The ONLY 7 Exercises Men Need To Build Muscle

Check out my client Alex’s transformation where he gained a whole bunch of muscle.

If you’re looking for the simplest solution to build muscle in a fast and efficient way, the bottom line so to speak, I gotta say it doesn’t get much simpler than this.

Because after spending years building muscle naturally I’ve learned that there are certain useless exercises that you should avoid entirely

other exercises that you might want to consider incorporating and then there are the exercises that you just can’t go without.

Exercises that by themselves have the power to transform your physique. I’ve narrowed this list down to just seven of the most important exercises

that you absolutely should have as a staple part of your routine to efficiently build the most muscle in the shortest amount of time.

By mastering these 7 key compound exercises you’ll see incredible results even if you’re not doing any other exercises in the gym.

And I made this video specifically for men not because women can’t benefit from these exercises as well but

because the ideal attractive body type for men is a V shape whereas for women it’s more of an hourglass figure.

So even though a lot of the exercises do the crossover for both men women this video is specifically to help you develop the best manly physique with the least amount of exercises possible. I’m going to list off these exercises in no particular order,

so Let’s start first with a very important upper body exercise the bent over Barbell Row. With this exercise, you’ll be working the rhomboids which are the muscles that connect your shoulder blades together

so your upper back muscles and you’ll also be working the back of your shoulder and your biceps.

This is one of the most important pulling movements that you can do. Because you’re working multiple muscle groups responsible

for Pulling you’re able to lift a lot more weight with this compound exercise then if you were to isolate any one of these muscles individually.

By strengthening your rhomboids and your posterior deltoid you’ll be tightening up your upper back which will help you hold yourself straight up and maintain a better more attractive upright posture.

Since you can lift heavy weight with this exercise your biceps are also going to get a lot of stimulation because you’ll be lifting a weight that would be impossible to lift with an isolated movement like bicep curls.

A basic bent over row is done by grabbing a barbell with your hands a little wider than shoulder-width apart. Stick your butt out and stick your chest out before beginning the movement.

Then bend down by about 60 degrees so you’re a little higher than being fully parallel to the ground and you want let the weight hang straight down, do not flex your shoulders.

Then bring it back down to that hanging position and repeat this motion for reps. The great thing about rows is that you can do it with a barbell or you can do it with dumbbells,

but a general rule of thumb to remember is that you’ll be able to lift more weight and typically you’ll be able to build more mass with barbells over dumbbells.

Also by changing the angles at which you bend during a bent over row you can Target different parts of your back.

A fully bent-over position where you’re at a 90-degree angle will Target more of your lats and the middle of your back whereas standing more upright will Target more of your traps and upper back.

Let’s move on to another staple exercise that you should be doing, barbell and dumbbell chest presses.

While the rows will help you develop the posterior or the back part of your upper body the chest presses are there to help you develop the anterior or the front part of your upper body.

It’ll hit your chest, the front head of your shoulders as well as your triceps. With chest presses, you want to spend the majority of your time doing them at two different angles flat and incline.

If your weakness is your upper chest you want to spend more of your time doing incline presses.

if your upper chest is fine but you lack lower chest development you want to spend more of your time doing flat movements.

Now the reason why I didn’t mention the decline angle is that with flat presses you’re going to get more benefits for your whole chest

including your lower chest than you would get from decline presses and you’ll be able to get a better pump while traveling through a fuller range of motion.

To perform a basic chest press you’ll want to lie right under a barbell unrack the bar and bring it over your nipple line, if you’re doing incline you’ll be aiming for a coulple inches above your nipple line.

Lower the bar to your nipple line or slightly above if you’re doing incline and then press back up to the starting position trying to move the bar in a straight of a line up and down as best as you can while squeezing the bar tight with your hands.

The amount of development you can get for your chest the front of your shoulder and your triceps from this one exercise is truly amazing and I would argue that this is one of the best exercises for all three of those muscle groups

especially since this is going to be one of your most powerful upper body pressing exercises allowing you to load all three of these muscles with a lot of weight.

Let’s move on to a lower body exercise that can’t be ignored barbell squats. If I could choose just one weight training exercise that gives you the most benefits for your lower body I couldn’t think of a better exercise then the squat.

With this one exercise, you can Target pretty much your whole lower body including your glutes, your quads, as well as your hamstrings, calves and even your lower back.

But it doesn’t just stop there doing squats with heavy weight can help strengthen your central nervous system, it can help increase testosterone,

Squats are very natural movement that I firmly believe anybody can perform with enough time and practice, but they have to be performed correctly or else not only will you not get the benefits but you can also wind up with an injury.

To do this correctly you want to start by placing both your hands a little wider than shoulder-width apart on the barbell.

Then get your head under the bar and rest the bar on your traps which is the upper part of your back you don’t want to rest it on your neck.

As you bend your knees and squat down you want to make sure that you’re sticking your butt and your chest out to protect your lower back and maintain a neutral spine.

As your lowering down you also want to make sure that you’re sitting your butt back and keeping your weight a little more on your heels rather than your toes.

For newbies, I tell them to keep all of their weight on their heels because most beginners have a problem with putting too much weight on their toes during their squat which makes their knees cross way too far over their toes and can lead to a knee injury.

This is partly because a lot of beginners are afraid to allow their back to bend as they do the squat while still maintaining a neutral curve in their spine.

Instead, they try to keep their backs perfectly straight and vertical. This is not the correct way to perform a squat, don’t be afraid to allow your back to bend while keeping your head up and your chest turned out and pointed forward.

If you’re just looking to Target your quads you can lower yourself to 90 degrees and stand back up but if you’re looking to Target more of your glutes

The whole time that you do this exercise you want to try to lower and raise the bar once again in a straight line.

If you’re new to doing squats with a barbell it’s a good idea to put either a platform or a bench behind your heals to squat down to.

If you think about simply sitting down onto this platform and standing back up rather than thinking about squatting it can actually help you develop proper squat form when you’re ready to do it without the bench.

Let’s move on, for the next exercise we’re going to go back to the upper body with by far one of the best exercises to give you that V taper appearance… the pull up.

now if you can’t do pull-ups, don’t worry I’m going to give you a couple other options that can work just as well but once you can build up the strength to do pull ups you’re going to definitely want to be doing this exercise.

Pull-ups will primarily work your lats and your biceps as well as some focus on your upper back.

But the number one thing that’ll help you develop that v shape is building up your lats and bigger lats are exactly what will give you that desirable v shaped frame that you constantly see on athletes and muscular Hollywood actors.

Chin ups will work much more of your biceps rather than your lats. With pullups you want to take a wider overhand or pronated grip of the pullup bar.

The wider you can spread your arms out the more you’ll target your lats, but keep in mind the wider you go the harder the exercise will get.

You want to aim for a grip that makes it look like you’re trying to make a “y” shape with your arms.

Stick your chest out, and pull yourself up while keeping your elbows flared out. The goal is to pull your body up until your chin fully clears over the bar and then lower yourself back down.

Once you master doing pullups with your body weight try to add additional weight on a belt or between your legs to increase intensity over time.

If you can’t do pullups with your body weight, you can strengthen all the same muscles with a lat pulldown or you can use either resistance bands or a pullup machine to assist you with this exercise.

Next for our 5th exercise we have the deadlift. While squats focus more on your glutes and your quads deadlifts will help you target your hamstrings a lot more.

Because so many large powerful muscles are involved you can once again lift a really heavy weight allowing you to stimulate more testosterone and growth hormone production.

It’s also one of those staple exercises that just like squats will help strengthen your central nervous system and improve your overall strength and power output transferring over benefits to almost all your other weight training exercises.

Look up at the cieling, as you drive your chest up and hinge your hips inward. Lower the barbell back down while still keeping your head up, chest forward, and butt out,

and you have the option of either tapping the barbell on the ground or stopping about midway down your shins right before hitting the ground, then come back up and repeat for reps.

The deadlift works more muscles than any other exercise including the squat, not only will it help you develop a nicer lower body, but it’ll also help you develop a wider more muscular back helping you achieve that v taper.

Up next are shoulder presses. These are extremely effective whether you’re using dumbbells or if you’re doing military presses with a barbell, but just like other exercises already discussed you’ll typically be able to build more mass with a barbell.

Since this is one of the best exercises you can do to build the lateral head of your shoulder, it can help you widen out your upper body once again giving you more of that v taper appearance.

When performing a barbell shoulder or military press start by gripping the barbell wider than shoulder width with your arms in that y position.

Lower the bar in a straight line down to ear level or bring it right under your chin, before returning the bar back up, you can go all the way down to your upper chest with this exercise, but I recommend only doing that with lighter sets.

Using a heavier load, and stopping under your chin will help you build more muscle. I highly recommend that you lower the bar in front of your head not behind.

You’ll be forced to lift less weight while increasing your risk of injury to your neck and shoulders. Stick to keeping the barbell in front of you.

You can do this exercise seated or standing, but seated presses will allow you to lift more weight, helping you build more shoulder mass.

Also with the dumbbells, you can do variations of this exercise like the Arnold press that will allow for a greater range of motion. The last exercise on my list is the power clean.

Not only will this exercise work almost every muscle in your body, but most people completely forget that cleans and snatches are some of the best exercises to build a nicer back.

On top of that, you’ll increase explosive power in a way, unlike any other exercise. Start with the barbell in front of your shins with your feet roughly shoulder width apart.

Keep your head up, your chest out, and your butt out while grabbing the bar outside your shins.

While keeping the bar close to your body you want to drive straight up and explode using your hips and your hamstrings, drive your elbows under the bar and rack the bar on your shoulders along your collar bone with your elbows pointed forward.

From there lower back down and either touch the ground or stop midway down your shins before exploding back up and repeating the movement.

That’s it guys these are truly the only 7 exercises you need to build a very nice well-rounded physique. When I get extremely busy or when there’s an emergency and I don’t have as much time to commit to working out or when I’m on vacation these are literally the exercises that I do to ensure that I maintain and build more muscle while spending the least amount of time in the gym.

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