Bodybuilding Basics
Talk about bodybuilding, and the first picture formed in your mind is of huge rippling muscles busting the seams of a t-shirt. However, as you will discover here, that need not be the case. In fact, the exercises that bodybuilders base their workouts on are the foundation of many strength fitness programs. Muscle building will help to burn fat and create a lean body with enhanced health and fitness.
The main exercises that form the base for most bodybuilding programs are as follows:
The bench-press. Lie on your back on an exercise bench, and lift a barbell above you to the ceiling and down. This exercise is primarily for the chest and triceps and deltoid muscles of the arms. 
The squat. Used with weights or not, this exercise is basically like attempting to sit in a chair where there is none, so you rise back up. Never extend your knees beyond your toes if possible, and keep your heels planted. Performed correctly, this exercise develops the front thigh muscles (quadriceps), the buttocks (glutes), and also the back.
The deadlift. Stand in front of your weights, usually with a bar and fixed weights. Squat and grasp the bar and lift it in stages until it is above your head. Targeting the quadriceps (front thighs), hamstrings (back of thigh), gluteals (butt), lower back and abdominals. This strength training exercise can be used as an alternative to squats.
The military press. Also called the overhead press. This strength training exercise involves lifting the weight from the upper chest area to above the head, ensuring you don’t lock the elbows at the top. Targeting mainly the shoulder deltoid muscles, as well as the trapezius, triceps, and the upper chest.
The lateral pull down or lat pull down. Using cable pull down equipment, and bracing your quads above the knees to prevent your knees from rising as to perform the exercise set. This exercise targets mainly the lats, with shoulders and arms to a lesser degree.
The arm curl, or the bicep curl. Holding a dumbbell in each hand hanging at your side, bend the elbow and bring the weight to the shoulder and down. The key is controlled movement, not speed. This is one of the favorite strength training exercises of bodybuilders. This works the muscles of the upper arm, the biceps, and the lower arm muscles. People who do this regularly will usually see results quite fast. Some of its popularity is due to this very fact, as a confidence booster to be able to display the visible improvement to the muscle.
To gain the size muscles that the bodybuilders achieve is as much about food nutrition and supplements as it is about the exercises performed on a daily basis.
These strength training exercises will help to build a strong, healthy, symmetrically muscular body. Always ensure they are performed regularly, in the correct manner, and supplemented with good nutrition.
