Weight training is a great way to get fit, tone the body and burn fat. Muscle is hungry and therefore consumes a lot of calories to maintain itself, which is why weight training is a good way to help control weight. However, a traditional bodybuilding routine is not always the best weight training workout to follow, as bodybuilding workouts focus on isolation exercises, which are designed to help definition in specific muscles. For all round health and fitness you should do compound weight training exercises, which work several muscles in unison.

Compound weight training exercises have the added advantage of burning more fat too. Because the movements involve several muscles working together they work the body harder than isolation exercises. If you want maximum fat burning in your workouts as well as increased metabolism from having more muscle tissue a compound weight training routine is idea.

Athletes follow these types of workouts as they create more explosive muscular power. However, just because athletes and professional sports players do these exercises, it certainly does not mean that you cannot. We all respond in similar ways to these exercises, i.e. building strength and burning fat.

Compound Weight Training Exercises

For athletic strength it is advisable to workout in the range of 5-8 reps per set, with 2 work sets. Warm up before each work set with one or two light sets of 10-15 reps. Use weights that are heavy enough to ensure that you have to work very hard to complete the last few lifts.

Always ensure that your form is good. If you cannot complete the final lift without breaking proper form then you have reached muscular failure. After each set rest for 2-3 minutes, if you are working really hard on the bigger exercises, such as the squat and deadlift you may have to rest for up to 5 minutes to ensure you are fully recovered before starting the second work set.

Biceps and triceps are the two muscles that are effectively worked in isolation. Although you will be working both of these muscles when doing the other exercises, it is recommended that you work them in isolation at the end of a session.

Another isolation exercise that is important for athletes is the calf raise as this helps to strengthen the Achilles and provides support when pushing off on a sprint or landing from a jump. The calves are like the biceps and triceps of the lower body, they are relatively small compared to the big work muscles of the thighs and back, but they are still important.

It is up to you whether you do all the exercises in one long session or split the workout. If you split them,  it means you can work harder on each exercise and do not risk over training. A popular split is the push/pull split.

Push Exercises

• Barbell Bench Press
• Shoulder Press
• Calf raises
• Tricep Extensions

Pull Exercises

• Barlbell Squat
• Barbell Deadlift
  
• Power Clean
• Bent Over Row
• Pull Ups (assisted and modified pull ups are recommended)
• Chin ups
• Barbell Curl

The deadlift and power clean both work the same muscles in the legs and lower back, so do not perform both of these in the same session. The power clean is a very dynamic weight lifting exercise that strengthen and work the entire body from the legs to the shoulders. Power clean is excellent for building muscle too, and a correct form is vital to prevent injury. A power clean is essentially a deadlift and upright row combined that works the hips, back and arms.

The Early Years of Bodybuilding (1880 to 1930)

Dexter Jackson at the 2008 IFBB Australian Pro Grand Prix VIII

Bodybuilding is a relatively new phenomenon. Whereas athletics and sports have been around since the dawn of civilization, the act of building muscle purely of aesthetic purposes really only started to appear at the end of the 19th century. This is what has been called the “Early Years of Bodybuilding”, and it lasted from 1880 to 1930.

Bodybuilding was first popularized by a Prussian called Eugen Sandow. He was not the first man to display his muscles to the public, as professional wrestlers and strong men would often show off their well honed bodies as part of the performance. However, he was the first recorded man to display his muscles as an act in their own right. Sandow’s stage show was organized by a man called Florenz Ziegfeld, and the shows were such a success that Ziegfeld built a business empire on the back of them. Ziegfeld has been accredited with being the first person to manufacture dumbbells, spring pullets, tension bands and other strength training equipment. He was the Joe Weider of his day!

Bodybuilding and the Grecian Ideal

For the early bodybuilders the Grecian Ideal was the goal – the idea of physical perfection based on images of the ancient Greeks, which were thought to be designed with mathematical perfection in mind. Early bodybuilders were judged on how closely they matched these classical model of the perfect man.

The Great Competition – the First Bodybuilding Event

The first bodybuilding competition, known as the Great Competition, was on 14th September 1901, and was held at the  Royal Albert Hall in London. The panel of judges were Eugen Sando, Sir Charles Lawes, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The event was a major success with hundreds of contestants having to be turned away. The first bodybuilding champion was William Murray from Nottingham, England. His prize was a bronze statue of Eugen Sandow, that represented the Grecian Ideal. This same statue is still passed on to the winner of the Mr. Olympia, which is the worlds most popular bodybuilding contest to date.

There have been some famous Mr. Olympia winners in the last half century, and possibly most notable are the magnificent Arnold Schwarzenegger who won 7 times, Lee Haney who won 8 times, Dorian Yates who won 6 times, and Ronnie Coleman who has won 8 times. The 2008 winner was Dexter Jackson, who is also competing this year (2009). Two times winner Jay Cutler is also competing in 2009.

The Most Perfectly Developed Man in the World

It took another 3 years before there was a major bodybuilding competition in a America. On 16th January 1904 America’s first bodybuilding competition was held in Madison Square Gardens, New York. The winner was Al Treloar, and he was declared to be “The Most Perfectly Developed Man in the World“. The prize was $1000 which was a very large sum of money in 1904. Two weeks after the competition, Thomas Edison made a film about Al Treloar. The was the precursor to Pumping Iron with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

As the 20th century continued, bodybuilding was taken to greater heights and receiving increasing publicity. Bernarr Macfadden and Charles Atlas promoted bodybuilding all over the world.

Early Bodybuilders

There were several bodybuilders prior to 1930 that made a big impact on the bodybuilding world.

• Earle Liedermam, who wrote some the first instructional books on bodybuilding
• Seigmund Breitbart, a famous Jewish bodybuilder
• Georg Hackenschmidt
• George F. Jowett
• Maxick, revolutionized the art of posing
• Monte Saldo
• Launceston Elliot
• Sig Klein
• Sgt. Alfred Moss
• Joe Nordquist
• Lionel Strongfort, developed the Strongfortism method of training
• Gustav Fristensky, a Czech champion
• Alan C. Mead, an impressive muscle champion despite the fact that he lost a leg in the Great War.

Photo: Dexter Jackson at the 2008 IFBB Australian Pro Grand Prix VIII
Source: LocalFitness.com.au

The Golden Age of Bodybuilding (1940 to 1970)

The Golden Age of Bodybuilding is the period from 1940 through to 1970. It signified a shift in the idea of perception from the Greek Ideal to the more massive bodybuilder that we know today. It is thought that the onset of war led to this change, as some men became more aggressive in their approach to physical perfection. In addition to this drive, training techniques were improved, as was the understanding of nutrition on muscle growth.

The Golden Age saw the emergence of Muscle Beach in Santa Monica, California. New faces took to the bodybuilding stage, including the charismatic Steve Reeves, Reg Park, John Grimek, Larry Scott and Bill Pearl to note a few.

In 1939 the Amateur Athletic Union decided to include a bodybuilding element into its weightlifting annual competition. The called it AAU Mr. America. However after by the mid 1940′s bodybuilders started to lose favor with the AAU as they only allowed amateurs, and the bodybuilding contest was also overshadowed by the weightlifting contest. Two brothers decided to take action to form a new organization, they were Ben and Joe Weider. Together they founded the International Federation of BodyBuilders (IFBB), which held the IFBB Mr. America, open to all, professional and amateur alike.

Across the pond in the UK, another organization was founded in 1940, the National Amateur Bodybuilders Association, and they hosted the Mr. Universe contest in the UK. Then in 1965 Mr. Olympia was founded, and this continues to be the biggest and most important event in the bodybuilding calendar. Initially contests were for men only, but the NABBA added Miss Universe in 1965 and Ms. Olympia was started in 1980.

In 2003, Joe Weider sold Weider Publications to AMI, who owns The National Enquirer. Ben Weider is still the president of the IFBB. In 2004, contest promoter Wayne DeMilia broke ranks with the IFBB and AMI took over the promotion of the Mr. Olympia contest.

As of 2006, there has been more interest in the field of natural bodybuilding. In natural contests bodybuilders are routinely tested for illegal substances and are banned for any violations from future contests. What qualifies as an “illegal” substance varies between natural federations, and does not necessarily include only substances that are illegal.

The Rise of Bodybuilding Competitions: Mr Olympia and Mr Universe

Competitive bodybuilding is all about looking good. The aim for contestants is to display the most aesthetically pleasing body. Muscles need to be well defined, well balanced across the body, and with good symmetry.

To show off their muscles bodybuilders strike a pose and hold it so that the judges can determine who good their muscular development is.

Bodybuilders spend a lot of time developing and perfecting their posing routine as this has is ultimately how they are judged – if two bodybuilders have near identical muscles, then the one that looks the best will win.

Unlike with weightlifting which is purely about lifting the heaviest weight possible, the goal of bodybuilding is to develop size and shape.

The sport of bodybuilding has nothing to do with Olympic weightlifting or strongman competitions. It is almost a human art form rather than a sport.

For the layman, bodybuilding and power-lifting appear to be the same, however they utilize different training regimes. different diets, and a completely different mindset.

The Universe Championships (previously called Mr. Universe) are run by the National Amateur Bodybuilders Association (NABBA). The Universe Championships now have 4 categories:

• Mr. Universe (Amateur)
• Mr. Universe (Pro)
• Miss Physique
• Miss Figure

The International Federation of Bodybuilders is the key player in the bodybuilding today. They are the organizers of bodybuilding’s most prestigious competition, Mr. Olympia.