How To Do Inclined Bench Press

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The inclined bench press is very effective strength training and bodybuilding exercise, but it can wreak havoc on the shoulders if they're done improperly. Today I'm going to show you how to do inclined bench presses the safe way. Before we get started, you should know about the benefits of this exercise. They include:

• strong pecs
• strong shoulders
• strong triceps

You should add this exercise to your weight lifting arsenal.

How To Do The Inclined Bench Press
The safest way to do this exercise is to use a fixed station. Fixed stations will prevent injuries from the bar coming too close to your chest as well as minimizing the chances of rotator cuff damage. If you don't have access to a fixed station, you can use a Smith machine. In this article I'm going to focus on the fixed station for inclined bench press.

Adjust the inclined bench to the appropriate height. Once you've adjusted the seat, place one ten pound plate on each side of the bar. This is because you need to perform a warm up set (you can also warm up with the just the bar). Sit down on the bench. Make sure that you can comfortably reach the bar, the angle of incline should be 30 degrees and you should have a clearance of at least six inches from the bar to your chest.

Place your hands on the bars, use a supine grip i.e. palms away from you. Some fixed stations allow you to work each side independently, this is useful because it forces the weaker muscles to work harder to keep up with the stronger side of your body.


With your feet firmly planted on the floor and your back firmly on the back rest, use your chest and shoulder muscles to press the bar upward until you reach a 90 degree angle, but stop just at lockout. Now, lower the bar until it is within three inches of your chest. (You don't have to worry about being crushed under the weights because fixed stations are designed to prevent the bar from touching your chest.) That's one rep. Do nine more then stop.

After your warm up set, add more weight. Strength training requires heavy lifting with low reps. So shoot for five sets of three to six reps. Each week add more weight in five to ten pound increments.

If you perform inclined bench presses on a regular basis, you should start to notice strength gains in a matter of weeks. This exercise is also a testosterone booster, so you'll also experience greater muscle mass, confidence and mental alertness, too.


Inclined benches are best when accompanied by declined and flat bench presses and push ups. Together, these exercises will give your chest, triceps and shoulder muscles a phenomenal workout.

"Great Chest and Whole Body Workouts: How To Do Inclined Bench Press" copyright 2012 Great Chest and Whole Body Workouts. All Rights Reserved.

How To Do Assisted Tricep Dips

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Dips are among the best upper body exercises, but novices and people with underdeveloped muscles may find them especially difficult. So today I'm going to teach you how to perform assisted dips.

How To Do Assisted Dips

You'll need an assisted dip machine for this exercise. Most assisted machine have a lever attached to weights. To minimize chances of injury insert the pin into a heavier setting, because this will support your body weight. Now, step onto the machine. Grasp the handles. Place both feet on the lever. Make sure that your back is perfectly aligned i.e. do not pitch forward because this will place emphasis on your pecs instead of your shoulders and triceps. Once you're on the lever, your body weight will force it downward. Now, use the muscles in your shoulders and triceps to push yourself upward. Stop just before your elbows lock. Now, lower yourself down to the starting position. That's one rep. Repeat this for nine more reps then take a short break. Perform a second set of ten reps then stop.

As you become stronger, insert the pin into lighter weight settings, this will force your body to do more work. Eventually, you'll become strong enough to graduate to unassisted dips.

Assisted dips are less challenging than performing dips without any help whatsoever. Because the machine will be doing much of the work for you, progress will be slower compared to people performing regular dips. But people whom are extremely overweight, have underdeveloped upper body strength, etc. still need to exercise their upper body muscles, which makes assisted dips an important part of their exercise regimen.

The advantages of assisted dips include:

• safety
• less strain on the shoulders
• teaches the novice proper form

Because exercise is important for overall health, I recommend that you incorporate strength training as part of your regular lifestyle.

"Great Chest and Whole Body Workouts: How To Do Assisted Tricep Dips" copyright 2012 Great Chest and Whole Body Workouts. All Rights Reserved.

How To Do Assisted Pull Ups

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Some people lack the upper body strength to perform a decent pull up. Today I'm going to talk about an exercise that can help you to become stronger and better prepared for the full fledged pull up.

How To Do Assisted Pull Ups

There are two ways to perform assisted pull ups - using a spotter or using a lever machine. We're going to focus on the lever. Most assisted pull up machines have adjustable weights attached to the lever. You should put the weight on a high setting because this will support your body weight during the exercise. Next, climb onto the machine. Grasp the bars with a pronated grip i.e. palms facing away from you. Place your feet on the lever. Your weight should push the lever downward in a slow, controlled fashion. Now, use the muscles in your upper back, shoulders and biceps to pull yourself upward until your chin is above the bar. Make sure that your feet are firmly planted on the lever at all times. Once you've pulled your chin above the bar, lower yourself back down again. That's one rep. Repeat this for the desired number of reps.

Human assisted pull ups are done similarly but instead of using a lever, you'll get help from a spotter. This person will take hold of your ankles or waist. You would then use your upper body muscles to pull your chin above the bar then lower yourself back down again.

Assisted pull ups are not as effective as doing them from scratch but I know there are people who are anxious to do pull ups regardless of their upper body strength. Since they have to start somewhere, the assisted pull up exercise can be helpful.

Practicing assisted pull ups along side lateral pull downs, will help you to develop the strength for the basic pull up exercise. Dedicate yourself to the exercise and you'll be able to do it.

"Great Chest and Whole Body Workouts: How To Do Assisted Pull Ups" copyright 2012 Great Chest and Whole Body Workouts. All Rights Reserved.

How To Do Barbell Side Bends

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Obliques are among the most important yet neglected muscles in the upper body. Today I'm going to show you an exercise that targets these muscles.

How To Do Barbell Side Bends

For this exercise, you'll need a fixed weight barbell. You're going to start off with a warm up so grab a light weight barbell. Take the barbell in your right hand. Make sure that you're standing up straight. Place your left hand behind your head. Now, bend to the right side lowering the barbell toward the floor. Next, use your oblique muscles to pull yourself upward until you've returned to your starting position. That's one rep. Do this nine more times then switch hands and repeat ten times.

After the warm up set, grab a heavier fixed weight barbell. Do three sets of ten barbell side bends with your right hand. After completing thirty reps with your right hand, do thirty with the left hand.

Fixed weight barbell side bends are beneficial because they:

• strengthen the obliques
• develop your core
• prevent lower back problems
   

This exercise is more challenging than the basic side bends the former employs weights which create resistance. Resistance accelerates muscle growth because it forces them to work harder. You can perform this exercise alongside the hanging obliques exercise thus giving your abdominal muscles a power workout.
Now you have the knowledge, put it to good use.

"Great Chest and Whole Body Workouts: How To Do Barbell Side Bends" copyright 2012 Great Chest and Whole Body Workouts. All Rights Reserved.

Two In One: How To Do Dumbbell Fly and Overhead Press

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I really enjoy weight lifting, but when a routine becomes outdated, I need to ratchet things up a notch. So today I'm going to show you how to do another amazing two in one workout that will not only challenge your body to become stronger, but save you valuable time, too. The exercise I'm talking about is the standing dumbbell fly and overhead press and you're going to learn about it in the next section. But first here's a list some of the benefits of this compound exercise:

• strengthens your chest muscles
• strengthens your shoulder muscles
• strengthens your upper back
• strengthens your core

This is an exercise that you should definitely add to your workout arsenal because it combines two of the best upper body exercises you'll ever do.

How To Do Dumbbell Fly and Overhead Press

You'll need a pair of dumbbells for this exercise. You should start out with a warm up set, so grab a pair of lightweight dumbbells. Stand up straight. Bring the dumbbells up to chest level. Hold them close to each other. Now, move the weights apart performing an arc movement. For this part of the exercise you'll be relying on your chest muscles. Stop once you feel a slight pull in the chest muscles. Now bring the weights back together again. That's one repetition of the standing dumbbell fly.

Now you need to do the overhead press. Begin by turning the weights upward until your knuckles are pointing toward the ceiling. Make sure that your arms are shoulder width apart when you do this. Next, use your shoulder muscles to press the dumbbells above your head. Now lower your arms down until the dumbbells are at eye level. You've just completed one rep of the dumbbell overhead press.

Alternate between standing dumbbell flys and overhead presses until you've completed nine more reps. After this, you can select a pair of heavier weights.

If you're going for strength use heavy weights and low reps (4 - 6 reps) over three sets. If you just want to tone your muscles, use light dumbbells and go for 10 - 15 reps spread over three sets.


As you can see, this workout is more challenging. You're training multiple groups of muscles to coordinate with each other. You shouldn't pause between the flys and presses, since this is a combined exercise. If done correctly, you'll experience strength and endurance gains in a matter of weeks.
That's it for now. While you're here, check out the other amazing articles on this blog. They're listed in the sidebar.

"Great Chest and Whole Body Workouts: Two In One: How To Do Dumbbell Fly and Overhead Press" copyright 2012 Great Chest and Whole Body Workouts.  

How To Do Barbell Wrist Flex Exercise

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Strong wrists are essential to grip strength. Today I'm going to teach you how to do barbell wrist flexes. This simple barbell exercise can boost the strength in your wrists.

How To Do Barbell Wrist Flex Exercise

You'll need a fixed barbell and a weight bench for this exercise (Olympic bars will be too cumbersome). You should start out with a warm up set, so grab a lightweight barbell with fixed weights (e.g. 10 pounds). Hold the barbell with both hands. Sit on the bench. Place both forearms on your thighs. Make sure that your palms are facing upward and that your wrists are beyond your knees. Lower your wrists downward. Next, flex your wrists curling the barbell upward then down again. That's one rep. Repeat this exercise five more times.

Now grab a pair of heavier weights. The best range is 8 - 10 reps for a total of three sets.

The barbell wrist flex (sometimes referred to as barbell wrist curl) is a variation on the dumbbell wrist curl but has the same benefits:

• improved flexibility
• strong flexors
• strong extensors

Having a strong grip is part of overall functional strength. For example, if you fall down on weak wrists, they're more likely to break due to impact. Strong wrists minimize damage from falls and also helps when you're carrying or pressing heavy objects e.g. bench press, farmers walk, dead lifts.
Each week increase the weight amount performed during the barbell wrist curl exercise. If you keep it up, you'll notice that your wrists becoming stronger and more flexible.       
We'll see you back here for another article on Great Chest and Whole Body Workouts.

"Great Chest and Whole Body Workouts: How To Do Barbell Wrist Flex Exercise" copyright 2012 Great Chest and Whole Body Workouts. All Rights Reserved.

How To Do Burpees

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What if I told you that there's an exercise that combines squats, push ups and jumps into one super workout? You'd want to know more about it, of course. Well, this three - in - one exercise is known as burpees, and today I'm going to show you how to do them.

How To Do Burpees

To do burpees, you'll need a horizontal space that is free of obstructions and foot traffic. To begin, stand up straight. Next, squat down and place both palms on the floor. Now, space your hands shoulder width apart. Extend your legs behind you supporting weight on the balls of your feet and your palms. Tighten your abdominal muscles. Lower your chest to within one inch of the floor (make sure that your back is straight). Push yourself upward again.

After you complete the push up, assume a squat position again. Now, use your hamstring muscles to push yourself off the floor i.e. JUMP!

That's one burpee. Do nine more then take a thirty second break and do fifteen more reps. Go for a total of thirty burpees (spread over three sets of ten reps) then stop. As you build endurance you can increase the number of reps or sets of the exercise.

The fastest way to get into amazing physical condition is by doing compound exercises and burpees ranks among the best compound exercises around.

The benefits of burpees include strong abs, glutes, chest, biceps, triceps, back and hamstrings. You can also do them just about anywhere and without the need for fancy gym equipment. The burpees exercise also improves strength and conditioning which has carryover to deadlifts, squats, and the bench press.

Check us out next week for another great chest and whole body workout.

"Great Chest and Whole Body Workouts: How To Do Burpees" copyright 2012 Great Chest and Whole Body Workouts. All Rights Reserved.