#TeamSwench - Twitter Q&A

 “@KamdenP: @Team_Swench it’d be good to know what the mass building moves are…. The one move you can’t miss in your session?”

Here’s a rundown of our favourite exercises and ones that we consider essential to building muscle:

                                                                       Deadlifts:

We’ve always done deadlifts since we started lifting. There great for your lower back and hamstrings however and as it’s a compound movement they really work all the muscles in your body. I also believe by doing deadlifts you create a good overall strength foundation and in turn that will obviously help with all your other lifts! we use all different rep ranges when it comes to deadlifts, switching between 8-12 reps as a hypertrophy workout and then sometimes we drop to just 3-5 reps and even singles on more of a strength/powerlifting workout. 

                                                             Incline Dumbbell Press:

Although we mix it up with barbells, dumbbells and machines I would have to say we’ve seen the best results since focusing on incline dumbbell press. Really works the whole chest, but emphasises on the upper part, and really brings out the upper chest nicely (great for those low cut t-shirts!!). Make sure to keep the arching of your back to a minimum as this take the 'incline' out of the exercise.

                                                   Smith Machine Shoulder Press

As we’ve both had shoulder injuries before, we’ve stuck to the smith machine when it comes to shoulder pressing. Now our shoulders have recovered we throw in some dumbbell presses as well. The smith machine just stabilizes the weight more reducing the risk of injury, while still giving your shoulders a good workout. Just remember to work all heads of the shoulder throughout your workout to maintain a balanced shoulder muscle which will reduce to likelyhood of picking up an injury.

                                                                      Squats

If you want that complete physique it’s a must that you train legs and to put it simply, you can’t beat squats when it comes to training legs. There the king of leg exercises and once again as a compound movement it works your whole body, again creating that strong base for you build on! Squats tax all the muscles in the legs – quads, hams, glutes and even calves. They also strengthen the hips and lower back.

                                                         Underhand Lat Pull Downs

We’ve also switched from doing regular lat pull downs and switched the grip to underhand. This does bring your biceps into it a bit more but it activates the lats much better in our opinion and will help in getting those wide lats we all want!

                                                                      Pull Ups

We’ve always started a back day with pull ups. they get the blood pumping through your muscles. Using different grips and hand widths you can hit your whole back, and especially the lats. It’s a great exercise for back width and general strength.

Honourable Mentions:

Bent Over Rows (Back)

 EZ Bar Curls (Biceps)

 Close Grip Bench Press (Triceps)

Arnold Press (Shoulders)

As always this is only our personal choice. They key to bodybuilding is trial and error. Everyones body works in different ways. your body may respond to an exercise much better than someone elses would, so its essential that you try different things and find out what works for you.

Dont forget you can contact us by, E-mail, Twitter, Instagram and on here, so feel free to get in touch with any questions requests etc!