Bodybuilding Tips and Tricks

Performance: Attach a narrow grip handle to a cable row pulley station. Keep your knees bent with your feet flat on the support platforms in front of you. Keeping your torso perpendicular to the floor and your eyes straight ahead, pull the handle slowly toward your midsection until it nearly touches your navel. Focus on feeling the contraction in your back muscles. Squeeze your shoulder blades at the peak of the contraction, then slowly return the handle to the starting position. In order to allow for a good stretch in your lats, lean forward very slightly with your arms extended at the end of each rep. You should not, however, allow the weight to pull you forward a great deal as this will create a rocking motion while performing your reps which may lead to injury and will lessen the stress on the targeted muscle groups.

Muscle Emphasis: trapezius, latissimus dorsi, and erector spine; strong stress is also placed on the posterior deltoids, biceps, brachialis, and forearm flexors

Lat Pulldowns - Back - 4 sets; Rep Scheme: 15, 12, 10, 8
Flat-Bench Dumbbell Presses - Chest - 4 sets; Rep Scheme: 15, 12, 10, 8
Incline Dumbbell Curls - Biceps - 4 sets; Rep Scheme: 15, 12, 10, 8
Tricep Pressdowns - Triceps - 4 sets; Rep Scheme: 15, 12, 10, 8
Dumbbell Lateral Raises - Shoulders - 4 sets; Rep Scheme: 15, 12, 10, 8
Dumbbell Shrugs - Traps - 4 sets; Rep Scheme: 15, 12, 10, 8

Increase weight each set to allow you to only complete the prescribed number of reps.

Rest time between sets: 1-2 minutes
Be sure to do 1-2 warmup sets or 5-10 minutes of cardio (or both) before beginning the first exercise. Alternate this rep scheme with a 6, 6, 15, 20 rep scheme at your discretion, starting with a heavier weight for the first two sets and lowering the weight for the last two.

Incline Barbell Press - Chest - 4 sets: Rep Scheme: 15, 12, 10 , 8
Bent-Over Barbell Rows - Back - 4 sets: Rep Scheme: 15, 12, 10 , 8
Standing Barbell Curls - Biceps - 4 sets: Rep Scheme: 15, 12, 10 , 8
Lying French Presses - Triceps - 4 sets: Rep Scheme: 15, 12, 10 , 8
Seated Barbell Shoulder Presses - Shoulders - 4 sets: Rep Scheme: 15, 12, 10 , 8
Barbell Shrugs - Traps - 4 sets: Rep Scheme: 15, 12, 10 , 8

Increase weight each set to allow you to only complete the prescribed number of reps.

Rest time between sets: 1-2 minutes
Be sure to do 1-2 warmup sets or 5-10 minutes of cardio (or both) before beginning the first exercise. Alternate the 15, 12, 10, 8 rep scheme with this rep scheme—6, 6, 15, 20—from workout to workout, exercise to exercise, or however you see fit. Keep those muscles guessing! For this second rep scheme, you will start with the heaviest weight (after a couple of warm-up sets of course) and then lower the weight for the final two sets.

This is a good exercise to finish your back workout with because it works the back without involving the biceps. (This also makes this move one of the few exercises that can be used to pre-exhaust the back.) Don’t worry about using a ton of weight; heavy poundage is not necessary to achieve good results with this exercise. Concentrate on maintaining perfect form and feeling the exercise in your lats.

Performance: Attach a lat pulldown bar to a high pulley cable attachment and take an overhand shoulder-width grip. Stand with your arms outstretched toward the bar, with the bar at shoulder level. Bend your knees slightly and try to keep your bodyweight on your heels. Lean forward slightly and tighten your abdominals. Keeping your elbows slightly bent and wrists locked, contract your lats and push the bar down and in towards your body in an arcing motion. Your torso should not move. Squeeze you lats at the bottom of the movement (the bar should be close to your thighs), then slowly allow the bar to come back to the starting position.

Muscle Emphasis: latissimus dorsi, serratus anterior; secondary stress on abdominals

Pull-ups - 4 sets; Rep Scheme: 12, 10, 8, 8
Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown - 4 sets; Rep Scheme: 10-12 reps per set
Wide-Grip Seated Cable Row - 4 sets; Rep Scheme: 10-12 reps per set
Straight-Arm Pulldown - 3 sets; Rep Scheme: 10-12 reps per set

RRest time between sets: 1-2 minutes
Be sure to do 1-2 warmup sets or 5-10 minutes of cardio (or both) before beginning the first exercise.

Performance: Face a weight bench. With your feet fairly close together, lean forward and rest your free hand on the bench so you’re supporting the weight of your upper body with one arm. Bend your knees slightly and keep your chest slightly lifted and back arched. Reach down and grasp a dumbbell while keeping your other arm locked and supporting your torso. Keeping your torso stable throughout the movement, slowly pull the dumbbell all the way up to your chest, moving your shoulder backward as your elbow comes toward the ceiling. Then lower the dumbbell straight down to the start position. Try to focus on feeling the contraction in your lats when you raise the weight and make sure you get a good stretch in your lats at the bottom of the movement. You can also perform this exercise with your body parallel to the bench and one knee resting on the bench if the unsupported version is too difficult for you.

Muscle Emphasis: latissimus dorsi, biceps, brachialis, and forearm flexors; secondary emphasis is on the trapezius and posterior deltoid

Incline Barbell Press - 4 sets; Rep Scheme: 12, 10, 8, 8
Incline Cable Flye - 3 sets; Rep Scheme: 10, 10, 8
Seated Machine Chest Press - 3 sets; Rep Scheme: 10, 10, 10
Foot-Elevated Push-Up - 2 sets: Rep Scheme: 15, 15

Rest time between sets: 1-2 minutes
Be sure to do 1-2 warmup sets or 5-10 minutes of cardio (or both) before beginning the first exercise.

Performance: Hold a relatively lightweight dumbbell at your side with your feet a little less than shoulder-width apart. Maintaining an erect posture, bend to one side as far as you can and return to the startting position. Keep the arm not holding the dumbbell straight and try to feel it “reaching” for the floor when performing the movement. Repeat for reps on each side. You can also perform this exercise using a the low pulley (with D-handle attachment) of a cable apparatus.

Emphasis: Obliques and serratus muscles

Barbell Squat - 2 sets; Rep Scheme: 6, 8
Bent-Over Barbell Row - 2 sets; Rep Scheme: 6, 8
Incline Barbell Press - 2 sets; Rep Scheme: 6, 8
Seated Barbell Shoulder Press - 2 sets; Rep Scheme: 6, 8
Lying French Press - 2 sets; Rep Scheme: 6, 8
Barbell Curl - 2 sets; Rep Scheme: 6, 8
Standing Calf Raise - 1 set; Rep Scheme: 25
Cable Crunches - 1 set; Rep Scheme: 25

I recommend doing 5-10 minutes of light cardio to warm-up before beginning.

Barbell Squat - 4 sets; Rep Scheme: 6, 10, 12, 12
Leg Extension - 4 sets; Rep Scheme: 8, 10, 10, 12
Leg Curl - 4 sets; Rep Scheme: 8, 10, 12, 15
Romanian Deadlift - 4 sets; Rep Scheme: 10, 10, 12, 12

Rest time between sets: 1-2 minutes
Be sure to do 1-2 warmup sets or 5-10 minutes of cardio (or both) before beginning the first exercise.