Competition brings the best out in people and is one of the key parts to bodybuilding. It takes hard work, dedication, and competition to build a better body. When most people when hear the word bodybuilding they immediately think of competitions on stage where muscles are flexed and posing trunks are worn and oil. Because it's kind of a peculiar sport if it is a sport, and some may not consider it one, from my research I can tell you that bodybuilding is so much more than that. Bodybuilding and fitness and physique development is what ordinary people do to become extraordinary. It can be an elite athletic event, but bodybuilding itself is for anyone. It is

both structured, organized and disciplined and the ability of being able to commit.

In the 1980's as food went there were simultaneities in cases of the food that was just listed. As for the orange, whole-wheat bread, the potato, turkey, broccoli, bananas, mushrooms and fish (in this case sole). But there were exceptions to the fact like they used fat-free milk , for it's calcium and phosphorus, but it has too many carbohydrates to equal it protein. They also use bran muffins, which are full of carbohydrates and have very little protein like most bread. Some bodybuilders were vegetarians. In fact "A heck of a lot of people seem to do very well on a vegetarians diet, yet curiously few bodybuilders are vegetarians"(Kennedy 89, 1999). Also the 1980's in general, people were into how many calories you eat or need. The true is "You should count "portions," not calories" (Phillips 49, 1999). A portion is an amount of food roughly equal to the size of your fist or the inside of your hand like a potato for example.

What's the nearest thing to nutritional magic? What one item do we absolutely, beyond any shadow of doubt, require daily? Water (Kennedy 47, 1987). One thing is for certain and always remain true is that you need to drink at least 10 glasses of water a day. Healthy muscle is made up of more than 70% of water. It also serves a large role in cellular activity. It transports nutrients though the body. So if your fluids were low you would lose strength against illnesses. It can also control your appetite, if you drink glass before you eat and during the meal it will shorten your intake. So drink it often, and drink a lot.

Weight training is only for young athletes or so they thought during the earlier decades because people who weren't young and energetic thought they to old, fat, or weak. In today's world people of all ages should be weight training. If we don't work out, we lose muscle mass as we grow older. And believe it or not, this process begins kicking in at about 25! (Phillips 37, 1999). During this time fat appears in the common places and more often then not, for males, it can double within the next 30 years from 18 percent to 36 percent. During the same time, the average women can go from 33 percent to 44 percent. Well to prove that myth wrong, "a study at Tufts University showed that among a group of men between 60 and 72 years old, a three-day a week weight-training program caused an average increase in flexibility and strength of up to 200 percent" (Phillips 38, 1999).

As far back as I can remember most people eat three square meals a day and this method is not wrong, but it's not right. When you do eat more food at a sitting it keeps your body in check, so your mind does think theirs going to be a shortage food soon. Studies have show by eating more often helps the increase metabolism, which in return burns more calories. You should not go more then a few hours without eating (excluding sleeping). By doing that you have more energy and less hunger pains. Also you will be supporting healthy fat loss and muscle gain. When you eat six nutritious, smaller meals a day - the food in more efficiently processed and absorbed than by eating "three squares" most Americans eat each day (Phillips 45, 1999).

One of the most important things in weight lifting is proper form when lifting. It was thought that when you lift a weight, muscle fiber is torn, but the fact is that both lowering and lifting stimulate muscle growth. There are two basic motions to all free weighted exercise. One is called the concentric (lifting) phase; the other, the eccentric (lowering)(Phillips 41, 1999). You need both lifting and lowering the weight to stimulate muscle growth. As you lift and lower, the weight tears muscle fibers during the lowering stage which starts a form of remodeling the muscle. To have this done efficiently, do it slowly and smoothly. If you don't, you're simply wasting your time.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Bill Phillips, , Tufts University, Water Kennedy, phillips 37, muscle growth, phillips 37 1999, twenty minutes, 37 1999, lose fat, weight lifting, resistance training, eat true, minutes days week, weight training, kennedy 12, stimulate muscle growth,
Approximate Word count = 2890
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)