exercises

Your usual abs exercises routine was working great—until it wasn’t. Abs, like any other muscles, need progressive resistance to become stronger and more ripped. Think about it: you wouldn’t keep benching 135 lbs. to grow your pecs if you’re capable of lifting double that. It’s not going to get...

Whether your goal in the gym is to improve athletic performance, increase strength, or just look better, a nice set of big, strong quads is a must. The quad plays a big role in running, jumping, and everyday life. On top of this, the quads are one of the first things people see as you’re...

“The best” is a remarkably fluid concept. Debates rage in all corners of art and popular culture. What constitutes the best movie in a given year? Or TV show, or song? So when someone tells you they’re going to give you a list of the “very best” bicep exercises, we understand your skepticism...

The beauty of fitness programs is that very few are identical. Depending on a person’s goals, you’ll find basically everyone at your gym has different exercises, rep counts, set numbers, and strategies that they do day-in, day-out. Some will even have completely different gym methodologies—there...

When we’re on a gym hiatus we need to take care of our upper body. Training posterior muscles such as our back, scapular muscles, and deltoids is crucial for maintaining good posture and avoiding the “hunched shoulders” effect. If our posture becomes rounded from inactivity, it will force our...

Your gym routine may have been based around the squat rack, deadlift platform and heavy machinery for quite some time before gyms were forced to shutter due to the coronavirus pandemic. Or maybe you suffered an injury and the doctor’s orders include a few weeks without touching any heavy iron...

When training for a killer midsection, it’s safe to say most guys either forget about or rarely change their oblique workout methods. These long muscles, when well trained and when body fat is low, frame your rectus abdominis (read: your six-pack) and give your waist a more tapered look. They...

Just as the bench press is the king of chest exercises, the barbell row is ruler of its domain for the lats and traps. With most other lat exercises you don’t directly fight gravity — a pulley eases the struggle on cable exercises. But with the barbell row, you can really load up on the weight...

Go into almost any gym and you’ll see people doing exercises like sit-ups and leg raises. They believe these are the best exercise for abs. But they’re not — it’s crunch exercises. Here’s an experiment. Stand up and hold onto something for balance. Put your other hand on your abs. Now, raise...

I was a big fan of the late Nasser El Sonbaty. He was a big, strong, pro bodybuilder, winner of several Grands Prix and the Arnold Classic. Good as he was, I noticed on weakness in his physique: Nasser had huge lats, but when he hit a back-double biceps post his upper middle back seemed...

To win the Mr. Olympia, as only 15 men have done in the competition’s history, you have to pay attention to every detail of your physique. Not only do you have to make sure the muscles look impressive when posing, but you need to feel confident about them when relaxed. A big pair of triceps is...

There is an old expression that still rings true. “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” When it comes to physique development, if you want to achieve results similar to those that are admired, then it would make sense to do what they did. If you want to develop a chest that makes a...

Even beginner lifters usually have a pretty good idea how to pump up the “show muscles” like the biceps and the pecs. Attaining six-pack abs is fairly straightforward, as long as your body fat percentage is low enough. But ask a beginner what quad exercises can build big, powerful quad muscles...

For the fitness enthusiast, it’s a great time to be alive. We’re at the peak of the industry’s information age, with purportedly new training techniques cropping up everywhere we look. this is good. What’s not so good, however, is when people take these techniques into the gym and use them the...

One of the easiest body parts to injure is most certainly the lower back, or lumbar back. The word lumbar is derived from the latin word lumbus, meaning lion, which is fitting considering that many weight lifters get injured while performing their lower back workout, trying to unleash their...

From prospective clients to strangers on airplanes and vacationers at resorts, I’ve heard every excuse imaginable as to why people's can't make it to the gym: “I don’t have time to get to the gym” or “I'm social distancing myself,” "the coronavirus shutdown my gym." I’ve even heard, “I’m going...

James Michelfelder and Therese Sommerseth Even the most hardcore lifters can fall victim to the time-sucking demands of the holiday season—parties, family functions, and travel—but that doesn’t mean your physique has to suffer. Instead of cranking out six hard workouts per week, allow yourself...

Nikolas_jkd / Shutterstock The term "functional training" has become a controversial buzzword in bodybuilding circles. Post a picture of yourself banging out leg extensions or lateral raises, and you’re likely as not to be deluged with comments along the lines of "That’s not functional," or...

gruizza / Getty A new study has shed some light on a selection of exercises that may help people who inherited genes that increase their chance of obesity. It's a no-brainer that regular exercise plays a key part in a person's overall fitness level. But for some, it can be frustrating to...

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