The bench press and the curl are the two most popular lifts in any gym, whether it’s a professional gym, a home gym or a college or high school weight room. There are many versions of curls: barbell curls with a straight bar or cambered bar, standing or seated dumbbell curls, preacher curls, incline curls, concentration curls, reverse curls, hammer curls and—one that’s rarely discussed—spider curls.

Q: I enjoyed your answer in the August ’05 column regarding the thing that bodybuilders most overlook, which is the overload principle. What would you say are the two most common mistakes they make on top of that?

A: I would say that bodybuilders fail to vary their training often enough. The content, volume, intensity and duration of workouts must be varied, since the body rapidly adapts to a stressor, which is when progress stops. It’s the variety principle.

In 1963, 17-year-old Randy Gardner came up with what he considered a novel experiment for the Greater San Diego, California, Science Fair. Randy thought it would be interesting to find out what his mental reaction to extended sleep deprivation might be. He choose to stay awake for 264 hours, or 11 straight days. Two friends alternated staying awake to ensure that Randy didn’t doze off. The experiment also caught the attention of noted Stanford University sleep researcher William C. Dement, who monitored the experiment with the intent of publishing the results in a scientific journal.

One of the axioms in dieting is that you should never eat food past a certain time of day. For some, that means not eating anything past dinnertime, or about 6 p.m., although the time varies with individuals. The basic rule, however, is that you should eat the majority of your calories while you’re most active—for most people during the day. That way you’re more likely to burn off excess calories.