You walk into a 7-11 to purchase a soda. On the way to get your beverage you walk past the magazine section and see something that catches your eye. No, it’s not the hot girl in a bikini. It’s the extremely muscular guy flexing his biceps. You immediately think to yourself: “Wow, this guy is huge! I want to get like that”. So, the very same day you get a gym membership and make a commitment to yourself to increase your muscularity.
There’s just one problem. You don’t know what to do. You have only been in a gym in high school and you aren’t too familiar with the equipment. You think you remember how to bench press, but that one machine in the corner you couldn’t use it if your life depended on it. You then get on your phone and google: “exercises for bigger muscles” and it leads you to some YouTube video of a guy lifting weights. You try to copy what you see and maybe it works for you. However, more than likely it wont.
The reason it won’t work for you is because you can copy what you see someone else do, but if you don’t understand why they are doing what they are doing it won’t be very effective for you. It’s the same as copying off of another person during an exam. You both will have the same answers, but when the professor calls you to the board to explain your answer it will be very evident that you have no clue what you are doing. In this article, I want to help you begin building muscle, but the first thing you need to understand is that you have to want to learn how for yourself.
You cannot simply want to copy what I do, or do what I say, and not understand why. You must seek out the information yourself. If you have no desire to learn then your muscle building efforts will be in vain. The first think you need to do is look at a human anatomy visual chart. Look at the skeletal system and the muscular system. Discover where the different organs lay and also from where the Central Nervous System stems.

You need to learn the body first because you will have a better understanding of how the body is interconnected. You will see how our skeletal system is our structure and frame, but our muscular system is what allows the skeletal system to move. If you were to take away either system the body could not operate. Once you understand basic human anatomy you can then begin to shift your search towards exercise science. No, this does not mean that you have to go to some college, or get some certification. This means that you take what you have learned about the body and apply it to fitness and training.
Here is where people split and venture down different paths. Some people want to develop more muscularity overall. Others want bigger arms, or legs, or a bigger chest, etc. While others simply want to get stronger and are not so focused on muscularity. If you simply want to start building muscle and getting stronger overall then you need to begin resistance training that allows for you muscles to be targeted and broken down. The best form of resistance training that I can recommend is weight lifting. Whether it be with machines, or with free weights is up to you. I use both machines and free weights as a way to target muscles as a group and individually.
Start by performing basic compound movements. This means that you need to squat, bench press, dead lift, pull-ups, and dips. And you don’t have to lift extremely heavy. Using moderate weight that is a struggle to you will allow for you to sufficiently break down the muscle fiber in the beginning of your muscle building journey. These are great foundation movements that help to to establish a muscular base. What that means is that you won’t become overdeveloped in your secondary muscles like biceps, or triceps. While being underdeveloped in your primary muscles like back and chest. The guy who caught your attention on the magazine cover may have had huge biceps, but I can assure you that he also had a really developed back as well, you just couldn’t see it. Your back, or lats, is the primary muscle group and your biceps are the secondary.
You can build an impressive physique if you only stick to the basic compound movements listed above. However, if you want to become even more defined you can begin to perform exercises that isolate muscle groups such as calf raises, triceps press downs, and bicep curls. Understand that to build the physique that you desire it’s going to take some hard work. It won’t be easy. You have to study the knowledge, learn it, and the apply it day after day after day. Many people mess up in one of those stages and therefore they never achieve their goals. That doesn’t have to be you, however. Begin building your dream body today!