Exercise Instruction for Proper Form: Chest Exercises: Fly, Dip, Push-Up, and Pullover

This post continues the series instructing about the proper way to perform the most common exercises. It follows up with the chapter dedicated to chest exercises. Although bench press and its variations are the main exercises for working this body-part, some alternatives can be used as a complement to them. In particular, this post focuses on the fly, dip, push-up, and pullover.

There are countless variations of the fly exercise. Pec Deck Fly (a.k.a. Butterfly) starts by sitting at the peck deck machine with your back flat on the pad. Place your forearms on pads. Position your upper arms slightly below parallel to the ground. Push levers together slowly and squeeze your chest in the middle. Breathe out during this part of the motion and hold the contraction for a second. Return to the starting position as you inhale until chest muscles are stretched. Some machines allow you to directly grasp the handles instead of placing the forearms on the pads. The biomechanics is the same, though (see here).

To do the Cable Standing Fly (a.k.a. Cable Crossover), you stand in middle and perpendicular to both high pulleys with your feet shoulder width apart, knees slightly bent, and your torso leaning a bit forward. Alternatively, you can also put one foot in front of the other, with front knee slightly bent, for better balance. Grasp the two handles attached to the high pulleys so that your palms face towards the floor with your arms slightly bent. Bring the handles together in front of your midsection in hugging motion with fixed elbows and shoulders internally rotated so elbows are to the sides. Focus on using just your chest muscles. Return to starting position until chest muscles are stretched.

In the Dumbbell Fly, you lie supine on a flat bench and hold a dumbbell in each hand over your chest by extending your arms with the palms of your hands facing each other. Maintain a slight bend in your elbows during the whole movement to prevent stress at the biceps tendon. Lower your arms out at both sides in a wide arc until you feel a stretch on your chest. Slowly return your arms back to the starting position as you squeeze your chest muscles. Elbows should stay locked throughout the exercise. This exercise can also be done on an incline (Incline Dumbbell Fly) or decline bench (Decline Dumbbell Fly).

Additionally, these dumbbell flyes can also be performed in the cable station, instead of using dumbbells. You have only to position the bench between two low pulleys so that when you are laying on it, your chest is lined up with the cables. Grab each stirrup attachment with palms up grip. Again, it can also be done on a flat (Cable Fly), incline (Incline Cable Fly) or decline bench (Cable Decline Fly).

Some authors have referred flyes as potentially dangerous for the shoulders (see “The Dangers of Dumbbell Flyes” by Matt Danielsson). Whereas this highly depends on each person, you can reduce the risk by using strict form (elbows slightly bent and locked during the whole movement) and avoiding overstretching in the bottom part.

Dips exercise also presents a variation for targeting the chest (Dips (Chest Version)). You mount in a parallel bar station with a parallel grip, hold the bars so that your palms face inward and keep your body at arm’s length above the bars while leaning forward around 30º. If the machine allows this, you can also hold the bar with an oblique grip (bar diagonal under palms). Bend knees and hips slightly. Lower yourself slowly by bending arms allowing elbows to flare out to sides until you feel a slight stretch in the chest. Do not descend on a deflated chest. Inhale before you descend, hold it, and then exhale during the ascent. This will help to keep your shoulders pulled back and safe. Without bouncing, use the chest strength to slowly raise yourself back to the starting position. You can increase resistance by adding weight using a dip belt or placing a dumbbell between your ankles.

The well-known Push-Up is also a great chest exercise. Lie on the floor face down and place your hands slightly wider than shoulder width apart while holding your torso up at arm’s length and touching the floor with your toes. Narrower hands positioning will involve more the triceps. At this point, your body should form a straight line from your shoulders to your ankles. Your body should remain straight throughout this exercise. Keep your head and neck in line with your body so that you are looking down toward the floor. In a controlled fashion, lower your body downward, bending your elbows, until your body is nearly touching the floor. Then, press your upper body back up to the starting position while squeezing your chest. You can add more difficulty to the exercise by placing additional weight on your back (Weighted Push-Up) or by putting your feet on top of a flat bench (Push-Up with Feet Elevated) or an exercise ball (Push-Up with Feet on an Exercise Ball). The latter involves more the stabilizer muscles. In any case, the higher the feet elevation is, the higher the resistance of the exercise is.

Finally, whereas previous exercises target mainly the pectoralis major, Dumbbell Pullover directly targets the pectoralis minor. You have to lie perpendicular on a bench with only your shoulder blades/traps resting on the bench. Your feet should be flat on the floor, knees bent, butt hanging low. You can also lie along the bench, though this position is more prone to spine hyperextension, especially when your back flexibility is scarce. Grab a dumbbell with your hands flat against the inside plate of the dumbbell and hold it at arms' length above your face with elbows slightly bent. Lower the dumbbell in semicircular motion behind the head, going as far as possible without pain while keeping elbows locked. Return the weight back, and in order to work the pectoralis minor, stop after 30º degrees (six to eight inches). If you go further this point and bring the weight until it is straight above the chest, the pectoralis minor is no longer involved and other muscles (basically the pectoralis major) take over the main role.

Basic guidelines for performing these and other exercises for developing your chest can be found in the article “Champion Chest Development” and in the chest exercise guides at Bodybuilding.com.

Exercise Instruction for Proper Form: Chest Exercises: Bench Press

This post continues the series instructing about the proper way to perform the most common exercises by moving to a new body-part, namely the chest. The main exercise for working this body-part is the popular bench press, which also presents several variations.

The bench press is a compound, push-type exercise, which mainly targets the sternal head of the pectoralis major muscle, though it also involves largely the clavicular head, the anterior deltoid, and the triceps. There are different versions (it may be performed with a bar or with dumbbells; the bench may be flat, inclined, or declined), being the Barbell Bench Press the most common.

The exercise starts by positioning properly on a flat bench. This means lying on the bench with your eyes in line with the bar and firmly positioning your feet flat on the floor for better balance. You should also squeeze your shoulder blades together and keep them in this retracted position during the whole movement. This will increase your stability, thus increasing your power, and will add a measure of safety to the lift. In addition, you must maintain a flat back (or slightly arched) and the chest raised and expanded during the whole exercise. Do not arch excessively or thrust your hips in the air at any moment. Despite this enhances leverage, it also places the lower back into hyperextension, in a position prone to injury.

At this point, grab the bar tightly, with the low part of the palm and wrapping your thumbs around the bar. This will keep your wrists straight. Thumbless grip should be avoided, since it does not allow your wrists to be in a straight position and it reduces the control over the bar, which can lead you to a serious injury if the bar slips out of your hands. Hands positioning should be wider than shoulder width apart. In particular, you should place your hands in such a way that, when the upper arms are parallel to the body, the forearms are perpendicular to the floor.

Once positioned, unrack the bar from the supports, pause until it is steady at arm length above your chest, and then lower it under control, keeping your elbows directly under the bar at all times, to a point even with the nipples or slightly below them. If you lower the bar too high on the chest, your arms tend to rotate externally, putting a dangerous strain on your shoulder joints. You should stop the descent just before the bar touches the chest (approx. 1 cm). During the whole movement, the forearms should be vertical when viewed from the side. Never bounce the bar off your chest. This not only can cause an injury, but the involved momentum alleviates the pressure on the muscle, which makes the work less productive.

At this point, you must drive the barbell up again until your arms are straight (but elbows are not locked). The first part of this ascent should be vertical (or slightly back towards your face), but never moving away towards your feet. Two options are being commonly used for the rest of the ascent. In the first one, the bar continues in a straight line directly following the first phase just described. In the second option (known as the "J-curve"), the bar moves in a diagonal line to finish the movement just above your upper chest. Both variations have defenders and detractors. In the first one, the travelled distance is shorter and the triceps are more involved, while the second one involves more the anterior deltoid.

Two final remarks regarding tempo and breath control. The eccentric phase should always be tight and controlled, especially when training for hypertrophy. As a rule of thumb, this means around two seconds to lower the bar. When training for strength, you can use a faster eccentric speed, but always controlling the weight. Proper breath control is also important in your technique. Inhale deeply as you begin to lower the bar, hold the breath at the last part of the descent, and continue holding until you have pushed upward through the sticking point. Then exhale during the rest of the ascent.

The bench press presents several variations. The Incline Barbell Bench Press is used to target the clavicular head of the pectoralis major. This variant shares the same biomechanics than the regular bench press, but it is performed in an incline bench at about 30-45 degree angle. As a main difference, you should lower the bar to the upper chest, instead of the nipple level used in the regular version. Due to the inclination of the bench, the latter would lead to excessive and unsafe extension of your shoulders. You should also avoid lowering the bar to your neck, since that positioning is also very dangerous for the shoulders.

The Decline Barbell Bench Press is performed in a decline bench no more than 30 degrees. In this variation, lower the bar to your lower chest well below your nipples (on the side of your abs). Use this exercise with special caution. It can be very severe on the shoulders if you lower the bar to the mid chest or, even worse, to the clavicles.

All the bench press variations described up to now can be also performed with dumbbells. Dumbbell versions include the Dumbbell Bench Press, Dumbbell Incline Bench Press, and Dumbbell Decline Bench Press, which share basically the same biomechanics than their barbell counterparts (obviously adapted to the fact that your forearms are not locked and you are moving two dumbbells instead of a barbell). Using dumbbells presents some advantages that encourage to alternate these exercises with their counterparts using a barbell. They involve supportive muscles that are not activated too much in the barbell versions. Both sides of the pectoral are trained equally and independently. You can go further down, though you should be careful not to overstretch. They have also some drawbacks that should be considered. For instance, it could be difficult to get into position when working with heavy dumbbells. It is also easier to lose the proper form, which can bring to injuries.

More details about bench press technique and useful tips for increasing your bench press performance can be found in the articles “How Much Ya Bench?” by Charles Staley and “Bench Press Blastoff!” by Tom Venuto, and the book “The Insider’s Tell-All Handbook On Weight-Training Technique” by Stuart McRobert.

Exercise Instruction for Proper Form: Lower Back Exercises: Back Extension

This post continues the series instructing about the proper way to perform the most common exercises. It follows up with the chapter dedicated to lower back exercises. Although deadlift and its variations are the main exercises for working this body-part, some alternatives can be used as a complement to them. In particular, this post focuses on the back extension and its variations.

The primary version of the Back Extension starts by lying face down on a hyperextension bench, in a position that allows you to bend at the waist without any restriction, and locking your ankles securely under the footpads. Begin with your body in a straight line. Position your hands either behind your head or crossed on your chest. You can also hold a weight for extra resistance (e.g. a barbell across the back, a plate held behind the head or to your chest). Slowly bend forward at the waist while keeping your back straight (do not round it at any stage of the movement). From the bottom position, slowly raise your torso back until your legs and upper body are in a straight line again. Hyperextension is often referred as a synonym of the back extension, though this exercise suggests extending the back going further than the straight line. Being this hyperextended position a delicate position for the lower back, it is probably better to stay with the regular back extension. Another variation, known as 45° Back Extension, starts by placing the body in a 45º line instead of a straight one. It also requires a special device but it is a nice alternative to the back extension, though less challenging.

There are some aspects on back extension form that should be commented. First, whereas bending at the waist involves heavily the lower back, you can move part of the work to the hamstrings by bending at the hips. Second, hands position play a role in the difficulty of the exercise: the higher in the body the arms are placed, the more challenging the exercise is. This occurs because moving your arms higher also shifts the center of gravity further away from the articulating joint. Third, following the previous comment, it is important to notice that holding weights behind the head encourages rounding the back and stresses the neck. For this reason, these variants should be carefully approached or neglected in favor of those holding weights to the chest. Finally, if a hyperextension bench is not available, back extensions can be also performed in a high bench if a spotter helps you (Hyperextension on a Bench) or using an exercise ball (Weighted Ball Hyperextension).

There are other exercises for working the lower back. Good Morning exercise has the same starting position as the squat, with a considerably lower weight of course, and consists of bending forward at the waist while keeping the legs straight (knees slightly bent) until the upper body is parallel to the floor, and then slowly return to the starting position. As usual, it is important to keep the head up and the back completely straight.

Superman starts by lying face down on a mat with legs together and arms extended out directly overhead. Raise your arms, chest, and legs off the floor and keep that position for a second. Lower the back to the ground and repeat. This exercise has a variation, known as Contralateral Superman, involving only one arm and leg at a time. Using the same starting position, raise left arm and right leg into the air at the same time, also raising the chest slightly off the floor. Hold there for a second and squeeze the muscles of your lower back. Lower your limbs back to the ground and then do the same with the opposite side.

Reverse Back Extension starts by lying face down on an elevated horizontal bench, with your legs off the end, and tightly holding the bench in front of the head. Then, slowly raise your legs until they are parallel to the floor while keeping your head facing forward. Finally, there is a variation of the Cable Seated Row exercise involving also the lower back, in which you lean forward and backward accompanying elbows movement. However, I prefer to use the regular Cable Seated Row for working the upper back, and target my lower back with dedicated exercises.

You can find a more detailed description about these lower back exercises in the article “All Out Back Training” by John Giljum and the book “The Insider’s Tell-All Handbook On Weight-Training Technique” by Stuart McRobert.

Exercise Instruction for Proper Form: Lower Back Exercises: Deadlift

This post continues the series instructing about the proper way to perform the most common exercises by moving to a new body-part, namely the lower back. This body-part is mainly worked using the deadlift and its variations. This is a very demanding power exercise that targets the spinal erectors, but also involves the quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings, traps, and forearms to a great extent.

Starting position of Barbell Deadlift exercise is standing in front of a loaded bar with your feet about shoulder width apart and toes pointing straight forward, or slightly turned out to the sides. At this point, bend your knees, lower your butt, lean slightly forward keeping your back straight (or slightly arched) and hold the bar using an overhand grip about shoulder width apart. You can use wrist straps to prevent that your grip gives out before your back and legs do. Mixed grip (a.k.a. staggered grip, in which one hand is pronated and the other is supinated) is popular among powerlifters. It improves the grip but puts a lot of stress on the biceps of the supinated hand, which could be dangerous.

Lock the back in a straight position, pull the shoulders backwards, look straight forward or slightly up, and maintain this position during the entire movement. This is extremely important, since rounding the back puts a lot of pressure on the spine and can lead you to a serious injury. Now, begin the lift by straightening your legs and, when the bar is around knee level, start bringing your back up, all the while pushing with the legs in one smooth motion. A common mistake is to straighten the legs and then the back, or vice versa. A good rule to remember is that hips and shoulders should ascend together. During the ascent, keep the bar as close to the legs as possible. The finished position should leave you standing up straight, arms down at your sides, and the bar across your upper thighs.

It is not needless to insist on the importance of proper form with this exercise, as bad form (e.g. rounding your back) can lead to a very serious injury. According to this, using a lifting belt can be an option when working with heavy weights in order to take some pressure off the lower back.

There is a deadlift variation, known as Sumo Deadlift, where the feet stance is wider and you grip the bar on the inside of the legs. This moves part of the pressure from the lower back to the legs and can be more comfortable for some people.

The Romanian Deadlift is another variation that is mainly targeted to hit the hamstrings, but it also involves the lower back to a considerable degree, so it is worth mentioning it here. The main difference with the regular deadlift is that in this exercise you keep the legs almost straight (they must be slightly bent at the knees) during the entire exercise while you let your butt move back as you bend at the hips to lower the weight. Again, it is extremely important to keep your back straight throughout the entire movement. Starting position is also slightly different, since your feet are only a few inches apart (at most shoulder width apart).

A final note is that the furthest you lower the weight, the more you involve the lower back. According to this, as Romanian Deadlift aims to target the hamstrings, it recommends to stop lowering the weight when your back forms a 30 degrees angle with the floor. Another variation, called Still-legged Deadlift, suggests lowering the weight all the way down to involve more the lower back. You must be careful if you use it, as this can be potentially dangerous.

You can find further information about all these deadlift variations in the articles “All Out Back Training” by John Giljum and “Deadlifts: Learn Why The King Is Dead!” by Curtis Schultz, and the book “The Insider’s Tell-All Handbook On Weight-Training Technique” by Stuart McRobert.

Exercise Instruction for Proper Form: Upper Back Exercises: Pulldown and Row

This post continues the series instructing about the proper way to perform the most common exercises. It follows up with the chapter dedicated to upper back exercises, focusing now on pulldowns and rows.

Whereas pull-up/chin-up should be the basic exercise on your routine for developing the width of your back, lat pulldowns can be an option when you are not strong enough to move your bodyweight, or just as a complement in your workout. A pulldown is basically a pull-up mimicking movement, but performed in a specific pulldown machine. As pull-ups, it presents several variations depending on your hands position (Underhand Cable Pulldown, V-Bar Pulldown, Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown), having each position a different effect on your back muscles. Refer to the previous post for more details.

This exercise starts by sitting in a pulldown machine with the legs positioned under the kneepads and the feet flat on the floor and grabbing the bar/handle with the desired hands position. Then pull the bar down until it touches your upper chest. Focus on keeping your elbows back as far as possible, while arching your back slightly. Hold and squeeze at the point of contraction, and slowly raise the bar/handle back to the starting position. Do not lean back too far or pull the weight down using your body weight during the movement. Avoid the behind-the-neck version of this exercise, as it can lead you to injury.

Being significantly different from a regular pulldown, the Straight-Arm Pulldown exercise also works the lats. Stand in front of a lat pulldown machine with your arms outstretched towards the bar. With an overhand grip, keeping the elbows slightly bent, the wrists locked, and the torso erect, pull the bar down towards your body in an arcing motion until the bar almost touches your thighs. Then slowly allow the bar to come back until reaching the shoulder level.

Rowing exercises are fundamental for adding size and thickness to the back. Three main categories of rowing exercises exist. The first one comprises the exercises in a bent over position. Bent Over Barbell Row starts by standing over a straight bar with feet about shoulder width apart. Bending your knees, lean over and pick the bar up, with an overhand grip a little wider than shoulder width. Then, while keeping your knees slightly bent, bend at the waist until your torso is at an angle anywhere from 15 to 45 degrees to the floor. From this position, pull the bar straight up to your waist focusing on pulling your elbows back, and then lower the bar back down slowly. It is important to keep the head up and the back straight (or slightly arched) during the whole movement, since rounding the back can result in a serious injury. Furthermore, do not swing or use momentum to lift the weight. This exercise can be also performed using an underhand grip with hands shoulder width apart (Reverse Grip Bent-Over Row).

Another variation is One-Arm Dumbbell Row, which uses a dumbbell, and works each side of the back by itself. For working your right side, you must start resting you left knee and lower leg on a flat bench and then lean forward so that you support the weight of your upper body with your left arm on the bench and you keep your right leg almost straight, and positioned to the rear and out of the way. An alternative setup is to keep your leg foot on the floor well ahead of the right, with the leg slightly bent. For both setup options, grab the dumbbell with the right hand and, keeping the back straight and almost parallel to the floor and the left arm locked at the elbow, pull the weight up as far as possible, by pulling your elbow back. Then slowly lower the dumbbell to the starting position.

The second category comprises the rowing exercises performed in a cable station. Seated Cable Row starts by sitting down at a low-pulley rowing machine and placing your feet against the footrests or platform near the bottom of the weight stack. Keep your knees slightly bent throughout the entire movement to reduce stress on your lower back. Bending only at the waist, lean forward and grasp the pulley handle in front of you. Again, several hand positions are possible (close grip, wide overhand grip, underhand grip, one arm at a time). With your arms stretched out, lean back at the waist until your torso is perpendicular to the floor. This is the starting position. Keeping the back straight and looking forward, bring your elbows back until the handle touches your waist. Then, slowly return to the starting position. There is a variation of this exercise involving also the lower back, in which you lean forward and backward accompanying elbows movement.

The final category comprises the exercises where you lay/sit positioning the chest against the top of the pad and pull the weight up/back until elbows are behind back, without lifting the body off from the pad. This category includes for instance T-Bar Row and Seated Lever Row. Again, you can use a palms down, palms up, or palms in position depending on what part of your back you want to involve more.

You can find further information about all these back exercises in the article “All Out Back Training” by John Giljum and the book “The Insider’s Tell-All Handbook On Weight-Training Technique” by Stuart McRobert.

Exercise Instruction for Proper Form: Upper Back Exercises: Pull-Up/Chin-Up

In previous posts, I have insisted on the importance of performing all the exercises using a strict form (mastering the weight during the whole rep and using a full range of motion) in order to ensure an adequate muscle stimulus and avoid injury. This post initiates a series instructing about the proper way to perform the most common exercises. This first chapter is dedicated to upper back exercises, starting with pull-ups/chin-ups.

A pull-up/chin-up is a compound, pull-type, close-chain exercise (body moves towards resistance), which is commonly referred as a basic exercise for back building. It presents several variations, which share the same biomechanics. All of them start by grasping a bar with a firm grip. Hands orientation and separation depends on the variation you use, as detailed later. With your arms straightened, allow your body to hang from the bar. Next, pull yourself upward until your chest nearly touches the bar and your chin gets over the bar. Pulling to the rear of your head is not recommended as this puts a dangerous stress on the shoulders and neck. While you are pulling, focus on keeping your body straight without arching or swinging. Once your chin is over the bar, you can lower yourself all the way down so that your shoulder blades go up (but without locking the elbows). This gives a full stretch, and allows for a greater range of motion. Nevertheless, avoid relaxing your muscles too much while in this position, since this can place a great deal of stress on your shoulders joints. During the exercise, you can either bend your knees and cross your feet or keep your legs straightened so long as your feet do not touch the floor, but in any case, keep them in line with the torso as much as possible.

Variations differ basically on the used grip. Pull-ups are done with a pronated grip (palms down) and chin-ups are done either with a semi-supinated (palms facing each other a.k.a. neutral grip) or with a supinated grip (palms up). In particular,

Wide-Grip Pull-Up uses a pronated grip with hands separated by a distance roughly twice the width of your shoulders, which emphasizes the lats. This is a great exercise for developing back width. Using a grip with hands shoulder width apart moves part of the stimulus from lats to the biceps, while narrowing it to only 4 to 6 inches hits the lower part of the lats and overloads the brachialis and brachioradialis.

Chin-Up uses a supinated grip with hands shoulder width apart, which shifts part of the work to the biceps. Narrowing the grip to only 4 to 6 inches between the little fingers increases the overload for the brachialis and the elbow flexors.

Close Parallel-Grip Chin-Up uses a semi-supinated grip by means of a V-handle. You should focus on bringing your lower chest to the handle as you pull yourself up. This variation increases the load on the rear deltoids and provides a good stimulus to the rhomboids.

Parallel-Grip Chin-Up uses a semi-supinated grip with hands about 22 to 24 inches apart (with comes typically in multi-station machines). This grip reduces the stress on your wrists, elbows, and shoulders, and it is supposed to position both the elbow flexors and the shoulder extensors in their most effective line of pull.

Sternum Chin-Up involves keeping your torso leaning back throughout the entire movement and arching your spine bringing your lower portion of the chest (i.e. sternum) to the bar. Your hand position can be either pronated or supinated and vary in distance from narrow to shoulder width. Overload on the scapulae retractors is increased in this variation. The beginning of the movement is more like a classical chin, the mid-range resembles the effect of the pullover motion, and the end position duplicates the finishing motion of a rowing movement.

Mixed-Grip Chin-Up uses a mixed grip: one hand pronated, one hand supinated. With this variation, the load focus is on the supinated hand. Make sure to equal sets and reps by reversing the grip on each alternating set.

One-Armed Chin-Up is an advanced variation, which uses one hand in the supinated position while the other hand helps with only balance. This is ensured by placing a towel around the bar and holding on the towel with the other hand, or by holding the working arm on its wrist. The stronger the athlete, the lower the hand is placed on the working arm. Again, you should alternate hands so both arms get a stimulus.

Subscapularis Pull-Up assumes the starting position of the wide grip pull-up, and consists of pulling yourself to the bar until the chest reaches bar, and pushing yourself away from the bar as you lower down to the starting position in a controlled fashion.

Further information on pull-ups/chin-ups (including pictures) can be found on the articles “Improving Chin-Up Performance!” by Charles Poliquin, “Exercise Of The Week: Pull-ups” by Charles Ridgely, and “Chins For Your Back” by Christopher Phelps, and the book “The Insider’s Tell-All Handbook On Weight-Training Technique” by Stuart McRobert.