simple is sometimes better
If you are looking to build muscle then sometimes you do not need to look any further than the basics. I am talking about the push ups, pull ups and ab crunches. Sure there might be other ways to work those muscle groups and more efficient ways for different purposes but I tell you what. If you did a lot of each of those and really pushed your self to do more and more every week then you are going to be in good shape and get stronger. Then when you take on other lifts you will help yourself get stronger that much faster.