Moving From Beginner To Intermediate Level Bodybuilding

By now you’ve made significant progress in your bodybuilding career. For the past three to six months you’ve learnt how to perform the core lifting exercises in a technically correct manner. You’ve also conditioned the body and developed sufficient core strength to prepare yourself for a whole new level of intensity. Hopefully you’ve also built some rock solid muscle! But that’s only the beginning.

In recent weeks your workouts have probably lost some of their effect so, even though you’re lifting bigger weights, your muscles now need even greater stimulation to generate maximal growth. Don’t expect miracles though – from this point onwards, every little bit of improvement will take even greater and more intensive work than before.

Because you’ll be working your muscles more intensively, they’ll also need more recovery time to adapt and grow and that’s why you’ll be reducing your workouts to three a week. Each primary muscle group trained will now need one full week to recover. After being used to whole body sessions and more workouts per week it may seem as if you’re not doing enough but the point is, you’ll be working your muscles very, very intensively and making better use of your time.

As you gain more experience you’ll be able to tweak or re-design your basic muscle building program to suit your own individual needs, but the program described here should provide a useful starting point. What I’m proposing is basically a 3-split of the body on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

MONDAY (Chest, Triceps, Shoulders)

1. Chest Exercises

Incline dumbbell press – this is a compound exercise that targets the chest but also works the triceps and shoulders to a lesser extent.

Pec-deck flye – this is an isolation exercise that works the pectorals.

2. Triceps

Dips – this compound exercise targets the triceps but also works the chest and shoulders.

3. Shoulders

Front military press – this compound exercise targets shoulders but also works the triceps.

Dumbbell lateral raises – this isolation exercise works the shoulders only.

Bentover dumbbell laterals – this isolation exercise works the rear delts.

WEDNESDAY (Back, Biceps, Forearms)

1. Back

Front lat pulls – compound exercise that targets lats but also works the biceps and mid-back.

Deadlifts – compound exercise that targets the back and quads but also works hamstrings, calves and glutes.

Dumbbell rows – compound exercise that targets mid-back but also works biceps and lats.

Dumbbell shrugs – isolation exercise that works traps.

2. Biceps

Dumbbell biceps curl – isolation exercise that works the biceps.

Dumbbell hammer curls – isolation exercise that works the biceps.

3. Forearms

Barbell wrist curl – isolation exercise that works the forearms.

FRIDAY (Lower Body)

1. Legs

Squats or leg press – compound exercise that targets the quads but also works the hamstrings, calves and glutes.

Leg extension – isolation exercise that works the quads.

Leg curls – isolation exercise that works the hamstrings.

Standing calf raise – isolation exercise that works the gastrocnemius calf muscle.

Seated calf raise – isolation exercise that works the soleus calf muscle.

You could start this program by aiming for two sets of 8-10 reps per exercise but as your strength and size increase you should really introduce techniques that boost the intensity even further. This can be achieved in a number of ways including the use of pre-exhaustion, super sets, partial reps, isometric contractions and forced reps. These techniques are covered in detail elsewhere in this series of articles.

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The Truth About Achieving A Ripped Rock Solid Chest

Everyone wants a huge chest, plain and simple. It is all too common to see inexperienced lifters slaving away on endless sets of bench presses and cable crossovers in search of full, thick pecs. The reality is that there is nothing complicated about building an impressive chest. The bottom line for huge chest gains is consistency, effort and steady progression in weight and repetitions.

The chest is made up of two main heads, the pectoralis major and the pectoralis minor. To stimulate the chest using weights you will be using one of two motions: a press or a flye. If you want the greatest bang for your buck from your chest workouts, the true gains lie in your pressing movements. Flyes may have their place from time to time, but nothing can compare to the overall anabolic effect of high intensity pressing movements. I’m talking about the basic, bread-and-butter lifts such as heavy barbell presses, dumbbell presses and wide-grip dips. Save the pec-deck and cable crossovers for the pencil necked geeks on the treadmill; real men train with real lifts.

Like I said before, building a thick and well-developed chest is fairly simple. There are no secrets, magic formulas or killer techniques that will “shock” your chest into massive growth. Stick to your basic presses, focus on overload and progression, and I promise that you will see impressive gains. Here are the most effective lifts for packing muscle onto the chest:

Flat/Incline/Decline Barbell Bench Press:

A standard barbell press is the meat and potatoes of any effective chest routine. This basic compound movement will allow you to handle the most weight through the given range of motion. The incline press will shift more of the stress to the upper region of the chest while the decline does the opposite, targeting the lower/outer region. The flat bench press works the upper and lower regions equally. I highly recommend a standard barbell press as a basic component of your chest routine.

Flat/Incline/Decline Dumbbell Press:

Dumbbell presses are another basic and highly effective movement for stimulating chest development. The main advantage that they have over the barbell is that they allow you to move through a more natural range of motion, helping to prevent shoulder injuries. They also prevent strength imbalances from occurring since one arm can’t cheat for the other. The only drawback is that you are not able to handle as much weight. Overall, a standard dumbbell press is an awesome movement that allows for great chest stimulation.

Wide-Grip Dips:

An amazing movement for the chest that is often overlooked. Make sure to use a wider grip and lean forward to shift the stress from the triceps onto the pectorals. If pressing your own body weight is not sufficient then you can always add weight using a weight belt. Dips are an excellent compound movement for overall chest development.

Here are a couple sample chest routines:

1) Flat Barbell Bench Press: 2 x 5-7

Incline Dumbbell Press: 2 x 5-7

Wide-Grip Dips: 2 x 5-7

2) Incline Barbell Bench Press: 2 x 5-7

Wide-Grip Dips: 2 x 5-7

Flat Dumbbell Press: 2 x 5-7

All sets should stay within the 5-7 rep range and should be taken to complete muscular failure. Write down the details of each workout you perform and focus on progressing in either weight or reps from week to week. There is nothing more to it than that. Good luck!

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Know Your Muscle Building Exercises The Shoulders

Every bodybuilder and weight trainer will have his or her favorite exercises for each body part. That’s how it should be – as you progress through the various stages of learning you’ll understand what works best for you. It is useful, however, to take stock of your progress every so often and carry out an analysis of where you are and what changes, if any, are needed to move onwards and upwards.

Part of this analysis should include an assessment of the core exercises that make up your bodybuilding training program. In this article we’ll look at the shoulder exercises that have proven their worth to serious bodybuilders for many years. All exercises should be performed to failure with one set of six to eight reps.

1. Dumbbell lateral raises – this exercise provides the best way to develop the lateral head of the deltoid.

- Hold the dumbbells at the sides with the palms facing the thighs.

- Raise the arms up and to the sides until parallel to the floor. Make sure the elbows remain slightly bent.

- Pause.

- Lower with control to the starting position.

2. Bent-over dumbbell lateral raises.

- Bend over at the waist with the knees slightly bent.

- Raise the arms up and to the sides as high as possible.



- Lower with control to the starting position.

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Moving From Beginner To Intermediate Level Bodybuilding

By now you’ve made significant progress in your bodybuilding career. For the past three to six months you’ve learnt how to perform the core lifting exercises in a technically correct manner. You’ve also conditioned the body and developed sufficient core strength to prepare yourself for a whole new level of intensity. Hopefully you’ve also built some rock solid muscle! But that’s only the beginning.

In recent weeks your workouts have probably lost some of their effect so, even though you’re lifting bigger weights, your muscles now need even greater stimulation to generate maximal growth. Don’t expect miracles though – from this point onwards, every little bit of improvement will take even greater and more intensive work than before.

Because you’ll be working your muscles more intensively, they’ll also need more recovery time to adapt and grow and that’s why you’ll be reducing your workouts to three a week. Each primary muscle group trained will now need one full week to recover. After being used to whole body sessions and more workouts per week it may seem as if you’re not doing enough but the point is, you’ll be working your muscles very, very intensively and making better use of your time.

As you gain more experience you’ll be able to tweak or re-design your basic muscle building program to suit your own individual needs, but the program described here should provide a useful starting point. What I’m proposing is basically a 3-split of the body on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

MONDAY (Chest, Triceps, Shoulders)

1. Chest Exercises

Incline dumbbell press – this is a compound exercise that targets the chest but also works the triceps and shoulders to a lesser extent.

Pec-deck flye – this is an isolation exercise that works the pectorals.

2. Triceps

Dips – this compound exercise targets the triceps but also works the chest and shoulders.

3. Shoulders

Front military press – this compound exercise targets shoulders but also works the triceps.

Dumbbell lateral raises – this isolation exercise works the shoulders only.

Bentover dumbbell laterals – this isolation exercise works the rear delts.

WEDNESDAY (Back, Biceps, Forearms)

1. Back

Front lat pulls – compound exercise that targets lats but also works the biceps and mid-back.

Deadlifts – compound exercise that targets the back and quads but also works hamstrings, calves and glutes.

Dumbbell rows – compound exercise that targets mid-back but also works biceps and lats.

Dumbbell shrugs – isolation exercise that works traps.

2. Biceps

Dumbbell biceps curl – isolation exercise that works the biceps.

Dumbbell hammer curls – isolation exercise that works the biceps.

3. Forearms

Barbell wrist curl – isolation exercise that works the forearms.

FRIDAY (Lower Body)

1. Legs

Squats or leg press – compound exercise that targets the quads but also works the hamstrings, calves and glutes.

Leg extension – isolation exercise that works the quads.

Leg curls – isolation exercise that works the hamstrings.

Standing calf raise – isolation exercise that works the gastrocnemius calf muscle.

Seated calf raise – isolation exercise that works the soleus calf muscle.

You could start this program by aiming for two sets of 8-10 reps per exercise but as your strength and size increase you should really introduce techniques that boost the intensity even further. This can be achieved in a number of ways including the use of pre-exhaustion, super sets, partial reps, isometric contractions and forced reps. These techniques are covered in detail elsewhere in this series of articles.

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