Which Lifts To Do

I use a lot of the principles shown in the powerlifting blog stronglifts.com with a few differences. I focus on the 3 main lifts: squat, deadlift, and bench press and take 2-3 days in between these lifts. Ideally you should rest during those 2-3 days. During days when I am not doing the 3 core exercises (Squat, Deadlift, and Bench Press), I will not work out at all or do an assistance exercise (Overhead Press, Barbell Row, or Neck). However, you should not exercise the same muscle group 2 days in a row, like doing Bench press one day and then doing overhead press the next day – because both exercises use arm and shoulder muscles. This wears those muscles out and prevents any gains in muscle mass. I like to also do abdominal exercises at the end of every exercise session. For abdominals, I do about 100 crunches where I sit on a chair and bring my knees toward my chest. For neck, I use the IronMind neck harness and do about 4 sets of 15 repetitions each for front, back, left and right. Besides giving you a bigger, stronger neck, these exercises reduce the amount of wrinkles in your face. I got my neck harness from ironmind.com. You can order a neck harness at that site and they have helpful youtube videos that show how to do neck exercises.