There are lessons to be learned in different disciplines. Especially from very athletic fields, there are tons of life lessons, health and wellness tips, and more to learn from. All you need to do is to take a closer look and be analytical.
For this article, let’s look at one of the most extreme forms of both fitness and sports: bodybuilding. It’s a rather niche field with a very dedicated following. The fitness benefits of the sport are obvious: bodybuilders possess amazing physiques. Large muscles with an amazing definition are seen at a glance, but how they achieve it carries many highly educational things that can be applied elsewhere. Let’s take a look at some of them.
Track Your Progress
Because bodybuilding brings about such a drastic physical change, many bodybuilders track their progress through photographs and logs of their weight, diet, and lifts. This advice is useful for anyone into sports or athletics. Keep a logbook of your statistics. You’ll realize that you perform far better than you initially assumed, and you’ll have a record of your progress throughout the years. This is a simple piece of advice that provides many benefits, so it’s something that you should do as soon as you can.
Don’t Do Everything at Once
Here’s something that every health and fitness buff is familiar with: exercise splits. Once they’ve reached a certain level, bodybuilders typically don’t train all of their body parts in one day. Competitive athletes and professional fighters might train certain groups all at once, but it’s never everything at once.
Anyone looking to improve their health for both fitness and aesthetic should follow this advice. Schedule your workouts to prioritize certain body parts. This will help with physical longevity, and you won’t be burning yourself out in a matter of days.
Scale as Necessary
As mentioned before, bodybuilders don’t exercise all of their muscles in one day. They schedule what body parts to train, and they take their time with each exercise.
Another thing that they do is switch up the weight of what they’re lifting. They’re not constantly lifting the heaviest weight they can- that will only lead to injury, or worse, muscle atrophy (or when the muscles get smaller). To casual fitness enthusiasts or those concerned with health, what this means is that we shouldn’t be lifting heavy all the time as well.
The best way to train is to always scale your lifts and exercises as necessary. The body has a natural way of telling us its condition, and it’s wise to listen to it. Don’t be afraid to go slow or take days off. Even champion bodybuilders do.
Listen to Your Body
The last point talked about scaling your load and listening to your body. Let’s focus on the latter: the body’s natural way of telling us its state. Bodybuilders never ignore what their body is telling them. They get back pain relief if they feel something’s wrong with their back, and they rest their legs when squatting becomes too arduous. Sometimes, they change their diet when their body doesn’t react well to the current one.
Anyone living an active lifestyle is probably familiar with the concept of “pushing your body to its limits,” but that is something that should be done wisely. As mentioned before, you need to scale what you’re doing to what your body is telling you. Then you’ll be able to gradually push your limits while avoiding injuries on the way.
Diet Is Everything
It’s no secret that bodybuilders are very concerned with their diet. As they should be- bodies like that require a lot of protein and carbohydrates. Ask any bodybuilder, and they’ll tell you that muscles are 25% made in the gym and 75% made in the kitchen. A good diet can make or break your fitness journey, and it’s something that you should pay more attention to. It won’t just make you look better, but it will give a significant health boost and improve your overall lifestyle.
Posing and Good Posture
When bodybuilders and physique competitors go on stage, they maintain good posture throughout. They pose properly, engaging each muscle part to show the best pose possible. Even if we don’t have bulging muscles, proper posture and posing will help. Most of us work in an office, with our backs hunched in front of a computer. This is detrimental to our spine, so pull back those shoulders and puff your chest out. It also makes you look good, so always assume a good posture whenever you take pictures of yourself.
There are more lessons to be learned out there, especially in different fields and industries. Always keep an open eye and open mind. You’ll learn far more by being curious about more things.
