10 Things You Need To Know About Physique Development

We all want to have a great body. Whether male or female, young or old, having a body that's lean, fit and healthy, and attractive to the opposite sex is something we all want to have at some point in our lives.

Through this article you are going to learn a thing or two about how to eat, train and properly address your physique development goals. Regardless of where you are at in your physique development, you will find this information useful to you and your situation. Once applied, the information will begin to produce results for you AND this information is applicable to males and females.

1: GENETICS HELPS
Genetics is always going to be a factor. Problem is that sometimes good genetics can be a hindrance for some people, as they never fully commit themselves to their physique development plans. Those who have less than perfect genetics on the other hand realize the need for them to fully commit, consistently train right and eat well in order to achieve their physique goals.

Genetics as I said is a factor, but it's not, nor should it be seeing as a limiting factor or reason for anyone not to fully commit to improving their physique and working towards their goals.

While I'm on the subject of genetics I think I should mention gender. LADIES, unfortunately it will be harder for you to achieve results and achieve them as fast as males do. However, don't for a second assume that this means you won't achieve results. You will, but for you results may be a little slower than you would like.

Males and females have many differences, including hormonal profiling and of course they have much more muscle mass, making fat loss and muscle gain easier for males over females. But do not be discouraged. RESULTS will happen for you if you are persistent.

2: YOU MUST BE SPECIFIC ABOUT WHAT YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE
Knowing 'EXACTLY' what you want to achieve is very important to your success. Saying you want to lose some body fat is not very specific. Fat loss and muscle gain are not even the kind of goals you should be setting.

In reality fat loss and muscle gain are just part of the process required to achieve the bigger goal of sculpting a better body or developing your physique.

Create a picture of what you want your body to look like. Find photos of athletes, celebrities and fitness models that have the kind of physique you aspire to have.

3: IT DOESN'T HAPPEN OVER NIGHT
I briefly touched on this in point number one, but results DO NOT happen over night. This goes for males and females. Just as nobody gets fat and obese in a week or two, nobody gets into great physical shape in a matter of weeks.

Significant progress will happen within the space of a few weeks, provided a person is consistent with his/her training and nutrition, but true physique development or body transformation takes much more time.

How FAST Will YOU Get There? When you find the photos of the type of body you want to achieve, put it alongside a photo of you in your current shape and compare the two. How close to that picture perfect body are you? The closer you are to it now, the quicker you will be able to get there, potentially! The further away you are the longer it will take you. It's that simple.

There are many things you can do to speed up the process and we will look at these now.

4: YOU CAN'T OUT TRAIN POOR NUTRITION
This is the KEY point for you to take away from this article. Every trainer and physique athlete will tell you that this is the KEY to your success, and it is!

You simply CANNOT out train poor nutrition. There is simply no point in training to battle poor nutrition. Training hard and eating poor in between, only means you will be training to remain where you are at as opposed to training hard, eating right and advancing forward with your physique development.

Nutritionally you need to address many things. Make small changes initially, making them changes permanent and then continually make some more changes until you have your nutrition in order and completely in your control.

ALSO, DON'T think you can undo the effects of poor nutrition by taken supplements or silly fat burner pills. It doesn't work like that. Supplements only assist someone who's diet and training is already in order and consistent. Any person who is inconsistent with their training and has a far from perfect nutritionally plan in place should not be using supplements. If they are I can guarantee you it's a waste of their money.

5: YOU CAN'T OUT EAT BAD TRAINING
Just as you can't out train poor nutrition, you must also realize that you can't out eat bad training. Quality nutrition and quality training go well together and should compliment each other.

We are talking about true physique development here and in order to achieve real results you must have an optimal training program to use in conjunction with your nutritional plan.

Too many people assume that if their nutrition is 'PERFECT' all they need to do is train regularly and consistently and they'll do all right. Well they are 'CORRECT', they will do just 'all right', they will not do great or really transform their body.

6: HEAD TO TOE DEVELOPMENT IS A MUST
To develop a good training program you must look at head to toe development. You must train the body as a whole.

For the majority of people full body training routines will be best, BUT at certain points some body part routines in the form of upper and lower body split routines will work even better.

Don't focus too much on one area of the body, even if it's a trouble spot for you. Train the entire body, working the major muscle groups of back, chest and legs on a regular and consistent basis.

7: YOUR PROGRAM MUST BE HEAVILY RESISTANCE BASED
Whether you need to emphasis more fat loss or more muscle gain, your program needs to be heavily resistance based. I think most people seeking muscle gain realize this, but most people seeking fat loss don't.

Most people seeking fat loss think they need to avoid weights and do lots of 'cardio' work in the form of walking, hill walking, running and spending hours each week on the various cardio machines in the gym.

Well for those who want fat loss, here's the truth. You need to attack the muscle as muscle is metabolically active (it drives your metabolism) and metabolism is the rate at which one burns calories.

Resistance training is 'cardio' training. Far too many people think that resistance training doesn't count as cardio training and it definitely DOES! You simply need to make your resistance training more metabolic in nature if you seek more fat loss. You can do this in many ways. Two ways to achieve this is by performing:

• Resistance training circuits
  
• Lifting moderately 'HEAVY' loads at fast speeds and combining short rest intervals

Cardio training is simply anything that will bring about an elevation in heart rate and respiration and I'm pretty sure my resistance training sessions do that.

Now I am not saying that all you should do is lift weights. I 100% encourage you to engage in lifting weights, performing body weight exercises, circuit train, perform intervals, ride your bike, sprint up hills, pull sleds, flip tires and do anything that is fun and interesting to you. The more fun you have, the more consistent you will be. The more consistent you are, the more likely you will achieve the results you seek.

8: YOU MUST PROGRESS TO PROGRESS YOUR PHYSIQUE
I always like to tell people that you must focus on improving physical performance in order to improve physical appearance. That means you must make physical progress. You must get stronger, faster and fitter in order to get leaner and achieve the physique you want.

If you are lifting the same weights, performing the same set-rep scheme, using the same rest periods and performing the same overall volume of work this week, as your were 3 or 4 weeks ago, I'm sorry but you will be making no progress with your physique goals.

The body adapts very quickly and in order for your body to change, your training needs to change. Your training needs to progress in order for your physique development to continue.

9: YOU MUST ASSESS IN ORDER TO PROGRESS
Monitoring your progress is very important. I suggest you have your weight, body fat % and girth measurements taken every 2-4 weeks.

Along with these I also suggest you take regular progress photographs. Make sure the photos are always taken with you wearing the same clothing (minimal clothing is best), same background, same level of lighting and in the same positions (head on, back view and side views).

Also make sure that the photos are taken from the same distance each time to enable you to properly evaluate your progress as you place photos side by side.

Along with these assessments I suggest you perform some physical assessments every 4-6 weeks. Maybe you should perform a repetition maximum on certain exercises or construct some sort of workout challenge or work capacity circuit to assess your physical progress.

Tracking your training weekly via a training log is something that you should always be doing. Always noting the loads, sets, reps, etc you are using so you can advance each session as you look back through your training log.

10: YOU MUST ADDRESS LIFESTYLE FACTORS
Training and nutrition are only two parts of the physique development process. You need to address other lifestyle factors that will have an impact on your physique development.

These include rest, sleep and sleep patterns, stress, alcohol consumption, etc.

Take control of these areas, along with control of your training and nutrition and you will be on your way to achieving the kind of physique you want, a physique you can be proud of.

I hope you found this information useful to you and your situation. I now strongly urge you to take action, apply the information and take control of your physique development goals, ultimately taking control of the results you will achieve, allowing you to become and feel more energetic and much more confident so you can focus on the things in life that are most important to you.

By Ian Graham