Fast Muscle Mass Building Part 5

Article and video by Wiggy.

Finding your "Happy Place".

LOL - no, when I say "happy place", it's not some sort of obscure reference to Happy Gilmore (although I freaking love that movie!), what I mean is finding a "happy place" when it comes to your muscle mass building workouts or more specifically, a "happy medium" of what kinds of movements you should do.

By now, you know that to get bigger, you have to get stronger. And to get stronger, you have to move big weights. And to move big weights, your best bet is the compound movements like rows, squats, presses, chins, dips and dead lifts, etc.

But does that mean that's ALL you should do? Not necessarily.

When it comes to Fast Muscle Mass Building, too many people seem to fall into one extreme or the other. Some seem to think you need to work a muscle from every conceivable angle with every possible movement, much like you see in the pro-bodybuilding mags (and you already know what I think about the routines in the bodybuilding magazines...) but come on...do you really think you need to do 8 different types of curl movements?

Or you've got people that completely think the other way. They seem to think the fewer exercises you do the absolute better, and that you should strive to not only not do isolation movements, but consolidate bigger movements as well.

No joke, I once saw an article that said you never needed direct shoulder work - that benching was all you ever needed. And that if you wanted big biceps, all you had to do was heavy barbell shrugs. Yeah...I didn't get that one either.

I think the best overall workout is somewhere in the middle. Once you've got the basic, compound movements covered, I don't think you need to go nuts on isolation movements, but adding some in here or there for building extra muscle and rounding out the physique, or even for rehabilitation/athletic reasons is fine.

For example, once you do squats or deadlifts, feel free to do some unilateral work like lunges, step-ups, or single-leg squats.

If you do heavy benching or dips with shrugs, don't feel like you have to do heavy pressing, too. Isolation movements for the shoulder such as various lateral raise variations are fine.

And many of the wannabe "hardcore" guys will talk smack about doing direct biceps and triceps work, but go take a look - the guys with the biggest arms; they are the ones that actually do arm workouts.

The key is just to not go overboard and make the isolation exercises the main emphasis of your workouts. They are indeed important, but only after you've got the heavy, compound lifting completed first.

If you're not sure what a good mix is, or exactly how you should structure your training, then take a look at the Fast Muscle Mass Building program Click Here