GYMEASY

them they gain results purely from the drugs they have used where as when the normal, all natural guy does it….well the results fall flat of 0.

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That isn't to discredit the true hard workers out there that put the time and effort into their body and deliver good inspiring routines with great information, but with so many to choose from it's difficult to know who's true and who isn't.

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So what should you do?

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When it comes to designing your own workout routine, the key thing to remember is your own limits.

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“What can you do and what can’t you do?”

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Whatever you answer is, the same rules apply: Focus on exercises that work the entire body first then move onto the isolation moves. What this does is allows your entire body to grow as one so no one muscle group is weaker than the other, otherwise this creates imbalances and can actually lead to poor results. After that you can incorporate moves to target a specific body part that you really want to focus on, say for example you want bigger arms (what man doesn’t?) after you’ve worked your body you can focus on them more at the end of your workout.

 

So, when making a workout program, first focus on starting off with THE BIG 3: The Bench Press, The Squat and The Deadlift. These 3 exercises are known as Compound Moves and target almost every muscle in your body when performed correctly. Other exercises like the Overhead Press, Barbell Row and the Pull-Up are also good examples and generally used alongside the big 3 to ensure every muscle is targetted throughout your body.

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You can create a decent ‘Full Body Workout‘ with just these moves alone and it’s a great start to building strength and muscle.

Afterwards you can then incorporate other exercises that target specific muscle groups, such as dumbbell curls and extentions, these are your isolation moves.

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For example, a typical Chest day routine may consist of:

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1. Bench Press (Compound) - Muscles Targetted: Chest, Shoulders, Triceps

2. Push Up (Compound) - Muscles Targetted: Chest, Shoulders, Triceps

3. Dumbbell Chest Fly (Isolation) - Muscles Targetted: Chest

4. Bench Dips (Isolation) - Muscles Targetted: Triceps

5. Overhead Tricep Extension (Isolation) - Muscles Targetted: Triceps

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As you can see, the majority of the focus is the chest but as we’re using exercises that

also work the triceps we can incorporate some exercises that isolate the triceps more!

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This kind of routine is commonly called a ‘Split routine’ and is used widely by bodybuilders where they will pair up muscle groups that work together into one routine, then on a following day focus on another set of muscle groups that pair up, for instance: back and biceps.

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However lets say for instance you want to make a back workout routine and you’ve decided to try doing Pull Ups (perhaps one of the hardest moves to master correctly) yet you cannot seem to do even one!

 

What can you do?

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Well there are lots of other exercises that you can do to replace the pull up for the time being, things like the lateral pull down on a cable machine or even a good old bentover barbell row. These will slowly increase your backs strength until one day you can successfully do a pull-up! When I started out I couldn’t do a single one properly, but with time they became one of my favourite moves to really broaden out my back, now I can knock out 4 sets of 10 without too much of a hinderance, which is a huge milestone compared to weak old me that could only just about do one!

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So what did I do? I did bentover barbell rows until I was rowing close to my bodyweight, then I went back to Pull Ups and worked on increasing my repetitions with them. Before long I was doing both exercises in my routine along with isolation moves to really pump up my back.

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Progress will occur with perseverance and once you understand your limits then you can design a workout routine for yourself that will give results and overtime will evolve along with you!

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To Summarize:

• Don’t blindly follow what others are doing, always find out the facts first.

• Build a routine using compound movements first, then follow with isolation movements for the best results.

• Always remember your limits! Build up momentum over time or you may risk an injury.

• Don’t be discouraged if you cannot perform a particular exercise right away. Work towards it by doing other exercises that are similar and then come back to it.

• Remember to persevere and keep progressing, when the weight becomes easy to lift, add more! Feel you can do another set? Add another! Can you do more reps? Go for it! Progress!