Muscles of the body

Can't find your pectoralis major? Think gluteus maximus was a famous Roman general?! Have a look at this chart to see where your major muscles of the body are...

The picture below shows all the major muscles of the human body. For fitness and strength training purposes you don't need to know every single muscle fibre you possess, but a better knowledge of your anatomy and the major muscles will greatly increase the effectiveness of your training.

For simiplicity's sake you can divide the body's muscles into the major groups of: chest, back, legs, arms and shoulders. There is also your core muscles to consider

A good strength training program should provide sufficient work for each major muscle group of your body. It should also have a balance between each muscle group, such that one muscle group doesn't get too much or too little training which can lead to muscle imbalance, postural problems, and injury.

A simple approach to a strength training program would be to do 1-2 exercises per session on each major muscle group. For instance, you might do bench press (chest), lat pull downs (back), shoulder press (shoulders), squats (legs), bicep curls and tricep dips (arms) to cover every major muscle group. Extra exercises could be added to areas you feel need more work.