DIET | DETECTIVE^®

Maintaining the same grip on the bar as you lift works your muscles the same way, over and over. "Varying where and how you hold the bar can rechannel your efforts to different sections of the same muscle group, leaving you with a thoroughly worked muscle that has no choice but to grow larger and stronger," says Will Power, celebrity trainer for Paramount Pictures Studio Gym in Hollywood, California. To get more results from your basic routine, try shaking hands with a few of these finger-altering alternatives.

Thicker back
Sit down on a seated row machine and you'll find a set of handles that keeps your palms facing each other, spaced about six inches apart. Instead, exchange these handles for the long bar attached to the lat pull-down machine and grab it with palms facing down, hands spaced about shoulder width apart. This variation develops more width throughout the back while working your posterior deltoids, the rear head of the shoulders, which most guys neglect.

If you find your biceps tire out before your back muscles, try wrapping your thumbs on the same side as your fingers so your hands "hook" the bar instead of grab it. This variation makes it harder for the biceps to get involved and can be used with any pulling exercise for the back.

Wider arms
Triceps press-downs are typically performed with the hands about 12 inches apart, palms down. Flopping your grip so your palms are up changes this exercise into a pulling motion that can place extra stress on the outer head of the triceps (the most difficult one to develop). Since this muscle lies along the outer edge of the upper arm, hitting it can make your arms look fuller from the front or back.

Broader chest
The rules of bench pressing are placing your hands shoulder-width apart, with your palms facing your feet. Reversing the grip isn't the answer here (that move only impinges the shoulder blades) but altering the distance between your hands is. A wider grip works the outer pectorals whereas a closer grip hits the inner pectorals (plus the triceps). "Incorporating all three variations can build up your chest twice as fast," says Power.

Bigger biceps
The granddaddy of arm exercises (the barbell curl) is usually performed with hands shoulder-width apart, palms up, which develops the biceps mostly from where they connect in front of the elbow to around the center of the muscle. To work more muscles and add even more size, leave your hands shoulder-width apart but reverse your grip 180 degrees so that your palms face down. Curling with this grip strengthens the forearms, shoulders and your grip at the same time.

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