Bodybuilding in College: It Can Be Done!

Transitioning from high school to college is difficult for most people, but bodybuilders may find that being away from their home gym and kitchen is extra tough. The first week or so may be a little intimidating, but bodybuilders can stay successful in college with high levels of dedication and motivation. When you enter college, set your goals for the year and try to motivate yourself to stick to your workout and diet plans.

College meal plans vary, but nothing about college food is good for a bodybuilder. Many colleges offer plans that include three meals a day at most, but your diet will probably call for more meals each day of smaller amounts of food. Don't load up at the cafeteria if that's not what you are used to doing! Instead, invest in a small refrigerator for your dorm room. Set aside some extra money each week for food, and schedule your classes so that you have enough time to eat. Most professors don't mind if you carry a snack to class, so if you must take a class that's during your normal mealtime, have some energy bars or protein shakes on hand as a back up plan. When you do eat in the cafeteria, make healthy meal choices. It's ok to splurge on one or two rewards, such as pizza or ice cream every week, but in general, stick to the foods you would normally eat at home-eggs, grilled chicken, bran cereals, salads, cottage cheese, and the like-even if there's a buffet of other things available.

One of the first things you should do when you get to college is explore the gym and weight facilities. Note the hours of operation-most schools are aware that students have busy schedules, so your gyms will probably open early in the morning and still be open late at night, but get a copy of the schedule so you never have to question the times. If the gym is too small or inconvenient for you schedule-wise, check out the gyms in town to see if any would better suit your needs. Students even get discount memberships at some places.

Lastly, be conscious of your other habits. Continue to get enough sleep even with your new workload, and be aware that activities such as smoking will only have an adverse effect on your health. A big part of college for many students is drinking, and you will probably be faced with this as well. If you are just bodybuilding for the sake of looking and feeling good, a few beers every week won't hurt you as long as you are responsible, but drinking is out of the question for competitive bodybuilders. Not only will it pack on the fat, but drinking will also cause you to lower your levels of testosterone and become dehydrated. Volunteer to be the designated driver instead, and you will find that it is easy to fit in while still maintaining your healthy lifestyle.

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Guide To Beginning Bodybuilding

Stick to Basic Compound Movements

The core of your routine should be made up of exercises that involve the use of a large mass of muscle and the movement of several joints. Those exercises stimulate a lot of muscle and cause your body to release anabolic hormones. That means stuff like Squats, Deadlifts, Bent-Over Rows, Bench Presses, Overhead Presses, Dips, Stiff-Legged Deadlifts and Chin-Ups. These are the ones that will make you grow. If you go filling your routine with single joint exercises such as Lateral Raises and Triceps Kickbacks (because you want to "isolate" this muscle or that) you will only be wasting your valuable time. Put hard work into the compound exercises, on the other hand, and you will be rewarded with the fastest muscle growth possible. And it's not just my experience that proves this, but the experience of thousands of weight trainers throughout the years.

Eat More Good, Nutritious Foods And High-Quality Protein

Weight Trainers need more protein than the normal individual. Each weight training session causes your muscles to be broken down and rebuilt a little stronger than they were before. If you want to progress at the fastest possible rate then you'll need a healthy dose of daily dietary protein to fuel this process. 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight per day has been shown many times to be an optimum amount. Be sure you get that much, day in, day out.

How do you do that? Eat lots of stuff like eggs, milk, beef, tuna, chicken, cheese, liver, etc. Essentially, if it comes from an animal it's good. Get yourself one of those protein counter booklets at the bookstore or supermarket and pick out some high protein, animal-based foods. Then use these to meet your protein quota. It would also be a good idea for you to buy a protein powder. That's an okay 'supplement', but remember this: There's nothing that protein powder is going to do for you that a steak couldn't do (and probably do better).

But the powder may allow you to mix up convenient shakes and it may turn out to be cheaper. Anything made from whey, milk and/or eggs will do fine.

You also need plenty of healthful fats, such as those found in fish and olive oil, to support and promote growth. You should eat plenty of carbs such as rice, vegetables and pasta, but avoid sugar and products laden with sugar. These 'good' carbs will give you energy to train and also provide your muscles with the energy they need to build yet more muscle.

Another thing, as soon as you get up eat a good breakfast. And that doesn't mean Pop-Tarts and Fruit Loops. Get some of the good carbs, proteins and fats that I spoke of above. After sleeping all night (and, therefore, not eating) your body needs nutrients to grow with. If you deny it that you will hamper your growth. Have some milk, eat some eggs, eat a steak if you want, but get some protein. Add a little oatmeal (it digests slowly and will hold you over until your next meal) and you have a good breakfast shaping up.

And eat some protein before you go to bed. Overnight your body will need protein, so give it some just before you go to sleep. It could be some meat, some cheese, a few hard-boiled eggs or something else solid. Solid proteins, generally, take longer to digest than liquids, giving a steady supply of amino acids to your body - so use them.

If you skimp on your nutrition you will cancel ALL of the growth that you stimulated in the gym. Yes, nutrition is THAT IMPORTANT.

Get A Good Amount of Sleep

Most beginner's don't realize this but let me assure you, sleep is just as important as training and nutrition when it comes to muscle growth. DON'T just skip over this rule and think it isn't that important. Critical repairs are made to the body and nervous system when you sleep. If you skimp on your sleep then you won't recover from your workouts properly and your nervous system won't fire your muscles optimally. Sleep deprivation results in reduced glucose sensitivity of the muscle cells and higher resting cortisol levels. There are reasons why training, nutrition and sleep are considered to be the 'big three' keys to weight training success. PLEASE, treat good, sound sleep as a full ingredient of your weight training program.

Limit Your Workouts To One hour

There are plenty of 'technical' reasons for that but this is not the place to get deeply into it. Let's just say that it's not necessary. Weight training is not an endurance event. If you want endurance go for a jog.

Don't Train More Often Than Three Days Per Week

"But Ronnie Coleman trains 6 times", I can hear you saying. Unless you are very genetically gifted, you do not have the hormone levels to train that often and progress maximally. It's true that some advanced drug-free athletes can train 5-6 times per week but those routines are NOT appropriate for you at this stage. Generally, drug-free strength athletes make their best gains when they spend more days out of the gym than in. Don't believe me? Hey, it's your life, do what you want - but if you don't listen to this you'll regret it. I've been there.

There's no need to train more than 3 days per week at first. Genetically gifted people will just progress faster on that 3-day program. So, if you are genetically gifted, a 3 day per week training program won't hold you back. But if you are not it might make the difference between some gains and no gains.

When you get more advanced you might end up adopting longer routines (though not necessarily), but, for now, anything over an hour means you're loafing around too much or you're doing more work than a beginner's body is likely able to tolerate.

Strive For Perfect Exercise Form

Cheating your reps builds nothing but ego - not muscle. If you have to cheat that means the weight's too heavy for you to lift properly. Cheating does not make a muscle contract harder because you can use heavier weights. A muscle can contract only so hard and that's that. All cheating does is bring other muscles into the movement so that you can use more weight - that's not how to effectively train a muscle. Besides, cheating can be DANGEROUS. Proper form is safe. When you start deviating from proper form you open the door for a potentially serious injury. Even minor injuries can cause you to miss workouts - and that's certainly not an effective way to gain muscle.

Ignore The Guy Next To You

This rule ties in closely with the rule before this but isn't quite the same. Here it is: Don't be insecure. If you're lifting this puny little weight and he's lifting 5 times that amount (or even 100 times) WHO CARES! He's not you, you're not him. Don't start cheating so you can use more weight. If he's using bad form and cheating a lot then that's his mistake. Remember the tortoise and the hare. If you work hard enough, long enough, and never, never, ever quit, you'll get there too - and with proper form.

You have to swallow your ego. I had been training for almost 15 years when I decided to learn the Olympic-style Lifts (the Snatch and Clean and Jerk). I had to go from Squatting 445 pounds to Snatching 65. Do you know how foolish that made me feel (and look). Remember, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Do what's right for your body, not your ego. HAVE PATIENCE!

Genetics Do Make A Difference - But WHO CARES!

Some people will progress much faster than others. Some people will grow into solid chunks of muscle within a few months, while others will have to work for years to get half the gains. I've seen it a thousand times. And it's not just training routine design, effort, desire or diet. If these things were all equal it would still happen. But there's nothing you can do about it - so GET OVER IT. You can only work with what you've got, so do that. I've seen some very genetically gifted people come into the gym and pass my strength and muscle level within 6 months of steady training - and I've been doing this for over 12 years - but I lived. And I'll be in the gym again tomorrow.

Avoid Those Exercise Machines

That means no Shoulder Press machines, Cable Curls, Pec Decks, Biceps machines, etc. If you want to build the most muscle possible, as fast as possible then you will have to lift free weights. Oh sure, there are all kinds of so-called 'scientific' arguments why the machines are better, but, believe me, there are also a lot more sound scientific reasons why free weights are. And I have one reason for you right now: If you spend your time on those machines you will SEVERLY limit your progress. Reason enough for you? I spent YEARS wasting my time - and so have countless others. Don't become one of those people who hits yourself in the head a little (or long) ways down the road and says, "Why didn't I do the free weights in the first place? Look at the time I've wasted!"

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Bodybuilding - A Secret Template for Life Success

?In the foundation of every building or house that I have built, I have a barbell plate?

These are the words of the late Ray ?Thunder? Stern , a legend in professional wrestling, bodybuilding, and entrepreneurial success.(1) In fact, dare I say; in a world inundated with advice on how to be successful, nothing compares to the now out-of-print book Power of Thunder, co-written by Mr. Stern and Robert Wolff, Ph.D. In it, Ray Stern highlighted and explained his principles for success in such a manner that ?authentic and effectual? are the most forthcoming words of distinction when comparing it to the countless books on the self-help shelves today.

And yes, the symbolic ritual within the context of edifice development was explained. Mr. Stern, a real estate investor and pioneer of the fitness industry, cemented a big barbell plate in the foundation of the buildings and homes he developed. ?I do this as a testament that anything and everything I have in life, I owe to bodybuilding?, wrote Mr. Stern.(2)

But what is it about fitness and bodybuilding that can provide such a template for life success? How can the ability to make positive and lasting changes to your physique translate to practical lessons of wisdom in goal setting and achievement?

Regardless of one?s personal aspirations or definition of success, physique improvement can provide a microcosmic blueprint for bringing dreams into reality. It does so with such eerie precision as to even warn us of the pitfalls of attempted shortcuts. Example: who among us long-term bodybuilding enthusiasts hasn?t witnessed the neophyte muscle-builder who thinks steroids are the key to physique improvement? The fleeting benefits and oft-resulting dependence on such drugs can have detrimental long-term outcomes on even the appearance of one?s physique. Expanding this observation out to context, it seems reminiscent of a life success principle from the words of Ray Stern: ?Being great in whatever you do takes time. Short-term gain always equals long-term pain and don?t let anyone tell you differently.?(3)

Goals: The First Page in Your Success Blueprint

In order to achieve anything worthwhile, we must have a vivid internal representation of what we want. A vague idea will not generate optimal results. If we drift through life with day-to-day thoughts such as ?I?d like to be more muscular? or ?I want to lose some body fat?, our odds of identifying a strategy for accomplishment and our resolve to carry it out will fade as fast as the ambiguous images in our minds. Conversely, when our goals are specific; ?I want eight percent body fat; I want seventeen inch biceps; I want a fifteen inch ratio between my torso measurement and my waistline, our chances of making these things a reality goes up exponentially.

This practice can then be carried over to other contexts of your life. In fact, when you get good at setting specific goals for your body, this skill will likely be etched into your subconscious mind for effective retrieval when you need it elsewhere?career, health, relationships, etc.

A Powerful Strategy: The bulk of Your Blueprint

Nothing will extinguish motivation to achieve a goal faster than an ineffective strategy with no clue as to where to find or how to develop an effective one. In the gym, it usually happens like this: The beginner reads that he or she should work the biceps once per week. The generic routine this individual is given recommends doing some well-rounded selection of exercises for a reasonable number of sets of six to ten reps. It encourages this person to increase exercise weight when possible and to work out with ?intensity? (with no real definition of this fuzzy term). Oh, and let?s not forget good form; it?s to be used on all biceps exercises.

But what?s wrong with this picture? Well, nothing for the first few weeks. But all it takes is a slight, undetectable negative variable to throw the unsuspecting natural trainer into the clutches of a progress plateau. Maybe his or her set numbers are just slightly too high for the number of rest days provided ? a factor not only tied to individual genetics, but variables in weekly sleep patterns and stress levels as well. Another possibility: a reaction to unsatisfying progress leads the trainee to inadvertently train harder with the plateau having been brought on by inadequate recuperation. When this becomes perpetual, it?s a recipe for motivation-sapping frustration.

The solution to this is to develop what I call a powerful strategy, not just an effective one. A strategy becomes powerful in its effectiveness when it?s designed in such a way as to provide flexibility and micro-feedback. Flexibility means the structure of your workout and recovery system lends itself to small adjustments that can make a big difference. Micro-feedback means it?s structured in such a way that you can easily see from one workout to the next whether you?re on track to your goals. The feedback is a tool applied to the building blocks of flexibility. Any workout in which this feedback isn?t observed and responded to is a waste of time. Well, only if you?re a person who likes to enjoy rewarding results as opposed to going through motions.

How important is flexibility and attention to feedback in establishing an effective strategy to achieve our goals? Let?s look at the words of Ray Stern in Power of Thunder: ?The real winners in business, bodybuilding, sports or whatever, are those who have a big dream or goal, yet have many plans that they can use in order to achieve it.?(4)

Visualization: Your Homing Device

The legendary Arnold Schwarzenegger said he visualized his biceps being giant mountains on his arms. Ray Stern wrote ?Think, think, think about your goals and dreams and never stop believing??(5)

Visualization, practiced and utilized for physique improvement, is a skill of achievement that can be transferred to any area of life you?d like to improve. Even better, it becomes easy-to-use and a more effective tool the more it?s practiced. Better still, when we visualize a goal and accompany that internal representation with positive emotion and excitement, our chances of reaching it go up dramatically. All this really requires is a few minutes of quiet time each day. When a window of time is used regularly to play your goals out in your mind, the subconscious will work out many of the details, even while you?re sleeping. That?s why this tool acts as a homing device in guiding us toward what we want.

So what specifically should you visualize and emotionalize? The very last step that will tell you your goal has been accomplished. If it?s gaining ten pounds of muscle, see yourself standing in front of the mirror and on the bathroom scale with those contoured slabs of meat on your frame. If it?s losing twenty pounds of unwanted fat, visualize the new and leaner you in the mirror. Maybe it?s a job promotion; see your boss sitting you down in his or her office and telling you of your advancement as you feel the positive charge of emotion that this will elicit from you.

Bodybuilding and Fitness: The Ultimate Success Practice Ground

Bodybuilding, along with any type of physique improvement, represents the rawest form of merging the world of your desires with the power to make them happen. It?s just you, your body, and some equipment. The results you get depend upon how well you utilize your mind and an outer strategy to mold something better than what you started with. If you really ?get it? ? really hone in on the formula for success within this elementally pristine context ? you can ingrain the ?success mindset? into your physiology.

When I sadly learned that Ray ?Thunder? Stern passed away in March, 2007, I saw a quote by his wife, former fitness model Debi Lee, that seemed poignantly revealing: ?? He was a very unusual man with visions and the energy and know-how to make things happen?(6)

Judging by words in his book, these are attributes that he would likely credit to his passion for bodybuilding. They are characteristics not elusive to the rest of us, should we be as observant and receptive as Ray Stern to the inherent wisdom and powerful lessons that bodybuilding can offer us.

(1) Stern, Ray. Wolff, Robert. Power of Thunder Wolff Creative Group, Calabasas, CA. 1994 (Page 126) (2) Stern, page 126 (3) Stern, page 84 (4) Stern, page 109 (5) Stern, page 64 (6) Oliver, Greg. Ray ?Thunder? Stern dead at 74 Slam Wrestling, March 2007(Paragraph 21)

Scott Abbett is the author of HardBody Success: 28 Principles to Create Your Ultimate Body and Shape Your Mind for Incredible Success.

Scott is a certified fitness trainer and a certified Master Practitioner and Trainer of NLP. You can view his own phyical transformation by visiting http://www.hardbodysuccess.com