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MIKE SMITH START MUSCLING A BEGINNERS GUIDE TO BUILDING MUSCLE AND STRENGTH AT HOME Copyright © Mike Smith 2020 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ABOUT ME I’ve had a keen interest in weight training or bodybuilding for over 35 years and have experienced the pain, the failures, and the success in reaching my goals. I have learnt the hard way and made mistakes which set me back much further than I anticipated, but this taught me valuable lessons which improved my training and the associated diet. From countless experiments I discovered the easier and quicker way. It was more cost effective and productive, with my results being the proof. I soon realised that I was making my weight training more complicated than necessary, or should be, if only I knew then what I know now, things would have been far less frustrating, and cheaper. I have no degree in nutrition and I hold no certificates in weight training or bodybuilding, what knowledge I have is my own, and it’s a lot, over 35 years of training, experimenting with exercises and pushing my body to extremes to get the formula which I perfected to succeed in my goals. I discovered what works best with my diet and training combined, and it’s this knowledge I want to pass on to others to make things easier to make the muscle growth progression quick and successful. I’ve trained the natural way, at times it was tempting to go down the steroid route, but I knew this wasn’t for me, I was patient and understood the complications and dangers with steroids. I saw the downsides of steroids from friends that used them, it became obvious to me that training naturally was my better option. Huge muscular guys or pro bodybuilders are in a different league, it has never been any ambition of mine to be the next Mr Universe. I understood what I was trying to achieve which was to be stronger, fitter, healthier, and more muscular than what I originally was, I knew what my realistic goals were. Things have changed dramatically over the years especially in the supplement market and the advice can be confusing, daunting, and expensive, I have always used supplements but it’s getting it right first time, it can be costly if you get it wrong, it can also set you back months, so I’ll tell you the only supplements you’ll need and that actually work. Currently I train at a maintenance level which came after my years of training at the intermediate level. This book is dedicated to the beginners level, and for those that exercise at home. I am happy and content with my body now, weight training means as much to me now as it did when I was 14. I cannot imagine life without my weights, I enjoy my weight training as much as ever, I look forward to my training today, I also can’t wait until my training tomorrow. ‘When people said, ‘We never want to look like you,’ Arnold replied, ‘Don’t worry, you never will.’ INTRODUCTION This book is intended for beginners at any age, men, and women, large or thin (fat or skinny if you prefer) and general keep fitters who are ‘stuck’ and want to improve their strength and muscle definition. This book is not for experienced trainers, or for anyone on the road to becoming the next Mr or Miss Universe. I appreciate that some people may be on a tight budget, have minimal time and minimal knowledge, but this is not a problem, in fact you could easily build strength by picking up rocks. As long as you have a keen desire to strengthen your body and enhance your muscles you can still be successful with your realistic dreams. Weight training will also improve your whole health and wellbeing. If you don’t like gyms, find it hard to get to one, or simply cannot afford them, then this book will help guide you in the way that I know best using basic equipment and a balanced affordable diet, all from your own home. You will learn how to strengthen and grow muscles efficiently and safely. I will explain in the easiest way I can so that you can start immediately on your quest to re-shape your body. I will show you how and when to train, what your diet should be and what supplements you need. You will discover all the benefits that weight training adds to your life, it will alter your mind as well as your body, you will see your life change for the better as you become healthier and stronger. Let’s face it, we would all want a fantastic body in just a few weeks, some people believe this is possible, but what is a realistic time for those on a budget, or for those who don’t have much time? If you have the dedication and willpower to succeed at a cost of hard work, dedication, and patience, only then do you reap the benefits. After 10 weeks of a strict training program, and keeping to the appropriate diet, results are easy visible. ‘Home trainer’ - a person who trains at home in the bedroom, the garage, spare room, or outbuilding, wherever you find your private space to train, this book will guide you. You will be a casual weight or strength trainer not a hardcore bodybuilder, but you’ll still have strength and muscles better than before, you will look and feel great, your posture will improve, and your mind will have a more confident, positive approach to everything, you will ultimately feel better in body and mind. It has been proven that weight training leads to a healthy life, it strengthens muscles, bones, and joints, it improves mental health, it helps obesity and can calm stress. There are so many more advantages to weight training, it’s no wonder more and more people are now lifting weights to gain these benefits. It seems to be fashionable now for men and women to get a great body in a noticeably short time, cheaply and with little effort. The little effort method sometimes encourages the use of steroids, not knowing or taking into consideration the associated health risks now or later in life. I’ll show you that the natural method to building a great body is the only way, the best way, and the healthiest way. I’ll teach you the natural approach, no drugs or steroids, but a natural good diet, good workout routines with weights (resistance) rest and the use of natural supplements, all purely designed to build muscles (Dietary or nutritional supplements include any consumed products that supplement the diet and improve additional nutrients, vitamins and minerals). Access to videos online which will help in showing you the correct exercise movements is vital, this was valuable to me as it describes each exercise in complete proper form. Performing each exercise correctly is especially important and is called ‘proper form’. Lifting weights incorrectly can be disastrous, time wasting and produces zero muscle growth as well as a possible injury. Hard work really pays, so be prepared, with patience and a good understanding of weight training you will succeed in a short time. Your goal is to alter your body at a safe and sensible healthy level, I’ll make it as short and as easy as I possibly can and explain how to achieve your goals from your home with minimal equipment and minimal cost in the shortest time realistically possible. For just the price of this book, let me assist you in reaching your goals. Thank you for buying and reading my book. Welcome to weight training, lets now Start Muscling. ‘I train my body, I sculpture my body, I eat well and lift heavy pieces of iron, my achievements are my rewards, and my rewards are very satisfying’ Contents AN UNDERSTANDING OF ONES GOALS A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT ME DIET AND SUPPLEMENTS WEIGHT TRAINING EQUIPMENT WORKOUTS/ROUTINES VISUALISATION AND POSITIVE THOUGHT MUSIC, SLEEP, AND PATIENCE SUMMING UP AND TIPS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AN UNDERSTANDING OF ONES GOALS There are many bodybuilding magazines, and supplement web sites, that give advice, recommending endless products to gain muscle, and it can become confusing, expensive, and frustrating. The bottom line is that we just want a method of training and dieting in a way that perfectly suits us, on an affordable budget, and a way that also gives good results in the shortest possible time. The last thing you want is to get confused with what now seems like a science with the available supplements. It’s just too technical and too scientific which makes it all confusing. ‘A recent study suggested to eat this or that’ or ‘a survey carried out by so and so recommend to do this, or don’t do that’. This is all quite common now, and for me it’s annoying, these studies and surveys just keep changing each month, when all you want to do is workout, eat correctly, build muscles and gain strength. In other words, you want to get it all perfectly correct, no time wasting and no chucking money down the drain. Every single weight trainer has their own method of training and their own individual diet, the differences can be very extreme, there is not one specific method. I have asked many weight trainers/bodybuilders what do they eat? I get a different answer each time, isn’t it obvious that building muscles must be kept basic and less confusing. There is no miracle formula to naturally grow muscles quickly and easy, that ‘wonder pill’ does not exist, but there is a basic formula that does work, and with patience and effort, gains are achievable. Don’t waste time and effort constantly searching for something that is right in front of you, this takes away your concentration from the actual training, and encourages doubt. Stick to a common formula, and you can’t go wrong. In the 1970’s, what were natural bodybuilders eating? I can tell you from experience that it evolved around good food sources. With the myriad of supplements around today, I could still never get any stronger or bigger than if I were training with what was available to me in the 70’s. The supplements today just make things more convenient, they may enhance working out and help with muscle repair, but nothing out there can ‘blow up’ your muscles overnight, regardless of any manufacturers claims. I do still take supplements, and I have tried many, more in the ‘Diet And Supplements’ chapter, but for a quickie note, my best supplements are whey protein, creatine and BCAAs. Plenty of sleep, a good protein diet and exercising each muscle correctly using proper form equals muscle growth, this is the simplest sentence that describes the way to reach your goals. Work on these three things to start the muscle building process, the sleep part is easy thus allowing you to focus more on diet and training. We are all individuals in our genetic build up, this is particularly important to understand, two people training and eating the same, will produce different body shapes. This is not to say one will fail and the other succeed, it purely is our body make up, our genes. The human body is categorised in to three body shapes, Ectomorph (Slim to me and you) Mesomorph (Medium) and Endomorph (Large). The fact that genetically we are all made up differently, built differently with different levels of energy, willpower, and motivation, makes the muscle building or weight loss task an individual one. An important fact to remember is that everyone can still make gains, be stronger, lose weight, have muscle definition and be healthier. Find what works for you, remember what works for one does not always work for others, where some have failed may just work for you. You have to adjust your own exercises and diet to suit you personally. Once you find your formula, stick with it, don’t be persuaded to try something different at the very early stages, especially if progress is extremely good, this may put all your hard work back to the beginning, you would have then just wasted time and money. Alter things only as you gain experience, or you see no progress. You need to tune yourself to find your winning formula, the information in this book will assist with this, and I will explain it exactly how I wished someone did for me when I first started. Throughout your training period you must have patience, be dedicated, and always give your workouts 100% effort, this state of mind can only give you good results, if you stick at it, then you will see good results in 10 weeks, less even. When an actor has to improve muscle definition for a certain film role, you will see that there is a dramatic change in their body, in quite a short time. They of course would have personal trainers training them day in day out, and of course guiding them with a good expensive diet. Whether or not