Before you start a weightlifting program there are some factors that need to be considered and understood to make this program as beneficial and productive as possible.

The first thing you should think about is what are your goals. These goals should be stated in brief, specific, and measurable terms. If, for example, you want to get "bigger and stronger" then you should state these in measurable terms based on performance and not appearance. In other words your goal is stated in lifting a certain amount in a particular lift and not how much you weigh. An example of this is setting a goal of benching 300 lbs, squatting 400 lbs, and dead lifting 500 lbs. By setting specific numbers this gives you something to work towards and be able to measure and not just a goal of getting "bigger and stronger".

The next thing you need to understand is how muscles grow and get stronger. Basically your muscles grow and get stronger by being forced to work harder in a systematic manner. This means constantly exposing your muscles to stress by either adding weight or reps to your lifts. If you did 5 reps at 200 lbs on your bench last week you need to try for 6 reps this week. By continually forcing your muscles to work harder they will get stronger and ultimately get bigger. The last rep you do of any exercise should be almost impossible to do.

You should also avoid training for the "pump". This style of training involves using light weights and high reps and while giving a temporary congested feel to your muscles it does nothing to improve strength.

What exercises should you use? There are literally hundreds of exercises that you could use and frankly the majority of them are unproductive. There are however what is known as essential or basic exercises, these are exercises that have been around for a very long time and are superior for building muscle and getting stronger.

Here are the basic exercises for each area of your body.

The best exercise for legs is the squat. This is by far the best exercise for building strength and size in your lower body. It is also an excellent exercise for building total body strength and mass. If you combine squats with calf raises, you should need no other exercises to build your legs.

The next exercise for the lower body and lower back is the dead lift. This is another exercise just like the squat that will build overall body strength and mass. You do not want to neglect your lower back. Building a strong back is a key to getting stronger and keeping injury free.

The next area of the body is the upper back. The basic exercises for training the upper back are pull downs, pull ups, and rows with either a barbell or dumbbells. Some people prefer doing pull downs or pull ups instead of rowing because rowing may overwork the lower back and if you have already down dead lifts then your lower back has had enough work. Pull downs or pull ups can be done with either your hands facing away from you or facing towards you, either way is productive.

For your chest, the best basic exercise is the bench press. This is the king of all chest movements and will do more for your chest and upper body than any other exercise. You can try variations by doing dumbbell bench presses or incline bench presses with a barbell or dumbbells.

The best exercise for your shoulders is the overhead press. A couple of variations of this are military presses and dumbbell presses. You can do them in front of your neck or behind the neck although some people find that doing them behind the neck puts extra strain on their shoulders.

The best exercises for your upper arms are barbell or dumbbell curls for your biceps and close grip bench presses or dips for your triceps. Your forearms should grow from just doing all the other basic heavy movements.

The abdominal can be trained by doing crunches, dumbbell side bends, and leg raises.

Here is a sample full body routine using these basic exercise that can be done three times a week, either Monday-Wednesday-Friday or Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday. A beginner might want to start with eight reps of the following adding weight each week. (Squat, Dead Lift, Bench Press, Pull-down, Military Press, Barbell Curl, Close-grip bench press, Crunches)

You should stay with this routine for at least the first month of training.