Beginner Workout Plans: Starter Tips Part 9

Tip: Mountains and valleys

A lot of professionals in the fitness industry don't talk about this, but it's a huge part of the psychological game. You've heard that weight lifting is 20% physical and 80% mental I'm sure, and it's certainly true.

There are going to be good days in your workout plans; there are also going to be bad days. These mountains and valleys can be extremely stressful.

Listen: Everybody goes through these periods. There's no way you can completely stop them from happening, but what you can do is learn to recognize when you're in a valley and just realize that it's not going to be that way at all.

Get over it, and then forget about it. If you keep thinking back to that negative slump, you're going to end up hitting it again, faster and sooner each time.

Just continue pushing towards your goals and, above all, stay positive.

Don't miss Beginner Workout Plans: Tip 8

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Beginner Workout Plans: Starter Tips Part 8

Tip: Supplements- Omega 3 Fish Oil

Finally, I want to talk about fish oil as the third essential supplement for a beginner bodybuilder. Omega 3, found in fish oil, is a long chain fatty acid that works to reduce inflammation in both the muscles and the joints of the body.

When you're working out, you are putting your body under tremendous stress – stress that it probably isn't used to. The delayed onset muscle soreness that you feel the day after a workout is caused in part by inflammation, so a daily regimen of fish oil will help offset some of that a bit. This is useful for all workout plans.

There's another benefit to fish oil that I want to cover- omega 3 acts on our muscles' receptor sites in a way that decreases insulin production, which allows our bodies to shed more fat and replenish more muscle glycogen. Essentially, what that means is that your body gets better at burning fat and building muscle.

Sounds good to me.

Don't miss Beginner Workout Plans: Tip 7

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Beginner Workout Plans: Starter Tips Part 7

Tip: Supplements- Multivitamin

But Andrew, I can hear you saying, where are the REAL supplements? Yesterday I talked about protein as one of the three supplements I would recommend to a beginner bodybuilder. Today I'm talking about a...multivitamin?

Absolutely. Workout plans, no matter how high or low intensity you make them, burn more energy than your body is used to. You need vitamins and minerals to replace those lost during your workouts, and to boost your growing muscles.

However, a multi-vitamin isn't going to cover for an unhealthy diet. I recommend eating fresh, natural foods, and then using the multivitamin as sort of an insurance measure. You can't measure every single vitamin in your food, so you may not be getting enough of something. The multi-vitamin just sort of steps in and evens things out.

If you're on a weight loss regimen, I would even recommend taking an extra multivitamin daily to replace all those lost nutrients that would have normally come from your diet.

Don't miss Beginner Workout Plans: Tip 6

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Beginner Workout Plans: Starter Tips Part 6

Tip: Supplements- Protein powder

Supplements are always going to be one of the main things bodybuilders want to know about. What should I take? How often should I take it? What will increase my testosterone? Reduce my recovery times? Make me stronger, better, and faster?

I don't like to recommend supplements, but there are three that I think are actually necessary. Just about everything else is up to your own discretion, and there are plenty of websites to look at for information.

One of these supplements is protein powder. Even beginners should find a good quality protein powder to supplement their meals with. This makes it easier to whip up a quick after workout protein shake to send nutrients to your muscles when they need it most.

You're going to be going through a hell of a lot of protein, and sometimes it's easier to just drink it down than find the 100^th way to prepare chicken breast. And remember, protein is protein. Don't go for the most expensive product on the market, because it won't work any better than the Wal-Mart brand.

Don't miss Beginner Workout Plans: Tip 5

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Beginner Workout Plans: Starter Tips Part 5

Tip: Have your goal in mind

If you want to hit a target, you need to know what that target is, right? Well, believe it or not there are a lot of people who start bodybuilding with no real target in mind. Their goal might be "look better."

But a goal like that doesn't really specify anything. It doesn't give them an actual target to aim for, and as you might guess they wind up way off the mark as a result.

In the previous beginner workout tip (linked below), we talked about tracking our progress. However, tracking won't take you anywhere unless you know where it should be leading. You need a goal set firmly in your mind which you want and need to achieve.

This is the kind of talk you hear all the time in weight loss programs. "I want to lose 17 lbs. in a month," etc. Well, those specific numbers actually work. If you want to lose weight, give yourself a weight loss goal and a timeframe. If you want to gain weight, do the same thing.

Don't miss Beginner Workout Plans: Tip 4

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