The right body building routine for the swimsuit season

Everyone wants to look good. Some have different versions of what "good" means, but in general, most of us today find a lean, somewhat athletic look to be what's attractive. Obviously there's a degree of difference when it comes to what works for us and what doesn't, but for the purposes of this article, let's all just assume that we want to look like Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie.

So then the challenge is to find the right body building routine. Remember that, while we all have different ideas of what's the most attractive and what isn't, our bodies also have different ideas or responses to what works and what doesn't. Take me, for example. I'm a pretty fit guy, six foot tall and one hundred seventy five pounds. I'm not ripped or anything, but I'm not exactly soft like the pillsbury dough boy.

And if I wanted to become ripped... my body would just laugh and laugh at me. Believe me, I've tried. I went through several different body building routine techniques throughout my twenties, doing everything from low-weight high-reps to the reverse. Eating a diet high in protein, swearing off of meat, swearing off of machines and going au natural with nothing but push ups, sit ups and jogging... and through it all, my body stayed roughly the same size and shape. This isn't to say that I didn't get stronger or in better "shape" - I increased my bench press from 170 to 255 and my mile from eight minutes twenty seconds to six minutes and twelve - but my body never showed it beyond a slight thickening of the limbs.

So if you want to find the right body building routine for yourself, you have to be realistic about what you're looking for. And for most of us, with spring coming up, that means shedding a layer or three of winter fat.

As you probably well know, that's not the easiest thing to do. Not only is there the mental hurdle of doing your daily body building routine, but you're probably going to have to couple it with scaling back on the types of treats that we all like to eat occasionally. No more chocolates, no more beer (vodka + club soda will get you just as hammered and has half the calories), no more steak and potatoes.

And when it comes to your body building routine, you'll also want to consider that, if you're really trying to drop those last five pounds, you really have to work your whole body. That means while riding the stationary bike is good, going jogging is better. And while jogging is good, doing the rowing machine is even better than that. But at the top of the heap for weight loss body building routine is doing full-body calisthenics like kick boxing. Not only does this improve cardio and flexibility, it also makes it so that your body can't get used to one particular type of work-out and store your fat somewhere else.