Bodybuilding - though quite simple at a first glance - is a rather complicated sport, that involves lots of other factors, outside the gym, that influence both the way one should train and eat for positive muscle-building results.
Just like any other sport or activity there’s a certain way one should approach training, and what’s more, for every single individual there’s a different way to success, the discovery of which befalls to the person him/herself.
Every athletic activity, (swimming, boxing etc) develops muscles a certain way. However, only bodybuilding aims for a complete and very detailed not to mention proportional and harmonious development of the entire physique.
Knowing the basics of it before getting down to the gym can save one a lot of wasted time and resources simply by allowing him/her to use his/her body’s potential to the max when it comes to muscle mass growth.
The first ever thing one should do before actually hitting the gym is learn his or her body-type. There are three basic body types also called somatotypes:
- the ectomorph: is the lean type, short upper body, long arms and legs characterized by very limited fat storage and thus a good muscular definition.However muscle building for this somatotype is a hard and painstaking process. Could be included in the “slow developers” category.
- the mesomorph: this body type features wide shoulders, great strength and solid muscle structure. It shouldn’t be difficult for a mesomorph to gain muscle and to reach a good definition. Dorian Yates is a typical Mesomorph.
- the endomorph: is inclined to carry a lot of fat, wide hips and soft musculature.

ecto-mesomorph	mesomorph	endo-mesomorph

Of course very few people can be clearly included in one or the other category. In fact most people are a combination of the 3 types with one or the other being predominant. There are actually 88 categories based on which of the three types is predominant on a scale of 1-7.
Such examples would be: the endo-mesomorph, the ecto-mesomortph and so forth and so on.
Once clear which body type your own is closest to, you should model your whole training program, your nutrition, the rest period, the type of weights you work with during your training, in a word: pretty much everything, after it.
The ectomorph should generally have short but rather intense training sessions as the strain of a long exhausting training doesn’t suit this type. First of all the ectomorph’s endurance is less than that of a mesomorph. Secondly - the ectomorph’s first objective being the gaining of muscle mass - he/she cannot afford to waste to much energy on non-basic exercises. Also, he/she - at least until the muscle mass gets sufficiently developed - should stick almost exclusively to basic exercises. Rep numbers should be kept low and done with heavy loads. Every set has to count. Rest periods between sets and between two workouts should also be a bit extended thus allowing the body more time to regenerate.
The protein intake should also be increased by a well balanced diet, if necessary with the help of protein drinks.
Out of gym activity should be done with good measure, too much of it making fast work of the gains obtained in the gym.
The Mesomorph has a lot less to worry about when training. First of all conserving energy and watching out to avoid overtraining are not part of this guy’s problems. Since he can build muscle easily he can begin working the isolation exercises from the very beginning together with the basic ones. Bulking up and working out the details can happen simultaneously.
The Endomorph has no problems gaining muscle mass either. His problems stem from the fact that he needs to lose a lot of fat while gaining muscle. This guy can forget about the low rep number heavy weight sets. He should do a bigger number of sets both basic and isolation exercises, with a bigger number of reps.
The protein intake should also be limited, and some aerobic exercises besides the time spent in gym are also a good idea.
Another highly important factor, which is paid a lot less attention to than it should, is the warmup.
Warmup should be taken literally, as one’s muscles - upon arrival to the gym - are never prepared to take the amount of stress he or she is about to subject them to. The complex biochemical processes that take place inside the muscle make warming up a must, to avoid injury in the gym.
Never count walking from your car to the gym door, putting the weights on the bars and taking them off, as part of your warmup. Pre - training warmup should always be given a high priority in every workout. Think of it a laying the grounds for a full-satisfaction training session.
Besides the pre -workout warmup it is also a good idea to begin every new exercise with a set done with lighter weights and a higher number of reps. Count that as a warmup lap, after which you can cut to the chase with no worries over possible injuries.