The Exercises that Matter

The How To: Take a shoulder width, underhand grip on a barbell. Stand erect with your hands straight at your sides and the barbell resting across your thighs. Your feet should be comfortably positioned. Keeping your arms glued to your sides (this keeps constant stress on the biceps), use biceps strength to curl the weight up in a semicircular motion to a position just below your chin. Your wrists should be relatively straight throughout the movement and you should avoid swaying your torso forward and/or backward to help you move the weight upward. Hold the top position a few seconds, powerfully contracting your biceps, then slowly lower the weight back down to the starting point.

Training Tips: To avoid torso swing, you can also do barbell curls with your back pressed against a wall. Regardless of how you do the movement, you should experiment with different width grips. Grips varying from 6 to 8 inches wider than shoulder width to 4 to 6 inches from the middle of the bar. Each grip stresses the biceps in different ways.

The How To: Lie flat on a bench with your shoulders a 3 to 5 inches away from the uprights. Place your feet flat on the floor on each side of the bench to balance your body on the bench during your set. Reach up and take an overhand grip on the barbell with your hands 3 to 5 inches wider than shoulder width on each side. Straighten your arms to lift the barbell from the rack to a position at straight arms' length directly above your shoulder joints. Allowing your upper-arm bones to travel directly out to the sides, bend your arms, and slowly lower the barbell downward and slightly forward until it lightly touches the middle of your chest. Without bouncing the weight off of your chest, slowly extend your arms and press the weight back along the same arc to the starting postion.

Training Tips: Avoid arching your back as you press the weight upward, because this is a cheating movement which both removes stress from the muscles that should be receiving it, and dangerously compresses your lower spinal vertebrae. A spotter is ideal when doing bench presses due to the heavy amount of weight you'll be lifting above your head. There is risk of getting caught underneath the weight which can lead to serious injury. Changing grip widths can also be done to stress different muscles in different ways, to the very wide grip, to the very narrow grip.

The How To: Take a shoulder width overhand grip on a barbell, set your feet about shoulder width apart, bend your legs slighty, keep your arms straight, and arch you back up (a 45-degree angle is preferred) sufficiently to raise the barbell off of the ground. Keeping your elbows back, slowly pull the barbell from straight arms' length directly upward towards your lower ribcage. Slowly reverse the movement back to the starting position.

Training Tips: When using an olympic bar, you might need to stand on a bench or block of wood in order to receive a complete range of motion. Width grips may vary, from one as narrow as having both hands touching in the middle, to one as wide as the length of bar will permit.

The How To: Jump up and take a narrow underhand grip the bar (your palms should be facing you and there should only be 6 to 8 inches of space between your hands). Fully straighten your arms. You can either hold your legs relatively straight, or bend and cross them. Slowly pull yourself up to the bar by bending your arms. At the top point, your chin should be slightly above the bar. Hold this peak-contracted position for a moment, then lower yourself back to the starting point.

Training Tips: Any width of grip from shoulder width inward until your hands are touching will bomb your biceps.

The How To: Lie flat on a bench with your shoulders a 3 to 5 inches away from the uprights. Place your feet flat on the floor on each side of the bench to balance your body on the bench during your set. Reach up and take an overhand grip on the barbell with your hands set about 6 inches apart in the middle of the bar. Straighten your arms to lift the barbell from the rack to a position at straight arms' length directly above your shoulder joints. Allowing your elbows to travel out to the sides away from your torso, slowly bend your arms and lower the barbell downward and slighty forward until it lighty touches the middle of your chest. Without bouncing the weight off of your chest, slowly extend your arms and press the weight back along the same arc to the starting postion.

Training Tips: You can vary the width of the grip inward until your hands are actually touching, or outward to a point where your hands are 12 to 14 inches apart.

The How To: Jump up and take an overhand grip on the bar. Position your hands 3 to 5 inches wider than shoulder width on both sides. Straighten your arms completely to stretch your lats. If you have to, bend your legs at a 90-degree angle while crossing your ankles. Use your lat and arm strength to pull yourself slowly upward until your chin is just above the level of the bar. Be sure that you concentrate on pulling your elbows both downward and to the rear on each rep. And it essential that you arch your back as much as possible in the top position of the movement. Slowly lower yourself back to the starting point.

Training Tips: You can use a wider or more narrow grip on your chins, but the wider grip actually reduces the range of motion of the movement, thereby robbing you of some of the stress you should be receiving from the exercise.

The How To: Set your feet about shoulder width apart, toes pointing straight ahead and shins touching the barbell lying in front of you. Bend over and take a shoulder width overhand grip on the bar. Keep your arms straight throughout the movement. Flatten your back and dip your hips to assume the correct pulling position in which your shoulders are above the level of your hips and your hips above the level of your knees. Lift the barbell from the floor to a position resting across your upper thighs by first straightening your legs and then extending your torso, so you are standing erect with your arms straight down at your sides and the bar across your upper thighs. Reverse the movement to slowly return the barbell back along the same arc to the floor.

Training Tips: With really heavy weights, a lifting belt should be used for back support and lifting straps can be used to insure a good grip on the bar. Instead of using straps, you can also use a reverse grip on the bar, holding it with one palm facing the rear and the other facing forward. Be sure your shoulders are pulled back when you are in the top position of the movement. Deadlifts can also be done with a heavy pair of dumbbells.

The How To: Hook your feet under a restraint bar at the foot of the bench and lie back on the decline bench. Reach up and take an overhand grip on the barbell with your hands set 3 to 6 inches wider than shoulder width on each side. When you have a grip on the bar, straighten your arms to pull the barbell into the correct starting position at straight arms' length directly above your shoulder joints. Being sure to keep your elbows back throughout the movement to acheive optimum pectoral stretch and contraction, bend your arms and slowly lower the barbell straight downward until it lightly touches your chest at the lower edge of your pectorals. Without bouncing the bar off of your chest, slowly press the barbell back up along the same arc to the starting point, being sure to intensely contract your pectorals in the top position.

Training Tips: Most decline benches are set at an angle of about 20 to 30-degrees. Varying the angle of the bench will stress your lower and outer pectorals a bit differently, as well as varying the grip width on the bar. Be sure to have a spotter at the head of the bench, because the movement puts your face and neck in a vulnerable position.

The How To: Jump up to a supported position on the parallel bars, your palms facing inward, arms straight, legs bent, and ankles crossed. Be sure to keep your torso perfectly erect throughout the entire movement. Slowly bend your arms and lower yourself as far down between the bars as possible. Without bouncing in the bottom position, slowly straighten your arms and push yourself back up to the starting position.

Training Tips: When you become strong enough to use extra weight on this movement, you can hang a light dumbbell between your legs or get a special weight belt attachment enabling you to hang a weight plate between your legs from a piece of chain or rope.

The How To: Lie down on an incline bench set at an angle ranging from about 15-degrees to as much as about 75-degrees. Reach up and take an overhand grip on the barbell with your hands set 3 to 6 inches wider than shoulder width on each side. Straighten your arms to pull the barbell into the correct starting position at straight arms' length directly above your shoulder joints. Being sure to keep your elbows back to acheive maximum pectoral stretch in the bottom point of the movement, slowly bend your arms and lower the barbell downward until it touches lightly on your upper chest near the base of your neck. Without bouncing the bar off of your chest, slowly reverse the movement and press the bar back up to straight arms' length.

Training Tips: By varying the angle of the incline bench on which you do your presses, you can shift the stress from one muscle group to another, the same as you can change stress points when varying the width of your grip. When you use a low incline angle, most of the stress is borne by the upper chest and anterior deltoid muscles, with more stress on the pectorals. But the higher you angle the pressing bench, the more stress is shifted to the anterior deltoids and triceps, at the expense of the upper pectorals, which should be receiving maximum stress.

The How To: Sit in the machine with your buttocks in the corner where the back and seat pads meet. Lie back against the angled back pad. Place your feet about shoulder width apart on the foot plate attached to the carriage, toes angled slighty outward. Straighten your legs and rotate the stop bars at the sides of your hips to release the carriage for your set. Slowly bend your legs as completely as possible while being sure that your knees travel out to the sides of your chest. Without bouncing in the bottom position of the movement, reverse direction and slowly press the weight out until your legs are again straight.

Training Tips: Never completely lock your legs at the top of the movement. This will take away from any stress placed on the legs and may also cause damage to your knees due to hyperextension.

The How To: Take an overhand grip on a barbell with your hands set 3 to 4 inches wider than your shoulders on each side. Set you feet about shoulder width apart, barbell should begin at shoulder level. Start the movement with your elbows directly beneath the bar, and keep them under the bar throughout your set. Stand erect and don't bend backward as you do the movement. Use deltoid and arm strength to press the barbell directly upward, close to your face, until it is at straight arms' length directly above your shoulder joints. Return the barbell back along the same arc to the starting point.

Training Tips: If you have trouble keeping your torso erect (i.e., you bend backward at the waist to cheat the bar up), you should do seated military presses in which you sit astride a flat exercise bench. When working with very heavy weights a lifting belt might be necessary in order to protect your lower back and abdomen from injury. To stress your deltoids from different angles, you should experiment with different grip widths, from one in which your hands are shoulder width apart, to one as wide as the length of the barbell allows. Never completely lock your elbows at the top of the movement. This will take away from any stress placed on the shoulders.

The How To: Grasp a dumbbell in your left hand and place your right hand on the bench next to you in order to brace your torso in a position parallel with the floor throughout the set. Place your right foot forward and left foot to the rear, straighten your arm and raise the dumbbell 1 to 2 inches from the floor. Keeping your elbow back, slowly pull the dumbbell upward until its inner plates touch the side of your torso. In this position, you should rotate your left shoulder upward. Reverse the movement and return the dumbbell slowly to the starting point. Be sure to reverse your body position and do an equal number of sets and reps with your right arm.

Training Tips: Most people prefer to perform this movement with the knee of the inside leg set on a bench. You can also perform this exercise without a bench, merely by placing your nonexercising hand on its corresponding knee.

The How To: Step up to a barbell lying on the ground so that your shins are touching the bar, your feet set about shoulder width apart, and your toes pointed directly forward. Reach down and take a shoulder-width overhand grip on the barbell. Keeping your arms straight, flatten your back and bend your knees so you assume a starting position in which your back is at an approximate 45-degree angle with the floor, your shoulders are above the level of your hips and your hips above the level of your knees. Initiate the pull from the floor by first straightening your legs. Follow this movementby an extension of your torso, bringing it to a vertical position. Finally, pull with your arms and then whip your elbows under the bar to fix it at your shoulders. As a shock absorbtion technique, you should bend your knees and dip your body about 6 inches as you whip the bar up to your shoulders. Lower the bar back to the floor by reversing the instructions just given to you for lifting the weight upwards.

Training Tips: With heavier weights you may want to reinforce your grip with straps and use a lifting belt to help support your back.

The How To: Take a shoulder width overhand grip on a barbell, palms facing you. Stand erect with your hands straight at your sides and the barbell resting across your thighs. Your feet should be comfortably positioned. Press your upper arms against the sides of your torso and keep them in this position throughout your set. Use upper and forearm strength to curl the weight up in a semicircular motion to a position just below your chin. Your wrists should be relatively straight throughout the movement and you should avoid swaying your torso forward and/or backward to help you move the weight upward. Hold the top position a few seconds, powerfully contracting your arm muscles, then slowly lower the weight back down to the starting point.

Training Tips: To avoid torso swing, you can also do reverse barbell curls with your back pressed against a wall. You might find that you get more out of your reverse curls when you use a narrow grip with your index fingers set about 4 to 6 inches apart from the middle of the bar.

The How To: Duck under a barbell placed on a rack and position it across your shoulders with your trap muscles contracted to act as padding. The bar should be at about the level of your shoulders, and you can pad it with a towel or squat pad if you feel that it is cutting into your spine too sharply. Grasp the bar out near the plates on each side to balance it into position. Set your feet about shoulder width apart and straighten your legs to lift the bar from the rack. Step one pace back from the rack, keeping your feet about shoulder width apart, your toes angled slighty outward. Your spinal erectors, abdominals, and upper-back muscles should be tensed throughout the set. Focus your eyes on a point at eye level on the wall in front of you in an effort to keep your torso upright as you do your squats. Your spine should be either straight or slightly arched throughout the set. Keeping your torso upright, slowly bend your legs and sink down into a full squatting position, your knees traveling forward and out over your toes as you sink downward. Withoutout bouncing in the bottom position, slowly reverse the movement and return to the upright starting position.

Training Tips: When doing heavy squats you may wear a lifting belt in order to stablize your back. And if your knees have been injured in the past, it may be a good idea to wear wraps around them to protect them from further injury. If your ankles are inflexible, you won't be able to do full squats with your feet flat on the floor. In this case, you need to insert a thick weight plate underneath each foot for better balance.

The How To: In order to increase the range of motion, this exercise is normally performed while standing on a flat exercise bench or a thick block of wood. Your feet should be placed fairly close to each other, toes pointed directly forward. Take a shoulder-width overhand grip on the barbell. Stand erect and keep both your arms and legs completely straight throughtout the movement. Slowly bend forward at the waist and lower the barbell down until it touches either your toes or the bench/block right in front of your toes. Reverse the procedure and slowly return to the starting position.

Training Tips: When using an olympic bar, the plates will be so large that they will touch the ground too early and terminate the movement short of the fullest possible range of motion. This is why it is recommended to stand on a bench or block of wood. You may reinforce your grip with straps if you feel it necessary. As with deadlifts, stiff-legged deadlifts can also be done with a heavy pair of dumbbells. And never completely lock your legs during the movement. Like leg presses this may cause damage to your knees due to hyperextension.