When it comes to building muscle, I like to keep things simple. It’s 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 “scientific like” words and explanations to show you they work to build the most muscle.

A common mistake when lifting weights because they are too focused on speed rather than technique. Performing an exercise with care and deliberation, and will increase the effectiveness of your workout. 

In this article I am going to get back to basics. I am going to show your three muscle building exercises you can’t 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 should eat the amount necessary to pack on one more pound every week. Research healthy ways for you to add muscle mass, and if after about two weeks you have not gained any weight, then consider muscle building supplements. 

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 “core” 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.

Eating meat can help you build your muscles. Try to eat about 1 gram of protein packed meat for each pound that is on your body. 

3 core muscle building exercises:

After exercising it is vital to stretch, stretch to help your muscles recover better. Someone who is under forty should stretch for at least thirty seconds. People who are over that age of 40 should hold stretches for a full minute is recommended. This will work to prevent injuries during your muscle building program. 

Squat

Many people start upping their protein consumption as soon as they begin a muscle building regimen. 

The squat is the biggest exercise for packing on serious poundage. There’s 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.

Make sure that you are eating enough calories. There are several online calculators that help to determine caloric need to what you want to gain.Use these calculators to estimate your calorie requirements, and alter your diet to get plenty of carbs, proteins, and other vital nutrients to help build your muscles. 

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.

Try including plyometric exercises to your workout regimen. This is a good way to work on your fast-twitch muscle fibers that stimulate muscle growth. Plyometrics are considered ballistic moves because they require acceleration. For example, when you do push-ups that are plyometric, let your hands come off the floor, causing your body to lift up into the air. 

Like all the core muscle building exercises, you should make the squat the first exercise you do on your leg training day. Because it’s 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 you’ll 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.

It is acceptable to cheat a few short-cuts when lifting. Make sure that your repetitions is consistent. Do not compromise on your form be compromised. 

Bench Press

Try consuming a lot of protein rich foods right before and after you exercise. A good measure is to take in 15 grams of protein before you train and 15 grams after your workout is completed. This is the same amount of protein contained in a couple glasses of milk. 

The bench press is the king of upper body building exercises. For years the bench press has been used to measure a lifter’s strength. How many times have you been asked “how much do you bench?” I bet you’ve never been asked how much do you squat or how many chin ups can you do.

You can tell your muscle building routine is effective if you stronger.You will be able to increase in the amount of weights you lift over time.When you are beginning to lift weights, you should be able to add five percent more weight for every session. If you find that you are not having success, analyze what you are doing incorrectly. If you sense you have not gained strength since your last workout, maybe you need more time to recover. 

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.

A great way to work around muscles that limit you from performing certain exercises is to pre-exhaust. You can correct this by doing isolation-type exercises, like the straight-arm pulldown. Your lats will already be exhausted, which means that when you perform the rowing exercise, your biceps should not limit you anymore. 

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.

Your diet should include whole foods such as grains and produce, fresh foods when you are trying to bulk up. Avoid boxed and pre-packaged foods that have chemicals, boxed food because that kind of food typically contains chemicals, fillers and preservatives that hurt the immune system and encourage disease. Healthy foods will strengthen the immune systems and help to build muscle. 

Wide grip Chin Up

Also try to avoid excess alcohol, which is known to break down muscle tissue in excess volumes. 

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.

Creatine helps your muscles recover which will allow you to increase pre-existing problems with the frequency and intensity of your workouts. Be careful if you are currently taking any kind of supplement. 

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 “hanging” position with your arms fully extended. Pull yourself up until you can get your chin over the bar and lower back to starting position.

Resist the urge to plow through your workout routine at warp speed. You will get better results if you do your reps slowly, even if you need to lighten the weight to do so. 

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.

Every exercise that is part of a routine should be practiced thoroughly until you have mastered the proper form. 

When you should be doing these exercises

Always start out with a warm-up exercises. This can also prevent muscle injuries that would put you on a lengthy healing sabbatical. 

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!