Muscle building workout plans don't have to be complicated. It may seem that way because of the constant bombardment of ?new? and ?breakthrough? and ?underground? strategies and ?secret? workout techniques appearing in magazines, books, videos and online.
But effective muscle building workout plans don't need to be that difficult. There are certain rules or principles that need to be followed for a routine to be effective and get results.
One of the most important concepts, especially for beginners, is that of progressive overload. Over time, you want to increase the number or repetitions you do with a certain weight, and also add more weight over time.
For example, if you can bench press 150 pounds for eight repetitions, you want to keep trying to do more reps until you can get twelve repetitions with 150 pounds. When you can do that, add five pounds to the bar and use 155 pounds in the next workout. You might only get eight reps but that's okay. Over time, work up to twelve reps again and then add more weight.
One great idea is to pick a range of repetitions, like 8 to 10 and when you can get 10 reps with a weight, add a little more weight to the bar for the next workout. Then keep that weight the same until you can get 10 reps again.
Unless you're a beginner, strength gains like this won't always be consistent. You may get stuck at a weight for a while.
Good muscle building workout plans focus on the big, basic, compound exercises done with barbells and dumbbells, not machines.
This means exercises like barbell squats, deadlifts, bench press, curls, shoulder press and great body weight exercises like chin ups and dips.
A great routine to use might look like this:
Monday
Hit Barbell Squats, Chin ups, the Barbell Bench Press and the Standing Dumbbell Press for 4 sets of 8 reps each.
If you're not strong enough to do chin ups yet, use the lat pulldown machine.
Wednesday
Barbell Deadlift ? 5 sets of 5 reps
Standing Dumbbell Curls ? 4 sets of 8 reps
You'll also do Incline Dumbbell Curls for the biceps, for three sets of eight reps
Tricep Pressdown ? 4 sets of 10 reps
Lying Tricep Extensions ? 3 sets of 12 reps
Friday
Monday
Hit Barbell Squats, Chin ups, the Barbell Bench Press and the Standing Dumbbell Press for 4 sets of 8 reps each.
If you're not strong enough to do chin ups yet, use the lat pulldown machine.
Work hard on this muscle building plan for 8 to 12 weeks, eat plenty of protein and calories and you should see some great progress.