Your muscles know only that they’re being worked, so if rowing a trap bar feels better than deadlifting it or pressing a landmine brings your shoulders relief—do it. Here’s how to use common equipment to hit your muscles in new ways, work around injuries, and cut minutes off your workouts.
How It Works: The trap bar is mainly used for trap-bar deadlifts, a form-friendlier substitute. But you can also use it to do bentover rows and shrugs with a palms-in grip—a stronger pulling position than palms down. A bench can support your chest for rows just as well as it can support your back for presses. And a lat pulldown station can easily give you the toughest glute and hamstring workout around. Finally, you know how to use a barbell with both hands, but lifting it with just one attacks your muscles—and your core—in a new way. Experiment with the routines that follow, and escape boring workouts forever.
Directions: Perform exercises marked with a letter (A, B, and sometimes C) in sequence. So you’ll do a set of A, then rest; B, then rest again; and C (if applicable), and rest, then repeat until all sets in the group are complete.
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Ian Spanier / M+F Magazine
Day 1
1A. Trap-bar Deadlift
Stand in the center and bend your hips back to grasp the bar’s handles with both hands. Keeping your lower back in its natural arch and your chest facing forward, drive through your heels to lift the bar off the floor and lock out your hips.
Sets: 4
Reps: 6
1B. Plank
Get into pushup position, then bend your elbows 90 degrees so your forearms lie flat on the floor. Brace your abs and keep your body straight as you hold the position for time.
Sets: 3
Reps: Hold for 30 sec.
2A. Trap-bar Bentover Row
Perform a trap-bar deadlift (described above). Then, keeping your lower back in its natural arch, bend your hips back until your torso is parallel with the floor. Brace your abs and row the handles to your ribs.
Sets: 4
Reps: 8
2B. Trap-bar Shrug
Perform a trap-bar deadlift (described at left), then shrug your shoulders as high as you can.
Sets: 4
Reps: 12
3A. Bulgarian Split Squat
Stand in front of a bench, holding a dumbbell in each hand. Rest one foot behind you on the bench. Bend your front knee and lower yourself until your rear knee nearly touches the floor.
Sets: 4
Reps: 5 (per leg)
3B. Dumbbell Bench Press
Lie back on a flat bench with a dumbbell in each hand. Press the weights directly over your chest.
Sets: 4
Reps: 15
3C. Side Plank
Lie on your right side and rest your weight on your right forearm. Stack your feet. Brace your abs and raise your hips off the floor.
Sets: 4
Reps: Hold for 30 sec. (per side)
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Edgar Artiga / M+F Magazine
Day 2
1A. Chin-up
Hang from a chinup bar with palms facing you. Squeeze your shoulder blades together and pull yourself up until your chin is over the bar.
Sets: 4
Reps: 5
1B. Hanging Raise
Hang from the bar, contract your abs, and explosively raise your feet overhead. Try to kick the bar. Return to the starting position with control.
Sets: 4
Reps: 8
2A. Incline Dumbbell Press
Set an adjustable bench to a 30- to 45-degree incline and lie back against it with a dumbbell in each hand. With palms facing forward, press the weights up from shoulder level.
Sets: 5
Reps: 10
2B. Incline Chest-supported Row
Use the same bench setup as above, but lie chest-down holding dumbbells. Squeeze your shoulder blades together and row the weights to your sides.
Sets: 5
Reps: 8
2C. Single-leg Glute Bridge
Lie on your back on the floor and bend your left knee to rest your foot flat on the floor. Extend your right leg. Brace your abs and drive your heel into the floor to raise your hips into the air. Don’t let your lower back overextend.
Sets: 3
Reps: 12 (per leg)
3A. Incline Dumbbell Curl
Use the same bench setup as with the incline dumbbell press. Keeping your upper arms at your sides, curl the weights.
Sets: 3
Reps: 8
3B. Incline Tate Press
Use the same bench setup as with the incline dumbbell press and press a pair of dumbbells directly overhead. Lower the weights close to your chest, flaring your elbows out, then press them back up.
Sets: 3
Reps: 8
3C. Walking Lunge
Hold a dumbbell in each hand and step forward with your left leg. Lower your body until your right knee nearly touches the floor and your left thigh is parallel with the floor. Step forward and repeat on the right leg.
Sets: 3
Reps: 15 (per leg)
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Edgar Artiga
Day 3
1A. Bench Press
Grasp the bar with hands just outside shoulder width and arch your back so there’s space between your lower back and the bench. Pull the bar out of the rack and lower it to your sternum, tucking your elbows about 45 degrees to your sides. When the bar touches your body, drive your feet hard into the floor and press the bar back up.
Sets: 5
Reps: 5
1B. Leg Lower
Lie back on a bench with your hips right at the end. Reach back and grasp the sides of the bench to secure yourself. Brace your abs and raise your legs until they’re perpendicular to the floor. Slowly lower your legs until you feel you can’t control the descent anymore, then raise them back to the starting position. Keep your lower back on the bench at all times.
Sets: 5
Reps: 10
2A. Lat Pulldown
Sit at a lat pulldown station and secure your knees under the pads. Grasp the bar with your hands outside shoulder width and squeeze your shoulder blades together as you pull the bar to your collarbone.
Sets: 4
Reps: 10
2B. Assisted Glute-ham Raise
Face away from the lat pulldown station and kneel on the seat, securing your ankles under the pads. Your knees should be bent 90 degrees. Have a partner stand near you for support. Slowly straighten your knees and lower yourself as far as you can. Keep your abs braced and hips extended. Squeeze your glutes and bend your knees to pull your body back up to vertical.
Sets: 4
Reps: 5
3A. Landmine Press
Use a landmine unit or wedge a barbell into a corner. Load the end of the bar closest to you with a plate and hold the same side of the bar at the very end with your right hand. Get into a staggered stance with your left foot in front. Press the bar overhead from shoulder level.
Sets: 3
Reps: 8 (per arm)
3B. Landmine Reverse Lunge
Use the same setup as the landmine press but step back into a lunge, lowering your rear knee until it nearly touches the floor.
Sets: 3
Reps: 8 (per leg)
3C. Landmine Row
Set up in a staggered stance and pick up the loaded end of the bar, on the same side as your back leg, with an overhand grip. Row it up to your side.
Sets: 3
Reps: 10 (per arm)
Pro Tip: Use the same weight for all of the landmine exercises.
