BEST BODYBUILDING EXERCISES
Are you ready to take your bodybuilding journey to the next level? Whether you’re a beginner just starting out or a seasoned gym-goer looking to optimise your workouts, incorporating the best bodybuilding exercises into your routine is essential to achieving your goals. In this blog, we’ll explore the top exercises that will help you build a strong and muscular physique.
There are certain exercises that induce muscle overload much more efficiently than others. By doing the "right" exercises you can build more muscle mass and strength in less time.
A compound exercise is a movement that involves more than one major muscle group. A compound exercise involves a "primary" muscle and one or more "secondary" muscles “
This are the top 3 most Compound Exercises:
• Bench Press
• Squats
• Deadlifts
With compound exercises much more weight can be lifted. More weight - more overload. In fact, compound exercises allow far much greater weight to be used than non-compound or isolation exercises. This enhances efficiency. More weight, more overload, more muscle.
It's important to take advantage of the increased power available with compound exercises
A major mistake I see many people make is trying to make an exercise more difficult. They do everything they can to work against the mechanics of their own body. They are under the false impression that the more difficult you make an exercise the more effective it is. Wrong!
Here are some examples of what people do to make an exercise more difficult:
• Bench pressing with their feet in the air
• Doing curls with their back against a wall
• Ultra slow reps
• Super strict form
The idea is not to make lifting the weight more difficult, the goal is to make lifting the weight more effective and more efficient at muscle fibre stimulation.
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Bench Press: Building a Powerful Upper Body
No bodybuilding routine is complete without the bench press, which primarily targets the chest muscles (pectoralis major and minor). The bench press also engages the triceps and front deltoids. By incorporating various grips and angles into your bench press routine, you can stimulate different muscle fibres and promote overall upper body strength and muscle development.
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Squats: The King of Exercises
When it comes to bodybuilding, squats reign supreme. This compound exercise targets multiple muscle groups, including the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and core. By performing squats with proper form and progressively increasing the weight, you can build overall lower body strength, increase muscle mass, and improve power. Don’t be surprised if you also notice improvements in your posture and balance.
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Deadlifts: Unleash Your Inner Strength
Another foundational exercise in bodybuilding, deadlifts engage several muscle groups, such as the hamstrings, glutes, lower back, and traps. Deadlifts not only help you develop a strong posterior chain but also improve grip strength and enhance overall athleticism. With proper technique and gradually increasing weights, deadlifts can contribute to a well-rounded and muscular physique.
DIVING INTO MUSCLE GROUPS EXERCISES
Muscular Anatomy of The Back
Your back is made of multiple muscles—honestly, too many to go in-depth about here. Luckily, when you work these prime movers, the others tend to get stimulated plenty, as well.
Latissimus Dorsi: The latissimus dorsi, or "lats," are probably the first muscles people think about for back training. They originate at the humerus—the upper arm bone—and connect to the scapula, the lower thoracic spine, and to the thoracolumbar fascia, the membrane covering the deep muscles of the back.
Your shoulders can extend, adduct, and internally rotate because of the lats. Strong, activated lats are especially important for pull-ups, heavy deadlifts, and other big pulls. And because they span such a large portion of your upper back, your lats are critically important if you want to build width and size.
Don't let your forearms hold you back on back day. Strap up to grow!
Trapezius: Your traps are bigger than you probably think they are. The three distinct subsets of your trapezius cover the middle of your back from head to tailbone: the upper trap starts at the base of your skull and attaches to your clavicle; the middle trap starts on your spine in your upper middle back and attaches to the scapula; and the lower trap originates at your lower middle spine and attaches to the scapula.
When you reach up, your upper and lower traps and serratus work together to upwardly rotate your shoulder blades. Your traps also help pull your shoulders together and slide them up or down your ribcage.
Rhomboids: The rhomboids are deep muscles that lie under the traps. They run at an angle from your thoracic spine to your scapula. Even though they're not superficial, you want to put emphasis on them because they're critical for front-to-back thickness.
Both the rhomboids and the middle and lower traps also play crucial roles in keeping your shoulders healthy and counterbalancing push-focused programming in the weight room.
Muscular Anatomy Of The Chest
Pectoralis Major
Your pectoralis major—your biggest chest muscle—has three sub-heads: the clavicular head, the sternal head, and the abdominal head. These heads are important to know because they can be specifically trained through particular movements.
Clavicular Head: The upper part of your pec major, the clavicular head runs from your clavicle (collarbone) across the top of your chest and attaches to your humerus, or upper arm. Most people struggle to build the top portion of their chest, so we'll pay special attention to this area.
Sternal Head: The sternal head is quite a bit larger than the clavicular head and runs from your sternum across your chest to insert at your humerus.
Sternum:
The sternum is a partially T-shaped vertical bone that forms the anterior portion of the chest wall centrally. The sternum is divided anatomically into three segments: manubrium, body, and xiphoid process. The sternum connects the ribs via the costal cartilages forming the anterior rib cage.
Muscular Anatomy of Glutes
Muscular Anatomy Of The Quadriceps
Your quads are made up of four main muscle groups—hence the prefix, "quad." These muscles work in concert to extend your knee, flex your hip, and power you through some of the heaviest exercises in the weight room.
Vastus Lateralis: Bodybuilders and physique athletes covet the outer thigh sweep that comes from developing your vastus lateralis, named for its location on the outside of your thigh. The muscle starts at the top of your femur (thigh bone) and attaches to the patellar tendon in your knee joint.
Vastus Medialis: That teardrop shape on your inner thigh comes from the vastus medialis. This muscle starts at the top of the femur and attaches to the patellar tendon on the inside of your leg.
Vastus Intermedius: The vastus intermedius is deep in the middle of your thigh. You can't see it because it's covered by the rectus femoris, but it also originates on the femur and attaches to the patellar tendon.
Rectus Femoris: This muscle is unique because it's the only one of your quadriceps muscles that crosses your hip. It connects at the top of the pelvis and comes down all the way to insert at the patellar tendon in the knee.
Muscular Anatomy Of The Hamstrings
If you want strong, defined legs, you need to spend as much time developing the back as you do the front. Healthy hamstrings don't just look great, they contribute to both knee stability and lower back health. They also power two big-time movements: hip extension (think deadlift) and knee flexion (think leg curl).
Here's what these powerhouse muscles are made of:
Biceps Femoris: A two-headed muscle, the long head runs from the ischial tuberosity—or the sitting bones—and attaches to the fibula. The short head originates on the back part of the femur and attaches to the fibula.
Semimembranosus: This wide, flat, and deep muscle originates at the ischial tuberosity and attaches at the tibia. It's more medial, or closer to the midline, than the semitendinosus.
Semitendinosus: The semitendinosus runs from the ischial tuberosity and also attaches to the tibia. This muscle is notable for the length of its tendon insertion, which can be partially removed to replace a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).
Full Anatomy Of Legs:
While a nice set of glutes is a must for any physique athlete, these muscles are also hugely important for keeping your trunk upright and protecting your lower back, in addition to working alongside the hammies to extend your hips.
Gluteus Maximus: The most visible and the largest glute muscle starts on your sacrum (the triangular bone at the base of the spine) and your lumbar fascia (connective tissue in your lower back) and attaches to your iliotibial tract, or your IT band, and your outer thigh.
Gluteus Medius: Most people aren't concerned with this muscle because it's deeper and you can't see it, but the glute medius is an important stabilizer of the hip and thigh. It runs from the top of your hip bone (the iliac crest) and attaches to your outer thigh.
Gluteus Minimus: Even deeper than the glute medius is your glute minimus. It's a very small muscle that starts on the outer portion of your hip and attaches to the outer thigh.
You can't have great legs without a good set of calves. The two main muscles in your calves are the gastrocnemius and the soleus, which both work to flex and point your foot.
Gastrocnemius: Unique because it crosses the back of the knee joint, the gastrocnemius has two heads, lateral and medial, which converge and attach to your Achilles tendon in your ankle.
Soleus: Deeper than the gastrocnemius, the soleus originates at the tibia and fibula and attaches to the Achilles tendon.
BICEPS MUSCLE ANATOMY & FUNCTION:
Biceps is the Latin term for two-headed muscle and the bicep is the main muscle of the anterior upper arm. The biceps short head starts on the scapula (near the ball and socket joint) and inserts into the forearm bone the radius. The biceps long head starts on the supraglenoid tubercle of the scapula (a small projection of the scapula near the shoulder joint) and inserts on the radius bone near the short head.
The biceps cross two joints, the elbow and shoulder, so it acts on both.
As a whole, the primary function of the biceps is elbow flexion (aka curls). The biceps supinate the forearm as well (rotate the forearm laterally), and this movement is more powerful when the elbow is flexed.
As for the individual heads, the biceps long head helps with shoulder abduction and inward rotation of the arm, and the biceps short head assists with shoulder adduction.
The biceps also aid the anterior deltoid with shoulder flexion and together with the triceps they support the humeral head in the shoulder joint for shoulder stability.
BODYWEIGHT EXERCISES?
When it comes to building muscle, you need two things, resistance and time under tension. Both of these can be achieved at home or in the gym. Your body doesn’t know what type of resistance you are applying to it. The body has no magic switch that determines whether you are working out with dumbbells or your bodyweight.
It just knows resistance, and bodyweight works fine for most body parts, including the biceps. With time under tension, it is thought you need to apply between 30 to 40 seconds per set to spark muscle growth. When you’re working with bodyweight, this is achieved in a few ways:
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More reps
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Slower rep speed on the concentric and eccentric contraction
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Pauses and isometric contractions
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All this can be done in the comfort of your own home, without any equipment.
It should be noted that we are NOT saying bodyweight biceps exercises are superior to dumbbell bicep exercises or any other equipment, or even that they are just as good, but we are saying that you can build big biceps without them.
Of course, if you do have access to equipment, you have a greater advantage of building your biceps because it's easier to progressive overload with weight and you'll have more exercise variety.
Muscular Anatomy of The Shoulders
One of the best ways to think about your shoulder muscles is in layers. The first layer of muscle around your shoulder joint is called the deltoid, which is made of three separated "heads."
All three heads of your delts work together for most movements. For example, any time you lift your arm overhead—like you would for an overhead press—all three of your deltoid heads move synergistically. You can also isolate each head once you know their specific movements.
Deltoid Anterior Head: Located on the front of your shoulder, the anterior head originates on the front of the clavicle, runs down and across, and attaches to your upper arm. The anterior delt powers shoulder flexion, which is raising your arm in front of your body as you would during a front raise.
Middle Head: This muscle lies just behind the anterior head. It begins at the top of your scapula, or the acromion process, and attaches to the outer portion of the upper arm. Your middle or lateral delts also help with shoulder flexion, but they are the primary muscle responsible for shoulder abduction, or when you bring your arms away laterally from the midline of your body, as in a lateral raise.
Posterior Head: The posterior head originates on the back of the scapula along the scapular spine and attaches to the back of the upper arm. Your posterior delts contribute heavily to shoulder extension, or when you bring your arm behind your torso either out to the side or with your hand pointed downward.
Take care of your joints so they'll keep supporting you every shoulder day—and every day, period!
The triceps, or triceps brachii, is the large muscle found at the back of the arm. As are other muscles of the arms and legs, the triceps muscle is a voluntary muscle, meaning it's a muscle you choose to move. Triceps are made up of skeletal muscle fibers that contract under conscious control. The triceps is a fusiform, or spindle-shaped, muscle that is wider in the middle and narrower at each end.
Anatomy of Triceps
"Triceps" means “three heads,” which refers to the subdivision of the triceps muscle into three different segments called heads. These include the:
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Long head: Running from the shoulder blade down along the length of the humerus (upper arm bone)
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Lateral head: Located on the outer side of the back of the arm
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Medial head: Located on the inner side of the back of the arm
All skeletal muscles connect to bones via tendons. Each head of the triceps has a separate short tendon that attaches the muscle heads to the shoulder blade and arm bones where they originate. All three heads merge together and form one thicker and longer tendon that attaches the entire muscle to the elbow.
Location
The triceps is located at the back of the upper arm and covers the majority of the backside of the humerus (upper arm bone). Each of the three heads of the triceps originates at a different location.
The long head originates at the infraglenoid tubercle, a ridge along the outermost portion of the shoulder blade that connects with the humerus to form the shoulder joint. The medial head and lateral head start at the medial (inner) and lateral (outer) sides of the upper portion of the humerus
All three muscle heads of the triceps run down the back of the arm and join close to the elbow to form one common tendon. This triceps tendon attaches to the olecranon process, the pointy projection at the end of the ulna bone of the forearm that forms the elbow
The triceps are the large muscles that encompass most of the back of the upper arm.
The lower arms have several muscle groups that move the wrist: supinators, pronators, flexors, and extensors.
Roles of the Forearms
The muscles in the forearms act in the following ways:
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On the hand by closing, opening, and turning it
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On the wrist by raising and lowering the hand
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On the elbow by raising and lowering the forearm
Whether it will be easy or difficult to develop your forearms is closely linked to the length of the muscles:
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The longer the muscles in the forearm are (and therefore the shorter their tendons are), the easier it will be to develop them. This does not mean that your forearm muscles are really strong; it means that you have good leverage. However, with muscles that are very long and well developed, you can have weak hands. In this case, it does not mean that your muscles are weak; it means that you do not have good leverage.
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The shorter the muscles are, the more difficult it will be to develop them. Unfortunately, you cannot lengthen a muscle because length is determined by genetics.
FOREARMS
Forearm Muscles Anatomy
The term forearm is used in anatomy to distinguish it from the arm, a word which is most often used to describe the entire appendage of the upper limb, but which in anatomy, technically, means only the region of the upper arm, whereas the lower “arm” is called the forearm.
The muscles in the forearms are numerous and complex. For the most part, they are polyarticular muscles. In strength training, you will focus on the following muscles:
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Brachioradialis – which flexes the arm when the hand is pronated;
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Wrist flexors – which lift the hand when it is pronated;
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Wrist extensors – which lift the hand when it is supinated;
There are more individual muscles in your forearm than in any other large muscle group. The forearm is a mass of some 20 different muscles. It has two separate muscle compartments: the flexor group on the palm side and the extensor group on the reverse side. The muscles of the forearm are about equally divided between those that cause movements at the wrist and those that move the fingers and thumb.
The lower arm, or forearms, are an often neglected muscle group. A well-muscled forearm isn’t as eye-catching as big biceps, but you need that strength, especially if you’re doing serious lifting and need to maximize grip strength. They are essentially impossible to hide and unlike biceps you don’t have to roll up your sleeves for people to see them! Forearms are almost always visible. They can be your greatest ally or your most dreadful foe.
They should be trained after the biceps and typically in the same workout because of the proximity of the biceps and forearms and because the forearms assist on biceps exercises. The major exercises for below the elbow are reverse curls (similar to standard curls, only with palms-down grip) and wrist curls. Hammer curls (in which the palms face each other) actually train both the biceps and the forearms and are good bridge between biceps and forearm exercise.
Human movement is dependent on the amount of range of motion (ROM) available in synovial joints. In general, ROM may be limited by 2 anatomical entities: joints and muscles. Joint restraints include joint geometry and congruency as well as the capsuloligamentous structures that surround the joint. Muscle provides both passive and active tension: passive muscle tension is dependent on structural properties of the muscle and surrounding fascia, while dynamic muscle contraction provides active tension. Structurally, muscle has viscoelastic properties that provide passive tension. Active tension results from the neuroreflexive properties of muscle, specifically peripheral motor neuron innervation (alpha motor neuron) and reflexive activation (gamma motor neuron).
CURRENT CONCEPTS IN MUSCLE STRETCHING FOR EXERCISE AND REHABILITATION
Rehabilitation
Stretching is a common intervention performed during rehabilitation. Stretching is prescribed to increase muscle length and ROM, or to align collagen fibers during healing muscle.
Several researchers have investigated different muscle stretching techniques on subjects with tight hamstrings. Some authors report that both static and pre-contraction stretching are able increase acute hamstring flexibility,47,54,89 while others suggest static stretching90–92 or PNF stretching10,71 are more effective. It appears that 6 to 8 weeks of static stretching is sufficient to increase hamstring length.14,93,94
Stretching is effective for the treatment of orthopedic conditions or injury; however, as with other populations, outcomes may be based on the individual patient. Static stretching has been shown to be more effective than dynamic stretching for those recovering from hamstring strains.95 In addition, it has been reported that athletes with hamstring strains recover faster by performing more intensive stretching than by performing less intensive stretching.96 Patients with knee osteoarthritis can benefit from static stretching to increase knee ROM;97 however, PNF stretching may be more effective.68 Chow et al reported that total knee replacement patients benefited from 2 weeks of either static, dynamic or PNF stretching to increase ROM.7