The Best Exercises For Men To Build Muscle

Different workouts will lend themselves to different exercises, but for the most part you will be best served by utilising compound exercises (so named because they work multiple body parts). Isolation exercises (just one body part) also have a role to play, just use them sparingly in comparison.

Broadly, these are some of the best exercises for each body part.

1. Legs

• Compound: Barbell squat, barbell deadlift, barbell lunge, Bulgarian split lunge
• Isolation: Hip thrusters, leg extension, hamstring curl, calf raise

2. Back / Traps

• Compound: Pull up, bent over barbell row, upright row, barbell shrug 
• Isolation: Lat pull down, standing pull down

3. Shoulders

• Compound: Military press, seated dumbbell press, behind the neck press, Arnold press
• Isolation: Medial raise, anterior raise, rear deltoid fly

4. Chest

• Compound: Bench press (incline, flat, decline) 
• Isolation: Cable crossover, dumbbell chest fly 

5. Arms

• Barbell bicep curl, seated bicep curl, close grip bench press, dips, chins

6. Abdominals

• Weighted abdominal crunch, hanging leg raises, weighted rope pull down, Russian twist

How to put your muscle building workouts together?

• When you first begin training for muscle gain, it’s important to take on a moderate program that will help you condition your muscles and deliver results without being so overwhelming that it forces you into overtraining. 
• The traditional ‘four day split’ is a good starting point. This refers to splitting up your body into four different body parts and workouts. In the example training routine below, we’ll incorporate both compound and isolation exercises for each body part and keep the volume relatively low. 

Day 1: Legs

• Barbell squat 4 x 10
• Romanian deadlift 4 x 10 
• Leg extension 3 x 10
• Hamstring curl 3 x 10
• Calf raise 3 x 10 

Day 2: Shoulders + Abs

• Military press 4 x 10 
• Arnold Press 4 x 10
• Seated medial raise 3 x 10
• Anterior raise 3 x 10
• Rear delt fly 3 x 10
• Hanging leg raise 3 x 8 
• Weighted ab crunch 3 x 12 

Day 3: Chest + Triceps

• Barbell bench press 4 x 10
• Incline dumbbell bench press 4 x 10
• Cable crossover 3 x 10
• Parallel dips 3 x Failure 
• Tricep kick backs 3 x 10

Day 4: Back + Biceps

• Wide grip pull up 3 x failure 
• Bent over barbell row 4 x 10
• Seated row 3 x 10 
• Close grip lat pull down 3 x 10
• Barbell bicep curl 3 x 10
• Hammer curls 3 x 10