Barbell only, Dumbbell only, and Combined
How Heavy is "Heavy" -
THE BEST BASIC BARBELL COURSE
This course may be employed by beginners or by the most advanced barbell trainees. It is intended to give a good all-round workout to the entire body. The only equipment required for employing this course is an adjustable barbell (standard of Olympic) and a strong set of squat racks. An abdominal board is desirable, but not entirely necessary.
Beginners NEVER do more than one set of the specified repetitions. Advanced pupils never exceed three sets of each exercise when following this course.
Beginners: Before going from one set per exercise to two sets, train steadily for at least five months, always striving to add weight to what you can correctly handle.
Do 6-12 repetitions, adding a repetition after every TWO workouts. Add weight when 12 reps are reached, then go back down to 6 again.
In squats, start out with 12 and go up to 18 or 20 repetitions.
Use 25 repetitions in abdominal and any calf work you do.
Use 6-8 repetitions per set in all arm, shoulder and heavy chest work.
Use 8-15 repetitions per set in all leg and back work.
Always strive not to "cheat" when you do your exercises. Cheating is permissible only for the final one or two repetitions and any given set. It absolutely is not a good way to train when it is employed exclusively for all repetitions done in any exercise.
1) Flip Snatch. General warming up movement. Do approximately six repetitions with a light weight . It is not necessary to increase repetitions or add too much weight in this exercise. This movement is done purely for warmup purposes.
2) Standard Heavy Barbell Curl. The work in the exercise absolutely MUST be done with arms alone. More cheating is done by trainees in the barbell curl than in any other exercise. And that is why so many fail to obtain good results from the movement. Keep elbows close to the body. Use a somewhat close grip, never a wide one. Maintain a good, solid posture, and work the arms through a full range of motion (full extension to full muscle contraction). Keep your grip very tight, very strong, and very "controlling when you do this or any other exercise.
This point about a secure grip is one very helpful tip that I pass on to you
and urge you to employ whenever you train.
It helps.
6-8 repetitions, and always add weight when possible.
3) Press Behind Neck. Do this exercise with as heavy a weight as you can possibly handle. Work with a rapid, fairly rhythmic pace, taking care NOT to let the bar "drop" behind or on the neck. Work very, very strictly.
The best way to do this exercise, especially when heavy weights are employed, is to have the bar fully loaded and placed upon your squat racks. Press right from the racks, and when the set is done, re-rack the bar. Do 6-8 repetitions.
4) Standard Barbell Rowing. Limber up your back by doing about a dozen toe touches, and some light stretching. Handle BIG weights in this exercise. Avoid the tendency to bob up and down as you pull the bar to your upper body. This robs the shoulders, back and arms of valuable muscle-building work.
Lower the weight to a full arms' extension. If you cheat in your rowing your are cheating yourself out of benefits from what is probably among the best three upper body exercises in existence.
About 12 repetitions (never less than 6-8) is effective. AND USE HEAVY WEIGHTS!
5) Bench Press, fairly wide grip. As you become accustomed to doing the exercise with a wide grip you should attempt to keep boosting the poundage you use. Many physique stars prefer a full, collar-to-collar grip in the bench press; and if you work into a heavy weight, that's really rough going!
Do not bounce the bar off your chest. Work rapidly and get a muscle rebound action just as the bar barely touches the chest, then raise it back up fast, to arms fully locked. Avoid arching the back. Repeat approximately 6-8 repetitions.
6) Parallel Squat, two deep breaths between reps. If you go below parallel position then you should not attempt to handle more than bodyweight on the bar. Best results, however, for general bodybuilding, are obtained when the heaviest possible weight is used in the squat. So do your squats by going down only so far as your thighs being parallel with the floor. Keep back FLAT and head UP. 8-20 repetitions.
7) Light Deep-Breathing Pullovers. If you are doing more than one set of squats, follow each set with a set of pullovers. Aim for maximum stretch, and to fill your lungs with lots of air. Breathe in as the bar goes back; breathe out as the bar comes forward. Do 15 repetitions.
8) Stiff-Legged Deadlift. Keep a very secure grip on the bar with both hands, but do NOT do any of the actual lifting with your hands or arms. Arch fully backward after coming to the erect position after each repetition. Keep the exercise style smooth and rhythmic. A jerky, bouncy type of action in this movement can injure the lower back. Do at least 8 repetitions, work into REALLY HEAVY weights.
9) Sit-ups, weighted. Use an abdominal board if you have one. Otherwise, load a barbell heavy and hook your feet under it to hold them in place as you do your si-ups. Keep a barbell plate behind your head to add to the benefits of this fine exercise. Remember: keep knees BEND and ROLL the body up and then back. Do 20-25 repetitions.
If you have only a barbell to train with, then the course outlined here will give you optimal results. It is the best single "barbell-only" course that I know of.
THE BEST BASIC DUMBBELL COURSE
Dumbbell training, while definitely inferior to barbell training for the development of maximum bulk and power, has its advantages. It will usually be easier to train in a crowded or congested area with dumbbells, and these harder-to-balance weights have a tendency to produce good definition and coordination in the trainee.
Even a person who does have a heavy barbell with which to train would do well to train for a month of two, every now and then, exclusively with dumbbells. They break the monotony of steady, basic barbell work, and they add novelty and interest to the workouts.
For the convenience of readers who wish to know the best possible course of pure dumbbell training they can follow, I will now present it.
This is a body-BUILDING course. Although it consists of dumbbell exercises exclusively, they are the heavier, basic type of dumbbell exercises - not "shaping" movements. This course will build solid, large, well-shaped muscles.
1) Two-Dumbbell Swing, to warm up. Although given here as your warming up exercise, this movement is one of the best lower back conditioners there is. It is a fine flexibility and physical fitness producer.
Beginners always make the mistake of not coming to a good erect position. Arch the back slightly; keep head up and arms straight.
Instead of holding two dumbbells, you can use only one if you prefer. In such a case, the free hand rests on the knee, and you change the hand holding the weight after each set. Do 12-20 repetitions.
2) Two-Dumbbell Simultaneous Press. Keep erect, don't look up, and do the exercise in moderate slowness. Press the bells slightly back as they go overhead. You may do this exercise sitting or standing, as you prefer.
Keep a very secure, controlling grip on the bells, and DO NOT lean back as the weights are pressed overhead. It is necessary to work into very heavy poundages with this exercise.
Do 8-10 repetitions.
3) Two-Dumbbell Curl, seated. Do this exercise sitting back on an incline bench. Steve Reeves used to work this movement so hard that he had to kick the bells up with his for the last couple of reps. Lift only with the arms. Lower SLOWLY and lock out the arms for full extension.
Do 8-10 repetitions.
4) Incline Dumbbell Press. Work very hard on this one. Heavy weights are mandatory, and let the arms go back fully after each press-up.
Do 12 reps a set.
5) One-Dumbbell Rowing, bent over. Work very strict and very heavy. Keep the non-exercising hand braced firmly on a bench or other support.
Do 8-12 repetitions.
6) Squat, bells held at shoulders. You can't escape the squat! Keep your back very flat and squat right down to the floor. With dumbbells the resistance won't be so great that a knee injury would occur.
Do 15-18 repetitions a set.
7) Pullover with Dumbbells. Use about 10 pounds each bell. Same method of execution as the light barbell pullover. Only a very light weight need be used, but maximum stretch and chest expansion must be strived for. Inhale as the bells go back, exhale when they are "pulled over." The chest is deliberately lifted high and the rib cage expanded. Arms should be straight, or only very slightly bent. Tight grip on the bells.
Do 15-20 repetitions after each set of squats.
8) Leg Raise, holding dumbbell with feet. This is a magnificent abdominal toner and overall body conditioner. Hold the dumbbell between the feet if you don't have iron boots.
Do 20 repetitions.
9) One Dumbbell Side Bend. Surely one of the best conditioners for the waist. This aids in keeping a trim, solid midsection. Use a dumbbell that provides plenty of resistance but not one that is so heavy it prevents proper form. Bend straight over to the side, do not lean forward.
Do 15 repetitions each side.
THE BEST BASIC BARBELL-DUMBBELL COURSE
The best possible way to employ weights in developing your physique is to use a combination of barbell and dumbbell exercises. This method is the proven way of building a well-developed body. It is also the most interesting and enjoyable way to exercise.
Here is what I consider to be the best all-round course of combined barbell-dumbbell exercise that a man can train on. It is very rugged when more than one set per exercise is used, and of course, it is very, very productive of good results.
1) Dumbbell Swing, warmup. See previous two courses for description.
2) Seated Incline Bench Dumbbell Curl. See Exercise 3, dumbbell course above.
3) Press Behind Neck, heavy, seated. You will have to use slightly less resistance in seated pressing behind neck than you employ in this exercise when done in a standing position. If your training quarters have a low ceiling that doesn't allow for pressing overhead, do partial presses with a strong six-second iso when the plates hit the ceiling before lowering the bar and calling your landlord with a set of blatant lies. However, in the case of an advanced trainee it is somewhat more valuable at times to do the exercise seated. This seems to really throw a tremendous burden of work directly onto the shoulders; more so, in a sense, than when the exercise is done standing.
Do 6-8 reps per set.
4) One-Dumbbell Row. See previous description.
5) Incline Barbell Press. Do this exercise at a moderate incline. The idea here is to throw a large burden of the work upon the upper pectoral muscles and the frontal deltoids. Go HEAVY, and use a WIDE grip.
8-10 reps per set.
6) Squat, barbell. See description above.
7) Dumbbell Pullover. As above, so here. It is written below and surfaces somewhere in the middle of whatever this thing called life we're in is.
8) Stiff-Legged Deadlift. See above. Visualize something slightly "higher" in hopes of escaping the lower realms of existence.
9) Sit-Ups, on slant board. Always strive to do this with a heavier weight held behind the head while maintaining pristine, no less than pristine form.
This course is as appropriate for a relative beginner as it is to a Mr. Champeen Star. The difference in use would come from the poundages employed, number of sets, level of concentration, etc.
When properly worked over time, the barbell-dumbbell program presented herein is brutally hard and, consequently, surprisingly effective . . . OVER TIME.
For a more rapid, not-all-solid-muscle weight-gaining program including diet, see the article to follow.
Enjoy Your Lifting!
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