Tips from the Masters: The Most Important Leg Exercises: Dead Lifts (Part 4 of 4)

Knowing how to perform dead lifts safely, in alignment, and using the correct muscles will mean the difference between awesome leg strength and painful back injury. Read more...

RELATED ARTICLES

• Tips from the Masters: The Most Important Leg Exercises: Lunges (Part 3 of 4)
• Tips from the Masters: The Most Important Leg Exercises: Squats (Part 2 of 4)
• Tips from the Masters: The Most Important Leg Exercises (Part 1 of 4)

WORKOUTS TOPICS

• Cardio Training

  Your body is only as healthy as your heart. Whether your training for a marathon or running your first mile, find the cardio fitness advice you need.

• Injury & Prevention

  It happens to everyone—you shoot, you score, you wind up flat on your back. Learn how to treat injury—and how to prevent it.

• Sports & Activities

  Fun fact: three out of five gay guys actually love sports. From individual to team sports, read about the games and the athletes who are playing them.

• Strength Training

  Stronger muscles are key to a healthy body. Plus, they look hot too. Get the latest muscle-building advice from today's experts.

MORE WORKOUTS ARTICLES

• Tips from the Masters: The Proper Position for the Plank Exercise

  The plank—seems easy enough to get it right, but many people do it entirely wrong. In this video, RealJock super trainer Billy Polson walks through the ideal body position for the plank exercise in order to focus on core strength and ideal posture positio

• Video Tips from the Masters: Proper Chest Development Exercises and Form

  Believe it or not, the key to proper chest development starts in your back with shoulder retraction and then shoulder stabilization.

• Tips from the Masters: Tempo Changes for Exercise Program Tweaks

  In this video, RealJock super trainer Billy Polson talks about the benefits of changing the tempo of your exercises and how this can help you gain strength and muscle mass, while also increasing your functional strength in both sports and daily living.

• Strength in Recovery: Variations on the Ripptoes Workout

  James Parker introduces a simple, effective and variable workout. Build muscle, work your recoveries.

• How Much Is Too Much? Nate Miyaki on Training Frequency

  Nate Miyaki's body composition training is all about getting you looking good—but that doesn't mean over-training.

• Nate Miyaki Intros 10 Principles of Body Composition Training

  New RJ contributor Nate Miyaki introduces a fitness program with a single goal: looking good. And yeah, that's him in the pic.

• Bilateral Trunk Hip Extensions

  Too many of us only work the front of the body, leading to imbalances and injury. Here, the entire back complex has its day.

• Standing Rope Overhead Skull-crushers

  Cable skull-crushers work the triceps through the entire range of motion.

• Dual Cable Horizontal Chest Press with Staggered Stance

  A staggered stance makes your core the base for this chest press, which uses two single cables to force you to even out the two sides of your chest.

• Single-Arm Inverted Pull-ups on Smith Machine or Squat Rack

  Do a one-armed, angled pull-up to develop back strength. Make sure to hold on with an overhand grip for maximum back work.

• Single Cable Bicep Curls

  The most essential bicep exercise is the curl; here the cable machine adds an additional degree of dynamic resistance for both bicep and core.

• Single Cable Side Rocker Lunges with Shoulder Press

  Switch a lunge from side to side as you twist through a shoulder press to develop legs, shoulders and—bonus!—core.

• Complete Strength 12-Week Workout: Rest Period Overview

  Learn about the role of rest in Billy Polson's Complete Strength 12-week workout program.

• Complete Strength 12-Week Workout: Sequence Overview

  An explanation of the sequence field in Billy Polson's Complete Strength Workout Program.

• Take Your Breath Away: The Facts About Exercise-Induced Asthma

  It is possible to experience asthmatic symptoms from intense exercise—even from sex. Here's what to do if it happens to you.

• Complete Strength 12-Week Workout: Tempo Overview

  Learn about exercise tempos for Billy Polson's Complete Strength workout program.

• Complete Strength 12-Week Workout Program: Intensity Overview

  Find out how to work your intensities in Billy Polson's Complete Strength workout program.

• Brace Yourself: More Exercises from Billy Polson's Upcoming Workout Program

  Billy Polson's new workout program launches in just a couple of weeks. Time to start practicing with a few of the new exercises.

• Rocker Lunges with Single-Cable Vertical Pull

  Many planes of motion; one great full-body exercise.

• Upper Body Only Cobra Holds

  Stretch and strengthen your back with a single exercise.

• Rocker Single-Cable Shoulder Press

  A dynamic exercise that combines a side lunge with an overhead cable press. Mimics the motion of fielding and throwing—great for athletes or those who want an athletic body.

• Feet on Stability Ball Push-up to Pike-up

  Wobble on a stability ball for a push-up to pike-up until you find your balance—and get a seriously strong core.

• Functional Exercises From Billy Polson's New Workout Program

  Billy Polson is putting together a new 12-week workout for us, and we're previewing some of the exercises. Today's installment: functional and full-body.

• Rocker Side Lunges and Cable Woodchops

  Full-body exercise using a cable machine, a lunge, and a chopping motion. It's why lumberjacks have great bodies.

• Split Squat Dumbbell Curl Press

  An exercise to functionally train legs, shoulders, biceps—all at once.

• Barbell Sumo Deadlifts

  A safe but powerful exercise to develop strength in back and legs.

• A Trainer's View: Moderation and Adaptation in Personal Fitness Programs

  This time of year means a lot of people looking for new workouts, new fitness equipment, new goals. For trainer James Parker, moderation is the key.

• Exercises From Billy Polson's Upcoming RJ Workout Program

  Next month, we'll premier a new 12-week workout from Strong and Lean creator Billy Polson. Here are a few exercises from it to get you in the mood.

• Guerrilla Fitness: Go Outside and Get Creative

  Fall weather calls for getting out of the gym to workout. Here are trainer James Parker's ideas for getting creative in the great outdoors.

• A Step in the Right Direction: An Introduction to Barefoot Training

  Barefoot running is popular, but is it safe, and does it help? Devin Wicks explains the principles of training barefoot, and offers some tips on how not to get hurt doing it.

• Understanding Bigorexia: When Fitness Goes too Far

  Muscle dysmorphia, or "bigorexia" is bodybuilding to excess. What is it and why does it happen? And how big is too big?

• Last Chance to Sign Up for the First Week of the Diakadi San Francisco Bootcamps

  Diakadi's SF bootcamps start this weekend. The weather is perfect, the guys are awesome, and the workout is killer. Join us!

• The Bomber, Pt. 3: Strength Workout for Back and Triceps

  Mixed martial arts expert James Parker completes his brutal Bomber workout with a back/tris blast. Do the whole program, or change up your usual routine.

• Not Just A Pretty Face: How to Find Your Ideal Trainer

  Personal trainer and mixed martial arts coach James Parker gives tips on finding a trainer who's more than just smooth talk and ripped abs.

• Interview with Gay Games Athlete Chris Farjado

  Chris Fajardo has been playing soccer all his life. Now he's on his way to the Gay Games. Get ready to cheer him on.

• The Bomber, Pt. 2: Strength Workout for Legs and Abs

  Here's the second instalment of The Bomber, a full-body strength workout. This week: legs and abs. Go ahead; get bombed.

• Interview with Gay Games Athlete Reggie Snowden

  We're interviewing athletes heading for next month's Gay Games. Today: track and field competitor Reggie Snowden tells us what the Games mean to him.

• The Bomber, Part 1: Muscle-Building Workout for Chest, Biceps and Shoulders

  This is a full body workout in three parts. Today: chest, bis, shoulders. Get ready to be bombed.

• Three Simple Changes for Breaking Through Your Plateau

  To get fitness gains you need to make changes to your routine. But why rock the boat? Three little fixes can go a long way.

• What's Trending in Fitness: Three New Ways to Shake it Up

  If you feel stuck in a rut, you might try these workouts made popular in recent years. They'll get your body's attention.

• Is a Periodized Workout Too Weird for Your Gym?

  A periodized workout will surprise your muscles, earning you fitness gains. And, possibly, stares. Is your gym ready?

• Age, Pain and Training: When Is It Time to Give It Up?

  Many of us are training hard later in life. How do you reach your goals and accept your limits? Advice from a pro fighter.

• The Athlete's Workout: Stay Fit By Getting (Mostly) Out of the Gym

  Supertrainer Mike Clausen offers a simple gym workout designed to keep you fit overall while you do some real sports on the slopes, sand or field.

• Weird Workouts: Treadmill Variations for Fitness Gains

  Feeling in a rut at the gym? Maybe it's time to go weird. Here's a start: things to do on a treadmill that will get you strength—and stares.

• Tackling the True Sources of Low Back Pain

  Most people suffer low back pain at some point. But the issue may not be in your back at all. Time to address the real problems.

• The Working Man's Workout: A Four-Day Plan for Full Fitness

  Who's got time for the gym? You do, if you go armed with this fast workout: 160 minutes over four days. In and out!

• Breaking Up Is Hard To Do—But Is It Time To Dump Your Gym?

  Maybe you should celebrate Valentine's Day by breaking up—with your gym. Has the time come to move on?

• Deceptively Simple: Three Exercises in One Circuit for Strength and Endurance

  Martial arts expert James Parker gives us a simple circuit made of complex exercises. Hit your whole body in three steps.

• Set it Straight: How to Identify and Address Posture Problems

  Posture is more than carrying a book on your head—it's the basis of strength. Here's how to test yours, and fix what you find.

• A Fighter's Top Five Training Principles

  Our mixed martial arts expert James Parker gives us five principles that guide good training—whether you're a fighter or not.

• Fighting Fit: Site Specific Functional Training for Back and Shoulders

  James Parker has a new martial arts-based workout for back & shoulders. Get the strength and power a fighter uses to strike.

• On the Road: Mike Clausen's Anywhere, Anytime Vacation Workout

  Mike Clausen went to Puerto Vallarta and put vacationing guys through their paces. Take one of those workouts with you over the holidays.

• View from the Clinch: Fighter Eddie Bravo's Fitness Wisdom

  Our mixed martial arts expert James Parker interviewed fighter Eddie Bravo, and got his advice on how to train to win in the clinch.

• Get to the Heart of the Matter: How to Use a Heart Rate Monitor

  Many own one, but few make the best use of it: a heart rate monitor. Devin Wicks demystifies this useful fitness tool.

• Take the Next Step: How to Create an Effective Exercise Progression

  Your workouts need to keep moving forward; but how do you know what to do next? Billy Polson has the secret to creating fitness progress.

• Site-Specific Fighter Training for Hips and Core, Part 2

  Our series on site-specific martial arts exercises continues. This week, four ways to get your hips shaking—from fatigue.

• Fighter Training: Site-Specific Functional Workout for Hips and Core

  Any workout routine leaves out key body parts. Martial arts offer a solution: site specific training, starting with hips and core.

• Master Seven Primal Movement Patterns For Full-Body Strength

  Want to stay active for life? Then stop thinking weight and reps, and start thinking about primal movement patterns. Billy Polson explains.

• The Skimboarder's Workout: Develop Explosive Power For Fast-Paced Activities

  Mike Clausen found out on vacation to train explosive power before hitting the surf. Learn from his experience, and try his workout.

• The Beach Vacation Workout: Use Sea and Sand to Pump Up Your Travels

  Got vacation plans but don't want to pack on the pounds? Try our beach workout for a fit way to enjoy the sand, sun and surf.

• The Five Forgotten Ones: How to Hit the Muscles Most Guys Neglect

  Devin Wicks is keeping us honest with quick fixes for the five muscles most of us conveniently forget to work.

• Two Balls, One Goal: Use a BOSU or Ball for Stability Training

  From our mixed martial arts trainer James Parker we've got a stability workout designed to toughen up your weak spots.

• Go Hard or Go Home: Full-Body Workout From the RJ/Diakadi Beyond Bootcamp Series

  Print out one of the innovative workouts from our June outdoor series. You should definitely try this at home.

• Do A Leg-Busting Workout from the RJ/Diakadi Beyond Bootcamp Series

  Try a workout from the RJ/Diakadi Beyond Bootcamp series. The focus of this day's workout: legs. Prepare to get sore—and strong.

• The Asstastic Workout: Get Your Butt Ready For Your Swimsuit

  Is your rear-end ready for beach viewing? Here's an asstastic twice weekly workout to give you that bathing suit butt.

• Core Galore: How To Incorporate Core Work Into Any Exercise

  Want to save time in the gym, build ab strength, and prevent injury? Learn how you can add core work to every exercise.

• Take Home the Program From Our First RJ/Diakadi Workout Clinic

  Last week, RJ and Diakadi hosted a workout clinic to help guys find out where they need to focus. Now you can do that workout at home.

• Strike A Pose: Stand Tall With Daily Posture Exercises

  Mom said to stand up straight, and she was right. Good posture is key to good fitness. Here's how to get it, without a book on your head.

• Weekend Warrior: A Report (And Workout) From a Martial Arts Retreat

  RJ writer James Parker reports from a gathering with world famous fighters, and gives us a killer shadow-boxing workout.

• Smart Follow-ups to RealJock's 12-Week Workouts

  So you've finished a workout program—maybe even the RJ Strong and Lean. Billy Polson tells us what to do next.

• RealJock/Diakadi March 2009 San Francisco Bootcamps, Week 3

  Great workout in a beautiful location. Print out week three of our SF bootcamps and get a touch of spring fever.

• Bootcamp, Baby: Do the RJ/Diakadi SF Bootcamp Workout, Week 2

  Do the workout from last weekend's super San Francisco bootcamp, and sign up to join us for the next one!

• Spring Fling: Workout #1 From Our March 2009 RJ/Diakadi SF Bootcamps

  It's spring, and time for some outdoor frolicking! So do a RJ/Diakadi bootcamp workout, and sign up to join us next week.

• Tabata Training: Aerobic Meets Anaerobic In a Single, Brutal Workout

  If you're looking for a new program, try Tabata: it's the most brutal interval work we've tried.

• Last But Not Least: RealJock/Diakadi January San Francisco Bootcamps Week 4

  It's the last of the four current RJ/Diakadi SF Bootcamps. Relive the workout, and look forward to the next series!

• The High Intensity Workout: Get Lean In Under An Hour

  Want to make a change and get lean—in 30 minutes per day? Here's a high-intensity workout to get you going.

• Perfect Match: How to Hire the Right Personal Trainer

  A personal trainer can help you meet your goals—if you find the right one. Here's how, courtesy of fitness director Devin Wicks.

• RealJock/Diakadi January San Francisco Bootcamps Week 3

  Our RJ/Diakadi bootcamps went into week 3 with light rain and a brutal butt-kicking. Do the workout at home, and join us next week.

• Go Hard Core: Week 2 of the RJ/Diakadi San Francisco Bootcamps

  Take your show on the road with week 2 of the RJ/Diakadi SF Bootcamps. Try this workout at home—and join the next one in person!

• One Week Down: Weight Loss Challenge Strength Training Day 3

  Congratulations! With this routine, week one of the WLC workouts is complete.

• Weight Loss Challenge Strength Training Day 2

  Here's the second strength training workout for our Weight Loss Challenge guys—and anyone else who wants a Diakadi butt-kicking.

• Outside and Over the Top: RJ/Diakadi SF Bootcamp Workout #1

  See the guys in the photo? Yeah, they kicked our butts last Saturday, bootcamp-style. Try the workout yourself, if you dare.

• Welcome to Resistance Work for the Weight Loss Challenge

  It's time to get down to business: Day 1 of the Weight Loss Challenge resistance training workouts, courtesy of Billy Polson.

• Take the Core Strength Test With Our Weight Loss Challenge Guys

  For day two of the Weight Loss Challenge, Billy Polson wants all of you to test your ab strength and tackle your weak spots.

• Build A Budget Gym: How You Can Workout At Home For Under $150

  No time or money for the gym right now? No worries. For almost no money, you can build a gym at home—and workout in private.

• Push-up Possibilities: Change up a Favorite for Big Gains

  The push-up is endlessly versatile—and super-trainer Mike Clausen has some versions to get you seriously big and strong.

• Harder Core: The Med Ball Core Workout

  For a total-body, core-busting program you can do anywhere, all you need is a medicine ball—and a custom workout from Mike Clausen.

• Fighter Fitness: Get Site-Specific with Your Strength Training

  Learn a lesson from martial arts—train the little muscles with the big ones. Here's a site-specific workout to show you how.

• Get Antagonistic: Work Opposing Muscles For Better Balance

  Are you working your muscles in a truly balanced way? If not, you're at risk for injury. Get balanced through opposition.

• New Measures: Change Your Tracks, and Track Your Changes

  Fall is a season of change—for the trees and you. Billy Polson tells you how to change up your workouts, while keeping track of your changes.

• Tis the Season: Workout Tips for Colder Weather

  You love your outdoor workouts, but not when it's snowing and blowing. Well, we've got a few ways to keep sweating as it gets colder.

• Diakadi Fitness Tips: Perfect Basics—Improve Your Lunges

  Lunges are one of the best lower-body and core exercises you can do—so isn't it worth doing them right? Make the best of your basics.

• Fighting Cardio: Get Lean With Bag Boxing

  Want the strong, lean body of a mixed martial artist? Then grab a boxing bag, and add this kick-butt cardio interval program to your workout regimen.

• Try the San Francisco Bootcamp Workout—Week 4 of 4

  It's all over—the fun, sweat, and grass-stains of the RealJock/DIAKADI Body SF Bootcamps. Do them at home—print the last in the series!

• Get Big and Cut: The Five-by-Five Workout

  Want to put on bulk even as you get cut? Go to a juiced-up version of an old standby: the five-by-five workout. Learn the drill.

• Do the San Francisco Bootcamp Workout—Week 3 of 4

  Ready to sweat in public? We've got Week 3 of our San Francisco Bootcamp workout. Print this and try this at home—but prepare to suffer.

• Diakadi Fitness Tips: Set a Realistic Timeline for Body Transformations

  Changing your body takes both time and commitment. The first step to transforming your body: Set a realistic timeline.

• Try the San Francisco Bootcamp Workout—Week 2 of 4

  Last Saturday, 32 people showed up to Golden Gate Park for the second week of our SF bootcamps. Want the workout? Get it here.

• Try the San Francisco Bootcamp Workout—Week 1 of 4

  Last Saturday 25 of us met up in SF for our first local bootcamp workout with DIAKADI Body. See the workout we did. So tough!

• Diakadi Fitness Tips: Six Ways to Bust Out of Your Rut

  Stuck in a workout rut? You don't need to be. Follow strength specialist Mike Clausen's methods for getting out of a rut fast.

• Train Like a Fighter—Without Being One

  Want the cut muscles and lean hard abs of a fighter—without all the bleeding? Then get started with our one-hour fighter program.

• Big Arms—It's Not Just in the Genes, Gents

  Stop blaming your skinny arms on your genes. Follow these four tried and true strategies to build your biceps and triceps.

• Train with RealJock and Diakadi Body at Our San Francisco Bootcamps

  Do you live in or near San Francisco? Then join our trainers for a series of Saturday morning bootcamp workouts starting September 13!

• Diakadi Fitness Tips: Six Exercises for Forearm Strength and Size

  If you type all day at work, then chances are you have tight, weak wrists. Rebuild forearm strength and size with these six exercises.

• Diakadi Fitness Tips: Why the Cable Machine Is King

  Get functional! Find out why cable machines rock and which of the cable machines are best, and check out 21 cable exercise demos.

• Diakadi Fitness Tips: Five Smart Strategies for Muscle Recovery

  Recovery is as essential to building your body as lifting the weights in the first place. Rejuvenate right with these five smart strategies.

• Seven Strategies for Building Balance and Coordination

  Men tend to focus too much on how the body looks, rather than how it works. Learn 7 key ways to train your balance and coordination.

• No Gym Required: The Outdoor Circuit Workout

  Want to keep those muscles on your vacation without stepping inside a gym? Try this outdoor workout from super-trainer Mike Clausen.

• Diakadi Fitness Tips: Seven Deadly Gym Sins (and What to Do Instead)

  Super-trainer Billy Polson knows what's best for you—and what's not. These common gym sins make him cringe. Learn the better way.

• Small Changes, Big Results: Change Your Grips and Stances

  Did you know that simply changing how you hold the bar or turn your toes can radically improve your workout results? Learn all about grips and stances.

• Diakadi Fitness Tips: Get the Abs You Want—and the Core Strength You Need

  You want great abs... but you need core strength. Are the two mutually exclusive? Heck no. Learn from master trainer Mike Clausen.

• Diakadi Fitness Tips: Do It Like a Super Trainer! Billy's Top 12

  Don't miss this: It's super-trainer Billy Polson's list of the top 12 things you should be doing at the gym... but probably aren't.

• Train, Learn—and Have a Great All-Gay Vacation—with RealJock's Trainers at Club Atlantis Vallarta

  Want to get in great shape while vacationing at an all-gay resort in beautiful Puerto Vallarta? Then join our trainers at Club Atlantis Vallarta!

• Diakadi Fitness Tips: Six Steps to Build the Arms You Want

  Skinny arms—not exactly the look most gay guys are going for. Time to mix it up! Follow these six steps to build bigger, stronger arms.

• Diakadi Fitness Tips: How Much Cardio Should You Do?

  It's a common conundrum: Just how much cardio should you do? The short answer: It depends. Super trainer Billy Polson breaks it down.

• Diakadi Fitness Tips: Step Away From That Leg Machine!

  Leg machines are easy, but that doesn't mean you should use them. Learn the worst of the leg machines—and great exercises you can do instead.

• Which RealJock 12-Week Workout Is Right for You?

  Choose one of our 12-Week Workout Programs to get you in the best shape of your life.

• Build Your Testosterone Naturally: Part 1 of 2—Exercise

  Testosterone levels start to drop in men as we age, leading to muscle loss and more. Learn how to boost your hormones naturally.

• Diakadi Fitness Tips: Five Big Gym No-Nos (and What to Do Instead)

  Lifting too much weight. Reading while doing cardio. Learn five big gym no-nos you might be doing, plus what you should be doing instead.

• Diakadi Fitness Tips: Five Simple Strategies to Build Your Chest

  Want to build a bigger, stronger chest? Of course you do. Follow these five simple strategies from Diakadi fitness expert Mike Clausen.

• Talent Scout: How to Find a Great Personal Trainer

  A great personal trainer can do wonders for your physique—and overall health. Expert Billy Polson shows you how to track down the best.

• After-Burn: Time Your Strength and Cardio Training for Maximum Benefit

  Which should you do first, cardio or strength training? That depends: Do you want to build mass or get leaner? Learn how to time the two.

• Spice Up Your Set Life

  Have your workouts lost their sizzle? Learn how compound sets, pyramids, and triple sets can put the moans and groans (of very hard work) back into your training.

• Gay Athletes on Campus: Progress and Prejudice in College Sports

  Homophobia is deeply rooted in college sports culture. So what have gay rights groups, the NCAA, and activists been doing about it? RealJock asked the experts.

• Ode to Cross Country Skiing: Cold Temps, Hot Workouts

  Cross country skiing has been hailed as the best full-body cardio workout. Alaska native Clark Harding writes about the sport, training in the cold, and indoor alternatives.

• RealJock Photo Gallery: Add Captions and Comments

  A picture may be worth a thousand words, but a few words can say a lot about a picture. Learn more about three new RealJock photo features: Gallery, Captions, and Comments.

• Ask Billy Bean: Should a Rookie Pro Football Player Come Out?

  Welcome to a new edition of "Ask Billy Bean" with sports and life advice from former Major League Baseball player Billy Bean. This month: Should a rookie NFL player come out?

• The RealJock.com Bootcamp Resort Contest and Training Week—Contest Closes January 31

  Train on the beach! Atlantis Events' Cancun resort week is sold out, but you can still win a free trip there—this is the last call for RealJock Bootcamp Resort Contest entries.

• Swim Better, Swim Faster: Lessons from the Gay Army Tri Swim Coach

  RealJock.com is pleased to present this first in a series of articles on swimming from Louis Tharp, author and out gay swim coach of the U.S. Army's West Point triathlon team.

• Speed Tube Shoulder Presses

  Tube shoulder presses offer a good resistance-focused alternative to standard dumbbell shoulder presses.

• Speed Dumbbell Front Raises

  In this case, an old standard is a good thing. Dumbbell front raises isolate and work the front of the shoulder.

• Speed Tube-Assisted Lateral Raises

  Use dumbbells and a tube simultaneously to up the intensity of classic lateral raises. The addition of the tube adds resistance at the top of your motion, as you reach full flexion.

• Cable Reverse Raises

  Use a dual-cable machine (or dumbbells in a pinch) to target your deltoids, focusing on the rear heads.

• Medicine Ball Scoop Tosses

  A medicine ball scoop toss engages your core to stabilize against a strong throwing motion, which itself targets your shoulders. Be sure to throw from your shoulders and not your back.

• Barbell Clean and Presses

  The barbell clean and press is an excellent but advanced shoulder exercise, so start with only a bar and no weights until you have mastered the motion.

• Dumbbell Butterfly Swim Stroke

  The butterfly swimming stroke, as any swimmer knows, works your shoulders through a full circular motion. Here you replace the resistance of the water with dumbbells.

• Single Cable Rows

  Isolate the lats and rhomboids of your back one side at a time with standing single cable rows.

• Speed Tube Curls

  Do curls with tubes for continuous biceps-focused resistance as you lift and lower. Change your foot position to increase the intensity.

• Tube-Assisted Dumbbell Curls

  Turn your body into a cable machine by doing curls with dumbbells and a tube simultaneously.

• Medicine Ball Pull-Overs

  Pull-overs are excellent for strengthening the lat and serratus muscles around your shoulder blades.

• Wide Push-ups

  Widen your hand placement to redirect the push-up's focusing to your lats, while still working your core and chest.

• Medicine Ball Soccer Throws

  Work toward a World Cup physique by throwing a medicine ball toward the ground, then catching it and bringing it overhead.

• One-Leg-Spot Pull-ups

  Use the Smith machine to do a modified pull-up, where you keep one foot on the floor to “spot” you. This allows you to focus on form.

• Devil's Triceps Press-Downs

  For this demonic variation of the cable triceps bar press-down, you'll do six mini-sets of six reps with only six seconds rest in between each mini-set.

• Super Chests

  Here’s a chest-buster: punches to flys to plyometric push-ups. Though these are different movements, they share a common theme—developing power.

• Tube Flys

  Tube flys provide maximum and continuous resistance on your chest as you work to push out in a fly and then resist the pull of the tubes on the return.

• Plyometric Clap Push-ups

  Plyometric clap push-ups are a great exercise for training power through your upper body. Enjoy that hang time in the air—you'll earn it.

• Medicine Ball Chest Passes (2 to 1)

  The medicine ball chest pass allows for dynamic chest work, as you push the ball away in a toss and control its momentum on the catching phase.

• Jump Triceps Bench Dips

  Bench dips are an ideal triceps isolating exercise, using the weight of your body against the muscle. Here you'll add a “jump” aspect for an advanced variation.

• Gay Athletes Study—Participants Needed

  RealJock.com needs your help finding participants for a study of gay athletes. If you are gay and play Division I college sports (or know someone gay who does), please participate.

• Dumbbell 45-Degree Angle Raises

  Use light weights to warm up and strengthen the muscles of the shoulder complex.

• Twisting Dumbbell Incline Chest Presses

  These incline chest presses with a twist work the muscles of your chest and upper back.

• Ask Billy Bean: Building Functional Arm Strength

  Welcome to a new edition of "Ask Billy Bean" with advice from former Major League Baseball player Billy Bean. This month: building functional arm strength to improve performance.

• Single-Arm Dumbbell Presses

  This exercise is great for strengthening the entire shoulder complex, but it's intense, so you should only do it with a small amount of weight you can control.

• Dumbbell Lateral to Front Raises

  Combine exercises to target more of the muscles of the shoulder complex—in this case, the front and middle deltoid muscles.

• Barbell Step-ups

  Work your legs on uneven ground—the barbell step-up is a simple and effective leg exercise that strengthens leg muscles while building balance and leg-muscle control.

• Cable Squats

  Cable squats aren't just a great leg exercise; they also activate your core, providing a more full-body workout.

• Medicine Ball Chop Squats

  Medicine ball chop squats are a great warm-up movement to get your blood going and wake up the muscles in your legs, as well as your shoulders and core.

• Cable Russian Twists

  Strengthen your core with a series of diagonal and horizontal chops, all resisted by a cable or tubes.

• Wide Reverse-Grip Pull-Downs

  For this variation of the classic lat pull-down, you’ll use a reverse grip and hold at the moment of full flexion.

• Stability Ball Elbow Rollouts

  Stability ball elbow rollouts are not only about how far you can move the stability ball; instead, they test your ability to control that rolling motion, and reverse its direction, without falling off the ball or grabbing with your legs.

• Weighted Stability Ball Crunches

  Doing crunches on the stability ball works your abs with a wider range of motion; adding a weight plate behind your head increases intensity across that wider range of motion.

• Single-Arm Rope Press-Downs

  Single-arm rope press-downs isolate and work the triceps muscles. The trick is to use proper form so you don't pass the resistance to your shoulders and biceps.

• Dumbbell Skull Crushers

  Dumbbell skull crushers work the triceps by moving the lower arm—but you also have to stabilize your upper arm, making the exercise more of a challenge.

• Seated Cable Rows

  Work your lats and rhomboids with seated cable rows, plus get the added benefit of posture training.

• Double Dumbbell Rows

  Double dumbbell rows work the major muscles in your back.

• Flat-Leg Medicine Ball Sit-up

  Medicine ball sit-ups ensure your abs work doubly hard, as they lift not just the weight of your upper body but the weight of the ball.

• Rope Hammer Curls

  Two-handed rope hammer curls are a great way to target the brachialis portion of the biceps.

• Single-Leg Cable Curls

  A cable curl is an excellent resistance exercise for targeted bicep work; a cable curl on one leg is a core exercise you won’t soon forget.

• Single-Leg Plate Curls

  Standing on one leg while you curl a weight plate doesn't just work your biceps; it also creates a simultaneous stability challenge for your core.

• Preacher Curls

  The preacher bench stabilizes your upper arm to give you maximum leverage for a correct bicep curl.

• One-Arm Medicine Ball Push-ups

  Push-ups with one hand on a medicine ball work your chest and shoulder muscles especially hard on the lowered side.

• Two Medicine Ball Push-ups

  For this variation on the push-up, your chest and core have to struggle to balance your body weight on an unstable base: two medicine balls.

• Incline Barbell Press

  The incline variation of the classic barbell chest press targets the upper area of the pectoral muscles.

• Cardio Zone Training: Part 3 of 3—Speed

  We can't stress this enough: Train with your most important muscle—your heart! In part 3 of our 3-part series on zone training, learn to push your limits with speed training .

• Cardio Zone Training: Part 2 of 3—Threshold

  What's the most important muscle you use when doing cardio training? Your heart. In part 2 of our 3-part series on zone training, learn how threshold training can boost your rockets.

• Single-Arm Alternating Dumbbell Curls

  Single-arm alternating dumbbell curls work the biceps of each arm individually while overlapping reps to get your heart rate up.

• Seated Dumbbell Hammer Curls

  Dumbbell hammer curls isolate and build the brachialis portion of the biceps muscle, making them a great addition to your biceps program.

• Triceps Bench Dips with Feet on Floor

  For this variation on the standard triceps dip exercise, you'll move in a diagonal movement to stretch your triceps and work their full range of motion.

• Dumbbell 21 Curls

  Dumbbell 21 curls use three ranges of curling motion—lower half only, upper half only and full range of motion—to make your biceps beg for mercy.

• Decline Bench Slow Roll-up Abs

  Decline abs work against gravity, with a vengeance. Not only is your head lower than your hips for this exercise, but you'll also have to go slowly on the up and the down.

• BOSU Single-Leg Taps

  This variation of the single leg tap abs exercise uses the BOSU ball to add additional levels of stomach-crunching difficulty.

• Tube Reverse Flys

  For an intense variation on the classic reverse fly, use tubes attached to a fixed point.

• Dumbbell Reverse Raises

  Dumbbell reverse raises target the rear deltoids, the muscles wrapping around the backs of your shoulders.

• Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Presses

  The standing dumbbell shoulder press works the core of the shoulder's deltoid muscle complex. Only do this exercise if your shoulders are free of pain or injury.

• Standing Dumbbell Arnold Presses

  The dumbbell Arnold press targets and isolates both the front and side heads of the deltoid muscles.

• Seated Leg Presses

  Leg presses are one of the few mass-building exercises where you can safely use a lot of resistance without joint stabilization.

• Hanging Leg Raises

  Hanging leg raises isolate and work your lower abs mercilessly. Focus on form to keep the work down low where it belongs.

• BOSU Obliques

  Use the BOSU ball to elevate your upper body as you do an oblique side crunch.

• Narrow-Grip Seated Rows

  Seated rows develop the entire complex of muscles in the upper back. Your success depends on isolating those muscles to perform the row.

• Single-Arm Pec Deck

  This variation of the standard pec deck asks you to do the exercise one arm at a time—helping you further isolate and focus on the center valley of your chest.

• Incline Push-ups

  Incline push-ups up the ante on the standard method by elevating your feet. The incline adds weight, and thus intensity, at the bottom of your movement.

• Flat Bench Push-ups

  Superset flat bench push-ups with other chest exercises like dumbbell flys to fatigue every inch of your chest.

• Single-Leg Knee Extensions

  These extensions will help you strengthen and bulk up your quads.

• Seated Reverse Flys

  Seated reverse dumbbell flys strengthen and develop the rear deltoids, the often-used but hard-to-isolate back of your shoulders.

• Seated Calf Presses with Leg Hold

  Make use of the your rest period on the incline leg press by sneaking in a set of seated calf presses—you’ll develop both strength and power in one exercise.

• Stability Ball Push-ups

  Here's a tough variation on the classic push-up that will increase the amount of weight you can lift in your traditional chest exercises.

• Dumbbell Up Rotators on Spin Bike

  The dumbbell upward rotator helps warm up the rotator cuff muscles. This on-the-bike variation adds an additional balance and coordination challenge as you must keep your cadence up while doing the exercise.

• Triceps Single-Arm Kickbacks

  Triceps kickbacks isolate and work the three heads that comprise the triceps muscle—with your elbow up behind you, you'll get no help from other muscle groups as you work to straighten your arm.

• Close-Grip Push-ups

  The close-grip variation of the standard push-up puts the hands closer together, which makes the triceps work harder and also challenges the front deltoids.

• Incline Dumbbell Flys

  The incline dumbbell fly works your upper and inner chest muscles in particular.

• Smith Machine Press

  The Smith machine press is an excellent exercise for isolate your chest muscles, particularly if you are having trouble stabilizing your bench press or doing bench presses using only your chest muscles.

• Standing Cable Curls

  Using the cable machine to work your biceps ensures you maintain resistance on both the curl up and return.

• Tube Pull-Downs

  Get a quality warm up and workout for your lats, traps, and rhomboids with the resistance of tube pull-downs.

• Tube Rows

  Tube rows are a great alternative to cable machine rows, because with tubes the resistance becomes greatest when the muscle is at its most flexed.

• Knee Tuck Floor Crunch

  Knee crunches work your upper and lower abdominals together, developing them in balance.

• Supersets For 12-Week Workout Programs

  Supersets are defined as a workout in which you do two or more exercises, one right after another, with little or no rest in between.

• Cardio Zone Training: Part 1 of 3—Endurance

  Cardio is cardio, right? Wrong. Learn how to use heart rate zone training to improve your strength, speed, and overall fitness using this three-part training program.

• Cable Triceps Bar Pull-Downs

  For this exercise, you'll turn a press into a pull so you can work those hard-to-reach parts of your three-headed triceps.

• Cable Triceps Bar Press-Downs

  The simple yet challenging cable triceps press-down isolates and builds the muscles of the triceps.

• One-Arm-Hold Push-ups

  For this variation on the standard push-up, you'll do three-second holds on alternating arms in between each push-up.

• Dumbbell Press

  Use dumbbell presses to target the entire body of your pectoral muscles.

• Tube Pull Up and Downs

  Warm up and work out your rotator cuffs, lats, and triceps with these simple yet effective up and down motions.

• Tube Press

  Want to reach the hard-to-train center valley of your chest? You've found your exercise.

• Floor Crunch

  The crunch is the classic abdominal exercise—and it really works, but only if you do it correctly.

• Cardio Boost Program: Building Strength with Cardio

  This intense interval-based cardio program won't just burn fat; it will help muscle builders achieve strength gains. Ready to sweat?

• Inaugural Pride Track and Field Meet

  The first-ever gay and lesbian Pride Track and Field Meet mixed serious competition with good clean fun for a great inaugural event. Meet highlight? An age-class world record.

• Video Made the RealJock Star

  If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video may be worth 100,000. In honor of the web's move from flat to 3D, check out our favorite video uploads from RealJock.com members.

• Half Marathon Training Program: Week 12

  Welcome to week 12 of the RealJock.com half marathon training program. You're in your final week of the 12-week training program. Good luck, and remember to have fun and enjoy yourself!

• Half Marathon Training Program: Week 11

  Welcome to week 11 of the RealJock.com half marathon training program. This is your taper week as you get ready to run 13.1 miles. Good luck!

• Half Marathon Training Program: Week 10

  Welcome to week 10 of the RealJock.com half marathon training program. This is your final week before you beging to taper. Get ready to run 13.1 miles!

• Half Marathon Training Program: Week 9

  Welcome to week nine of the RealJock.com half marathon training program. Get ready to run 13.1 miles in just 12 weeks.

• Half Marathon Training Program: Week 8

  Welcome to week eight of the RealJock.com half marathon training program. Only four more weeks until you run 13.1 miles. If you've been following the program, you should have no problems.

• Half Marathon Training Program: Week 6

  Welcome to week six of the RealJock.com half marathon training program. Get ready to run 13.1 miles in just 12 weeks. You can do it!

• Half Marathon Training Program: Week 5

  Welcome to week five of the RealJock.com half marathon training program. Get ready to run a great 13.1-mile race in just 12 weeks.

• John Amaechi: The RealJock Interview

  Since he came out earlier this year, former NBA player John Amaechi has weathered an onslaught of attention. RealJock.com spoke to the man behind the media storm.

• Marathon 18-Week Training Program: Recovery Week

  Welcome to week 19—recovery week—of the RealJock.com 18-week marathon training program. You trained hard and ran your race; now it's time to rest and rejuvenate.

• Marathon 18-Week Training Program: Week 18

  Welcome to week 18 of the RealJock.com 18-week marathon training program. This week is your race week! Rest, hyrdate, and get plenty of sleep!

• Marathon 18-Week Training Program: Week 17

  Welcome to week 17 of the RealJock.com marathon training program. This is your taper week. If you've made it this far and followed the program, in a few more days you'll be ready to run 26.2 miles!

• Marathon 18-Week Training Program: Week 16

  Welcome to week three of the RealJock.com marathon training program. This is your final week before you taper! Follow along and build up to a 26.2-mile race in just 18 weeks.

• Marathon 18-Week Training Program: Week 15

  Welcome to week 15 of the RealJock.com marathon training program. Follow along and build up to a 26.2-mile race in just 18 weeks.

• Marathon 18-Week Training Program: Week 14

  Welcome to week 14 of the RealJock.com marathon training program. Follow along and build up to a 26.2-mile race in just 18 weeks.

• Marathon 18-Week Training Program: Week 13

  Welcome to week 13 of the RealJock.com marathon training program. We're heading into the big distance weeks. Follow along and build up to a 26.2-mile race in just 18 weeks.

• Marathon 18-Week Training Program: Week 12

  Welcome to week 12 of the RealJock.com marathon training program. You're getting there! Follow along and build up to a 26.2-mile race in just 18 weeks.

• Marathon 18-Week Training Program: Week 11

  Welcome to week 11 of the RealJock.com marathon training program. Follow along and build up to a 26.2-mile race in just 18 weeks.

• Marathon 18-Week Training Program: Week 10

  Welcome to week 10 of the RealJock.com marathon training program. Follow along and build up to a 26.2-mile race in just 18 weeks.

• Marathon 18-Week Training Program: Week 9

  Welcome to week nine of the RealJock.com marathon training program. Follow along and build up to a 26.2-mile race in just 18 weeks.

• Marathon 18-Week Training Program: Week 8

  Welcome to week eight of the RealJock.com marathon training program. Follow along and build up to a 26.2-mile race in just 18 weeks.

• Marathon 18-Week Training Program: Week 7

  Welcome to week seven of the RealJock.com marathon training program. Follow along and build up to a 26.2-mile race in just 18 weeks.

• Marathon 18-Week Training Program: Week 6

  Welcome to week six of the RealJock.com marathon training program. Follow along and build up to a 26.2-mile race in just 18 weeks.

• Marathon 18-Week Training Program: Week 5

  Welcome to week five of the RealJock.com marathon training program. Follow along and build up to a 26.2-mile race in just 18 weeks.

• Marathon 18-Week Training Program: Week 4

  Welcome to week four of the RealJock.com marathon training program. Follow along and build up to a 26.2-mile race in just 18 weeks.

• Marathon 18-Week Training Program: Week 3

  Welcome to week three of the RealJock.com marathon training program. Follow along and build up to a 26.2-mile race in just 18 weeks.

• AIDS/LifeCycle 6 Training Program: Week 18

  Welcome to the final week of the RealJock.com 18-week AIDS/LifeCycle training program. This week you have one job: to rest! Relax and enjoy yourself, because on Sunday you ride.

• AIDS/LifeCycle 6 Training Program: Week 17

  Welcome to week 17 of the 18-week AIDS/LifeCycle training program. In less than two weeks, you'll join over 2,000 other cyclists on your seven-day, 545-mile journey from SF to LA.

• AIDS/LifeCycle 6 Training Program: Week 16

  Welcome to week 16 of the 18-week AIDS/LifeCycle training program. You have less than three weeks of training until you hit the roads and bike 545 miles to fight AIDS. You can do it!

• AIDS/LifeCycle 6 Training Program: Week 15

  Welcome to week 15 of the 18-week AIDS/LifeCycle 6 training program. Are you almost ready to bike 545 miles to fight AIDS? You bet you are.

• Half Marathon Training Program: Week 4

  Welcome to week four of the RealJock.com 12-week half marathon training program. You're almost a third of the way there! How do your legs feel?

• Half Marathon Training Program: Week 3

  Welcome to week three of the RealJock.com 12-week half marathon training program. You have 12 weeks to get your body ready for the 13.1-mile half marathon. You can do it!

• Half Marathon Training Program: Week 2

  Welcome to week two of the RealJock.com 12-week half marathon training program. Get ready for 13.1 miles in just 12 weeks!

• Half Marathon Training Program: Week 1

  Welcome to week one of the RealJock.com 12-week half marathon training program. Get ready to run 13.1 miles in just 12 weeks. You can do it!

• Try the RealJock.com Half Marathon Training Program

  At 13.1 miles, the half marathon is a great event for newbie endurance runners and seasoned marathoners alike. Want to get ready for one in just 12 weeks? Follow our program!

• How IGLA Keeps the 'Gay' in Swimming

  With the IGLA 2007 championships just around the corner, RealJock.com looks at the organization that has been integral to popularizing gay swimming.

• Marathon 18-Week Training Program: Week 2

  Welcome to week two of the RealJock.com 18-week marathon training program. Get ready to run 26.2 miles!

• AIDS/LifeCycle 6 Training Program: Week 14

  Welcome to week 14 of the RealJock.com 18-week AIDS LifeCycle training program. Bike 545 miles in seven days to fight AIDS!

• Triathlon 21-Week Olympic-Distance Training Program: Week 21

  Welcome to week 21 of the RealJock.com Olympic-distance triathlon training program. It's taper time... Have fun at your race!

• More Than a Six Pack: Lessons in Abdominal Strength

  We love a six pack as much as the next guy, but nice ridges don't equal functional strength. Get a lesson in building strong abs, plus a five-exercise workout plan.

• AIDS/LifeCycle 6 Training Program: Week 13

  Welcome to week 13 of the RealJock.com 18-week AIDS/LifeCycle 6 training program. Get in great shape, meet lots of amazing people, and most important, raise money to end AIDS!

• Triathlon 21-Week Training Program: Week 20

  Welcome to week 20 of the RealJock.com Olympic-distance triathlon training program. Get ready to ride (and swim... and run...)!

• Introducing the RealJock.com Marathon Training Program

  The marathon is the gold standard of endurance running. Ready to put 26.2 miles under your belt? Then we have the training program for you. Be ready to race in just 18 weeks!

• Marathon 18-Week Training Program: Week 1

  Ready to train for your first marathon? Get started with week 1 of our 18-week marathon training program from running coach Shelby Corkern Jacquez. Build up to 26.2 miles of pure (hell) fun!

• AIDS/LifeCycle 6 Training Program: Week 12

  Welcome to week 12 of the AIDS/LifeCycle 6 training program. Ride 545 miles in seven days with 2000 other great riders to fight HIV/AIDS!

• Triathlon 21-Week Training Program: Week 19

  Welcome to week 19 of the RealJock.com triathlon training program. You're almost there!

• The Hotel Workout—Keep Fit on Vacation

  Want to stay in shape on vacation? Try the Hotel Workout from strength specialist Mike Clausen. This short program will help you keep it up—your fitness, that is.

• Triathlon 21-Week Training Program: Week 18

  Welcome to week 18 of the RealJock.com Olympic-distance triathlon training program. Hope you're ready!

• AIDS/LifeCycle 6 Training Program: Week 11

  Welcome to week 11 of the RealJock.com AIDS LifeCycle training program. Get ready to ride 545 miles to fight AIDS.

• The Workaholic's 30-Minute Workout

  Too busy to work out? Don't despair. If you can spare 30 minutes a day, we can give you a healthy, strong body that looks good to boot.

• Triathlon 21-Week Training Program: Week 17

  Welcome to week 17 of the RealJock.com 21-week Olympic-distance triathlon training program! Swim, bike, run...fun!

• AIDS/LifeCycle 6 Training Program: Week 10

  Welcome to week 10 of the RealJock.com 18-week AIDS LifeCycle 6 training program. Get ready to ride!

• Fast Fun: The New Pride Track and Field Meet

  On July 7 San Francisco will host the first international Pride Track and Field event. Will it be the birthplace of an international track and field organization? We hope so.

• Triathlon 21-Week Training Program: Week 16

  Welcome to week 16 of the RealJock.com 21-week Olympic-distance triathlon training program. Get ready to swim bike run!

• AIDS/LifeCycle 6 Training Program: Week 9

  Welcome to week 9 of RealJock.com's 18-week training program for the seven-day, 545-mile AIDS LifeCycle charity bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

• Stimulate Muscle Growth Through Exercise Variation

  Try changing from three sets of one exercise to one hard set of three different exercises to stimulate muscle growth and achieve new strength gains.

• AIDS/LifeCycle 6 Training Program: Week 8

  Welcome to week eight of the AIDS/LifeCycle training program. Get ready to ride to stop AIDS.

• Triathlon 21-Week Training Program: Week 15

  Welcome to week 15 of the RealJock.com 21-week triathlon training program. Train for an Olympic-distance triathlon!

• Triathlon 21-Week Training Program: Week 14

  Welcome to week 14 of the RealJock.com 21-week Triathlon training program. Train for an Olympic-distance triathlon!

• AIDS/LifeCycle 6 Training Program: Week 7

  Welcome to week seven of the AIDS/LifeCycle 6 training program. Get ready for the ride of your life!

• AIDS/LifeCycle 6 Training Program: Week 6

  Welcome to week six of the AIDS/LifeCycle 6 training program.

• Alternate Power Stability Ball Pike and Knee Tucks

  Pikes and knees over a stability ball target the entire abdominal muscle, both low and high.

• Plank Hop Ups and Down from Medicine Ball

  With a medicine ball under your chest in push-up position, blast off the floor with both hands and land with them on the ball.

• Flat Bench Straddle Hops

  To do straddle hops, you'll stand with one leg on either side of a Reebok step or flat bench, and jump from the ground onto the step with both legs.

• Single-Dumbbell Front Lunge and Power Row at Bottom

  For this lunge and power lunge combination, you not only train your legs and lats, you also make your entire body a stronger and more cohesively functioning machine.

• Side-to-Side Bench Vaults

  With your hands on a flat bench, jump both legs across the bench from side to side.

• BOSU Tuck Jumps

  Tuck jumps off a BOSU ball work every muscle in your legs—not only in the jump, but in the take-off and landing, in which you have to use stabilizing strength to balance.

• Alternate Scissor Switches Onto BOSU

  Scissor switches are the most murderous of lunges, since you change your leg position in mid-air. The additional challenge of doing them on a BOSU ball makes them even harder by adding a balance challenge.

• Long Stride Runs Across Floor

  For a long stride run, you'll take the biggest step you can with every stride, pushing off the floor into the air.

• Hold-Weight Center Height Jump with Alternate Side Lunge Floor Taps

  This exercise demands reach in every direction. Holding a weight plate in your hands, you'll stretch up into a height jump, then laterally and down into a side lunge.

• Single-Leg Power Hops with Stepback Lunge Twist

  A single leg jump out of a lunge is a quad-buster. To take it to the next level, add a weight plate and an upper body twist between jumps.

• Speed Super Legs

  Super legs gives you a great overall leg workout because it combines four incredible leg exercises: squats, reaching lunges, jump scissor switches, and jump squats.

• Four Lengths Progressively Faster Runs

  Find an open space for this fast-building leg set. Run forward and backward up and down the floor, accelerating on each lap.

• Triathlon 21-Week Training Program: Week 13

  Welcome to week 13 of the RealJock.com 21-week Olympic-distance triathlon training program. Swim! Bike! Run!

• Jump Scissor Switches

  This exercise asks you to jump between alternating lunges, switching your front leg with each jump. You'll build not just leg strength but also balance and coordination.

• Alternate Front Lunge Hold with Quick Alternate Dumbbell Rows in Low Position

  Hold a lunge while you do quick, strong rows through your upper back.

• Drywater Freestyle Kicks on Back

  For this great abs exercise, you'll hold your shoulders and legs off the floor while you do flutter kicks for 60 seconds.

• Speed Dumbbell Twisting Curls

  For this variation on the standard dumbbell curl, you'll combine a swift and powerful hammer curl on the upswing with a regular curl on the way down.

• Speed Alternate Ducks Under Smith Machine Bar

  Set a Smith machine bar at your chest height and duck from side to side underneath it as quickly as you can, stepping wide and sitting deep as you cross under.

• Speed Smith Machine Single-Arm Inverted Pull-ups

  You get to keep your feet on the floor for this one-armed speed modification of the classic pull-up, but it's plenty hard even so.

• Hold Squat Power Single-Cable Wide Pull-Downs

  For this exercise you'll stay in a deep squat as you do wide pull-downs with controlled speed and powerful force.

• Speed Hand-to-Feet Stability Ball Pass

  This Pilates-based exercise will help strengthen your core and train your balance and coordination. Add speed to the mix for increased difficulty.

• Speed Single-Cable Reverse Flys

  For this exercise, you'll focus on speed as you work cable reverse flys with a single arm in quick succession.

• Speed Hanging Side Twist Obliques

  The twist-and-lift of this hanging exercise makes you use your obliques to fight gravity as you bring your knees and feet upward in opposing directions.

• Gravitron Speed Neutral-Grip Pull-ups

  For this variation on the neutral grip pull-ups, you'll focus on controlled speed as you lift up quickly and powerfully.

• Boxing: Full Sit-Ups with Dumbbells and Alternate Cross Punches

  The combination sit-up and cross punch exercise works the abs and the shoulders.

• Heavy Bag Boxing: Squat Thrust Push-Up With Power Double Punch

  Combine a squat thrust, a push-up, and a powerful double punch for a killer leg and shoulder workout.

• Single-Cable Rope Power Overhead Skull Crushers

  Strengthen your triceps with this standing single-armed cable version of the skull crusher.

• Barbell Snatch

  For this favorite of power lifters everywhere, you'll use a barbell to train the explosive power of your legs, shoulders, and core.

• Medicine Ball Power Snatch to Toss-ups for Height

  Use a medicine ball to train the explosive power of your legs, shoulders, and core in a single exercise.

• Speed End of Bench Tricep Push-ups Drop Set

  For this variation of the standard end-of-bench tricep push-up, you'll max out three times on increasingly steep inclines, doing the push-ups with speed and power throughout.

• Quick Build Back Arches

  Back arches develop core strength while working your legs and shoulders.

• Mountain Climbers

  Use your hands to support your upper body as you take big, explosive steps with alternating legs, bringing your knees all the way to your chest.

• Flat Bench Dumbbell Power Press Drop Set

  Combine the difficulty of a drop set with the challenge of adding speed and power to each dumbbell press for a killer chest workout.

• Side-to-Side POP Push-ups Across Reebok Step

  Imbalance and power add a new challenge in this exercise, in which you do push-ups with one hand on a Reebok step and one hand on the floor, then push off explosively so that your hands are briefly in the air in between push-ups.

• Standing Power Cable Chest Press with Alternate Front Lunge

  Add difficulty to the standard cable chest press by doing it with power out of a forward lunge.

• Dumbbell Squat Thrust with Speed Alternate Neutral Presses

• Alternate Dumbbell Swims and Dumbbell Cross Punches

  The back-to-front reach of a freestyle stroke followed by the lateral motion of cross punches trains the entire complex of muscles in the shoulder—deltoids and rotator muscles.

• Alternate Squat Thrusts with Surfer Switch Jumps

  For this exercise your mimic the motion of jumping onto a surf board by pushing off from a plank position into a surfer's stance, and then jumping your legs back to the plank.

• AIDS/LifeCycle 6 Training Program: Week 5

  Welcome to week five of the RealJock.com 18-week AIDS/LifeCycle 6 training program. Bike to end AIDS!

• Triathlon 21-Week Training Program: Week 12

  Welcome to week 12 of the RealJock.com 21-week triathlon training program. Train for an Olympic-distance triathlon!

• Power Hang Knee Tucks

  You'll need all the strength in your abs and upper body to do hang knee tucks. For this variation, you'll lift with power and speed.

• Speed Jump Rope Running

  Jumping rope is a great cardio workout, but it also trains speed and agility. For this version, you'll jump in a fast standing running motion, lifting one leg at a time.

• Double-Leg Power Hop With Stepback Lunge Twist Holding Plate

  To combine flexible strength with explosive power, try alternating jumps out of a squat with stepback lunges and upper body twists.

• Slow Super Legs

  Super Legs is one leg exercise you can't live without, particularly since it combines four incredible leg exercises: squats, reaching lunges, jump scissor switches, and jump squats.

• Heavy Medicine Ball Alternate 2-1 Arm Snatch

  Work your legs and shoulders simultaneously through a full range of motion, taking a medicine ball from the floor to overhead.

• Tuck Jumps

  Tuck jumps are the last word in simple power leg workouts. You jump into the air as high as you can, bringing your knees up in mid-air, and then land light.

• Speed Double and Single Line Hops

  For powerful, functionally strong legs, try double- and single-line hops, which help build muscle mass, strength and explosive power. For this variation, increase your speed and power.

• Double-Handle Low-Cable Speed Squats and Rows

  Use a cable machine to add resistance to a squat; follow with a row for your back muscles.

• Power Side-to-Sides Over Flat Bench

  Focus on explosive power and speed to work your legs top to bottom and side to side with these power side-to-sides over a flat bench.

• AIDS/LifeCycle 6 Training Program: Week 4

  Welcome to week four of the AIDS/LifeCycle 6 training program. Seven days, 2000 riders, 545 miles of biking. Get ready for the ride of your life!

• Triathlon 21-Week Training Program: Week 11

  Welcome to week 11 of the RealJock.com 21-week triathlon training program. Train for an Olympic-distance triathlon!

• Speed Davies Test

  Test your shoulders (literally). From a plank position, you'll use each hand to tap the back of the other, alternating at top speed.

• Alternate Prisoner Lunges onto BOSU Ball

  Lunges on a BOSU ball add a balance challenge to the ordinary demands of a lunge.

• Long Jumps

  For a leg exercise with explosive power, try the long jump.

• Exaggerated Skipping With High Knee Drive

  Use a classic skipping motion as a cardio blast by going for maximum height on each stride.

• Knees High Jog Forward and Backward

  Football players train using this exercise, which gets your heart pumping as you work your quads and hip flexors.

• Smith Machine Inverted Palms-Down Pull-ups with Release/Re-Catch at Top

  This inverted variation uses speed and power on the inverted pull-up to work the back muscles and the core.

• Speed Stability Ball Knee Tucks

  For this variation on this challenging abs cruncher, you'll do the knee tucks with controlled speed, increasing the difficulty level.

• Speed Dumbbell Hammer Curls

  For this variation on the dumbbell hammer curl, you'll lift and lower the dumbbells with speed and control for an extra level of difficulty.

• Speed Leg Swings

  For this variation on the classic lower abs exercise, you'll focus on controlled speed and power as you lift and lower your legs.

• Speed Full Situps

  The full situp is a great workout for the upper abdominals. For this variation on the standard, you'll focus on controlled power and speed throughout the entire set.

• Gravitron Speed Wide-Grip Pull-ups

  For this variation on the standard Gravitron wide-grip pull-up, you'll perform this set with a quick yet smooth motion for power development.

• Power Cable Ski Poles

  Simulate the intense lat and deltoid workout of cross-country skiing using a double-armed cable machine and a half-squat stance.

• Speed Cable Cross-Backs

  To target the complex of muscles at the back of the shoulder and between your shoulder blades, pull cables in opposing directions from shoulder level down to hip level.

• Hold Single Arm Plank

  This variation on the hold plank doubles the difficulty by asking you to hold that position with one arm at your side.

• Speed Alternating Dumbbell Curls and High-Speed Squats

  For a muscle-busting cardio burst, push as quickly as you can through sets of dumbell bicep curls alternating with squats.

• Power Stability Ball Lower Back Extensions with Pelvic Thrust

  Work your core, legs, and lower back by pinning a stability ball under your hips as you bring your upper body up and back off the ball in a powerful motion.

• Stability Ball Seated Alternate Cable Rows

  Get a great, isolated back workout by balancing on a stability ball as you perform rows with a cable machine.

• Single Cable Handle High, Alternate Swim Stroke, Wide Pull-down, and Squat

  For a back workout that hits your muscles from multiple angles, alternate single cable swim strokes with pull-downs. Throw in leg squats as an added bonus.

• Flat Bench Power Press Drop Set on Smith Machine

  For this drop set version of the press, you'll use the Smith machine to stabilize the weights, enabling you to power through heavier weights with speed and max out three times.

• Stability Ball Roller Coasters

  Use the stability ball as a pivot point to work both ends of your body: Push off from a squat with your legs in one direction, and then push back off the floor with your shoulders in the other direction.

• Single Small Medicine Ball Baseball Throw Against Wall

  A simple yet great warm-up exercise for your shoulders, core, and legs—work your shoulders and core by throwing a small medicine ball overhand at a wall.

• Medicine Ball Squat Thrust with Wall Rebound

  This torso-busting exercise unpacks the squat thrust into a new, more challenging form by using a medicine ball as both a weight and a pivot.

• Standing Power Cable Chest Press

  The power in this exercise comes from the challenge of doing cable chest presses with controlled speed.

• POP Push-ups

  To do POP push-ups, you'll blast up out of a deep push-up with explosive power, such that your hands come into the air for a moment.

• Flip Turn Abs with Jumps

  This explosive exercise works you in every direction, combining an abs-crunching reverse tuck to squatted tuck with an explosive vertical jump for leg speed and power.

• Dumbbell Clean and Press

  The exercise put squats between the elements of a clean and press for a maximized leg and shoulder workout.

• Medicine Ball Power Press Toss-ups for Height

  For this exercise, you'll use a medicine ball to throw high vertical tosses as you power out of a squat.

• Stability Ball Knees Speed Handstands

  Combine the shoulder benefits of a push-up and a handstand by using a stability ball under your legs.

• Cable Rope Power Overhead Skull Crushers

  This exercise forces you to keep tension in the cables throughout the range of motion, engaging your triceps from start to finish.

• Speed Tricep Dip on Gravitron

  Tricep dips are one of the oldest and greatest tricep-building exercises in the book. For this variation on the exercise, you'll do the dips quickly, focusing on speed, power, and control.

• Heavy Bag Boxing: Repeater Punches

  Put your shoulders through an intense (and intensely fun) speed round of repeater punches.

• Heavy Bag Boxing: Speed Alternate Gut Punches

  Release your inner animal as you throw alternate gut punches into a heavy boxing bag, giving your shoulders, core, and legs a fast-paced workout.

• Muscle-Busting Cardio Classes

  Want to build muscle strength while still giving your heart a great workout? Check out the latest and greatest in gym classes.

• AIDS/LifeCycle 6 Training Program: Week 3

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• Triathlon 21-Week Training Program: Week 9

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• AIDS/LifeCycle 6 Training Program: Week 2

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• AIDS/LifeCycle 6 Training Program: Week 1

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• Superman Hold with Freestyle Kicks

  The addition of freestyle kicks to the Superman hold takes the lower back workout up a notch.

• Dumbbells-High Alternating Side Lunge and Shoulder Press

  Holding dumbbells at your shoulders while doing side lunges increases the weight in each lunge for a tough workout. The shoulder presses make it an upper-body workout too.

• Low Cable Bent-Bar Squat and Curl Holding High

  The constant cable tension in this combo bicep and leg exercise serves a dual purpose, providing excellent resistance for both your curls and your squats.

• Low Single Cable Squat Power Cross Punch

  This combination exercise works the legs and the shoulders by combining one of the greatest leg exercises (the squat) with a power-focused cross-up punch.

• Speed Low Single Cable Scissor Squat and Row

  For this variation on the single cable squat and row, you'll focus on controlled speed as you do the combo exercise.

• Stability Ball Pike-ups

  This exercise takes core-building to a new limit as you to use your abs to pike up from a plank position with your feet on a stability ball

• Barbell Russian Dead Lifts

  Russian dead lifts are a classic barbell exercise that many power lifters use to train their legs and core.

• Dumbbell Squats on BOSU Ball

  Train leg strength, balance, and coordination by doing dumbbell squats while standing on the rounded top of a BOSU ball.

• Power Flick Single Calf Raises

  For these single calf raises, you'll sit at a leg press machine and use speed and power to go fully onto your toe and stretch as far below the platform as you can with your heel.

• Power Press Single Leg Press

  For these power variations of standard leg power, you'll work to develop your speed and power in a single exercise.

• Multidirectional Speed Lunges with Floor Tap

  Forward lunges develop your quads and hip flexors; multidirectional lunges bring in your abductors and adductors, giving you a more complete leg workout.

• Alternate Walk Up-Downs Flat Bench

  Up-downs are a major workout for your calves, quads, and hip flexors, both as you lift yourself up onto the bench, and as you lower yourself back down.

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• Wide-Grip Pull-ups on Gravitron with Slow Negatives

  For this variation on the wide-grip pull-up, you'll lower down from the top of the pull-up slowly for a count of five in order to work the muscles even more.

• Flat Bench Rope Curl Drop Set

  Take your biceps to the limit with max-out drop rope curl drop sets. With each drop you'll curl to fatigue, maximizing the work—and the gains.

• Power Tucks on Floor

  Power tucks match explosive power with slow control. From an extended position, you'll rapidly bring your legs and arms together in a tuck.

• On-Side V Toe Tap Obliques

  For this oblique buster, you'll lift your legs up to meet your arms in a V while lying on your side.

• Single Dumbbell Full Swing Shoulder Circles

  This shoulder warm-up exercise puts your rotator cuffs through a full range of motion, prepping them before you workout to help prevent injury.

• Standing Barbell Curl Drop Set Leaning Against Wall

  By leaning against a wall as you do these bicep curls, you'll stabilize your body and isolate the bicep muscles.

• Single-Arm Dumbbell Squats

  For the single-arm dumbbell squat, you'll train your major leg muscle groups but also your abdominal obliques as you engage them to counterbalance the weight held in one hand and keep you upright as you descend into the squat.

• Real Hanging Alternate Twisting Knee Tucks

  Add a tough twist to your abs routine with twisting knee tucks. You'll hang from your hands and swinging your bent legs from side to side, using your abs to lift.

• One-Arm Neutral-Grip Pull-ups on Gravitron Machine

  The Gravitron machine will help you learn to do a one-armed pull-up while helping you keep your motion consistent (and therefore safe).

• Standing Dumbbell Alternate Reverse Flys and Swim Flicks

  This exercise alternates reverse flys and swim flicks to build the muscles at the back of the shoulder.

• Smith Machine Single Palm-up Inverted Pull-ups

  You get to keep your feet on the floor for this modification of the classic pull-up, but given that you lift with only one arm at a time, it's plenty hard even so.

• Landmines

  Landmines offer a full body workout that tests your obliques, legs, and shoulder muscles.

• Lean Barbell Single Side Row

  Side rows work the entire complex of muscles in your upper back. For this variation, you use a barbell rather than a dumbbell so that you can be certain you're controlling your arm's motion.

• Triathlon 21-Week Training Program: Week 8

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• Dumbbell Alternating Chest Flys

  The one-armed alternating variation of the classic dumbbell chest fly increases the difficulty of the exercise and isolates each side of your chest individually.

• Decline Dumbbell Skull Crushers

  By doing skull crushers on the lowered angle of the decline bench, you'll keep tension in your triceps through the entire set, rather than releasing at the top of each repetition.

• Decline Situps

  Decline sit-ups intensify the battle between your abs and gravity by putting your shoulders below the horizontal.

• Alternate Lockout Push-ups on Dumbbells or Medicine Balls

  Doing push-ups while balanced on a couple of dumbbells or medicine balls seem too easy for you? Try adding a lockout at the top of each push-ups. Now that's a challenge.

• Dumbbell Chest Press Incline Reduction (Incline to Flat to Decline)

  These monster sets of chest presses will work your pecs from top to bottom, and then bottom to top, with incline, flat, and decline dumbbell presses.

• Dumbbell Alternate Lateral Raises with Top Hold

  This variation of the standard dumbbell lateral raise ups the ante with an isometric lift; you hold one arm out to the side as you raise the other.

• Dumbbell Step-ups to Balance and Arnold Press

  This combo exercise takes the Arnold press and step-up to the edge by asking you to do it all on one foot.

• Push-ups: Breakdance

  This exercise channels the breakdancer's combination of strength, agility, and balance. You'll take a standard push-up into a twist-out breakdance motion,

• Side-to-Side Steps Over Flat Bench

  To work your legs top to bottom and side to side, try these bench steps over a flat bench.

• Seated V Hold (Feet off Floor) with Twisting Medicine Ball Floor Bounces

  Rather than lifting your legs or shoulders, this abs exercise keeps your center still while you add the weight of a medicine ball and a turning motion to build core strength.

• Dumbbell Single Leg Freestyle Swim Strokes

  In this advanced version of the dumbbell freestyle swim stroke, you'll stand on one leg as you do the swim strokes to train your balance and coordination.

• Dumbbell High Squat and Twist Press

  Add a twist to a dumbbell squat and press to work the complex of muscles across the back of your shoulders as well as the tops.

• Fighting the Skinny Gene: A Workout for Ectomorphs

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• Headstand to Handstand

  This exercise will get you that much closer to doing a real handstand push-up.

• Dumbbell Multidirectional Reach Lunges with Shoulder Press

  Adding dumbbells and shoulder presses to your lunge routine turns a great leg exercise into a full body challenge.

• Cable Seated Rows Drop Set

  For this exercise, you'll max out four times using progressively lighter weights, increasing the burn but also the build in your back muscles.

• Cable Tricep Bar Press-Downs Drop Set

  For this exercise, you'll max out four times using progressively lighter weights to get every ounce out of work out of your triceps.

• Barbell Russian Dead Lifts to Barbell Romanian Dead Lifts with Barbell Dead Rows

  From Eastern Europe comes this power lifter's dream: a combination Russian dead lift, Romanian dead lift, and barbell dead row.

• Dumbbell Freestyle Swim Stroke Drop Set

  This exercise mimics freestyle swimming to strengthen the shoulders in general and the rotator cuffs in particular. Adding a drop set to the mix works those muscles to the max.

• Dumbbell Twist Curls Drop Set

  This bicep exercise demands that you "rep out," taking your biceps to total fatigue and forcing the development of new, stronger muscle fibers.

• Single Medicine Ball On the Shelf Crunches

  To do these crunches, you alternate holding the ball in your hands and with your legs to push both your upper and lower abs to the limit.

• Downhill Ski Series

  Some of the strongest legs in the world belong to skiers. So who better to provide us with a killer leg set than the Colorado Women's Ski Team?

• V Situps with Heels on Wall and Legs Straight

  For a power abdominal workout, try a V Sit-up. With a wall to provide leg support, you can reach higher and push your abs harder.

• Single Calf Raises

  Build the strength in your calf muscles with this simple exercise that uses the weight of your body to isolate, flex, and stretch your calves.

• Dumbbell Walking Lunges

  Walking lunges give the muscle-building benefits of traditional lunges with the additional benefit of balance and control training.

• Heavy Medicine Ball Chops: Center, Diagonal, Side-to-Side

  To train your entire body—arms, legs, core, and back—try this sequence of medicine ball chops.

• Stability Ball Rollout

  Tired of crunches? Do them upside down. Just roll a stability ball slowly away and then back toward you for a great abs workout.

• Stability Ball Hammer Dumbbell Curls

  Hammer curls are tough to begin with; try doing them while balancing in a modified squat against a stability ball.

• Dumbbell Regular 21 Curls (Lower and Top Half) to Preacher Curls (Full Range Set)

  For these curls, you'll do half curls (bottom to middle and middle to top), and wind up with a set of full curls against a preacher bench to further isolate the bicep muscle.

• High Bar Alternate Knee Cross-ups

  Give your oblique abdominals an intense workout as you lift up from a hanging position and touch your knees to your elbows.

• Smith Wide Inverted Pull-ups with Hold at Top

  This inverted pull-up works the back muscles—the lats and traps specifically. The hold at the top makes it that much harder.

• Stability Ball Dumbbell Reverse Flys

  For this exercise, just stabilizing your upper body on the stability ball gives your legs a great workout, while you work your shoulders one at a time using dumbbells.

• Single-Leg Single-Cable Swim Strokes

  You may have done swim strokes before with the cable machine, but this version asks that you do them on one leg.

• Alternate Hand Kiss Wide-Grip Pull-ups

  The kiss in this pull-up is the reward for the extra hard work your lats will need to do to get up to kissing level in the first place.

• Cable Baseball Throw Rotators

  Warm up your rotator cuffs with this cable machine exercise that mimics the classic overhand baseball throw.

• Single Dumbbell Windmill and Arnold Press

  The windmill is all about maintaining form and position. Add a press to the mix and it's a serious challenge to your legs, shoulders, and core.

• Rope Tricep Press-Downs

  This tricep exercise doesn't quit—literally. Instead of releasing between repetitions, you keep tension on the rope for the entire long, brutal set.

• Gravitron Tricep Dips Drop Set

  This tricep dips exercise includes a total of three drop sets using progressively lighter weights that will eek out every last dip you have in you.

• Dumbbell Swings on Single Leg

  This combination exercise mixes dumbbell lateral and front raises with a one-legged support to train your shoulders, legs, balance, and coordination.

• Dumbbell Squat and Press

  Combine the powerful squat with the shoulder press, and you have a one-two muscle workout that builds both your upper and lower body.

• Hands on Stability Ball Push-ups with Feet on Flat Bench

  Try this great stability ball variation on the old favorite push-up to help increase the amount of weight you can lift in your traditional chest exercises.

• Alternate Rope Tricep Overhead Extension and Squat

  Take a tricep extension straight into a squat for an intense variation on two standard exercises.

• Hold Plank with Cross-Kick Under

  This core-busting exercise starts with a basic plank position and then attacks it from both ends by asking you to bring your foot up to meet your opposite hand.

• Hang Knee Tucks

  Hang knee tucks are tough. You'll need all the strength in your upper body to bring your knees up over your head in a tuck, and even more to lower them back down.

• Medicine Ball Situps on Stability Ball

  The addition of the medicine ball to the stability ball sit-up ups the ante by adding additional weight that your abs need to lift.

• Flat Bench Dumbbell Flys

  The classic dumbbell fly works your chest and your inner chest muscles in particular. It's an essential part of any chest-building regimen.

• Single Leg Side-to-Side Line Hops

  Develop speed, strength, and coordination with single-line hops, a simple exercise you can do just about anywhere.

• Flat Bench Barbell Press

  There's a reason that the bench press is the weightlifting gold standard. It's not just the lift from your chest—you need to engage your abs and back to get through these safely.

• Shoulder Dumbbell or Plate Circles

  This shoulder exercise warms up and strengthens the shoulders using simple circular motions.

• Face Down on Incline Bench Dumbbell Rotate and Press

  This exercise helps you warm up and strengthen the entire shoulder complex for power with resilience.

• Triathlon 21-Week Training Program: Week 6

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• Triathlon 21-Week Training Program: Week 5

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• Cable Bar Tricep Pulls and Tricep Press

  This combination pull and press exercise isolates and works the three heads of your triceps for well-rounded strength.

• Dumbbell Squats

  Try the dumbbell version of the squats, one of the most useful exercise you can do at the gym—no other single exercise encourages more muscle growth.

• Stability Ball Straigh-Leg Hip Raises on Heels, Heel Curls, Bent-Knee Hip Raises, and Straight-Knee Hips Raises

  Use this set of variations on standard hip raises to push your legs and legs to the limits of endurance.

• Mock Military Pull-ups on Squat Rack with Feet on Floor

  These military pull-ups push your back muscles to their limit; modifications mean you can work up to the hardest level in stages.

• Dumbbell Squat Thrust with Alternate Lockouts

  A strong legs and back demand a powerful core for support. Train all three with this exercise.

• Triathlon 21-Week Training Program: Week 4

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• Barbell Squats

  Squats are probably the most useful exercise you can do at the gym—no other single exercise encourages more muscle growth.

• Single Cable Swim Strokes

  The single cable swim stroke isolates the major muscles in your upper back for a challenging workout that mimics the downward movement of a standard freestyle swim stroke.

• Single Cable Scissor Squat and Row

  The single cable scissor squat and row works the legs and back in unison, training strength, coordination, and balance.

• Bent Over Single Pull-Downs

  This exercise builds on the Step Back and Single Rows exercise to give your back a powerful combination workout.

• Step Back and Single Rows

  Pair the leg-strengthening benefits of the lunge with the powerful cable row for your back.

• Hand to Feet Stability Ball Pass

  This Pilates-based exercise will help strengthen your core and train your balance and coordination.

• Dumbbell Squat Thrust with Shoulder Press

  This powerful combo exercise focuses on the legs and shoulders, but trains the entire body.

• Dumbbell Punches - Side-to-Side, Cross Up, Cross Down, Hooks

  Get the shoulders of a boxer without ever entering the ring. This exercise builds your shoulders with a series of classic boxing moves, with weights in each hand to up the ante.

• Cable Chops - Diagonal Down, Side, Diagonal Up

  Strength and flexibility—you have to have both. This exercise strengthens your shoulders and legs while developing your reach and coordination.

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  Welcome to week three of the RealJock.com 21-week Olympic-distance triathlon training program. Swim! Bike! Run!

• Stability Ball Push-ups and Knee Tucks

  The stability ball push-up and knee tucks is a two-in-one workout that focuses on your chest and abs while simultaneously improving overall core muscle strength, balance, and concentration.

• Wide-Grip Pull-ups

  The Gravitron machine is excellent for pull-ups because it provides you with the support to do pull-ups while maintaining proper form, allowing you to max out your muscles. The wide-grip pull-ups focus the work on your lats in particular.

• Push-ups

  Good trainers love push-ups because they work the entire chest and triceps while also training coordination and stamina.

• Triathlon 21-Week Training Program: Week 2

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• Hold Plank on Elbows and Toes

  Looking for a great, simple core-strengthening exercise? The hold plank makes the front and back muscles of your trunk work in tandem, helping you build a strong and balanced core.

• Single Leg Twisting Dumbbell Curls

  Balance is everything in this combo bicep curl, which combines a one-legged stance with a hammer curl on the upswing and a regular curl on the way down.

• Flat Bench Freestyle Kicks

  The flat bench freestyle kick mimics the freestyle swim kick in a dry land environment, workings the legs and hips.

• Hands and Toes Walk Out and Back

  The hands and toes walk out and back is essentially a slow and methodical change in position from a pike position to a plank position. Sounds easy? It's not.

• Alternating Lunges and Scissor Switches

  This exercise starts with alternating lunges, one of the best full-leg workouts available, then adds in scissor switches, which are essentially jumping alternating lunges that build not just leg strength but also balance and coordination.

• Dumbbell Straight-Leg Dead Lift and Dead Row

  The dumbbell straight leg dead lift and dead row combines these two challenging exercises into a tough workout for your leg and back muscles.

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• Double and Single Line Hops

  If you want powerful, functionally strong legs, try double- and single-line hops, which help build muscle mass, strength, and explosive power simultaneously.

• Prisoner Squats

  These simple introductory squats can be done at home or at the gym. Great for learning the movement without risking injury to the back or legs.

• Dumbbell Turkish Get-ups

  This exercise trains your entire body to work as a unit as you rise up from lying on your back on the floor to a standing position, all while continuously holding a dumbbell straight up above you.

• Hold Lunge with Single Dumbbell Rows

  By maintaining a lunge while doing dumbbell rows, you train not your legs and lats, but also your balance and coordination.

• Alternate Dumbbell Front Lunge to Dumbbell Laterals

  Front lunges train the major muscle groups in the legs, giving you strong thighs and glutes. Adding the lateral raises develops the shoulders while also raising your heart rate and burning calories.

• Hands on Stability Ball Push-up to Feet on Stability Ball Push-up

  A great variation on the classic push-up that will increase the amount of weight you can lift in your traditional chest exercises.

• Side Pillar Hip Lifts

  Many people neglect the obliques in their quest for strong center abdominals. Side pillar hip lifts address that by working out your right and left sides individually.

• Strength Train to Recover From (and Prevent) Injury

  Significantly reduce your injury recovery time (or never get injured in the first place) by adding these simple exercises to your workout routine.

• Alternate Stepback Lunges with Plate Twist

  Using a weight plate and body twist adds an intense edge to the classic lunge.

• Stability Ball Knee Tucks

  Knee tucks are more than an abs cruncher. The use of the stability ball trains your abs to have a greater degree of stability and control, while also improving your shoulder stability and endurance.

• Gravitron Wides Drop Set Pull-ups

  The wide-grip pull-ups focus the work on your lats in particular, and the drop sets increase the work for your muscles.

• Daily Workouts for Lean Athletes

  We're getting closer to rolling our 90-day workout program out in its entirety. Check out a sample daily workout from the Lean Athlete program.

• Dumbbell Up Rotator

  The dumbbell upward rotator helps warm up and strengthen those easy-to-injure rotator cuff muscles.

• Dumbbell Step-up with Shoulder Press

  The dumbbell step-up with shoulder press is an excellent shoulder and leg combo workout that strengthens the legs, core and shoulders while also training coordination and balance.

• Calf Raises

  This exercise will strengthen and build powerful calves.

• Medicine Ball V-Hold Crossover

  Train your abs and entire core as you move the weight of a medicine ball from side to side while holding your body piked in a core-busting 45-degree V position.

• Seated One-Leg Press

  The seated one-leg press is a safe and effective way to focus on leg muscles without putting extra stress on the lower back.

• Reverse Dumbbell Raise

  The reverse dumbbell raise builds up the back portion of the shoulders as well as the traps, improving posture and reducing neck strain.

• Standing Dumbbell Shoulder Press

  The standing dumbbell shoulder press is great for focusing on the core of the deltoids, especially if the exercise is performed in conjunction with seated lateral raises.

• Drop-Down Lunges

  Drop-down lunges not only strengthen the quads and glutes individually; they also greatly improve overall balance and flexibility.

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• Single-Arm Cable Reverse Pulls

  Athletes love cable machine exercises because they mimic the continuous movement patterns they use while playing sports. The single-arm cable reverse pull provides continuous tension in your deltoids throughout the range of motion, strengthening both your

• Seated Arnold Press

  Good trainers love this strength-training exercise because it targets and isolates both the front and side heads of the deltoid muscles.

• Seated One-Leg Press

  The seated one-leg press is a safe and effective way to focus on building the leg muscles without putting extra stress on the lower back.

• Smith Machine Chin-Ups

  This exercise introduces the chin-up and makes it manageable until you can move on to the unassisted version.

• Hold Plank with Single Dumbbell Kickbacks

  By maintaining a plank position, you'll strengthen your abs and at the same time work your triceps.

• Backbend Hold

  Do as gymnasts do: This exercise develops flexibility, balance, and core strength.

• Dumbbell Good Mornings with Arnold Shoulder Press

  This exercise develops strength in your core while it builds muscle in your limbs.

• Super Legs

  The one leg exercise you can't live without, it develops both strength and power.

• Stability Ball Skiers

  Keep your movement controlled through this ab exercise and you'll see results.

• Single Dumbbell Toe Tap Abs

  A variation on the standard toe tap, this version adds the weight of the dumbbell to further challenge your abs.

• Standing Cable Chest Flys

  Chest flys develop the pectoral muscles for a broad, strong chest. Try it in addition to the bench press.

• Single-Leg Flat Bench Stand-Ups

  This exercise develops quadriceps, hip flexors, and hamstrings while also building core strength in your legs.

• Height Jumps on Wall

  Height jumps help you develop the explosive power required for any sport by requiring you to reach, stretch, and test your limits.

• Half-Twist Jump Squats

  Developing your legs isn’t just about building bulk. This exercise builds muscle, power and speed, all at once.

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• Lower Back Extensions

  This exercise isolates and strengthens the often-neglected lower back muscles.

• Saxon Bends

  Working your abs requires stretching them—here you contract one side as you stretch the other.

• The Fall Workout

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• Incline Dumbbell Curls

  Isolate your biceps with this exercise and you'll get big gains in your guns.

• Standing Dumbbell Tricep Kickbacks

  Triceps add shape to your guns. This exercise is a must for sculpted upper arms.

• Dumbbell Hammer Curls with Drop Set

  To build your biceps, you sometimes need to push them over the edge. This exercise forces you to do as many reps as you can.

• Reverse Dumbbell Flys on Incline Bench

  This exercise developes the back of your shoulders. The incline bench helps you isolate your rear deltoids.

• Muscles and Manners

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• Standing Barbell Rows

  How do you get a strong back and legs from one exercise? Try this for whole body benefit.

• Dumbbell Windmills

  Arms, legs, back, core—this exercise covers all the bases. The result is full-body strength and improved muscle control.

• Not Your Grandfather's Pull-Up

  Intense and effective, the inverted pull-up takes building a strong and muscular back to a new level. How many reps can you do?

• Neutral Grip Pull-ups

  Intimidated by the pull-up? Start out with the Gravitron, which can help anyone achieve a strong back.

• Lopsided Single Dumbbell Push-ups

  A more intense version of the classic push-up, this exercise focuses more weight on the lower side of your chest.

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• Wide-grip lat pull-downs

  When done properly, wide-grip lat pull-downs will help you build a broader, stronger back and improve your posture.

• Gay soccer heats up in Hotlanta

  Hotlanta Heat gay soccer scores big on diversity and inclusion for the last three decades. Meet the men who put the heat in Hotlanta.

• Olympic Bar Bicep Curls

  The classic Olympic bar bicep curl builds bicep strength for more power in sports and, of course, more stretch in your t-shirts.

• Narrow-grip lat pull-downs

  This pull-down variation gives a good stretch to your back muscles, which must stay flexible to keep your spine in good alignment.

• Standing Dumbbell Rows

  The exercise can correct an imbalance in muscle strength that comes from favoring one side in sports like tennis or bowling.

• Incline calf press

  Incline calf presses strengthen your calf muscles, which power your spring for jumping and running movements.

• Dumbbell Lateral Raises

  The best basic exercise for strengthening the middle deltoids and broadening the shoulders.

• Gay hockey team sizzles on ice

  The Colorado Climax field hockey teams at all levels of competition and even have a major national sponsor. Meet the men behind the skates.

• What is interval training?

  It's one of the cornerstones of seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong's training regimen. You don't have to be a superstar for it to work wonders for you, too.

• Real Athlete: Tennis player Kevin Ware

  Tennis stud and Web guru Kevin Ware, 42, serves up aces in the fitness department.

• JoeTraining Series: Hanging leg raises

  So your upper abs are nice, but you just can’t get that bottom portion tight.

• FrontRunners mixes running and networking for healthy fun

  FrontRunners, a national gay and lesbian running club, makes it easy to get out, get active and have fun.

• JoeTraining Series: Jump, for your heart

  You can jump for joy, why can't you jump for your health? Superstar trainer Steve Lischin says you can.

• Single Dumbbell Straight-Arm Snatch

  Serious weightlifters love snatches for their full-body-workout potential and have been practicing them for time immemorial.

• Shoulder Push-ups

  Build up to handstand push-ups using these introductory shoulder push-ups, which work the shoulders hard but not too hard by applying only some of your body weight.

• Exercises men dread

  Do you have an exercise you just hate to do? Maybe it's crunches you hate. Perhaps squats. You're not alone. RealJocks share their tales of exercise avoidance.

• Periodization and intensity key to perfect workout program

  In the last of his five part series on finding workout perfection, model and fitness guru David Rich talks about periodization and intensity.

• Squats and Plyometric (Jump) Squats

  This combination exercise alternates body weight squats and plyometric jump squats to give your legs and body a maximum workout.

• JoeTraining Series: Make friends and calves

  Donkey calf raises are so old school, "the old timers like Arnold Shwarzenegger used to do these," NYC superstar trainer Steve Lischin said.

• The quest for the perfect workout program, part 4

  In part four of his five part series on finding workout perfection, model and fitness guru David Rich talks about form and repetition.

• Real Athlete: Cyclist Jeffrey Smith

  We saw Jeffrey Smith several times at the Gay Games, but never on his bike. That's because he wasn't competing; the 35-year-old San Francisco-based cyclist came to Gay Games exclusively to watch the Games and support his friends.

• Real Athlete: Marathoner Jay Zimmerman

  He's a native of Canada, but you wouldn't know it from talking with him. Gay Games marathoner and Manhattan resident Jay Zimmeran has been in New York for 10 years ago, and he has "New York Lifer" practically tattooed on his forehead.

• Real Athlete: Soccer coach Michael Moore

  Michael Moore co-founded Dallas's Oak Lawn Soccer Club 11 years ago, and even though he moved to Houston five years ago, he still plays with the team.

• Real Athlete: Volleyball player BJ Johnson

  BJ Johnson, 27, plays indoor volleyball with the Los Angeles Hollywoodies, a tough competitor at Gay Games VII. RealJock caught up with him courtside before his team beat the Sydney Schoupa.

• JoeTraining Series: Score for your core with the medicine ball catch

  "It might be a little old school, but the medicine ball catch is a great way to work the core," NYC trainer to the stars Steve Lischin said. "It's also a fun way to exercise with a buddy."

• The quest for the perfect workout program, part 3

  At some point along the way, we've all come to the realization that in order to develop the body you've always wanted, you need a great workout plan. Third in a five part series.

• The quest for the perfect workout program, part 2

  At some point along the way, we've all come to the realization that in order to develop the body you've always wanted, you need a great workout plan. Simply going to the gym a few hours a week and randomly lifting up weights won't do it.

• Powerlifter shatters records, stereotypes

  John Hudson, 40, a powerlifter from Champaign, Ill., won the Open and Masters 40-46 Divisions at the World Association of Bench Pressers and Deadlifters (WABDL) National Championships in Dallas, Texas.

• Dumbbell fly to press

  This exercise combines the benefits of a traditional dumbbell press with the pec-stretching benefits of the fly.

• Floor bridge hold

  The floor bridge hold is an excellent core-strengthening exercise.

• Floor crunches

  A well-executed crunch works the center abs muscles and lower abs muscles in particular; a poorly executed crunch strains the neck and does little for the abs.

• Floor leg raises

  The floor leg raise is one of the great abs exercises, isolating the lower abs in a slow torture fest that builds great abdominal strength.

• Real Athlete: Soccer player Shane Proch-Wilson

  Shane Proch-Wilson was on a big high when RealJock spoke with him—his soccer team, the Boston Strikers, had just beat the West Hollywood Eclipse 4-2 to win the Men's Division 2 gold at Gay Games Chicago.

• Gravitron Dips (Chest Focused)

  These pec-focused Gravitron dips work the pec muscles more than the triceps.

• Step-ups

  The step-up is a simple and effective leg exercise that strengthens leg muscles while building balance and leg-muscle control.

• Squats

  Squats are probably the most useful exercise you can do at the gym—no other single exercise encourages more muscle growth.

• Plyometric Jump Squats

  Build your explosive power with plyometic jump squats and you'll be able to sprint faster, jump higher and perform better

• Stability ball crunches

  Doing crunches on the stability ball allows you to work your abs with a wider range of motion.

• Stability ball floor leg curls

  Stability ball floor leg curls isolate the back side of the leg—with a particular focus on the hamstring.

• Alternating T Push-ups

  The T push-up variation offers all of the benefits of the standard push-up, plus the added benefit of strengthening the shoulder's rotator cuff muscles.

• Walking lunges

  Walking lunges give the muscle-building benefits of traditional lunges with the additional benefit of balance and control training.

• The quest for the perfect workout program, part 1

  At some point along the way, we've all come to the realization that in order to develop the body you've always wanted, you need a great workout plan. Simply going to the gym a few hours a week and randomly lifting up weights won't do it.

• Shh, sexy muscle secrets

  Newsflash, homo! Men are attracted to more than just big chests and arms.

• Stability Ball Reverse Hyper Back Extensions

  This exercise helps address the high-risk lower back region by strengthening those muscles without putting high-weight pressure on it.

• Smith Machine Inverted Pull-ups

  This simple variation on the pull-up works the back muscles—the lats and traps specifically.

• Single Cable Squat and Row

  The single cable squat and row works the legs and back in unison, training strength, coordination and balance.

• Leg Swings

  This classic floor exercise gives a tough workout to your abdominal muscles, with a particular focus on your lower abs.

• Dumbbell Hammer 21 Curls

  Want to push your biceps to the edge? Try dumbbell hammer 21 curls, which use three ranges of curling motion to work your biceps to the bone

• Alternate Side Lunges with Shoe Taps

  The shoe tap of this weights-free variation of the side lunge forces you to go all the way down, giving your hamstrings and adductor (inner-thigh) muscles a much-needed stretch.

• Standing Dumbbell Curls

  A properly executed dumbbell curl isolates the biceps muscles and keeps them engaged throughout the movement.

• Real Athlete: Marathoner Danny Kurak

  Danny Kurak, or "Mr. Smiles" as RealJock dubbed him, just projects good energy.

• Real Athlete: Runner Phillip Aguilar

  Phillip Aguilar was weighed down at the Gay Games—by all of the medals he won competing in track and field and triathlon.

• JoeTraining series: Cable rows for great back development

  Beef up your back, shoulders and core with New York City celebrity fitness guru Steve Lischin’s ultimate cable rows.

• Standing Barbell Curls

  The classic standing barbell curl is a staple of any biceps-building exercise regimen.

• World OutGames: Olympic rematch results in record-setting swim

  More than 800 swimmers participated in the weeklong meet. Thousands of races have been swum, but none more memorable than the rematch of Canadian Olympic gold medalist Mark Tewksbury and San Francisco native and Olympian Daniel Veatch.

• Stability ball center and oblique situps

  These center and oblique situps are staples of stability ball abs workouts, providing excellent muscle isolation

• Reverse Fly on Pec Deck

  Reverse your position and face inward toward the weights on the pec deck machine, and you can give your rear deltoids and shoulders an excellent workout.

• Flat Bench Leg Lifts

  The flat bench leg lifts exercise hits the lower abdominals directly for an excellent isolated workout.

• Real Athlete: Softball player Scott Simmons

  By day, he’s a gymnast and dancer with Disney. By night and by weekend, Scott Simmons, one of the co-founders of the Long Beach Rebels softball team, pursues his love of the game with a team of good friends and great players he’s known for years.

• Real Athlete: Water polo player Jason Hurd

  Diamond Bar, Calif.-based firefighter Jason Hurd, 33, has been playing water polo with the elite team West Hollywood Aquatics for about three years now.

• JoeTraining series: Butt-blasting leg curls

  One of his most hated exercises, the leg curl is the one clients want to get out of the way fast because it’s so difficult, but the benefits are amazing, New York City trainer Steve Lischin said.

• Real Athlete: Runner J.L.

  J.L., 34, RealJock member name: coachjw, is a coach, teacher and former track star. He's also a cardo-addict.

• Real Athlete: Workout fanatic Larry Duplechan

  At almost 50, Larry Duplechan, RealJock member: hotblkmuscl, wants everyone to know that you can be "healthy, hot and attractive" in middle age. This legal secretary, novelist and musician stays fit by lifting weights, eating right and lots of sleep.

• Activist Keith Boykin wins wrestling gold

  For Keith Boykin, just standing on the 50-yard line at Soldier Field was a thrill. On July 14, he got to walk out on the field during a rehearsal for the opening ceremonies for the Gay Games, which were held the next day. Three days later, he walked awa

• Gay Games triathlon hot, hard on the feet and fun

  Sunday, the first full day of sports at Gay Games VII, began with a hot 6 a.m. kickoff down on the lakefront of Lake Michigan as triathletes from all over the world geared up for the short course (0.75K swim, 20K bike, 5K run) or long Olympic course (1.5K

• Athletes shine at Gay Games Opening Ceremonies

  Sure, an impressive parade of gay and gay-friendly stars came out to celebrate and perform at the opening of the seventh Gay Games—Megan Mullaly of "Will & Grace" fame, Erasure’s Andy Bell, and comedian Margaret Cho, among others—but the real s

• Three biggest body building mistakes

  Take it from me, I made a lot of mistakes early on. I’ve always been the type that had to learn everything the hard way. After my first three years in the gym, I had made little progress and a lot of mistakes. I want you to learn from my biggest mistakes,

• San Francisco Fog rolls into the Gay Games

• Triceps Bench Dip

  This classic triceps exercise gives your tris a powerful workout.

• Full Situps (With or Without Dumbbells)

  The popularity of the crunch has meant the death of the full situp in many workout routines. The truth of the matter is that the full situp is a significantly harder exercise than the crunch.

• Stability Ball Dumbbell Skull Crushers

  Don't let the name scare you away from this tried-and-true triceps builder. Proper focus on technique and use of appropriate weights will keep you from bonking yourself on the head when doing skull crushers.

• Around the Gym: Armed and dangerously hot

  Unlike some trickier muscle groups—like calves and glutes—strong, muscular arms are part of most every gay man's workout routine.

• Front Lunges with Shoelace Tap

  This modified lunge without weights gives your legs a great workout and improves flexibility.

• Why are there two LGBT games?

  Chicago and Montreal are readying themselves to host massive sporting events this summer for the LGBT community just merely one week apart from each other. What led to two sets of games? How can both be successful?

• Squat thrust (aka burpies)

  Squat thrusts, or burpies as they are commonly known, are much beloved by trainers, athletes and bodybuilders alike because they combinet the benefits of the squat with the added bonus of the jump for explosive training.

• Dumbbell freestyle swim stroke

  The dumbbell freestyle swim stroke exercise mimics freestyle swimming to strengthen the shoulders in general and the rotator cuffs in particular.

• Stability Ball Dumbbell Presses

  Balance is everything in this variation of the classic dumbbell press. Using the stability ball as your "bench" forces you to maintain your balance and keep your core muscles engaged, which is turn isolates your pectoral muscles.

• JoeTraining Series: Curl your way to beautiful biceps

  Arguably one of the most basic and popular exercises on the planet, the bicep curl can be made extraordinarily difficult by adding an isometric component.

• Real Athlete: Rugger Mark Byrne

  Mark Byrne, 31, sales consultant from Chicago, looks for one thing: the elusive first win for this rugby team, the Chicago Dragons.

• Medicine Ball Tosses—Up and Side

  Guys who can't throw balls will hate this exercise at first, but that's part of the point. The medicine ball up and side tosses not only give your whole body a workout, they also provide coordination and balance training so lacking in many modern-day gym-

• Around the Gym: Put some beef on your buns

  "I like big butts and I cannot lie!"
  
  In his 1995 chart-topper "Baby Got Back," Sir Mix-a-Lot declared his love for bountiful booties—and he's not alone! While most men enjoy bigger backsides, not everyone has ample and well-proportioned

• Speed up the healing process with sports medicine

  As basically an injury riddled athlete, it was my good fortune to meet up with the one of the best sports medicine practitioners ever, Dr. Taylor Rabbetz.

• JoeTraining series: Push-ups that push your limits

  Don’t underestimate the power of the push up, says NYC fitness expert Steve Lischin. "Everybody thinks of the push up as an entry level exercise or something that’s not as hard as or good as one with weights. They’re wrong."

• Real Athlete: Swimmer Mauro Bordovsky

  Mauro Bordovsky, a multi-lingual 49-year-old senior systems analyst from Brazil, may very well have fins. He's participated in every Gay Games as well as founding West Hollywood Aquatics.

• Real Athlete: Runner and wrestler Noel Baggett

  He might be retired from his career, but 65-year-old Noel Baggett from Oakland, Calif., is still wrestling and running up a storm.

• Around the Gym: How does media impact body image?

  A recent rerun of “Roseanne” showed the surgically-enhanced comedienne lamenting the unobtainable beauty "norm" that the media sets for women. Indeed, for as long as there have been television and film, critics say women have strived for unrealistic and,

• Ex-NFL player finds happiness living in his truth

  Low self-esteem, anxiety attacks, suicidal thoughts and binge drinking doesn’t sound like the life of your typical NFL football player, particularly one voted to the all-rookie team with the Green Bay Packers. But that was Esera Tuaolo’s reality.

• JoeTraining series: Bench press does not mark your worth as a man

  No, the weight of your rack on the bench press isn’t the measure of your worth as a man. “People make the mistake of looking at the bench press as their mark as a human being,” NYC’s hottest trainer Steve Lischin said. “It’s generally not that.”

• Real Athlete: Triathlete Rand Smith

  He may be an actor by profession, but when 49-year-old Rand Smith takes to swimming, biking and running, it’s all real. Overcoming serious injury, this former World Champion sees gold in his future.

• Real Athlete: Diver Thomas Long

  Thomas Long, 50, knows plenty about Different Strokes. It’s his swim team out of San Diego, Calif. Long hopes to win another gold medal at the Gay Games VII. He’s competing in springboard and platform diving at his fifth Gay Games.

• Real Athlete wins Adult Figure Skating Championship

  Homophobia and shame pushed Stephane Vachon out of ice skating competition at age 17. Now 37, Vachon is burning up the ice again. He placed first in the adult men’s masters competition and first in pairs free skating at the second ISU Adult International

• Around the Gym: Save chicken legs for the barbecue

  We all know him. He's that guy at the gym every day pumping his chest and arms until they might burst, but never once touching the leg presses. A hulking musclehead with legs so skinny he risks having them snap under his mass, he's Faghorn Leghorn: victim

• JoeTraining series: Reverse lunge, do it backwards for maximum impact

  “Oh no, not the lunge,” your knees scream. Never fear little knees, there’s another way to do it.

• AIDS LifeCycle 5: 585 miles to fight AIDS and HIV

  On Sunday, June 4, 2006, 1839 cyclists met in San Francisco to begin a tough seven-day, 585-mile bicycling journey down the coast of California. Read RealJock.com founder Jeff Titterton's daily logs chronicling their story.

• AIDS LifeCycle day seven: Ode to Roadies

  We awoke to day seven of the AIDS LifeCycle day to a light June gloom hanging over us, that morning fog so typical to this part of California in late spring. The mood of the camp matched the weather.

• Real Athlete: Triathlete and volleyballer Tim Holbrook

  Law professor Timothy Holbrook, 34, hopes to school his fellow triathletes or fail his beach volleyball opponents. This Chicago native gears up for two fierce competitions in Gay Games VII.

• Real Athlete: Wrestler Ty Downey

  A 54-year-old SoCal rookie wrestler, Ty Downey is finding the camaraderie he missed growing up in Kentucky.

• AIDS LifeCycle day six: I'm a kitty, you're a kitty

  There’s an important saying you learn early on in the AIDS LifeCycle: “I’m a kitty, you’re a kitty.”

• JoeTraining series: You don’t know squat

  So you think you know squat? You don’t know squat like this. Trainer Steve Lischin gives RealJock a step-by-step approach that gives you the full benefits of this body-building basic.

• Real Athlete: Rugby player Brian Figueroa

  Staid accountant during the week days, ferocious rugger on three days a eek, Brian Figueroa, 32, hopes to hook up with a team and enjoy a scrum or two at the Gay Games.

• Real Athlete: Runner Carl Maravilla

  Frontrunner Carl Maravilla, 41, of Redondo Beach, Calif., heads to the Gay Games to defend his medal streak.

• AIDS LifeCycle day three: Short, bumpy day

  Well, not too short, “oh me,” 75 miles of cycling including a long hill, known as “Quad Buster,” for obvious reasons. At the top, roadies treat us to tootsie rolls. Ah, simple pleasures for such a hill.

• Namon Huddleston, Jr.

  Namon Huddleston, Jr., 36, a standardized patient trainer from Chicago, likes to play in the sand. He’s making his Gay Games debut playing beach volleyball.

• Real Athlete: Trackster Eric Tokstad

  A 42-year-old architect from San Francisco, Eric Tokstad looks to revive his track career after a 20-plus-year hiatus at his first Gay Games.

• Billy Bean’s “Secret” twist of fate

  Former Major League Baseball player and ardent civil rights activist Billy Bean opened up to RealJock about his new television series “I’ve Got a Secret” on the Game Show Network, his post-baseball exercise regimen and his secrets for relationship success

• Hoop Dreams: Los Angeles league sends four teams to Gay Games

  An all-gay league out of Los Angeles suits up four teams to go for the gold in Chicago.

• Be sweet to your feet

  Let’s face it. You take your feet for granted. You pound them on the pavement, smash them into your pedals and squish them into cute shoes. And you don’t give them a second thought until something goes wrong, like a blister, a hangnail or a hotspot.

• End-of-Bench Tricep Push-ups

  The close grip on the end-of-bench tricep push-up isolates the triceps muscles by putting more of the burden on pushing the body up and down on the triceps instead of the pectorals.

• Cable Side Rotators

  In strength training and in sports, the rotator cuff muscles in the shoulder are highly prone to injury if not properly warmed up. The cable side rotator exercise provides an excellent, isolated warm up, as well as strength training, for the rotator cuff

• Real Athlete: Dragon-boat racer Jong Valientes

  Dragon-boat racer Jong Valientes (RealJock username: rancho), 33, loves the thrill of the race.

• Real Athlete: Diver R. Scott Smith

  R. Scott Smith, 41, likes to dive right in. For over 30 years, he’s been the crazy guy balancing on the end of the platform ready to jump into the waters below.

• Real Athlete: Swimmer Nick Chow

  A 23-year-old pharmacy technician and swim coach from Florida, Nick Chow loves to get wet.

• Baseball Balance Taps

  The baseball balance taps exercise provides an excellent way to improve your balance and coordination with a simple movement you can do at home or at the gym. This exercise also strengthens the smaller stabilizing muscles in your joints, which will allow

• Dumbbell Chop

  This variation of the standard shoulder dumbbell extension provides a full range of body motion and incorporates leg and core work as well. It's also an excellent warm-up exercise as it works the entire body.

• Real Athlete: Figure Skater Stephane Vachon

  After eight years of pursuing his dream of becoming a professional skater, Stephane Vachon (RealJock username: svonice) gave it all up at 17, bowing under the pressures of homophobia. At 36, he began skating comp

• Real Athlete: Volleyball player Marcus Dodd

  Marcus Dodd is no stranger to the games people play. As a fraud risk consultant with PriceWaterhouseCoopers, he knows all the rules and all the tricks. Out of the office, he enjoys games as well, particularly volleyball. His team, Chicago Untouchables, pl

• Real Athlete: Swimmer Kyle Jackson

  Swimming in the Windy City is a breeze for Kyle Jackson, a 24-year-old search engine marketing professional. When he’s not at work, he submerges himself with the Chicago Smelts, an LGBT swim team in Chicago.

• Real Athlete: Wrestler Jason Knight

  U.S. Marshall Jason Knight, 35, knows a lot about wrestling. For a living, he wrestles good guys. For fun, he wrestles gay ones.

• Real Athlete: Triathlete Stanislav Dimitrov

  Growing up in Communist-era Bulgaria, Stanislav Dimitrov, 31, dreamed of being a sports star. Despite setback after setback, Stanislav persisted, until he was able to experience the sweet taste of victory.

• Real Athlete: Sprinter Brian Paul

  A 29-year-old landscape designer from Los Angeles, Brian Paul feels a need for speed. A veteran of the UCLA track team, Paul led Track Team LA to the Gay Games in Sydney as both a sprinter and a coach. How’s that for versatile?

• Bootcamp: Take it like a man

  No pain, no gain is back in a big way, soldier. Get down in the trenches and get your butt in shape with a bootcamp workout.

• Prehabilitation 101

  Prehabilitation means preventive training to stop injuries before they happen. Learn about the benefits of prehab and get smart prehab techniques for your injury-prone knees, shoulders, and lower back.

• Real Athlete: Swimmer Scott Robinson

  He leads the kind of active and well-rounded athletic life about which most guys just dream. Meet Scott Robinson, a successful environmental geologist by day and competitive swimmer and swim coach by night.

• Get hard and lean with kettlebell training

  If the Russian special forces and the U.S. Marine Corps strength train with it, it's got to be good. Meet the kettlebell, a big, heavy ball of iron that will give you a body that screams "ripped."

• Spinning vs. stationary biking

  "Before the class was over, my quads were blown and I was seeing stars," says world-class cyclist Chris Kostman. Find out why spinning kicks the wheels out from under its distant cousin, the stationary bike.

• Build a better body by hiking

  Indoor cardio got you down? Build a better body and have a lot more fun doing it with this eight-week hiking training program.

• Get the cross-training edge

  Competitive athletes use cross-training to improve their edge in specialized athletic disciplines. Find out how to incorporate it properly into your own workout regimen.

• Tennis, anyone?

  You may think of tennis as a country club social outlet for weatlhy suburbanites. Not anymore. Today, it's an all-out jock sport, requiring skill, stamina, and sweat. Plus, it's a great way to meet other gay guys.

• Pump and run: The lying pullover to a press

  The lying pullover to a press throws an effective curveball at your chest, back, shoulders, and triceps, and offers a comprehensive, time-effective workout when you've only got 15 minutes to spare. Learn the drill.

• Smith Machine triple-threat workout

  All you need is a Smith machine, your body weight, lots of intensity, and about 15 minutes to thoroughly nail your chest, back, and arms (biceps and triceps). Ready to rumble?

• Beef up your chicken legs

  They're supposed to be the biggest and strongest muscles in your body. So why do your legs look like Chicken Little's? These five exercises will put the beef in your backside, the ham in your hamstrings, and the crunch in your calves.

• Triple threat triceps

  Fact: The triceps comprise 66 percent of the upper arm. Don't ignore such prime real estate. Learn the best way to build triple-threat triceps.

• Take the plunge into aquatic fitness

  Triple Ironman champion and out gay athlete Christopher Bergland answers the question: What's so great about swimming?

• Stability ball push-up crunch

  The stability ball is an oft-overlooked, but very powerful workout tool. Check out this one-two muscle punch that gets your abs and your upper body in one simple exercise.

• Acupuncture for athletes

  All over the country athletes and fitness-focused individuals alike are taking solace in the various pressure techniques offered by the ancient Chinese therapy called acupuncture.

• Ultimate abs in 10 minutes (or less)

  When you shed your shirt in public you want to reveal washboard abs. Learn how to get hardcore abs in less than 10 minutes a day.

• Battle for the bicep bulge

  Are powerful, baseball-sized biceps the stuff of your dreams? Not if you follow our four-step plan a couple of times per week to work your biceps from every angle.

• Build a better back

  Latissimus dorsi. Middle trapezius. Spinal erectors. Rhomboids. They're some of the strongest muscles in the body, and to be a successful athlete you need them to be strong and well balanced. Get the information you need on the major muscle areas.

• Overcoming overtraining

  Decreased strength? Persistent muscle soreness? Loss of appetite? You may be suffering from overtraining. Learn the signs of overtraining—and how to recover from it quickly.

• The art of the pull-up

  Pull-ups are one of the most effective—and most dreaded—exercise routines in the planet, giving almost your entire upper body an intense workout. Learn the proper form and get the info you need to build up to an impressive set that will leave yo

• Introductory ergonometry

  Countless studies have shown that the sport of rowing is one of the best total body workouts around. Expert college rowing coach Topher Bordeau shows you the proper form for an intense rowing workout on the ergometer (aka rowing machine).

• Great gym cardio workouts

  Cardio workouts at the gym don't have to be boring or bad. Ultramarathon champion Christopher Bergland offers advice for creating kick-ass indoor cardio workouts.

• Build bigger, better shoulders

  Few sights stop you in your tracks faster than a man with an impressive pair of shoulders. Want to be that man? Follow our five-step plan.

• Keep your muscles while stengthening your heart

  Many guys shy away from excessive cardio because they worry it will slim down their muscles. Learn how to strengthen your muscles and your heart without compromise.

• Kickboxing rocks

  Kickboxing isn't just a great workout for strength training, cardio, and muscle coordination. It also gives your self-esteem a major kick in the pants. Learn all about this fast-action sport and how to get involved.

• The art of the push-up

  Want a complete upper body workout? Forget fancy machines and million dollar trainers. Learn the art of the pushup—it'll get ya (in a good way).

• Power pecs

  Want pectoral muscles you can brag about? Learn how to build them big, proportional and, most importantly, powerful in Power Pecs.

• Demystifying core training

  Core training supplies a solid base for strength, stamina, and correct form just about any sport. Find out why you need to strengthen your core, and how to do it.

• Real Athlete: Martial artist James Martinez

  Gay marital artist James Martinez moves with the grace of a snake and the strength of a tiger. Learn more about him and the Indonesian art form he practices in this exclusive interview.

• The perfect squat

  It's the best—and some say the most dangerous—exercise you can do for your lower body. But it's a must for serious strength trainers. Learn how to squat like a pro.

• Swim to recover from injury

  Throw one too many plates on the bench press last week? Read how swimming can get you back on the bench in no time.

• Run with a buddy

  Endurance running doesn't have to be a lonely sport. Find out why training with a partner will make you faster, stronger, and more likely to set a personal record.

• Real Athlete: Olympic Swimmer & Water Polo Player Rafael Polinario

  Real Jock caught up with Rafael Polinario, 46, poolside at the University of Toronto in Toronto, Canada. In his twenties, Polinario was a swimming phenomenon, Olympic swimming champion, and Cuban celebrity, before he was forced to defect to the U.S.

• Build up to a marathon

  Does the thought of running your first marathon fill you with excitement—and dread? Well fear not. Running champion Christopher Bergland shows you how to train for a marathon, one step at a time.

• Water polo: So hard, but so fun

  Want to try a sport where burly, half-naked men claw at one another in pool, their slippery bodies like so many tiger sharks? Try water polo. It's killer.