Dear Davey, Does it matter how far apart or close my hands are when doing a lat pulldown? Is one more effective than the other? Love, Jacob Dear Jacob, The lat pulldown is a great exercise for your back. Primarily, it works the lat muscles (hence the name) – but you’ll also feel this exercise in your biceps and traps. [...]

Dear Davey, Do you know of any good trapezius exercises? I’m having trouble finding any. From, Jeff Dear Jeff, The trapezius is a large superficial muscle that runs along your upper back, shoulder blades and neck. It performs a number of important functions in the body – but it is often overlooked in workouts. Recently, I’ve incorporated a very simple [...]

Bad backs and related injuries can be absolutely debilitating. They can translate to time out of work, sleepless nights and chronic pain. So it’s no wonder that people are very weary when it comes to their backs and exercise. The reality is, the best way to prevent debilitating back injuries down the road is to train regularly. If you go [...]

Many fitness enthusiasts are fairly committed to the gym and working out, but often perform the same routines with the same weights over and over again. They don’t see any changes in their bodies or increases in strength, and often excuse their lack of results with the mistaken belief that it takes many years to see any real changes. As [...]

A few days ago, while discussing the 7 ways that 2011 is the healthiest year of my life, I mentioned adding variety to my workout: Our muscles become accustomed to our routines, and thus they can become less challenging over time. By changing up our workout variables (like base of stability, rest time durations, sequencing, intervals in cardio training, exercise [...]

If you’ve ever thrown a few free weights around at the gym, you’ve probably at least seen the tried and true bench press and its friends, the incline and decline press. The three machines are very closely related – so, what’s the difference? When you perform a bench press, you are activating a full range of muscles. Obviously, your chest [...]

Bodybuilders love drop sets, and though you might not be competing or the next Mr. Olympia competition, they’re useful if (muscle) size is your thing. Drop sets tear deep into muscle tissue, thus causing explosive growth; use this technique to target muscles that are particularly stubborn. A drop set is a technique wherein, after completing a set of a given [...]

Just in case 17 push-up variations aren’t enough, I’ve got number 18. This variation, which originates from the good ole U.S. of A., is called the corkscrew push-up. I’m in love with it because it goes beyond the typical engagement of the upper body muscle groups to work your quads and calves. This is practically an entire full-body workout rolled [...]

Today, Davey Wavey Fitness (yes, this very blog that you are reading) hit an important milestone: 100,000 blog posts read! That’s no small feat, especially considering it has been just over four weeks since its launch in early August. To celebrate this milestone, I’m giving away a free iPod touch (yes, the one pictured here) to one of the next [...]

Curious to know how I hit the gym? I don’t mind sharing my secrets First, keep in mind that our goals probably aren’t the same (I focus heavily on arms) – and neither are our bodies. Having said that, I divide my routine into four days. Each workout takes about 90 minutes – maybe a tad more. I exercise six [...]