The Basics for weight lifting

Hey Guys,

I lifted this off the Dave Draper site. Some of you older iron heads may remember him as the "Blond Bomber". Anyway, for those of you who want to get back into lifting, "Dave from Japan" and I are always talking about the basic lifts. Well, these are the ones that involve the most muscle groups to perform. Isolated movements are just that, ones that concentrate on a single muscle or small group.

So why the basics? Because you will grow bigger, get better balalnce and lose more weight. You call into play so many more muscles to perfrom these lifts than by isolating say your biceps or front delts. When you do a military lift you employ the legs, triceps and a host of other muscles besides your delts.

I suggest using the basics for life but start at least for 3 to 6 months with just what is listed here. Take this list to your gym or trainer if you don't know some of these exercises. From this list build yourself a routine. Take 3 or 4 exercises per body part using 3 or 4 sets for that part and try to perform 10-12 reps. Example, take numbers 1, 2 and 13 for chest. 9, 10 and 14 for biceps etc.

I think Dave Draper really summed up what I've been trying to explain all along when I advocate a beginners routine. Most lifters will always use the basics in their routines such as squats, benches, curls, presses and a few others. These listed are life long exercises for lifters. So enjoy. You don't have to go crazy with this list! Pick a few while you're at the gym and you will make gains, that's a promise. The rest of this writing are Dave Draper's words......Carbonblob


Here's my list, The Top 20:

1) Bench press
2) Dumbbell press, flat and incline
3) Lateral raise, sidearm, front, bentover
4) Stiffarm dumbbell pullover
5) Cable crossover
6) Pulldowns
7) Seated lat rows
8) Bentover row, one- and two-arm
9) Standing barbell curl
10) Dumbbell curls, standing, seated alternate, incline
11) Triceps pulley pushdown
12) Triceps extensions, lying and overhead
13) Dips
14) Chins
15) Squats
16) Leg extension
17) Leg curl
18) Calf raise, seated and standing
19) Deadlifts
20) Midsection, crunches and leg raise

Of the Top 20, you can extract six or eight major moves on which to concentrate to avoid excessive instruction time and learning time and, therefore, devote more intense quality training time in the near-future workouts. This will assure greater muscle and strength response and a more solid training and musclebuilding experience.

Stick to the basic exercises that work the larger muscle groups completely and are responsible for fuller and more effective muscle growth. Exercise repetition is needed to gain the maximum an exercise has to offer. Changing exercises frequently for novelty is frivolous and defeats one's purpose to grow in training understanding and muscle shape and muscle might. Isolated secondary exercises are important and are most beneficial at intermediate and advanced stages of training. They come just in time... later.

Your last rep of each set should be 10 or 12 and feel just right; near-perfect form and concentrated muscular action as you recognize 'muscle burn'-the sting within the muscle being worked increasing with each successive rep, a good pain, which when endured allows greater muscle overload and subsequent increased muscle adaptation. Look for the 'pump,' the full muscular feeling that is evident in immediate muscle increase during exercise as blood and water fill the muscle cells under demand of systemic support.

Thanks for thinking of us and the back to basics review for a good foundation.  Always good advice.  I read arnold's autobiography and he use to go primative in the summer months as a young man and just do things like pull-ups, push-ups, situps and crunches, dips between two chairs, splitting wood, and hauling stuff by moving it manually (logs and buckets of water, etc.).  Pretty fascinating. Is not all about gadgets and the newest toys and supplements.  Good old weights, proper form, repitetion, dedication, and consistency.

I agree Joe, my gym is not loaded with gadgets. very simple equipment. I have a two station Pacific Fitness set up and then a dip/chin station, powerblock dumbbells and an adjustable bench. that's it. I don't have a lot of room and these devices are pretty much a free weight operation as I can get. I used to have all free weights but that took up a lot of room. the two station set up was as close to free weights as I could get and it obviously works for me. yeah, good form will probably get you further along than anything else. it's all about tension and tearing down muscle. glad you enjoyed the post. it's good to hear arnold approves too!

Hey Blob.... Good list...since I can get lost in the gym, I think I'll print this out and slide it in with my gym card.... I got a questions for you..... I'm a little disappointed. no matter how hard I hit my muscles, all I do is lean out....never any mass....strange, I wanted to be tiny as opposed to fat, now I wanna be larger...... Upper body mostly.....I get protein, I get fluids.....I don;t think I wanna stick a needle in me, so what are the options..... They have these testostorne creams....are they of any benifit???? Do they break you out??? Gawd knows, I don't need that....No need to be puffed up like something in the Macy's day parade....just a little fuller..... Oh great swamy...what do you think? Russ

patience my young apprentice! those muscles will come in time. as long as you are keeping protein at a gram per body pound then you ought to grow PROVIDED you are pushing yourself. If you are just going through the motions, that won't cut it. You don't need to train to failure but you do need to struggle for the last two reps. that tells you that you have maxed yourself out. so try to do in the 6 to 8 rep range with heavy weight. that will build mass.

i don't know about creams and all that stuff. i get results with just taking protein and training hard and serious when i hit the gym. so i'm glad you found the list useful. this will build a good foundation so stick with it for at least 3 months, lower your rep range and up your weights. when you can do 8 reps without struggling, then up the weight again. you won't get musclebound doing this, rather, it will give you size. when you'v reached a size you want, then just maintain it. You might be a hard gainer as well. if that's the case, you might have to up your caloric intake. you might be burning the hell out of yourself. also, cut out all your aerobics when lifting like this. if you truly want size, you have to eat more, lift more and not defete the purpose by burning off calories. if you follow this simple routine, size will come perhaps as soon as two weeks. now if you're like me, i'm a little crazy about eating too much and i still do my cardio. i'm afraid of being big yet i want size too. a dichotomy to say the least. so we need to find a common ground between size and body type we are striving for.

the fun thing is at this stage we can actually sculpt our bodies. it's a great feeling to see this accomplishment from our hard work. so ask your trainer if you are a hard gainer first off, then get a diet and workout plan that will offset that. then hit the weights hard. i promise you results! Carbonblob

I was recently talking about this very thing. I spent a good portion of my youth working out. Always had a propensity to build decent muscle. I still have a lot of mass dispite being fat enough to need RnY. Once in 1998, a trainer  was working with me. At that time I was on a cycling kick,  riding about 100 miles a week on a hybrid bike. I got down to 270 @ 6'1. The trainer measured me, shook his head and got the manager. They  mowed over my results and told me I had about 24% body fat and at that percentage meant I had 210 to 220 lbs of lean muscle on my skeletal frame and that was way out of the norm for a human male. Most males are in the 160 range. So he said I was very dense muscularly and with some training should look killer. The reality is, marriage problems, work stress and other stuff had me working out less, putting on weight and suffering from sleep apnea. Long story short, I have been concentrating on cardio and circuit training to get in overall condition. I am wondering around the gym fiddling with all these mass of machines 24 Hour Fitness has. I think I'll stick to the basics. I have heard for years," change your routine every 2 weeks because your muscles get used to it". I don't know if it's myth or fact. I am not wanting to become Arnold just be in shape again. Thanks for the good info. TBone

hey Tbone,

just looking at your pic in front of the amp you can see you have mass in your shoulders. you are going to be pleasently surprised to see results come back after years of lay off if you do your basics again. you obvioulsy have a huge head start on the rest of us. if this is what you looked like heavy then you will really see gains fast. I try to do as many basic with dumbbells as possible. i like the db for the balance and equal work on both sides. you can't cheat one side!

as for shocking muscles, i'm out on that one too. BUT it's one of the reasons I do four exercises with 3 sets instead of 3 exercises with four sets. i believe the more angles you hit, the better the development. of course i've been at it a while like you so i can isolate and mix it up. of course any workout is going to get boring unless you play with it. so keep mixing it up. let's face it. you're not going to trick your muscles, they don't think, they only respond. so they don't get used to something they get used to the same weight and stay put. so the idea is to keep stressing them, tearing them down and letting them rest for growth. if you achieve this routine for them, they grow. good luck and let me know what type of work you decided on. keep us posted on your progress as well.....carbonblob

Hey dude, Check you e-mail, when you have time...... russ

will do, going to check now!

Since we're talking weights, please allow me to jump in. I'm about 7 months post-op and have about another 25-35 pounds to lose to reach my goal weight of about 250-260lbs. My son is 13 and he wants to start lifting weights as well. So, I'm thinking about getting some free weights for the house. My thing is, I dont want to slow down my weight loss by lifting weights as I strive to reach my goal. However, I really want to start building up my chest and abdominal area. Those are the biggest areas I want to see improvement. I have already started doing crunches and push-ups. However, I'm thinking weights may help with the process. But I just dont want to slow down my weight loss. All of that being said, are there any recommendations for someone in my situation? I already have a bench that dates back to my High School footbal playing days. So, I'm thinking I can grab a bar and some weights and start doing some bench pressing. However, I want the weights to also serve of some benfit to my son. So, any recommendations on the type of weights I should get, the types of exercise at this point in the game, and perhaps an adjustment to my diet? I already do some cardio as well. I walk/jog and I also ride my bike on a regular basis. Talk to me. Big Syd