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3) And All The Beginner Mistakes You Should Avoid
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"The fitness and nutrition world is a breeding ground for obsessive-compulsive behavior. The irony is that many of the things people worry about have no impact on results either way, and therefore aren't worth an ounce of concern."
- Alan Aragon
Table Of Contents
:
Bench Press
Incline Bench Press
Decline Bench Press
Deadlift
Lat Pulldown
Bent Over Barbell Row
Pull-up
Barbell Squat
Leg Press
Dumbbell Lunges
Shoulders
Seated Barbell Military Press / Shoulder Press
Chin Up
Triceps Dip
Introduction Who This Book Is For
I wrote this book for people who lead a busy lifestyle but still want to build muscle and get in shape. By giving you the necessary tools to reach your fitness goals, I will have to debunk some training myths that have been around for decades. How many times has someone told me that if I wanted to build muscle I had to
Hit the gym at least five times per week
Workout three or even four hours
Drink two or more protein shakes per day
And perfectly time my meals no more than three hours apart.
After doing some real research, I quickly learned that most of these tips are nonsense and some will even work against you in the long run. I also learned that
80% of muscle building and losing fat can be achieved through only 20% effort. This phenomenon is described as the 80/20 Rule, something that occurs all throughout our lives and not only in bodybuilding. It has completely changed the way I look at my workout. The following chapters will show you how much easier and less time consuming your exercise and dieting routine can be if you focus on a few critical factors and leave the rest to the wannabe experts.
- Felix Harder
The 80/20 Rule Explained
The 80/20 Rule (also known as the Pareto principle) is simple, yet very powerful. It states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. Originally, this rule of thumb referred to the observation that 80% of Italys wealth belonged to around 20% of the population, made by the Italian Economist Vilfredo Pareto.
Over the years Pareto and other scholars found that this rule seemed to apply to
most things in life, for example that:
- 20% of the input creates 80% of the result
- 20% of the customers create 80% of the revenue
- 20% of the workers produce 80% of the result
- 20% of the features cause 80% of the usage
And on and on
Unfortunately the 80/20 Rule and its applications vanished from popular science during the next centuries and were only rediscovered towards the end of the 20 th century when top managers found out that the 80/20 rule is dramatically effective when applied to marketing and selling situations. They encouraged their employees to focus their energy towards activity that usually produces very fast and substantial improvements. The later success of these managers and their companies proved the 80/20 Rule to be an extremely useful model with countless applications in various areas of modern life.
The 80/20 Rule In Fitness And Bodybuilding
Paretos Principle has been successfully used in bodybuilding for more than three decades. Most of the time though, the athletes didnt actually know they were applying a century old business rule to their everyday workouts. They simply wanted to get the most out of their training with the least amount of effort. The value of the 80/20 Rule is that it reminds you to focus on the 20% that really matters. Once you have identified these critical factors, you can expect faster than usual muscle growth and/or fat loss with just a few important exercises and a handful of simple diet strategies.
In bodybuilding, what are the 20% that matter?
- Setting up and following a straightforward workout.
- Training consistently and with high intensity
- Following the rule of progressive overload (meaning over time you will lift more weight, more reps or more sets).
- Following a good diet with proper nutrition.
- Getting enough rest for recovery.
In short this means: Train hard, eat well and rest enough. Repeat. If you focus on the basics you will get 80% of the results. Afterwards you only have to adjust your plan every so often, based on your personal experiences and progress.
Applying The 80/20 Rule To Exercise How To Build Muscle And Lose Fat
If your goal is to build strength and muscle, then it should be rather obvious that most of your time in the gym should be dedicated to lifting weights. Of course, some sort of cardiovascular exercise should always be part of any well-rounded workout, but for the beginner looking to get big, weight training is essential to increasing strength and developing skeletal muscle tissue. Your focus should be on lifting progressively heavier weights, with cardio and conditioning as the back-up priorities.
For workouts designed to lose fat, this focus shifts slightly due to the stress that the lower calorie intake puts on your body. Cardio now plays a bigger role in your workout. However, you should still lift heavy when looking to lose fat, otherwise, you risk also losing hard earned muscle mass. The concept of progressive overload, one of the most important pillars of successful bodybuilding states that (only) progressively lifting heavy weights or more reps lead to an increase of muscle strength and size. If you dont provide your body with adequate amounts of stress it will have no incentive to change. Therefore consistent progression is essential to achieving optimal results. When dieting your progression might be slower, but never lose your effort to progress and increase your weights over time.
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