Those of you who have ever bought any of my lifting programs know I always include shoulder presses, in various forms.
I adamantly believe that the standard barbell vertical press (a/k/a barbell shoulder press, a/k/a military press, a/k/a some other names) is the best form to be doing throughout the year. That said, I hate monotony and include Arnold Presses in some routines (for example the 6x6x6 Routine).
Most people do Arnold Presses sitting down. DON’T!
Doing them sitting with your back on a seated bench has various drawbacks:
- reduced core stabilization
- usually done with improper back arch
- requires you to wait around for that seated bench to be available (wastes time)
- less transfer of skill/strength to other exercises
Instead, do them standing. This video shows you how to do them, but I add something most people forget about: low ceilings.
Many of you, like me, often work out in home gyms with low ceilings. So what should you do?
Should you do them sitting? Again, NO!
You do them kneeling. So I call them “Kneeling Arnolds”. You get almost all the benefits of standing.
Here’s the video: (more…)
Looking to burn fat with weight training? Tired of typical routines?
Get my metabolic routine here: Fat Burn Furnace!
Continue reading about How To Do Arnold Presses – Killer Shoulder Exercise
I hurt my wrist recently (long story) and so Yates rows have been causing pain. So I moved to dumbbell rows but added a couple variations. (The barbell requires pronated grip, which causes the pain, but the dumbbells allow for a semi-neutral grip and no pain.) Here’s a video: (more…)
Continue reading about Power Dumbbell Rows – A Great Row Variation
Have you ever seen those different curling bars at the gym and wondered what they were good for? Yeah, you know what I’m talking about, one of the bars is straight and one of them has several angled grips, called the EZ Curl bar.
So which of these should you be using? Well, each of the bars has its own advantages. Let’s take a look at the biceps muscle group to understand what the advantages are.
Attachments:
Your biceps muscle group, as the name implies, is composed of muscles with two separate heads, or bundles of muscle. Your biceps attach to your scapula around your shoulders, run down your upper arm, and then attach to something called the radial tuberosity near your elbow.
The radial tuberosity is a bone that can rotate. That means that your biceps not only work to bend your arm at the elbow, but your biceps also work to supinate your forearm.
Supination: When we’re talking about the biceps, supination means moving your forearm so that your palm is facing you.
Pronation: The pronated position points your palms away from you.
Take a look at the picture on the left and notice where the bottom of your biceps attaches to your forearm. Your biceps attach to the portion of your forearm that is on top when your palms are facing up, in the fully supinated position.
That means that when your biceps are fully supinated with the palms facing you, your biceps are able to be involved most fully in your workout.
To get a feel for how this works, bend your elbow so that your forearm and upper arm form a 90 degree angle. Point your palm away from you and flex your bicep muscles. Then place your other hand on your bicep so you can feel it flexing.
Now, starting with your palm facing away from you, slowly rotate your palm until it is in the fully supinated position and facing you. As you rotated your palm toward you, you should have felt your biceps becoming increasingly more tense throughout the movement.
Anybody new to the gym knows how difficult it can be to make sense of all of the machines and equipment that fill the workout room. Instead of trying to analyze each of the different machines in the gym, get to know the free weights first. The free weights will give you the greatest returns for the effort you put in.
Barbells are probably the most basic instrument for lifting free weights. They can come in many sizes, but the most standard is called the Olympic barbell (the top bar in the picture above).
The Olympic barbell weighs either 45 pounds or 20 kilograms (44.5 lbs) depending on which part of the world you live in. It’s usually used for the heavier exercises such as squats, bench presses, deadlifts, shoulder presses, etc.
The smaller straight bar shown just below the Olympic bar is great for many upper body exercises where having the weight closer to your body is beneficial. For example, if you were doing standing bicep curls, you may find that having the weights closer to their center of gravity (and closer to you) makes them easier to control. (more…)
Continue reading about Barbells, Dumbbells, Weights and Plates
Loading ...