Bodybuilding: Building A ‘Cougar-Bait’ Body…
Male college athletes and guys of college age who are into bodybuilding, weightlifting or generally into playing sports often find they’re garnering flirtatious attention from more sophisticated women in the 25 – 40 year-old age group. Most self-confident young men are flattered by the attention, especially when they notice that others their age who aren’t in shape are just being ignored by this sexy older woman and her friends…
There are a lot of advantages to dating an older woman when you’re in your twenties – they have better minds, often have fewer emotional dramas, usually are established and ready to treat you to activities you couldn’t otherwise afford, can teach you a lot about sophistication and moving in better circles, open doors to those who can help your career and, often most important to 20-something males, are usually more experienced, more energetic and less inhibited in bed!
The good news is you don’t have to be a big, overblown ‘roid freak to be cougar bait – in fact many women don’t like that look or are simply intimidated by freaks. But you DO have to be in great shape and look the part. You’d be hard-pressed to find a sexy, intelligent older woman who is turned on by the guy with his pants falling off his butt and a baseball cap on backwards…
If you’re looking to improve your game and start attracting cougars, you’ll need to concentrate on building lean muscle mass and getting rid of any extra bodyfat. That’s a tough combinaion for anyone, young guys included, so it is going to take some major effort on your part.
The fitness model pictured above is a perfect example. Being a hardgainer, it’s not hard for Devon to keep his bodyfat level low – it’s generic to his ecotomorph bodytype. But as with all hardgainers, it’s building lean muscle mass that’s tough. With a tall frame and fast metabolism, adding muscle requires strict training and nutrition.
In Devon’s case, it’s easy to see it’s paying off for him. What you can’t see is the enormous effort he has put in to achieve these results in just six months. Fortunately for Devon he’s been training under the guidance of our Flirting With Fitness publisher Doug Champigny, following a workout plan designed specifically for him.
“Devon’s fast metabolism meant he didn’t need a lot of cardio in his workouts, so the focus was almost entirely on building lean muscle mass…” says Champigny. “Ectomorphs aren’t genetically pre-disposed to carry much muscle weight, which is why they’re referred to as ‘hardgainers’. So it was necessary to design a program that would continually challenge his system and force it to add, and keep, new muscle growth.”
“We did this by changing up the intensity, duration and rest times between sets and following each program for only 4 weeks before switching the style of workout for the next 4 weeks. Each cycle Devon is doing is based on 4 different weightlifting and bodybuilding styles, each done for 4 weeks with a week off to let the body heal after each 16-week cycle. As a result, Devon has been able to add about 15 pounds of muscle in his first 6 months – no small feat for a hardgainer! And now that his joints, tendons, ligaments and central nervous system are all stronger, we’re about to move on to more advanced routines to keep the gains coming.”
As with any weightlifting, bodybuilding or other exercise routines, nutrition and rest play as important a role in building lean muscle mass as the actual training does. In addition to his workouts Devon works full-time installing data cables, so it’s necessary to consume enough food energy to allow for an active lifestyle AND the bodybuilding needs. Many amateur weightlifters and bodybuilders sabotage themselves by eating right for their exercise levels, but overeat or under-eat for the rest of their lifestyle.
Additionally, the total caloric intake has to be balanced based on that day’s energy output, as does the carb-protein-fats ratio. For the first, total calories are higher on workout days, especially when training the larger muscle groups – legs, back & chest. The second part involves increasing carb intake before and immediately following the workouts, to provide energy for the workout and to ensure maximum glucose and protein uptake in that crucial 45-minute window following each training session. Eating a healthy diet designed to maximize your bodybuilding results becomes second nature, though it’s a struggle to avoid indulging in pizza & beer until you start seeing the first noticeable results of your training.
Finally we come to rest – often the hardest part for guys in their early twenties. Life is so full of fantastic activities at that age, and the tendency to overdo it all runs rampant. Your homones and energy levels have never been this strong, you feel invincible and you fight hard to fit everything in – no wonder sleep seems like a necessary evil! But that’s just it – it IS necessary, and in great quantities.
Your body only truly heals itself when at rest, when the various other processes aren’t demanding your system’s resources. It’s imperative to get 8 hours sleep a night as often as possible, and to supplement that sleep with a nap anytime you really can’t get 8 hours. You may be thinking ‘I can get by on 4 – 6 hours of sleep a night and still feel great!’ – and you could be right.
Just realize that ‘feeling great’ and giving your body sufficient time to heal from each workout are two different things, and they don’t always align. Feeling great means your energy levels and your mind have recouped – your muscles may be taking a lot longer to heal.
This is especially true if your body isn’t getting everything it needs for maximum health and recovery; Vitamins are essential each day, healthy doses of protein, etc – even having Vitamin D, Omega-3, cinnamon and cayenne pepper with your post-workout shake can all help your system, your muscles and your immune system. Be sure to check out the latest health & nutrition systems if you’re not able to afford a nutritionist and personal trainer right now.
So there you have it guys – besides all the usual health benefits from getting fit and staying in great shape, use your weightlifting and bodybuilding to build a cougar-bait body and watch your social life, and your sex life, take you to places you’ve only read about in those magazines! 
Technorati Tags: building lean muscle mass, lean muscle, muscle mass, bodybuilding, weightlifting, nutrition, ectomorph, hardgainers
The program you decide upon should keep your muscles confused by changing your rest times in between sets and they will respond by getting bigger. This type of confusion training will also help to burn unnecessary calories and help you to build more lean muscle mass .
Don’t go to extremes on either though, you don’t want to reduce calories too much or you’ll sabotage lean muscle mass growth as a result. And you don’t want to do too much cardio in fear of overtraining.