The workout principles I will give you in this article will be mostly for maintenance and possibly some slight improvements in strength depending on how much endurance training you do.

Notice how I said principles, I am not going to give direct workout plans here no matter how much people love to have everything laid out for them because I do not feel that they will realize the true benefit. Everyone needs to put in some mental energy into planning the training as well as doing it. If you’re not interested in investing some time to planning or learning and feeling what’s best for you then you should just forget it. Go back to the couch and be the potato (or rather vegetable) that you are.


First, you are not to be competitive with your resistance training. This means that you should not bring your bodybuilder buddy along and try to keep up with his poundage’s, It just won’t happen! If you were to bring your bodybuilder friend along than try and do 2-3 times as many reps as him while ignoring the weight quantity used.

Second, keep your rest between sets to a minimum. This means 2 min. rest maximum. Don’t kid yourself, I hear guys all the time boast how they only take 30 sec. rest between sets yet I see them talking and chatting and taking there sweet ol’ time. If you think you are taking 30 sec. rest than you will not be able to talk to anyone! The rest periods will fly by, so be true.

Third, form, form, and more form. Stick to exercises that utilize multiple muscle groups at first, and then go into exercises that will focus on muscle gorups you want to develop the most. Above all, remember to keep in superior form while performing your resistance exercises. You pound yourself enough with 10 plus hours a week training endurance, no need to chance an injury through stupidity. Some signs of bad form are swinging to get the weight up, over arching the back, swaying the body forcefully, being unbalanced, and tiring muscles other than the ones that are supposed to be in use.


Fourth, a good way to save time and get in proper training is through a circuit training routine. Start with a general warm-up and stretch. Place the proper weights that you will need within reach. Plan out about ten exercises training the entire body with similar body parts spaced apart. Begin the circuit with your first exercise and go until your last without stopping. Rest for a couple of minutes then complete another circuit. Do not go over 40 min. and be sure to warm down and stretch afterward.

Lastly, vary your workouts over a three week period. Start with the first week at a somewhat stimulating level. Then increase the intensity on the second week, while on the third week drop the intensity to below the first week. Start the fourth week at a level a little above the first and repeat the cycle. Always make sure that you have at least one week easy per month to ensure that you are not overtraining which can lead to injury.

Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder List Price: $15.00 Price: $8.49 Read Reviews

From The Back Cover:

Five-time Mr. Universe, Seven-time Mr. Olympia, and Mr. World, Arnold Schwarzenegger is the name in bodybuilding.

Here is the classic bestselling autobiography which explains how the “Austrian Oak” came to the sport of bodybuilding and aspired to be the star he has become.

“I still remember that first visit ;to the bodybuilding gym. I had never seen anyone lifting weights before. Those guys were huge and brutal….The weight lifters shone with sweat; they were powerful looking, Herculean, And there it was before me-my live, the answer I’d been seeking. It clicked. It was something I suddenly just seemed to reach out and find, as if I’d been crossing a suspended bridge and finally stepped off onto solid ground.”

–Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold shares his fitness and training secrets-demonstrating with a comprehensive step-by-step program and dietary hints how to use bodybuilding for better health. His program includes a special four-day regimen of specific exercises to develop individual muscle groups-each exercise illustrated with photos of Arnold in action.

For fans and would-be bodybuilders, this is Arnold in his own words.

My Take on the Book:

This book takes you through Arnold’s life and shows you what he went through to get to be a number one bodybuilder. His exploits in bodybuilding and his mental attitude towards bodybuilding. It is the greatest bodybuilding biography.I read this book serveral times. It is inspiring.

The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding : The Bible of Bodybuilding, Fully Updated and Revised List Price: $29.99 Price: $16.05 Read Reviews

Muscle: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder List Price: $13.99 Price: $73.29 Read Reviews

From The Back Cover:

At age 26, scrawny, Oxford-educated Samuel Fussell entered a YMCA gym in New York to escape the terrors of big city life. Four years and 80 lbs. of firm, bulging muscle later, he was competing for bodybuilding titles in the “iron Mecca” of Southern California–so weak from intense training and starvation he could barely walk. MUSCLE is the harrowing, often hilarious chronicle of Fussell’s divine obsession, his search for identity in a bizarre, eccentric world of “health fascists,” “gym bunnies” and “muscleheads”–and his devout, single-minded acceptance of illness, pain, nausea, and steroid-induced rage in his quest for the holy grail of physical perfection.

This is the story of a guy who ran away to become a bodybuilder. He gave up everything, including his health to become as big as possible. He finally found out that too much of anything is a bad thing. The book is funny and witty and shows you what a person can go through to reach a certain level of bodybuilding. Overall I liked the book. If your into bodybuilding this is a must read.