My Favorite Exercises: Bench Press

The bench press is a classic! It's the exercise that never goes out of fashion--with good reason. The bench press works all the muscles of the chest. Since you use a barbell (or dumbbells), you also need to incorporate your core for stability.

I like to do my bench press with a barbell. Almost every gym has benches with racks for the barbell.

Here are some tips to keep in mind as you do bench presses.

Tip #1: Keep your back pushing into the bench. If you try to lift too much weight, you will compensate by arching your back. This places tremendous strain on the back and can cause injury. As you do your press, focus on exhaling and pushing the small of the back toward the bench. Bodybuilders trying to impress often use way too much weight on the bench press. Don't be impressed if you see them arching their backs like crazy. Feel sorry for them and the back pain they may have to endure later.

Tip #2: Relax your shoulders. As I've mentioned before, we tend to transfer our tension to the shoulders. Unless you want to develop bulky muscles around your neck, think about your shoulders relaxing and pulling down.

Tip #3: Choose a natural grip with your hands slightly wider than the shoulders. Adjust until it's comfortable for you. The length of your arms will make a difference.

Tip #4: Exhale as you press up. Inhale as you return.

Tip #5: Use the full range of motion. Lower the bar almost to the chest and raise it until the arms are fully extended without hyperextending the elbows.

If the barbell is too heavy, or you just want variety, you can also do the bench press with dumbbells. The added benefit of using dumbbells is that you have to stabilize both arms individually. You do the exercise exactly the same way except holding a dumbbell in each hand rather than using the barbell.

Keep in mind that most of the barbells in the gym used for the bench press weigh 35 pounds before adding any plates. That may be plenty of weight for you (or even too much to start). Start easy and build up if you have not done classic bench presses before.

Try the bench press as an alternative to the chest press machines at the gym. Don't be intimidated by the free weight area. Most of those muscle-y guys don't know anything you don't. Considering how often they do their exercises incorrectly, they probably know less.

My Favorite Exercises: Iron Cross Two-Arm Cable Curls

Everyone seems to love to do some kind of bicep curl. I have found a new biceps curl exercise that has become one of my favorites: I call it the iron cross two-arm cable curl.

Most biceps curls involve starting with the arms down and then bending the arms to bring the hands to the shoulders. These are great, but they do get boring year after year!

My new favorite bicep curl takes an entirely different tack. Here's how it's done.

1. On the cable pulley machine, set the handles on both sides to be about ear height or a little higher.
2. Standing in the middle, grab both handles and let the arms fully extend straight from your shoulder.
3. Holding the upper arms completely still, bend the arms and bring the hands toward your ears. This is similar to that classic bodybuilder pose to show off the biceps. Say, "Cheese" as you do this.
   
4. Return the arms to the beginning position and repeat.

With the usual dumbbell curls, it's too easy to use momentum and get other muscles involved; i.e., it's easy to cheat. So often, I see this as the exercise people use to try to impress the other gym-goers. They often use dumbbells that are way too heavy and compensate by trying to swing them and contorting their bodies in the strangest fashion.

I like the iron cross cable curl because you are forced to isolate the bicep muscles. It's hard to work anything except the biceps.

Like most other pulley exercises, you may find you need to lower your weights significantly. That's OK. You'll still see the muscles working hard, and you will feel it! If it burns, you're getting a maximum workout. Stop looking at the numbers and focus on how the exercise feels.

Try this cable curl and add some variety to your upper-body workout.

Relax!

One of my pet peeves is watching people at the gym lift up and tense their shoulders while doing upper body exercises. You might see this if someone is doing a seated chest press. The arms go out: everything's just fine. The arms come back: the shoulders suddenly rise up.

The shoulders are the most common place where people transfer their tension. Sometimes they screw up their faces, too. You've probably seen that.

Relax! As you do any exercise, focus intently on the muscles you are working. Try to relax the rest of your body. This will help you isolate the muscles and maximize the benefits of the exercise. It will also help prevent building up unwanted tension and bulk in the shoulders. If you hold too much tension in the neck and shoulders, it also often leads to headaches.

Sometimes we strain so hard, we don't realize what we are doing with out bodies. If necessary, lower your weights, take a step back. Always shoot for good form rather than trying to impress others at the gym with how much you can lift.

One way to make sure you are relaxing is to scrunch up your shoulders purposely. Raise them as high as you can, all the way to your ears. Then let them drop and feel the difference.

Doesn't that feel better already?

My Favorite Exercises: Pulley Fly

Have you ever used the cable pulleys at your gym? If not, you need to give them a try. You can do a wide assortment of exercises with them giving you variety in your workouts. Like free weights, you need to use your core muscles to help stabilize the cables. One of my favorite exercises to do on the cable pulleys is a chest fly. With a mirror right in front of you, you can see all the chest muscles working as you do the exercise. While you can't increase the size of your breasts, you can build the muscles of the chest to add a little heft. It will give the illusion of being a little better endowed. You'll look better in low-cut dresses and blouses, too. A strong body always looks good! To perform the chest fly properly, you'll need a cable pulley machine that allows you to stand in the middle and work both sides at once.

1. Make sure you attach handles for gripping.
2. Set the handles so that they are about level with or just above shoulder-height when you are standing.
3. Set your weights to be the same on both sides. You may not be able to go too high. I do these with my weights on 10 pounds.
4. Grab both handles.
5. Get into a lunge with the body slightly leaning forward and back straight.
6. Bring the handles together keeping the elbows just slightly bent. Pretend you have your arms around a beach ball and have to hold them there.
7. Slowly return to the starting position. Your elbows should be even with your shoulders and back at the completion of the motion.
8. Repeat.

I find this exercise works the chest muscles better than the seated fly machines or dumbbells on a bench. Give it a try and see if you agree.