5 Outside-The-Gym Habits From Bodybuilding All-Stars

Eating and working out aren’t the only times you need to focus on bodybuilding. If you want to be a champion, you need to set yourself up for success with your actions at other times as well.

Here are five winning habits to develop:

Keeping a training log is an important component in your long-term success so you can see the incremental progress you’re making over a long period of time. Granted, it can be tedious to enter in each set, rep and weight used—but over time, you will be able to adjust your training based on the immense amount of data you have collected.

Part of the record keeping process includes setting goals. We have heard about goal setting so many times over the years that it goes by without thought but it’s critical to your bodybuilding success. Setting measurable goals in a time-bound fashion gives you a road map to guide your efforts and keep you on track.

Sleep is important to both your overall health and the recovery of the muscles in your body. It’s when your body is actually building the muscle you tore down in your workout routine. If you’re maxing out your training routines, it’s especially vital to get a minimum of 8 hours of sleep every night.

In fact, you should get enough sleep that you do not have to rely on the alarm in the morning. Schedule your bedtime and sleep hours so that your body gets enough natural rest to wake up by itself. If you have to rely on the alarm clock to wake up, you are not getting enough sleep.

Perhaps it makes you a better well-rounded person to have many interests and activities. But it will not make you a champion bodybuilder. To excel in the sport, as in other disciplines, you must focus your efforts.

That includes limiting your physical activity outside the gym. You cannot play in a hockey league or play tennis regularly. Your body can only handle so much physical activity and it is important to maintain your training regimen. Otherwise, it is too hard to monitor the process of recovery.

While you can keep things light in the workout room and tap into your natural enthusiasm for your sport, you must be 100% committed to bodybuilding. A lackadaisical, unfocused effort will result in minimal gains and doom you to also-ran status.

The time commitment of diet monitoring, weightlifting, and cardio is significant. You must have the support of family and friends for you to recognize your goals. In a sense, you need to set up your whole life to support your commitment to bodybuilding.

In short, competing to be a first-class bodybuilder isn’t a casual effort. The more seriously you take it throughout your daily life, the more it will pay off in the gym and on the stage.