Exercise & Fitness Articles

To be a bodybuilding champion you have to understand kinesiology. It?s the study of how the body moves. To me, bodybuilding is more about body movement than weight lifting. It is more about feeling the muscle work through the minds eye than lifting a weight. The art of becoming a champion bodybuilder comes down to how you isolate one muscle from the other in your training regiment. In other words, work smarter not harder.

If you are NOT going to be judged on how much you could lift, why worry about it? It makes no sense to curl 90 pounds and cheat by using muscles other than your biceps to curl the weight. Why not stay true to form using 30 pounds and work the bicep in a more isolated fashion. This also keeps the joints and muscles healthier by not over stressing them.

To become a champion one must learn to work smarter than your competitors. There are some who have all the ingredients to be great, but allow their ego to dictate how much weight they lift and how they do it. Big mistake! In my experience, when you had the bio-mechanics down, the strength and shape of the muscles always follows close behind.

Here are some tips on mastering the Art of Isolation:

1. Visualize the muscle moving the weight in a full range of motion.

2. Use a hesitation principle and pause for a second at the mid-range of the movement.

3. Always stay in control of the weight. Never allow the weight to control you.

4. Study the way the bone moves and try to understand how the muscle moves the bone.

5. Always exercise larger muscle groups (back, chest, legs) before smaller ones with in your program.

6. Try not to squeeze the bars or accessories while performing the movement, this puts pressure on the bone and wastes useful energy.

The importance thing is, take your ego out of it, visualize and feel the muscle move. You may not move mountains with this technique but you will have a better chance of becoming king of the hill for one day.