.
By exercising regularly and eating well-planned, nutrient-dense diets, offer bodybuilders many significant health benefits.