Following a strict muscle building workout routine is critical for anyone determined to build muscle and gain weight. Going into a gym and lifting random weights until you exhaust yourself is not enough.

To achieve your primary objective, that is, to build up your muscle mass, a weight lifting and bodybuilding program must be employed. You definitely have to follow and maintain a muscle building workout routine.

Three things contribute to building muscles: workout, diet and rest. Here, I will focus on the workout factor. However, you must bear in mind that all these three factors are equally vital to optimal strength gain and muscular growth. Neglecting one factor would mean failure to maximize your muscle and body building capabilities. A well-designed muscle building workout routine program coupled with a solid diet wit the right amount of calories, combined with plenty of rest and sleep is extremely powerful.

All your efforts spent in the gym by working out will all go to waste if your body will not be supplied with the necessary nutrients and raw materials it needs to build up your muscles. At the same time, if you would not get an adequate amount of rest the body needs in order to recover and repair muscles, the whole weight training will be useless. Common mistake of those who are just beginning their muscle building is to focus so much on weight training but neglect the importance of a proper diet and plenty of sleep.

Going back to the weight training exercises, any aspiring bodybuilder must know that his or her focus must be on compound exercises because these exercises stimulate most of your muscles in the least amount of time. If done correctly and with challenging intensity, you would definitely be on your way to building up those muscles.

The most basic yet the most effective compound exercises for weightlifting are squats and bench presses. Squats develop your leg muscles while the bench press is for the upper body muscles. Some other of the most effective exercises include bicep curls and bench dips for the arm muscles, crunches for the abs, pull ups for the back, calf raises for the leg muscles, and military press for the shoulder muscles. The great thing about these exercises is that you need not all those fancy equipment and complicated gadgets to be able to perform them. Aside from barbells, a spacious room is the only requirement.

Generally, if your primary goal is to obtain optimal strength, 1 to 6 repetitions per set of exercises are recommended. For bodybuilding and muscle mass gain purposes, 7 to 12 repetitions are recommended. For an increase in endurance, a minimum of 13 repetitions is recommended. Notice that the more difficult the objective is, the lesser the number of repetitions recommended. This is because in any exercise training, you go for intensity rather than duration. These figures are just general, though.

A periodization technique can be helpful in keeping your muscles growing. Periodization means a shift from heavy routines to light routines consistently. As this would provide a change-of-pace, your body will work more as it tries to adapt to changing physical activity. As a result, more muscle.

Furthermore, certain muscle groups would respond differently to the number of repetitions being done. For example, abdominal muscles respond best to a high number of repetitions. Therefore, changing your range of repetitions on a regular basis will prove to be effective in building up more muscle.