The Top Muscle Building Exercises Explained

        Top 7 Muscle Builders 

 

Squats. Squats are the king of all muscle and strength building exercises. No workout should be without deep squats. They are performed with a barbell, generally in a squat rack. Squats not only build massive legs, but also stress most of the upper body. They are like a hormonal nuclear bomb – destroying the entire body, forcing it to get bigger and stronger with ever rep.

Deadlifts. Second only to squats in effectiveness (and a very close second at that), deadlifts are another manmaker that will pack on slabs of muscle mass while helping you become as strong as a bear. Like squats, deadlifts are a barbell only exercise.

Dips. Dips are often called the upper body squat, and for good reason. Dips work the shoulders, chest and triceps very hard, and are a great overall exercises for building a beefy upper body. Dips should be performed at a parallel bar dipping station.

Pull Ups. It seems that even the strongest and most fit lifters can barely squeak out more than a few pull ups. The pull up is an excellent exercise for building the back and biceps, and should be used instead of inferior exercises such as the lat pull down when possible.

Bench Press. The bench press is an upper body staple. There are several highly effective variations including the flat bench barbell press, flat bench dumbbell bench press, incline bench barbell press and incline dumbbell bench press.

Overhead Press. As with the bench press, there are numerous quality variations of the overhead press that can be used. Nearly all seated and standing dumbbell and barbell overhead presses are solid choices. You may also use the Arnold dumbbell press, and behind the neck overhead presses. Another popular press variation is the standing push press.

Rows. Both barbell and dumbbell rows are tremendous upper back exercises. Old school barbell T-bar rows are also a solid choice. While cable and machine lifts are generally sub-par, seated cable rows can be very challenging and effective.

Developing abs is difficult. However, it’s not complicated. There’s a huge difference!

There are really only two questions to be asked then answered when it comes to abdominal development: First, how do you develop your abs? Second, once you have put the work in, how can you get those suckers to actually show themselves?

 To answer the first question, you need to do weighted abdominal  work. That's right I mean using resistance with ab training, just like you do with your other body-part exercises.
As far as resistance goes, crunches just won't cut it, I’m afraid.
To answer the second question, you need to reduce the amount of body fat covering your abs. This you do through cardio and a healthy diet. See, it wasn’t so hard now was it?

Your nutrition:

You’ll need to put some real thought and work into your food intake during the next three weeks, but after that, eating clean will become routine.
Well, most days, anyway. An ab friendly diet can come in various forms, but basic rules apply pretty much across the board:

1. Eat smaller healthy meals and snacks 6 to 8 times a day.
2. Focus on a high protein intake.
3. Eat LOTS of vegetables (if you think you already eat a lot, eat more).
4. Never ever miss breakfast or pre- and post workout meals.
5. Stay away from anything containing sugar.
6. Don’t eat carbs in the evening unless you need to reload after a heavy workout.
7. Drink lots of cold water throughout the whole day.
8. Incorporate high-intensity interval training into your cardio regimen.

 Training:

To start  I suggest combining several weighted ab exercises into an abs super set circuit. (EX: Rope cable crunch, plate seated twist, medicine side to side bounce)

Along with being a major time saver, ab circuits are cardiovascular, which over time will allow you to see those abs being built by the weighted ab  exercises.

When your body becomes accustom to this new work load get creative and pick five exercises that will develop all the muscles in the abdominal wall and do 8 to 12 reps of each, one exercise after the other, until the circuit is complete. Then rest and do them all over again.

 ( Special thanks to guest models, Husband & wife Dan and Julie Frey )