1. Banish the Barbells
Ditch barbell bench presses and choose pushup variations from the floor or on suspended straps to work your chest, core and upper back, or at least do dumbbell chest presses that can also be done one arm at a time.
2. Save Your Shoulders
Stop the shoulder raises for the small front, side, rear and everything in between muscles and do standing overhead presses with a barbell or dumbbells. We sit down too much during the rest of the day, don't do it at the gym too.
3. Perfect the Pullup
Pullup, not down, when trying to work the many muscles of the back. Can't get your chin to the bar? That's because you don't do them. Work on pulling your bodyweight in the vertical plane and you will eventually have less weight to pull. Don't forget to also do different rows in the horizontal plane to balance out your opposing chest work and maintain shoulder health.
When it comes to training the lower body, any squat variation or stepping movement like lunges, jumps and step ups works your legs in a more natural range of motion. This builds functional strength and mobility that you can use in real life and not on the leg press.
5. Cutdown on Curls
Get a grip, and think thicker bars for thicker biceps. Build your arms by holding on to heavy, thick barbells and dumbbells which work 50% of your arms muscle mass, the forearm flexors and extensors. Close grip chinups are also great for bigger guns and making the chinup bar thicker with a towel will also give you a killer handshake.
6. Always Think Abs
Cross off the crunches and work your abs the way they were meant to be used, for stability and support. Planks, stability and medicine balls, ab rollouts and any bodyweight movements give your abs all the strength and stimulus they need and you don't even have to lie down on the dirty gym floor to get it.
7. Cardio Confusion
The new rules of cardio are all about intensity, not duration. Which simply means by working a little harder, you burn more fat in less time. The ideas for interval training are endless. From strongman lifts to sprints or bodyweight circuits.
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