What are your lifts?
For absolute beginners, Starting Strength or Stronglifts is great.
In the book I recommend something similar, but a bit more custom for muscle building. Basically, stick to the big four (deadlifts, squats, bench press and overhead press), throw in some accessory work for lagging bodyparts and problem areas. It'll do wonders.
For more advanced people, same as above, but with more volume and tension training.
I like people to follow this progression when weight training:
Focus on strength first, volume second and tension third. Seems the best recipe for putting on muscle fast.
I've been able to low bar squat 300# at 175lbs bodyweight and full snatch 130# at approximately 145lbs bodyweight at various times in my life, fyi. Nothing to write home about obviously
Deadlift: 500 Bench: 295 (this and OHP are a source of annoyance for me) Squat: 350 for 5 (low bar). Haven't maxed in squat in a while...mostly been box squating lately. Box squat (what I actually do most often): 390x2 OHP: 185 (this is a source of annoyance for me)
So, nothing to write home about by any measure.