How to Pick the Perfect Muscle Building Workout
Google search the term "muscle building workout" and it yields 727 million results. You should be able to sort through this by - well maybe - the year 3027. If you're lucky.
Search the Tiger Fitness website for "muscle building workout" and there are only 611 articles to choose from. Not bad, but still a hefty number of choices.
Pro tip! If you refine this search down to "best muscle building workout" you will find that Google presents only 76 million options. Apparently, there are 76 million best workouts.
Related - How to Build Your Own Muscle Building Workout
All absurdity aside, how do you find the best muscle building workout? The answer might surprise you, or even let you down, but hopefully you'll walk away from this article better prepared to make muscle gains.
Picking the Best Workout
Tip #1 - Everyone is Different
This obvious statement is rather obvious. Obviously. There are so many variables and everyone is different. Here are some factors that can influence your workout.
- Age
- Experience with compound movements and form
- Height
- Leverages
- Where you train
- What equipment you have access to
- Existing injuries
- Time you have to train
And on and on and on.
A truly "best" workout will be something that is designed specifically for you based on all available factors. This workout will be crafted by someone that has a solid understanding of programming and design. This, though, opens up another well-worn rabbit trail.
What does this mean? No two program designers are alike. Each will have a different set of core philosophies and programming beliefs. This means that if you are given a "perfect workout" by 10 of the best muscle builder coaches, each workout will look different.
You will have 10 perfect workouts, each uniquely perfect and rock-solid. You can see the problem here, right?
Put these 10 coaches in a room for one hour and I guarantee a dogmatic flame-throwing war will inevitably break out.
Ah, the nuances of perfection. Or, rather, the 50 shades of gainz.
Tip #2 - To Those Selling Perfect Workouts
We've all seen the steaming piles of hype:
My workout system is perfectly optimized to help YOU maximize gym progress. There are no better choices!
The best upper body workout on the planet!
This might offend someone, but it's true. While someone might believe they have the perfect workout for everyone, there's a good chance they might be a wee bit biased.
Just a wee bit.
Just because someone sells a perfect workout, or claims their training program is a perfect workout, doesn't mean it will live up to standards for everyone.
These types of programs are generally decent but typically founded with their own slant in an attempt to make them stand out in a sea of bland, same-old-same-old programs.
Before you lay out any hard-earned money on a program make sure to do your research on Google. It's likely not a bad program, but it might not be a good fit for you.
Let's say it focused on explosive movements. This program might be solid for the young and thin crowd, but not for the moderately overweight and slightly-above-30-and-not-what-we-used-to-be crowd.
Also, some programs frame themselves as muscle builders but are nothing more than fancy fat-burning extravaganzas with a few resistance training movements added in to make them sexier.
Understand your needs, goals, experience levels, and equipment before spending a penny.
Tip #3 - You Do Not Need a Perfect Workout
As you can see, the entire concept of finding a best workout is flamed. Such a creature really doesn't exist. Even if you could find on that you thought was perfect, odds are that once you started lifting you would discover that a few variables need to be changed.
The real truth is this: most any reasonable workout system will serve you well if you are working it properly. What does this mean? What is a reasonable workout?
A reasonable muscle building workout includes, but is not limited to:
- A focus on major compound movements as a cornerstone.
- Some form of progressive overload.
- A reasonable amount of training volume; neither minimal or extreme.
- Nothing extreme.
- A focus on slow, steady steps rather than punishment and gimmicks.
This is not a complete list, but it is a good start. Instead of trying to find the perfect workout, remember that the magic is within you.
Any reasonable workout will yield quality results if you follow the program. When you find a variable that doesn't fit your body/equipment/etc. simply evolve the program slightly.
You will be one step closer to a better program.
Final Thoughts
Relax. Set aside the question for the ultimate workout. Take comfort in knowing that the magic is within you.
Get a lot stronger than you are now, don't avoid major compound movements, stay healthy, train smart, and be patient.
You'll get there. It ain't easy, but you'll get there.