Follow Your Build for Your Perfect Physique
By Leroy Colbert

Don’t you wind up on the bodybuilding scrap pile. For every physique contest winner there is usually 30 or more losers. You can be a winner if you train according to your build.

Bear one very important point in mind and that’s once you pass the beginners stage you routine ceases to be general. No longer may you follow to the letter the routines of others. All beginning bodybuilders have a common problem and that’s physical weakness and a lack of muscular coordination. The first requirement of an initiated bodybuilder is to improve his general health and build a foundation for more serious training. The routine for the beginner is generalized and there is little or no deviation. The only change which may be starting poundage.

There is a routine for every conceivable body type. The big bone, medium bone, small bone, short, tall, or medium height, stocky build, medium or slender. Let us help you find you category and a perfect physique is yours.

It’s tragic to see the bodybuilders who have built large muscles but lack acclaim because of incorrect training. A short, stocky bodybuilder has an entirely different physique problem than the short lean one. They have height in common but there the similarity ends. For them both to follow the same routine would be folly for one. If they both went on a bulk routine, the lean one would benefit, the stocky one would have additional problems. Their diets must be markedly different. One must partake less and different foods than the other. But for a perfect physique, your body must be built along your structural lines minimizing you shortcomings and accentuating the parts whose underdevelopment denies your body that coveted finished look.

The finished look is really what makes the true difference between a good body and a great body. I will never forget Arnold’s arrival to the United States. His body was a treat to behold. Everyone gasped in amazement at his Herculean development, Joe Weider was not satisfied. Sure Arnold looked great but Joe Weider could make him immortal. Joe took Arnold under his wings and began to instruct him in the development of all the weak points that were not apparent to the uniformed. Joe first noticed Arnold’s rib box needed more training. He also needed more bulk, larger calves and a more muscular waist line to sort of offset his terrific height and balance his body. The results were truly fantastic. Arnold’s new look proved what incredible improvements could be obtained by following you own particular physique and not adhering to the routines of others. Arnold said that he had no set system of training until coming under Joe Weider’s guidance. He had been following the routines of other champions with good results but after following personalized Weider principles, the rest is history.

Unless you have a perfect knowledge of your build, do not under any circumstances follow the exact routine of anyone. You could follow the routine of Lee priest with good results muscle-wise. But if you are tall and lean you will never obtain the same results as Lee. The routines of champions are mainly for you guide not adherence.

There are thousands of frustrated bodybuilders who expect to build the exact physique of their idols. I have seen short, stocky bodybuilders very discouraged because they couldn’t build a physique the same proportions as Frank Zane. Now, if you are going to set impossible goals, then you are doomed to failure. Zane is a champion but so is Arnold. . You can be a champion in your own right if you follow your build.

For example let’s take a medium height of 5’4” to 5’7”bodybuilder who is heavy boned, bulky and smooth. His routine should be very specialized, making it a point not to employ any heavy power routines for they will bulk him up. The medium height bodybuilder must keep in mind his limitations and strive to minimize them with proper training.

There are six very important principles the medium height, big boned, stocky bodybuilder must observe and avoid.

1. He must never, under any circumstances, employ flushing principles. Grouping your exercises together has a tendency to bloat the muscles, making them rounder and fuller, a condition the bulky bodybuilder doesn’t need.

2. Avoid power routines like the plague, for they thicken and shorten the muscles, a condition already possessed.

3. Never perform the side bend in any form. Side bends are murder for all but the tallest bodybuilder. Heavy obliques will make you appear as much as three times shorter, giving you that mashed together appearance of an over-stuffed barrel.

4. Stay away from pumping up exercises for they over pump the muscles, destroying the more slender look so essential to medium height bodybuilders.

5. Don’t go through you workout too slow, for this will hinder the breaking down of fat deposits under the skin.

6. Bear in mind, that all training advice will be useless, if you gorge yourself on fattening foods.

Now that you have six important pitfalls to avoid, if you wish to forge ahead without delay, it is also extremely important that you know what to do for a perfect physique. Here are some of the most important points you must adhere to if you want to mold that bulk into a perfect physique.

1. The bulky bodybuilder must employ a variety of movements for his muscles, doing at least 3 to 4 exercises for each body part. Do one set of each exercise, not more than 10 reps each tri-set fashion.

2. Make it a point to do plenty of stretching movements to elongate the muscles. Exercises such as the chinning bar, pullovers, lat machine work, leg raises for the abdominals and leg extensions for the thighs.

3. Strive to develop your utmost in concentration while exercising. Concentrate deeply with each movement, divorce your mind form all of your surroundings. You will be amazed at the tremendous difference it makes.

4. Wear a heavy sweat suit to help your body eliminate excess water in the tissues.

5. Perform muscle control posing and tension in front of a mirror every workout, to help bring out your definition.

6. Load you workout with plenty of shoulder and lat work, also make it a point to do plenty of leg raises.

7. Do your exercises one right after the other, to sweat and knock off fat.

8. Be sure of a liberal diet of juices and protein, it brings out your muscular definition.

9. Never eat until you are full. Eat smaller portions so as not to bloat the waist.

10. Always strive to maintain a small waist, it is of utmost importance in a bulky bodybuilder.

The tall lean bodybuilder’s problems are exactly opposite of the medium height bulky ones.

The most important point a tall bodybuilder must keep in mind is that definition is his least concern until his body fills out. All of the pitfalls a bulky bodybuilder must avoid are exactly the ones which must interest the lean one. There are thousands of tall, lean bodybuilders following to the letter, a routine specifically designed for the smooth, bulky, medium height bodybuilders. Remember, if you follow the correct routine according to your build, there would be no bodybuilding failures. Every single one of you can and will be a good and perhaps a great bodybuilder, if you adhere to your structure while training.

Following your build is one of the most important revelations in the game, because its adherence would salvage a great deal of otherwise lost physiques. In this article, we have elaborated on the medium height bodybuilder, skimming the top of the tall, lean ones.

The science of following your physique is so vast that the best I could do in one article is to introduce it to you and get you to think.