In order to better understand what causes success and failure in muscle building, you have to know certain tips about muscle building programs. First, you have to make sure your training involves the basic step-by-step procedures on muscle building. If it happens to be your first time in the gym, orient yourself with what sort of drills can you start with. Performing strength and stamina exercises is the best and only effective way to start building those muscles. Majority of muscle building programs have this as the first meal in the menu since you will never gain muscle without the sufficient ability to withstand pressure and hard training. After making a good account of yourself in the stamina and strength procedure, you can now start lifting weights. However, bear in mind that you have to do it incrementally. This means there should be no sudden change in weight capacity since this may cause muscle injury. Bench press and squats for instance can be done in multiple repetitions as soon as you think you have the physical capacity to do it. As you go along. Record your progress to know if you really are progressing.

Lastly, muscle building programs, no matter how complicated or different they may be, always have the same position with regards to diet. A balanced and healthy diet is crucially needed in order to successfully build muscle. You can’t be effective if you are not eating the right combination and amount of food like protein, water, and essential minerals. So if you have considered all of these basic tips, you’ll know what to find in a muscle building program.

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It doesn’t matter if you are still planning, just started, or is currently on a specific weightlifting routine. What you need to understand is that you should do some research and get advice from the pros and experts on what are the do’s and don’ts in muscle building.

The main focus of any muscle building routine is to develop muscle, enhance it for growth, and eventually obtain a better health and physique. As for beginners, over-training is the main cause of failure. If you are too excited to build that muscle, you tend to overwork yourself in the gym and that is not good.

For first timers, building stamina and strength is the best way to start things up. Make your body adapt to the incremental change in pressure like weights. Do not assume that you can directly lift heavy weights without even trying the lighter ones since this may result in muscle strain and muscle injury.

If however you are already in perfect balance and condition, you can then start another vital part of any muscle building routine which is intermediate exercise. In this second stage, you can proceed by increasing the weight you lift in order to add extra stress and pressure to the muscles. This will enable muscles to work more to their potential. And then, you can do the typical workouts like bench and dumbbell press to concentrate on specific muscles to develop.

If you are just aiming a moderate increase in muscle content, then typical workouts are enough. But if you really want to become a full pledged body builder, then you need to find a muscle building routine that will push you hard.  With discipline you will then see your desires become a reality.

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Tired of exposing yourself to heavy hours of exercise without a substantial result? Thinking of quitting? I’d like to tell you that you’re not alone. I bet fifty percent of people who go to the gym are not successful. It’s either they’re not sure what they are doing or probably just short of effort and commitment. Either way, it’s never worth the time in the gym if you just continually struggle with your workout regime.

First thing you need to ask yourself is: why am I in the gym? Do I simply need to be fit or should I want to build bigger muscle? These two options you have should determine your new outlook towards exercising. If you opt to just stay fit and sharp, then you don’t need to carry and lift weight and equipment. But if you do want to level up, then muscle building exercises is perhaps what you need.

When you decide you want to build muscle, you have to follow certain rules. First, never push yourself into hard consistent workout the first time you go to the gym. Settle on those stretching and simple routines first to set up your body for the ultimate muscle building exercises that will later follow.

Second, continue to rise to your physical potential. Your muscles will very quickly get used to the simple routines and as soon as you realize it, you can proceed to engaging in more complex exercises and combinations. Although it’s not good to force your body, it’s also not smart to just remain in simple routines, since you want to earn that coveted muscle growth. Muscle building exercises help you figure out how far you can go with your muscle buildup hopes. Right after that, you can elect to lift lighter weights and gradually shift to heavy ones. Check out my other muscle building tips to find the right routine for your body type and training needs.

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Depending upon your ultimate goal, a high intensity workout is a perfect way to cut through excess fat and to gain lean muscle at the same time.  There are a number of ways to add intensity to your workout but the best way is through interval training.

Interval training is like putting your usual muscle building workouts on speed and is done by lowering the amount of weight that you are lifting and heightening the amount of repititions that you do. On top of this you will also want to lower the rest breaks that you take between exercises and to rotate your workout from upper body to lower body to give each muscle group a break.

Here is a sample high intensity workout:

Bench press, leg curl, Pull down, leg extension, bicep curls, squats and triceps.  Perform 20 repititions of each exercise before taking a 30 second break.  Then do 20 repititions of the next exercise in the circuit.  Once complete have a 2 minute rest and then do it two more times.

This high intensity workout will get your metabolism firing big time and still build muscle.  Double win!

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Overall I would start out with one of our usual muscle building programs but with lighter weights and higher reps.  Then as you progress, up the number of repetitions and sets or decrease your rest time.  Do this on a regular basis and only increase the weight after changing these variables.

The benefit of this methodology is that you will be adding lean muscle as well as keeping everything toned.

On top of this muscle building for teens requires a good muscle building diet that increases the level of protein available for your muscles to synthesize and use for growth.  If you are unsure then look out for the muscle building supplements for teens that are now available on the market.

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However, the biceps are also one of the hardest muscles to build.  This is because the average person is training them incorrectly.  Usually this is simply trainingdoing the same biceps training over and again with the same inefficient technique, or hitting them just to hard too often leaving no time to actually make any gains.

Whatever your reason for failure I want to introduce you to a way to increase biceps strength fast.  This technique is the chin-up.  Rather than the traditional curl that everyone uses (and rarely succeeds), this workout will increase biceps size by pushing them in a new unexpected way.

The chin up is also used for the back but to increase biceps with maximum results you should do the following:

Hold the bar with your hands facing in and close to your head and your legs hanging as straight down as possible.  Then lift your body up so that your head is just about level with the bar.  Contract your biceps and then hang still.  Do not lift your head up past the bar as this will take pressure off the biceps but just hold on for as long as you can.

Do this bicep training once a week and try to hold on longer each time.  Do this and you will be surprised by the massive increase biceps achieve.

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There are a number of ways to increase the size of your muscles and build huge biceps, but the most well known bicep blaster is the standing barbell curl.

The real benefit of this particular muscle building exercise is that it hits the majority of bicep muscle fibers in one go.  This compound exercise is also a bicep blaster because it allows you to use the heaviest weights and force your biceps to work hard.  If the weight resistance is too low then the upshot is basically that your biceps do not grow pure and simple.

They great thing is that the exercise is also quite easy to do:

1.  Grab a barbell in your hands with your palms face up, your shoulders back and your arms to your sides.

2.  Curl the weight up towards your chest.  At the top of the movement tense your biceps for a moment and then slowly return the weight to the starting position.  However, note that while the weight is going back to the start you should still retain some of the tension in your biceps.  Do not let them slack off.  Finally, be sure as to keep your back completely straight so that you do not ease the load on them.

This bicep blaster is just that so work hard and you will build huge biceps in record time.  For another of my alternative bicep blaster exercises see my post on how to increase bicep size fast.

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When working these muscles however you need to understand a couple of key points to ensure that the bicep and tricep workout you end up with is not just wasting your time.  Here are my 4 keys to build huge biceps and triceps:

1. The number one bicep and tricep workout rule is to not over-train these muscles.  As these muscles are incorporated into many other muscle building exercises they are actually already getting a good workout.  Adding more specific exercises 5 times a week will just ensure that they have no time to rest and therefore will not grow.
2. The second bicep and tricep workout rule is to work the muscles at different times to help avoid problems from the first rule.  In other words, try to match up your chest and biceps together on one day and your triceps and back on another.  These exercises already hit the same muscles and therefore give the biceps and triceps time to rest in-between.
3. Eat to increase.  You need to have enough energy and protein for your arms to grow.  If you find that you are not getting bigger and growing in strength and/or size then you need to simply eat more.
4. Make sure you are always adding weight or repetitions to each bicep and tricep workout.  If you are not improving then your muscles are not being pushed hard enough to grow each time.

If you make sure you follow these steps for tricep and biceps training then you will start to build huge biceps and triceps in no time at all.  For a complete body view check out our muscle building tips.

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Let’s look at the top most common problems with biceps workouts before I offer a program to take your biceps to a whole new level.

1. When it comes to a biceps workout more is not always better.

Your objective for each biceps workout should be to simply improve upon your last workout.  Once this has been achieved by adding weight or number of reps, then you need to move onto the next exercise.  Not keep pushing the muscle endlessly.

I know this is hard to accept, but the pumped up feel will fade while a good workout will continue.  The long and short is that you need to overload your muscles to grow and then move on.

3. Overdoing the biceps workout at the expense of other muscles

Some of the biggest guys rarely even work their arms because they are focusing on their chest, shoulders and back.  Each of these exercises will work your arms in conjunction and will grow as well due to the workload they are under.  On the other hand if you emphasize just the biceps then they will be too tired to support your other workouts and they will not be as effective.

4. Performing the same biceps workout every time

The main muscle building exercises that we do for our muscles is always the dumbell and barbell curls.  They are compound biceps workouts that pack a real punch.  But if you are not increasing your weights from week to week then you need to use other biceps workouts to work your muscles from different angles and keep them guessing.

Finally, for maximum benefit in your biceps workout make sure the work that you do do on your arms is with your full intensity.

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This can be done in a number of ways:

1. Pyramid your workout – Basically you increase bench press weight and lower the number of repititions or vice versa.  This pushes your muscles to their actual limit.

2.  Increase repititions – Another benching technique is to do the usual bench press workout for the first couple of sets and then on the final set decrease the weight dramatically and do up to forty repititions.

3. Work the smaller muscles – do isolation muscle building exercises to increase your bench press weight further by strengthening these muscles which in turn help to train the larger muscle.  Quite often people fail to lift due to these muscles failing rather than the actual pectoral muscles.

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Most of us start off okay, but when the weight starts to really build it is very easy to start cheating just slightly and to let go of proper benching techniques as we are then able to lift more weight.  Unfortunately this extra weight might look impressive but it ain’t doing nothing for your muscle growth!

So here it is straight and simple.  For proper benching techniques do the following:

Benching Techniques #1 – Positioning

The first point is all about stability and putting your body into a position that can hold the maximum weight.  Lie on the bench with your back and your butt placed firmly on the bench.  Your feet also need to be set firmly on the floor and close to the end of the bench to provide extra support and stability.  Bring your shoulder blades closer together and push your chest out as well as this expands the chest cavity and keeps your back pressed into the bench.

Benching Techniques #2 -  Hand Placement

Where you place your hands on the bar has a massive impact on your ability to lift the weight.  A close grip will rely quite heavily on your triceps whilst a wide grip uses the shoulders and biceps on a higher level.  The key here is to do two things.  In the first instance find the grip that suits you and enables the best push.  Secondly work the supporting muscles so that they are able to hold more weight themselves as it is these muscles that usually fail first – not your chest.  Hence why so many people with bad benching techniques never grow their chest.

Benching Techniques #1 -  Grip

To get the most lift out of your muscles you need to hold the bar firmly and low in the hand.  This puts the weight directly over the arm as it pushes up and give you more control as well as stability and strength.

More benching techniques will be available in a further post.  Also check out the site for more muscle building tips.

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Usher via last.fm

The Usher Workout

Begin the workout with some static stretches to loosen up the muscles and prevent any injury.  This also increases flexibiliy which helps with his dance moves.

This is then followed up with an average of 30 minutes of cardio exercise.  This can be anything from running to cycling.

To build lean muscle mass the Usher workout recommends about an hour of body weight training performed in circuits or as supersets.  This type of routine will kepp your heart rate up, build muscle but also burn calories at the same time for a more toned appearance.

The famous abdominal muscles are then worked in a circuit as well but this time for only about 10 minutes, and finally the whole usher workout is completed with another set of stretches.  Remember not to fall into the trap of thinking the stretches are not important and missing them.  As with any program it is important that you complete the whole Usher workout and not just certain elements of it for fast and maximum gains.

Click for more muscle building exercises and top muscle building tips.

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Here are my top pectoral muscle building exercises and muscle building tips:

Bench Press

This is THE exercise of all exercises for your chest.  A straight compound exercise, this will work your pecs, shoulders, triceps and biceps in one shot depending on your grip.  To perform this exercise lay flat on a bench keeping your back, shoulders and buttock on the bench at all times.  Grab the barbell off the rack and lower til it hits directly onto your chest with your arms out to your sides (if the bar does not hit your chest directly then you need to reposition yourself).  Then lift the weight back up.  That is one rep.

Incline Bench Press

A good variation on this is also the incline bench press.  The chest is made up of two key areas and this exercise builds this area well.  Performed exactly the same way as the standard bench press except you will need to place the bench into a 45 degree incline.  You can also vary the exercise so that it brings in more of the other muscle groups like the triceps or biceps by changing the grip on the bar.  The standard approach is to hold the bar wide.  However if you bring your hands in you will focus more on the centre of the chest and also the triceps.

Dumbell Bench Press

The benefit of this exercise is that it works across the chest and has a more natural movement due to the dumbells.  To perform this exercise lie on a bench with your feet firmly on the floor and a weight in each hand.  When you lift the weights also bring them in so that they touch together at the top, and then lower back to the starting position.

You may think it odd that all three exercises are bench press related, but without a doubt these are the pectoral muscle building exercises that give results and do it fast!

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Bicep Curls

The most common of all arm exercises, the bicep curls all a full range of movement and works the bicep most effectively. To complete this exercise hold the weight with your palms facing away from you and your elbows tucked in by your sides.  Then lift the weight up toward your chest and then tense the muscle for a second.  Slowly return the weight back to the starting position.

For best results try to keep your elbows in the same position and your back straight.  If you cannot do this then the weight is too heavy.  Try to do 6-8 repetitions in 3 sets.  Oce you can do eight then move to a higher weight.

Hammer Curls

A variation on the tradition bicep curls, this bicep workout is performed the same way except with your palms inward so that they face your body.  By dong this slight change you will hit the sides of your bicep and also bring in your forearms as a secondary muscle benefit.

Incline and Preacher Curls

For this bicep building exercise you will need to sit on an incline bench at a 45 degree angle with the weights to your side. You will then lift the weight in the same way as you would for a bicep curl.  The benefit of this position is that it keeps your back out of the equation and uses a different part of the bicep.

For maximum benefit make sure you follow each of the following muscle building tips when performing these exercises:

1. Keep your back straight and lift the weight by focusing on the bicep as you lift
2. When you reach the top of the curl hold for a second before lowering
3. Biceps are partially worked in other exercises so hit them hard here with heavy weights (but so you are still able to keep form).
4. Do reps of 6-8 each time.

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Here are some muscle building tips for an excellent forearm workout:

Barbell Forearm Curl – Palm-up

To perform this forearm workout you will need to grab a barbell in your hands and then sit on the edge of a bench with your forearms lying on your knees.  Make sure you are holding the face with your palms facing up and that your wrists are just passed your knees.  You then simply raise the weight and lower it again concentrating on lifting your hands but keeping your wrist level.

Barbell Forearm Curl – Palm-down

The second forearm workout is virtually the same as the first except you need to grasp the bar in an overhand grip instead.  This works a different part of the forearm and is harder.

Reverse Biceps Curl

For this forearm workout you will need an EZ-bar and get into position as if you were about to perform a bicep curl.  The only difference here is that you grasp the bar in an overhand grip and bring the back of your hands up to your chest rather than your palms.

The Zottman Curl

This is another bicep variation exercise that is quite popular as it brings in two exercises into one.  Basically you want to perform a standard bicep curl using dumbbells, however when you bring the weights back down you will need to turn the weight so that your hand in over the weight.  This will work your forearms as the weight is lowered.  This is my favourite and best forearm workout.

In general I would recommend doing no more than two of these forearm workouts in any one session and to keep the weights lighter at the outset to avoid injury.  Get into it!

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Dumbell Pullover Steps

Lie on a bench side on so that just your shoulder blades are resting on the bench with your knees bend 90 degrees and stomach tight and flat.

Hold a dumbbell in both hands directly above your head with arms straight, and then slowly lower the dumbbell backwards with your arms kept straight the whole time.  Go as far as the level of the bench and then slowly raise the dumbbell back to the starting position above your head.  This is one rep.

Extra muscle building tips:

• For correct dumbbell pullover form do not overextend yourself by moving the dumbbell further forward or back as this will only cause injury.
• Concentrate on breathing out while lowering the weight and breathing in while lifting the dumbbell back into the starting position.
• To hold the dumbell, place your hands in a triangle formation by placing your hands below the uppermost weight.

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From all accounts you will be increasing your maximum weights by up to 50% in about 3-5 weeks!  The most important part of this type of training however is safety.  Due to the size of weight required, all static contraction training exercises should be performed using a smith machine, power rack or press with safety catches applied.  This is imperative.

If you would like to give it a go then follow these steps.

1. Complete the static contraction training once a week for a month
2. Start with a weight that is approximately 50% higher than your usual weight
3. Push the weight off by about an inch to two inches
4. Hold the weight completely steady for 5-10 seconds (do not lock your joints)
5. Each week increase the weight by at least 10% (you should not be able to hold out longer than 10 seconds)

The best exercises to use for static contraction training are the large compound muscle exercises such as bench press or leg press, but you can use others as suitable.  Just be sure to check the safety is always set.

Push yourself hard and start seeing incredible results.

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So I tell you now, the best arm muscle building exercises that you can use are those that hit your biceps, triceps and forearms. Each of these plays an important part in creating solid arms that are balanced and beautiful.

The good news is that this is not that difficult to achieve as your arm muscles are constantly being used for other exercises in your muscle building program, and as such only really need to be worked directly once or twice a week! Any more than this and your arm muscle building exercises will be wasted due to a lack of recovery time.

So what are the best arm building exercises to do?

The Biceps
• Barbell Curls
• Concentration Curls
• Preach Curls
• Hammer Curls

The Triceps
• Tricep Extension
• Tricep Kickbacks
• Skull Crushers

The Forearms
• Wrist curls – Palms up
• Wrist curls – Palms down

Remember that your arms do not need a lot of stimulation to grow when you are working large muscles like chest and back as well, so limit your arm muscle building exercises to once or twice a week at maximum intensity and then watch them get ripped.

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So what are the best leg exercises for building muscle?  Compound exercises.  As with the upper body, compound exercises are king and will provide the stimulation that your legs need to start to grow.

The best of these are:

Squats – The squat is by far and away the best leg exercises for building muscle as it works multiple muscle fibers in a single move.  You will hit your hamstrings, things and glutes in a single rep.

Calf Raises – A simple enough exercise, but requires some heavy weights to really push them to grow.  Make sure you are able to lift and lower your heel on this exercise and really pumped up the weights for maximum intensity.

Deadlift -  Focusing on the back of your legs, the deadlift will add muscle and tone.  A great variation is to do a straight leg deadlift.  However move up to this slowly to protect your back.

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The main reasons for incorporating a triceps workout into your usual routine are twofold:

1.  The biceps are made up of two muscles and the triceps three, meaning that there are more muscles to grow and fill out your sleeves with the triceps.

2.  The triceps are often underworked and as such will take less work and time to see huge results.

So what it the most effective triceps workout?

First and foremost, the most effective workout will include at least three different tricep exercises.   As there are three muscles within the triceps you need to ensure that you target each of these so that all three are pushed.

Secondly, I like to include a triceps workout immediately following my back exercises as the triceps have already been warmed up and pushed indirectly during these exercises.

Thirdly, to increase your gains further,  you can extend your triceps workout by changing the way other muscle-focused exercises are performed.  Use a closer grip when performing exercises like the bench press or pull-down and this will activate the triceps in a larger way.

My recommended triceps workout exercises to gain muscle quickly are:

Triceps Extension

Over-head triceps extension

Skull Crusher

Triceps Dips

Triceps Push ups

More details on how to perform each of these exercises can be found in later posts.

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Muscle Building Exercises – Compound

So let’s go back to the basics..

Compound Exercises. These exercises use free weights, are simple to perform and target a large group of muscles in each exercise variation.  Some you will know and others will be new to you, but either way they are your best bet to building muscle fast.

The key to compound exercises successful is that they allow you to use a full range of motion and target multiple muscles at one time, thereby reducing the time that you need to spend in the gym.  You can thenwork harder on a smaller set of exercises for bigger gains.

Also, the more muscles that you work in a session, the larger the impact on your metabolic rate and thereby the more fat you can burn in conjunction.  Double win!

The question is then which compound exercises should you use?  For myself I use the list of compound exercises below and then cycle them so that my muscles are challenged in different ways.

I also use heavy weights and push yourself to failure for best results, and keep adding reps or weight as needed to ensure your muscles are really pushed.

For those muscles that are not pushed enough during the main compound exercises I will also add a couple of isolation exercises to focus on these areas.  Remember that these should only be add-ons and not the main deal.

The best compound muscle building exercises are:

Deadlift

Pushups- weighted feet elevated

Clean and Press

Bent Over Row

Squats

Bench Press

Pull-Ups

I will be spending some time outlining how to do these exercises in future posts.  For those of you that want to get the ultimate workout in quick time then I also recommend the program below.  Incredible results.

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