Dave Draper’s Musclebuilding Q&A

I have been reading about bench dips on the web, which can be contradictory. Some folks are honky dory about them and others warn off doing them, all of which leaves me guessing.

Bench dips are fun and effective, but aggravate the elbows when done regularly and with gusto. Hand placement is important (not too close nor too wide) and best for a pumpy movement when in a bind or on the road or backstage.

Heels up on a bench emphasize effect.

Let your instincts and commonsense and twinges of pain guide you. Elbows are some of man’s best friends.

Go… Godspeed… DD

I feel as though I am reading my own text before it is penned when gleaning your articles, the best yet to be written. I literally feel in your articles all the benefits that weight training has been providing all these years.

Thanks for the good word. The tough get tougher when time reaches out its heavy hand and rests it on our shoulder. At first a welcome challenge; shortly an ever-growing burden, bearing down and wearing down. We fight the good fight with all our might.

Go… God’s speed… Dave

I’ll be 55 in couple of months, work out 3x/wk for 70 to 90 minutes, weights and some cardio. I work out in the basement, free weights, resistance bands and speed bag, pretty Spartan, but the price is right. If I mix it up more for a little more variety and only do some of the exercises once a week is that enough to maintain strength, weight and (what little) definition I have?

Once you’ve invested the years in the iron and have developed ample muscle density and training savvy, you’ve earned reasonably wide training margins. This allows time to experiment and to enjoy and to learn and grow. Those 75 to 90 minutes three ties a week must not become long, dragged-out affairs void of wandering and experiencing and playing.

Trust yourself. If after a month of mixed and instinctive training you are pudgy and weak, we were wrong. Oops.

A good musclehead is never really wrong for very long.

Godspeed… Dave

I work out in my garage by myself, so I will not do squats and I don’t have a leg press. The deadlift seems to tax the entire upper leg and even seems to be identical to the squat, except in the squat goes down a little farther. Can deadlifts be a good quad builder?

Sure they are.

Try squatting with a pair of dumbbells for more complete thigh action… fuller range of motion, slightly different exertion and motion. The squat bends a little more at the hip joints than deadlifts do.

There are lunges, in place, to a platform or box, walking and done with light dumbbells.

Check out Dan John’s goblet squat, too.

Have fun… Godspeed… Dave

My work schedule has changed and I now have to go to the gym during lunch. It’s packed with people who don’t know their way around the gym, and my training partner can’t change his schedule. I’m banging my head against the squat rack. Should I try to train at home or something? Should I find a new training partner?

Stay focused, don’t scowl or glare, keep moving and have contingency workout plans if you’re unable to move according to routine. Beats rage or anger, which is stress — catabolic. Hard, I know. Practice patience and understanding.

I train when it is least crowded. Trained at 6am for 20 years… now early afternoon is perf.

I had great training partners in the past (life and times were different), but would not consider it today. Don’t want to be responsible to another personality or wait for him to arrive when I’m itching to go.

Gotta go, ya just gotta go… God’s speed… dd

I now do pushups with my feet across a foot stool about 18 inches off the floor. Am I wasting my time with this method of pushups? Also, you said to use dumbbells for inclines. Is that better than cable inclines? I have been doing inclines on the Bowflex. I have dumbbells and will convert if you say so.

Your pushups sound good to me. We improvise and make the best of every circumstance. Can you rig a padded 2×4 or pipe as a stable horizontal rail and rest your ankles on the unit? Better leverage advantage, more comfortable.

Include dumbbell training wherever you can in your workouts to compliment your Bowflex training, and for interest and to learn the movements. You can then make the cable vs dumbbell determination yourself.

Nothing beats weight training… Not an unpopular view.

Carry on the good work… experiment, observe, learn, grow… Godspeed… Dave

If you are just starting out on a routine and need to purchase a set of barbells, what would you need in numbers and weight of them?

I’d head for the nearest sporting goods store and look at their selection of adjustable barbells and dumbbells. Base your decision on seriousness of mission, your goals, your strength, space available and budget.

The more weight equipment you have, the less adjusting of weight required for different exercises. Garage sales and flea markets and newspaper ‘for sale’ ads are a good place to shop. — Oh, heck, online savvy shoppers would be on the local craigslist, or so I hear

You should have at least a long bar, two short bars and 150 pounds of weights. More is better, less will work. Build your body, health and gym from there.

dd

I’m quite overweight, but have somewhat of a background in training having worked out in high school and college. I’m trying to decide whether to join a gym or train at home. I can’t figure out exactly how to get myself started. At 45, I really can’t waste any more time.

I’d say you’re a candidate for a gym membership. You might look for a short-term membership (three months) and hire a personal trainer who is savvy and willing to get you started with the basics in three workout sessions. A handful of exercises plus sufficient cardio will do the trick.

Arrange to see him or her once a month for workout upgrade and some guidance. This is comfortable and allows you — better yet, requires you — to teach yourself by careful training attention and practice.

In three months you can determine if a gym works or a home gym is preferred.

I wrote a book called Your Body Revival that is straight talk to the overweight written in the style of my newsletter and will serve you well… nutrition and diet, training tips and hints, smart routines for home training and gym training, how to choose a gym, gym behavior for newbies and motivation and much more.

See our online bookstore… there are specials on slightly scuffed copies of Revival and Brother Iron Sister Steel. I think they’ll cause the effect you’re looking for.

Hesitate no longer.

Go and God’s speed… dd

I’m getting ready to re-start my training. Do you think I should join a gym or train at home?

Often motivation on the gym floor surrounded by hard trainees and sights and sounds still falls flat. It’s in our hearts and minds and not always at our fingertips.

Ideally, one would have a home gym and a gym membership too. One or two workouts a week at the Colosseum and two or three in the dungeon, according to moods and needs.

Carry on the good fight… God’s speed… Dave

I have no access to a gym but have a couple of dumbbells about 18-20lbs each. I’m visiting south east Asia — do you have any suggestions on how to muscle up? For food, it’s either white rice and veggies and meat. And do you think low carb is best year round or just to cut up?

Lots of rice and fish and fresh local vegetables and fruit and water… this is a great diet for musclebuilding and fat loss. Red meat and milk when you can get it.

Pushups, dips, chin ups, floor presses with legs overhead and supported by a wall with grip variations on all movements and any curls, presses and laterals the dumbbells provide.

Walk hills and stairs with loaded backpack… vary the carbs, low or high — according to training exertion, bodyweight needs, power goals, experiments — always protein high and EFAS…

Live, lift, learn and grow… Dave  <<<Godspeed>>>

Can one really train on their own to get true benefits? Is a gym with some guidance essential or is this just a lot of hype?  I would rather train at home, but I am wondering if I will really know what to do.

You can achieve strength and fitness goals at home or the gym. It’s a personal thing.

Training at home versus training at a gym: both have their advantages, their pros and cons. Best is a gym on the corner you can call home.

At home, it’s there whenever you want it, personal, private and no compromise. It’s all you, kid.

At the gym, more is there for exercise variation, convenience and experiencing and interacting. It’s you and them, kids.

I like training at a gym I can call home when it is least populated, always have… that is, after I had put in sufficient time at home to know myself and the iron and my needs.

Many IronOnline readers and correspondents train at home, always have and are unwilling to train anyplace else… that is, after they had put sufficient time in a gym to know themselves and the iron and their needs.

If you have a nearby gym that isn’t absolutely repelling, take a trial workout, or a week or a month. I’ll bet you’re a good detective and evaluator and calculator of reality: people, equipment, convenience, benefits versus time, money, comfort, sacrifice.

Oh, boy…

Godspeed… Dave

I am 76 years old, been working out with weights practically all my life.  I stopped working out with my weights about six months ago (too many back and shoulder injuries) and started doing  just pushups.  Every other day I do 3 sets of 80 pushups, 3 sets of 22 very close-grip pushups and two sets of dips.  Is this overdoing  it?  I really feel good when I do my pushups and want to do them every day–would I really be overdoing it if I did the pushups every day?  What do you think of  a workout like this?

Your ability to do pushups astounds me. I can’t get one good one for similar reasons you can’t weight lift happily any longer — things ain’t workin’ right.

I suggest you do them every other day for health and muscle/joint recovery. As dips and pushup are all pushing, improvise an exercise or exercises that incorporate pulling on the days between: lying on the floor and pulling up on a bar, some sensible dumbbell or barbell curling, tugging on a rope attached to a weighted sled.

Walking is a super exercise. Hit the hills and stairs for emphatic leg and cardio work.

In everything, be sensible and joyful and grateful…

Go… Godspeed,

dd

Dave, I did not grow up on the farm. What is a Farmers Walk? Please don’t tell me it’s squats with manure on your boots.

Reference note: pails of milk farmers carried from cows to distribution point across the yard…

Grab a pair of moderate weight dumbbells and walk for a reasonable distance. Build up to heavier weight for a reasonable distance. Clean boots recommended by all.

As an exercise twice a week, try this for starters: 2 walks with 35 pounders for 100 feet. From there determine your own weight and distance and number of sets.

Good stuff for the entire system… Go… Godspeed

dd

A friend of mine started doing a high volume push-up routine a couple months ago and I’m really shocked at how much muscle mass he has put on. In a few weeks I’m moving into my first apartment, can’t take any of my weight lifting equipment with me and I can’t afford a gym membership at the moment. I was thinking about doing a stand-alone push-up routine like my buddy. Do you see any problems with this idea?

Here’s an idea:

Include other exercises to work different muscles and add interest and fun to your musclebuilding: dips between chairs backs (like kitchen chairs back to back) or off the end of a coffee table with your feet up, kick into a handstand with stocking feet, heels to the wall and perform press-ups from the floor (tough).

Check out a doorway chinning apparatus and, of course, include your abdominal work (leg raises, hip crunches).

I highly recommend the TRX suspension unit: see fitnessanywhere.com… there’s more to the exercise unit than meets the eye.

Jog and sprint, eat, rest and live right… smile, be happy; it all helps.

Remember — we’re all different and respond differently to various exercise plans than others.

Go… Godspeed… Dave

I need a program that I can do at home with my barbell and no spotters. I also ask that since you are so pro tuna and water, is there any way to make it taste a bit better (lemon seasoning, anything) as I am not a tuna fan and I have a hundred pounds to lose.

Walk a lot and consistently, distance, uphill and up stairs with a deliberate training mentality — Great conditioner.

You can curl the bar, press the bar over head, clean the bar to your shoulders, deadlift the bar, perform bent-over rows with the bar, practice triceps extensions with the bar, do light squats and good mornings and partial walking lunges with the bar.

Mix tuna or chicken in salads as you like. Eat a high protein, medium fat (no grease) and low carb diet (wholesome carbs, no junk) often, yet in smaller portions, and spread those smaller portions throughout the day for energy and muscle repair and less chance of unwanted fat storage.

Your training facilities and understanding will expand as you peruse it and will it.

Read my favorite book for weight loss, Your Body Revival. This book written by me are the best straight talk and fun experience to gain every bit of knowledge and encouragement you need to go where you want to go. Freedom from obesity, and a place of toned and vital muscle.

This is not a sale, this is the best advice I can offer, the best advice anyone can offer.

GO… Godspeed… Dave Draper

Is there an effective substitute for Seated Cable Rows? My equipment is just barbells and dumbbells.

Bentover barbell rows and one-arm dumbbell rows (full range of motion) are super back builders… substitutes for the cables.

Throw in wide-grip and close-grip chins and you’re covered.

Go… Godspeed… dd

I’m having trouble getting my heavier dumbbells overhead for incline pressing. Basically what I need is an apparatus for storing the dumbbells in position at the right height to start the exercise. Are you aware of any such training support apparatus being available?

There are ways and techniques to thrust the dumbbells in place with the hips and good timing. This is something one learns in a tough gym setting. Takes practice and strength in grip, arms and back, all of which you are trying to build. And this — cleaning dumbbell into position for pressing– is one of the direct building processes.

I’ve seen such racks at gym conventions and they are heavy duty, for 100- to 175-pound range. One with handyman attributes and resourcefulness, wood, hammer and nails might be able improvise something in one’s garage. Where there’s a will there’s a way.

Another option, and probably what you’re after: power hooks.

Heft and heave… Dave

I have no access to a squat rack and currently do hack squats. I was wondering if there were any other exercises to help develop the outer thigh area for me.

Do deep squats holding dumbbells in your hands. Try walking lunges with a light bar you can place on your back freehand.

Try sissy squats. Stand four or more feet from a secure rigging, with an attached rope mid-waist, hold rope, lean backward and drop with knees bending… you’ll be going down as if falling on your back… control with hands, arms and rope… practice and discover resistance and movement groove.

These are some ideas of leg work when limited by available equipment. Thigh sweep often depends on inherent structure. Not all lifters achieve this quality, and in fact, from a movement perspective — and particularly an athletic perspective, striving for that is not even a good idea.

Don’t neglect hamstrings… curls and leg extensions if possible… lunges — lunges with rotation in the upper body. Try wind sprints.

Go… Godspeed… Dave

I own two olympic bars and a smith bar. They all have slightly different circumferences and I do not know if any of them is 1 1/16″ in diameter. Do you happen to know if the Top Squat will fit on the Smith Machine bar? If it fits the Smith, will I be able to twist the bar on and off into the locked position to start and end a lift by just changing the elevation of the handle? Does the Top Squat place comparable strain on the neck and lower back as the Safety Squat?

I’m not sure if the top squat will be a perfect fit on any of these, but you can out the inner tabs (provided for fit modification) with an exacto to accommodate a thicker bar, or layer duct tape or inner tubing at appropriate locations for thinner bars.

It’s used on the Smith Machine at my gym with effectiveness, with individuals attaching or removing it easily.

There’s no strain on neck once you are familiar with unit… you’ll understand the action and placement throughout your first attentive workout, and there’s no strain on the lower back except the resistance of the weight used.

Key point: Let the handles move along with you, down and back up — don’t try to keep the handles firmly in place a the top position.

I absolutely love it and have had my best workouts using it — good form, pain free and heavy. I think three have been returned due to not fitting the bars, and another couple that the buyers reported it worked as advertised, but wasn’t suitable for their particular issues.

Lots of raves, a few school coaches bought 4 to 6 to 24.

Godspeed… Dave

What is your feeling on elastic band training instead of free weights? I have an idea, but would like to hear from the horse’s mouth.

Not as good as iron, but better than nothing.

I’ve watched Laree use bands for a few exercises — there are some things in the rehab world especially where they work better than weights.

Very useful for people who travel a lot; stuff one in the luggage rather than skipping the workouts, in combination with pushups and bodyweight squats… quite useful.

I have most success using the bands attached to a doorway and doing giant sets non-stop, making up the workout as I go along, feeling the pump and burn and muscles working collectively — pulling, pushing, extending laterally, changing body positions and locations and changing hands every devised set of 8, 10, 12 reps.

You can reasonably simulate some 20 different dumbbell or cable movements. I’ve done this manner of training for 20 to 30 minutes virtually nonstop and was soaked and pumped and agreeably exhausted afterwards. No gym, just me, the bands and the hotel room and desire to blast it.

Think less, feel more… Be creative… go… Godspeed… Davy D