Summers over guys, its time to hit the gym and add some mass. Everyone’s looking to diet now and lose weight from all thos summer bbq’s and beers to get that perfect six-pack but lets be real, we’ve all seen some anorexic guy with a six pack and he doesn’t exactly represent the perfect fitness specimen. Don’t be fooled, Mass counts and I hate to say it but Bigger is Better.
Now’s the perfect time to gain its starting to get cold out, your going out with jackets and sweaters, holiday’s around the corner so you know your goin to be eating more and as long as you work out lets turn that food into fuel for our muscles, and lets face it you know you want to surprise everybody next summer when you take off your shirt. In this article I’m goin to list the best lifts for adding mass and strength.
Deadlifts
Probably one of the best compound excercises to add mass. Start with an barbell on the ground with a light weight on each side (just for now to get the corrrect form, because majority of the people I see at the gym are doing these wrong). Now position your feet flat on the floor with a shoulder width distance apart while resting the barbell against your shins. Squat down while keeping your your chest and back flat, and take a staggered grip (right hand palm facing you and left hand palm facing away from you or vice versa). Now press your feet to the ground while keeping your arms straight and drag the bar up your legs until your in a standing position. Make sure while your standing you squeeze/flex all the muscles in your back and legs before lowering the weight. Note: Never let your knees go passed your toes during any part of this workout. Now that might sound hard in the beginning to keep your balance and lift heavy but remember forms more important that numbers. Their are many different variations to the deadlift ie… Dumbell Deadlift, Stiff-Legged Deadlift, Romanian Deadlift, Sumo Deadlift, etc… All are minor variations of the original and tweak different muscles, but if your just beginning your better off starting with the original
Squats
Another exericise great for mass. Because your legs are so dense with muscle you’ll get an awesome anabolic effect (increases Testosterone, HGH, all the good stuff) from squats. But like the deadlift a lot of people are doing them incorrectly. Start with feet shoulder-width distance apart with barbell resting on your back at the base of your neck. While lowering your body you want to keep your back straight ( straight doesn’t mean perpendicular to the floor or parallel to the wall (showing off my geometry skills…lol) this just means you never want to curl your back, you can lean slightly lean foward to gain balance but never arch/curve your back) and remember never let your knees go past your toes. While coming back to a standing position always stay in control of the weight and keep good form. Like deadlifts there are also many different variations to the squat, if your an extreme begginer you might want to start with dumbell squats instead of barbell. But once you get comfortable I would suggest trying them all out Front Squat, Zercher Squat, Box Squat, etc…
Bench Press
Amazing for your chest, shoulders, and triceps. Everytime I’m in the gym I see people using these crazy contraptions that supposedly work your chest and i’ll be honest i’ve tried them and I don’t see what all the hype is about. Any big guy at the gym will tell you, you want a big chest, bench is the answer. Start off lying on your back on the bench, keep the weight light at first to get the correct form, now heres the important part, you want to position so when you lower the barbell(right below your nipple) both your arms come to a 90 degree angle (both your arms are making the letter L (obviously your left arm will make the L and your right arm will make the reverse of an L). Now push the weight back up without locking your arms or curling your shoulders. Other variants include close grip bench, wide grip bench, dumbell press, incline/decline press.
Military Press
Probably one of the best exercises for building huge shoulders. For these you want to start with either a standing or seated position (I’ve noticed that the seated position tends to really isolate your shoulder and really makes it hard to cheat). Place your hands on the barbell slightly more than shoulder width apart. Now push the weight above your head while staying in control. Now lower the weight to the starting postion and do it all over again. Other variants of this are dumbell military press, Arnold Presses, etc…
Weighted Dips
This exercise lifts your chest and gives that awesome pumped look. If you can’t do more than 5, I wouldn’t suggest adding any weight yet. To begin this exercise you need parallel bars or some gyms have a pushdown machine, go for a wide grip (close grip mostly works your triceps), on a lot of the machines you should be able to spread the bars slightly more apart. Keep your arms straight and shoulders above your hands, while bending your knees slowly lower yourself until your chest goes slightly below your hands (you’ll get a good stretch as well), then push yourself back up to starting postion. Before you add weight I would suggest being able to bring your legs out while doing the dips ( so your body makes the letter L while lowering yourself), when you do want to add you can either add a belt with a chain connected to a weight, hold a dumbell between your thighs, or buy some hardcore heavy chains and put them over the back of your neck. Either way this exercise you’ll definately feel.
Rows
Barbell Bent Over Rows really push your back into overdrive. At first these are tough and annoying trying to balance yourself out while lifting a heavy weight but once you get the hang of them, the pump your back gets is amazing. You want to start off like your about to do a deadlift with the barbell, but for this you only want to slightly bend your knees while keeping your back straight (parallel to the ground). Hold the bar with a wide overhand grip and pull the bar up (right above your belly button), now hold for a second and squeeze your back muscles, and slowly bring it back down and repeat. Other variants include Yates row, instead of overhand you can do under hand, etc…
If these lifts aren’t in your workout program you do not realize what your missing. With the right diet and adequate rest you’ll be amazed how big you get.
