- Do exercises that recruit as many muscle fibres as possible (deadlifts, squats, pressing movements, and pulling movements).
- Lift heavy. Continually challenge yourself to add more weight.
- Recover. Eat well, sleep, and let your body re-generate for the next workout.
There you have it in a nutshell. You can make it a lot more complicated than that, and get into every minute detail, but why? The fundamentals of putting on strength and size are quite basic. Sure, your gym may have lots of cool looking machines, but you don't need them. Perform compound movements, push yourself, and take care of your body.
Below is my Back to Basics program. It is a three day per week program that will take you less than one hour to complete. Take 1:30-2:00 minutes between sets and perform all exercises with correct form.
Day 1:
1. Deadlifts: 4 sets of 5-6 reps
2. Barbell Back Row: 4 sets of 6 reps
3. Dumbbell Incline Press: 4 sets of 6 reps
4. Reverse Grip Pulldown: 2-3 sets of 8 reps (do chin-ups if you can do more than 6 reps)
5. Dips: 2-3 sets of 8-10 reps (add extra weight if necessary)
6. Dumbbell RDL: 2-3 sets of 6-8 reps
Day 2:
1. Squats: 4 sets of 8,7,6,5 reps (add 5-10 lbs for each set)
2. Barbell Military Press: 4 sets of 5-6 reps
3. Single Arm Dumbbell Row: 4 sets of 6 reps
4. Standing Barbell Twist: 3 sets of 4-6 reps each side
5. Dumbbell Chest Fly: 3 sets of 6-8 reps (use bench or ball)
Day 3:
1. Dumbbell Split-Squat: 3 reps of 5-6 reps each leg
2. Bench Press: 3 sets of 5-6 reps
3. Pulldown (pronated grip): 3 sets of 8 reps (do wide-grip pull-ups if you can do more than 5)
4. Barbell RDL: 2-3 sets of 6-8 reps
5. Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 2-3 sets of 6-8 reps
6. Exercise Ball Plank: 2-3 sets of 30 seconds or more
* Perform this program for 4-6 weeks and make sure to train three times per week with 100% effort. Pay close attention to nutrition and recovery and you will definitely see an increase in strength and size.