The Three Best Mass-building Weight Exercises (tutorial And Pictures). Building large muscles using weights

[Yratorm, LightMage 0]

The Three Basic Weight Exercises for Building Heavy Muscle

Hi everyone, this post is the result of several PM I received from various members like bk2070, requesting a weight training program that concentrated on building muscle mass.

So I've put down a tutorial on the three best mass-building free-weight exercises below. These exercises are ONLY for building heavy muscle mass - I'll be putting up a different tutorial targeting specific muscle groups such as the biceps, triceps, traps, lats, etc.

This set of exercises are solely for mass-building.

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A little note about my costume in these pictures - I HAD taken these pictures in everyday garb, but those photos came out blurry. Anyway, the friend of mine who's been taking the pics for these tutorials happened to drop in just as I was finishing giving a martial arts class (I'm a martial arts instructor in the east), and he suggested taking the pictures again right away. So we did.

Anyway, they came out good and clear, so here they are - please ignore the costume, it's just the usual 'gi' (training outfit) in my Ryu (martial arts school). I sincerely hope you don't mind.

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Okay, that said, down to the tutorial.


THE BASICS OF WEIGHT TRAINING:

IMPORTANT - How much weight to lift, and how many repetitions to do:

How do you know how much weight to lift? It's simple:
If you can do less than ten repetitions of an exercise continuously, then the weight is too heavy for you. If you can do more than ten repetitions continuously, then it is too light.

If you're just starting out training with weights, start your weight training with just one set of ten repetitions of each exercise.

Once your body adapts to this, increase the sets per exercise to three - the first set should be done with a slightly heavier weight than you can manage - you should just be able to do just 6 to 8 repetitions with this weight. The next set should be done with a 'normal' weight, and 10 repetitions. The third set should be done with a slightly lighter weight than what you can manage, and you should do between 12 to 15 repetitions.

Try to increase the amount of weight that you can lift week by week. Push yourself, and your body will adapt. Even an increase of one rep in a set IS an increase - remember that.

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Some other important points:

1) Warming up:

It is CRUCIAL to warm up before heavy weight training. I would suggest you run to the Gym at a moderate pace (if it's not too far away), or take a run around the block. Then circle your arms a bit, stretch, bend forwards and back, turn your torso, stretch again, and generally loosen and prepare your muscles and tendons. Then do about five to ten push-ups, crunches and knee bends. Now you are ready to move on to the weights.

If you take a break during your training, be sure not to let your body 'cool-down'. Wrap up in a towel or a robe or whatever is convenient, and only then rest before your next set. Keep your body warm and you will reduce muscle fatigue.

Lastly, it is equally important to cool-down the body AFTER your weight training, by doing some light stretching, running and a few light exercises.

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2) The Total Duration of a Training Session:

This is a crucial point. A training session MUST NOT go on for longer than an hour. Keep an eye on the watch as you train. After an hour of rigorous training, toxins build up in your body and heavy muscle fatigue sets in. Any training done after this point is usually wasted. Keep your weight training sessions short and intense and you will see gains.

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3) Diet:

Eat a great deal of lean meat with some potatoes as a basis of your diet, with plenty of fruits and vegetables. The meat should be divided into six portions and eaten at six different times in the day, with at least one and a half hours between each time. Other acceptable sources of protein are eggs, fish and poultry. You should take in at least between 150 to 200 grams of protein every day if you're working hard at your weight training.

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4) Water:

Remember, your body is mostly water - it is actually one of the building materials your body needs! Drink PLENTY of water every day. You must never at any time be thirsty.

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5) Sleep:

Sleep well. Your training will place an increasing stress on your body - your body needs rest to repair itself and build new muscle tissue. You need between 8 to 10 hours of sleep a day.

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And now to the exercises..

Exercise 1) The Bench Press:

The Bench Press is one of the best exercises for building strength and muscle mass in the arms, upper-body and chest. Do it as described below..

BENCH PRESS - STEP 1:

Lie on your back on the bench, with your feet placed firmly on the floor, and widely enough to afford you a good balance. Make sure your head, back and behind rest comfortably on the bench. Roll your shoulders back and down so that your shoulder-blades are firmly positioned on the bench, and your chest is sticking up.

Move your your hands as they will move when you are doing the bench press (but without the weight) once or twice, to ensure that you are comfortable.

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BENCH PRESS - STEP 2:

Now grip the weight with your hands a little more than shoulder width apart. Lift the weight off the rack and hold it above you with your arms straight up and extended. Look at the image..

Note that you should always have someone to 'spot' you as you do the bench-press - that is, someone to stand with his hands on the weight should your muscles fail - you don't want that weight pinning you to the bench.

The reason there is no one spotting me here is that the weight shown is about one third what I usually do, and thus light enough so that there is no danger. But you should NEVER do this exercise at anywhere near your limit without a partner. I don't.

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BENCH PRESS - STEP 3:

Now lower the weight to your chest, so that the bar crosses your chest just about level with your arm-pits. Breath IN as the weight is lowered.

Don't let the weight rest on your chest - let it stop within an inch of your chest. The weight should rest on the hands and arms, even in the 'lowered' position.

DO NOT 'bounce' the weight off your chest or anything of the sort. Treat the weight with great respect - as you increase the amount you lift, carelessness handling the weight could result in serious injury.

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BENCH PRESS - STEP 4:

Now, slowly and smoothly, push the weight up again, using the muscles of your chest and arms. EXHALE as you push the weight up.

You have now completed one repetition of this exercise. Lower the weight again, INHALING as you lower it, to continue with your repetitions.

This exercise can also be performed using dumbbells. Both methods are effective

Note: DO NOT snap the elbows inwards as the weight reaches the top. Your elbows must remain slightly bent as the weight reaches the top.

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I have already covered how to decide what weight is 'right' for you, and how many repetitions and sets to do for an exercise in the basics section at the top of this post.

Start out with only as much weight as you can handle (DON'T injure yourself) - your ultimate aim (over several months) should be to slowly increase the weight to at least 200 pounds for the bench-press.

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Exercise 2) Shoulder Press:

Variations:
This exercise can also be performed seated.
You can also lower the bar behind your head instead of in front. Be careful, though, there have been serious injuries to the neck suffered by some people who carelessly did a behind-the-neck shoulder press. If you do this variation of the exercise, please do it carefully.

This exercise works the deltoids or shoulders. To begin, put as much weight as you can handle on the bar and lift it from the rack with a grip a little wider than your shoulders.

SHOULDER PRESS - STEP 1:

Now, lift the weight up to your chest, to the position shown. The exercise is begun in this position. Breathe IN deeply.

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SHOULDER PRESS - STEP 2:

Now raise the weight smoothly straight up over your head as shown below. Keep your back straight as you do it. Breathe OUT as you raise the weight.

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SHOULDER PRESS - STEP 3:

Now, lower the weight to the level of your upper chest again. Keep your back straight as you do it. Breath IN as you lower the weight.

You have now completed one repetition of this exercise

Note: DO NOT snap the elbows inwards as the weight reaches the top. Your elbows must remain slightly bent as the weight reaches the top.

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I have already covered how to decide what weight is 'right' for you, and how many repetitions and sets to do for an exercise in the basics section at the top of this post.

Start out with only as much weight as you can handle (DON'T injure yourself) - your ultimate aim (over several months) should be to slowly increase the weight to at least 200 pounds for the shoulder-press.

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Exercise 3) Squats:

This exercise works the muscles of the legs and lower back, and most especially the thighs.

SQUATS- STEP 1:

Load as much weight as you can handle on a bar and take it off a squat rack. Or have a friend help you raise the weight over your head and on to your shoulders (taking it off a squat rack is better). Be careful to rest the weight on your shoulders as shown in the picture and not your neck. This is crucial - do NOT rest the weight on your neck.

Get in a comfortable upright stance with your feet shoulder width apart or slightly wider. Your toes should be pointed slightly outward. They should NEVER be pointed inward.

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SQUATS- STEP 2:

Now do the squat: Keeping your heels planted firmly on the floor and your back straight at all times, go down into a 'sitting position' with the weight on your shoulders.

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SQUATS- STEP 3:

Slowly, smoothly, straighten your legs to stand up again. Imagine that you are pushing the earth away with your feet, and you'll get the movement right. When pushing back up, always push through the heels, not the toes.

Note: The movement is up and down. There should be no sideways movement of any kind during the squat. Keep your back straight and chest up at all times.

Breathe IN as you go down, breathe OUT as you rise up again. Keep your back as straight as you can when you do this exercise.

You have now done one repetition of this exercise.

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I have already covered how to decide what weight is 'right' for you, and how many repetitions and sets to do for an exercise in the basics section at the top of this post.

Start out with only as much weight as you can handle (DON'T injure yourself) - your ultimate aim (over several months) should be to slowly increase the weight to at least 300 to 600 pounds for the squats.

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That's it. These three exercises are heavy compound exercises and trigger the production of the body's natural growth hormones. This in turn triggers considerable muscle development and increased mass.


Make sure you don't over-train - that is, ensure that you have days on which your muscles rest and recuperate. As you add more exercises to your routine (for the biceps, etc.) you can divide the exercises - do arms on one day, legs on another, abs and other muscle groups on a third, etc.

A simple rule to follow is not to train if the muscle is sore - this means it has not recovered properly from the last session. If you follow the simple rules I put forward in the beginning regarding an adequate diet, water intake and sleep, your body should recover as fast as is humanly possible.

Also, do some aerobic exercises on at lease one day a week - running, cycling, rowing, hiking, strenuous martial arts workouts - whatever appeals to you. This helps burn off the fat layer and makes your muscles more defined.

I will be posting more tutorials regarding working specific muscle groups - however, where sheer mass building is concerned, I believe that the above exercises are some of the best.

I hope this will be of use to those who've requested it, and to others as well. Take care, all.

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- - - Sincerely, Yratorm.
Edited February 18, 2007 by Yratorm, LightMage (see edit history)

[Hagar9999 0]

Nice. A bit out of my league (I'm an ooolldd man - kiddin, kiddin - well, not that old, really, hahahahahhahahha. But still nice. Good work.

[Yratorm, LightMage 0]

Hmm - Hagar9999, I think you requested something on losing weight in one of my other posts - I'll have it up as soon as I can. For now, there's a new thread I put up on 'metabolism and how to control it' that may help you with controlling weight. I'll have more info on this issue up as soon as I can ('earning a living' leaves one so little time for things one really likes to do, arrgghh, hehehe). Take care, all.- - - Yratorm.

[ellentemplar 0]

good stuff, Yratorm. Nice training outfit too I still think you're Ninja Did you read what I wrote on some other thread about starting a self defense thread or two? I think you'd be a natural, hehe. Take care

[me_boxer_dude 0]

I wont say that this is something new for me as I am already aware of most mass building techniques to speak of however I am just adding this reply to applaud your sincere efforts in the health and fitness section. Good work Yratorm, LightMage. Still one thing, what about the fancy costume and the exotic setup and all in the pics? Is that really you or have you taken the pics off of some site or something?

[Yratorm, LightMage 0]

To me_boxer_dude:

 

Hehe, that's me, me_boxer_dude.

 

The setup/background is exotic cause it's a Ryu (martial arts school) on the slopes of the Himalayas; I'm an instructor there now after being a student for years. I'd actually taken these pics in an 'everyday' outfit at first, but people where I am can't handle cameras too well, so all the original pictures came out blurry - so when someone very kindly offered to take the pics again just after I'd given a class, I agreed. Hence the costume.

Well, I was in a hurry to get this up cause some guys here had specifically requested it. I figured the costume didn't matter.

 

 

Oh, and from reading some of your other posts I'd agree that none of these exercises is new to you indeed I remember you packing tons of good advice into a single paragraph in one of your posts on exercise

 

I've put this up basically for thin people who wanted to put on weight - these guys were just eating all day long, and sure they'll put on weight that way, but probably the wrong kind - this way at least they can eat and build/put on the 'right' kind of weight instead.

 

By the way, as ellen said in her post, something on self-defence/training tips would be nice - you want to put up a thread on those lines? I'm sure you have stuff to share there. Just a suggestion, nothing more. Will probably put something up myself as well. Take care.

 

Oh, off-topic, but this is a pic of me in the 'dojo' without the mask

 

Yup, I know, it's blurry too, hehehehehhe. Would have been a nice pic if it wasn't.

Edited February 18, 2007 by Yratorm, LightMage (see edit history)

[iGuest 3]

WOW, great information. I've never done any weight lifting in my life and I want to do it now. I am a 53 year old man, 5'10"; although my weight is 217 lbs I have thin arms, I would like to have them thicker. My health is good and I do exercise once on a while. So, Any suggestions?

[ipin 0]

Are you a Ninja ?but its only for upper muscle build

[niklophiliac 0]

WOW!!Detailed and well explained. I must say this is a brilliant explaination and a most descriptive thread.I think i have given it a thorough read and find it much better than most books that are available on the subject.Kudos!!!!

[zakaluka 0]

Very nice summary of exercises. I have been following Rippetoe's workout for a while now, and those exercises are key to building strength and mass.Regards,z.