My six favorite mass exercises: why I like them, and how you can use them!

Flex, June, 2005 by Ronnie Coleman

Let's get right to the guts of the matter. I could run through my list of favorite workouts, principles, techniques and combinations of exercises, but it all comes down to one basic old-fashioned "best" exercise for each bodypart, without which you cannot reach your maximum mass potential. That exercise is not the only one in the workout, but it's the foundation movement. It works more of the muscle harder, heavier and more thoroughly than any other. Not every workout has to start with one of these favorites, but your training program should be designed around them.

My favorites will come as no great surprise. You've probably been doing them all along. I just want to emphasize their importance and persuade you to give them even more prominence in your workouts by reiterating why they are the best and how to get the best out of them.

CHEST BENCH PRESSES

WHY | No other exercise synergizes the entire complex of chest muscles as efficiently as barbell bench presses. This movement is so compound (requiring the coordination of pectoral muscles with all ancillaries and tie-ins to shoulders, traps, arms and midsection) that every chest muscle is developed proportionately. Bench presses facilitate the only position from which maximum compound power can be applied, which produces maximum overall mass. The horizontal position also allows the chest muscles to move through their greatest range of power.

HOW | Your mind plays a big part in getting the most for your chest from bench presses. "Think" the contractions into your pecs. As the bar is lowered, resist with your pectoral muscles. Press by contracting your pecs. I use a fairly wide grip, beyond shoulder width, to accentuate the spread of my pec muscles.

Unfortunately, today's popular style of benching is the opposite of the correct style for chest development, in that the bar is lowered not across the chest, but to the bottom of the rib cage. The body is crunching inward, rather than expanding upward to meet the bar. This is done for leverage, but it removes the chest from the exercise.

Precisely the opposite motion should occur. The chest should rise to meet the bar, as your scapulae contract together under your back, forcing your chest muscles through their greatest range of motion.

Always pyramid your sets gradually. I get in a couple of warm-up sets, then pyramid up through five sets, starting with 12 reps and finishing with eight.

SUGGESTED CHEST WORKOUT

EXERCISE                 SETS  REPS

Warm-up sets             2-3   20-25
Bench presses            5*    12-8
Incline barbell presses  3     12
Flat dumbbell presses    3     12
Flat dumbbell flyes      4     10

* Pyramid up through weights while decreasing reps

LEGS SQUATS

WHY | I never think of any specific muscle operating independently of any others. Each muscle has to accommodate stress vectors from every direction, in order to balance moving weight and apply variable power. This is especially true for legs. For those reasons, squats produce the greatest overall and naturally proportioned development, because all of the thigh muscles--quads and hamstrings alike--must coordinate their support, stability and strength duties throughout the ever-changing dynamics of each repetition. You're putting more into it, so you get more out of it.

HOW | Use a comfortable stance; not so wide that you'll shear your hips, but wide enough for stability. Maintain an upright position, so the weight is directed through your hips and thighs, not into your lower back. Keep your head up, flex your traps and abs, tighten your glutes and then squeeze all the way down to "hams on calves."

Halfway down, start thinking "up," so that your squat movement becomes not "down and up," but one continuous loop. Never shift gears at the bottom; you should be on your way up before you reach the bottom.

Warm up thoroughly, so your knees are well lubricated. For my counted sets, I pyramid the weight upward through five or six sets, starting with 12 reps and going all the way down to two.

SUGGESTED LEG WORKOUT

EXERCISE      SETS  REPS

Warm-up sets  2-3   15
Squats        5-6*  12-2
Leg presses   4      8-10
Hack squats   3     10

* Pyramid up through weights while decreasing reps

BACK BARBELL ROWS

WHY | Get used to the expression "compound movement," until it becomes a beloved cliche. It's the key to my muscle mass for every bodypart; even more so for back, since that's the most complex muscle group of all. It needs to be developed simultaneously for thickness, width, drape and detail, and that requires very heavy three-dimensional weight resistance, which coordinates all of its muscles, as well as those of the trapezius complex. Only the barbell rowing movement accomplishes this.

HOW | Don't fix your back in a concave arch (swaybacked). That will only hurt your spine, reduce the range of motion for your lats and limit your power.

To hit the lats as low as possible, I try to keep my upper body bent at a 90-degree angle for the initial sets and bring the bar up into the middle of my stomach. Reps are explosive but controlled, never with a slack point at the bottom. My glutes and lower back are flexed tightly throughout the set. If they aren't, I will feel stress more in my lower back than in my lats.