Choosing A Work-Out Program

Before anything else, let me acknowledge Sir Sean Nalewanyj for every bit of info here on this post. Kudos Sir! And also before reading through, let me remind you of the Factors that determine how long it takes to build muscles!

Alright! Let's get this goin...

Most people never even come close to getting the most out of their workouts, because quite simply, they aren’t making effective exercise selections. This is the most basic choice of all that you could make in the gym... "What movements am I going to perform to stimulate my muscles to grow?"

With most gyms being flooded with fancy chrome machinery and high-tech workout gizmos, almost all trainees have lost sight of the basics and are severely compromising their progress as a result. Most trainees opt for easier and less challenging exercises without even realizing it, and end up stimulating their muscles to only a fraction of the extent that they would have if they had only chosen the proper lifts.

In order to get the most bang for your buck in the gym, your primary focus should be placed on basic, compound, multi-jointed movements. Compound movements involve the use of 2 or more major muscle groups at a time (as opposed to "isolation" exercises, which only stimulate a single muscle group at a time) and will produce the most dramatic overall muscle building and fat burning effect on your body.

Compound movements are superior to isolation movements because...

1) They stimulate the most total muscle fiber at one time.

2) They allow you to lift the greatest amount of weight.

3) They place the body and muscles under the greatest amount of

total stress.

4) They increase anabolic hormone production.

This doesn’t just apply to those who are aiming to increase their muscle size; if your goal is to burn fat, this same approach should be used. This is because muscle is metabolically active tissue and actually forces your body to burn calories even while you’re at rest.

Also, your goal in the gym should be to train with the minimum amount of work needed to yield an adaptive response, and not a thing more.

Here are 3 basic guidelines that you should follow if you’re truly serious about your results... 

1) Perform no more than 3-4 total weight training sessions per week.

2) Do not let your workouts last for longer than 1 hour. (excluding warmups or cooldowns)

3) Perform anywhere from about 4-8 sets for large muscle groups (chest, back, thighs) and 3-4 sets for smaller muscle groups (shoulders, biceps, triceps, calves, abs, forearms).

By simply following this one piece of advice alone and placing the majority of your focus on the above mentioned lifts, you’ll already be taking a huge step towards multiplying your muscle building and fat burning progress literally overnight. It doesn’t matter if you’re a guy or a girl, or if you want to build muscle or burn fat. The above exercises should remain as the cornerstone of your workouts at all times, as their effectiveness simply cannot be replaced. However, there are many other areas that should be given attention as well if you want to see serious, measurable results from your efforts. This includes...

- Optimum number of sets and reps

- Ideal exercise order

- Training intensity

- Rest periods between sets

- Workout length

- Proper warmups

- Rep speed

- Proper breathing

You also need to know how to structure a proper weekly workout schedule by pairing the right muscles together and knowing which days to train them on and why.

Here is a list of what I believe to be the top 3 exercises for each major muscle group (In no particular order). This list includes both compound and isolation exercises:

Chest:
1) Barbell Press (flat/incline/decline)
2) DB Press (flat/incline/decline)
3) Wide-Grip Dips

Back:
1) Barbell Deadlifts
2) Overhand Wide-Grip Chin-Ups
3) Bent Over Barbell Rows

Quads:
1) Barbell Squats
2) Leg Press
3) Barbell or Dumbbell Lunges 

Hamstrings:
1) Stiff-Legged Deadlifts
2) Lying Leg Curls
3) Good Mornings

Shoulders:
1) Standing Military Press
2) Seated Overhead Dumbbell Press
3) Standing Dumbbell Side Laterals

Biceps:
1) Standing Barbell Curls
2) Standing Alternating Dumbbell Curls
3) Cable Curls

Triceps:
1) Cable Pushdowns
2) Narrow-Grip Dips
3) Close-Grip Bench Press

Abs:
1) Kneeling Rope Crunch
2) Hanging Leg Raise
3) Weighted Decline Crunch 

Calves:
1) Standing Machine Calf Raise
2) Seated Machine Calf Raise
3) Leg Press Machine Calf Raise

Forearms:
1) Barbell Wrist Curls
2) Dumbbell Wrist Curls
3) Farmers Walks

In fact, training just one extra day per week or pairing your muscle groups together incorrectly can literally kill your chances of success right on the spot. Goodluck!