Bodybuilding Science: Choosing The Right Bodybuilding Exercises For Maximum Gain

Learn to Choose the Best Bodybuilding Exercises for Increased Bodybuilding Gains

Which bodybuilding exercises are the best ones for increasing lean muscle mass gains? This is one of the most common questions that I get asked on almost a daily basis.

In bodybuilding, there is a variety of exercises that one can choose from to sculpt the body of your dreams. Results in bodybuilding are generally measured in body composition changes; increased muscle mass or tone, depending on the goal, along with decreases in body fat. The speed at which such changes are acquired depends on the bodybuilding routines being used, the diet plan followed and the amount of sleep that the trainee gets.

In order for a training protocol to work at peak efficiency, not only must it be periodized or cycled but it also must include exercises that give you the most stimulation in the minimum amount of time.

Different exercises provide different levels of stimulation. Exercises like the leg extensions, while excellent for sculpting the lower part of the quadriceps, produce less of a stimulating effect than an exercise like the squat.

What Is Neuromuscular Stimulation?

The efficacy of an exercise really depends on the exercise's ability to prompt the nervous system to activate the maximum amount of muscle fibers possible in each repetition. How many muscle fibers get activated refers to an exercise's ability to provide Neuromuscular Stimulation (NMS}. Therefore, if we want maximum results in the gym from the time we invest, we must ensure that the exercises we choose have the highest NMS potential.

NMS is of crucial importance as it is the nervous system that ultimately sends a signal to the brain requesting to start the muscle growth process. Knowing how much NMS each bodybuilding exercise provides will allow you to make smart exercise choices when it comes time to design your own bodybuilding routines. Now, how do we determine what the stimulation factor of each exercise is? Such will be the topic of the next section.

NMS Classes

In order to rate what the NMS of each exercise is, I borrowed the Class rating system used for classifying the speed of DSL systems (technology used to achieve high speed connections to the Internet through your phone line) and tailored it to fit my purpose. In this system a Class 1 technology has lower speeds than a Class 2 technology.

Therefore, in our exercise rating system composed of four classes, a Class 1 exercise yields the lowest NMS (this class is composed of variable resistance machine type of exercises) while a Class 4 exercise yields the highest NMS and is therefore the hardest but most stimulating one. In each class we may also have subclasses such as Class 1a and Class 1b. A Class 1a exercise will yield less NMS than a Class 1b.

Class 1a
Class 1a exercises are composed of isolation (one joint) exercises performed in variable resistance machines (such as Nautilus) where the whole movement of the exercise is controlled. These type of exercises provide the least amount of stimulation as stabilizer muscles do not need to get involved since the machine takes care of the stabilization process. An example of such an exercise would be the machine curl.

Class 1b
Class 1b exercises are compound (multi-joint) movements performed in a variable resistance machine. An example of such movement would be the incline bench press performed in a Hammer Strength machine. Since the movement is a compound one, more muscles get involved and therefore the neuromuscular stimulation is higher than that offered by a machine curl for instance. However, the fact that the machine takes care of the stabilization issues limits the growth offered by the exercise.

Class 2a
Class 2a exercises are composed of isolation (one joint) exercises performed with non-variable resistance machines. An example of such exercise would be the leg extension exercise performed in one of those leg extensions attachments that come with the benches that are sold for home gyms. These attachments lack the pulleys and the cams that would make the exercise a variable resistance exercise. Therefore, the muscles need to get more involved in the movement, something that as a result provides better stimulation.

Class 2b
Class 2b exercises are composed of basic (multi-joint) exercises performed with non-variable resistance machines. An example of such would be the bench press unit that is attached to the Universal type of machines or a leg press machine that contains no pulleys or cams that would make the exercise easier. Since there are no pulleys or cams to make the exercise easier as you lift the weight, the NMS is higher.