Shoulder Workout

The shoulders are one of the most noticed body parts. When fully clothed or not, it can make ones appearance much broader. For bodybuilders and every day exercisers, it is the one body part that will make your waist appear smaller with out losing any inches. In addition, proper shoulder training will allow you to develop your chest and back quicker.
As a personal trainer for competitive bodybuilders, I always recommend concentrating on building up the side deltoids and of course the legs for this reason alone.
Here is a typical routine that I like to do and I brief description of each exercise.
First off, the shoulder muscles consist of three deltoid heads. They are, anterior(front), medial(side) and rear. The following exercises will work each area to the fullest.

1. Shoulder Press

A main stay exercise is the shoulder press. This pressing movement primarily works the side and front deltoids. Using a machine, a barbell or dumbells, can perform the shoulder press. I personally prefer to use dumbells because there is less restriction and most importantly the muscles move in their natural plane. When pressing the weight, try not to lock your elbows. Locking the elbows will reduce the resistance on your shoulder muscles and place unwanted stress on the elbow joint.

2. Side Lateral Raise

To hit the side delts, my favorite is the side lateral raise. This exercise can be performed with dumbells or even a low pulley cable. In most cases, I like to start my routine with this exercise because I want to be able to lift as much as possible. But never sacrifice form to lift heavy weights.
I see too many people either not lifting enough weight or doing this movement incorrectly. Remember to only lift the dumbells as high as your shoulders while keeping your elbow slightly flex.

3. Front Raise

A forgotten exercise is the front raise. The reason being is that you are not going to turn heads while doing the movement. You can use a variety of methods to burn the front delts. My two favorites are alternating dumbells and the low cable pulley with a short bar. It can also be executed while holding a plate like a car steering wheel. The key for this exercise is to keep a slight flexion at the elbow while lifting the weight just above shoulder level.

4. Upright Row

To tie in the front delts, side delts and traps, the exercise to do is the upright row. With this movement, you can choose your resistance from a low cable pulley, barbell or dumbells. I prefer, the low cable, because of the continuous tension. The key is to squeeze on the top portion of the movement and to hold for a beat. In addition, the shoulder shrug exercises the traps, but that is it. For beginners, I recommend the upright row because it works more than one muscle group.

5. Rear Delt Raise

I like to work the rear delts at the end of the routine and only do a couple of sets. The rear deltoids are exercised during most back movements, therefore, not as much work is needed. There are machines that specifically hit this area, or again you can use the dumbells. Either way, the exercise is done in the same manner in which you want to do a reverse chest fly. Lighter weight is recommended, because this is a true feel exercise.
All in all, these five exercises will give you total shoulder development. Remember to change the exercises from week to week because you do not want your body to adapt to any movement. I suggest choosing 3 exercises and complete 3 working sets of 10 - 12 repetitions for each shoulder workout. Do not forget to warm-up the shoulder with lighter weight.

Back workout

Here you will find a listing of back exercises to use in your back workout. Each of the back exercises listed should be performed with proper form to not only avoid injury, but to also allow the muscle to go through a full range of motion and get the most out of the exercise. To learn how to incorporate these back exercises into your back workout and set up a full workout routine and split.

Pull Ups

1. Grab the pull up bar with an overhand grip that is slightly wider than shoulder width. 2. Allow your body to hang freely from the pull up bar with your arms fully extended. 3. Using your lats, pull yourself straight up as far as you can so that your chin reaches the height of the bar or above it. 4. Lower yourself back to the starting position (arms fully extended).
- This exercise can be done using a variety of different grips. Overhand or underhand, narrow or wide. And, while each way is effective, the overhand slightly wider than shoulder width grip is my personal favorite grip for pull ups. - This exercise can also be weighted by either holding a dumbbell between your feet, or by adding weight to a pull up belt (also called a dip belt). - While pull ups are primarily a back exercise, they also recruit the use of the biceps secondarily. An underhand grip will recruit the biceps more so than the overhand grip. This is part of the reason why I prefer the overhand grip. - For information on how to increase how many pull ups you can do, read this: Do More Pull Ups And Chin ups
Lat Pulldown
1. Grab the lat pulldown bar with hands slightly wider than shoulder width with an overhand grip. 2. Sit down with arms fully extended overhead. 3. Pull the bar straight down either in front of or behind your head. (If in front, pull the bar to the top of your chest. If behind, pull the bar to the back of your neck.) 4. Return to starting position.
- Just like pull ups, this exercise can be done using a variety of different grips. Overhand or underhand, narrow or wide. Each way is effective. - While the lat pulldown is primarily a back exercise, it also recruits the use of the biceps secondarily. An underhand grip will recruit the biceps more so than the overhand grip.

Barbell Bent Over Row

1. Hold a barbell with a slightly wider than shoulder width overhand grip. 2. With your knees slightly bent, bend over at the waist so that your upper body is slightly above being parallel to the floor. 3. Pull the barbell straight up into your stomach. 4. Lower the barbell back to the starting position (arms fully extended).
- This exercise can be done using an underhand grip as well. - Do NOT round your back. Your back should be straight at all times. - While the bent over barbell row is primarily a back exercise, it also recruits the use of the biceps secondarily.
Seated Cable Rows
1. Sit down at a seated cable row machine with both feet flat on the foot board and your knees slightly bent. 2. Grab the handle with both hands and pull it into your stomach while keeping your back straight and your chest out. 3. Return to the starting position (arms extended).
- This exercise can be done using a variety of different handles. - While seated cable rows are primarily a back exercise, it also recruits the use of the biceps secondarily.

Bicep Workout

A biceps introduction would not be complete without an explanation of what the biceps are and how they function in order to get the look you desire.
Though the terms “bicep” and “tricep” are acceptable usages, the correct anatomical terms are “biceps” and “triceps”. The biceps brachii flexes the elbow, supinates the forearm. This is the prominent muscle on the inside of your upper arm. Antagonistically, the triceps brachii extends the elbow. Each exercise in your biceps workout will work both of these muscles simultaneously as one will raise the forearm and hence work the biceps; while the second part of the movement will lower the forearm and thus work the triceps.
Before beginning a biceps workout, please contact your physician and make sure you are physically able to begin an exercise workout. Many of the exercises can be strenuous if you are just coming on to the weight training field and the healthy you are to begin the better results you will have as you begin working out. This is especially helpful if you have a condition such as high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, or other types of potentially life threatening illnesses. If you have been leading a sedentary lifestyle up to know, this is also a good time to not only make sure you can begin weight training exercises, including biceps and triceps training, as well as giving you a baseline for your path onto better health and lifestyle.
We will be walking you through the learning stages of biceps workouts and introducing you to various forms and the right and wrong way for the movements. We will also be including beginning biceps workouts for seniors and women, as well as expert workouts for those looking for more strenuous workouts for their biceps.
Biceps workouts can be done with free weights such as dumbbells as well as on machines and bar. We will try to incorporate as many different types of apparatus to help you define, tone, and strengthen your upper arms. However, we will mainly be focusing on the bicep area of the arm including the biceps brachii, brachialis, and the brachioradialis. Each individual muscle plays its part in making a clearly defined “bicep” to show to the world.
We will begin with some of the easier beginning exercises and using layman terms help to visually show you what you will need to do in both muscle range as well as form in order to achieve the look you would like to have for your upper body.
In addition, we will also show you what not to do in your bicep workout. We will begin showing this from the very beginning. This will enable you to have good form, work the biceps to their fullest, and get what you are looking for in a great biceps workout. The last thing you want to do in your biceps workout is to have to relearn an exercise because you never knew you were doing it incorrectly from the beginning.

Beginning a bicep workout :)

Before beginning a workout, please check with a physician to make sure you are healthy enough to begin a workout regime. Bicep workouts train the area of the upper arm involved in the flexing of the elbow. The muscles are the most noticed muscles on the human body and give the appearance of physical strength.
Beginning your biceps workouts, you need to also start with the basic terminology associated with weight training techniques. Most important is to know what is meant by “sets” and “reps.” A repetition, or “rep”, is the number of times you complete a single movement, such as curling your forearm to your shoulder. A set is the number of reps in each section of that particular workout. Between each set, you normally would have a break of about thirty to sixty seconds, depending on the style of weight training you adhere. For example, two sets of ten reps would mean a total of twenty total repetitions of a single movement.
Begin each workout with a warm up session to get your body ready for the workout to come. Some people may prefer a cardiovascular workout before working out various areas of the body or stretching the upper arms.
When you begin a bicep workout regime it is important to feel both comfortable with the weight you are using as well as challenged by it. It would be absurd to give a specific weight to begin working with such as five to ten pounds, if you cannot lift it or you exhaust the muscle too quickly. It may also discourage you from continuing in your biceps workout.
Instead, begin with a weight that you can lift for a minimum of ten reps. When you are just beginning, one set of ten repetitions is fine. However, ten reps may be too much. If this is the case then do as many reps as you possibly can until you just cannot lift anymore. Then you will repeat with the other arm. For all explanations, we will assume you are beginning with your right arm.
When you are just starting out, you may want to do all the exercises you see laid out here. However, it is perfectly fine and advised to just begin with one exercise and go from there. As you train and become more physically fit and the biceps become stronger, you will be able to do more biceps exercises and spend more time working your upper arms. Some beginning exercises you may use when just starting out to build on to are dumbbell curls, cable curls, and barbell curls. These exercises are performed by using dumbbells, the cable machine, or a barbell and weights to accomplish the needed exercise. Begin with whichever apparatus makes you feel the most comfortable and we will build on that as we grow our biceps workouts. Remember also that as you work your biceps, you will be working your triceps as well.These exercises will be discussed in more detail under exercising biceps including both proper and improper form.

A Great Biceps Workout:)

A great biceps workout would be a workout that hits all of the flexor muscles of our arm, not only the biceps but the muscles surround the biceps as well from all angles.Begin with concentration curls and sit at the end of a bench, lean over and rest the back of your upper arm against the inside of your thigh. Grasp a dumbbell and twist your hand as you curl so your “pinkie” is higher than your thumb at the top of the repetition. Squeeze your biceps at this position, twisting your hand as far as possible, then slowly untwist your hand while lowering the dumbbell. Do three sets of eight repetitions.Hammer curls help your wrist by giving you a neutral position. Sometimes when doing regular dumbbell curls, your wrists may fee week. The hammer curl also allows you to stop your range of motion when they are parallel to the floor to keep tension in the biceps muscle. You will feel this exercise not only in your biceps but also in the forearm itself. Get two dumbbells and stand straight up. Your arms should be at your side; palms face your body. Tense your torso as you begin this exercise. Squeeze the dumbbells tight and life your arms. Pause at the top of the exercise which is when your forearms are parallel with the floor. Contract your biceps and then very slowly lower the dumbbell. If done correctly, it should look like you are wielding a hammer. Your palms should be facing each other through the entire repetition. Your palms should face each other through the entire exercise. Do three sets of eight.Lastly, the best workout to do for your arms consists of a reverse preacher curl. When u are seated a preacher bench hold the barbell with an over hand grip or palms down instead of up. Bring the bar to chin, pause for a count of one, and very slowly lower it back down. Do three sets of eight to complete the bicep workout.

Tricep Workouts and Exercises

Your tricep muscle makes up 2/3 of your arm and it is important to train effectively in order to increase your arm size and strength. This site offers free tricep muscle facts, effective exercises, stretches and recommended tips to get you on the right track of training, toning and building good triceps through your tricep workouts!
Having well toned triceps is important to both men and women. This website is going to share with you what you’ll need to include into your tricep workout to get the best results.
Consistency is important to any form of exercise routine. It’s best to split the routine you choose so that your working out three or four days of the week with a one day off schedule.
Progression is also important to the routine. As a tricep routine becomes easier it’s important to add a small amount of weight to keep your body working at it’s full potential. Supersets are very effective techniques for training your arms. Supersets are significant to pairing the biceps and triceps with very little or no rest in between.
Same muscle group supersets work the same muscle in a consecutive or back to back style with no rest in between. These isolation exercises are extremely sufficient in building target back to back works that muscle to it’s highest potential.
Tri sets are three exercises directed for the same muscle and also don consecutively. For the more advanced trainee, this keeps the workout challenging and productive.
Multi grip tri sets are one example. You simply select three exercises; each having a different grip such as palms down, palms facing each other and palms up. Usually you work the weakest grip exercise to the strongest but you can switch these at your leisure for variety or balance in development. Logically the basic superset would lower your choice of exercises to two with the same concept.
Drop supersets combine the elements of two of the ultimate body building techniques; drop sets and supersets. For these you need to choose two exercises for the same muscle group. Perform six to eight reps with no rest in between them. Quickly lower the amount of weight and repeat the superset twice more.
Pre-exhaust routines have about the same concept as supersets however, the difference is in the types of exercise you choose. One should be an isolation exercise, while the other needs to be a compound.
One issue of importance before performing any of these sets or routines is obtaining proper training initiatives. One of the key factors prior to any routine is warming up. No exercise routine will benefit you if it causes injury. Remember, safety first.

3 plateau busters

Bench press‘At the end of every other bench press session, do lockouts as a partial rep,’ says personal trainer Shaun Stafford. ‘This means you just do the top third of the lift. Use a heavy weight – at least your one-rep max – and do a couple of sets of three or four reps to hit the chest muscles hard while strengthening your tendons and ligaments to deal with a heavier weight next time.’ Just make sure you recruit a good spotter.
Squat‘A great way to boost your squat is cluster training,’ says Stafford. ‘Set the bar with your five-rep max but aim for ten reps – first do five, then rest for 15 seconds before cranking out three more. Take another brief rest, then fire off another couple before resting for a couple of minutes and repeating.’ The logic of this method is that it allows you to lift more weight over more reps that you’d otherwise do, and so stimulates greater gains in both size and strength.
Biceps curlBlitz your biceps with negative lifts because the eccentric, or lowering, phase of the biceps curl can deal with more weight. ‘You’ll need a partner for this but it is the best way of forcing your biceps to cope with heavier weights,’ says Stafford. ‘Load up a barbell with 20 to 40 per cent more weight that you’re used to. With help from your partner, curl the bar up until the bar is at the peak of the lift. Pause, then lower it, taking about four seconds, while in full control.’ Aim for four sets of around six reps once a week.

Abs Workout

The Men's Fitness Body Focus workouts target each part of your body in turn. Work your way through the series and you'll develop strength and muscle mass across your body.
The abdominal muscle is a single sheet of muscle with six sections. When the whole muscle grows, the distance between the height of the muscle tissue and the connective tissue between them increases and the segments 'pop out' creating a six-pack becomes greater. You'll only get a true six-pack, though, if you burn off the fat that normally hides those muscles. You'll find fat loss circuits and tips elsewhere on the Men's Fitness website.
How to do this workoutWorkouts 1 and 2 are designed as two separate workouts to be done on different days. Leave two to three days between each to give your muscles time to recover properly. You can add these workouts into a longer gym session or focus on the three exercises in each, so long as you make sure you maintain enough intensity to fully exhaust the muscles. Before you start the workouts, warm up with five minutes on a treadmill and some press-ups. Rest for two to three minutes between exercises.

upper body exercises

Performing upper body exercises will not only work the muscles of your chest, shoulders, triceps and biceps, but can also work your heart and lungs.Choose upper body exercises to meet your own strength / fitness levels. There is nothing wrong with starting at the basic beginners level at gradually increasing the amount of repetitions that you perform.

Whichever exercises you perform you should always follow the principals of good form and technique.There is no point trying to perform an exercise that is to hard for you, especially if your a beginner - as this will simply cause you to perform the exercise with poor technique, which can cause injury.Make a note of what exercises you do, and also how many reps you can perform of each exercise. Try and work each exercise for as many repetitions as you feel comfortable with, this may be only 8 - 12 for some exercises and a lot more for others. Certain exercises are simply worked for a set time - look at slowly increasing the amount of time and reps that you can perform for each exercise.Once you feel comfortable with all the exercises at the beginners level, move onto the next level, combining different exercises if you wish.The good thing about this section of the site, is that we have given you so many different exercise ideas, simply choose the ones that you want to do and try and perform a home circuit 2 - 3 times per week, lasting 20 - 30 minutes each time.Its vital that you work at your own pace, taking whatever rest you need to have between or during your exercises.For better results, try and work with a partner or small group of a similiar fitness level, as this will help you stay motivated.Having a small water bottle and towel at hand and also some music will also be useful.Begin each session with a suitable warm-up and stretching routine to help avoid sore muscles