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Compound Exercises
For Muscle Gain

When muscle gain is your goal, the importance of using compound exercises as the basis for all your weight training routines cannot be overemphasized.

As Jeff Anderson goes through in the following article, compound exercises allow you to stimulate more muscle fiber at heavier weights. This kick-starts the muscle-building process.

Jeff's bodybuilding program, Optimum Anabolics, teaches you all about how muscle is built. It teaches you the best exercises for mass gain and combines that with powerful dieting techniques that can get you growing quickly. Check it out.

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Compound Exercises For
Maximum Muscle Mass!!!

By Jeff Anderson

Not all exercises are created equal...sure, you knew that!

But in your quest to build some serious muscle, you'll need to fire up as many muscle fibers as possible to stimulate the kind of deep growth you're looking for. And for this mission, you have a strong ally in compound exercises.

Compound vs. Isolation Exercises

First some quick clarification...compound exercises move the body through more than one joint movement, while isolation exercises only move the body through a single-joint movement.

Probably the best exercise to demonstrate the difference is the barbell squat. This "king" of all compound exercises moves your body using a majority of your muscle groups and bends you at your ankles, knees, waist, hips, and to some degree, even your shoulders.

Compare this to an isolation exercise such as leg extensions, which only moves your body by bending one joint...the knee.

So which is better?

To provide complete muscle fiber stimulation, you should take advantage of the benefits of both types of exercises. However, if you're main goal is to build muscle, you should use compound exercises as the main focal point of your weight training program and bring in complimentary isolation exercises to supplement the "big movers".

Compound exercises allow you to lift heavier weights and work more muscle groups at the same time than isolation exercises. This saves you precious time in the gym while stimulating the maximum amount of muscle fibers.

In addition, compound exercises, due to the increased amount of muscle used for the movements, are better at sending your endocrine system a "distress call" to pump out more anabolic hormones such as testosterone and growth hormone.

Here's a list of the most powerful mass-building compound exercises to build into the core of your bodybuilding program:

Body Part	Associated Compound Exercises
Shoulders	Military Press, Hang Clean and Press, Arnold Press
Arms	Close-Grip Chin-Up (w/palms facing toward your face), Dips, Close-Grip Pushup, Twisting Dumbbell Curl
Legs	Barbell Squat, Deadlift, Lunges
Back	Chin-Up, Pull-Down, Deadlift, Row
Chest	Push-Up, Dips, Bench Press

 

About The Author:

Jeff Anderson (better known in the bodybuilding community as the "Muscle Nerd") is the creator of, Optimum Anabolics, the ground-breaking new bodybuilding program that has taken the entire industry by storm!

This no-nonsense program breaks the mold on building massive muscle without expensive supplements or misleading gimmicks.

Jeff's other 5-star rated program, Homemade Supplement Secrets, is a complete guide to brewing up your own bodybuilding supplements at a savings of hundreds and hundreds of dollars.

Read my review of Jeff Anderson's Optimum Anabolics

Read my review of Jeff Anderson's Homemade Supplement Secrets

Learn more about Jeff Anderson and see a listing of the other articles he's contributed to this site