Muscle Building Workouts to
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You aren't going to gain muscle by training with tiny pink weights and doing The Firm.
No, if you want to be a real man and pile on pounds of ripped muscle mass you need to train hard with big weights and a lot of intensity.
And I don't mean just blasting your biceps and triceps on the machines and a little bench press work thrown in as well
If you want some serious mass gaining you'll need to include real exercises as part of your muscle building workouts.
That means the heavy stuff that hurts. Exercises like:
- Barbell Squats
- Barbell Deadlifts
- Chin Ups (NOT lat pulldowns
- Dips
- One Arm Dumbbell Rows
- Seated Barbell Presses
It's weight lifting exercises like the one's above that are going to put more muscle on your body, adding inches to your thighs, chest and arms.
Do you know a guy that doesn't want to add inches to his upper arm measurement? Me either.
If you really want more muscle, you will have to suffer during your workouts. That's just the way it is.
But it doesn't mean you have to hit the weights for two hours every day.
Yes, you need to work hard but you also need to work smart if you want your muscle building workouts to pay off in the form of some serious size and weight gains.
Here are some tips you'll want to keep in mind (continued below):
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- Train hard and take most sets to positive failure
- Keep your overall work set numbers per body part on the low end from 2 - 7 sets
- Keep your training frequency down.
This is how many times you hit the same body part each week. And remember that each of these factors is related to the others.
You need to experiment a little to find the optimum balance for you. It may be 5 sets to failure per body part training each once per week.
Or it may be 3 sets training once every 5 days.
Another factor besides volume (number of sets) and frequency (how often you train a body part) is your intensity level.
- The time under tension (how long each set lasts) should be around 30 seconds.
If you're doing very low rep sets in the four to six rep range at a normal cadence (2 - 3 seconds per rep) you most likely aren't giving your muscles enough stimulation to gain muscle mass.
If you like low reps (I do) and make your best strength gains that way, try doing drop sets or multi rep rest pause sets.
This way, you can continue doing the low rep sets you love while extending the time under tension on each set to a more optimal amount.
Not sure what a drop set is?
Here's an example for you. Let's say you are doing barbell curls. You perform a 6 rep set to failure. Now immediately reduce the weight and continue repping out to failure.
That's a drop set.
Want to know how to incorporate multi-rep rest pause into your muscle building workouts?
It works like this. We'll use the bench press. You perform 8 reps on the bench press to failure. Rack the weight. Rest for 10 - 20 seconds.
Then take the same weight and perform another set to failure. That's multi-rep rest pause (a favorite muscle building technique of mine).
Consider the following weightlifting workouts, working out three times per week.
Day 1
Chest, Back, Shoulders and Calves
Dips 2 x 15
Decline Bench Presses 3 x 8
Cable or Dumbbell Flyes 2 x 15
Curl Grip Lat Pulldowns 3 x 10
One Arm Dumbbell Rows 2 x 8
Dumbbell or Machine Pullovers 2 x 15
Seated Calf Raises 3 x 20
Day 2
Legs and Arms
Squats 2 x 15
Leg Curls 1 x 15
Leg Extensions 1 x 15
Incline Dumbbell Curls 2 x 10
Spider Curls 1 x 10
Incline Hammer Curls 1 x 10
Tricep Pressdowns 2 x 10
Close Grip Bench Press 1 x 10
Overhead Extensions 1 x 10
Weighted Crunches 2 x 15
For a lot more muscle building workouts and tips on building lean muscle, weight training, and gaining muscle mass, check out our hundreds of weightlifting articles
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