Tip: The Break-Through Pulldown

Can’t build a wide back? It’s most likely because your technique sucks and you can’t develop a mind-muscle connection (MMC) with the latissimus dorsi. The solution isn’t to do more of what isn’t working for you. Doing countless sets of crappy reps won’t make up for a lack of quality. If you want to build your back, invest some time improving the activation of the lats. Not All Pulldowns Are Created Equal Exactly how you perform pulldowns will determine if the lats are effectively stimulated. To bias the lats and build a great MMC throughout the entire range of motion, you need to train them all the way from fully stretched to fully shortened. To do this, use the single-arm “break-through” lat pulldown. The single-arm part of the name is fairly obvious. The break-through portion relates to the fact that you’re going to try and drive your elbow down to “break through” the leg pad at the bottom of the lift. This exercise has a couple of key benefits compared to traditional pulldowns. First, doing it one arm at a time helps you to focus all of your intention on one side. This means you can really feel the lat working. It also means your scapula can move more freely and can get into a full stretch easier. Using the rotating grip allows you to reach up and in-front of the body to create a good stretch on the lats. (A pronated grip doesn’t allow for this.) Second, using the leg pad as an immovable object to drive into provides a range check and really helps to create a high-quality peak contraction. Technique Tips There are some key techniques which really magnify this exercise’s effectiveness: Let the arm reach up and in-front of the body to achieve the lengthened position. This will immediately place tension through the lats. Initiate the movement by pulling the elbow down and in-front, NOT in back. This will keep tension on the lats and keep the upper back from taking over. Keep your arm path out in-front for as long as possible. Keeping a long lever arm creates and maintains maximal tension. Only at the bottom of the lift do you finish by driving your elbow around into the spine. Imagine trying to stab your elbow through the leg pad towards the base of your spine to achieve a great peak contraction. Hold this for a two-count. After a few sets of 10-12 reps you’ll feel your lats like never
Origin: Tip: The Break-Through Pulldown

Tip: 3 Steps to Preventing Wrist Pain

The bench press and the overhead press cause a lot of compression on your wrists. This can lead to pain and reduced mobility if not addressed. Luckily, you can protect them with the proper grips, some between-set moves, and a little special attention at the end of your workouts. 1 – Check Your Grip When doing any barbell pressing exercise, you need bone support. Placing the bar too high on the palm will lead to excessive wrist extension. This will overstretch your wrist flexors, leading not only to pain, but to far less force exerted into the bar. Instead, grip the bar towards the base of the palm and squeeze it as hard as you can. This will allow you to drive your wrist bones directly into the bar leading to a much better transfer of force. Grip Setup for the Strict Press (False Grip) Proper False Grip, Overhead Strict Press Improper False Grip, Overhead Strict Press I’m a big fan of the false grip for the overhead press. It’s very comfortable and easy to set up for most people. Placing your thumbs on top of the bar lets the bar sit much more naturally on your wrists, which leads to much greater force exerted into the bar. It has the added benefit of putting your shoulders in a more neutral position which can help to save you from impingement. Grip Setup for the Barbell Bench Press Proper Bench Press Grip Improper Bench Press Grip Most lifters should be wrapping their thumbs around the bar. Unlike the overhead press, if the bar rolls forward in your hands during the bench, it has nowhere to go but right across your neck. Although some lifters can put up huge numbers with a false grip, the risks just outweigh the benefits unless you really know how to lock it in. To grip the bar properly, place it diagonally in the base of your palm. Think of externally rotating your shoulders so that your grip tightens and you get the feeling of “breaking the bar” in your palms. You should feel your wrist bones drive up into the bar and your triceps tighten as you squeeze. 2 – Do Some Pulling or Gripping Exercises Between Sets Doing some sort of pulling or gripping exercise after pressing is not only great for your shoulders, but your wrists too. Rows, pull-ups, weighted carries, or hanging from a bar will fire up your forearm flexors, get some blood flowing to your wrists, and allow for some slight distraction of the carpal bones. Even if you choose to go light to focus on your pressing, the extra forearm work will help keep your wrists prepped for your next set. 3 – Do Direct Forearm Exercises Give your wrists a little TLC at the end of a heavy pressing day by doing some direct forearm work. Train wrist flexors and extensors, and do some form of radial deviation and ulnar deviation for a balanced, well-developed forearm. Here are a few exercises that will help you target all of these components: Extensors Reverse curls are a great way to isometrically train the wrist extensors. Keeping your wrists locked out as you do curls will lead to a stronger grip and a more stable bar when you press. Flexors “Hand blades” are a great way to strengthen your forearm flexors and add mobility to your wrists. Keep your fingers straight and give yourself a little bit of assistance as you go onto your fingertips. Radial/Ulnar Deviation Doing rapid pulsing contractions with the forearm will increase blood flow and restore some movement to stiff wrists. Choose a light Body Bar or barbell and perform radial and ulnar deviations for approximately 30 seconds. Decompression Stretch Decompression feels amazing after loading your wrists with heavy presses. You can easily decompress the wrists by placing your feet on the break in your wrists and pulling up with your
Origin: Tip: 3 Steps to Preventing Wrist Pain

Tip: 6 Things That Affect Ab Visibility

Strength isn’t a great indicator that someone will have visible abs, and while diet can play a role, there are people who have ab definition even when they’re not dieting. The truth is, abs can be a sign of multiple things. Here are six variables that affect their visibility: 1 – Genetics The science of abs is pretty cool. Christian Thibaudeau has explained how some people – even when they get lean – won’t be able to see their abs because their abdominal muscle bellies aren’t naturally thick. (See: Abs Are Built in the Gym, Not the Kitchen.) He’s also explained tendinous attachments (they’re what create the lines between abs) and how they can play a role in the amount of separation you see between abdominal muscles. In short, they determine whether you’ll have a 4-pack, 6-pack, or 8-pack, no matter how lean and muscular you are. It’s genetic. 2 – Training Those who don’t genetically have thicker ab muscles will need to do more work to hypertrophy theirs. Diet alone won’t cut it. The abs are a muscle group, so this shouldn’t come as a surprise. Train them directly with resistance. The big lifts alone won’t cut it. 3 – Body Fat There’s a point when, even if you DO have developed abs, they won’t be visible if you’re carrying too much body fat. No amount of ab training will make them visible if they’re underneath several inches of adipose tissue. You knew that, right? 4 – Digestion Some people say chronic digestive distress can lead to increased body fat around the midsection. I’m not sure I buy that. But I will say that stomach distension and pressure in the gut (from gas, constipation, undigested food sitting in the stomach, etc.) can make your belly protrude. And extreme protrusion alone will make ab separation less visible, unless you flex hard. So even if you’re someone who’s lean enough to have abs, slow motility and poor digestion can simply make it harder to display them. 5 – Water Retention Ask any fit woman when she wants to get professional photos taken and there’s a good chance she’ll schedule it around her period. Why? Because there are a handful of days every month when we retain more water than usual, and it can affect the appearance of our midsection. But even men experience water retention for various reasons. Sometimes both males and females will use diuretics before big events in order to manipulate water and increase definition all over, including the abs. 6 – Skin Tone Ab definition is slightly more visible when you have a tan. It just makes what you have easier to see. This is especially true if you’re lean enough to have ab definition, but you haven’t been able to build much muscle thickness there. So if you’re pale skinned and you have a shadow of an ab or two, try slapping some fake tanner on and see if that makes them a bit more visible. To recap, having visible abs mainly depends on what your mom and dad gave you, how much muscle you’ve built in the midsection, and how lean you are. Contributing factors may include digestion, water retention, and skin
Origin: Tip: 6 Things That Affect Ab Visibility

Tip: Is Cardio Essential?

Is cardio essential? In a nutshell, yes. Sorry. Let’s break it down: Is cardio necessary for a powerlifter to lift a heavy barbell once? No. But if he’d like to meet his grandkids – or least not be a wheezing sack of soft potatoes by age 40 – then yes. Is cardio necessary to lose fat? No. Does it make fat loss faster and easier to maintain? Yes. It also improves insulin sensitivity, which basically allows you to “use” carbs better for things like stimulating protein synthesis and restoring glycogen. Is cardio necessary to build big muscles? No. Can a little cardio help you become a better bodybuilder? Yes, via improved capillary density and venous return, higher work capacity, better/faster recovery, etc. And you won’t gas out during long time under tension training, supersets, drop sets, or other tiring hypertrophy training methods. Do you need a lot of cardio? The good news is that it doesn’t take much. For the slow stuff, try two sessions per week, 65-70% of max heart rate or 120-140 BPM, for 20 minutes. Throw in a CrossFit-style workout every once in a while. Shorter-duration HIIT and longer-duration cardio have unique heart health benefits, so you need a blend. Do YOU Need Cardio? Here’s a popular test I came up with a while back: Run one mile on the treadmill with the speed set at 6 miles per hour. Don’t try to go faster; the idea is to be able to SUSTAIN this pace. That’ll take you exactly 10 minutes and it should be pretty easy. If it’s not, you need cardio… or you’re just too fat. Either way, you’ve learned something. Here’s another way to know. Let’s say you’re doing a classic drop set on the leg press: you do 8-10 reps and your partner takes off a couple of plates when you reach failure or close to it. After a couple of drops, what gives out first – your legs or your ability to breathe? If your legs have a few more reps in them but you just can’t suck in enough air, then you need some
Origin: Tip: Is Cardio Essential?

Tip: A Better Leg Extension

Need to isolate your quads? Love hitting them with leg extensions? Great! But you’re probably shortchanging yourself on them. The rectus femoris extends the knee and flexes the hip. So to get a truly full contraction, the hip must also flex instead of staying idle in a traditional leg extension. To do this, add a hip hinge (bend forward) as you extend the knee. Once the concentric or lifting phase is completed, slowly lean back into the seat as you lower your legs to get back into a stretched position. This subtle change allows you to get more degrees of motion via hip flexion. Note: I know it looks like I’m rounding my back instead of hip hinging in the video. That’s because the tank top I wore was quite long on me. (5’4″ problems. Anyone relate?) Silly or Useful? Think about it: Lifters often manipulate hamstring exercises by leaning forward on seated leg curls or elevating their toes on RDLs. I know this exercise looks a little weird – maybe really weird – but try it before you knock it. Once you give it a shot, you’ll feel a deeper contraction than you’re used to on standard leg extensions. You’ll also notice that the added hip hinge forces you to control the movement instead of kicking with momentum. How to Program It You could either replace your regular leg extensions with this or do it on a separate day. My recommendation? Do it with high reps toward the end of a workout. Go to failure or very close. Let me know how flaming hot that burn in your quads
Origin: Tip: A Better Leg Extension

Tip: A New Way to Make Overnight Oats

Oats Overnight Around twenty years ago, I stumbled upon something weird at a hotel’s breakfast buffet: a cold oatmeal dish. It was an odd mixture of old-fashioned oats, fruit cocktail, some type of cream, and probably a ton of added sugar. I had a feeling the hotel was just trying to get rid of their leftovers by combining them all into one dish, but I tried it. And it was pretty damn good. Then I fell into a sugar coma and was kicked out of the hotel for napping in a fern. Later, I started making a healthier version: oats, protein powder, and frozen berries. Mix it all up with water and let it soak overnight. Breakfast is served, no cooking required. It was delicious, so I threw the recipe onto the internet. Recently, “overnight oats” has been trending and there are a thousand variations out there… even a pre-made product, because apparently people are THAT damn lazy. I won’t say I invented it, but I think I helped popularize cold oats in the bodybuilding community. Well, here’s a new twist on the recipe. Overnight Pumpkin Oats Sorry to go all “basic white girl at Starbucks” on you, but yeah, this is a pumpkin spice recipe and, yes, my Uggs are super cute. Ingredients 1 Can pure pumpkin, 15 ounces (not pumpkin fie filling) 2 Cups rolled oats 5 Scoops (150g) Metabolic Drive® Protein, vanilla Handful pecans (about one-fourth of a cup) Ground cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves or allspice – to taste Optional: Splenda or equivalent low-calorie sweetener – to taste Directions Dump the canned pumpkin into a big bowl and mix in all the ingredients except the pecans. You’re going to think the protein powder and oats aren’t going to incorporate into the thick pumpkin, but they will. Just keep stirring. For the spices, I suggest a lot of cinnamon and a dash of everything else, but it’s up to you. It’s pretty tasty with cinnamon alone. Make it a couple of times and you’ll figure out what you like. It’s also perfectly fine without additional sweetener, but add a bit if you want it sweeter. Transfer the mixture to a flat baking dish or a Tupperware-type container. Spread evenly. Top with pecans and another dash of cinnamon. Cover. Refrigerate overnight or at least 4 hours before digging in. Calories and Macros This stuff is extremely satiating. You’ll be full for hours and you won’t fall asleep in the nearest fern. You might get six servings out of this, but I’ll assume you’re a big eater. Divide the dish into four big-boy servings and each one contains: Calories:376 Protein:33 grams Carbs:42 grams (8 grams fiber) Fat:9 grams
Origin: Tip: A New Way to Make Overnight Oats

Tip: Are Single-Joint Exercises Worthless?

The Dawn of 30-Minute Workouts? When I first started lifting weights, I lifted for two hours a day, six days a week, because that’s what Joe Weider told me to do. Those weren’t his direct instructions, but that’s what was implied by the workouts of the professional bodybuilders featured in his flagship magazine, Muscle & Fitness. The trouble was, neither me nor any of the other poor newbies that followed that training template knew that all those freaks were on steroids. It just wasn’t talked about… ever. As such, we didn’t know that the drugs allowed them to get away with training so much and that we should have been following an entirely different set of rules. My two-hour workouts probably slowed my progress more than enhanced it, but worse than that was all the stuff I missed out on from being in the gym all the damn time. Missed parties! Missed weddings! Even missed funerals (sorry Ma, sorry Pa, sorry Aunt Trudy, sorry Duke)! I had so little spare time that the only woman whose touch I knew all those years was the female powerlifter whose calloused hand would sometimes brush against mine when she spotted me. For all that, I’ve often wished I’d put an axe in Joe Weider’s chest. Man, I’d do it now if I knew where he was buried and was willing to put up with all the flak from the woke people who’d be offended by my belated act of vengeance. Anyhow, as I grew more knowledgeable, my workout periods shrank by at least half and I made a lot more progress. Thank you, exercise science. But what’s this? A new study says I could probably halve my gym time AGAIN. It actually says that if I do multi-joint exercises, then all my single-joint exercises (biceps curls, triceps extensions, etc.) are a waste of time. That means no direct biceps work and no direct triceps work, among other things, and the findings even apply to steroid users, too. Could this be the dawn of 30-minute workouts? What They Did Brazilian scientists rounded up 30 male bodybuilders, each of whom had been training for at least three years. They split them up into four groups. The first group trained the primary muscle groups with nothing but standard multi-joint exercises for 8 weeks. The second group did the same multi-joint exercises for 8 weeks but added a few single-joint exercises to the mix. Now here’s where it got interesting. The third group mirrored the exercise protocols of the first group (nothing but multi-joint exercises) and the fourth group mirrored the workouts of the second (multi-joint exercises and single-joint exercises), but these two groups combined training with weekly injections of 600 mg. of a testosterone ester and 200 mg. of stanozolol. The workouts programs were fairly sophisticated. Each lifter worked out 6 days a week and they were required to vary rep ranges and rest intervals from week to week. A typical Monday/Thursday workout consisted of the following: A. Barbell Bench Press B. Incline Barbell Bench Press C. Military Press D. Pulley Elbow Extensions Since elbow extensions are a single-joint exercise, they were excluded from the workouts of both the natural and the steroid-assisted multi-joint exercise groups. Each lifter was also required to take in 2.5 to 3 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight. What They Found Adding single-joint movements to their workouts was pretty much a waste of time in both the “natural” group and, surprisingly, the steroid group. Those who did biceps curls made virtually the same amount of progress in both strength and size as the lifters who stuck to multi-joint movements. Those who did triceps extensions didn’t get any stronger – in their triceps or in their bench – than the lifters who didn’t do them. The steroid users, of course, made far greater gains overall than the natural lifters. The researchers wrote the following in their conclusion: “The addition of single-joint exercises to a resistance training program that already contains multi-joint exercises brings no additional benefit in terms of muscle performance and anthropometric changes in trained men, whether they are using anabolic steroids or not. “These results might help to design more time-efficient resistance training programs, since it suggests that trained men can save time not including single-joint exercises in their routines and still achieve optimal results.” What to Make of This Info I gotta tell you, the results of this study are a little disconcerting. Do we accept the results of this one study and stop doing direct work for biceps and triceps? Do we kick leg extensions to the training gutter? How about leg curls? At the very least, the study’s results probably still don’t apply to the pro bodybuilders that mucked up my early training days or their current counterparts. Unlike the steroid users in this study who used less than a gram of steroids a week, modern pros often use upwards of 3 grams a week. They’re so roided up that they almost undoubtedly still benefit from any and all
Origin: Tip: Are Single-Joint Exercises Worthless?

Tip: Everyday Lateral Raises

While becoming stronger for sets of 5-8 reps on the basic pressing movements is the key to great delts, there’s no doubt that properly executed lateral raises can help you get there faster. How? Both by directly developing the delts and by improving your capacity to recruit them so they’re better stimulated when you do heavy pressing work. When used to develop a solid mind-muscle connection, lateral raises can be done pretty much every day. Here’s why: First, they cause very little muscle damage. Muscle damage is created when you’re stretching the muscle fibers under load and tension. That occurs during the eccentric phase of the movement. In lateral raises, only the top quarter of the range of motion is under significant loading. Let’s say that in the finish position your arms form a 90-degree angle with your torso. Your delts are only under significant loading when the arms reach about 70-75 degrees. Before that you aren’t moving opposite the source of resistance (which is directly down). You’re moving more sideways than up. It’s the same thing when you’re going down – the deltoid (especially the medial head) will be under load only for the first quarter of the eccentric range of motion, which is when the muscle is shortened. When the muscle is stretched, there’s literally zero tension on the delts. On top of that, if you do the lateral raise properly (no swinging at the bottom where there’s no resistance and you can easily speed up), you won’t be using a lot of weight, which also decreases the amount of muscle damage. Since the movement isn’t neurologically demanding, it likely won’t hurt neurological recovery either. How to Make the Most of Lateral Raises Initiate the movement by trying to push away, not lift up. This will put more focus on the medial head of the delt and less on traps. Getting tension in the traps instead of the shoulders causes frustration for a lot of lifters. If you’re one of them, see my tip on this. This also works with the incline variation: Use zero momentum in the first half of the movement. From the bottom to a bit higher than the mid-range, the resistance is very low. You could easily do half of the lateral raise with 60-pound dumbbells even if you can only use 20 pounds for the full range. Since there’s very little resistance, creating acceleration in the bottom is super easy. The problem is, if you create enough momentum, it’ll take away from the muscle contraction work that occurs in the final portion of the range of motion. So do the first half of the movement under control; focus hard on not accelerating. At the top of the range of motion, hold for two seconds per rep. This is helpful for two reasons. First, the active range of motion is short; the delts only contract maximally for the last 15-20 degrees. That’s not a lot of time under tension to create muscle fiber fatigue and force adaptation. By holding at the top, you increase muscle fiber fatigue. And second, the hold helps develop mind-muscle connection. While holding the top position, also try to push out. This will switch even more of the stress on the medial head of the delt, which is the part that we really want to develop. Shoot for a set duration of at least 40 seconds. Since we aren’t causing muscle damage, we must rely on muscle fiber fatigue as well as lactate and growth factor accumulation to stimulate growth. This requires a bit more time under tension. With the two-second hold at the top, that comes down to around 12 reps per set. You can easily do 3-4 sets of 12 in this fashion every day to improve mind-muscle connection and stimulate
Origin: Tip: Everyday Lateral Raises

Tip: Four Reasons to Use the 1.5 Method

The 1.5 method is simple: Perform full reps with partial reps between each. Although 1.5 means “one-and-a-half,” quarter reps can also be used. Let’s break down the benefits and look at some different ways to use this proven training method. 1 – This method adds time under tension (TUT) to the portion of an exercise you might otherwise be under-loading. Determine the strongest half or quarter of an exercise, then do an extra half or quarter rep in that portion. It doesn’t matter how big the partial reps are – no one will be measuring with a goniometer. As a general rule, just avoid going through your sticking point. This will vary from exercise to exercise. For example, in a deadlift, if you struggle just below your knees, then stay above them for the extra partial reps. Here are some other examples: Snatch-Grip RDL, Half Rep at Top Lateral Raise, Quarter Rep at Bottom 2 – 1.5s increase TUT in the portion of an exercise that emphasizes a certain muscle. Decide what your target muscle is, then determine what portion of the exercise loads the muscle the most. For example, booty-builders might want to squat deep to get more hip flexion and glute loading. So do an extra partial rep at the bottom to, well, hit your bottom. (See what I did there?) To hit your pecs more in a barbell bench press, do an extra touch-and-go off your chest to really fire up those pecs. The top portion of a squat will emphasize quads more, so spend more time at the top with a partial rep. Bench Press, Quarter Rep at Bottom Safety-Bar Cyclist Squat, Quarter Rep at Top 3 – This method helps you spend more time in the portion of an exercise that better fits your structure. Certain exercises aren’t inherently “bad,” but there are positions and ranges of motion that might cause you a few issues if your structure isn’t suited for them. Determine the most “compromising” position of an exercise based on your structure and injury history, then spend less time in that position while creating more TUT in the safer position. Since you won’t be able to handle your normal weight using the one-and-a-half method, you won’t load your cranky positions as much, while still hammering the rest of the movement. For longevity purposes, this idea just makes sense. Dip, Half Rep at Top 4 – This method can be used to address a technique flaw. Pick the portion of an exercise you suck at, then spend more time there. Do you lose tension at the bottom of a squat? Then add an extra partial rep to work on it. Do you compensate at the top of a chin-up by rounding your shoulders forward? Spend more time at the top and work on it. Stop avoiding it and address the problem head-on! Parallel-Grip Chin-Up, Quarter Rep at Top Don’t sweat too much whether you’re doing an extra half or quarter rep – you can do and call it what you
Origin: Tip: Four Reasons to Use the 1.5 Method

Tip: Eccentric-less Training For Size

You might remember when I coached Daryl Gee for the Mr. Olympia. One particularity of his routine was daily “eccentric-less” training. It consisted of various forms of Prowler pushing and sled dragging. Remember, the eccentric phase of a lift is usually the lowering or negative portion where the muscles lengthen and stretch. Eccentric-less work removes that portion. If you think about pushing against a sled, each step forward against the weight is concentric. There’s no negative. I also used frequent sled work with a 63-year-old bodybuilder who was making a comeback. He wanted to get back into competing, but his knees were messed up. He couldn’t do any traditional lower-body exercises – no squats, leg presses, lunges, leg extensions, etc. He’d come to see me three days a week and we’d do various types of Prowler pushing and sled drags for his lower body. He ended up winning the overall against guys half his age and his legs were his best body part! He was also able to resume regular lower-body training afterward because his knees were fixed. Two Lessons From This Prowler/sled work is effective at increasing size or strength if you use the right parameters. This type of exercise can be done very often. Sled work is pretty much devoid of an eccentric load. As such, the amount of muscle damage created is very low. That means you can recover quickly. For hypertrophy, since you’re not causing much muscle damage, you must rely on other pathways to stimulate growth: Fiber fatigue Lactate accumulation The release of growth factors. All of these are maximized when the time under load is significant, but not so long that loading has to be light. So 30-45 seconds of work seems to work very well. If strength is your goal, opt for very heavy sets of 10-50 meters with an ideal distance of 30 meters. And, obviously, you can do sled work for conditioning. You can go as high as two minutes per set. I prefer to stay in the 50-70 second zone with either a challenging weight or a challenging speed. When you do frequent (even daily) Prowler/sled work, do one version per day for 3-4 sets. While very little muscle damage is done, you still use a lot of fuel when doing them, so you can end up releasing too much cortisol if you go too heavy on the volume. Note: The 63-year-old bodybuilder used 2-3 variations per workout, but that’s all he did on those workouts. If you add them to your sessions, select one variation per
Origin: Tip: Eccentric-less Training For Size