Natural Bodybuilding Routines: In For the Long Haul

Some people do yoga, some Pilates and some people find their physical and spiritual harmony in bodybuilding. For yoga and bodybuilders, it's not just about the right exercise routine to make you fit and calm. It's a whole lifestyle overhaul. Natural bodybuilding routines - which don't use hormones or steroids or the latest gizmo - are not for the weekend exerciser. They are for those people who are seriously committed to making the best body they can with what they have, much as in the way a sculptor chisels a work of art from a block of marble.

Think Tortoise

Although you can't wait to have a body like Arnold Schwarzenegger, you're going to have to. Any coach, program or supplement that promises fast results is to be avoided. Bodybuilding takes a long time. You are trying not only to break the habits of a lifetime, but learn a whole new way of eating and of life. It can take years to get some muscle, and that doesn't guarantee you can compete in any bodybuilding competitions. If you go into natural bodybuilding routines with "slow and steady wins the race", like the Tortoise in Aesop's fable, you will win in the end.

Doctor, Doctor

Before you take up any of the natural body building routines, be sure you get cleared by your doctor to do so. Your body is going to go through a lot of changes. You could do more harm than good to yourself is your body just isn't capable of bodybuilding. If you are passed, time to ease into your new life.

Don't lift weights every day. Your body needs a chance to rest and adjust to the strain of weightlifting by making muscle. Do other exercises instead. You could join a gym, hire a personal trainer or follow DVD's and books of natural bodybuilding routines. Also check out community college course catalogues and YMCA classes, which can offer fun and supervised classes which are usually cheaper than hiring a personal trainer.

Natural bodybuilding routines will include plenty of stretching and aerobic moves before your body is ready for the weights. Resist the temptation to over exercise - your body will burn up any muscle mass to give you the energy for the exercises. Most natural bodybuilding routines are only for a few minutes at first, and then get longer as you get stronger…and your body is over the initial aches and pains of a new physical routine.