BahamaMan’s BodyBlog

            Whether you’re a 60-year old grandpa or a 13-year-old kid or anything in between, if you lift weights, you’re a bodybuilder,   

            That may be a shock to you because when you close your eyes and picture a bodybuilder you don’t see you.   But hey, progressive resistance training builds muscle, so… when you lift weights you are building your body, hence…you are a body-builder… a bodybuilder.  Get it?

            And although you may have no desire to ever step on stage, have big guns, or do anything but just drop a few dress sizes, my thesis is that you are sabotaging progress toward your muscle building/fat loss goals if you don’t consider yourself a bodybuilder.

            How?

            By thinking that because you aren’t a bodybuilder you don’t really have to pay attention to the bodybuilding rules. 

            Does this sound like you?  “Since I’m just trying to add a few pounds of muscle/ lose 20 pounds of fat/tighten-up my middle/fit into my maid-of-honor dress I haven’t really gotten serious about eating clean or working out (still on the machines because the free weights are too scary) and other than researching steroids/liposuction/fat-burners on-line I haven’t done much reading about how muscle building and fat loss work.”

            If you can relate to any of that, then currently you are at best taking two steps forward and one step back toward your muscle building/fat loss goals and at worse, are going nowhere fast.

            The bodybuilding rules apply to everyone (sort of like death and taxes):  Regarding fat, the best way to lose it and keep it off is to have muscles.  Regarding muscles, to get them and keep them you have to workout AND eat to support muscle growth AND rest to support muscle growth.  Period.  Obey the rules and you will succeed.

            So, I hope you’ve enjoyed your paradigm shift you bodybuilder, you. 

            Oh, and welcome to the club.  Our dress code requires that at all times you wear a spaghetti strap tank top and either clown pants or tight, crotch-hugging shorts (even to church).