Introduction to effective bodybuilding With the ever-increasing myriad of conflicting information, it is no wonder that the majority of trainees are still confused about what the best exercises are, rep ranges, training splits etc. Bodybuilders try to artificially induce stress to their muscles to induce growth; far beyond their normal size. This feat is not simple as the body adapts easily and is constantly fighting for homeostasis.  Let’s face it, regardless of how important you feel having a physique larger than life is; the body would prefer to sit at a comfortable weight with functional muscle mass. If the body cared about aesthetics, it wouldn’t have a starvation mechanism to hold on to bodyfat in times of famine! The common misconception is to continuously ‘shock’ your muscles by switching up on reps, sets, exercises etc. I don’t see the point in all these techniques such as pre-exhaust, high reps when muscular overload is what elicits the adaptations; muscular fatigue exhausts the muscle and prolongs recovery time. The key to continuous growth is to stick to the exercises that work and to progressively overload with heavier weight. On that note, it is the exercises that move iron, which give the best results. An interesting concept is to think of muscles as a synergy; muscles are not islands. I believe the best exercises are the ones that involve as many surrounding muscles as possible. On a different note, if you are not using a workout log, I highly recommend you to do so. Quads People are always asking what to do to build massive quads. To be frank; squat. It is a natural movement, which involves many muscles to move a heavy weight. For the readers who are very tall, standard squats may not be the best exercise as the upper body often over-compensates. You must listen and do what works for you, not because you are told that squats builds up the quads. A solution may be to change the stance i.e. try the smith machine or even hack squat so that you can shift foot placement and feel the quads working. Oftentimes, however, switching to leg presses would lead to much better growth for the individuals squatting in vain. Hamstrings The most natural movement for the hamstrings is when the feet are in front of the body, i.e. hamstring press, smith machine front squats. Obviously this is going to blast the quads as well so it is a good idea to proceed to more specific work such as leg curls and stiff leg Deadlifts. Isolation exercises have their merits and it is simply stubborn to totally neglect them. Back The back is made up of many muscles; so for simplicity we will categorise them into 3 regions: traps, lats and the lumbar. Obviously there isn’t a single exercise, which hits all the back muscles, however; it is possible to determine the best and most natural exercises for each back muscle. The traps are used in many applications. Being the antagonistic muscle to the chest, you can imagine that the most effective exercise is the same motion as the chest, in the opposite direction. Excellent exercises include wide barbell rows and braced dumbbell rows (lying face down on an incline bench). It is also effective to shift the focus away from the biceps via angling the elbows out to really squeeze the scapulae. Deadlifts are also an effective exercise to hit the traps hard, as they need to handle the heavy loads. There is no way that dumbbell shrugs are going to illicit the same benefits for the traps in comparison to hard and heavy Deadlifts. Powerlifters are testament to this theory; thick as a bull from all the heavy compound movements Chest In the past, this is a muscle group, which I considered to be my worst. Obviously, the most natural movement for the chest is to push your body away from an object. The key here is to squeeze your shoulder blades together and keep the glutes tight on the bench and really focus on using your chest to move the weight.  I have not seen anybody benching 140 kg’s with a small chest. With that being said, provided that you effectively execute whilst challenging the poundage’s, there is no reason why the chest muscle won’t adapt. The results I have achieved by simply putting the ego aside in favour of feel are quite astounding. Shoulders An interesting proposition I make to you is to find a picture of your favourite bodybuilder and cover everything from the shoulder downwards… You will truly see that delts (and traps) is what makes a bodybuilder. Obviously it is not possible or aesthetic to have big shoulders and traps and stick figure muscles! However the purpose of this exercise is to show the importance of this group for the overall symmetry of the bodybuilder. Bodybuilders are constantly doing overhead presses in vain, however the primary focus is the anterior deltoid. It is the side deltoid, which gives the torso the illusive perception of width. It is somewhat awkward trying to get the medial head to act as the prime mover in side laterals; yet it is the exercise everybody believes will pack on mass to the side deltoid.  Watching the somewhat loose form of many pro-bodybuilders you will see something in common; most side lateral raises are performed more like wide dumbbell upright rows! Which is possibly the most natural exercise to emphasize the side delts. An idea is to start the routine with wide dumbbell upright rows, followed by overhead presses via dumbbells, barbells etc. (they are still effective for strengthening the shoulder joint). Biceps This is possibly the most over trained muscle group. The biceps are the powerhouse pulling muscles in the upper arm, so it is quite logical to state that considerably resistance is what triggers growth here. Countless cable curls, concentration curls, preacher curls etc. will do jack if the biceps are not given a reason to grow.  Too often you will see an undeveloped physique doing countless curls vs Powerlifters with mass everywhere. I have witness fantastic results by simply cutting down the training volume for my biceps and focusing on the big compound lifts. Barbell and dumbbell curls still have a place in a training routine, but should play second role to the compound, heavy movements like rows, pull-ups (esp. under grip) etc. Triceps This is the antagonistic muscle to the biceps. As a result, it is quite logical to perform the opposite motion; extension as opposed to flexion. The load is shifted on the downward portion as opposed to the concentric movement of a biceps curl. I have witnessed fantastic results with curl bar lying triceps extensions with a squeeze in the fully contracted position. Other notes I would like to add include is to have the head halfway over the edge of the bench with elbows at head level. I find that this takes excessive strain off the elbows and really allows you to focus on the triceps contraction. I also perform dips with a narrow torso and narrow dipping bar. With extremely tight form, this is an excellent and natural motion to really pack size onto the triceps. Forearms I believe that forearms are possibly the most neglected body part. Without excessive wrist strap use, they get a lot of indirect training, however should still be trained just like any other body part.  Weak forearms may actually be the weak link in many exercises, and can limit the potential weight the other muscles are capable of. Powerful forearms give you the capacity to train hard and put more stress on other muscles. They are involved in a plethora of upper body exercises, being a part of pushing and pulling or simply by helping you grip a piece of equipment. In exercises such as pull-ups and rows, the hand and wrist is generally the let down. I believe that forearms are best trained with biceps, because it is difficult to get a great biceps workout without placing a lot of stress on the forearms. I find that the best way to build up the forearms is to cut down on strap use, incorporate hammer curls and behind the back barbell wrist curls. Calves This is a very stubborn muscle, which is hard to bring up due to the type of fibre composition. It is a muscle, which is testament to how much work you are putting into training them; if you are slack with them, everybody will know.  Although I was blessed with good calf genetics, I find that full range of motion and particular emphasis on the negative is crucial for calf training. Standing calf raises put a considerable amount of stress on the back so I prefer seated calf raises and leg press calf presses. That wraps up my general guide in choosing the most effective exercises. I am sure that people’s opinions may differ but I believe it will serve as a good guide as we are emulating the body’s natural movements to hopefully illicit the best results. I would love to hear your feedback so please do not hesitate to email me. Train hard! Michael Kwok