Being a professional body builder isn't easy. Heck, even being just a normal body builder isn't. This sport requires hard work, discipline, perseverance and consistency to reach your goals. Body building is not just about showy muscles but it gives you a strong muscular physique which will help you if you have to do strenuous physical jobs. It also helps you mentally and builds self-confidence. By having a physique which commands attention, you naturally feel better in your mind and you're also motivated to tackle everyday's activities. But to achieve your body building goals, you have to become disciplined first. If you aren't, you're wasting your time. This is one of the great things about body building. It makes you disciplined and what you get from it is not only for the sport but it will make you disciplined in other areas of your life.

It is of paramount importance that you have a body building plan of what you're going to do everyday, how you're going to do it, how you're going to plan your nutrition and you need to stick to it for some time. With time, you might need to adjust to suit your needs. As a result, you need a timetable like if. Like what time you're going to sleep and wake up, have your meals and training. You need to know about Training, Nutrition and Sleep. This is indeed a very disciplined life. Most of the times, you'll miss many outings you can do with friends but if you have a goal in mind, maybe these outings can wait notably late night outings, partying, drinking etc... which can have a negative impact on your goals. But for sure, an outing from time to time will help you. You just need to plan well. You don't need to neglect your social life completely but you must not forget your objectives. That's the point.

So in your disciplined life, you need to consider these 4 important things:

(1) Nutrition

You need to figure out how many meals you're going to eat daily. Usually 4-6 meals is recommended. And what type of protein you will eat. Make a plan like Monday: Skinless chicken breast, Tuesday: White fish fillet, Wednesday: Lean beef, Thursday: Salmon fillet, Friday: Skinless turkey breast. You can incorporate complex carbohydrates in your meals like oatmeal with low fat milk(great for breakfast with boiled eggs separated), potatoes, yams, sweet potatoes, wholewheat bread, wholewheat pasta, brown rice and fibrous carbohydrates like broccoli, asparagus and green beans.

(2) Training

You also need to know how many days you're going to train. Usually it's recommended to train 4 days in a row then rest one day then start again. When you train 4 days in a row, you train different body parts eg

Monday: Chest, Triceps and Forearms
Tuesday: Back, Biceps and Abdominals
Wednesday: Shoulders, Trapezius and Calves
Thursday: Legs(Quadriceps and Hamstrings)
Friday: REST
Repeat

So you have 4 days rest for each body part which is good. The leg workout is usually very intense and hard and can exhaust you very much, so it's recommended to dedicate one day totally to legs.

So you're not going to train for only 1 week and expect big results. You need to be consistent to make gains. Don't think you can skip meals and workouts as you wish because you're not going to make it. You need at least 4 weeks to start seeing some little progress depending on your body. If you are a bit fat, it will take more time for you to get those muscles than if you were leaner. Between 2-6 months, you'll start seeing some muscles emerging, some you didn't even know particularly on your back. Between 6-12 months, you'll definitely pack on hard muscle mass and size. If you do it for more than one year, say 2, 3 or 4 years and even more, you'll get a ripped, rock hard and muscular physique. Your weight will also increase thanks to all those additional muscles.

(3) Sleep

You also need to be disciplined in getting adequate rest and quality sleep. Everyday, sleep at the same time and wake up at the same time. Get a consistent amount of sleep every night. You need to be in peak form to perform better and achieve significant progress and gains.

(4) Maintenance

It also takes discipline to maintain your muscular body because after you stop training for awhile, you'll lose your muscles gradually and weight as well. But for weight, this might not be the case for a professional body builder. The term off-season is applied when the professional body builder takes the time off, trains less or not at all and eats whatever he wants including junk food. During this time, he will take many calories and will become fatter and his weight will increase. And of course, he will lose some of his muscles. But when off-season is over, he will get back into his routine and make progress again. Before a body building competition, the professional body builder needs to pay strict attention to eating only quality food mostly with protein and with minimum fat as far as possible to become ripped and for the muscles to really reveal themselves. This is also known as "Cutting". Usually with a more ripped, muscular and dense body, you have more chances in front of the juries to win the competition.

So should you become a body builder or even a professional one? Well before venturing in it, you need to realize that you are in it for a long time. You have to be disciplined, persistent, consistent, be willing to work hard and endure pain. And most of all, you need to love what you're doing. In the end, body building will be your way of living, your own lifestyle.

About the author

Jean Lam is the webmaster of Body Building Resource which provides articles on weight training, nutrition and fitness, body building book and DVDs.