By incorporating the exercises listed here into an existing routine, and/or by making them cornerstones of future routines, you will be ensuring that massive, continual, muscle growth and strength increases are yours.
Blood, sweat, tears: these are the lifeblood and currency of the bodybuilding lifestyle. For some, however, the other part of bodybuilding never materializes: muscle. You see, bodybuilders, if they are true bodybuilders, spend blood, sweat and tears over the course of their bodybuilding endeavors. It's just that some put in more blood, sweat and tears than others, and see less of the end product for their work.

Like currency, blood, sweat and tears have "buying potential" - that is, when they are spent, one should expect a return in the form of some measurable substance. That measurable substance is lean muscle tissue.

Blood, sweat and tears also have a set value. Like currency the buying potential of these three elements varies according to the conditions of the muscle-building marketplace. Put another way - according to the different variables at work in your life, the results you get from equal amounts of effort will vary. But make no mistake: It is possible to invest your efforts poorly, thus minimizing your gains. The result of a poor investment will be little or no results for your work, and very little yield and return for your efforts.

If you are like many bodybuilders your goal is to put on as much mass in the shortest possible time. The fact that bodybuilders want to put on muscle is self-evident; the realization of this desire, however, does not come automatically. In order to gain muscle one must change the ratio of investment to return. The best way to do this is to gain the highest possible yield from the smallest investment. Doing this is not easy, but it is possible.

The addition of lean mass to ones frame is a like a puzzle: the whole picture is seen only when all of the pieces are present and assembled correctly. The pieces of the puzzle, so far as bodybuilding is concerned, are: intensity, diet, supplementation, recovery and weight training. If these elements are not addressed sufficiently, gains will be fleeting and virtually non-existent. For more information on intensity see the article Intensity: Do you have it?

The publication Why are you not making gains? outlined the numerous reasons why athletes fail to see progress resulting from their hard work. That publication stressed the important role that the endocrine system plays in determining if, at all, the body gains in lean muscle tissue in response to stimuli.

The Endocrine System

The endocrine system may be viewed as the master system of the body. From the bodybuilder who injects or swallows steroidal compounds, to the athlete on a fat-loss program utilizing the glycemic index, truly, all bodybuilding endeavors are hormonal endeavors.

Hormones are chemicals that are manufactured at one tissue location in the body, and then secreted into the blood stream, so that they may act on other tissue locations in the body. For your illustration, a chart* is included outlining the various tissues in the body that comprise the endocrine system, as well as their respective hormonal products.