When developing a workout routine, the many decisions to make can be overwhelming. There are often too many cardio vascular and weight training machines to choose from, ultimately leading to frustration and headaches. To make this a much easier process, I am writing this article to explain a bare-bones, simple approach to exercise. I believe that you can train your entire body with just a few exercises, and only complicate your workout program with lots of stations in its later stages, and only to fine-tune your muscle definition.

The first thing that I would like for you to do is look over the machines in your gym. You will notice that many of them target individual muscles, while only a few target several muscles at one time. The machines that target individual muscles are used for what is called isolation training. For the purpose of getting in shape, you can avoid the isolation machines altogether. This simplifies your workout a great deal , because there are only a few compound exercise machines to choose from.

In the early stages of your body transformation program, the only exercises that you should concern yourself with are; pushups/bench press, pulldowns/pullups, squats, and crunches. These exercises will lead to the most rapid muscle gain. Compound exercises work several muscles and/or muscle groups at the same time by requiring the movement of two or more joints to successfully complete one repetition.

For example the bench press requires the movement of the elbow and shoulder joints; Squats require knee, hip and back movements; and pulldowns require elbow, shoulder and back movements. You might be wondering why I included crunches on the list of exercises to perform in the early stages. This is because crunches will prevent lower back injuries, which are common when beginning weight-training programs.

The frequency of your workouts and the breakdown of sets and reps is up to you. I urge you to challenge yourself, but beware overtraining and attempting to commit to a program that is too difficult. 2-3 weight training sessions per week is a reasonable goal. Try this out at first, and if you find that it is too easy, try adding sets or reps before you add extra training days.