The Workouts

Building muscle is not rocket science.  I love that phrase ending “…is not rocket science.” I use it often.  That said, it’s also about approaching muscle building intelligently and with a good plan – haphazardly doing this and that for while now and while later doesn’t get it done.  Part of that is being able to put together good exercise routines.

But first, I start with “not rocket science” statement because I think too many people, for whatever reason, tend to overly complicate issues.  And muscle building is one of them.

I stated in the Muscle Building Basics section that building muscle is a end result of nutrition, rest, and exercise coming together.  I also suggested that the optimum results come from the overlap of those 3 elements – the perfect diet combined with the perfect amount of rest combined with the perfect workout routine.  And viola, you have great results.

The challenge comes in that life and other factors always intrude, and therefore, the perfect scenerio is hard to attain.  So the answer comes in moving and adjusting the cirles to compensate for each other. 

Ultimately, your best results come from your understanding of your body, lifestyle, and your efforts.  Long time ago, Joe Weider incorporate this thought into his Weider Instinctive Training Principle.  The key point was to do what was right for you.

Don’t get me wrong, you must follow basic principles, but within those guidelines you must tweak and adjust to fit you.

That all said, everyone needs a start point.  Everyone needs a template.  Why – because there is never a need to reinvent the wheel.  Most training principles are tried and true.  Without a doubt, some may not work for you – because we are all different – yet, principles are principles because they always contain some nugget of truth.

My workout routine recommendations are not going to be terrible complex.  I can only recommend what has worked for me in the past and what I have experimented with. Which means you are not going to be seeing any 6 day split or “advanced bodybuilding” routines from me.

Can’t help you become a competitive bodybuilder, that’s not what I’m about, but this guy might be able to help you (Okay, it’s Dave Draper, the original Blonde Bombshell; and his site is unfortunately way better than mine – plus like mine, it’s basically all free – nice)

But I can help you get started.  So for designing a workout routine…

In general, I think most get decent results using a 2 day split.  But I also believe cycling your body through a number of different routine templates is a good idea.  A suggested one year rotation might be:

Your body tends to adapt fairly quickly.  A good strategy is to preempt the natural plateau that will occur.  Plateau can be frustrating but it need not be.

If you assume that your body will begin to adjust every 3 or 4 months (based on zero scientific study – just saying), then change your workouts accordingly to keep your body off balance.

An off balance body works to your favor (Jeff talks a lot about that in his Optimum Anabolics program – but that costs 47 bucks – so listen to my ridiculously condensed version of his program for free – keep your body off balance and confused).

There are essential 3 segments to this section:

  • Basic workout recommendations – I think most should stay here.  With a couple tweaks there and here, no real reason to do more or to get more complicated.
  • Routines for the next stage – While the basic workouts are good, you must always have options.  So, this section about options.
  • Muscle Building Ebooks and Routines – I am not a guru, nor do I play one on TV!  I also have a lot on my plate.  While I will always contend that muscle building is not rocket science, it isn’t patty-cakes either.  What I mean is that this is a hobby for me, not a fulltime profession.  Gurus are full time.  They devote all their time to their sites and products.  They do their best to be on the cutting edge.  I could never match that and I don’t want to.  There are a lot of guru’s out there, and so, I have included some of the better authors out there (always do your own research).

As for me, currently I am doing a 2 day split.  I alternate between the opposing muscles grouping with the push/pull grouping every couple of months.

Quick update – 6/5/11:  I’m currently doing Rusty Moore’s Visual Impact Muscle Building Program, which I review here.  I am doing the no legs version of his program as my legs are in okay shape and my ass big enough – don’t need more squats.  I am currently in phase one and will post some progress pictures – eventually, I suppose.

So, I hope all this helps, if you can questions – just shoot me a line, go here to contact me.

Maybe it is rocket science…