Bodybuilding Articles & News
Decades of trial and error from the highest level of bodybuilding written down. No hype. No shortcuts. Just what worked, what didn't, and why it matters for serious lifters. Every article connects to the Five Tracks on the BuildWithPros Shop by Goal page.
How to Lose Weight During Menopause: What Changed, and the Five Levers That Work
How to lose weight during menopause and perimenopause: why the old way stops working, and the five levers that do, from protein to sleep.
Foods to Avoid for Menopause Belly Fat: The Short List, and What Not to Cut
Foods to avoid for menopause belly fat: the short list is the foods that arrive as a flood and the big carb dinner, and what not to cut.
Strength Training for Menopause: Why Lifting Matters More Now, and How to Start
Strength training for menopause: why muscle goes faster in these years, why two sessions a week is enough, and when the weight has to go up.
Menopause Belly: Why the Fat Moves to Your Middle, and What Moves It Back
Menopause belly is fat moving from the hips to the middle as estrogen falls. Why it happens even when women eat less, what the scale misses, and what moves it back.
Creatine for Women Over 40: What the Trials Actually Found
The pooled trials in women over 40 found roughly a third of a kilogram more lean mass and roughly 7.5 kilograms more on the leg press. What the dose was, why the bone density claim does not hold, and why none of it showed up without resistance training.
Masters Bodybuilding: Competing Over 40
Masters bodybuilding puts age classes inside the existing divisions, judged by the same rulebook. Whether to step on stage after forty is the question that opens Shawn Ray on Competing.
Building Muscle After 40: The Five Rules From a 14-Week Comeback at 41
Building muscle after 40 works when the dose changes: moderate loads, 8 to 15 reps, short rests, strict form and two or three sessions a week. My own comeback at forty-one is told in The Comeback Blueprint.
Old School Bodybuilding, Built to Last: How the Pros Stay Competitive as They Age
Old school bodybuilding is respected for its discipline and dismissed on health. Both miss the point: Shawn Ray left the stage at thirty-six with no surgeries. This article covers the principles that made classic physiques last, what the era ignored, and how the method adjusts after 40.
What the BuildWithPros articles cover
The articles on this page are written reference material built on the same method as the rest of the BuildWithPros catalog: bodybuilding training, nutrition, contest preparation, recovery, and mindset for lifters at every level, from the first structured year to the early pro level. Each article answers a specific question, states the answer first, and connects to the products and the Five Tracks that go deeper. The catalog behind the articles is organized by goal into the Five Tracks on the BuildWithPros Shop by Goal page.
Where to start
The competing sequence runs in three parts: peak week, your first bodybuilding show, and the post-show rebound. Lifters over 40 can start with building muscle after 40, natural bodybuilders with how big you can get naturally, and anyone weighing up their supplement stack with do supplements work.
Who writes the articles
The articles draw on the method of IFBB Hall of Famer Shawn Ray, 13-time Mr. Olympia competitor with 12 consecutive top-five finishes from 1990 to 2001, and on the source material behind the BuildWithPros audiobooks, videos, and PDF books. Articles produced by the BuildWithPros team draw on published research alongside his own method. Every factual claim is checked against the source before publication, and no article promises results.
Press releases and company news
This page also carries press releases and announcements from BuildWithPros: new product launches, catalog updates, and company news. Press releases are written for media use and are marked as such in the title, so they are easy to tell apart from the regular articles.
How the articles connect to the catalog
Every article links to the titles it draws on, across the PDF books, audiobooks, videos, and bundles. The articles give the answer; the catalog gives the full system behind it. For direct input on an individual situation, Pro-Level Coaching pairs two sessions with Shawn Ray with the complete video bundle.