I Think I Really Like Dead Lifts!

I have to admit something. I've read a lot of articles that claim that dead lifts are one of the main lifts that you have to be doing to help pack on muscle. But the only type of dead lift I've done until today are straight-leg dead lifts. So today I decided to do the real ones and I can see why they would be important! Talk about an exercise that works out your whole body!

For those of you who don't know what a regular dead lift is, basically you place a barbell on the floor in front of you with the right poundage. Then, you bend down and grasp the bar with one hand in an overhand grip and the other in an underhand grip. This was something that I wasn't aware of until I looked into it in Schwarzenegger's book The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding : The Bible of Bodybuilding. Next you stand up with the bar! So, as you stand up you have to use your back to straighten out and your legs to lift. Holding the bar takes arm muscles as well. Now, this isn't a very good description I know, but after doing just 2 sets I was breathing pretty good. I'm now a believer that dead lifts are important. Check them out and work them in to your routine as well!

The Big Lifts!

One of the biggest mistakes I made early on when I started lifting is that I focused a lot of my time on isolation exercises. Things like preacher curls, flyes, and others that really only target smaller muscles. After doing more reading and studying about what is the best way to gain muscle, I realized that I really was doing things wrong. But even then, it took a while for me to actually start doing those things!

So what are the big lifts that you need to focus on if you're going to gain muscle? Basically, you need to focus on what are usually called multi-joint lifts. The standard big lifts include the bench press (barbell), squats, dead lifts, and others that involve more than one muscle group at a time. Focus your time on these and you're much more likely to gain muscle faster and more effectively than you ever will just doing isolation exercises.

Just to give you an idea on how important this is, lets take a look at Arnold Schwarzenegger's Basic Workout from his book "The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bobybuilding". Here are some of the lifts that he recommends for the basic level (basic bulking):
Chest - Bench Press, Incline Press, Pullovers
Back - Chin ups, Bent Over Barbell Row
Legs - Squats, Lunges

Of course, he also includes in this some curls and other such exercises, but most of your time if you're really trying to put on some mass is with the bigger exercises.