There are hundreds of different exercises you can do with free weights and resistance machines or with just your body weight to build muscle mass.
You should include mainly multi-joint compound exercises in your workout as they build muscle fastest.
The time proven classic mass builders are: bench press, pull ups, dead lifts, squats, shoulder presses and rows.
Whilst they are very effective your body needs to be constantly challenged in new and different ways if your goal is building lean muscle mass.
These following exercises work astonishingly well and are yet for some reason often overlooked.
For variety try and include them in your routine from time to time.
new reasons for your muscles to grow and the prevention of boredom setting in are achieved by adding variation to your workouts.
Try running on the sand, donkey raises or a jump rope for getting big calves.
making use of a jump rope for skipping and also running on a sandy place bear foot will place great pressure on your calves to grow.
Calf muscles are often stimulated into growth more by more endurance related training as that is what they are primarily used to.
donkey raises involves placing your feet on the edge of a block of wood, weights disc or step bending over at the waist to 90 degrees and resting your hands on a solid surface for support.
A training partner or two then jump on to your back and you raise your body up and down by flexing your calf muscles.
This exercise is more difficult than the usual machine calve exercises as you have to use stabiliser muscles to keep you steady whilst performing them.
When was the last time you did dips for your chest muscles? A great mass builder for the chest muscle is dips which are great for triceps also.
Many older gyms have two long bars that run parallel to eachother for exactly this.
Different grips can be experimented with as they often form a v shape.
This means that you can effectively target different areas of the chest and tricep muscles effectively.
What about doing stiff legged deadlifts to really punish your hamstrings.
This hamstring exercise is awesome yet seldom seen.
Simply do deadlifts but you legs have to remain straight throughout meaning you bend at the waist and keep a straight back to lift the barbell or dumbbell.
Maintain control of the weight by keeping it close to your legs whilst raising it and be warned that this exercise can leave your hamstrings very sore the next day.
Experiment with hammer curls for bicep growth! These are the same as regular dumb bell curls only you keep the palm of your hand facing in towards the body throughout.
This places great stress on the inner bicep muscle that gives it thickness and size throughout called the brachialis muscle whilst also still developing the main bicep too.
Stand with your back straight and flat against the corner of a wall to prevent yourself from using moment to assist the movement for a real burn.
When was the last time you noticed anyone hitting their quads with lunges in the weights room? Both mass and shape are given to the quads with this exercise.
With a pair of dumb bells in your hands take a decent stride forwards and bend both knees down to 90 degress step backwards and repeat with the other leg.
A great alternative to squats.
For developing muscle definition and for a great cardio workout how about trying boxing padwork great for the upper body or uphill sprints for your legs or hitting an exercise bike for uphill intervals after a leg workout.
That is a real killer of a mass builder! So go ahead and switch your workout around a little to include some of these great exercises in to stimulate more muscle growth.
You should include mainly multi-joint compound exercises in your workout as they build muscle fastest.
The time proven classic mass builders are: bench press, pull ups, dead lifts, squats, shoulder presses and rows.
Whilst they are very effective your body needs to be constantly challenged in new and different ways if your goal is building lean muscle mass.
These following exercises work astonishingly well and are yet for some reason often overlooked.
For variety try and include them in your routine from time to time.
new reasons for your muscles to grow and the prevention of boredom setting in are achieved by adding variation to your workouts.
Try running on the sand, donkey raises or a jump rope for getting big calves.
making use of a jump rope for skipping and also running on a sandy place bear foot will place great pressure on your calves to grow.
Calf muscles are often stimulated into growth more by more endurance related training as that is what they are primarily used to.
donkey raises involves placing your feet on the edge of a block of wood, weights disc or step bending over at the waist to 90 degrees and resting your hands on a solid surface for support.
A training partner or two then jump on to your back and you raise your body up and down by flexing your calf muscles.
This exercise is more difficult than the usual machine calve exercises as you have to use stabiliser muscles to keep you steady whilst performing them.
When was the last time you did dips for your chest muscles? A great mass builder for the chest muscle is dips which are great for triceps also.
Many older gyms have two long bars that run parallel to eachother for exactly this.
Different grips can be experimented with as they often form a v shape.
This means that you can effectively target different areas of the chest and tricep muscles effectively.
What about doing stiff legged deadlifts to really punish your hamstrings.
This hamstring exercise is awesome yet seldom seen.
Simply do deadlifts but you legs have to remain straight throughout meaning you bend at the waist and keep a straight back to lift the barbell or dumbbell.
Maintain control of the weight by keeping it close to your legs whilst raising it and be warned that this exercise can leave your hamstrings very sore the next day.
Experiment with hammer curls for bicep growth! These are the same as regular dumb bell curls only you keep the palm of your hand facing in towards the body throughout.
This places great stress on the inner bicep muscle that gives it thickness and size throughout called the brachialis muscle whilst also still developing the main bicep too.
Stand with your back straight and flat against the corner of a wall to prevent yourself from using moment to assist the movement for a real burn.
When was the last time you noticed anyone hitting their quads with lunges in the weights room? Both mass and shape are given to the quads with this exercise.
With a pair of dumb bells in your hands take a decent stride forwards and bend both knees down to 90 degress step backwards and repeat with the other leg.
A great alternative to squats.
For developing muscle definition and for a great cardio workout how about trying boxing padwork great for the upper body or uphill sprints for your legs or hitting an exercise bike for uphill intervals after a leg workout.
That is a real killer of a mass builder! So go ahead and switch your workout around a little to include some of these great exercises in to stimulate more muscle growth.