Heh heh heh.... nice!
Umm... well, squats, bench, and deads, are favorites. You'd be surprised how a big back will affect your physique. You look 'thick' from the side, up top where it counts. It's kinda like how everyone does curls, but most of the arm is made of tricep. Your chest is important, but your back will make your chest look HUGE. My back for some weird reason always grows. It really brings out the mid delt... and big traps make your arms stick our farther... back is a big deal!
I always did skull crushers for triceps, making it compound by bringing the cambered curl bar back behind my head. My triceps grew a lot from that. Curls on cambered for biceps, trying to bring my shoulders into it (though most guys call that cheating).
Chest, nothing beats the bench press. Add inclines after a few months to keep progress going.
Shoulders... I like lateral raises, a lot of guys think they are for pansies. Dunno, just know they make me grow.
Back, well, I like lat pulldowns, to the front of chest, never behind the neck. Then I like to do an upward movement, since I can't deadlift (long story). I take the cable row and do it standing up, so I'm pulling 200lbs or so from my waist, to the middle of my chest. My back and back delts got nice and big from that one.
Everything I've mentioned is compound... no isolation exercises. Those are jokes... not for building mass I mean. If you are a pro bodybuilder in fantastic shape, hey, isolate away after you do your mass stuff.... but you don't need to isolate NOTHING for the first 5 years.
A bit of philosophy... Do what makes you happy. If getting big makes you happy, then the gym can be a happy place. Get to know some guys, be friendly... it's more fun when you can pass someone and talk shit.
Here's the main deal to remember. When you go to work out, whatever you do, your body will adapt to get better, 'AT THAT THING'. It WILL adapt, there is no question.
You have to feed it right, eat more protien generally for that, and green things (oh well).
Always warm up, always. Gets your muscles ready and prevents injury. I'm serious about that.
Pay attention to how your body feels. You can still work out if you are a bit sore!!!! See HST for reasons.
Different bodies respond to different stimulation. Find what makes YOU FEEL GOOD, so that when you go to the gym, you aren't torturing yourself with exercises you don't like. This isn't mental torture. It needs to be a lifestyle to work. HST might be a good place to start experimenting. Me, I'm trying it, but finding the volume isn't enough. I'm upping to 3 sets instead of 2.
Trust me, women love muscles. I mean they LOVE muscles... My 44 year old wife and I were going on a bike ride, and I pulled off my shirt. She looked at me like she was hungry, really hungry, and said, "You have NO idea how nice that looks" I don't care if they say they don't like them, they are lying. (grin) Get them in bed, and they love them.
Just keep reading and going to a forum and talking about it, to keep yourself excited. It's SO easy to go to the gym when you are excited about trying this new thing... trying new things is cool, even if others think it's stupid (believe me, in this game EVERYONE thinks smart things are stupid... Everyone has prejudice, and who gives a rip, god, live and let live).
Talk, ask questions, get confused... have fun.
Freddy said:
Holy shit...a newbie who actually wants a big strong back and likes to squat?
Sorry...I'm just not used to seeing a beginner actually wanna train right.
With that attitude you'll be much, much better than average very soon.
