The Bench Press is probably the most popular barbell exercise in every gym. It’s an excellent upper body exercise for developing your…
The bench press can be performed with both a barbell and dumbbells. This tutorial will be focused on using the barbell. -Terry Asher
The deadlift is classed as the king of all exercises when it comes to powerlifting and bodybuilding.
In order to do a deadlift, start by lifting a barbell from the ground to the hips and then lower it back to the ground. It’s a simple move, and it uses almost every muscle group in the body. It not only helps by strengthening certain muscles, but it also helps with poor posture and back pain. The deadlift helps the body to lift anything heavy from the ground in the safest way possible. It is used by many powerlifting and bodybuilding athletes so that they can lift as much weight as possible. As powerlifting and bodybuilding has grown overtime, it has put athletes to challenge both their physical and mental toughness. This has not gone unnoticed by online bookmakers as they now have powerlifting and bodybuilding at the Olympics and at the Common Wealth Games. The deadlift is a simple exercise and a lot of people would say it’s the best exercise to work the entire body.
Deadlifts will mainly work your…
The deadlift is the key lift to building muscle. Deadlifts should be done by not only men, but women as well!
-Terry Asher
For a full bodyweight squat you want to put your arms straight out in front of you and make sure they are parallel to the ground. Keep your spine in a neutral position during the entire exercise. You do not want to round your back while making sure you do not hyper extend and over accentuate the natural arch of your back. You could strain your back and cause serious injury, especially if you decide to add weights to the squats exercise.
Most of your weight will be on the heels and balls of your feet (imagine you are glued to the ground). To know if you are doing this part of the exercise correctly, you want to make sure you are distributing your weight to the right places. You should be able to wiggle your toes during the entire exercise.
To get the most out of the squat exercise, make sure you are keeping your whole body tight the entire time. Here are a few steps to help us breakdown squats:
A few tips when doing a full bodyweight squat…
-Terry Asher
The proper way to start an overhead press is to start by standing with the bar on your shoulders. Push the bar up and over your head until your elbows are locked. Don’t use your legs and make sure to keep them straight. Then lower the bar to your shoulders and repeat.
The overhead press is a full body exercise. Your shoulders and arms are what push the weight up and over your head. Your legs, lower back and abs is what helps you maintain your balance. The overhead press is one of the best exercises to build strong and muscular shoulders as well as bigger arms. To avoid shoulder pain, you want to overhead press with a narrow grip so you don’t flare your elbows. Then you want to shrug your shoulders at the top. Push the bar up and over your head, lock your elbows and shrug your shoulders upwards towards the ceiling. This is what engages your traps and prevents shoulder injury. You’ll definitely struggle to add weight than you would on other exercises. The poorer your form is, the more you will struggle with this exercise. Which is why it’s so important to have a proper form.
You can overhead press inside your power rack if it’s tall enough for you. If it’s too low you can set the bar in the outside upright of your power rack and then unrack it. If your power rack doesn’t have outside uprights, or you simply do not have a power rack, pull the bar from the floor on to your shoulders, which is called power clean. Once the bar is on your shoulders, you can follow these simple STEPS to overhead press. Again with proper form…
The overhead press looks dangerous because you’re putting weight right above your head, but it is a lot safer than the squat or bench press. If you aren’t able to push the weight, you can simply lower it back your shoulders. Then return it to the floor or drop the bar if you use bumper plates. Don’t worry, you won’t get stuck under the bar.
-Terry Asher
When doing the pull-up hang on the pull-up bar. If you don’t have a pull-up bar, you can use a squat rack. Raise the uprights of the squat rack as high as you can. Then you can put the barbell in the upright position and hang from it to do your pull-ups. You can also get a doorway pull-up bar.
Once you have a bar to hang from, follow these five simple steps to do pull-ups while keeping a proper form.
Grip the bar. You want it to be about shoulder-width apart with a full grip keeping your palms down.
If you lack the strength to do one pull-up, just do negatives. Get your chin over the bar by standing on the bench. Lower yourself slowly and then jump off and up again for the next rep. Another way to switch it up if you aren’t able to do one pull-up, is by using a resistance band around your leg to help you up. You can always can ask your gym partner/spotter to help you by holding your legs. You want to stay away from assisted pull-up machines. The reason being is the only way to get stronger at pull-ups is by doing pull-ups by yourself.
Pull-ups are mostly an upper-back and arm exercise. Unlike Barbell Rows, they actually train your back differently. Barbell Rows also are a horizontal movement like the Bench Press. And Overhead Press pull-ups are a vertical movement. The main difference between Barbell Rows and pull-ups is that pull-ups work less muscles than Barbell Rows because your legs and hips do nothing but hang. pull-ups are more of an upper-body focused exercise and less of a full body exercise.
Chin-ups are easier than pull-ups. If you can’t do a pull-up try doing chin ups. Also if you want bigger arms I suggest doing chin ups instead of pull-ups. Chin ups force you to lift more weight because you have to lift your own body weight.
-Terry Asher
Barbell High Pull
Skill Level: Advanced
Type: Strength Training
Equipment Needed: Barbell
Main Muscle Group(s): Quads, Hamstrings, Glutes, Shoulders, Biceps, Abs and Traps
Barbell high pulls help develop full-body power. High pulls also build size and strength through the legs, back and shoulders. The high pull is good for building clean strength and improving your deadlift unlike the hang pull. This exercise requires you to pull the weight up from a dead stop on the floor. Make sure you extend your hips to pull the weight up as you shrug your shoulders and traps and bring your elbows back to lift the weight. The movement should mimic what your lower body would be doing in a jump without actually leaving the floor.
Make sure you place your feet (shoulder-width apart) and stand close to the barbell so your shins are a couple inches away from it. You want to push your hips back, bend your knees, while grabbing the barbell with an overhand grip.
This is where you want stand as tall as you can and shrug your shoulders pulling the barbell as high as possible before slowly lowering back to your starting position.
A couple of tips when doing the high pull with barbells:
* Avoid leaning too far forward during the exercise. You want to keep your chest up throughout the entire exercise.
* The majority of the power is going to come from the hips. You don’t want to use your upper body to pull the weight up. This will defeat the purpose.
* Be sure you are fluent between the different steps of the exercise and try not to pause at any point during the exercise.
Upright Row
Skill Level: Beginner
Type: Strength
Equipment Needed: Barbell
Main Muscle Group(s): Traps
Secondary Muscle Group(s): Biceps and Shoulders
Here are the five steps to do the barbell Upright Row…
Some tips to remember when doing the Upright Row:
-Terry Asher
Dips are a great exercise that works the pecs and also stretches and helps the flexibility of the shoulder. The first thing you need to do, is raise yourself on two dip bars with straight arms. You are going to lower your body until your shoulders are below your elbows. Then push yourself up until your arms are straight again.
Dips work your arm muscles, back, chest and shoulders. The proper Dip form is key to avoid severe shoulder and chest pain. Do not let your shoulders roll forward. Make sure to keep your shoulders back and down. You want to lower yourself until your shoulders are below your elbows, but don’t go lower than that. It’s best to do Dips on fixed parallel bars instead of Ring Dips. You don’t need them to gain strength and muscle. If you want to emphasize your arms and want to add another exercise to your routine, you can add Dips to your workout. Dips are mostly for gaining overall strength and muscle. Here is the guide to the proper form on Dips.
Start with two Dip bars. These bars should be parallel, fixed and stable. Most gyms have a Dip station that is also used for pull ups and hanging knee raises. You don’t want to do Dips on Rings or between benches, both can hurt your shoulders and are not very stable. Use the parallel bars instead.
Here’s how to do Dips with proper form in five simple steps:
If you are not able to do a full dip skip the way up for now and only do the way down until you’re stronger.
Here are some tips on how to do the downward:
When you are able to do 10 negatives with proper form, you’re ready to do a Dip.
To keep proper, form remember and follow these guidelines and tips:
-Terry Asher
Exercises using your own body weight such as lunges, squats, push ups and pull ups can be good for cardiovascular training, if you do several sets at once. Learning how to do lunges the right way can help your strength and tone your hips, buttocks, quadriceps and hamstrings.
Make sure you wear athletic shoes. Cross-trainers can give you comfort and support while doing a lunge exercises.
You do not want to do lunges on an exercise mat. These exercises are best done on a hard, even surface in order to get the most out of the exercise.
It’s always a good idea to set yourself up parallel to a mirror. The mirror is a great help to make sure you have proper form and to ensure that you do not get injured.
In order to get the full benefit of the cardio AND the strength training, you will need to lunge until your thigh muscles become exhausted and you get your heart rate up. Although you need to stop doing the exercise if you are no longer able to hold proper form.
You can use hand weights to increase difficulty of the lunges. A good place to start is 2 lb. hand weights in each hand. Keep your arms at your sides, hanging. Do the same lunge instructions, checking your form in the mirror, while holding the weights. As you get stronger you can increase the amount of weight.
-Terry Asher
The body row is a great upper body exercise and helpful for those who want to get into full body weight pull-ups.
Primary Muscles Used: Biceps
Secondary Muscle(s) Used: Triceps and Back
Grip the rings that are at around waist height with your feet on the ground.
Squeeze the shoulder blades together and pull your chest up to the rings.
Some helpful hints and reminders…
The body row is a pull-up exercise great for beginners. The body row is one of the final stage exercises before you try a full bodyweight pull-up.
It’s kind of like the pull-up since you use the same muscles. It’s easier to do because you are not lifting all of your body weight and you have some help with your feet on the ground.
As you gain strength with the body row, lower the bar or rings until you are able to do full bodyweight pull-ups without any help.
Barbell Rows work your upper back, lower back, hips and arms. They build a muscular back and bigger, stronger biceps. Barbell Rows are one of the best exercises you can do to increase your form and strength for squats, bench press and deadlift. Make sure to keep your lower back neutral in order to avoid back pain.
Do not hold the bar in the air between reps or your back will get tired quickly, so rest the bar on the floor between reps. Set your lower back neutral every time before you Barbell Row the next rep. Barbell Rows are easy to cheat and have a bad form. You can lift heavier weights by using your hips, but your upper-back should be doing most of the work; which is why it’s good to keep your back neutral. A good thing to remember is if your torso rises too far, the weight is too heavy. Make sure you are not using your hips and you are lowering to work mostly your upper-back. Barbell Rows are not deadlifts.
You pull from the floor so make sure to set your lower back to neutral. Proper form on Barbell Rows is similar to deadlifts, in that each rep starts and ends on the floor. Here’s how to Barbell Row with a bar in proper form in 5 steps…
-Terry Asher
The bent over row is commonly done with a barbell or with 2 dumbbells.
The bent over row is a good…
Some of the muscles that are used in the exercise are…
Some joints used in the exercise are…
When you are starting out, you don’t need to use weight. Just use the bar to get it down first. Like the deadlift exercise, you can hurt your back if done wrong; make sure to watch the angle of your back throughout the bent over row. You want to try and get your back parallel to the ground. Use your glutes and hamstrings to stabilize your lower back. Remember when lifting you want to use your back not your hands to lift the bar to your body.
When you are ready, stand in front of the bar with your feet shoulder width apart and close to the bar. Grab the bar with your palms facing down, a little bit past shoulder width. Bend over slightly at a 45 to 65 degree angle with a slight bend in your knees. Pinch your shoulder blades while keeping a neutral spine with your head up and shoulders back. Bring the bar into your hips then lift your fists towards your hips. If you want to work different muscles you can widen your grip and go out a little more than shoulder width. Breathe out as you bring the bar towards you and inhale as you go down; this will complete one row.
-Terry Asher
