Ideal measurements

Sometimes it's hard to know what your ideal measurements are. But it's important to know them because that way you can set a goal!

The most important thing is that you are symmetrical. Even though you still haven't reached your goal, it's important always to be symmetrical. Steve Reeves for example, was known as one of the most symmetrical and aesthetically pleasing bodybuilders of all time, even though he was not “huge” by today’s standards.

Reeves wrote about ideal measurements frequently and was always striving for his idea of perfection in this regard (and came close to achieving his own personal ideal). One of his criteria for ideal proportions included having his arms, calves and neck measure the same.

Steve Reeves Measurements:

Arms: 18.5 inches
Calves: 18.5 inches
Neck: 18.5 inches
Thighs: 27 inches
Chest: 54 inches
Waist: 30 inches

In his “classic physique” book, Reeves said his formula for “ideal proportions” was as follows:

Muscle to bone ratios:
Arm size= 252% of wrist size
Calf size= 192% of ankle size
Neck Size= 79% of head size
Chest Size= 148% of pelvis size
Waist size= 86% of pelvis size
Thigh size= 175% of knee size

Steve Reeves’ height and weight chart for a bodybuilder (natural):

5’5” 160lbs
5’6” 165lbs
5’7” 170lbs
5’8” 175lbs
5’9” 180lbs
5’10” 185lbs
5’11” 190lbs
6’0” 200lbs
6’1” 210lbs
6’2” 220lbs
6’3” 230lbs
6’4” 240lbs
6’5” 250lbs

Symmetry Chart for Bodybuilders based on the Mr. America's from 1940 and 1970


I= ideal
Ch = Champ

In the chart the two levels, ideal and champion, are integrated. The first line at each height gives the ideal measurements, the second the champion. The height scale goes from 5’2” to 6’4” (62 to 76 inches) in two-inch increments. If your height is at an odd-numbered inch, just select the measurements that would be halfway between the lower and upper figures.

Here is an example on how to use the chart. Take the height of 5’8” (68 inches). The ideal measurements follow in a horizontal line: weight, 165; neck, 15.9; arm, 15.4; forearm, 12.5, etc.

A word on how to measure:

• Measure the arms and legs tensed, or flexed.

• Measure at the largest girth, except on the thigh. The thigh should be measured midway between the outer hip bone and the knee. This takes in the hamstrings and the middle portion of the quadriceps.

• Measure the forearms with the fist bent in but the arm held straight.

• The hip should be measured at the largest circumference, which will be around the middle of the buttocks.

• Measure the chest standing straight but relaxed. Do not expand the ribcage or spread the lats.

• The bi-deltoid measurement will be the most difficult to make. The easiest method is to stand relaxed with your back touching a wall. Have someone place a ruler alongside your deltoid and mark a line on the wall with a pencil. Do the same with the other deltoid. Then measure between the two lines.

Use this chart as an aid in planning your training routines. After you have taken your measurements, you will have incontrovertible evidence of your weak parts. Measurements are not everything, however. How you look to others, particularly from the rear, which you cannot see in a mirror, is important. Qualities like thickness cannot be measured with a tape. They must be seen by the knowledgeable eye. Your strength level in each bodypart should give you some indication of the development as well. If you are weak on certain exercises, you are probably underdeveloped in the bodyparts that perform those movements.

Keep an eye on the three pillar indexes: neck, calf and upper arm. Even some of the champion bodybuilders are notoriously small in the neck. So if your neck is not up to your arm, start doing neck exercises, and if you belong to one of the rare gyms that have the wonderful Nautilus neck machine, use it. If your calves are under par, work on them. A half inch difference is all you should allow yourself between these three body-parts. If there is an inch difference, it’s too much. Work on it.

A little exact science introduced into a sport or art always helps illuminate it and expand understanding. I hope that his symmetry measurement chart will create greater enthusiasm and will help you set physical goals for yourself.

other interesting link about measurment with a calculator and Grecian Ideal! http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drobson207.htm

Training log

Hey,


last week I didn't got the chance to train much because I was sick, so I trained only once! But this week it seems to go very well. But I've been doing more exercises in my routine because I felt I needed it. So here is my routine

Upright Rowing 3 sets (3 sets of 15 reps with moderate wheight 77 pound/35 kilo)
Bench Press (3 sets 110kg-100kg-95kg, 8 reps)
Bent Rowing (3 sets 80kg-70kg-70kg, 10 reps)
Dumbbell side laterals (3 sets 14 kg, 10 reps)
Incline Bench Press (3 sets 80kg-70kg-70kg, 8 reps)
Tricep pushdowns (3 sets 40kg, 12 reps)
Barbell Curls (3 sets, 55kg-50kg-50kg, 10 reps)
Seated Dumbbell Curls (3 sets, 18 kg, 8 reps)
Squats (3sets, 110kg, 10 reps) in superset with
light Barbell pullovers
Breathing squat (1 set, 20 reps) in superset with
dumbbell pullovers
Deadlift (2 sets, 110kg, 8 reps)
Abdominal exercise

I know it's a lot of exercise. I takes 2 hours to complete the routine. I'm doing 45 seconds of rest between sets and 5 minutes between exercises! Everytime I'm doing more reps with the same wheight. I'll be using the same amount of wheight until I can do 3x12 reps of everything.

My inspiration Steve Reeves

Hi,

I wanted to post some little videos of my inspiration "Steve Reeves". To me his the greatest bodybuilder of all time, with the best looking physique, symmetry and proportions. Nowadays bodybuilders are totally out of proportion. Symmetry is not important anymore!

Note that posing was totally different in the 40's and 50's.







STATS:
Born - January 21, 1926 - died on May 1, 2000.
Birthplace - Glasgow, Montana
Height - 6'1"
Weight - 215
Hair - Brown
Eyes - Blue
Neck - 18 1/4"
Chest - 52"
Waist - 29"
Hips - 38"
Biceps - 18 1/4"
Forearm - 14 3/4"
Wrist - 7 1/4"
Thighs - 26"
Calf - 18 1/4"

1946 - Mr. Pacific Coast
1947 - Mr. Western America
1947 - Mr. America (AAU)
1948 - Mr. World
1950 - Mr. Universe (NABBA)


Movie Highlights:

Film debut - Jail Bait -- 1954
The musical Athena -- 1954
Hercules in 1957
Hercules Unchained in 1959.
The Thief of Baghdad (1960).
The Last Days of Pompeii (1960)

Dieting

Hi,

my first workout went well. I don't have yet all my strength back but here is what I did in yesterday's workout

1)Bench press 2 warm-up sets with 70 kg followed by 3 sets of 9 reps with 95 kg
2)Bent rowing 2 warm-up sets with 50 kg followed by 3 sets of 9 reps with 70 kg
3)Back Squats 3 sets of 9 reps with 100 kg
4)Barbell curls 3 sets of 9 reps with 50 kg
5)Seated Tricep extensions 3 sets of 9 reps with 40 kg
6)seated barbell press 3 sets of 9 reps 45 kg
7)deadlifts 3 sets of 5 reps with 110 kg

next time I'll try to do 11 reps with the same amount of weight!

Dieting
There is a lot of controversy on this topic. Everybody knows that your diet is even more important than your workout. 90% is dieting and 10% is workout. Today's bodybuild magazines tell you to eat 6-8 meals a day. In the 40's and 50's there wasn't such thing as a 6-meal plan. Classic bodybuilders only ate 3 or 4 meals a day and didn't count their calories or proteins. They just ate healthy food which contains a lot of protein. In my two years of training I followed a sort of the Steve Reeves diet, with success.

breakfast: Powershake (2 eggs, 1 banana, 250 ml orange juice, 1 scoop of protein, 1 tablespoon of honey)
lunch: 200 gr cottage cheese, some bread, handful nuts and raisins, a glass of milk and a piece of fruit
workout drink: 1 tablespoon of honey, 200 ml orange juice and water
dinner: 300 gr of chicken/turkey/fish/... with some rice or potatoes and vegetables

In my first year I went from 62 kilos to 78 kilos. But there was some fat tissue showing so I decided I had to lose some wheight. Then I replaced my lunch by a powershake like I had for breakfast, drunk no longer the workout drink and for dinner I didn't ate potatoes or rice. With this meal I lost 6 kilos in just 4 or 5 weeks without doing any cardio, without chaning my workout routine (so no higher reps or less rest between sets), and most important: without losing muscles!!!

Now I'm trying something really different. I give the 6-meal-plan a try because I got a little tired of doing the same diet all year long. My current diet for bulking (healthy!):

Morning:
shake (2 eggs, 500 ml milk, half a banana)
shake (250ml milk, half a banana, 1 scoop of whey protein)

Lunch:
150 gr of chicken/turkey/fish
vegetables
60 gr pasta/rice/potatoes
a piece of fruit

afternoon snack:
30gr of oats
glass of apple juice
1 proteinshake

dinner:
same as lunch

Post-workout:
30 gr of oats
glass of orange juice
1 proteinshake

before bedtime snack:
300 gr quark cheese
piece of fruit

this is a diet about 2800 calories (210 gr of proteine, 350 gr carbs, 60 gr fats)

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask or write a reaction.


Best wishes,
Bruno

Day 1 week 1 new routine

Hi,

today I'm going to start my new routine. I haven't trained for 4 weeks because I was on holiday. My goal is to gain some weight. The routine I'm doing consists of some basic movements. I'm also using the principle of cheating.

Monday-Wednesday-Friday
1)(cheating) Bench press
2) Squats
3)(cheating) Bent rowing
4)(cheating) Barbell curls
5) Tricep extensions
6) Deadlifts
7) (cheating) upright rowing

I already used a similar routine but I used to do low reps (6-8), now I'm gonna try to do high reps (9-15) (cfr. Jack Delinger). So I'll pick a wheight which I can handle for 3 sets of 9 reps and I'll work up 'til I can do 3 sets of 15 reps. When I can do 15 reps I'll pick a higher weight etc.

I hope the routine works. I'll be doing this routine for 8 weeks or so, then I'm going to add some other exercises like incline bench press, behind the neck press, lat pull downs,...

Before I went on holiday these were my stats:
1m75
-weight: 73,5 kg (162 pounds)
-biceps: 38 cm (15 inch)
-chest: 106 cm (41,7 inch)
-waist:80 cm (31,5 inch)
-legs: 56 cm (22inch)
-neck: 37 cm (14,6 inch)
-calves: 36 cm (14,2 inch)
-forearms: 30 cm (11,8 inch)

lifts:
bench press: 6x 125 kg (275 pounds)
barbell curls: 6x 58 kg (128 pounds)
behind the neck press: 6x 70 kg (154 pounds)
squats: 6x 150 kg (330 pounds)

my goal with this routine (the Ideal Classic Physique measurements for my height):
-weight : 75 kg (165 pounds)
-Biceps : 39 cm (15,5 inch)
-chest : 111 cm (44 inch)
-waist : 76 cm (30 inch)
-legs : 56 cm (22 inch)
-Neck : 39 cm (15,5 inch)
-calves : 39 cm (15,5 inch)
-forearms : 31 cm (12,2 inch)

I also follow a high protein diet of 2800 calories (40% protein - 50% carbs - 10% fats).


Best wishes,
Bruno


me on holiday




If you're interested to know more about the Classic Physique champs and the Classic Physique principles please visit http://classicphysiquebuilder.blogspot.com
It's a great source of information about the Golder Age of bodybuilding!

The Ten Keys to Old School Success for New School Beginners

Reg Park

This is an article I found written by Bango Skank. I think it's very interesting before starting to train. The key to success is to keep these principles below in mind.


1. Eat Like a King
Muscle isn't made out of thin air, it's made out of the fuel you provide it and that's food. You can forget everything you've learned and will learn in this article, if you don't eat enough to fuel growth you won't grow. You kids have this idea that you can grow bigger and somehow stay smaller, that you can pack on 20-30 lbs of muscle and keep an Ethiopian six-pack. It ain't gonna happen, or it'll happen so slowly that your grand kids will grow faster than you do. And if you're saying to yourself that you can't seem to gain weight, I got another name for you so-called "hard gainers," it's under eaters! If you're having trouble adding weight to the scale you need to be eating everything that isn't nailed down, then you need to eat everything that is nailed down, and then you need to eat the nails. For guys, everytime you sit down for a meal it's a banquet, a competitive eating contest, it's an Olympic sport! Screw your light yogurt and your skim milk, you need to be downing whole milk, whole eggs, nuts, peanut butter, fresh fruits and veggies, plenty of meat and top it all off with olive oil! And one more thing; if it's not something that your grandparents would recognize as food, it ain't food! This immediately nullifies many things you'd get out of a bag, box or can. This means you need to be sticking to the outside of the grocery store where they keep all the fresh food and skimp on visiting the aisles.

2. Rest Like a Baby
You don't grow while you work, you grow while you rest. Your hard earned sweat and blood will be wasted if you don't give yourself a chance to recover. This means getting at least 8, and more like 10, hours of uninteruppted sleep every night. If you don't have time to rest, then you don't have time to train, it's as simple as that. Resting isn't just sleep either, it's taking a day off when you need it and liesure time with friends and family. It's also taking a full week off every 8-12 weeks. So give your mind, body and spirit all the recovery it needs to replenish itself and grow. It's not being lazy, it's being realistic.

3. Be Skilled, Not Sloppy
Weight lifting is a skill just like in any other sport, and where the skilled will be successful, the sloppy will be in the emergency room. Make it your top priority to always be improving your form, perfecting your movements and mastering your technique. This means educating yourself in the lifts that you will be performing before you perform them. Don't walk into the gym and decide to "wing it" on a new exercises; learn it first, then practice, then perform. One basic rule of thumb will help guide you in all exercises: keep your body in line with itself. This means keeping a nuetral spine (not bent or overextended), keeping your knees in line with your toes, your elbows under your wrist and your neck in line with your spine. I recommend that every one of you read Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe. This is the best guide out there on performing the big heavy compound lifts. Also, don't rely on mirrors to tell you what you're doing; mirrors lie! A 2 dimentional representation of a 3 dimentional occurence will never give you an accurate portrayal. I realize most gyms today look like the hall of mirrors in a fun house, but ignore them, and instead pay attention to what your body is telling you. Also if you have access to a digital camera you should record yourself and play it back later to assess proper technique. This is better than a mirror because a) you'll be watching yourself after-the-fact, not during it, b) you can replay as many times as you like, and, c) you can post it on-line for immediate feedback.

4. Progress or Die
Progress in weightlifting, strength training or bodybuilding are all measured the same for you beginners; it's adding weight on the barbell and adding weight on the scale every week. These are the only two measures that you need concern yourself with at this point in your training. It's not how much you bench, it's how much more you benched than last week, it's not how much you weigh, it's how much more you weighed than last week. You are your own toughest competition and every week is a new chance to come out ahead. Little by little, just keep upping both strength and size every blessed week. If one ceases to increase that means both will cease to increase. If that's the case you're doing something wrong and you need to fix it. 9 times out of 10 you'll need to get more food and get more rest. It's a lot harder to restart your stalled progress than to maintain your consistent progress, so make sure you're never in that position and stay on course. If however your strength or bodyweight actually regress, then more drastic measures might need to be taken. If this happens and it's been more than 8 weeks since you last took a full week off, now is the time to do so. Otherwise another way of breaking the spell is to cut the intensity (the weight) of your workout by 50% for a week; this means benching 75lbs if you normally bench 150. This will give you the advantage of recovering without regressing. After either a week off or a week "deloading" you should be good as new and ready to go.

5. Be Consistent
If you haven't been on a program for at least 4 or 5 weeks you have no business changing to a new routine. It takes at least that long to judge if a program is working or not, and if you've been reading, you'll know exactly how to measure that progress. However if you've been on a program that long and you're not adding weight, even then the program should be the last thing you change. Make sure it's not something else in your lifestyle that is short changing your gains. If you can remove all other possibilities and are left with only your routine to change, then you'd be a fool to stay on it. But whatever you do don't get in one of these vicious cycles of second guessing yourself everytime you start a new routine. Changing your routine every week does not a program make. Avoid paralysis by analysis, make a choice and stick with it. The same can be said of exercise selection; changing your sets, reps, and exercises every week is the same thing as changing the whole routine. Don't do it unless you have to. Also be consistent in your diet and your rest. Consistent choices will give you consistent gains!

6. Supplement, Don't Substitute
There is no legal supplement in existence that will make up for bad programming, bad nutrition or bad recovery, there is no legal supplement that is good enough to merit basing a workout routine on, and there is no legal supplement that is worth spending more money on than the food you eat. 99% of supplements are canned crap. That means that whatever expensive supplement you're taking this week is in all likelyhood a shiny brand new shrink-wrapped turd with a bow on it for all the good that it'll do. There are only 3 supplements that you guys need concern yourselves with:
1) A Mega Multi Vitamin. Your requirements for vitamins and minerals will be higher than the average person, so this is pretty important.
2) Fish Oil. This stuff is as close as we've gotten to an elixer of life. It does so many good things that you'll just have to take my word for it and look it up yourself. Take at least 5 grams per day. I take 12.
3) Whey Protein. This will ensure you're getting the requisite amount of protein that your body needs to grow, but it is not a substitute for food. Drink 1 shake post workout and that's probably as much as you'll need. If you're drinking more than 2 per day, you're literally ****ing money away.
If you want to spend your money on extra sups, well that's up to you. I think it's a waste, but as long as you're getting plenty to eat and you're already taking these 3, then feel free to be a lab rat.

7. Overtraining = Underrecovering
Overtraining is The Black Plague of the bodybuilding world and by my estimates your chances of getting either one are about equal. Don't concern yourself with working too hard or too long, concern yourself with recovering too little. There is no amount of training that will put you into an overtrained state, there is only a deficit of recovery that will. Train hard and rest harder and you'll never have to worry about getting overtrained. But be sure to wash your hands just in case.

8. Be Self Aware, Not Self Absorbed
Always warm-up before performing. If a warm-up with 60% or 80% of your max weight feels heavier than it should, take a step back and assess the situation. Maybe you need to back off. Don't lift with your ego. That's a good way to get injured and not be able to lift at all. If you're performing a new exercise always learn it first with little or no weight. When starting a new program or routine never start with your max weight, always work your way back up over the course of a few weeks. Don't ever test your 1 rep max unless you are highly skilled in the exercise and have a very good idea of what your 1 rep max is already. Showing off will get you nowhere that you wouldn't have gotten by taking the sure path, except maybe a trip to the emergency room. Also, unless you're talking about lactic acid burn, adages like, "No Pain, No Gain," are bull**** and should be ignored. If you get injured don't be a nimrod and work through the pain; You Will Lose. Instead do everything you can to heal it via rest, medication and rehab, and otherwise find a way to work around the injury. Make wellness your top priority.

9. Finish What You Start
Go all the way or go home. Set goals for yourself and don't quit until you meet them. Goals should be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-based. A goal could be adding 5 lbs of muscular bodyweight to the scale in a month or adding 50 lbs to your squat in 7 weeks. These are good goals to have and will keep you striving toward the finish-line. If however you find you do need to stop prematurely, make sure it's for the right reasons (only you can define what those are).

10. Drop a Log
The most successful bodybuilders keep very close tabs on their progress by recording every minute detail of their development. This means recording your exercise routines, the weight you used for warm-ups and work sets, and any feedback that the routine gave you such as on your technique. Also your bodyweight, your dietary menu and anything else that might impact your training. Having a detailed training journal ensures that every time you walk into the gym you'll know exactly what it is that you came to do. You can't assess your progress if you don't record it!

Reg Park's 9 Month 5x5 Program

If you're a beginner and you want to train like Arnold Schwarzenegger for example, then you have to train like Arnold Schwarzenegger trained as a beginner. When Arnold first began training he trained 3 days a week, so you'll train three days a week. When Arnold first began training he followed a Reg Parks routine, so you'll follow a Reg Parks routine. When Arnold first began training, he focused on the big heavy compound lifts, so you'll focus on the big heavy compound lifts. This is how Arnold got his start on the road to being the best that there ever was and it's my hope that this could be your start as well. Let's take a look at some of the programs advocated by Reg Parks, all of which Arnie would have used at some point. Try to imagine Arnold at 15, 16 and 17 doing the exact same things that you'll be doing. Try to recreate for yourself some of the same excitement, determination and raw power that Arnie did, and ultimately, success.

As far as the popularity of beginner's training programs go, five sets of five reps is right up there with 3x10, 10x3, and the ever-lasting 1x20 squat program, which inspired the weight room battle-cry, "Squats and milk!"

A few years ago, Dan John wrote an in-depth explanation of several versions of the 5x5 program. Bill Starr also created a popular 5x5 plan that focused primarily on the power clean, bench press, and back squat.

We're going to take a look at one of the very first 5x5 routines to be published, originally written in 1960 by Reg Park in his manual Strength & Bulk Training for Weight Lifters and Body Builders. The late Reg Park was a three-time Mr. Universe winner and he was one of the first bodybuilders to really push the size envelope by competing at a massive 225 pounds in the 1950s and '60s.

Oh yeah, Park is also the number one bodybuilder that little Arnie from Austria admired, respected, and hoped to someday look like. Upon seeing Park on a magazine cover for the first time, Schwarzenegger has said, "He was so powerful and rugged-looking that I decided right then and there I wanted to be a bodybuilder, another Reg Park."

Reg Park's Three Phase 5x5 Program

Phase One

45-degree back extension 3x10
Back squat 5x5
Bench press 5x5
Deadlift 5x5

Rest 3-5 minutes between the last 3 sets of each exercise.

Train three days per week for three months

Phase Two for Bodybuilders*

45-degree back extension 3-4x10
Front squat 5x5
Back squat 5x5
Bench press 5x5
Standing barbell shoulder press 5x5
High pull 5x5
Deadlift 5x5
Standing barbell calf raise 5x25

Rest 2 minutes between sets.

Train three days per week for three months.

* After the basic Phase One, Park had a different set of recommended exercises for aspiring Olympic weightlifters. It used a few different sets and reps, and included lunges and power cleans.

Phase Three for Bodybuilders

45-degree back extension 4x10
Front squat 5x5
Back squat 5x5
Standing barbell shoulder press 5x5
Bench press 5x5
Bent-over barbell row 5x5
Deadlift 5x3
Behind-the-neck press or one-arm dumbbell press 5x5
Barbell curl 5x5
Lying triceps extension 5x8
Standing barbell calf raise 5x25

Rest 2 minutes between sets.

Train three days per week for three months.

As Park explained it, 5x5 includes two progressively heavier warm-up sets and three sets at the same weight. He suggested increasing weights at approximately the same interval, for example:

Back squat: first set 135x5, second set 185x5, followed by three sets of 225x5.

When you can complete the last 3x5 at a given weight, increase the weight on all five sets 5-10 pounds. Also, he was strongly against training to failure, saying that it encouraged a negative mindset when attempting other heavy, near-maximal lifts.

You are, however, allowed to test for one-rep max at the end of each phase. Park recommends two warm-up sets (1x5 and 1x3), followed by three progressively heavier attempts at a one-rep max. So the max testing day would be: 1x5, 1x3, and 3x1 (for each lift). Take the next four days off from the gym, and then begin the next phase of training.

For the 45-degree back extensions, begin without added weight. Once you can complete all sets, increase your poundage each set while still getting all sets and reps. Park and his training partner often used 135 for the first set, 175 for the second, and 215 for the third, and 235-255 for the fourth.

That's the entire plan, and it's a doozy. Talk about volume training? Mike Mentzer just rolled over in his grave... once. Notice, there really aren't any isolation exercises until the third phase, when you've been training consistently for six months. Only then can you break out some curls for the girls.

As far as recovery goes, Park recommended plenty of sleep and plenty of food. His main sources of nutrition would include whole milk, whole eggs, steak, orange juice, salad, protein powders, wheat germ, and liver tablets. Interestingly, the foods would remain the same when cutting, but the portions would be reduced.

With such a high volume of work, it wasn't uncommon for these workouts to last two to three hours. That's typical of the training in that era, and it's a far cry from the, "get out of the gym in 60 minutes, or you'll sacrifice growth hormone levels!" warnings of today.

Does that make it much worse than programs designed today? Is this absurdly busy training day dangerous, guaranteed to break you emotionally and scare you out of the gym? Not necessarily.

While it might not be ideal, or even fun, to do for the long term, when was the last time you had a juggernaut session and really tried to destroy yourself in the gym? Once in a while, it's okay to break the rules, especially if you have a free Saturday with nothing else to do... and a free Sunday to lie in bed, eat steak, and curse us for daring you to try this plan.

Basic beginner/intermediate workout

As I announced in my previous post I'll give you my beginner workout.

For beginners* (and even for intermediate trainers*) it's important that you only do the basic movements and not isolation movements. The reason is that for beginners you still have to build solid muscle mass. When doing isolation movements you only focus on a very specific bodypart. Isolation movements do not build mass but only shape the muscle!!!
Here are the best exercices for muscle mass per bodypart:

chest: (incline) bench press (variations: wide gripp, medium grip, close grip)
back: bent rowing, deadlift, pull ups
shoulders: upright rowing, military press, behind the neck press
legs: squats
biceps: barbell curls
triceps: tricep extensions

When you already have your muscle mass you can do isolation movements like:

chest: dumbbell/cable flyes
back: lat pulldowns
shoulders: lateral raises, bent over laterals
legs: leg extensions, leg curls
biceps: preacher curls, concentration curls
triceps: tricep pushdowns, reversed tricep pushdowns
forearms: reversed barbell curls,...

for more info or more exercises you can visit http://www.bodybuilding.com

So for beginners I advise to pick one basic compound movement per bodypart and do 1 set for 8-12 repetitions. After a few weeks when the body adapts to the training you do 2 sets, then after a while you do 3 sets, etc... Do not more than 3 sets in the beginning. You don't want to overtrain! Undertraining is better than overtraining! I also advise you to varie your repetitions. E.g. one week you do 2 sets of bench press for 8 to 12 repetitions and the other week you do 6-8 repetitions. This prevents your body from adapting to the workout.

sample workout:

Monday-Wednesday-Friday or Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday --> always 1 day between workouts (your body needs to rest, so no need to go the gym everyday of the week!!!!)

Bench press 3 sets, 8-12 reps
Bent rowing 3 sets, 8-12 reps
Squats 3 sets, 8-12 reps
Military press 3 sets, 8-12 reps
Barbell curls 3 sets, 8-12 reps
Tricep extensions 3 sets, 8-12 reps

(1-2 minutes rest between sets, 2-3 minutes between exercices)

the purpose of this routine is to build solid muscle mass and power. Each workout you have to pick a higher weight than your last time. You pick a wheight you can handle for 8 reps. Once you can do more than 12 reps it means you don't train to failure, so you pick a bigger wheight. A weight you can handle for 8 reps than you work up again till you can do more than 12 reps. Each workout you have to push yourself to the limit.

This routine gave me great gains.

Eat big and train big! Good luck!


*beginner = person who hasn't train yet, or hasn't followed a specific routine yet
*intermediate = person who already has followed a specific routine for at least 6 months



Reg Park

My own story

First of all I'll you tell my story. How I've been training, my diets, my progression,...

I've been training since 2 years. Most of the time I've been doing full body workouts, with the old school methods. this means I trained 3 times a week and only doing a few basic, heavy compound movements like bench press, squats and bent rowing. I've never taken any drugs or supplement (except protein powder).

Two years ago I was really skinny with a bodyweight of 62 kilos and was 1m75 tall. After one year of training I gained 17 kilos. In my second year of training I dropped my bodyweight at 74 kilos. My goal this year is to gain 2 or 3 kilos of pure muscle.

To me bodybuilding is more than a sport. It's a healthy lifestyle. Anyone can feel better by doing sport and eating healthy.

In my next post I'll give you a beginners programm and I'll explain why it's important to start with the basic movements.


Bruno

Welcome

Hi, my name is Bruno. I’m a 21 year old Belgian student and classic physique builder. With this blogspot I want to help other people who want to start (or already are) bodybuilding without using steroids or other drugs.

Sometimes it’s difficult to find adequate information. Most of the muscle magazines or internet sites are based on steroid users. That’s why I want to give to you normal workouts, diets, … that help you to gain mass without having to use expensive supplements. My big influences are Steve Reeves, George Eiferman, Reg Park, Bob Gallucci,…


Steve Reeves