Forget what she says, size matters.
At least when it comes to physique it does.
It’s not often you’ll hear a women talk about how sexy Sheldon from Big Bang Theory is, but have you seen how the world has responded to Jason Mamoa as Aquaman?
It’s not surprising given how he has bulked up for the role.
A chiselled chest, bulging biceps and rock hard abs inspire confidence, they make a women feel safe and secure and make a man feel powerful.
Building a frame like that can be hard work, so how do you get it?
With these massive muscle building exercises of course.
If these aren’t in your routine then you’re missing out big time.
Read on to see what moves MUST be included in your training routine.1. Squats
It’s no wonder these are referred to as the king of all exercises.
A multi joint, compound exercise, it’s only right that as you’re trying to get bigger, you train the biggest muscles in the body.
Hitting your Quadriceps, Hamstrings, Glutes, Calfs, not to mention strengthening your back and your core, squats work some of the largest muscles in the body.
The squat should be a mainstay in your routine and you should include it 2-3 times a week, every week.
With variations such as the back squat, front squat, goblet squat and more, there’s enough to keep your workouts fresh whilst adding serious mass to your body.
2. Dead-lifts
If the squat is the king of all exercises, here we have a very close second.
Another multi joint compound exercise (see the theme here?) the Dead-lift engages multiple muscle groups, working more muscles in the body than any other exercise.
The back, legs, glutes, arms, shoulders and traps are all put under stress giving you a great full body workout.
If performed correctly, the Deadlift has the ability to build unparalleled muscle to multiple parts of the body and help you aid mass whilst also strengthening your core and your back, which in turn helps you to reduce your risk of injury in the future.
3. Barbell Bench Press
Although the primary focus is obviously the chest, your shoulders, triceps, legs, back and core also share some of the load.
A MUST for anyone wanting to add shirt popping muscle to their chest, the bench press can also be done with dumbbells.
With variations such as decline, incline and flat, the bench press, in its many forms, is the perfect move for adding size to your chest and giving you the look most gym goers’ desire.
4. Hip Thrusts
The gluteus maximus (known simply as the glutes), by volume, is the biggest muscle in the human body.
But building up the glutes is not simply an exercise to rival a Kardashian; they serve a much bigger purpose.
They help to abduct, rotate and extend the hip, stabilize the pelvis and lower back and help to improve posture.
They also play a massive role in athletic performance, whether running, sprinting or jumping.
The glutes are one of the most important muscles to train and doing it the right way, growing bigger and stronger, will round out your physique to give you the all-round look you desire.
Want to train your glutes effectively and ensure you’re growing them correctly?
Well the barbell Hip Thrust is all you need.
Sure, you get some glute activation in the Squat and Deadlift, but isolating them with the Hip Thrust allows you to achieve greater muscle activation.
As Bret ‘The Glute Guy’ Contreras has said time and time again, this enables you to grow and develop the glutes much more effectively, which in turn, aids strength when deadlifting or squatting.
The glutes are the starting point for so many exercises and having strong, developed glutes is smart if you want to reach your full potential in your other major lifts.
5. Pull-ups
The pull-up, regarded as possibly the best exercise to do for building your lats, comes in different formats, you can either have your grip pronated, supinated or neutral and it’s amazing for developing the lats, upper and mid-back, biceps, and forearms and can help you add serious size to your frame.
Not only does it lead to a thick wide back (which in turn improves your physique and can lead to the illusion of a smaller waist), but it builds sufficient strength across the body to compliment and aide other movements and exercises.
Through developing the muscles in the back and also strengthening your core, as you improve your performance in pull-ups, you’ll see your Deadlift, Squat, Row and even Bench press improve too.
With slight variations in posture the pull up can also be a great lower ab exercise.
Pull ups are one of the hardest exercises to do, but through starting with a support band or only completing the eccentric phase of the move, you’ll improve in no time at all.
Conclusion
You want to pack on muscle right? Well do them all!
There are other moves which could have been considered, the push press, bent over row or maybe even something a little different like the Romanian dead-lift or weighted dips, but the truth is these 5 are going to give you the biggest gains as you strive to build muscle.
Many of these are true compound exercises, working multiple joints and muscles at once, meaning each one is like its own little full body workout.
This means that while you’re building up your muscle, you’re also creating a bigger metabolic affect, torching more fat as you do.
It goes without saying that your nutrition is important when trying to build muscle and that you should be eating according to your goals, to actually fuel the muscles and help them to grow.
But exercise choice is equally as important.
I see it often in the gym, the guy who wants to get bigger legs but only eve does isolation leg extensions and focuses on one muscle.
OR the girl who wants to develop her back but is scared to try pull ups.
There are some great exercises out there and these should make up part of your routine, but the 5 above should form the starting block for any program you are completing.
By prioritizing these, eating correctly and remaining consistent, be prepared to see huge gains in no time at all.
