Gym bag: take these insider tips to your next workout

Flex, July, 2004 by Greg Merritt, Jim Stoppani

TRI THIS ON FOR SIZE

"Upon reaching the bottom position of triceps pushdowns, carefully shift pressure from the center of your palms to the crux of your thumbs and forefingers. It's an extremely subtle move that puts added stress on the outer head of the triceps."

--Gunter Schlierkamp

POINT ABSTAIN

"I haven't trained abs for the last four years--it's too boring. I know my abs will come in when I diet. As a teen, I sometimes did leg raises or trunk twists, but even then the training bored me, so I never did as much as most people. Abs are much more a product of diet than training anyway. Everyone has abs. Lose the fat and they'll come in. Then, if you need more muscle, train for it. I'm lucky that I don't really need more ab muscle."

--Lee Priest

COUNTERPOINT ABSOLUTELY

"I try to train abs every training day, year-round, at the end of my morning session. That keeps the area toned all the time without growing a lot of mass there. I think the daily training sessions have also kept my waist pulled in and tight, so I never have a big gut spilling over."

--Jay Cutler

DOWNTRAINING

"Once you've got a few years of training under your belt, there may be some things you shouldn't train as much or at all. If your legs are overpowering your upper body, some would say just bring up your upper body. Well, it doesn't work like that. You can't bring up six bodyparts to match one. The right approach might be to downtrain legs slightly in order to get your body in balance. You have to make adjustments based on what you have--and what you don't have."

--Bob Cicherillo

CLASSIC TIP: BENCH-PRESS SYNERGY

"To maximize your bench press, focus your attention on coordinating several muscle groups into a force vector that propels the barbell upward. That means you must use your feet, calves, legs, hips, back, abdominals, triceps, shoulders, chest, hands and neck in one controlled release of muscle energy in order to make the lift. In the gym, you'll often hear spotters incorrectly urge trainers to work 'down and up.' The correct action is one fluid motion that incorporates the coordinated contractions and extensions of every muscle group in your body."

--Samir Bannout

SHRUG PRESSES

"To shock my shoulders, I grab a pair of heavy dumbbells and perform a specialized shrug. Instead of keeping my arms straight, I bend my elbows and bring the dumbbells into my armpits. This squeezes my scapula up into my trapezius, giving me a much more thorough contraction. I perform 10 reps to failure with these shrugs. Then, without stopping, I swing the dumbbells up on top of my deltoids and continue with another 10 reps of shoulder presses. After five sets of this combination, both of my shoulder caps ache."

--Chris Cormier

HEAVY-DUTY CRITIC

"I don't believe in high-intensity training. It tears up joints and tendons. Dorian [Yates] got a lot of muscle out of high-intensity training, but he also tore up his body. Most guys don't get all that muscle, but they will eventually get the injuries if they keep trying to push every set beyond where their bodies want to go. Push sets to failure, but don't try to keep going further and further. Know when to quit and rest up for the next set."

--Charles Glass

BACKPACKING HAMS

"I had tried everything to bring out my hamstrings, but what finally did it was to put on a backpack loaded with weights [60 pounds] and go up and down bleachers in a lunge position for 45 minutes. In the offseason, I still do a few sets of stiff-leg deadlifts for high reps. If I do leg curls, I never let the weight go down; I keep constant tension on the hamstrings. Generally, though, all I do are the weighted bleacher lunges once per week. They bring out the hams, glutes, lower back and outer quads."

--Frank Roberson

ARNIE'S ADVICE: ARM SUPERSETS

"Supersets are fantastic for getting that magical pump, but you must be careful not to abuse a good thing. I consider the biceps muscle too small to be bombarded with supersets. Two direct biceps movements will only burn out your bis. Instead, perform one biceps movement followed by one for the triceps area. That's the best superset you can do for arms. You should be sensible in applying even the best principles to your personal training. I prefer to team up triceps and biceps movements in supersetting my own arms. You should, too."

--Arnold Schwarzenegger

RELATED ARTICLE: JAY CUTLER'S

JAY CUTLER'S

ABDOMINALS ROUTINE

EXERCISE        SETS  REPS

Lying crunches  3     15
Rope crunches   3     15
Leg lifts       3     15

RELATED ARTICLE: CHRIS COOK'S

CALF ROUTINE

EXERCISE              SETS  REPS

Seated calf raises    4     15-20
Standing calf raises  4     15-20

* The last two sets of each exercise are drop sets. After reaching failure at 15-20 reps, the weight is reduced for an additional 10-15 reps.

* Cook trains calves once per week.

* Once per month, Cook does a "volumizing" calf workout consisting solely of three or four high-rep drop sets of seated calf raises. Each set lasts one minute.

RELATED ARTICLE: FROM LAB TO GYM

A change in latitude