The five exercises I have chosen will not cause overuse injuries as the heavy compound movements can. In fact, if you keep them in weekly, you’ll prevent injuries.
If you’re not spending time with each of these patterns weekly, you’re leaving gains on the table.
You can only set 60-second rep records in the deadlift for so long before you experience burnout and injury. Here’s how to increase your reps without the burnout and injury.
There are a ton of great back exercises to choose from, but what exercises translate to more pulling power? More specifically, what exercises bring up weaknesses found in your erectors, lats, and rhomboids?
Pick one or two of these hacks, run them for about two months, and see where it takes your bench. Hack #4 was a tremendous help getting my raw bench to the best it’s ever felt.
The SSB is quite possibly the best bar known to man. FYI, this article isn’t meant to sell you the SSB, but we’ve had so much success with this bar; it’s hard not to share our experiences with it.
Do two to three work sets at the beginning of one of the weekly upper body training sessions while the nervous system and muscles are fresh.
Without a doubt, there are some things you need to pay attention to when performing and coaching squats across the board. I will list them here.
Following these phases, there seems to be, on average, around a five to seven percent increase in 1RM bench by the end of phase two, with a further increase after phase three.
Do your shoulders hurt at the bottom of the bench? If so, what are you doing to fix it? This exercise may help.
Watch this 4-part video series to learn everything from the technique of the movement to more advanced methods like overload training.
An in-depth analysis of band movements I heavily depend on for augmenting my physical prowess on the mat, and for any athletes I coach irrespective of sport.
If you decide to embark on the decline press, for whatever reason, regardless of whether or not the pursuit is to target these particular fibers of the pec, you may want to consider alternate options.
Let’s go over the different categories of at-home training that you can begin adding to your routine right now: Bodyweight Training, Make Light Weights Feel Heavy, and Get Create and Go Outside.
You down with GPP? You know, General Physical Preparedness. If not, it’s time to get back in shape to dramatically and positively affect your total strength. You can start this process with a medicine ball.
Since starting this recovery routine, that I do on both of my upper body days per week, I have had far less pain and nagging injuries. Save your shoulders!
Here’s how you can quickly jump through your current plateau and advance to the next stage of strength.
Many of my online clients and members of my gym don’t have a squat rack or bench at home, unfortunately. However, many of them have access to a barbell. Are you in this same predicament?
A cluster 6-second pause execution as Dr. Serrano demonstrates with patients in the video combines to create excellent conditions for muscle growth and body fat loss at the same time.
We should not lose sight of the benefits that bodyweight training provides. Take a break from the barbell and machines and try Prison Squats, Nordic Leg Curls, Jump Squats, and Jump Tucks for newfound strength and explosiveness.
This item is one of the most cost-effective ways to add a ton of variation to your training and enable you to perform a greater number of exercises.
I see lots of bands, bodyweight exercises, and lightweight information, which is all great, but in my opinion, sleds are right up there. I can train every body part with one sled.
This article is not about the bands or weights but HOW you use the bands or weights. You can use these 12 techniques to keep your workouts fresh and keep your sanity without going to the gym.
Get your ass out there and start dragging some sleds! It’s not as much of a drag as you think it is. With 22 variations to get you started, the possibilities are truly endless.
It’s in these moments, we wish we would’ve put a little more energy and cash into our home gym. Here’s how to start small yet smart.
Speed is king, right? Then you’d better train it. I have some medicine ball throws to get your athletes up to speed. Make sure those movements are crisp and fast! Go, go, go!
We are on a budget and in a hurry and we don’t have the space, we just need stuff to press, hoist, lift with and not break the bank.
Here are my top budget-conscious choices for an extremely effective home workout.
Yes, sandbags. Nothing new for many coaches but always used as a tool when “better” training implements weren’t available.
This split is customizable, flexible, and effective in helping to build and maintain lean muscle mass. Not to mention, you don’t have to have a pricey gym membership in order to see results.
Life gets hectic with viruses, gym closings and holidays, work, and travel, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get some training in.
Here are six conditioning finishers that I’ve used to help clients to end tremendous sessions but also give them swift kicks in the asses, coming back for more.
If you think having one bar means you can’t do max effort variations, you’re wrong. It’s time to think outside of the box. If you can’t, no worries! I already have, and I came up with 230 variations you can use with a straight bar. No specialty bars required!
These multiple-movement sequences link a variety of kettlebell exercises for a full-body, more brutal and effective workout that can be done anywhere.
Anchor this suspension system and you instantly have at the very minimum, twelve exercises to train back and shoulders.
In this 5-week program, I include training modalities that your biceps respond to by growing. We’ll cover peak contraction, isotension, giant sets, extended sets, plus a great bonus finisher to encourage a biceps stretch!
Loaded carries are so effective that you won’t find one program that we offer that does not include them on the regular.
A large amount of blood into the shoulder feels great, and over time will help them to round out. These eight exercises are easy to do anywhere, and they work great for extra workouts. Here are three shoulder workouts to get you started.
I started late in the game and unfortunately have the scars to prove it. Now with so much information literally at your fingertips, you don’t have to go through the wringer like me. Learn from my mistakes and incorporate these exercises into your program.
Another way to combat the shoulder and elbow pain present in many powerlifters is by doing bicep curls, and doing them properly. It will help prevent injury when doing your bench press.
Trends come and go and with them, certain exercises. With that in mind, which exercises does a seasoned bodybuilder say are outdated?
Elbow pain is a common ailment of powerlifters, particularly when it comes to the bench press. However, an unlikely move can help treat and prevent bench press related elbow pain.
Are you really utilizing your muscles at their maximum strength?
Even though it’s 6 reps, you might want to tell the person who wants to use the cable machine they’ll have to wait a bit. This exercise puts the burn in slow burn.
You really don’t appreciate something until it’s gone. But man, when you’re able to bench again… there’s nothing like it.
OK, maybe I shouldn’t have gone so hardcore with jiu-jitsu, but you know what? I made the best of my injury and learned from it.
Consider the Press, Deadlift, Farmer’s Walk, Death Medley, and Atlas Stones. I’ll pinpoint the common weakness in each event and provide an exercise (a solution) for you to fix the weak point. No excuses!
Sure, you can build bigger quads in the leg press, but that is the only benefit I can see of doing it. The cons outweigh the pros when it comes to this machine.
Lifters concern themselves with putting tension across the fibers of the lats in the hopes that they’ll grow — without dosing them in the smallest moment of function to help stabilize their trunk and core, minimize the risk of low back pain, and ultimately, promote longevity in lifting.
Even if you’re not a strongman competitor, the Atlas Stone’s benefits have carryover to the Big Three. Besides, it’s fun to train something new. So what are you waiting for? Grab an Atlas Stone, heavy med ball, or sandbag so we can get started!
Strongman is a brutal sport that will beat your joints up, so you might as well take all the precautions that you can. That means that knee wraps, knee sleeves, and elbows sleeves are musts.
Fun fact: the farmer’s walk is one of Brian Alsruhe’s favorite exercises of all time. It works your grip, back, traps, biceps, core, and calves… what’s not to love?
If you’re a heavier trainee, chin-ups are difficult… but not impossible. Case in point: I’m nearly 50 years old and weigh 245 pounds, but I do chin-ups for volume rather than output. Here lies the secret to my chin-up success.
Not every athlete can feel their spine twist into a pretzel, so how do you teach them not to do that? This article will give you a model for how to manipulate the sense of touch to create an altered feedback environment for your athlete. Work your way up from simple movements, such as the prone stick hold, to something more complex, like the overhead press.
Save your back from disc compressions by shifting from heavy squats to belt squats. It’ll help you recover faster, which will give you results faster and with fewer injuries.
Jump in — er, jump on the opportunity that comes along with using the elitefts Plyobox and Tri Plyo Cube to train plyometrics!
Parents are understandably worried about their children starting strength training. Ease their minds by selecting appropriate exercises for their kids.
Other than the GHR, nothing else builds the hamstrings better than Romanian Deadlifts. Try out these variations, and you’ll see a difference in those hammies.