Bodybuilding The Complete Weight Lifting Guide To Build Muscle by Carlos Spencer (2015)

Table of contents :
Introduction
The Process Of Muscle Building
How To Build Serious Muscle Using These 6 Fundamental Weight Training Dynamics
10 Weight Training Principles You’ve Overlooked That’s Stopping You From Building Crazy Muscle And Strength
The Most Effective Exercises For Each Body Part To Stimulate Massive Amounts Of Muscle Growth
Creating A Workout Routine To Suit Your Needs
Bonus: 7 Muscle Building Secrets Proven to Help You Build More Muscle And Strength
Conclusion

Citation preview

Bodybuilding The Complete Weight Lifting Guide To Build Muscle, Strength And Lean Mass Fast As Hell Carlos Spencer

Introduction I’m just going to be blunt from the get-go. If you’re looking for a book that has every single little intricate detail on muscle separation, if you’re looking for a book that has specifics on how to hit a side chest pose while sucking in your chest blah blah blah, if you’re looking for a book that shows you every single little friggen complex detail on bodybuilding; then this book is not for you. However, if you’re looking for the highest quality information on weightlifting and how to build some muscle mass, strength and size to add onto your body, if you’re looking for some no bull shit, actionable, easy to implement information to add some serious muscle to your frame; then this book is for you. In this book, I’m going to break down weight lifting to the bare back basics and give you information that’ll help you build the physique you’re looking for. Do you want help with your pec development? I can help you with that. Are your biceps lagging a bit? I can help you with that too. Every part of weight lifting that you want to know in order to build some serious muscle mass, strength and size is in this book. No stone will be left unturned. You’ll have a bunch of new tools that you can add to your weight lifting routine that’ll help you create the physique that you desire. So without further ado, let’s get started.

Table Of Contents Introduction The Process Of Muscle Building How To Build Serious Muscle Using These 6 Fundamental Weight Training Dynamics 10 Weight Training Principles You’ve Overlooked That’s Stopping You From Building Crazy Muscle And Strength The Most Effective Exercises For Each Body Part To Stimulate Massive Amounts Of Muscle Growth Creating A Workout Routine To Suit Your Needs Bonus: 7 Muscle Building Secrets Proven to Help You Build More Muscle And Strength Conclusion

Copyright 2015 by Carlos Spencer - All rights reserved. This document is geared towards providing exact and reliable information in regards to the topic and issue covered. The publication is sold with the idea that the publisher is not required to render accounting, officially permitted, or otherwise, qualified services. If advice is necessary, legal or professional, a practiced individual in the profession should be ordered. - From a Declaration of Principles which was accepted and approved equally by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations. In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved. The information provided herein is stated to be truthful and consistent, in that any liability, in terms of inattention or otherwise, by any usage or abuse of any policies, processes, or directions contained within is the solitary and utter responsibility of the recipient reader. Under no circumstances will any legal responsibility or blame be held against the publisher for any reparation, damages, or monetary loss due to the information herein, either directly or indirectly. Respective authors own all copyrights not held by the publisher. The information herein is offered for informational purposes solely, and is universal as so. The presentation of the information is without contract or any type of guarantee assurance.

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The Process Of Muscle Building Your body only knows resistance. Your body doesn’t know whether you’re doing a 100 pound bench press or just a normal press up. Your body doesn’t know if you’re lifting 6 plates on the lat pull down or if you’re just doing a standard pull up. When you do resistance training, your muscle fibres are broken down from that particular area that you worked. For example, did 10 reps on the preacher curl machine? While doing those 10 reps, if, and only if, you properly targeted your bicep and had a great mind-muscle connection, then those little muscle fibres inside your bicep are slowly being broken down. Then when you step out of the gym, eat some healthy food, get some good sleep, the muscle will grow back stronger than before. Capiche? Rinse and repeat for every muscle on your body. As I said, your body doesn’t understand which type of resistance is being applied, it only understands the force being applied. I’m just going to be clear, I’m assuming that if you’re reading this book, you either go to a gym with weights or you have a home gym (considering this book is a weight lifting guide). You can get a great body from bodyweight training and resistance bands, however if you’re looking for the “beach body” kind of look, with a muscular frame, V-taper body with mountain sized traps and wide shoulders with the narrow hips, then in my opinion you’re going to need a gym. Doing bodyweight and resistance band training will help with building muscle, but definitely not to the extent that physical weights will have. Being able to add more weight to your lifts is one of the ways that you’re going to need if you want to have a strong, well-built muscular frame – something that bodyweight and resistance training can’t necessarily do to the same extent. Building lean muscle mass, strength and size is a slow and steady process. Your genetics plays a huge role in the rate at which you build muscle or

burn fat. Unfortunately, you have no control over your genetics, but you DO have control over your training, eating and sleeping so we’ll worry about that stuff for now.

How To Build Serious Muscle Using These 6 Fundamental Weight Training Dynamics In this section, I’m going to lay the ground for the fundamental principles of weight training. These are the principles that you’re going to need to keep in mind when making your training program (which we’ll do later), so that you can build some lean muscle mass.

Compound Movements Compound movements are exercises that recruit multiple major muscle groups when doing the lift. These groups give you the biggest bang for your buck. Because they work multiple muscle groups, you actually maximize the efficiency of your workout, your body produces the most amount of growth hormone when doing these exercises, and they’ll help you build the most amount of muscle. Compound movements are exercises such as the bench press, deadlifts, squats, pullups etc. These exercises are the ones that break down multiple muscle fibres in the major muscle groups when you do them, and that’s why they’re the hardest ones to do. The majority of your training should consist of compound movements if you’re wanting to build lean muscle mass, strength and add size to your frame.

Isolation Movements Isolations movements are the exercises that target only 1 muscle group, hence the word “isolation”; isolating the particular muscle group. Even though isolation muscle groups don’t break down the muscle fibres in multiple muscle groups simultaneously, they definitely do help with isolating a particular muscle that you want to develop. Isolation movements are exercises such as bicep curls, tricep pull downs, calf raises, preacher curls etc. These movements are the ones that isolate that particular muscle group and they aren’t as intense in comparison to the compound movements. In my opinion, isolation movements should only be used to bring out your lagging body parts. Say your triceps and calves are one of your weaknesses, you can do triceps pulldowns and calf raises to help bring them up into proportion with the rest of your frame.

Free Weights These are the weights that your stabilizer muscles are activated when you use them (i.e. Dumbbells and barbells). Free weights are great for building structural integrity and help with building functional strength since the stabilizer muscles are activated. Now even though you could probably lift more on a smith machine press compared to a barbell bench press, you’re still not activating the stabilizer muscles when using the smith machine press. This is the sole reason as to why I suggest the majority of your training program contains free weight lifts: not only will the free weights help with your structural integrity and posture, but it will also help with strengthening the stabilizer muscles which will in turn help with functional strength. Also, lifting heavy iron free weights just looks bad ass and manly compared to lifting on a machine, but that’s just my opinion.

Machines Now obviously machines have their place otherwise they wouldn’t exist. Maybe it’s just my mentality towards machines, but I just don’t like them. It’s possibly because the 2 things I’m concerned about as well are building structural integrity and functional strength; 2 things that really suffer when your training with machines. You can still get a great pump in your muscles when using machines, but I’d suggest you stick to just free weights. But hey, I’d also suggest you at least try out the machines at your local gym. See how it feels on the body, if you like them better then free weights, then just scratch what I say and listen to your body and your own experience. If you’re wanting to build some lean muscle mass, add some size to your frame, strengthen your structural integrity and also increase your functional strength, then free weights are the way to go. But if you’re just worried about building a great body, then I’m sure machines will do just fine.

Dumbbells You know, the one handed weight thingys with some weight stacked on them. The dumbbell is great for getting a deep stretch and contraction in the exercises, as well as curing any muscular imbalances that you might have. In my own experience, dumbbells also work your stabilizer muscles even more than the barbell. The thing is that you most likely won’t be able to lift as much on a barbell compared to a dumbbell. For example, let’s say your 1 rep max on the barbell bench press is 220 pounds. For most people, you’re not going to be able to do the same 1 rep max on a set of 110 pound dumbbells. When switching from barbells to dumbbells, the weight usually suffers. Now this is just my bro-science coming into play, but I think it’s because of what I mentioned before: your stabilizer muscles are worked even more when using dumbbells compared to a barbell, and there’s also the fact that your muscles might have some imbalances in them that can’t be seen when doing exercises with the barbell.

Barbells The king of all iron. Barbell exercises are great for overloading the muscle and just lifting some heavy ass weight. Barbell exercises are also better when working the legs compared to dumbbells; it’s difficult to hold a set of 110 pound dumbbells compared to squatting with 220 pounds on a barbell. They’re also necessary when doing Olympic lifts such as the clean and jerk or the snatch. The barbell is great for overloading the muscle and lifting more weight since the stabilizer muscles aren’t incorporated as much as the dumbbells, however the stabilizer muscles are still strengthened when doing the barbell movements.

Points To Takeaway With machines, you may not be working the stabilizer muscles and your structural integrity and functional strength will definitely suffer, however you’re going to be able to lift more weight and still get a great pump in the muscles. With free weights, you may not be able to lift as much weight as the machine, but you’re stabilizer muscles are going to be worked as well helping with structural integrity, all of which helps translate over to functional strength. With dumbbells, you may not be able to lift as much weight in comparison to a barbell, however you’re going to be working the stabilizer muscles even more and cure any muscular imbalances that you maybe have. And finally, with barbells, you may not be working the stabilizer muscles and curing muscular balances in comparison to barbells, but you’re still going to be able to get a great pump and overload the muscle. When it comes down to it, I think it all depends on your personal preference. Whether you enjoy using machines or using free weight dumbbells or barbells, it’s all just resistance with advantages and disadvantages of each. At the end of the day, the best thing to do is use a combination of all. If I was you, I’d incorporate both barbell, dumbbell and machines into your training routine; find out which one you like the most and stick with that.

10 Weight Training Principles You’ve Overlooked That’s Stopping You From Building Crazy Muscle And Strength

Progressive Overload This is a concept that I only recently started implementing into my training and I’ve seen more gains in the past year than I have in the past 5 years. I’m letting you know this now so you don’t make the same mistake as me. Progressive overload is the continual increase in resistance placed on the body. As time goes by with your training, you’re obviously going to want to increase the resistance (which doesn’t necessarily always come in the form of weight) that you place on your body. Progressive overload just ensures that you’re continuously getting stronger. If you never increase the resistance you put on your body, you’re never going to get strong or build any more muscle mass. Implementing progressive overload ensures that you’re building muscle, putting on size and increasing your strength. The increase in resistance can come from many forms such as more reps, more weight, more sets, shorter rest times, tempo times; everything which we’ll cover in this book.

Reps Hopefully you know the basic of training. If you don’t, I’ll just do a quick breakdown for you. One rep is one “performance” of the exercise. For example, 1 push up is 1 rep. 1 pull up is 1 rep. Capiche? If you’re wanting to build strength, it’s recommended that you lift between the rep range of 15 with heavy ass weight. You can increase the weight to compensate for the decrease in reps, which results in heavy strength gains. If you’re lifting for muscle gains, anywhere between 6-12 reps is a great rep range. You’ll feel a great pump in your muscles, get the heart rate going and break down the muscle fibres enough to be rebuilt with proper nutrition and sleep. That doesn’t mean to say that you can’t build strength with the 6-12 rep range and you can’t build muscle with the 1-5 rep range, although you’ll get the best results from using 1-5 for strength and 6-12 for muscle building.

Sets Quick breakdown numero two-no. Let’s say you want to do 12 reps on the bench press, and you want to do it 3 times with a break in between. That means you would be doing the bench press for 3 sets with 12 reps in each set. The number of sets in your training is really up to you. When I started lifting, my whole workout would be only 15 sets. Now days I do up to anywhere from 25-30 sets per workout. That’s only because I’ve built up the strength to do that many sets and I actually enjoy training. If you’re new to lifting, I recommend anywhere between 15-20 sets, intermediate level 20-25 sets and advanced 25 or more sets.

Stretch and Contraction There’s no point doing the bench press and thinking that you’re targeting your chest, when really you’re not getting the proper stretch of the pectoral muscles at the bottom of the movement and then the flex at the top. Now I have to admit that I only started thinking about this at the start of the year, and now I really try hard to really get the stretch and flex of the movement. Imagine That: You think that you’re doing the bicep curls properly, you think that doing the movement of the bicep curl is enough to get the pump, when really you may not even be getting the proper contraction of the bicep and squeezing it at the top of the movement.

Resting Between Sets Admittedly, this is also something that I only started keeping a track of this year, and never really measured in he past. Little did I know how much of an impact this will have on the workout. Decreasing your resting times between sets not only decreases the time of the workout, but also puts your body under more resistance and helps it to grow stronger. Now, if you’re trying to build muscle, then the optimal rest time between sets is 45-90 seconds. This will keep the heart rate up and will make sure the muscles have a constant pump. If you’re trying to build strength, I’d say take as long as you need until your body feels ready to do the next set. Some people say between 2-5 minutes rest for strength, but I’d just suggest you to do whatever feels right for your body.

Controlling Your Breathing It’s actually crazy how much of an effect breathing has while performing training. I’m sure you’ve seen some videos where even a lack of breathing during an intense exercise causes the person to pass out! I’ll just break it down really quick. You want to control your breathing in such a way that it facilitates the exercises that you’re performing. Obviously I can’t help you with your breathing 1 on 1 styles, but the general rule of thumb is to inhale on the eccentric part of the movement while exhale on the concentric part of the movement. For example, when doing a squat, breathe in while lowering your ass to grass and then breath out as you come up to standing position. You can do a couple of deep breaths while standing at the top just to get some more energy, then drop back down again. Most importantly, just breathe whenever it feels right to breathe.

Relieving Muscle Tension After a lot of resistance work, your muscles become all tight and develop knots (especially through the upper back and neck). It’s important to release all that tension so you can get the blood properly pumping through the muscle, and to be honest it just feels great. Now there’s 2 different ways you can release that muscle tension: 1 is through a proper massage person (I don’t even know the proper name for them) to do it for you, which will cost a heck of a lot of money and you probably don’t want to spend a lot of money or time to get it done. The 2nd way is to do it yourself. You can do it yourself using the tennis ball massage method and also using a foam roller. Both are inexpensive ways that you can use to relieve the tightness in your muscles so you can get a better workout.

Super Sets Super sets are a way to give your muscle a crazy pump by doing 1 set of Exercise A immediately followed by another set of Exercise B. For example, if you’re doing a Chest/Back workout, you could do 1 set of incline bench press immediately followed by a set of pullups. This shortens the workout time, increases the effectiveness of your workout, and also gives you a great pump in your upper body. It’s pretty simple, pick 2 exercises that you want to do side by side. Perform the superset then have a break after the 2nd exercise. If you’re doing a chest and shoulders workout, you could do flat barbell bench press followed by a set of dips. If you’re doing an arms workout, you could do a set of barbell curls followed by a set of triceps Pushups; the opportunities are endless.

Drop sets A personal favourite of mine. A drop set is doing an exercise till failure, dropping some of the weight and then banging out another couple reps till failure. For example, say your benching 220 pounds on the flat barbell and you pump out 12 reps, if you want an even crazier pump you could drop it to 185 pounds and then bang out another set till failure to send a crazy pump to your chest and tricep muscles to make even more gains. Caution: Drop sets are hard as hell but they feel great and will have you making stacks of muscle gains.

Pyramid Sets Pyramid is starting from a light weight for x number of reps, then the next set increasing the weight and pumping out y number of reps and repeating the process. For example, you could do 10 reps on 80 pound barbell rows for 1 set, next set do 8 reps on 100 pound rows, next set 6 reps on 120 pound rows and so on. This is just another way to mix up your training and shock your body into making strength and muscle gains.

The Most Effective Exercises For Each Body Part To Stimulate Massive Amounts Of Muscle Growth

Chest The Chest muscles are muscles that men usually want to develop the most as most males chest are lacking in muscle. All the hype around “Chest Mondays” is direct proof of that. The chest muscles can be difficult to stimulate, especially when doing the bench press, because if you’re form isn’t correct, often the resistance can be taken on your shoulders and triceps. Like I said before, the most important thing when weight training is feeling the stretch and contraction of the particular muscle that you’re wanting to stimulate. If you don’t feel the stretch and contraction, then you’re not working the muscle, you’re just wasting time. Here are the only exercises you need to build some serious chest muscles (no man-boob action here, fellas): Incline Press - Targets the Upper Pecs, front Deltoids and triceps Flat Bench Press - Targets the Pecs, front deltoids and triceps Chest Fly – Chest isolation movement that removes the triceps from the movement and moves all the tension to your chest Pushups – Similar to the Flat press. Great for creating the mind-muscle connection to your chest, because you can really feel the blood pump to your chest when doing press ups. For more tension on the chest, do a wide grip push up with your hands slightly turned clockwise Dips – Compound movement that pumps the chest, triceps and front deltoids. Make sure to put a little forward lean in your dip to really target your chest, if your back is straight while dipping your probably just pumping your triceps. These are the only exercises you need to build some serious muscle mass in your chest. Remember, the “mind-muscle” connection isn’t just a woo-woo fancy term that Arnold used to sound cool. You really have to focus on stretching and contracting the chest as you do these exercises.

Back The back muscles are actually really difficult to develop, especially for beginners in weight training. I remember when I first started weight training, I couldn’t even feel the back muscles being stimulated properly. When doing these exercises, it’s important to make sure that your back muscles are feeling the resistance and not your arms. Your biceps and forearms are going to feel a pump, which is normal and natural, but really focus on pulling the weight with your back muscles as much as possible. Barbell Rows- Develops upper back thickness, as well as engaging the stabilizer muscles. I suggest standing on a platform and doing the barbell rows that way, so your body is parallel to the ground and you’re really focusing on creating back thickness. Dumbbell Rows – Same concept as barbell rows. Helps to develop back thickness as well as developing the Lats, but the dumbbells allow you to really feel the stretch and flex of the movement. Deadlifts - Targets both legs and back. Really squeeze your shoulder blades together and open your chest to stimulate the back muscles even further. CAUTION: this one can really mess up your posture and you can really injure yourself if your form is shit, so start light and work your way up from there. Pullups – A classic back exercise. Mainly targets the Lats (the “wing” muscles that Bruce Lee was famous for). Also stimulates the forearms and biceps. The back muscles are really difficult to stimulate if you’re new to training, so before you jump into a 220 pound deadlift, just start light and really focus on using your back muscles with every movement. Once you feel like you can start controlling your back muscles with the exercises, then move the weight up.

Shoulders My personal favourite muscle to train. When training shoulders, you need to remember that the shoulder consists of 3 parts (front deltoid, side deltoid and rear deltoids). These exercises will help stimulate every single one of deltoid heads and will help you with getting that V-taper look. Military Press - targeting all heads of the deltoids as well as the triceps. I suggest you do this standing, you’ll strengthen your core at the same time and will work more stabilizer muscles. Front Raises - Targets the front deltoid, try keep your body and minimize swinging. Lateral Raises - targets the side deltoid, helping to create the v-taper wide shoulders look. Important to remember that the resistance should be felt in your side deltoid and minimize trap movement Read Deltoid raises - targeting your rear delts, helps with making your shoulders “pop” out from the back giving it some more 3d action. Also helps with improving your posture, as most people have overdeveloped front deltoids and underdeveloped rear deltoids, which creates some funked up looking walking and imbalances in your posture. Dumbbell Shoulder Presses – Same as military press, enables you to find any muscular imbalances you might have and also a deeper stretch and flex of the movement. Clean and Press - targets the legs as well during the clean portion, great compound lift for putting on more muscle and strength overall. CAUTION: this exercise can also mess up your form if you’re not careful, so start light, and work your way up.

Legs The “no-show muscles”. The muscles that 99% of the gym goers don’t enjoy training but it needs to be done. Your legs are half of your body, so it’s really important to hit them hard so you can improve your functional strength as well as not looking weird having a huge upper body and then stick, chicken, skinny man legs. Squats -Of Course. The king of leg exercises. Targets your legs overall with a strong emphasis on the glute muscles. CAUTION: Gotta be really careful on this one as well. You’re going to be lifting some heavy load while doing this movement, so heavy loads means heavy gains BUT can also mean heavy injury if you’re not careful. Front Squats - Overall Leg exercise working more of the stabilizer muscles and a strong emphasis on the quads. It can take a while to get the form right on this one, so just start light on the weight and work your way up. Lunges - Overall leg exercise with a strong emphasis on the quads. Can be done with either barbells or dumbbells. If you use dumbbells, you’re going to also feel some tension in your forearms, which can be good or bad depending on your goals. Power Cleans - Great exercise for building strength and overloading the leg muscles. Another Olympic lifting exercise that can help put on some serious size. Can be difficult to perform, so start light and work your way up. Straight legged deadlift - Great strength building exercise with a heavy emphasis on the hamstrings. Another exercise that can be pretty detrimental if your form is messy, so again, start light and work your way up. Calf Raises – Can use a machine or just a barbell/dumbbells doing calf raises on a platform. My calves are a particular weakness of mine so this is another muscle that I have to blast on a regular basis. Focus on the stretch and flex of the calf muscles and they’ll no doubt grow.

Biceps “The only way to bag a classy lady is to give her two tickets to the gun show... and see if she likes the goods." - Ron Burgundy. For me, my biceps are really lacking so this is a body part that I really have to train hard in order to bring it into proportion to the rest of my body. It’s important to note that the biceps are also worked during a lot of the back exercises, however here are some isolation exercises that you can use to further stimulate the biceps and force them to grow. Standing Barbell Curls - Plain and simple, one of Arnold’s favourite exercises for biceps. Make sure that you’re getting the proper flex of the muscle at the top of the movement and stretch at the bottom. Also, try to eliminate the swinging of the body. If you’re doing cheat curls then you can swing a little, however for standard barbell curls eliminate as much of it as you can. Incline Dumbbell Curls - Helps with creating even more stretch at the bottom of the movement due to the incline angle on the bench. Concentration Curls - Really focus on the bicep squeeze at the top of the curl. Can be done sitting or bending over.

Triceps Developing the tricep muscles will not only help you with your pressing exercises (bench press, military press, dumbbell presses etc.) but will also help with creating some solid size on your arms due to the triceps making up two thirds of the arm. The triceps are heavily stimulated during the pressing movements, but here are some great isolation exercises that you can use to further develop them. Close Grip Bench Press - Great for overloading the triceps. Make sure not to keep the grip too close or you can really mess up your wrists. Dumbbell Skull crushers - Great exercise for really isolating the long head of the tricep and getting a proper squeeze. Make sure to keep constant tension on the tricep when doing this movement and don’t transfer the resistance from your triceps to your shoulders. Can be done standing or sitting – standing activating more stabilizer muscles and working the core, sitting for putting more isolation to the tricep.

Core Yes, if you want the 6 pack then some ab exercises are needed to be done to develop them. It’s important to note that even if you have the most “muscular abs”, you won’t be able to see them if you’re body fat percentage is too high. Here are some ab exercises that will help strengthen your core. Prone Hold. Plain and simple exercise for building your core strength. Cross Body Crunch – The exercise that the boxers. Targets your abs and specifically oblique’s. Leg Raises – Great exercise for targeting your lower abs. I usually do these ones just lying on the ground. Sit-ups – Another classic exercise that has stood the test of time. In my opinion, the ab muscles are something that shouldn’t really be focused on too much. They’re such a small group of muscles that don’t incorporate other muscles groups and won’t give the biggest surge of growth hormone so you can make some serious gains. I personally only do a 4 minute circuit of ab exercises after a workout. However, if you like training abs for 30 minutes, then go nuts.

Takeaways So these are the best exercises that will give you the biggest bang for your buck. If you were to put your money on only a few of these exercises, go with the heavy compound lifts. The Bench press, military press, deadlifts, clean and press, rows etc. The compound lifts are the only exercises that you need to build a great body, put on some serious muscles mass, size and strength.

Creating A Workout Routine To Suit Your Needs There’s a reason why they’re so many different types of workouts. Everybody has different goals, and your workout program should be constructed around those goals. With that being said, I want you to do something. Answer this question: What do you want from working out? I mean specifically. Do you want to build strength? Do you want to develop a “bodybuilder” look? Do you want to have a V-Taper body? Do you want big arms? Do you want to develop your small calves? Do you want to have a great body to show off to the girls? Do you want to be strong to out-lift your other mates? You really need to be specific with this question, as the answer to this question is what’s going to determine your workout routine. I suggest you take 5 to 10 minutes and sit down to really think about what you want. When you’ve done that, then we can move forward. I’ll show you how this directly relates to your training routine by using me as an example. For me, I’m working out not only because I love it, but because I’m looking to maintain my muscle mass while cutting, trying to increase my strength levels and keep my cardiovascular system strong. I’m also trying to build up some strength and definition in my arms and calves. So my workout routine looks like this: Monday: Chest – Arms – 10 Minutes Post workout High Intensity Interval Training Tuesday: Back – Low Volume Legs Workout – 10 Minutes Post workout High Intensity Interval Training Wednesday: Medium Volume Legs Workout – Low Volume Shoulders Workout - Calves – 10 Minutes Post workout High Intensity Interval Training

Thursday: Strength Training - Chest – Arms – Low Volume Legs Workout 10 Minutes Post workout High Intensity Interval Training Friday: Shoulders – Calves - 10 Minutes Post workout High Intensity Interval Training Saturday: Full Body Workout – Strength Training - 10 Minutes Post workout High Intensity Interval Training Sunday: Rest After figuring out what you want, you need to determine your “level” of weight lifting. Are you new to weight lifting? Have you been training for 612 months? Or are you a veteran and have years of experience under your belt? This will help determine the intensity of your workouts and also the frequency. Beginners (Completely New – 6 months experience): Weight Lifting sessions 3-4 Times A Week Intermediate (6 – 12 Months): Weight Lifting sessions 4-5 Times A Week Advanced (12 Months Plus): Weight Lifting sessions 5-6 Times A Week Now remember, that this is extremely generalized. I’ve been training for the past 5 years, and I still consider myself an intermediate weight lifter. However, my body can take 5-6 weight lifting sessions per week. I’d say if you’re new, start out with 3 weight lifting sessions per week and work your way up. Everything is about baby steps, starting light and working your way up. After doing this, you’ll be able to get a good feel for what your training routine is going to look like. You can choose from whether to do your workouts in a split-style fashion or a full body workout. The majority of your exercises should be compound lifts, whether you’re a beginner or advanced lifter. I’ve put together 3 programs for a beginner, intermediate and advanced weight lifter. Keep in mind, these are general programs that aren’t

necessarily tailored towards your specific goals, however these programs are a great way to start lifting.

Beginners Workout This is a general workout that you can use if you’re completely new to weight training. The program is designed around building some muscle, strength and getting your body accustomed to lifting weights. The program is in a full body workout fashion. It’s important to make sure you don’t start too intense otherwise you might be making a trip to snap city. Just feel it out and listen to your body. Full Body Workout Warmup – 10 press-ups, 10 pullups and 10 bodyweight squats. Rest 30 seconds and repeat 3 times. Incline Bench Press – 4 Sets with 8-12 rep range Pullups – 4 sets with 6-12 rep range Squats – 4 Sets with 8-12 Rep Range Barbell Rows – 4 Sets with 6-8 Rep Range Military Press – 4 Sets with 8-12 rep range Dumbbell Lunges – 4 Sets with 12- 15 Rep Range Rest 60 Seconds between each set, and perform each exercise while being conscious of your breathing and your form. Before going all out balls to the wall, we’re going to want to get accustomed to lifting some weights and the feel of the movements. Weekly Routine Monday: Full Body Workout Tuesday: Rest Wednesday: Full Body Workout Thursday: Rest Friday: Full Body Workout Saturday: Rest Sunday Rest:

This is specifically for those who’re new to lifting weights and are wanting to build some muscle mass. If you’ve been training for less than 3 months, then you can use this beginner’s workout routine to get you started.

Intermediate Workout This is another general workout for those who would consider themselves at an intermediate level. If you’ve been training anywhere from 6-12 months, I’d probably suggest you try this workout. It’s done in a split fashion just to test the waters. If you find that you don’t like this routine style, you can just switch back to the full body workouts and increase the volume and frequency Chest Incline Dumbbell Press – 4 Sets with 8-12 reps. Flat Barbell Press – 4 Sets with 8-12 Rep Range Chest Flys – 4 Sets with 8-12 Rep Range Pushups/Dips Superset – 4 Sets with Maximum Reps Back Barbell Rows – 4 Sets with 6-8 Rep Range One Handed Dumbbell Rows – 4 Sets with 8-12 Rep Range Pull ups – 4 Sets with Maximum Reps Deadlifts – 3 Sets with 6-8 Rep Range Shoulders Military Press – 4 Sets with 8-12 Rep Range Standing Dumbbell Shoulder Press – 4 Sets with 8-12 Rep Range Lateral Raises/Rear Delt Raises Super Set – 4 Sets with 10-12 Rep Range Front Raises – 4 Sets with 8-12 Rep Range Legs Front Squats – 4 Sets with 8-12 Rep Range Dumbbell Lunges – 4 Sets with 12-15 Rep Range Barbell Squats – 4 Sets with 6-8 Rep Range Bodyweight Jump Squats – 4 Sets with Maximum Reps

*Rest 60 Seconds Between Each set. Weekly Routine Monday: Chest Tuesday: Rest Wednesday: Back Thursday: Rest Friday: Shoulders Saturday: Legs Sunday: Rest With the split workout, there’s more of an emphasis on a specific major muscle group rather than targeting the whole body at once. This will allow more gains in that specific muscle group. It’s good just to experiment with this split workout and see if you like it. Also, feel free to add in any exercises that you like into this routine.

Advanced Routine I’d only recommend that you do this workout routine if you’ve been training for 12 months or more. The frequency, volume and complexity of the routine should only be done by experience lifters whose body is used to weight training. A noobie who performs this could possibly cause some serious havoc on his body (the kind of havoc that leads to the hospital). This workout is done in the 3 days on – 1 day off fashion. Day 1: Chest and Shoulders Incline Bench Press – 4 Sets with 8-12 Rep range. Drop set the last set by 20% of the weight and bang out another set till failure. Military Press – 4 Sets with 8-12 Rep Range. Flat Bench Press – 4 Sets with 8-12 Rep Range. Dumbbell Press – 4 Sets with 8-12 Rep Range Chest Flys/Front Raises Superset – 3 Sets With 8-12 Rep Range. Lateral Raises/Rear Delt Raises Superset – 3 Sets with 8-12 Rep Range Pushups/Dips Superset – 3 Sets with Maximum Reps each set Day 2: Back And Arms Barbell Rows – 4 Sets with 6-8 Rep Range Deadlifts – 4 Sets with 6-8 Rep Range One Armed Dumbbell Rows – 4 Sets with 8-12 Rep Range Pullups – 4 Sets with Maximum Reps Each Set Barbell Bicep Curls/Close Grip Bench Press Superset – 3 Sets with NO REST BETWEEN THE EXERCISES. This means do the 1st set of curls followed, by the set of close grip bench press, IMMEDIATELLY followed by the 2nd set of Bicep Curls and so on. There’s no rest between the exercises and sets. This is a technique that

Arnold used in some of his workouts. While one muscle is resting, the opposite is working. The continuous sets with no break keeps the heart rate elevated. Incline Dumbbell Curls/Dumbbell Skull Crushers Superset – 3 Sets with NO REST BETWEEN THE EXERCISES (Arnold style). Day 3: Legs and Calves Front Squats – 5 Sets with 8-12 Rep Range. Drop set the last set by 20% of the weight and bang out another set till failure. Dumbbell Lunges – 5 Sets with 12-15 Rep Range. Barbell Squats – 5 Sets with 8-12 Rep Range. Drop set the last set by 20% and do another set till failure. Dumbbell Calf Raises – 5 Sets with 12-15 Rep Range. Bodyweight Jump Squats/Bodyweight Wall Squat – 3 Sets with Maximum Reps Each Set. This last set is designed to really burn out the leg muscles, kind of like the “finisher” move. *Rest 60 Seconds Between Each Set unless doing a drop set, super set or Arnold styled sets. Weekly Routine Day 1: Chest and Shoulders Day 2: Back and Arms Day 3: Legs and Calves Day 4: Rest Rinse and repeat. This particular workout routine is extremely “harsh” on the body, which is why it’s only for people who’re advanced and have experience with lifting weights. The workout routine targets the whole body and the frequency is enough to cause some serious growth in your muscles, strength and will help you make stacks of gains.

Bonus: 7 Muscle Building Secrets Proven to Help You Build More Muscle And Strength Tip 1: Compound Movements If you want the biggest bang for your buck, compounds movements are the way to go. Doing isolation exercises like bicep curls, tricep pulldowns, calf raises etc. will stimulate those particular muscles, but compounds movements incorporate multiple muscle groups at once; releasing a huge rush of growth hormone and breaking down multiple muscle fibres down at once.

Tip 2: The Deadlift The king of all back exercises! A really important tool in a bodybuilder’s tool belt, the deadlift will work your entire back muscles as well as your hamstrings. Make sure that when you’re learning this movement, you are extremely meticulous about the form. I’ve seen many guys get into the gym and I’ve got to correct their form because if they continue with the bad form they’re gonna have some serious back problems down the line. Obviously it would be difficult for me to explain the deadlift through words, so here’s a quick video explaining the deadlift from the man Elliott Hulse himself (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFnwEsqJABU). This guy’s got years of experience with weight lifting, professional strongman career and just general bad ass advice, so he’s a credible source.

Tip 3: The Clean and Press Extremely good compound movement working both the leg muscle and the shoulder muscles. Once again, start very light with the weight and work your way up; you don’t want to be making a trip to snap city and missing all your gains from the gym.

Tip 4: The Incline Press Now the flat barbell bench press is really good. It’s one of the fundamental exercises for chest development and also works your front deltoids (the front part of your shoulder) and your triceps. However, the incline press will give you a much more aesthetically pleasing chest. It builds up the upper pec muscles and gives a much more masculine, powerful look. This movement is performed the same as the bench press just with an incline on the bench at around a 45 degree angle. I’d suggest you play around with the bench angles and find what works for you. Bonus Tip: If you check out some of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s old videos of him training, when he does the incline press, he has an extremely wide grip. In my experience, this is to get the fullest stretch in the upper pecs and it allows for the pec muscles to take much of the weight rather than the triceps.

Tip 5: Controlling Your Rest Times If you’re training for strength, then you want to keep your rest times niiiice and looong. Anywhere from 3-5 minutes is really good. If you need longer rests, then take longer rests. For building muscle, I recommend resting no longer than 90 seconds (ideally between the 60-90 seconds rage). This is specifically going to help your body produce more growth hormone and also to activate hypertrophy. I could go into the whole ins and outs of the process, break down all the science mumbo jumbo and all that jazz, but really I just got this advice from Elliott Hulse and Brandon Carter; two of the biggest fitness stars in the online community. Check out their pages if you want the “credible proof”.

Tip 6: Stick to free weights Now this is just a personal preference to be honest. I don’t really like the use of machines. When you use the machines, you don’t incorporate all the little stabilizer muscles that your body needs to do other body functioning movements. This means you might be able to bench press a lot of weight on the smith machine, but it may not transfer over to other movements because your stabilizer muscles aren’t fully developed. Now machines do have their place, and there are bodybuilders who do use them in their routine, I’d just suggest that you keep it to majority free weights. Using free weights will work your stabilizer muscles, improve your core strength and structural integrity, and this will help with your other lifts too.

Tip 7: Pre Exhaustion Let’s say you’re doing a set on the bench press. It’s your first set of the workout and you’re training chest today. The first 2 sets go really well; you can feel the pump in your triceps and chest and it feels great. When it comes around to the 3rd set, you feel your triceps start to kick out but your chest still wants to keep going! And by the 4th set, you can’t do anymore because your triceps are too overloaded although your chest still feels like it can bang out a few more reps. This is when the pre-exhaustion method comes into play. The preexhaustion technique will allow you to pre-fatigue a muscle with an isolation exercise before moving onto a compound movement that’ll work the same muscle. For example, before doing the bench press, you can do a set of chest flys to pre-fatigue the muscle. You’ll get a little pump in your chest, and that way when you move over to the bench press, your triceps and chest will “fail” at the same time instead of your triceps failing before your chest gets the pump. The main thing to remember if you try this technique is that you want to pick an isolation exercise that compliments the compound movement; chest flys and bench press, lateral raises and military press, leg curls and squat etc.

To See More, Check Out My Other Book “48 Bodybuilding Secrets Proven To Help You Build Muscle, Build Strength And Build Mass In 30 Days Or Less”.

Conclusion The most important thing that you need to do is experiment. Find out what works best for you, find out what type of weight training you enjoy the most, find out what workout routine gives you the best gains and stick with that one. Also remember, that when you’re trying to build muscle, strength and mass; the process is extremely slow. The gains that you make on a day-by-day basis will almost seem negligible, but after a month or two you’ll definitely start seeing the results. Remember fellas, training is something that’s meant to be enjoyed! Have fun with it. Train with your mates, get a sweat going, and pump some iron. Lift Hard, Lift Heavy, Train Intense, Eat Well, Sleep Well and all the gains that you want you’ll be able to receive. Just do the basics and you’ll be fine. With that being said. I hope you’ve enjoyed this book and you have received some value from it. I’d just like to ask if you can please give it a review. Whether it’s a positive or negative one, I enjoy hearing the feedback so I can improve this book to the best of my ability. Lift heavy, fellas!

Other Books By Carlos Spencer Bodybuilding: The Straightforward Bodybuilding Diet Guide to Build Muscle, Build Strength and Put On Mass Fast As Hell Bodybuilding: 48 Bodybuilding Secrets Proven To Help You Build Muscle, Build Strength And Build Mass In 30 Days Or Less