by Darren MacLeod

When it comes to building muscle I like to keep things simple. Itís easy to get caught up in the hype of hot new products and exercises that promise to be the next best thing in muscle building. Theses fancy exercises and products use long ìscientific likeî words and explanations to show you they work to build the most muscle.

In this article I am going to get back to basics. I am going to show your three muscle building exercises you canít afford not to do and why you should be doing them. These three exercises are the grass roots of building muscle and are essential for any serious training program.

You might find it hard to believe, but with these three exercises alone you can pack on a serious amount of muscle. I refer to these exercises as the ìcoreî to any good program. When I start planning I muscle building program for a client I always start with these three basic exercises and build the program around them.

3 core muscle building exercises:

Squat
The squat is the biggest exercise for packing on serious poundage. Thereís no argument about it. The squat is primarily a leg building exercise. You start the exercise with a barbell resting across your shoulders standing straight up. Then bending at the knees and hips you lower the barbell down until your thighs are almost parallel to the floor. And then push the barbell back to the starting position.

The main muscle groups pulled into action for the squat are your quadriceps, hamstrings and glutes. Secondary muscle groups include the lower back, adductors and to a certain extent your shoulder muscles. As you can see many muscle groups are recruited for this exercise making it the biggest exercise and biggest potential muscle builder.

Like all the core muscle building exercises, you should make the squat the first exercise you do on your leg training day. Because itís the biggest exercise you want your legs to be fresh and ready. If muscle building is your goal, aim for about 8-12 reps on the squat. Because youíll be lifting heavy weights a good warm up is vital. Squatting is very stressful for the lower body, especially the knees, so 5-10 minutes on the treadmill and some lights squats first up are recommended.

Bench Press
The bench pres is the king of upper body building exercises. For years the bench press has been used to measure a lifterís strength. How many times have you been asked ìhow much do you bench?î I bet youíve never been asked how much do you squat or how many chin ups can you do.

The bench is a simple yet extremely powerful exercise that targets the entire chest (pectorals), front shoulders (deltoids) and triceps. To perform a bench press you must lie on your back on a flat bench, grip the barbell at slightly wider than shoulder grip and press the bar straight down to your chest.

The bench press is the biggest upper body builder because it allows you to move the most amount of weight possible. This is its advantage over the dumbbell press. With the help of a spotter you can also push yourself to lift heavier weights. There are also other advanced bench press techniques like board presses, bench press negatives and chain presses. See our link at the bottom for more details.

Wide grip Chin Up
If you were only going to do one exercise to work your back this would be it. The wide grip chin up is the ultimate test of a lifters power to weight ratio. This muscle building exercise is very demanding on the body.

The wide grip chin up primarily hits the lats, but also targets the entire upper back, biceps and forearms. To execute this exercise you need a chin up bar or assisted chin up machine. Hold the bar in a wide grip (greater than shoulder width) with your palms facing away from your body. Start in a ìhangingî position with your arms fully extended. Pull yourself up until your can get your chin over the bar and lower back to starting position.

Most people will not be able to do wide grip chin ups without some lat/back training first. You can use the assisted chin up machine or lat pull down machine to strengthen your lats before attempting wide grip chin ups. This is the most demanding back exercise you can do so it must be the first exercise in your session.

When you should be doing these exercises

Like I mentioned previously in this article, these exercises are the biggest muscle builders and also the most taxing on your body so they must be done at the beginning of your workout to get the maximum benefits. I recommend that you do up to 5 sets on each exercise and vary the way you perform these sets each week. For example, the first week you do pyramid up sets, the second week you pyramid down and the third week you do straight sets. This keeps your muscles from getting accustomed to your routine. Good luck packing on some serious pounds!

For more information on muscle building exercises visit our muscle building megasite. We have muscle building exercises, workouts, articles and forum and more.

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by Melanie Siler

Everyone buys gym memberships with the best of intentions. You plan to go several times a week. You plan to take advantage of classes or sessions with personal trainers. You have every intention of formulating a plan, and sticking to it. The problem is: the gym is too easy to avoid. And the reasons for avoiding it are just too good.

It’s not just laziness. Commute times are getting longer and longer: the last thing you want to do before or after work is spend some more time driving to a gym and fighting for a parking space. That’s assuming you even have the option: if you have kids to pick up or drop off, or chores to do at home, you may simply not have the time you feel you need to get a good workout at the gym.

This is where the benefits of home exercise equipment really show. You can snatch a few minutes here and there on the treadmill while dinner’s cooking. You can watch your kids while you work out. You can watch your own DVD’s in the comfort of air conditioning set to your preference while you use a stationary bike, elliptical or treadmill. You can listen to music you like, set up some aromatherapy that you find inspiring, or do some reading while you exercise. And when you’re done, you can take a shower in the comfort of your own bathroom, with all your favorite shampoos, soaps and towels right there waiting for you.

Most importantly, how many times can you look at a piece of exercise equipment before you run out of excuses? If you’re thinking, "You have no idea how many", you might be surprised. Every time you see it, you’re reminded of the benefits it offers you, and you start thinking of ways to work it into your schedule almost without trying.

Melanie Siler runs AlvaSprings, where you’ll find a great selection of exercise equipments and products, from treadmills and bikes to Yoga DVD’s and trampolines. http://alvasprings.com

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by Bob Howard

When you first begin exercising - no matter whether itís weight training or cardio - your muscles immediately begin to use energy to allow them to work. For the first three minutes of activity, your muscles burn glycogen, the form of sugar stored in the muscles for a quick infusion of energy. During this period fat is not burned. This process is called anaerobic metabolism. During the first few minutes of strenuous activity, especially during anaerobic metabolism, you may experience a burning sensation in the muscles of your arms, legs, or back. This is caused by the accumulation of lactic acid, which is the result of burned glycogen. This burning sensation will soon pass and should not disrupt your workout. Anaerobic metabolism is the main form of energy for activities that require short bursts of power such as sprinting, football, and bodybuilding.

As your exercising continues, your body will eventually burn up all the glycogen stored within the muscles. Your muscles will then move into the aerobic metabolism phase. When this occurs, lactic acid production stops. This occurs because the glycogen is now being burned in the presence of oxygen, which is brought to the muscles by the blood stream. Provided you continue to breath correctly, your system will continually bring oxygen to the muscles. These stores of glycogen are expended after about 20 minutes. The body will then start burning its fat stores as an energy source. Thus, the longer you exercise, the more fat your body will burn.

What this means for you

For optimum health and fat burning, your bodybuilding workouts should consist of both anaerobic training and aerobic training. Weight training will strengthen and build the muscles, as well as boost your metabolism so youíll be burning fat even after you leave the gym. Aerobic exercise such as cardio machines or aerobic classes will both stimulate your cardiovascular systems as well as burn body fat while your doing it.

© Bob Howard 5/5/2006

Bob Howard expert on bodybuilding and steroids. Are you looking for more of his bodybuilding articles? http://www.bodybuildinginformation.com

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