The ONLY 7 Exercises You Need for Mass

with so many different muscles to hit choosing the right exercises can get a bit confusing if you look around your gym it's very clear that most trainees are winging it either performing workouts they saw on the latest issue of men's health magazine or mimicking exercises they saw their favorite influencer doing on instagram the truth is 80 of your gains will come from seven basic compound movements if you're not including these seven exercises into your training or at least some variation of them you're leaving a lot of gains on the table so without further ado let's go over the only seven exercises you need for mass exercise number one squat they say the squat is the king of lower body exercises and it's difficult to argue with that statement squats elicit extremely high muscle activity in all of our main lower body muscles from the glutes and quads to the hamstrings and even calves the problem is ninety percent of gym goers failed to squat low enough to maximize leg growth a 2019 study published in the european journal of sports science analyzed three different squat variants full squats parallel squats and half squats the group who squatted with a full range of motion experienced the greatest increases in strength and performance individuals who squatted to parallel experienced the second best results and half squats resulted in no performance increases but did increase pain and stiffness another study from the journal of strength and conditioning research found a full range of motion to result in more muscle and strength gains than a partial range of motion bottom line using a full range of motion while maintaining proper form will get you the best results i recommend squatting at least two times per week broken up into heavier days where you're performing three to six reps and lighter days where you're staying within the eight to twelve rep range exercise number two deadlift the deadlift is unarguably one of the greatest total body mass builders it trains the entire posterior chain including the hamstrings glutes spinal erectors lats and traps although most experts would classify the deadlift as a lower body dominant movement it's no secret that it also happens to be one of the best overall back builders this is because the deadlift will allow you to place the most amount of load through your back musculature although the spinal erectors and rhomboids will contract isometrically during the movement the lats actually contract concentrically your legs may initiate the lift but if you can't maintain high levels of stability through your posterior chain mainly upper back the weight won't move more than a few inches off the floor i recommend dead lifting one time per week staying within the three to eight rep range anything above eight reps especially as you get stronger at the deadlift may result in extreme fatigue and form breakdown increasing the risk of injury exercise number three barbell row the barbell row trains the entire back including the lats and traps now before we jump into the proper technique for this exercise let me just point out that there are a number of variations for this movement it can be done with a narrower grip where you're gripping the bar just outside shoulder width of your knees and rowing towards your midsection this will force your arms to stay close to your body making for better lat activation and it can also be performed using an underhand grip where you're gripping the bar at just about shoulder width which will allow you to keep your elbows even closer to the body allowing you to further emphasize the lats for this video however we're going to focus on the standard variation of this exercise as it is in my opinion the best variation for overall back mass the setup for the barbell row is quite simple walk up to the bar and stand with your mid foot underneath it feet shoulder width apart grab the bar with an overhand grip arms slightly wider than shoulder width and deadlift the bar into a standing position from here you'll push your hips back while slightly bending the knees and lowering the bar and stop once you've reached a 15 to 30 degree angle this is something you'll have to play with a bit before finding the position that feels most comfortable for you the more parallel to the ground you can get the better now you're ready to pull brace your core by breathing in and tightening your abs pull the weight towards your sternum squeeze your back at the top and then control the weight back down until your arms are fully extended before initiating the next rep this will ensure that you're pulling the weight through a full range of motion i recommend you barbell row one to two times per week in the six to ten rep range if you go too heavy it'll become difficult to avoid using momentum go too light and your lower back may fatigue first exercise number four bench press a 2014 study showed that chest size and the bench press are strongly correlated that means guys with stronger bench presses usually have bigger pecs a hint that you probably should bench press for a big chest this isn't too surprising considering research shows that the bench press is one of the best exercises for activating your pec fibers a few execution tips you may find helpful are as follows first focus on creating a stable arch in your spine through scapular retraction and depression this will create more shoulder stability and allow you to lift from a stronger and safer position and also use your legs to help you lift the weight by driving them down into the floor and if you're a bit more advanced practice pushing the bar up and back rather than straight up this will shorten the bar path substantially and allow you to load the pecs to a greater degree i recommend you bench press anywhere from one to three times per week in various rep ranges including three to twelve reps unlike squats and deadlifts the bench press won't be limited by your cardiovascular fitness or become dangerous at higher rep ranges exercise number five overhead press the overhead press is by far the best all-around exercise for building massive shoulders not only that but it does a great deal for building the upper chest putting mass on the triceps and increasing your bench press strength the overhead press like most of the main lifts doesn't just stimulate the obvious muscles it also helps strengthen the lats through heavy eccentric loading engages the legs by using them as stabilizers and of course increases core strength other overhead pressing variants include the seated barbell overhead press standing dumbbell overhead press and the seated dumbbell overhead press all of these activate the front mid and rear delts to some degree according to research however the standing dumbbell overhead press does the best job at activating all three heads of course it suffers from requiring you to awkwardly lift the dumbbells up to your shoulders but it's a good alternative as a hypertrophy movement for higher volume i recommend you perform some form of overhead press two times per week and alternate between heavier load days where you're pressing in the 3 to 6 rep range and lighter load days where you're staying within 8 to 12 reps exercise number 6 lunges while squats are an incredible lower body movement it's only one movement pattern lunge type movements train the body unilaterally meaning one leg at a time this means that you can prevent muscle imbalances between the legs not only do lunges hit both the hamstrings and glutes research has shown that it may lead to higher quadriceps activation than barbell back squats lunging type movements may even activate some parts of the quads more if you want to focus on the glutes and hamstrings take wide steps so that your front leg is roughly vertical if you did want to bias quad tension you can take slightly smaller strides instead i recommend you do a lunge or split squat variant one to two times per week in the eight to twelve rep range since these are unilateral and require balance it's best to focus on moderate to high rep ranges exercise number seven farmers walk one of the most neglected movements is the carry a great example is the farmer's walk these hit your forearms to improve grip as well as your traps and core and due to our heavy use of desks computers and phones our posture needs work be warned this exercise will be heavy and fatiguing you can do farmer's walks with dumbbells a trap bar kettlebells or even plates i'd start by grabbing a pair of dumbbells and walking from one end of the room to the next to track progress log weight used and distance traveled to perform these correctly and safely squeeze your glutes and square your shoulders which will maximize your stability so you work the right muscles and maximize tension just make sure you go slow and controlled if you feel you're about to fall over or can't walk straight you may need to lift lighter i recommend you do a carry one to two times per week for roughly 25 to 50 yards or 15 strides one way and 15 strides back bonus exercises for the biceps and mid delts while the seven movements so far will give you the most bang for your buck and increase both strength and hypertrophy the biceps and mid delts may be underwhelmed rows and pull ups are meant to activate the back not the biceps and although overhead pressing movements do activate the mid-delts to a degree they will still need some additional stimulus for the biceps the main movement will be a barbell or dumbbell curl i also recommend you do curls with the arm behind the back like with an incline dumbbell curl to emphasize the long head for the mid-delts include some lateral raises dumbbell lateral raises are great but i like to use cable lateral raises too as they provide tension throughout the range of motion whereas dumbbells will place the most tension at the top so there you have it the only seven exercises men need for mass if your program is comprised of mostly those seven exercises you'll have no problem putting on mass did you find this video helpful if so click the like button below as it'll truly help out the channel are you looking for a complete done-for-you training and nutrition guide guaranteed to add slabs of muscle to your frame in the next 90 days claim your free copy of my book bulk up fast the book has already been paid for all you have to do is cover the small shipping fee just click the link in the description tell me where to ship it and i'll send it to you anywhere in the world and if you haven't already make sure you subscribe for more videos and don't forget to turn on post notifications so you don't miss the next one peace [Music] you

Channel: musclemonsters

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Keywords: best exercises for mass, best workouts for mass, exercises for mass, workouts for mass, best exercises for muscle growth, best workouts for muscle growth, compound exercises, full body workouts, exercises for muscle growth, workouts for muscle growth, best chest workout for mass, best back workout for mass, the only 7 exercises for mass, best workouts for men, best leg workout for mass, best arm workout for mass, best shoulder workout for mass, musclemonsters, alain Gonzalez

Id: ixPy0Icr1tI

Length: 12min 15sec (735 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 23 2020