What is it?
Bodybuilding is the progressive use of resistance training exercises to control and develop a person’s musculature for aesthetic purposes. An individual who engages in this activity is called a bodybuilder. You can use ergogenic resources or not to assist in the construction of the body.
What is bodybuilding for?
Bodybuilding is a sport, there are several championships in which the best bodybuilders in the world compete with each other and receive notes for the body set presented. The most famous of them is the Olympia, and in the championships there is usually a division of categories between the athletes so that they compete among themselves those who have more similar bodies, and the dispute is fairer.
How does bodybuilding work?
In competitive bodybuilding, athletes are judged by their aesthetics, for example, muscle size, proportions and appearance of low body fat content. It takes years of training to build lean mass, and in the weeks and months leading up to the competition, there is a routine specific pre-contest
, plus a recovery/ volume phase, which occurs in the off-season
when there are no competitions.
When do you need to supplement?
In addition to regular resistance training, during preparation for competition, most bodybuilders follow protein-rich, calorie-restricted diets, aerobic exercises, and isometric “poses” to prepare for the mandatory physical poses that judges use to evaluate competitors. In this phase, the use of several supplements, such as Whey protein, caffeine, creatine, omega 3 and leucine itself, can be used.
References
Article: Chappell, A.J., et al. Nutritional strategies of British professional and amateur natural bodybuilders during competition preparation. J Int Soc Sports Nutr
16, 35 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12970-019-0302-y
Reading suggestion: What
are the recommendations for bodybuilders in the off-season?
