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Muscle & Fitness, July, 2009 by Gunnar Peterson

MEDICINE-BALL TOSS/CRUNCH

Life faceup on the floor with your knees bent and feet flat. Hold a medicine ball against your chest and have a partner stand on your toes. Perform an explosive crunch and toss the ball to your partner at the top of the rep. Your partner will immediately toss it back to you so you catch it on your return to the floor. Do reps both with your feet on the floor and in the air, knees bent 90 degrees.

3-POINT DUMBBELL KICKBACK

With your knees bent, back flat and your torso as close to parallel to the floor as possible, do a "low" kickback with your elbow lower than your hips. Raise your elbow to level with your torso and do a kickback in that position. Then raise your elbow so it's higher than your torso and do a kickback. That's one rep. Repeat for reps, then switch sides.

WALL-TO-WALL DIP (not shown)

From the bottom position of a standard dip (elbows bent 90 degrees) press yourself up diagonally and shift to one side so most of your weight is on one arm. Pause at the top, shift your weight to the opposite side, pause again, then lower yourself diagonally to the start position. The motion should be in the shape of a triangle standing on its point, not a clrcle-don't round your corners. Repeat the sequence in the opposite direction. That's one rep.

SQUAT JUMP WITH VARIED LANDINGS

With a relatively light barbell across your traps, perform an explosive squat, jumping in the air at the top of the movement. Land with one foot forward and one back or a wide stance, anything other than feet shoulder-width apart. Bend your knees to cushion the descent and press up to standing. Reset your feet to shoulder width and decide on a different landing point for your next rep.

WEIGHTED CHOP ON EXERCISE BALL

Lie faceup on an exercise ball with your lower back fully supported, holding a medicine ball with both hands next to one ear. In one continuous motion, crunch upward and extend your arms to "chop" the ball to the outside of your opposite knee. The motion should be explosive to the point that decelerating at the top of the rep is challenging. Do an equal number of reps to each side.

EXERCISE--BALL ONE--LEG BRIDGE (not shown)

Lie faceup on the floor with one foot atop an exercise ball and the other extended in the air above the bail. Press your foot into the ball and push your hips toward the ceiling. Repeat for reps, then switch sides.

ALTERNATING ANGLED PULL--UP

Grasp a pull-up bar with an overhand, shoulder-width grip and hang freely with your arms extended. Contract your lats to pull yourself up to one side instead of straight up until your chin reaches the bar, then return under control to the start. Pull up to the opposite side, then lower back down. That's one rep.

WAX-OFF DUMBBELL CURL

Perform a standard palms-forward dumbbell curl, rotating your shoulders in at the top while keeping your upper arms fixed at your sides. Lower the weights with your arms in the rotated position.

NARROW-TO-WIDE BARBELL CURL

Start the set with a very narrow grip (hands about 6 inches apart, triceps pinned to your sides) and rep to failure. When you fail, shift your hands to wider than shoulder width and rep out to failure.