This month: the total-body workout, starting with the deadlift

THE FACTS

Isolating muscle groups by using exercises that prevent other muscles from helping out can make the targeted muscles grow stronger and larger. But forcing your muscles to work with each other has tremendous benefits. Compound exercises like the deadlift, squat, and bench press allow you to handle heavier amounts of weight, for even greater gains in strength--they work more than 85 percent of your body's muscles. Your legs, chest, and back are all primary muscle groups that require other, secondary muscle groups--the shoulders, triceps, biceps, abdominals, and calves--to assist in every exercise. When it comes to a full-body building workout, it's crucial to exhaust your primary muscles first and your secondary muscles last. The smartest order: legs first, upper body second, abs last.

THE MAIN MOVE

The deadlift is a simple, powerful exercise that adds size and strength from head to toe. Done correctly, the move requires many muscles to work together to lift the weight.

HOW TO DO IT

Stand straight with your feet shoulder-width apart and a light barbell on the floor in front of you, with the bar directly over your toes. Bend your knees and grasp the bar with an alternating grip (one palm facing you, the other facing away), your hands just outside your knees. Keeping your head and back straight, slowly stand, keeping the bar close to your body as you lift, until your legs are straight (knees unlocked). Pause, then slowly lower the bar to the floor.

MIX AND MAX

VARY YOUR STANCE. Instead of holding the bar with your hands shoulder-width apart, space them wider than shoulder width.

CHANGE TOOLS. Trade the barbell for a pair of dumbbells. You'll lift less weight, but having your arms down along your sides--palms facing in--can make it easier to balance as you go.

ADJUST YOUR APPROACH. Instead of lifting the bar from the floor, try placing it on a squat rack or blocks so the bottoms of the weight plates are off the ground. This reduces the distance that you move the weight, allowing you to use heavier weights than usual.

THE PAYOFF

A BETTER BODY! Most total-body workouts use compound movements that require many muscles to work together. The end result is greater functional strength that can help improve your athletic performance and daily life.

BIGGER MUSCLES! Most compound exercises allow you to lift heavier amounts of weight than other exercises do. The more weight you're able to handle, the more your muscles are forced to grow.

A QUICKER WORKOUT! An exercise plan that targets every major muscle group in one session gives you a complete body building workout in less time than a plan that focuses on each muscle group individually.

MORE POWER! Explosive movements such as jumping, sprinting, and throwing require all your muscles to work in cooperation. Creating that type of connection is easier when you perform exercises that leave your muscles no choice but to work together.

• ARMS Keep your arms straight throughout the move. Don't shrug your shoulders or bend your elbows to help lift the weight.
• ABS Pull your abs in before you lift. This helps flatten your lower back for better support as you perform the move.
• HANDS Space your hands shoulder-width apart and grab the bar using an alternating grip. Holding the bar this way helps you keep it from slipping.
• LEGS Begin to straighten your legs before you start to pull the weight from the floor so that there's tension in your arms. You should feel the bar comfortably sliding up and down your legs throughout the lift.
• KNEES Avoid locking your knees as you straighten your legs at the top of the lift.
• HEAD Keep your head in line with your neck and back at all times. Tilting your head down to look at the bar places stress on your neck and trapezius muscles.
• LOWER BACK Keep your back flat and in line with your head and neck. Arching your back redirects more effort onto your lower-back muscles, placing them at a greater risk of injury.
• BUTT Squeeze your glutes at the start of the movement.
• FEET Your feet should be shoulder-width apart and flat on the floor at all times.

Which One Is The Best Bodybuilding Routine To Make The Quickest Gains

I’ve been bodybuilding for a year now and while the first 8 months I made some really good bodybuilding gains, they now seem to have come to a standstill. I’ve been using the same routine that I got out of a bodybuilding magazine for the past 6 months. This routine really delivered good results at first but now it does not seem to do much for me. Is it that I am using the wrong routine? Is there a better bodybuilding routine out there that I should be using?

Answer: When I'm asked which one is the best routine to perform when looking for bodybuilding gains, my answer always is to use a bodybuilding routine that you have never used before. In this manner you always keep the body guessing. The quickest route to stagnation and lack of gain is to follow a bodybuiding routine for months to an end with no changes to it.

Initially, when you start using a new bodybuilding workout your body needs to learn how to cope with the stress. It does this by growing the muscle, provided that your bodybuilding dietand rest are in order. However, once the nervous system begins to adapt, the body then starts activating less and less fibers every time that the workout is performed. This is one of the ways in which the body prevents itself from growing out of control. You have to keep in mind that your body does not want to change and it will do whatever it takes to stay the same. Remember from your biology class that the body likes to stay in a state of homeostasis (a state of balance and no change). The way to get around this is by varying your bodybuilding workouts.

In your bodybuilding journey you will discover that the more advanced you become, the more you have to vary your training tactics. Now, variation works best when it is performed as part of a logical plan of periodization, which is just a fancy term that means changing your sets, repetition and rest parameters in a way that will yield the fastest results. The best way to periodize your workouts in my experience is to alternate periods of high volume (high sets, high reps, small rest in between sets) with periods of lower volume (lower sets, lower reps, and longer rest in between sets). The reason I like this periodization model the most is because the muscle grows in two ways:

1. Hypertrophy caused by an increase in energy substances in the muscle cell (such as creatine and glycogen): This type of hypertrophy is caused by training that is high in volume (8-12 reps) with limited rest in between sets. This type of training enhances growth hormone output and lactic acid production. (Note: If you stop training that is the reason that the muscles shrink so fast. The amount of the stored substances inside the muscle cell just go back to normal and the muscle shrinks).
2. Hypertrophy caused by an increase in the diameter of the muscle fiber (actual muscle growth): It seems that this type of muscle growth stays longer after a period of no training than the first type. I don't know if there are any studies out there that will back this up, but based on empirical evidence, this seems to be the case. This type of growth is caused by training that emphasizes long rests in between sets (2.5 to 3 minutes) and low reps (4-8). This type of training enhances testosterone level output. It seems like it takes longer to achieve this type of growth than the first one, but it is well worth it.

Variation, of course, is also achieved by varying the bodybuilding exercises themselves, so for instance if you were using a barbell incline bench press on your last routine, switch that to its dumbbell variation on the next routine. Every change that is performed to your bodybuilding workout will elicit an adaptation response from your body in the form of increased muscle growth. As you even get more advanced you can then even begin to vary the exercise tempo, which is the speed at which you move the weight up and control it on the way down. Other advanced techniques like partial reps, descending sets and forced reps can be incorporated as well, but again, this is after a good 5 to 6 years of solid training. For now, play around with the variables of sets, repetitions, rest in between sets, and exercise selection.

Sample Bodybuilding Routine Using Periodization
For a sample bodybuilding routine that uses periodization, please click here.

After you complete that routine successfully, then go back to a 1 Week Active Recovery Phase as stated on the routine above and then, after that, you can use my favorite bodybuilding training routine which is the 10 sets of 10 reps method.

After 3-6 weeks of doing this sort of high volume training, it is time to switch to a heavier type of workout in order to keep results coming. This is where the 5 Sets of 5 Reps Routine can come into play. Do it for 3-6 weeks also and then go back to an Active Recovery Week.

Keep in mind that in order to make the best bodybuilding gains, your nutrition needs to match your goal, so please take a look at my Sample Bodybuilding Diets Guide in order to learn how to design an individualized diet plan.

About The Author
Hugo Rivera, About.com's Bodybuilding Guide and ISSA Certified Fitness Trainer, is a nationally-known best-selling author of over 8 books on bodybuilding, weight loss and fitness, including "The Body Sculpting Bible for Men", "The Body Sculpting Bible for Women", "The Hardgainer's Bodybuilding Handbook", and his successful, self published e-book, "Body Re-Engineering". Hugo is also a national level NPC natural bodybuilding champion. Click here for more information on Hugo Rivera.