Bodybuilding quickly became a lifelong passion for me, to the extent that now it is a part of my lifestyle and daily routine. By no means am I an expert in this realm, nor do I have any deep knowledge about how what constitutes a perfect workout program. I’m simply writing this because I wanted to write about my insights, experiences, and how I approach it.
There are many different approaches to exercise in general, and bodybuilding: some people want to be shredded, with visible abs , lean body with a good amount of muscle for purely aesthetic purpose, some people want an agile body that can run fast and has a lot of stamina and endurance(like David Goggins), some want to be very strong and specialize in powerlifting, while others want bigger ,vascular muscles. My approach is the latter one. I want to make my muscles bigger: my goals include big shoulders and traps, a thick wide back, a big chest, strong legs, and big arms( at least 18 inches). I want traps like Tom Hardy or Brock Lesnar, shoulders like Derek from MPMD, big chest and a thick back like the Tren Twins.
I always try to emulate the mentality of Zoro from One Piece, for boybuilding: to constantly improve, train harder than last time, become better and stronger, never stop no matter what.
My approach is to be in a controlled but somewhat accelerated maingaining, where I am in a caloric surplus, but not too much that I turn too fat. I believe in clean and lean bulking, but a bit toned down, somewhere between maingaining and bulking. Hence, I am fine with a bit of belly fat, but not too much. As it is, I don’t prefer cardio, and training abs. I don’t neglect them completely, but do them less.
When it comes to training, I train intense, always harder than last time, but I never prioritize lifting too heavy. I avoid ego-lifting, and always train with moderate, to somewhat heavy weights, always with proper form and technique. Logic would tell us that a bigger muscle is a stronger muscle, and it is true always,but I have seen many people in the gym who can bench press twice what I can do, yet I have a bigger chest than them, simply because I focus more on the muscle contraction, and getting the pump. Strength is therefore different for every person, no matter their muscle mass.
Firstly, I love chest day. Anytime, anywhere, I’m always ready to get a chest pump. 1 hour of chest day is far more pleasurable to me than almost anything else the world has to offer. Even before I started going to gym, when I used to exercise at home, by doing just push-ups everyday, along with something like burpees, skipping rope, etc : two years of doing that made my pectoral muscles grow bigger than all other muscles in my body. As a result, I have far better chest gains, than any other muscles currently, and I just enjoy doing flat and inclined bench press always. Other than that, I love shoulder day( I do lateral raises and shrugs very intensely).
Again, I’ll mention here that I’m writing this for myself, because I don’t generally prefer taking photos or recording myself to track my gym progress, and neither do I compare myself with anyone( the best thing about bodybuilding is exactly this: you are your own master of body and mind, you track everything from diet to training, and you compare yourself only to your past self).
It is a lifestyle for me, and a lifelong passion. More than passion, it is an obsession for me.
My inspiration for my gym life are the Tren Twins, their videos are amazing. Other than that, I admire Arnold, Kevin Levrone and Lee Priest, among many others.