My favorite and best is the 12 ounce curls.

Mike

~ramble~Over the years I've found that a steady change once you get to a plateau usually helps,the next time I come back to that particular exercise.ie.flat bench has been at 200lb max 2reps for months,so a change to supersetting incline,decline,flys with average weight as long as I get the good sore burn for a few weeks helps next time I go back to flat bench I handle 200 for 10.~ramble~but that just me.

[b]Upward rows[/b] with a grip just past shoulder width, as well as [b]incline dumbell presses[/b].

Seems that my body responds the best to midle of the range repitions (12-18) and that's what I do. I pyramid weight up as well as down to help keep my muscles guessing.

Tyler

Well, I definitely know what my crappiest exercise is...BENCH.  

As big and muscular as I look, I can't bench as much as I should.  It's just genetics I guess.

So, I try and build my chest for looks, rather than strength.  I often start with incline movements then go to the flat bench, to build up that lagging upper chest area that plagues almost everyone.

My best exercise as far as strength is Military press.  At one time in high school, I could actually do the same weight on shoulder presses as bench! I still am stonger at this than most guys twice my weight.

I get the best burn from incline-hammer curls w/ dumbells.  Great stretch on the bi's and makes it easy to isolate.

Ed - for those of us who weigh in excess of 225# - to 2x that in a BP is on the verge of world class. To 3x that is beyond the world record (I believe it is still under 660 - could be wrong).

I destroyed a shoulder at 375 # 10 yrs ago - and I pay for it every day.

Last year I decided to work with heavier weights again - went to 330 # with 3 reps.


The toll on my body was great. * Natural, no bench shirt / getting old (mid 30's)

It is far more important to be able to run a 6 minute mile, be able to swim for an hour, be able to manipulate your own body weight repeatedly - like doing chin ups (think about climbing into a boat in cold water) than to be able to pick up a car.

That old saying [b]"Go Heavy Or Go Home"[/b] is for meat heads and guys that are willing to do [i]anything[/i] for there "pro card". Think about why you are getting in shape. Excersise for that. Think abs - gives you a strong back - back probs are a bitch and [b]chix dig abs[/b].

ps - for a variation on your curls - on a preacher bench, full range, limited range - from bottom to mid point, then from mid point to high point.


pss - legs is where is at. Squats are the best overal excersise one can do.

Lastly - to avoid plateaus I have always worked in three (3) three (3) month cycles. Light weight / high rep (15 - 20) for stamina, medium weight / medium rep for strength (8 - 10), heavy weight / low rep for power (2 - 5)  Diet, dietary suppliments, rountines and weight / reps would change. Allows your body to heal. At the end of a power cycle - your body really need to regroup - dietary suppliments - regardless of if you are legal or illegal need to be swapped around to facilitate recovery as well.

Good luck, stay safe.

EXERCISE

I am to damn lazy to exercise.
Besides my job takes up most of my life,
how fun.[>(]

Killer routine.  Great pump.

My personal favorite are flat bench flyes.  Really tears up the pecs, making sure you do them very controlled and with perfect form.  I weigh 165 and can do flyes w/ 75lb dumbells.

My rotator cuffs scream and burn with 22.5 #.


Trust me don't trash a shoulder. I spend 20 minutes warming up my shoulders every day now. Some days they just hurt while typing on a key board. Almost all upper body excercises involve the shoulder. Break up your routine to minimize impacts to the shoulders. Do not do excercises behind your head. (ie lat pull downs and mil presses) - lots of damage.

Using an angled chair to do mil presses (very slight angle) will also protect your shoulders a bit. If you use a 90 degree chair and you find your back is arched or you are looking at the sky, consider that your form sucks. Back off the weight. Also dumb bells allow each shoulder to follow the plane (path) that is most natural for it. (an olympic bar can force a path and cause irritation).


Good luck, stay safe

You mean flat bench presses?  75lbs is an awful lot for flys if your doing them right.
[?]

The second amendment.

1. 85 lb. Hammer Curls, done sloppy.  Jerking them up, whatever it takes. Gets the Bicep, but also ALL of the surrounding muscles, too.

2. Rack Squats:

Place the the bar on the safety bars in the cage.  Set the bars so the height of the bar is a little LOWER that where you'd be at the BOTTOM of your squat.
Get under the weight, spread your feet wide, and lift.
Brutal.

Ed, I think he means this:

Regular preacher curl w/ a lighter than normal weight.
ex.-
Full range of motion curl:10 reps
bottom 1/2 of range:10 reps
top 1/2 of range:10 reps-you'll be hurting here!

-done all at once, kind of a burnout thing at the end of your workout.

My favorite (and most painful)? The [b]Iron Cross[/b]

Take about 15-20lb dumbells, hold them at your side.  Lift your arms, doing a standard lateral raise.  Then, [i]twist[/i] your wrists inward, so that the dumbells are vertical.  Proceed to bring your arms together, touching the dumbells.
Then, reverse/repeat the process.  INCREDIBLY painful after 8-10 reps, the kind of burn I only usually feel in my legs after squats.

Perfect for widening out your back, and it's also a great Deltoid/Trapezius workout.

I think mine has to be the missionary position.

[:D]

Ooo, another painful one.  The preacher has its ups and downs - while you don't work your isolators as much, its easier for doing this differing-ranges routine, which is [b]GREAT[/b] for complete upper arm development.  Dumbells are great if you have a spotter, but that's not always possible - thus, the preacher routine.

Exactly.


Hey Ed, when that Tri let go - did it wad up? I have never seen it, but have known those that have had lovely experience with various muscles when they let go.


EEEEEEEEEEEEEEk

Aside from my shoulder, the worst I have done in a gym is drop a 1/4 on my foot from waist high as I was trying to put it away - I was stairing a chic in a thong across the gym - that sucked.

I know what you are talking about when it comes to shoulders.  Had rotator cuff surgery on my left shoulder 7 years ago.  It's enough to make a grown man cry.  I wouldn't want to wish that kind of pain on anyone.  Well, maybe a few people.

No, I really am talking flyes.

I prefer a 2 oz curl and then go to 16oz, repeat as necessary.

FULL LIL' below parallel squats![:o]

I agree with Cincinnatus.  Squats are the [b]best[/b] exercise.  I make almost as good upper body progress from just doing squats as from benching and curling.  It's strange.  I usually do about 6 reps with 425#, then a set of 20 rep squats with about 225.  It is very, very painful, but doing those two exercises are the only way I make progress.

EdAvilaSr, in my opinion, benching 150% your weight is pretty good.  I've been lifting for years and my best is 75% of my best for five reps.  I don't do single reps so I don't have a clue what my max would be.  I'm about 230#, and my chest is almost as deep as it is wide.  I look like I should be able to bench huge weights, but I can't.  My chest is so weak, I can narrow grip press as much as I can do with a wide grip.  It's a little embarassing.z

Ahh, not so strange.  

Studies have shown that your testosterone spikes(even higher than a normal workout) for several hours after doing heavy squats.  This would tend to benefit your whole body.

I hear you on the chest thing.  I'm the same way w/ closegrips.

[b]pullups[/b]

Personal favorite... bench.

/bragging on
At best, I could bench 365# x 3 at about 215# body weight. (pats self on back)
/bragging off

My shoulders have since convinced me to swear off heavy weights. I enjoy (figure of speech) doing slow sets. 7 counts up, 7 counts down, using enough weight to struggle on the 5th rep and fail if I do a 6th. This is easiest to do on compound movements (bench, squat)

My pesonal favorite is military presses.

90 degree chair, oly bar, in front.

Current ability 225# (3 sets of 3) If I am using dumb bells I am currently using 95's.


Previous (and hopefully again soon) 265# DBs - 110.

I have to agree with those that say, "If your not full parallel SQUATTING 3X a week,...........go home.With out a strong foundation you look like a turkey,in more ways than one.

3X a week is over training.
I'd say even once a week is too much, IF you're squatting real weight.

10 days to 2 weeks between squat workouts.

My best exercise is Three pound index finger pulls.

[smile]

My favorite is on the bench.  Start with 160 for a set of 10.  Next I go 200 for a set of 8.  After that 220 for a set of 6.  245 for 3 sets of 3.  Finish up with 170 for a set of 10.  Once I can do this clean I will add 5 pounds.  Right now my last set at 245 I crap out on the last one, sometimes need a boost on 2nd rep.  That last set at 170 makes me want to puke.  I cant do it on my own after about number 5 and it feels like my spotter is lifting me off the bench.  lol.  Unfortunately we went a little fast and he blew out his shoulder and now is at about 185 for his sets of three while he rebuilds.  Dont do much for either of our motivation.  Been taking it easy for last few weeks.  Need to hit it a little harder next week.  I want 250.


I hate military presses....and running.

Hello!

Everyone, be careful with upright rows!  While effective, they can injure your rotator cuffs if you are pulling really high, pulling lots of weight, or "golf-swinging" (cheating with momentum) at the end of a set.

Also, I saw at least one exercise that had movement across gravity (deltoid flye then a chest flye -type movement while standing).  Working across gravity is not as effective as working against it.

Health for Life (another plug) has a program of preventitive maintentance for rotator cuffs.  It's not for recovery (see your doctor for that).  See [url]http://www.healthforlife.com[/url].

My all-time favorite exercise (which I don't do anymore) was what we called rapid power cleans.  Same as an "Olympic" style clean & jerk but no jerk (overhead).  We didn't kick our legs out (lunge) either.  Twelve reps in rapid succession as soon as the bar was down and not moving...up again.  I think we did a rep every 4 to 6 seconds.  Heart goes 0-200bpm in, oh, about instantly.

Second would be squats.

Third would be lying rows.  I place a platform (usually from the incline situp apparatus) on the "catch" bars in a squat cage.  The bars are high enough that an EZ-curl bar on a bench is just within my reach.  I lay on the platform to do my lying rows instead of bending over.  The amount of weight you can do increases quickly when you do them this way.

Fourth would be "HFL Lying Leg Thrusts." (HFL again!).  This is a lower abdominal exercise.  It's basically a lying leg raise except you cup your hands below your buttocks to tension your abs by curling your torso (and prevent arching of the back).  On each rep, when your legs get vertical, thrust your legs and pelvis towards the sky (butt should leave the ground).  This accentuates the contraction of the lower abs while they are being stretched.  Whew!

Fifth would be the the hamstring/leg curl machine.  I used to Alpine Ski Race and we tried to maintain a 3:2 ratio between the quads and the hams to keep the knee stable (max was 2:1).  This plus #6 made our knee injuries go to virtually zero.

Sixth would be "toe-ups."  This would be the opposite of calf raises.  There is an apparatus that held plates so you could raise your toes against weight to exercise the muscles in front of your shin.  These muscles fire the most in skiing. Doing these exercises and stretching this area also virtually eliminated shin splints.

Finally, the Nautilus Super Pullover.  Most machines are junk but this is one is good.

HTH,
James