System and Principles of Bodybuilding
by David Gentle

Part One

Some Good Reasons for Exercise, Your Amazing Body and Exercise Principles

Introduction

Larry ScottAccidently overhearing a golfing commentary, it struck me (fore!!) how difficult it would be for the neophyte to understand seemingly meaningless remarks about 'birdies' and 'being under par', with 'handicaps' etc. etc.  Becoming even more complicated and complex, and continually changing is the technology and terminology of Muscle Building.  The two articles that follow will, we hope, bring some light to beginners, intermediates and even advanced trainers of modern systems and principles of Bodybuilding.

Seen right:  Larry Scott, the first Mr. Olympia

Exercise is the best insurance against disease or sickness. Healthy exercise will build you up a fund of resistance which can help you to repel disease and germs, to which the human body is prone.

Exercise aids in preventing obesity and its related diseases.  Exercise makes the blood course through the body, curing sluggish circulation, which is often the cause of illness, and can help prevent some of the conditions which lead to coronary heart disease.

Graduated exercise improves the function of all the internal organs, activating the glands, making them more effective and builds organic strength.  There will be a noticeable improvement in the way you feel when exercising, making the blood course through every cell of the body, taking with it all the materials needed to repair and rebuild up the tissues.

Exercise Overcomes fatigue, as the increased circulation aids the body to remove the lactic acid and other fatigue poisons from within the body.  Exercise provides a diversion away form your day to day worries and this in itself aids the mind and emotions, time to rest and regain positive thoughts and feelings.

Exercise benefits the body in the fact that it teaches the muscles to coordinate perfectly with each other.  Well planned exercise has been proven to have a Rejuvenating effect, preserving the physical characteristics of youth, preventing premature ageing.

A fundamental physiological law is that the functional efficiency of an organ or system improves with use, and loses its efficiency with disuse.  So - "Use it Or Lose It" - Remember - Life is Movement. 

Your Amazing Body

muscle groupsWe have 206 bones, 650 muscles, and over 100 joints.  We have an estimated 60,000 miles of arteries, veins and tiny capilliars with over 13,000 million nerve cells.  During an average lifetime, we breathe 500 million times.  An average person has 10 gallons of water in his body, plus enough fat for 7 bars of soap.  enough lime to whitewash a small shed, enough phosphorus to make over two thousand matches, and enough iron to make a small one inch nail.  The normal person in the course of a lifetime consumes approximately 50 tons of food and 11,000 gallons of liquid.

The skeleton can be considered as an arrangement of levers.  These levers (bones) are moved by Muscle.  The range, power and type of movement is governed by the nature of the joints and length of the bone levers, the arrangement of the muscles, and the weight of the load to be shifted.  The structure of bones and muscle is such that terrific strain are able to be withstood.  The long bones are constructed of concentrated Cancelli which add a great strength whilst minimizing their weight.

An example of the durability of the body is the fact that tendons anchoring muscle to the bone are strong enough to withstand a stress of 8 tons power square inch, with the thigh bones able to take a strain of half a ton per square inch whilst walking. 

Muscle Development

We are approximately 650 muscles, made up of pairs of muscles which, together with their tendons, account for about 40 per cent of a persons bodyweight.  Each muscle has a Full Range, Inner and Outer range of movement.  The Full Range is when a muscle carries out a movement from its extreme stretched position of its extreme contracted position.

The Inner Range is when a muscle works midway between its two extremes of movement to its full contracted position.

The Outer Range describes the muscles, movement from extreme stretched position of the midway point of its range.

Muscle tissue consists of 3 forms:

  1. Striated Voluntary Muscle present in all the common muscles of the skeletal system, and all under the control of the WILL
  2. Non-striated Involuntary Muscle occurring in those muscles NOT under the control of the WILL, i.e. those carrying out Automatic functions of the vital organs such as the veins, arteries, alimentary canal, etc.
  3. Cardiac Muscle, an Involuntary muscle specific to the Heart. 

Muscle Contraction

Muscle is composed of approximately 72 percent water and 28 percent protein and minerals.  A muscle contracts in three different ways, they are... Isometrically (statically) Concentrically and Eccentrically.

(i) Isometric Contraction is a static i.e. - unmoving contraction.  When antagonistic muscles contract against each other with equal tension, resulting in No Movement, this fixation or static contraction is known as Isometric contraction.  If you hold your arm with the elbow half bent and moving with the Biceps Tensed, then this would be an Isometric contraction. 

In recent years much research has been carried out with evidence that brief isometric contractions maintained for short periods of 5 or 6 seconds endeavouring to achieve maximum contraction, can actually result in measurable Strength increase.  Most muscle controls are isometric contraction, combined with controlled isolated Relaxation.

(ii)  Concentric contraction consists of the muscle fibres working against Resistance throughout and of the normal ranges as in everyday weight training exercises.  In concentric work, about 30 percent of the energy set free by the oxidation processes is used on actual work, the remainder of the energy going to raise the temperature of the muscle and if large muscle groups are involved, the general temperature of the body.

(iii) Eccentric work is also carried out by performing against resistance, except in this instance the resistance Overcomes the action of the muscle fibres, pulling the origin and insertion points apart and although under contraction, the fibres are lengthened.  Muscular tissue is the only tissue having the power to contract.  Muscles provide the motive power of the body, moving the bones to which they are attached by lengthening and shortening, passing over the joints.  For a muscle to be Developed it has to be exercised using both Concentric and Eccentric work in the inner range.

The amount of work has no significance:

Exercise Rules Before Training

Before you embark upon any system of bodybuilding it is sensible to undergo a basic physical check-up from your doctor.  Check for example if you suffer from any of the following symptoms which may need medical attention.

  1. History of heat disease in the he family.
  2. High blood pressure.
  3. Diabetes
  4. Hypertension.
  5. Dizziness or faintness after exertion.
  6. Difficulties in breathing.
  7. Pains in the chest after mild exertion
  8. Constant gastrointestinal upsets
  9. High temperature of "flu' symptoms after training

Providing you get the 'all clear', then you can get cracking on your training. 

For Best Results You Must

Muscles work as (a) PRE-MOVER or (b) ANTOGONIST or (c) FIXATOR or SYNERGIST, to illustrate these terms, if you were curling a dumbbell to the shoulders you would employ the Biceps (and Brachialis) muscles, these being the Prime Movers.

The Antongist muscle in this example would be the Triceps whilst the need to maintain the position of the arm in the curling position would involve the contraction of the shoulders, these being the Fixators.

All movements made by the body are of leverage with muscles Pulling.  The muscles are always known by their LATIN names, however for convenience bodybuilders often shorten Latin names for muscle groups, for example 'pecs' for pectoralis major, 'lats' for latissimus dorsi and so on.

Your best way to learn them, and thereby help you with your training when you wish to concentrate, is to obtain a good muscle chart.

The movements of the body have specific names.  When one part is bent upon the other it is called Flexion, when they are straightened out it is termed Extension.

Only about 100 pairs of muscles are used in general posture and movement of the body and limbs, with the majority of muscle pairs being smaller and involved in the nose, throat, eyes, etc.  Exercise breaks down tissue, rest builds it up.  The rest interval required for a bodybuilders muscles to recuperate after a heavy workout, ranges form between two or four days.  Experience shows that best results occur when you train each muscle group on average three times a week, with rest periods spaced in between training sessions.  Naturally, certain individuals will break this rule, according to their genetic advantages.  You will need to experiment to find you own unique requirements.

A muscle will Hypertrophy with exercise i.e. grow, and Atrophy with disuse, that is lose size.  Hypertrophy or growth in muscle results from an increase in the size of each individual muscle fibre.

You cannot increase the Number of muscle fibres, as this is controlled genetically (meaning fixed at birth).  Muscle Hypertrophy results from an increase in Intensity of work, i.e. only when a muscle is overloaded will it respond by undergoing hypertrophy (growth). 

Principles and Systems

There are many, many systems with an often complicated and bewildering terminology.  I will now attempt to list and explain MOST (but not all) of them, although somewhat briefly, to enable the average bodybuilder the chance to find a path through the "muscle jungle".

It is mainly impossible to credit the genuine originators of individual systems as often training ideas and practices were used for years with excellent results before being attached with a 'label'.

For In Depth explanations of the various systems motioned, I suggest you purchase some of the courses form their advertised sources.

The First Step

The first step is to understand the real basics.  A normal schedule is usually of about a dozen exercises, aimed at training all of the main muscle groups.  Most beginners would train for three nights a week, for a period of about one and a half hours.

A good schedule should contain exercises for arms, shoulders, chest, legs and back, with some abdominal or waist work thrown in.

All exercise should start off with a period of warming up using light free exercises to Calisthenics.

The individual bodybuilding exercises are performed as explained in the many books or muscle magazines available. Each full movement of the exercise is done for so many Repetitions.  For convenience this shortened to the term REPS.

Reps for exercises vary in number according to the results required.  Years of experiment has shown that low reps of around 3 to 6 favour increases in strength, thus power lifters always train on low reps.

Average reps of 8 to 12 encourage muscle size and high reps of 25 and over are used for the purpose of definition (cuts), weight loss, and endurance training.  If you do an exercise for ten reps, it becomes known as one Set of ten or written 1 x 10.  Beginners are advised to do just one Set of each exercise for the first few weeks of training, gradually adding extra Sets as their training capability improves.

A weight trainer of 6 months experience normally uses for most exercises about four sets of ten or 4 x 10.  SINGLE PROGRESSIVE SYSTEM whereby the trainer increases the number of repetitions without increasing the weights.  Or the DOUBLE PROGRESSIVE SYSTEM which consists of adding repetitions until a given number is reached, after which the poundage is increased returning to the original reps which in turn are again gradually increase and so on.  This double system is the basic progression for beginners/intermediate trainers.

For Fitness and conditioning you are required to practise cardiovascular exercise or Aerobic exercise.  Aerobic simply means 'with air' the object being to improve the systems involved in the body's processing of oxygen, i.e. the heart, lungs and blood vessels.  Whilst running, cycling and swimming are superior or this type of exercise, weights can be used for the same target if you practise high reps using exercises which involve large muscle groups such as Squats and practise Circuit Training.

In this system you normally pre-set the various weights in advance, after which you go from one exercise to the next with a single set, WITHOUT resting until you have completed a circuit.  On the same fitness theme, before we enter the world of super pump and muscle mass, a system appeared a few years ago popularized by a former Mr. America, namely Bob Gajda, called P.H.A. or peripheral heart action.

Going against all trends, P.H.A. consisted of doing one set, say 10 reps barbell curl, followed by an exercise for a totally distance muscle group, for example calves.  Its devotees claimed great fitness values from this type of training.

Type Training or anatomic training resulted form Sheldons classification of the three basically inherited physique groups name Ectomorph, Mesomorph and Endomorph.  The ectomorph is naturally skinny, the mesomorph is naturally muscular and the endomorph to put it bluntly is the fat person by nature.

The basic theory, with lots of supported evidence is that to put it bluntly fat people should do high reps, perhaps with the idea of using up more calories and burning off excess flesh, the natural muscular type stayed in the middle range really being fortunate enough to gain on ANY system, and the skinny individual e.g. the ectomorph, was advised to use just a few basic exercises with low reps to encourage 'bulk'.  He was also advised to attempt to relax and give up needless worries.  Those principles are still all basically sound with the only real advancement being the almost scientific application today of food supplements and dietary practices.

The Popular Set System

The most common and successful method used in weight training is called The Set System.  In simple terms, this means after performing one set of ten reps, you have a brief rest and then commence again with another set.  Most bodybuilders of experience use approximately 4 to 6 sets finding this sufficient for muscle pump and growth.  

Incorporated within the set system is the practise of Pyramiding (see also Part Two), the weights.  This means you start your first set with light weights for about 12 reps, next set add poundage and do fewer reps, next set, again add weight for less reps, with the last set or couple of sets lowering the weight and again adding reps, thus you go up and down like a pyramid.

Some of the top stars favour Giant Sets with some training on as many as 30 sets.  For most people this would be Over Training, a condition which will exhaust the body's reserves of energy and hinder muscle growth.

We next come into Super Sets.  In this idea of training you intersperse one set of opposing muscle groups with another.  For example you would do one set of Barbell Curls for Biceps followed immediately by a set of French Presses (or triceps extensions) for the Triceps.

You then return to the curls and so on until required number of sets are completed.  Again an advanced system, one superb for massive muscle pump.  For great intensity training you may decide to train on the Split System.  With this idea you split your body workouts into two separate training periods.  Usually lower body one day and upper body training the next.

Or you could consider the 'push pull' split routines.  One session devoted to the extensors and one to the flexors.  Professional bodybuilders with the time and energy, often train on the split system doing one session the morning and the opposite routine in the afternoon.  I must continually stress most bodybuilders (i.e. those who have to work for a living) make BETTER progress with LESS training.

Muscles continually get in to a rut.  To gain size even faster, you must from time to time force the poundages and one way to do this is to use Forced Reps.  Basically this means you have to force out those which really count for building muscle and strength.

A continuation on this theme is Assisted Reps.  The term is self descriptive, requiring the help of a training partner to aid you, often with just a finger or two to complete the last couple of repetitions.

Often a partner can assist by giving you Vocal Encouragement.  Scientific experiments have proved what coaches and cheer leaders have always known, that vocal encouragement i.e. cheering of coach or team mates or training partners actually increases the strength of athletes, extends their endurance and raises their threshold to fatigue.

Trained athletes usually perform far better in competition than in normal practice.  In lab experiments athletes perform one and a half times more work in competitions increasing to two and a half times when cheered and encouraged vocally.  Next time you wish to achieve a maximum (say) bench press, get your training partners to encourage you with loud shots of 'Push', 'Push', 'Push' and just watch those weights soar!!

After completing basic training for about six months, certainly not before, you may find that some body part is below par in comparison to the others.  Perhaps as is common with many bodybuilders, your legs are not up to scratch, in which case you would give them special attention by adopting the Muscle Priority System.  This means training your week points or those underpar at the beginning of your workout while you are still fresh and at your strongest, with your interest level at its best.

After completing basic training for about six months, certainly not before, you may find that some body part is below par in comparison to the others.  Perhaps as is common with many bodybuilders, your legs are not up to scratch, in which case you would give them special attention by adopting the Muscle Priority System.  This means training your week points or those underpar at the beginning of your workout while you are still fresh and at your strongest, with your interest level at its best.

The Mental aspect of training with a positive approach must not be overlooked with the extreme concentration of self Hypnosis often employed  Hypnotized subjects have been observed to improve on physical performance, add strength with the accepted explanation that hypnosis removes any inhibitions.  Without FEAR of failure you can always lift more.  This philosophy of overcoming fear is part of Mike Daytons popular 'CHI' system.

Systems and Principles of Bodybuilding © Copyright by David Gentle All Rights Reserved