Most exercisers confuse bodybuilding with athletic training. They want the body of an athlete, but they train like a bodybuilder. Unfortunately, they are wasting their time and will never reach their goal of building a lean, athletically muscular body.

You Are Still Training Like A Bodybuilder

Whether you know it or not, most workout programs are based on bodybuilding type training. If you can rattle off muscles, talk about split workout routines and think your training should only be about building muscle… you have a bodybuilder mentality. If you base your workout program on a bodybuilding program, you probably will fail to reach your athletic body goals.

First, most bodybuilding workouts only concerned with maximizing muscle growth are very long. And unless you have 2-3 hours to spend in the gym every day, you are not going to get the muscle building results like the pro bodybuilders do. And some of you might be think that since you are going to do a “similar” workout, but shorter, then you’ll get the “athletic” muscle you want and not the puffed up bodybuilder look. How has this strategy been working so far?

Second, to build an athletic body you need to train more like an athlete, and less like a bodybuilder. Athletes are fit, and that’s why they look the way they do. So, you need to train to increase your overall fitness level. Plus, you need a nice balance between strong, athletic muscle and low fat. You need to build athletic muscle but also lose the pounds of fat covering them.

You Need Multiple Workouts To Get The Athletic Body

I wish I could tell you there was one workout that could satisfy every goal. But honestly, some people need to work more on one area more than the others to start seeing results. For example, some people have a low level of fitness and need to work on that before they can be concerned about building muscle or losing fat. The just don’t have the physical capabilities to get through those type of workouts.

On the other hand, some people are fit and lean, but need to put on muscle. Or, they put on muscle easily, but need to shed a few pounds of fat to look more like an athlete. But no matter what angle you look at it from… you need to address fitness, fat loss and muscle building at some point to ultimately achieve the athletic look you desire.

You need to rotate between three different kinds of workout with different major goals… Fitness, Fat Loss and Strength & Size. Each of these workouts should be slanted to the specific goal of the workout, but not work against the other goals. For example, when you are doing the fitness workout you could put on muscle and burn fat. Of when fat loss is your goal you should be burning fat in a way that also increases fitness and builds (or keeps), useful muscle. Same for the strength and size workouts.

So, the key to getting the athletic body you want is to change the way you think about working out. Stop training like a bodybuilder if you don’t want to be one, and start training like an athlete if you want to look like one. Use a variety of workouts designed to build the athletic body you seek, without sabotaging the other performance and appearance goals. I think you find that by approaching your workouts this way… you’ll build the strong, lean, athletically muscular body that not only performs great, but turns heads as well.

One of the best ways to get an athletic body is to use the combination of bodyweight and dumbbell exercises.  There is not better way to train the body for real world challenges… and to look great too!  Make sure to check out my workout called Gladiator Body Workout.

Get An Athletic Body That Performs And Looks Great

I just got an email from someone wanting to know how to train for an athletic body.  I see a lot of people struggling to understand how to get a more athletic looking and performing body, so I decided to answer the question here.

Here is an excerpt from the email…

i am trying to build a bit more muscle and tone what i have already got.

i am trying to get an athletic body.

should i do shoulders, back, chest, biceps, triceps and so on all in the same day.

or should i concentrate on each ones on different days. like biceps and triceps one day, back the next, chest the next, shoulders the next, and so on.

———————

Let me try to help you get an athletic body.

You want to get an athletic body, but it still looks like you are doing a bodybuilding style workout. When you split your body up into a lot of different (smaller) muscle groups and try to figure out how to design a workout to hit those muscles separately, you are training like a bodybuilder.

Bodybuilders DON”T have an athletic type body… so you don’t want to train like a bodybuilder if your goal is to look and perform like an athlete.

On the other hand… athletes train the whole body and focus on large muscle groups, or multiple muscle groups at the same time.  I would go so far as to say that an athletic workout should be a full body workout that blurs the lines between strength training and heart and lung conditioning.

I was just looking over a page called MaxWorkouts yesterday and doing a write up about it that I’m going to post here.  I think you should read it to get a feeling of what an athletic approach is.  Read about MaxWorkouts here!

I can give you an example from on of my own workout programs: Gladiator Body Workout.

The Gladiator Body Workout uses both dumbbells and bodyweight exercises.  There is nothing more athletic that using a combination of bodyweight and weighted exercise to challenge your entire body. So, first off… we are doing a full body workout with different types of resistance.

I have a full workout program there called The Above & Beyond Package.  (This should only be done after you build your athletic body with the Optimum Fitness & Physique Workouts).

What you’ll notice about these workouts is they combine dumbbell exercise, bodyweight exercise AND endurance training. For example: Dumbbell Snatches for 30 seconds, Push Ups for 30 second and then sprint 50 yards.  Rest briefly and repeat.  This is the type of exercise that builds a strong, lean, athletic body ready for anything.

As you’ll notice… there is no mention of muscle groups, split routines or any of the other stuff bodybuilders talk about.

I know this might be hard for you to wrap your brain around.  Everyone has been “conditioned” to think of the body as a bunch of parts. But if you want to train, look and perform more like an athlete, you are going to have to take a broader view and stop using bodybuilding routines. Spend some time thinking about this.

Again, I recommend reading over the Gladiator Body Workout page.  There is a lot of good info there.  Plus, read over the MaxWorkouts page.  I see a lot of trainers moving into this ATHLETIC style of training and I believe it is the way to get the fitness, performance and body most exercisers are looking for!

Hope this helps.

Eddie