There are various exercises that will strengthen your internal organs. If you don't strengthen your internal organs along with your external muscles, you will waste a lot of effort. If 80% of bodybuilding is nutrition and your digestive system is operating at 50% capacity, you are propably wasting at least 40% of your effort.

You cannot have correct exercise technique without proper breathing. For example, a lot of self-appointed "experts" tell you to breathe on the way down in a bench press. This is nonsense. As you lower the weight, the rib cage contracts--you can't fully inhale during that motion. Instead, breathe in through your nose with the weight at the top, hold it with a half second pause, then lower the weight. Exhale through the mouth on the way up.

To increase your dumbbell press try placing a firm piece of foam (hard, spongy, packing material, about an inch and a half thick) beneath your head for support. Have your training partner put it in place as you lie back on the bench with the dumbbells.

Protein must have accompanying fat (lipids) in order for the body to fully utilize it. Protein burns up one and one third its own weight in fat. A high-protein diet by itself will cause you to lose weight. In contrast, 24 grams of protein a day combined with 36 grams of fat (lipids) will cause you to pack on the pounds at such a rapid rate that other people will sidle up to you and whisper, "What are you taking?" They'll think you're on steroids.

The foundation of your strength is not in your hips or back. It's in your abdominal cavity. Contract your muscles in your abdominal cavity while lifting and watch your lifts increase.

Use dumbbells to strenthen the sides of your body--one-dumbbell presses, side bends, and the like. Ignore the sides of your body in your training and you create a "weak link" that will come back to haunt you later.

Stretching is important when exercising. In addition to avoiding injury your performance will be better.

Stretch before and after exercise. You should do a ten-minute warmup before starting to stretch (such as level walking on a treadmill). Begin to stretch slowly and stop short of pain. Stretching should feel good.

The muscles that can be stretched are forearms, wrists, shoulders, back, chest, neck, triceps, hips, quads, hamstrings, inner thighs, knees, calves. The activity or sport that you participate in will determine which muscles need to be stretched.

The muscles are the engines of the body and the ligaments the pulleys.

Light pumping exercises may enlarge the muscles but will not strengthen the ligaments.

Your will look strong but you will be weak.

Genes determine bone shape and size, but mechanical stress by muscle, body weight, and physical activity influence bone shape, density, and health throughout life.

Loaded (stressed) bone strengthens, and unloaded bone weakens.

For example, an astronauts' bones weaken in outer space with no gravity pull on them. The shaft of the humerus (long upper arm bone) in a professional tennis player's dominant arm gets denser and thicker from the extra load.

The body increases its bone mass until about the age of forty, after which a gradual loss begins. Training with weights on a regular basis before the age of forty, along with regular consumption of foods containing calcium and/or calcium supplements, will insure the maximum bone density will be obtained.

Continuing this regimen after the age of forty (or even starting it) will help to prevent the loss of bone mass. Lifting weights 2-3 times a week will do much to prevent osteoporosis.

80 % of the men in our society are walking around with one leg shorter than the other. Most of those men don't actually have one leg shorter than the other one in actual length--their hip and/or spine is out of balance. This problem, which often causes recurring injuries when you lift weights, can be easily detected. Simply lie on your back with your shoes on, toes pointed up to the ceiling. Have a friend hold your feet--one in each hand--and look at your heels. If they don't match up evenly, one of your legs is shorter than the other. You shouldn't do any heavy weight training until you get this problem corrected.

Their are several way to correct this kind of problem. You can use the Pilates Method, which will help to lenthen and balance your muscles using around 600 different exercises.

Other methods that may be necessary in your case are:      chiropractic, rolfing, massage therapy, and yoga.

Using a combination of two or more of the above may be necessary.

The simple "wrist-roller" is one of the most effective grip development devices ever made. A round dowel rod of 2-4 inches in diameter, a foot or longer in length, with a hole drilled through the middle is a "wrist roller."

Run a rope through the hole. Tie a knot at one end of the rope to keep it from slipping through the hole and tie a weight at the other end. Hold the wrist roller out in front of you, palms down. Rotate the wrist roller so that the rope curls around the wrist roller as the weight comes up. Reverse your wrist rotation to lower the weight.

A tapered wrist roller is more effective because it allows the wrists to be held straight. An untapered wrist roller forces the wrists to be locked at an outward angle, diminishing leverage. The tapered wrist roller has a middle of approximately 2.5" in diameter and with ends approximately 4" in diameter.

A lifter who uses only barbells will not exercise the sides of his body as one who uses a dumbbell for one-arm lifts does. Even the lifter who uses a dumbbell will not exercise the muscles that rotate the body. Pilates exercises work those muscles which will in turn help to prevent injury and increase overall strength.