Exercise Selection from Arnold Encyclopedia

[Darkhorse]

I'm putting this up because I think this will help alot of people. I got alot of this from the Arnold Encyclopedia. It really helped me devise a great plan of attack. For beginners I suggest picking 3 or 4 exercises per muscle group each time, 2-3 sets each. The first mentioned are the better exercises for overall mass builders. For more advanced lifters, I don't need to go there. I tried not to put machines on here because free weights are the way to go.

*EDIT* It looks good, but since being on this board and others for quite some time, I've learned that you can't target specific areas like Arnold thought. You can provide more stimulation on certain areas, but you can't think to yourself, "I want to work my inner chest because it's lagging."

Chest-
1.Outer- Wide grip bench press, dumbbell flyes.
2.Inner- Machine butterflyes, cable cross-overs, close grip bench.
3.Upper- Incline press (barbell, dumbbell), Incline flyes.
4.Middle- Medium grip bench, dumbbell press
5.Lower- Dips, decline press (barbell, dumbbell), flyes, cable cross-overs
6.Serratus- Dumbbell pullovers, cable (rope) pullovers.

Back-
1.Upper- Pull-ups (wide grip, behind the neck), machine pull-downs, machine pull-overs (or straight arm pull-overs with bar)
2.Lower- Close grip pull-downs, reverse grip pull-ups, close grip cable rows.
3.Middle- Bent-over barbell rows, wide grip cable rows, dumbbell rows (one or both hands at once).
4.Lower- Deadlifts (straight leg or not), hyperextentions.
5.Traps- Barbell shrugs, dumbbell shrugs, upright rows, deadlifts.

Shoulders-
1.Front- Military press, behind the neck barbell press, dumbbell press, Arnolds, front raises (barbell,dumbbell,cable), upright rows (not as much)
2.Side- Side laterals (dumbbell, cable, one or both hands at once, seated or standing), wide grip upright rows (also strengthens the shoulder girdle).
3.Rear- Bent over laterals (cable, dumbbell, one or both hands at once)

Biceps-
1.Overall- Standing barbell curls, preacher curls (to a lesser extent).
2.Inner- Inner grip ez curls (standing, preacher), barbell curls (close grip), dumbbell curls (standing, seated, alternating, twist at top)
3.Outer- Reverse grip curls, hammer curls, barbell curls (wide grip)
4.Lower (bulge starting at elbow)- Preacher curls, 21's.
5.Height- Isolation curls (cable, dumbbell)
6.Length- Incline curls (dumbbell, cable, bench at 45 degree angle.)

Triceps-
1.Overall mass- Close grip bench (lockout at top), behind the back dips (use a regular bench and a chair. Put plates on lap), dumbbell kickbacks, skullcrushers.
2.Horseshoe shape- Reverse grip pressdowns (one or both hands)
3.Above the elbow joint- Dips, skullcrushers.

*Keep in mind that you don't need a thousand variations to stimulate the same muscle. For example, the biceps have 2 seperate heads, hence "bi". Doing superior exercises such as barbell curls stimulate them both rather nicely. The title should probably be changed to "shifting emphasis to certain muscle sections" or something to that effect.

[Sleazy]

Great idea 0311. I'll go ahead and sticky this now. I have the Encyclopedia also so if you can refer me to a page I can add some in when I have time. Otherwise everyone can feel free to add a reply with what exercises they like for targeting specific muscles.

[vex]

Sweet! I've Been Wondering How To Get Those Secific Sections Of The Pecs!

[Fast Eddie]

wow thankyou so much. this will help out loads....do you mind if i e mail this to friends

[Darkhorse]

Originally Posted by Fast Eddie

wow thankyou so much. this will help out loads....do you mind if i e mail this to friends

No, don't!! It's a secret!

[Tha Answer]

I have been really focused in the gym for about a year and a half but I have excess fat in only the lower region of my chest, the mid and upper are perfectly formed. I do alot of decline work outs with dumbbells but I am not seeing the results i need to see. besides that and cable is there anything I could do to focus directly on the lower region of my chest???
From a man ( ----) that close to being extra sexy.

[Darkhorse]

Originally Posted by Tha Answer

I have been really focused in the gym for about a year and a half but I have excess fat in only the lower region of my chest, the mid and upper are perfectly formed. I do alot of decline work outs with dumbbells but I am not seeing the results i need to see. besides that and cable is there anything I could do to focus directly on the lower region of my chest???
From a man ( ----) that close to being extra sexy.

It is important to point out that there is no such thing as "spot reduction". When it comes to fat, no matter where it rears its ugly head, there's only two things that are effective. Diet and cardio. The exercises I posted above are geared more towards increasing muscle mass in certain places, not eliminating fat. By sticking with a clean diet and upping the cardio frequency, your trouble area will start to disappear. Another myth is if doing high reps with less weight can tone an area. The answer to that is no also. All you'll effectively do is loose muscle mass. My advice to you is to stick to the heavy weights, up your cardio, and change your diet. You can also try starting your workout with a decline press or dips. This way you can use heavier weight because you're fresh and by adding more mass to your lower pecs, it'll reduce the appearance of the excess fat. If you have trouble with planning your diet, check the nutrition section on clean bulking and post what your diet is as of right now and some members will help you.

[apocalypse]

Interesting, I have been looking for something like this for a long ass time.

[verbatimreturned]

great tips thanks for sharing. i also have arnolds book but i dont have good notes like that

[thejobedogg]

nice, this is gonna help me alot