However, a basic diet that everyone should follow includes a variety of foods. A bodybuilder will require more energy and protein sources, and should put a lot of care and thought into their menu, especially if training for a competition.

Start with carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Every athlete needs a lot of good sources of carbs, the more basic the better. Carbohydrate-containing foods are foods such as breads, rice, potatoes, pasta, and fruits.

Different carbs release energy in different ways – some carbs release energy quickly for more of a jolt, while other carb sources, such as bananas and potatoes, release energy (sugar) into your blood stream more slowly, allowing for increased stamina. Avoid junk food which will give you that jolt of energy, followed by a slump. For a snack craving, try dried fruits or some pasta.

Another way your diet can help increase your stamina is by eating meals more often throughout the day. Four or five small meals each day will keep your energy use more efficient than three large meals.

As your weight training increases, you may need more protein. This can be acquired through nutritional supplements, or by increasing the amount of protein sources in your diet. You might eat more: lean meat, eggs (egg whites), fish, beans, or poultry. Certain vegetables, such as corn, also contain some, but not all, of the essential amino acids. You should have a good protein source in each meal.

Everyone needs a small amount of fat in his diet. While it is tempting for those trying to eat a healthy diet to cut out fats, in truth, a small amount of certain fats is a necessary component to a meal. Unsaturated fats and fats containing omega-3 should be added. Avoid foods such as margarine, butter, and fatty meats.

Food should be cooked, not processed. Any person trying to follow a healthy diet should avoid precooked or processed foods. Fresh vegetables, meats, and homemade sauces are healthier because they will contain less salt and fewer preservatives. Choose multigrain bread rather than white bread, olive oil rather than butter, and fish rather than steak to keep your diet healthy and prevent weight gain from fat.

Most of the time, it sets in within 24 to 48 hours after the workout, but can be as long as a week. This long delay of the feeling of soreness is known as DOMS or “delayed onset muscle soreness” and is not unusual to bodybuilders.

Medical professionals and scientists are not really sure of the exact cause of muscle soreness, but their hypothesis makes good sense. They say that the soreness is due to the muscle tear that happens after a workout. Whenever a person works out, depending on the intensity, the muscles tear down but in a microscopic sense. After the torn muscles are fully recovered, new muscles will grow which are much bigger and stronger than before.

In this case, muscle soreness after a workout can actually be considered good pain as this signifies that the workout was successful. You can feel the most muscle soreness when you introduce a new activity or workout to your routine. If you are trying a new lift or follow a routine of a buddy that you have never done before, then you will feel more pain than usual. Thus, beginners actually get the sorest muscles.

Since muscle soreness is a sign of a good workout, it would mean that you are not making any progress if you do not feel any soreness after a workout. It means that you just did a maintenance workout.

But if your goal is to improve and make your muscles grow bigger and stronger, you should follow a progressive workout routine. You should make sure to increase your intensity every time you work out to build more muscles.

However, you should also remember that your muscle will be able to grow to its full potential when they are fully recovered after the tissues are torn down. It is good to make sure that your body is feeling better and all soreness has gone out before doing any workout again.

Together with enough rest, you should also make sure to have a good post workout diet. This diet would consist of foods high in calories, high in carbs, and moderate in protein.

Thus, it is not really bad to feel sore after a workout. In fact, this can even be taken as a sign of a good and successful workout and know that in no time, you’ll be seeing all the fruits of your hard labor.

To tone arms, legs, thighs or abs, some muscle gain is necessary. You just want to be sure to gain the right amount, so that any flab is replaced with smoothness, but not huge bulges of muscle. Keeping this muscle is the key to keeping toned – muscle will burn calories faster than fat, and will look tighter and better under your skin.

While weight training, keep the weights at a level that is not too light for you (you should still be working out), but do not push yourself to increase the weight you are lifting. Instead, you might increase either the number of repetitions or the number of sets as you feel that your workout is getting easier.

When weight training, bodybuilders often focus on a different group of muscles each day, and really work these hard. To tone, instead of doing just one body part per day, have several weight lifting routines which each work several body parts, and do one of these per day.

You might simply do an entire circuit each day that you workout. If training at home, you might just do a few repetitions of each exercise on your universal gym.

Do each exercise carefully – no clanging of the weights or grunting. You are not trying to gain muscle or push your body, instead try to keep all of your movements very controlled and slow.

Athletes who are toning rather than building their muscles may also want to do more cardio. Instead of the quick warm up a weight trainer does, using their cardio routine to get their body temperature up, try going for a longer run or jog to burn fat.

A diet lower in protein than a bodybuilder’s diet is also necessary. Someone who is toning may wish to focus more on supplements which lower calorie intake, or which increase calcium, iron, and potassium – still replenishing minerals needed, without adding protein or fat to keep the body smooth and sleek.

Like bodybuilders, small meals throughout the day will keep your body using energy efficiently; however, your diet may have less protein.

Here are some tips to help you keep motivated and self-disciplined:

- Stick with your workout. Don’t give up. Have a reason for motivation, a reason to complete your training regimen for the day. The best workout is useless unless you have a reason to do it and a great attitude when completing your workout.

- Set a personal plan for yourself with outlined goals listed in writing. Post this where you can see it everyday, or even while you’re working out. This will remind you why you started and why you’re not going to give up.

Muscle overload is the essential building of muscle tissue. You should make sure your weights increase from workout to workout at a gradual pace. If you never changed your weights, your muscles would never get any bigger.

Some of your goals should include, but not be limited to, (a) use heavier weights, (b) use the same number of weights but increase the amount of reps and sets, (c) use the same weights but perform your exercises in a faster time interval.

- Don’t keep switching your exercises. You want to be able to measure your progress, and the only way to do this is by sticking to the same routine each week. DO change your daily routine, but not your weekly routine. Know what to expect to do for the day, and stick with it. Regularity and consistency help you stay mentally motivated and help you see progression in the way of results.

- Measure your results! You can become frustrated if you never see your hard work show off, and it may be little measurements at first, but that’s a lot when you see it as a fact. Many people make the mistake of using the bathroom scale to measure results. Muscle does weigh more than fat, but this is the wrong way to measure results when bodybuilding.

Know your body fat percentage. There are many gadgets on the market today that help in measuring your body fat. Some of the latest technology includes a handheld scanner that is highly accurate in measuring your body fat ratio.

- Set reasonable goals. The biggest let down for people is setting goals that are unattainable.

The good thing about a work out is apart from keeping the body toned, it builds up muscles by burning up the fat. As one grows older, the rate of metabolism decreases. The hunger also decreases.

But one does not understand the reducing capacity for intake and sticks on to the craving for food and takes more than one requires. The extra calories do not get utilized and convert themselves to fat.

A person who leads a sedentary life should be working out until sweat develops. The sweating happens within 5-10 minutes in case of a beginner who is starting to cross the weight limit. But one should not get disappointed. The fat gets accumulated slowly over time, so it will take time to melt. But it certainly will if the workout is done on a regular basis.

The recovery time after a work out is about 10 minutes to half an hour when a person is required to lie down calmly and may go to sleep. This may be a luxury for people with fast life. The alternative is to avoid junk food that does not have much nutrition but adds extra calorie to your body.

Therefore even if it is clumsy to handle a wholesome lunch, be kind to yourself to do it and despite being called over-systematic, and eat the lunch to help your body take you long ahead.

You will notice that the time you take for sweating will increase every week. It will at least be 15 minutes if you work out regularly. Your hunger will also go up and you would be surprised to note that you don’t feel like eating during your work hours. These are healthy signs. So each week increase your work out time and also the recovery time.

Recovery time is important because your muscles need time to be relaxed before you start out on your daily schedule. Unless you relax, you will get cramps and pain in your body. You will also get your blood pressure on the higher side. There are stories and incidences about people getting heart troubles because of exercise.

People with various illnesses should consult their doctor before taking up any exercise. Your doctor may be able to suggest an exercise routine that is compatible with your body.