The Best Exercise For Muscle Building
By Sean Nalewanyj
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Sean Nalewanyj is a natural bodybuilding expert and best-selling fitness author committed to providing effective, research-based advice for building muscle, burning fat and gaining strength. Sean is the creator of the "No Fail System" bodybuilding program and president of EliteImpact Labs.
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Simply stated, squats are the hardest, most painful, and scariest exercise for muscle building that you can ever include in your workout routine. You can only perform them if you have extreme amounts of willpower and dedication.
If you do a set of squats until your muscles fail, you will understand precisely what I mean. They are also a difficult weight lifting exercise for muscle building to perform with correct technique.
With that said, squats are arguably THE best growth-producing exercise for muscle building that you can ever incorporate into your workouts.
They will add more size and strength to your lower body than any other exercise for muscle building that you can perform. Furthermore, because of their difficulty, they also promote increased production and secretion of valuable anabolic hormones such as growth hormone and testosterone. These hormones will stimulate increased muscle growth throughout your body.
Also, this exercise for muscle building produces what is termed as the "spillover effect", meaning that this exercise will produce strength gains in the rest of your other exercises. After I began performing squats to muscular failure, I almost immediately realized a 20 pound gain in my bench press maximum. If you're searching for an exercise for muscle building and you don't already perform squats, it's time to add it to your routine.
The exercise simply produces results.
Unfortunately, most people have yet to tap into all of the advantages of heavy squatting. In fact, most people despise squats and will conjure up all types of excuses to avoid performing this exercise for muscle building.
You've probably often heard the oft-repeated quotes such as, "They're too hard on my knees", or "I heard they stunt your growth". I simply respond to this by calling it nonsense.
If you go to the gym with the goal with getting your highest level of whole body muscle gains, this exercise for muscle building must be included in your workouts.
Proper Squatting Technique
For safety, you should never perform this exercise for muscle building outside of a cage or power rack. With this, you can set the bar the proper height for you and you can release the bar onto the safety pins if you reach muscular failure. The safety pins should be positioned just under the depth your are squatting and the J hooks should be positioned at about the height of your nipples.
During this exercise for muscle building, your head should be held back, your chest raised, and you should form a slight arch in your lower back. You should look straight ahead at all times, and you should never lean forward too far or move your head up and down.
Approach the bar and place your hands at about the width you would use for a bench press. Before clearing the bar, be certain that you have placed it evenly across your traps. The bar should sit on the lower part of your traps and across the rear deltoids. The bar should be positioned so that it always feels though it will roll of your back.
Now you have cleared the bar, step back just far enough so that you will not hit the bar on the rack. Most injuries during the squat occur while backing up, so be careful to back up as far as necessary. Your should position your feet out about the width of your shoulders or slightly wider, then point them at a 45-degree angle.
Take a deep breath then begin your squat. You should not go straight down but make a motion akin to sitting down into a chair. Your knees should always stay aligned with your feet without bowing. Continue your descent until your thighs are parallel to the ground.
Once you have reached the bottom of your descent, immediately rise and do not relax in that bottom position. Rise up using your heels and straighten your back immediately.
After you return to the upright position, take another deep breath and repeat the motion until you have done what you consider a sufficient number of reps of this exercise for muscle building.
Final Thoughts
There are great benefits available with this exercise for muscle building, so now is the time to start tapping into them. Give this exercise the respect it deserves and then wait to see some amazing muscle gains. I suggest doing squats once weekly, in 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps. Try to exert yourself during this exercise for muscle building and continually increase the amount of weight you lift and your number of reps.
To get your complete, fully structured muscle building program that will help you build a ripped, muscular new body in as little as 12 weeks, click below to watch this free video presentation...
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