There will never been an ultimate muscle building workout plan. It's arguable that you could rank them in any way to begin with. It's about finding what works best with the body you have. I know this is cliché and that if I didn't continue, my post would be complete **** lol.. So let me continue...
The basics of any good muscle building plan should follow these goals:
- Maximum stimulation of targeted muscle groups (not over stimulation)
- An appropriate diet to meet the demands of your training.
- Consistency... This is a big one that too many people never mention. It might take months or even years to get good results.
As far as the exercises go, just choose the ones that let you work a lot of muscle and make sure you're hitting multiple areas (i.e, when training back make sure you're working the pull down function as well as the rowing function of the back muscles). Don't overdo the smaller muscles like biceps and triceps. A lot of good work for chest, back and shoulders will provide most of the stimulation for arms to grow.
And think about the muscles that you're working. For example, if I'm targeting my back with rows, I want my back muscles to do as much of the work as possible. The weight is a means to an end. So don't just heave the bar with all you've got, thinking that since you got a heavy weight into the air, your back is going to grow. It's all about making the muscles you want to target do as much of the work as possible, usually through the fullest extent of range possible (i.e, full range of motion exercises).
As far as when to stop training, I actually learned a great piece of advice from none other than Ronnie ****ing Coleman (not a fan of steroids, by the way, or modern pro bodybuilding, just his one piece of advice lol).... He will train a muscle until the pump he gets in that muscle starts to diminish. In other words, say I'm training my chest. I do X amount of exercises and sets, getting a great pump the entire time. Well, eventually my muscles are going to fatigue and (anatomical reasons aside) my pump will stall and then start to diminish. I basically stop working out that muscle when I feel like my pump isn't getting any stronger. When it stalls out, I know I'm done. This works wonderfully for me and I always know exactly how long I should workout because my body tells me. Incidentally, my workouts are still around the 40-45 minute mark. I could workout for 2 hours if I wanted to, but while I do enjoy lifting weights, I thought the goal was to get your body to change shape, right?
So that's what my bodybuilding philosophies boil down to.
