The 5 Best Exercises to Quickly Build Strength and Muscle
So you want to put on size? You want to build strength and muscle? Get the big chest, the big arms, the v-taper that women are always fawning over? The truth is that you're not going to get there doing isolation curls and skull-crushers.
In order to efficiently put on quality, healthy muscle and build impressive, solid strength the following five compound lifts are going to be the quickest and most effective way to gain muscle and the powerful physique you crave.
The Exercises
1. Squat
This is the muscle-building workout regimen's unsung hero. Prevailing thought is that squats are only good for building your legs. This is simply untrue. A compound movement lift as effective as the squat is a necessity to any regimen. Squatting engages nearly every muscle in the Body. It is an intensely hard abdominal workout and perhaps even more importantly, it fires up some of the most important big muscle building hormones in the body.
The main muscles activated by the squat are some of the largest muscles in the body. Pushing those muscles activates a rush of muscle-building hormones that build size in every muscle of the body.
Compound movement exercises are exercises that work out tons of muscles and almost no exercise more encompasses the entire body more than the squat.
In addition to being a great asset to muscle building, activating the large leg and butt muscles increases your body's metabolism. This means you'll be burning more fat when you're out of the gym too, making you more shredded and giving your newly built muscles more "pop" and definition. Like all compound exercises, proper form and a full range of motion are key.
2. Deadlift
The deadlift is perhaps the only other exercise that can give the squat a run for its money. The deadlift is, conceptually, one of the simplest exercises out there. It is lifting something heavy off the ground and putting it back down again. Deadlifting may look simple, but it is one of the best leg, back, trap, abdominal, and overall lifts out there.
Your legs, your abs, your back, your lats, every muscle on your body gets used by this exercise. Like most compound exercises this fires up a great hormone response in the body that helps you build muscle mass everywhere. It's an immensely hard but immensely worthwhile exercise that must be part of your regimen if you want to lose fat and build size.
3. Bench Press
This is a classic lift. When people think of strong people, they think of the bench press. It is many people's favourite lift for a reason. It builds up the chest muscles like nothing else can. When you workout your chest, you build up a substantial muscular chest you feel bigger because you are.
Not only does a proper bench press build solid strong chest muscles, but it builds triceps which helps make your arms larger, and when the body is fully firing, you use your lats, you use your abdominals and you gain solid, strong muscle.
4. Pull-Up
While most people love to work out their chest, people tend to forget the muscle's opposites: the latissimus dorsi - your lats. Pull-ups are the ultimate upper body workout. Raising yourself with control and form until your chin is above the bar engages your abdominal muscles, burns your biceps, and builds your lats. Having strong lats help give you that v-taper that many muscle-builders strive to achieve.
Pull-ups are a complete and total workout that will also help you get shredded abs, while muscle mass on your body, making you bigger and stronger in the best sense of the words.
Pull-ups are a great exercise and, as you advance and grow in strength, the exercise can grow and evolve with you. You can add weighted pull-ups to your routine to increase your strength and pack on even more muscle.
5. Overhead Press
The overhead shoulder press builds and rounds your shoulders. This is a pivotal and often overlooked aspect to that v-taper that was mentioned earlier. This exercise will build up our shoulder muscles in a way no other exercise can and in doing so will help you put on a tremendous amount of muscle.
The pressing motion of raising a barbell from a rested position on your chest to a raised position with your arms locked over your hear requires and builds a tremendous amount of strength. This will round your shoulders and increase your overall muscle mass.
Conclusion
Building muscle has never been an easy process. It takes dedication, hard work, and most time. You wont wake up a week into your new workout plan suddenly fifteen pounds of muscle heavier. These exercises will, however, accelerate your muscle growth and, more importantly, make you feel great.
