Bodybuilding Workout-Basic - Form, Form, Form! Keep good form while still lifting heavy is a must for success in bodybuilding. Get used to the good stretch and sharp pain.

Monday - Chest, Hamstrings

  1. Bench Press
  2. Incline Dumbell Press
  3. Flat Bench Flys
  4. Cable Crossover
  5. Stiff Leg Deadlifts-keep your head up and bend your knees just a little to get the maximum stretch. Don’t worry about weight, just keep good form! Don’t sacrifice form for weight.
  6. Hamstring Curls

Tuesday - Arms

  1. Close-grip Bench Press-Keep your elbows to your sides and squeeze at the top.
  2. Upright Tricep Extensions- Sit upright and, using an EZ bar(curved bar), extend from the back of the head and up. Make sure you squeeze at the top.
  3. Tricep Pushdowns-on the cable machine, using any kind of bar that you feel comfortable with, keep good, strict form and a good range of motion. Squeeze it at the bottom!
  4. Tricep Kickbacks-On a flat bench, using a low weight dumbell, lean over with one knee and the same side arm resting on the bench. Keep your head up as you put the upper part of the other arm even with the torso and extend the arm up to the ceiling, squeezing at the top.
  5. Barbell curls- While standing, just do a normal curl, keeping strict form and without swinging.
  6. Incline Dumbell Curls-using dumbells, alternate left and right arms.
  7. Preacher Curls-(optional-if you have the time)- using a preacher bench and and EZ bar.
  8. Limp Wrist Curls- My favorite! Using a low weight stand upright and alternate left and right arm curling. However, let your wrist go limp. Keep strict form by keeping your elbows at their sides. If you can't feel the burn on these, you are doing them wrong. Play with it a little.

Wednesday - Back-Don’t skimp on back-This is what will give you the traditional bodybuilder wide upper body look (the hourglass look)

  1. Pullups- If you are not good at these, try doing negatives, which means you can step up to get your chin to the bar, then lower yourself as slow as you can.-VERY IMPORTANT TO DO THESE!
  2. Lat Pulldowns- In front of the head on a lat machine. Use a nice controlled movement with a good squeeze at the maximum point of contraction.
  3. One-Arm Rows- Similar position as the tricep kickbacks, but instead of extending the arm backwards, you will pull the weight from the hanging position to your chest.
  4. Bentover Butterflys- Bend over keeping your back straight and head up. Using lighter dumbells in each hand, bring them from hanging position up towards the ceiling. Get a good squeeze and don't jerk to get the weight up.

Thursday-Shoulders

  1. Behind-the-head Military Press- Do as much weight as you can here, but keep good form.
  2. Front Shoulder Raises- Start in a standing position with the dumbells at your side. From there, raise the dumbell so that it goes a little bit over your head. Lower slowly. Alternate arms. Keep good form and don't jerk it up.
  3. Side Lateral Raises- Similar to the previous exercise, but this time your arms should be bent as you will raise them to the side. So both arms at the same time for this exercise. No jerking it up!
  4. Shrugs- Using either a barbell or dumbell, pick a relatively high weight and shrug the shoulders up and down. Don’t go up, back and down! Just up and down.

Friday-Legs-This will probably be your hardest and most dreaded of all, but take pride in doing it well.

  1. Parallel Squat- Ah yes, I get excited just thinking about it. This is the one that will boost your legs from dandelions to oak trees. It's just your choice. Do you wanna work hard at something that works or do you wanna work around it and not get any results? Make no mistake about it, there is no substitute for the squat. Oh, and don’t forget to go parallel(meaning your thigh is parallel to the ground at the lowest point in the movement).
  2. Dead Lift-ONLY EVERY OTHER WEEK- an overall mass builder that, like the squat, will definitely produce results. Place the barbell on the ground and lift it, using your legs. When at the top standing position of the movement, roll the shoulders back. You may do these before squatting instead.
  3. Leg press- here you can really load up the rack on the leg press machine. Make sure you go low enough. Some advice- the lower you place your feet on the platform, the more you will work your quads(front thighs).
  4. Leg Extension- on the leg extension machine. Once in awhile, do high repetitions for this exercise to really burn your legs out.
  5. Single-Leg Calf Raises- Find a ledge where you can put the ball of one of your feet on. Put the other foot behind the leg. Now, with dumbells in hand, lower to get a good stretch in the calf, and back up. Do this with both legs. It's going to burn.

  6. Superset(go right on to the next exercise as if these two were one set) with:

  7. Sitting Calf Raises- Using the sitting calf raise machine. If this is not available, use the leg press machine and do calf raises on that.

That’s it! A good repetition setup would be to pyramid. That means that you should do a bunch of sets for each exercise and work up to about six reps and then go back down. For example, a rep setup like 10,8,6,8,10 would be a pyramid. Remember that once you get these basics down, go ahead and tailor the workout to how you respond best to it. Watch your body and pay attention to how you feel. Perhaps even do a little extra reading about lifting on the side just to build on what you're learning right now. However, don’t go trying everything you read. Have a critical eye and don’t be afraid to ask questions.

Good Luck!