The most important ab muscles are the rectus abdominis (six-pack muscle) and the internal and external obliques (love handle muscles). Other abdominal muscles important for spine stabilization include the transversalis and quadratus lumborum. No single exercise works all the ab muscles optimally. The best exercises for the front abs (rectus) are the bicycle crunch exercise, hanging leg raises, and crunches on an exercise ball.(13) The best oblique (and quadratus) exercise was the side-bridge. (2, 22)
Bicycle Crunch Exercise
The technique: Lie flat on the floor on your lower back with your hands beside your head. Bring knees toward your chest to about a 45-degree angle and make a bicycle pedaling motion with your legs, touching your left elbow to your right knee, then your right elbow to your left knee.
Hanging Leg Raises
The technique: While hanging from a chin-up bar, or supporting your weight on your arms on a dip bar, bring your knees up to your chest.
Crunches on Exercise Ball
EMG shows that this exercise works the abs best on an exercise ball.
The technique: Lie on your back on the ball until your thighs and torso are parallel with the floor. Cross your arms over your chest and contract your abdominals, raising your torso to no more than 45 degrees. Increase the stress on your oblique muscles by moving your feet closer together.
OBLIQUES
Side-Bridges
This is not a well-known exercise. However, EMG studies show that it strengthens the obliques and helps stabilize the spine. (7, 22)
The technique: Lie on your side and support your body between your forearm and knee. As you increase fitness, move the support from your knees to your feet. Repeat on the other side. Hold position for 2 X 10 seconds. Build up to at least 60 seconds on each side of your body.
CHEST
EMG studies confirmed the obvious, but also showed a few surprises. First, the bench press proved to be an excellent chest exercise. However, the incline press did not work the upper part of the chest as much as commonly believed. Inclines were very effective for working the chest and front part of the deltoid (shoulder) muscle. (3, 27) The best exercises for chest development are the bench press, incline press, and dumbbell flyes. Specialized chest exercises, fly machine exercises are excellent, if you train intensely enough.
Bench Press
The technique: Lying on an incline or bench on your back with your feet on the floor grasp the bar with palms upward and hands shoulder-width apart. Lower the bar to your chest. Then return it to the starting position. Using a wider grip will slightly increase the load on the pecs. Dumbell bench press is also an excellent chest exercise.
Incline Dumbbell Bench Press
The technique: Lying on an incline bench on your back with your feet on the floor, grasp the dumbbells with palms upward and hands shoulder-width apart. Lower the dumbell to your chest. Then return it to the starting position. A steeper bench incline increases the load on the shoulders and decreases the load on the chest.(3)
Dumbbell Flyes
The technique: Lying on a flat or incline bench on your back with your feet on the floor, grasp the dumbbells with palms facing each other and arms extended above your chest. Lower the dumbbells in a wide arc to the side until the dumbbells reach the chest and shoulder level and you feel a stretch in your pecs. Keep the dumbbells in line with your elbows and shoulders. Pull the dumbbells toward each other in a wide arc back to the starting position.
SHOULDERS
The shoulder is a complex joint that can move in many planes. The deltoid is the principal and most visible muscle. EMG studies suggest that shoulder presses and dumbbell raises are the best exercises for shoulder muscles.(3)
Shoulder Press (Military Press)
This exercise can be done standing or seated. Standing presses load the muscles in the legs, hips, and trunk to stabilize the body. Seated presses better isolate the shoulder muscles. You can use barbells or dumbbells. As discussed, incline presses also work the front part of the shoulders.
The technique: Seated or standing, grasp the weight with your palms facing away from you. Push the weight overhead until your arms are extended. Then return to the starting position.
Shoulder Dumbbell Raises
The shape of the deltoid (shoulder) muscle makes it important that you work the front, side and back of the muscle.(19, 21)
The technique: Stand with feet shoulder-width apart and a dumbbell in each hand. With elbows slightly bent, slowly lift both weights until they are parallel with the ground. Do these exercises to the front, side, and back. Bend at the waist when you are working the rear deltoids.
BACK AND LATS
No EMG studies directly examined the best lat and back exercises. However, there have been studies on how joint positions activate lat and upper back muscles.(19, 21, 25) Based on these studies, the best exercises for the lats and upper back are pull-ups, wide grip lat pulldowns, and bent-over rowing.
Wide Grip Lat Pulldowns
This exercise works mainly the lats and biceps. However, it also activates the deltoids, traps, and shoulder rotator cuff muscles.(21, 25) Some experts warn athletes not to pull the weight behind the neck because it may cause shoulder injury (impingement).
The technique: Begin in a seated or kneeling position, depending on the type of lat machine. Grasp the bar of the machine with arms fully extended. Slowly pull the weight down until it reaches your chest. Return slowly to the starting position.
Bent-Over Rows
This exercise builds the biceps as well as the muscles in the upper back (such as the rhomboids, lats, and traps).
The technique: Hold a barbell in front of you, bend at the waist, and bend your knees slightly. Lift the bar to your chest (without jerking), then return the bar under control to the starting position.
Pull-Ups
This exercise is one of the best predictors of the strength of major muscle groups. This is a great exercise for building the lats and biceps. Many muscles in the arms, shoulders, neck, and back help stabilize and move the body during this exercise.
The technique: Hang from a bar with palms facing away and hands placed shoulder width apart. Pull yourself up until your chin goes over the bar; then, return to the starting position. Have a spotter help you with this exercise or use a pull-up assist machine if you can't do any reps. Use weight suspended from your weight belt to increase the intensity of this exercise. You can also do lat pulls to help you develop better strength to do pull-ups.
ARMS
BICEPS
Curls are the best biceps exercises. Curls build biceps best when you stabilize the upper arm and use a supine (palms up) grip.(12, 23) EMG shows that preacher curls (particularly using one-arm preacher curls) and seated alternate incline dumbbell curls are the best biceps builders. No studies determined the best triceps exercise. However, many studies showed that triceps are loaded significantly during presses, such as bench presses, inclines, and military presses.(3, 5) You work the triceps most during presses when you use a narrow grip. Based on the concept that muscles are developed best when isolated and loaded, (3, 5) we selected skull crushers and triceps pushdowns as a good exercises to build this muscle. (4, 24)
One-Arm Preacher Curls
The technique: Place your upper arm on the pad of the preacher stand. Lower your forearm slowly to near full extension. Curl the dumbbell to the starting position. Two-arm preacher curls are also highly effective.
Seated Alternate Incline Dumbbell Curls
The technique: Sit on incline bench with arms extended, holding a dumbbell in each arm. Curl dumbbell, then lower it slowly to starting position.
TRICEPS
Triceps Pushdowns
The technique: Grasp the bar using a narrow grip, palms down, and elbows close to the body. Push the bar downward, keeping your elbows close to the body. Return to the starting position slowly.
Skull Crushers
The technique: Lie on your back on a bench and place an E-Z Bar above your head and lower the bar to your forehead with your elbows up. Keeping your upper arm fixed, extend your elbows.
FOREARMS
Large forearms put an important finishing touch on a powerful-looking upper body. These muscles determine grip strength. You work them whenever you grip a bar or dumbbell. These muscles allow four motions: wrist flexion (palm toward front of forearm), extension (back of hand toward rear of forearm), pronation (palm down), and supination (palm up).(17) Two excellent forearm exercises- according to EMG- are wrist curls and reverse curls. Reverse curls also work the biceps and two smaller muscles in the upper arm (radialis and brachioradialis).(23) Some equipment manufacturers make pronation-supination machines. However, the two exercises listed here are best for developing size in the forearm muscles.
Wrist Curls
Do these with palms up (wrist flexion) and palms down (wrist extension). The technique: Using dumbbells or a barbell, sit on the end of a bench with forearms supported on your thighs with wrists lying at your knee caps. Grasp the bar or dumbbells with palms up. Relax your hands and wrist until you support the weight with your fingertips. Curl the weight back to the starting position by flexing your wrists and squeezing your hand. Work the forearm extensors by doing this exercise with palms down.
Reverse Barbell Curls
The technique: Stand with feet shoulder-width apart and knees slightly bent. Grasp the bar at shoulder width with palms down (pronated grip). Keeping your elbows close to your body, curl the weight toward your chest.
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