Category Archives: Ben Bruno
The Power of 3 Program
Some of my best gains in the gym have come during my busiest and most stressful times.
I distinctly remember hitting two big personal bests on the front squat and trap bar deadlift during finals week of my junior year of college. I had low expectations going in because for the three weeks prior, I’d been forced to pare down my program to the bare minimum because I was holed up reading and writing papers.
I’d gone from training 4-5 days a week to three. Workouts went from two hours down to 30-35 minutes tops, including warm-ups. There was no accessory work. No hitting the muscles from all angles. Just a few concentrated hard and heavy sets on the basics.
I wasn’t sleeping much, or eating particularly well, and I wasn’t obsessing at all about my workouts. In fact, except for the half-hour I spent in the gym, I wasn’t thinking about lifting at all.
I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how I’d managed to get stronger. Then the same thing happened again during midterms of my senior year, and that’s when it dawned on me.
I was getting stronger because I wasn’t obsessing about my workouts. I’d been spending too much time over-thinking and over-prioritizing the minutia.
Lifting is tricky because it’s not that time consuming. It’s not like video games or chess where you can do it all day every day because you’ll quickly burn out. That leaves a lot of time unaccounted for to think about lifting – and that can be dangerous.
The more you think and the more you read, the more you start to mind-screw yourself and start worrying about the little things that don’t really matter.
To that end, here’s a template based around the premise of getting back to the basics. I’d recommend it for the following audiences:
- Those who’ve been sputtering with excessively complex programs and need to get out of their own heads.
- Those who are super busy and don’t have much time to devote to the gym.
- Those coming off a high volume training phase that need to get stronger while giving the body a little break.
It doesn’t have to be something you follow for a full 8-10 weeks, but it certainly could be if you wanted to. I’ve had success using it for 2-3 week spurts when particularly swamped with work, or during times when I feel like I’ve lost sight of the bigger picture and need to refocus my training.
The beauty of the program lies in its simplicity. Don’t get it twisted though; this is not a de-load and it’s not meant to be easy. I call it the Power of Three.
Program Overview
The program consists of three workouts: A, B, and C. Try to spread them out over the course of the week with at least one day off in between. It doesn’t matter if your workouts fall on the same days each week; just get them done.
Each workout will consist of three main exercises, one from each of the following categories: lower body, pull, and push.
The actual exercises should be different for each of the three workouts, but the categories stay the same throughout. That means you need to pick three lower body exercises, three pulling exercises, and three pushing exercises.
For each exercise category there will be a heavy day, a medium day, and a light day. So if you do heavy lower body one day, the next workout would be medium, then light, etc.
This way, you hit all the major muscle groups three times a week – giving you the benefit of increased frequency – yet you’re modulating the intensity to avoid crushing yourself.
The weekly split looks like this:
Medium Pull
Light Push
Medium Lower Body
Light Pull
Medium Push
Light Lower Body
The ideal reps per set will vary slightly depending on which exercises you choose, but in general:
Medium = 6-9 reps
Light = 10-15 reps
The heavy exercise of the day will be done for six sets while the medium and light exercise each get three.
To save time, the entire workout will be performed as paired sets. I say “paired sets” rather than “supersets” because for many, a superset implies moving between exercises with no rest.
The primary goal here is strength, so I want you to rest – but I realize you’re also busy and don’t have time to sit around the gym.
With paired sets, you move back and forth between two different exercises, but you’ll take as long as needed in between each set to fully recover.
The first three sets of the heavy exercise will be paired with three sets of the medium exercise, while the last three heavy sets will be paired with the light exercise.
Confused? Here’s how it breaks down for Workout A as an example:
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | |
| A1 | Heavy Lower Body | 3 | 3-6 |
| A2 | Medium Pull | 3 | 6-9 |
| B1 | Heavy Lower Body (A1 continued) | 3 | 3-6 |
| B2 | Light Push | 3 | 10-15 |
- For lower body, include at least one knee dominant (squat, lunge) and one hip dominant pattern (deadlift, hip thruster, etc.). In addition, include at least one bilateral and one unilateral exercise.
- For your pulling work, include at least one vertical pull (chin-up, pulldown) and one horizontal pull (row).
- For your push exercise, incorporate at least one vertical push (overhead press variation) and one horizontal push (bench press variation). Also, make one of your three selections a bodyweight movement (push-up, dip, etc.).
Picking the Right Exercises
I’ve provided you with some loose guidelines for exercises, but I’ve deliberately left most of the work up to you. Here’s why:
There are no “best” exercises for everyone. We’re all built differently, have a different injury history, and have access to different equipment, all of which play a role in determining which exercises are optimal.
You need a certain degree of autonomy. The best program is one that garners enthusiasm. If I give you a bunch of exercises that you hate, you’re less likely to bust your balls – and without full-unbridled effort it just won’t work, no matter how good the program looks on paper.
You should learn the principles of exercise selection. Being spoon fed a program won’t benefit you long term. Those who prefer having everything laid out for them usually hop to the next new program in a week or two.
If you learn how to choose your own exercises effectively, however, you’ll be able to take that and apply it to whatever program you decide on, both now and in the future. If you only get one thing from this article, I hope it’s this.
Pick exercises based on your needs, not wants. Put another way, pick exercises that improve your weaknesses, not just ones you like doing. It’s natural to like what you’re best at, but you’ll always be limited by your weaknesses. If you are really only as strong as your weakest link, then if you avoid what you suck at, you’ll always suck. Don’t suck.
That means if your posterior is comparatively weaker than your quads, you might want to pick two hip dominant movements for your lower body exercises and only one squatting or lunging variation.
Or if you have noticeable size and/or strength discrepancies between limbs, you may want to include more unilateral work. If you’re especially bad at chin-ups, do more chin-ups. You get the idea.
Try to choose exercises that best match the intended rep range. Certain exercises are best suited to lower reps, while others tend to jive better in higher rep ranges.
Generally, your heavy exercises are best done with barbells while your moderate and light exercises may be better suited for dumbbells, kettlebells, rings, bodyweight, etc.
The one exception is your pulling work. I’m not a fan of low-rep barbell rows because form often deteriorates into something resembling a monkey humping a football. For your heavy pull, I’d rather have you do weighted chin-ups or dumbbell rows and save barbell rows or other rowing variations for moderate and light work.
Pick exercise pairings with the least amount of overlap possible. This is especially important when pairing a lower body exercise and a pull. For example, if you’re deadlifting, avoid pairing it with rowing variations like barbell and T-bar rows that are also lower back intensive.
Also avoid pairing exercises that are highly grip-intensive, though this can be tricky when using deadlifting variations or single-leg work with heavy dumbbells. In those cases, you may need to use straps.
Here’s a sample workout. This should give you an idea of the framework of the program, but feel free to plug in different exercises as you see fit.
Workout A
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | |
| A1 | Deadlift | 3 | 3-6 |
| A2 | Dumbbell row | 3 | 6-9 |
| B1 | Deadlift | 3 | 3-6 |
| B2 | Ring push-ups | 3 | 10-15 |
Workout B
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | |
| A1 | Bench press | 3 | 3-6 |
| A2 | Front squat | 3 | 6-9 |
| B1 | Bench press | 3 | 3-6 |
| B2 | Inverted row (weighted if necessary) | 3 | 10-15 |
Workout C
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | |
| A1 | Chin-up (weighted if necessary) | 3 | 3-6 |
| A2 | Alternating overhead dumbbell press (neutral grip) | 3 | 6-9 |
| B1 | Chin-up | 3 | 3-6 |
| B2 | Walking lunge | 3 | 10-15 |
Miscellaneous
All sets listed are working sets only. Start off with a few warm up sets for your heavy and medium exercises before the first pairing. Before you start the second pairing, you may need to do one or two warm-up sets for your light exercise too, but since your body is already warmed up and the weight is light, you won’t need much.
For each exercise, ramp up to a top set where you reach technical failure – the point where you can no longer complete another rep with good form. No sloppy reps, but push yourself.
Only the last set of each exercise should reach technical failure, but all work sets should still be relatively challenging. Start with about 75% of the weight you plan to use for your final set and ramp up from there.
For all unilateral work, rest 45-60 seconds between limbs. If you’re pushing yourself like you should be, you’ll need every last bit of it.
If you have some extra time and want to tack on some core and/or arm work, that’s cool, just don’t go overboard. It’s not required.
Keep a logbook and try to increase each week. Your first choice should always be to increase the weight. However, if you fall short of the given rep range one week, maintain the weight and try to increase the reps back into the rep range, at which point you’ll increase the weight the next time.
Don’t make this overly complicated. There’s no need for calculators or complex equations.
Final Words
Your success (or lack thereof) with this template will hinge on two things: wise exercise selection, and brutal effort. I hope I’ve given you an idea of how to pick the best exercises to suit your needs. The effort part has to come from you.
Remember, there’s a reason that the big and strong dudes are labeled “meatheads” and skinny guys are called “geeks.” It doesn’t take a whole lot of brainpower and fancy programming to get strong. What it does take is persistence, a tenacious work ethic, time, and a brass set of balls.
Get er’ done!
Exercises You’ve Never Tried: Beach Body Edition
I have a confession to make: I love lifting weights, but I don’t enjoy training the beach muscles.
It’s not that I hate bodybuilding or training arms – I love all training – but if given the choice, I’d pick legs ten times out of ten.
My hierarchy would probably look something like this:
- Legs
- More Legs
- Back
- Wander aimlessly around the gym
- Chest/Shoulders
- More Back
- Read a magazine
- Core
- Clip my toenails
- Arms
Most typical upper body exercises bore me to tears. I just can’t get hyped up for bench presses, pushdowns, and curls like I can for squats, lunges, and pull-ups.
Call me crazy.
One thing that helps make upper body days more fun, and consequently keeps me pushing hard, is experimenting with different exercise variations. Here are some upper body exercises that even I like.
1. Rotational One-Arm Dumbbell Bench Press
When I first saw the one-arm dumbbell bench press, I didn’t give it the respect it deserves. It didn’t look particularly hard, so I unassumingly grabbed the same weight I’d use for a regular dumbbell bench press.
Bad move. Anyone that’s tried the exercise before knows where this is going.
On the first rep, I literally tipped to the side and fell off the bench, dropping the dumbbell like a total jackass and causing a scene. I knew immediately I was going to like this one.
While it’s essentially an upper-body pushing exercise to work the chest, shoulders, and triceps, you’ll learn fast that it’s really a full body exercise. To be successful, you must create massive tension throughout your legs, core, and even the opposite arm.
You’ll want to start out light to avoid my embarrassing fate, but interestingly, after a few tries to get the hang of it, you’ll find you’re able to use more weight unilaterally than you could bilaterally.
I like to start with a neutral grip at the bottom and pronate my wrist as I press. This feels great on the shoulders, and the rotation allows for a better contraction in my chest.
2. Ring Flies
These are brutal, but if you can pull them off, they’ll fry your chest like no other. I first tried them after seeing a picture of Larry Scott doing them on some badass old-school chain rings.
This is an extremely advanced exercise, so don’t just jump right into trying it if you don’t have any experience on the rings. Doing so will inevitably lead to either a shoulder injury or a face plant, neither of which you want.
Make sure you can first knock out at least 25 ring push-ups to get acquainted with the inherent instability. From there, progress to flies with your arms bent at approximately a 90-degree angle. You may even want to do these on your knees at first.
Once you’re comfortable with those, it’s time to progress to full flies. Be sure to maintain a slight bend in your elbows to protect your shoulders and keep the tension on your chest.
If you get comfortable with full flies (and by comfortable I mean proficient – I can assure your pecs won’t be comfortable), give ring “fly-aways” a shot. I got the idea for these from a recent Livespill from TC where he talked about a similar concept using dumbbells.
You’re basically going to do a drop set going in the reverse order of the progression I laid out to work up to full flies: five full flies, five bent-arm flies, and five pushups, all in succession with no rest. Superset that with five minutes of lying on the floor, hating life.
3. Ring Push-up/Fly Combo
Like the name suggests, one arm does a push-up while the other arm does a fly. You’ll want to place more weight on the arm doing the push-up and de-load the arm doing the fly as much as possible. It may help to think of it as a modified one-arm pushup where you reach the other arm straight out to the side. Alternate between arms each rep.
Confused? I don’t blame you. Check out the video below.
The unilateral nature of the exercise may lead you to believe it’s significantly more difficult than bilateral ring flies, but from a pressing standpoint, it’s actually slightly easier since the arm doing the push-up is supporting the majority of the load where the lever arm is shorter. The “fly” arm simply provides some assistance to counter the rotational demands of the one-arm push up, and gets a decent stretch and bit of activation in the process.
From a core standpoint, however, it’s much harder. The unilateral nature of the exercise introduces a big anti-rotational stability component since you have to brace extremely hard to avoid twisting toward the arm doing the fly.
4. Supinated Ring Chins
Some bodybuilding coaches spout that chin-ups are the best biceps exercise going and no direct biceps work is required. Others say to build mammoth bone-crushing pythons, you need to devote an entire day (or two or three) per week to arms and do every type of curl imaginable.
I’m somewhere in the middle.
I love chin-ups as much as anybody, while curls are the absolute bane of my training existence.
I dropped curls all-together about two years ago, and have just been doing a heavy diet of chin-ups and rows. In that time, my arms have stayed about the same size while the rest of my body has grown, leading me to believe that chin-ups obviously work the biceps to a large degree and are sufficient if your goals are more performance-based, but probably aren’t enough if you hope to start selling tickets to the gun show.
Here’s the thing: it depends largely on how you do the chin-ups.
For instance, I usually use a shoulder-width grip (often wider) and think of my arms as being hooks while my back does all the work. I also come to full extension at the bottom of every rep and do them explosively while maintaining control of my body (i.e. no swinging).
Interestingly, the better I’ve become at chin-ups, the less I feel them in my biceps. Fact is, when I do feel my biceps working a lot, I take it as a sign I’m not retracting my scapulae as I should be.
However, you can easily tweak them to hone in on the biceps. The best way I’ve found is with close-grip supinated ring chin-ups.
Place the rings as close together as possible and take a supinated grip. Perform the reps slower than normal on both the concentric and eccentric and stop just short of full extension at the bottom to keep constant tension on the biceps. It’s important to be strict with these.
If you don’t have rings, you can do them with just a bar, although the rings definitely add something to it from a biceps standpoint. You’ll find that towards the bottom of the rep, the rings will start to twist and your biceps will be forced to kick into overdrive to keep that supinated wrist position.
These are a lot tougher than they look, so if it’s too much at first, you can also try a similar concept using inverted rows instead.
Doing reps like this will invariably shortchange your back to some degree, so do them after your regular chin-up or inverted row workout to finish off your arms.
5. Super Slow Chin-ups
The explanation for these is simple, but they’re far from easy. Do a close-grip chin-up as slowly as you can. That’s it.
Shoot for 20-30 seconds on the concentric and 30-40 seconds on the eccentric to start. If you can do that, add some weight. If that’s too much, then just go as slowly as you can.
I also like to do a static hold at the top.
Use a supinated grip for more biceps emphasis or a neutral grip to target the brachialis. Either way, it’ll also blast your forearms and help build tremendous grip strength.
Save this for the tail end of your workout and just do one painstaking rep. Trust me, if you’re doing it right, that’s all you’ll be able to muster.
6. Bodyweight Triceps Extensions
This is an awesome triceps exercise that, when done correctly, also smokes the core.
TC wrote about doing these in a Smith machine in a Livespill and while I like that exercise too, I prefer doing them using suspension straps for two reasons.
First, you can get a bigger range of motion. When you use a fixed bar, you’re forced to do the exercise like a traditional skullcrusher where you bring your forehead to the bar. With straps, you can extend your arms forward slightly as you drop down so that at the bottom, your hands are actually behind your head. This enhances the stretch on the long head of the triceps and takes stress off the elbows.
Second, the straps allow you to rotate your hands freely as you move through the rep, making it more shoulder-friendly and increasing the contraction in your triceps.
To get the full benefit for your core, it’s imperative that you keep a straight line from your feet to your head. There will be a tendency to want to pike at the hips, so you’ll need to squeeze your glutes and brace your abs to prevent that from happening. It should feel similar to the sensation you get from an ab wheel rollout. If it doesn’t, you’re probably not doing it right.
This is a lot tougher than it looks, so start with the straps fairly high at first (approximately chest level) and work your way down.
7. Reverse Grip Dumbbell Floor Press
Perform this exercise just as you would a regular dumbbell floor press, only supinate your hands as you press. At the bottom your palms will face each other, while at the top they’ll point back behind you.
Where you feel this exercise will depend on your set up. If you use a wider grip, you’ll feel it more in your chest, whereas a closer-grip will put more emphasis on the triceps. I prefer a close grip because I find a wide grip puts undue stress on my shoulders, elbows, and wrists.
You can also try holding a supinated position throughout the rep, but I prefer to rotate to allow for a neutral, shoulder-friendly position closer to the chest.
Think about pressing the dumbbell down towards your feet rather than up over your face like you might in a typical barbell bench press. You obviously won’t be able to, but having that cue in your mind makes the exercise go more smoothly.
Start with about 50% of the weight you can use for a regular dumbbell press and go from there.
8. The “Anti” Press
In response to Dr. Stuart McGill’s research regarding spinal health, much of the new-age core training focuses on “anti” movement stability training: anti-rotation, anti-extension, and anti-lateral flexion. I called this exercise the “anti press” because it addresses all those categories simultaneously.
Grab the handle of a suspension strap and face sideways. Lean out so that your body is at about a 60% angle to the floor. Now brace your core to keep from twisting and press straight out until your arms are fully extended. This part of the motion is similar to a Pallof press you might do with bands or cables and works anti-rotation.
From there, bring your arms straight overhead and pause for a brief second. At this point, you’re focusing on anti-extension and anti-lateral flexion. Rinse and repeat for the desired reps.
Along with building tremendous core stability, this also assists with shoulder strength and mobility. I’m always looking for ways to kill as many birds as I can with one stone and this exercise fits the bill nicely.
It’s easy to progress or regress simply by adjusting your foot position and/or the length of the strap. The further out your feet are from the anchor point and the shorter the strap is, the easier it will be. Move your feet more underneath the anchor point and increase the length of the strap as you get better.
This is a very advanced exercise, so you may want to start with just the overhead portion and see how that goes first.
Conclusion
If you’re one of those people that when asked how you’re doing always responds with “same shit, different day,” some of these exercises may be just what you need to spice up your gym life and get growing again. Don’t go throwing all the basics out the window, but use these as supplements to reignite your training vigor or to help break through a rut or plateau.
Have fun, and be sure to save me a seat at the gun show.
Actually, don’t bother. I’m pretty sure I’ll be training legs that day.
For Your Viewing Pleasure part2
For Your Viewing Pleasure
The Front Squat vs. Back Squat Debate: Part 2
By: Jim Reeves
| Joint Motion / Alignment | Front Squat |
Back Squat |
| Hip Flexion | 56.1° | 43.8° |
| Ankle Dorsiflexion | 69.2° | 70.4° |
| Knee Flexion | 63.4° | 69.0° |
| Femur to a Vertical Axis |
89.6° | 94.5° |
| Posterior Chain to a Vertical Axis |
33.9° | 52.6° |
• The ankle motion was pretty much the same in both lifts.
• The back squat requires the athlete to move more from the knee joint.
• The athlete is able to sit into a thighs parallel position much easier in the front squat, achieving considerably more range.
• The posterior chain is “pushed” forward over 18° more in the back squat by the load of the bar. Conversely, you could say the front squat forces the lifter to “pull” the upper body back 18° more than the back squat against the resistance of the load on the bar. In either case, the lifter is attempting to keep the weight on the bar overtop of their foot positioning.
Exercises You’ve Never Tried: Hamstring and Glute Edition
I’m a sucker for lower body training, so I’m going to share some cool exercises for you that focus primarily on the lower half of the back side of the body, namely the glutes and hamstrings.
Every-day gym rats often ignore these muscles because they can’t see them in their favorite bathroom mirror cell phone picture. But before you build an 8-day-a-week program devoted to chest, shoulders, arms, and abs, remember that just because you can’t see them, doesn’t mean other people can’t. Nobody likes a flat ass.
To build appreciable muscle mass or just get generally cockstrong, it all starts with the foundation.
The Posterior Chain
The posterior chain begins with deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts (RDL), and glute-ham raises. What if you can’t deadlift due to a back injury? Or if your gym doesn’t have a glute-raise apparatus? What if you’re just flat-out sick of what you’re doing and need a change?
Here are some cool exercises to spice things up.
1. Split Stance RDL
The single-leg RDL is an awesome exercise, but until you get the hang of it and master the balancing aspect, it can feel more like a sobriety test than a viable way to get stronger and add muscle.
Enter the split stance RDL.
I’d classify this as hybrid between a traditional RDL and a true single-leg RDL. If you do these correctly, the front leg should do the majority of the work and handle most of the loading, while the rear leg provides stability so you don’t topple over like an 18-year-old girl on 99-cent shooter night.
You can easily adjust the difficulty of the exercise by altering your setup.
Feet closer together = Less stable = Harder
Start with your feet fairly wide and bring in your stance as you feel more comfortable. I like to set up with the toes of the rear foot even with the heel of the front foot. A closer stance also allows for a more natural hip hinge without torqueing the pelvis.
Strive to keep as little weight as possible on the rear leg. You’ll need to be hyper vigilant with yourself at first as you adjust to the movement.
This can be used as a good progression to work towards a true single leg RDL, or as a way to get a unilateral training effect with heavier loads since stability is not as much of an issue.
2. Eccentric One-Leg RDL
This variation requires more stability than the split stance RDL, but still less than a true single-leg RDL. Do a single-leg RDL on the eccentric, then put the other foot down and pick the weight up using either a conventional deadlift or a traditional bilateral RDL, your choice.
Like the split stance RDL, this can be used as a progression to work towards single-leg RDLs. For more advanced lifters, it offers an interesting unilateral training effect by allowing the eccentric component to be overloaded with greater loads than would be possible if you did the entire movement on one leg.
One of the big keys to mastering the single leg RDL is to remember that both legs still need to work. The “non-working” leg shouldn’t just dangle passively; instead, squeeze the glute of the “up” leg and actively reach the foot back as you hinge at the hips, just as you would in a bilateral RDL. This will not only help you stabilize your torso but will also ensure that you maintain a neutral spine.
However, you should only try this variation if you have the hip mobility and hamstring flexibility to descend all the way until the bar reaches the floor without rounding your lower back as it’s awkward and potentially dangerous to transition from one to two legs with the bar in midair. If that’s not possible, it’s probably best to try something else.
3. Single-Leg Barbell RDL/Row Combo
Here’s one on the other end of the stability continuum. Like the name suggests, it’s a single-leg RDL combined with a barbell row.
We could technically call this a Pendlay row since the torso is parallel to the floor and each rep is performed from a dead stop. I’m generally not a fan of barbell rows because they tend to get sloppy and deteriorate into a sort of ballistic row/upright row/shrug mess.
However, in this case, the nature of the exercise helps to keep your form tight because if you try to cheat, you’ll lose your balance. Fact is, because this exercise is so technically demanding, it will immediately expose any form flaws, meaning there’s no way to do it other than correctly.
It certainly ain’t for beginners, but if you can pull it off, it’s an incredibly effective and efficient exercise that allows you to hammer the entire posterior chain at once. Furthermore, if you develop the stability required to do these well, regular single-leg RDLs will feel like a breeze when you go back to them and your numbers should skyrocket.
4. Paused Hip Thrusters
My good friend and fellow T Nation contributor, Bret “The Glute Guy” Contreras, has already written extensively about the hip thrust on this site, so I won’t rehash what he’s already said. If you want to learn more about it, read this.
I have to admit, when Bret first introduced this exercise, I wasn’t sure if he was being serious or if it was some sort of sick joke. I resisted trying them for a while because they looked a little ridiculous and I figured my glutes were getting enough work from squats, deadlifts, and single-leg work anyway.
That said, I’m a big believer in the adage, “don’t knock it til you try it,” so eventually I broke down and gave it a shot. Right away I could see what all the hoopla was about. I’ve never felt such a big contraction in my glutes before, and the nice thing is that the following day they don’t leave you feeling like you spent the night in prison the way squats and lunges often do.
The biggest problem I see with this exercise is that many guys try to use too much weight and fail to reach full hip extension at the top, instead opting for lumbar hyperextension. This is not only an ineffective way to work the glutes, it’s also extremely dangerous for the lower back.
To make sure this doesn’t happen, I recommend pausing each rep at the top for 1-3 seconds to keep you honest and ensure the glutes are doing the work. If that’s not possible, the weight is too heavy. You may need to drop it down slightly from what you’re used to, but so what? Last time I checked, there’s no such thing as a hip thrust competition.
You’ll notice in the video I’m using a curved buffalo bar. This isn’t essential by any means, but if you have one already, it’ll make it much easier to roll the bar into position. If you don’t have a buffalo bar, you can also try elevating the plates on small risers.
If you’re worried about looking foolish, get over yourself. You never know, maybe that cute cardio bunny you’ve been eyeing will take notice of your thrusting prowess and start up a conversation.
5. Single-Leg Hip Thrusters
Once you feel comfortable with regular hip thrusts, you can try the single-leg version, which is a great advanced progression to challenge unilateral hip extension and rotary stability.
The downside to this exercise is that it can be tricky to add external load. You can drape chains over your waist or jerry-rig bands to provide some resistance, but at a certain point you’ll need to use a barbell to keep challenging yourself.
The trouble with that is if you set up with the bar centered evenly over your hips like you would in a bilateral hip thrust, the bar will tilt and slide all over the place. Instead, center the bar over the leg you’re trying to work, meaning that if you’re working the left leg, you’ll want to set up with the bar a little left of center.
Even if you’re able to do loaded bilateral hip thrusters, don’t just jump right to loading the single-leg version without mastering it with your bodyweight first because it’s significantly more difficult and has a very different feel to it.
6. Pull-up Inverted Row Hip Thruster Combo
This is an awesome exercise with a sucky name.
I thought long and hard about trying to come up with something catchy to do it justice, like Mega Thrusters, Ladykillers, or Bruno Bootymakers, but in the end I ended up copping out and going with something boring and just calling it exactly what it is: a pull-up, an inverted row, and a hip thruster all rolled into one. If you can think of anything better, I’m open to suggestions.
For those of you big on training economy, it doesn’t get much better than this. No muscles on the back side of your body are left unscathed.
For the upper body, it starts as a vertical pull and finishes as a horizontal pull. I strongly recommend using some sort of suspension training system (TRX, rings, blast straps, etc.) to allow your shoulders to rotate naturally and to increase the contraction in your upper back, but if you don’t have anything, a bar will work just fine.
For the lower body, this works both the glutes and hamstrings through an extremely large range of motion. Through EMG research, Bret Contreras found that increasing the range of motion of a hip thruster by elevating both the feet and shoulders increased both glute and hamstring activation when compared to the floor version.
Bret obviously didn’t test this variation specifically since I just thought it up, but considering the range of motion is greater than anything he tested, it stands to reason that these may be even better. Regardless, after experimenting with them extensively, I don’t need a device to tell me that these totally kick ass (pun intended).
You’ll need to elevate your feet on something higher than a standard bench to get the full effect of the hip thruster portion of the exercise. Ideally you’d start with your feet approximately level with your shoulders and your knees slightly bent so that your torso is parallel to the floor at the top of the rep.
If you’re feeling especially frisky, try doing them one leg at a time. This is my personal favorite.
7. Dumbbell Leg Curls (Hips Off Bench)
I love dumbbell leg curls (essentially a lying leg curl with a dumbbell between your feet). Back in college when I used to lift in an insanely busy school gym, I’d take a bench and a dumbbell out into the stairwell to escape the crowds. I like them more than machine leg curls because they don’t require any specialized equipment, they’re portable, and you have the added challenge of squeezing the dumbbell between your feet, which brings the adductors and calves into play.
To make an already good exercise even better, try setting up with your entire legs hanging off the bench. The goal is to maintain a straight line from your head to your knees and hold that position throughout the entirety of the set.
These may look simple enough, but they’re friggin brutal. The glutes have to kick into overdrive to keep proper alignment and keep the hips from sagging, so you get more bang for your buck than a traditional machine leg curl.
Don’t expect to use much weight on this one. I can handle a 110-pound dumbbell for 15 reps with regular dumbbell leg curls with my thighs on the bench, but once I hang my legs off the bench, I struggle to get even 6-8 reps with just 25 pounds.
Keep your ankles plantarflexed and point your toes while you do these (a good tip for machine leg curls as well). Also, stop just short of full extension at the bottom of each rep to keep constant tension on the hamstrings.
The burn and pump you’ll get from these is diabolical. Consider yourself warned.
8. Single Leg Eccentric Stability Ball Leg Curls
I don’t use the stability ball much, but I like it for leg curls. The beauty of this exercise compared to a machine leg curl is that the glutes must fire to keep the hips extended while the hamstrings work to resist knee extension during the eccentric component and flex the knee during the concentric component.
This simultaneous hip extension and knee flexion also makes it a great progression to work towards doing glute-ham raises.
The problem with stability ball leg curls is that it’s hard to progress since you can’t really add weight. You can switch to the single-leg version, but I’ve never had good luck with that as the heel has a tendency to shift around, which causes the ball to roll awkwardly and kills the rhythm of the set.
Instead, I prefer using two legs for the concentric portion to curl the ball in and one leg for the eccentric. Alternate legs each rep to enhance the rotary stability component.
The key here is to keep your hips raised throughout the entire set. Put another way, you should have a straight line going from your knees to your neck at all times.
If you watch how most people do this exercise, you’ll notice their hips sagging, especially during the concentric phase of the rep. In my mind, that makes the exercise almost useless. If you can’t do it correctly, regress to an easier version of hip lifts without the leg curl and build up your glute strength first.
Once you can knock out six reps on each leg with this variation, you should be all set to rock out glute-ham raises like a boss. If you don’t have a glute-ham raise, this is a good substitute.
It’s On You Now
I don’t want you to go overboard with tweaking things and forget about the basics, but I also realize that after you’ve been training long enough, you start to get bored with doing the same old stuff all the time.
I hope that by showing you some new exercises, it’ll reignite that enthusiasm for working the posterior chain and make training fun again. After all, that is the point, right?
Remember though, I can show you the exercises, but I can’t do the work for you. Now it’s on you to work your ass off. Or better yet, work it on.
Troubleshooting the Front Squat
Since writing Front Squats Made Easier, I’ve received questions from lifters having difficulty with the exercise. It’s not surprising – front squats are damn hard, and there are bound to be some growing pains, literally and figuratively.
In this article, I’ll address some of the finer points and common issues I see, and show you how to fix them.
With no further ado, let’s pimp your front squat!
Sounds like you’re doing it right. The bar should be touching your throat. Now, literally getting choked to the point that you can’t breathe is obviously a problem, but most of the time it’s just mild discomfort.
I’d just stay the course. You’ll get used to it.
This is a common complaint, and one that I can relate to. I’m going to assume you’re using a clean grip because that’s the usual offender. If that’s the case, the simplest fix is to switch to the strap method or even the cross-armed “bodybuilder grip.” That should take care of the problem right away. Consider it a Band Aid.
If you’re intent on the learning the clean grip – which is extremely important if you’re going to be doing any Olympic lifting – or want to fix whatever is causing the pain, then that’s a different story.
Keep in mind that the ability to get into a good rack position isn’t just a matter of wrist flexibility. It also requires good shoulder mobility, thoracic mobility, and flexibility in your lats and triceps, so you’ll want to hammer those things as well.
When you work your way back into the clean grip, you don’t need all your fingers wrapped around the bar; just two will suffice, the index and middle fingers. This helps many lifters with limited wrist flexibility use the clean grip effectively.
In the interim, don’t try to force it. That’s just asking for trouble. Stick with the strap method until you can use the clean grip pain-free.
Dude. Do not use the bar pad (a.k.a. the Maxi-Pad, the tampon) unless you’re ready to turn in your man card and add the Oprah network to your cable package.
You probably aren’t keeping your elbows up as much as you should, which is causing the bar to slide down onto your collarbone. Ideally, the weight should be resting in a nice groove on the anterior deltoids. Try working in some hands-free front squats to help reinforce proper bar position.
No.
This is the biggest complaint I hear regarding front squats – they are uncomfortable on the shoulders. I’ve searched long and hard for a good remedy and polled numerous strength coaches, and after it all, I’m left with only one conclusion.
Just man the frick up.
The one caveat is someone with an AC joint injury. Direct pressure will really aggravate it, so unless you access to a safety squat bar, choose a different exercise.
The key difference here is pain versus discomfort.
Discomfort = Suck it up, Buttercup.
“Easy” is a relative term. Sure, front squats will typically be easier on the lower back than a back squat, but I still wouldn’t call loading 300+ pounds on your shoulders low-back friendly. Friendlier, maybe.
That said, low back pain during front squats is often a result of either going too heavy too soon or squatting too low. The solution to the first issue is clear; lighten the load, master the form, and only progress as long as your form stays tight.
The second issue isn’t so cut-and-dried because I don’t believe that everyone should necessarily squat to the same depth. There are many “ass to grass” zealots that believe if you aren’t leaving butt sweat on the floor you’re somehow cheating.
On the other side, you have those that think that no one should ever go a smidgen below parallel under any circumstance.
I’m somewhere in the middle. I think you should only squat as low as your body structure and flexibility will allow before your pelvis tucks under and your lumbar spine begins to round.
That point will be different for everyone. Some lifters are just built to squat and will be able to go pretty darn low without issue. Others will struggle to make it even to parallel with significant lumbar flexion. In this case, forcing them into a deep squat – especially under heavy loads – is just asking for back trouble.
Find the place where you lose neutral spine and stop there. If it’s rock bottom, so be it. If it’s higher than that, who cares? You may have to deal with some ribbing from the YouTube form police (who interestingly never have videos of themselves), but I’d much rather deal with that then deal with back pain.
Most people, however, should be able to front squat to the point where the top of the thigh is at least parallel to the floor (it’s easier to get low in a front squat). If you can’t get that low, take it as a sign you seriously need to improve your hip, ankle, and/or thoracic mobility.
If you’re over an inch above parallel, I might even recommend canning front squatting all-together for the time being and use single-leg work to get a training stimulus for your legs while you work to develop sufficient mobility to squat safely.
As for using a belt, I’m fine with it in certain situations, but it definitely won’t protect you against crappy form. I also think they’re often misused and abused. The belt shouldn’t be seen as a crutch, but rather as insurance for stronger lifters on near maximal attempts.
As such, I wouldn’t worry about using one until you can front squat at least 1.5 times your bodyweight, and even then, I’d only use it on attempts over 90% of your 1RM.
Don’t be that guy that leaves it on for the whole workout.
It may turn out that front squats are just not for you, but before you rule them out, first check to make sure your form is up to par.
Deep squatting is often thought to cause knee pain, but I’m more concerned about the lower back during deep squats than I am about the knees. Knee pain is more often a result of valgus collapse (knees caving in) and improper sequencing. Let me explain.
Valgus collapse. Ideally, the knees should track over the middle of the foot. If you find them caving inward, it’s a sign your glutes aren’t engaged. The solution may simply be cueing to “push the knees out” or “spread the floor.” If that isn’t enough, try putting a small band around both legs directly below the knees and concentrate on keeping the band pushed out as you squat.
Improper sequencing. Front squats are deceiving because while it’s a primarily knee-dominant movement pattern, you still want to initiate the movement from the hips first and push your butt back before breaking from the knees.
It’s an almost simultaneous hip/knee break, but it’s important that it happens in that order: first back, and then down. Breaking from the knees first will create excessive sheer forces on the knee – not good.
To help ingrain the idea of sitting back, it may be helpful to put a box behind you for a little while. This isn’t your typical box squat where you try to keep a vertical tibia and pause on the box. Your form should mirror a regular front squat and the box just there as a reminder to initiate the movement from the hips.
Set the box up so that one corner is between your legs with your feet on either side. Something about having your calves in close contact with the sides of the box at the start of the movement seems to encourage pushing your knees out, and there’s big incentive to push the hips back so you don’t sit down on the corner – ouch!
Another factor to examine when it comes to knee pain is footwear. To assist in staying upright, lifters will often elevate their heels while front squatting, either with specific weightlifting shoes or by using a heel wedge. While I think this is fine for most, it may be prudent for folks with knee pain to wear a flat-soled shoe or go barefoot to help keep the weight on the heels and prevent the knees from traveling forward as much.
If you’re still experiencing knee pain after trying these suggestions, it’s probably time to cut your losses and go in a different direction. Sorry, no exercise is for everyone.
Of course, the best way to get better at front squatting is to front squat. However, that’s certainly not to say other exercises won’t help.
Single-leg work can help tremendously by strengthening the quads, glutes, and hip rotators, thereby improving stability and preventing valgus collapse, as well as evening out any imbalances between legs. For even greater carryover, try doing exercises like rear-foot elevated split squats and lunges with a front squat grip to increase core strength and practice holding the bar.
For some, the ability to hold the bar will often be the biggest limiting factor, not the legs. If this is you, then you’d better spend time working on your lats (think pull-ups, chin-ups, lat pulldowns, etc.), upper back (think rows, face pulls, etc.) and core stability (rollouts, Paloff presses, etc.) or all the leg work in the world will be for naught.
You may also want to incorporate some front squat iso holds where you walk out a heavy weight and hold it for a prescribed time, say 20 seconds. This will smoke your upper back and anterior core in a manner specific to the front squat and help you get acclimated to heavy loads, so you won’t feel intimidated by the weight. I call this the “oh shit!” factor. If you’ve ever lifted heavy then you know exactly what I mean.
If you have access to a giant cambered bar, that’s another great way to improve your ability to support the weight while still getting some good leg work in.
I tried these on Eric Cressey’s recommendation and they’re definitely tough. You won’t be able to handle as much weight as you could with a barbell, but when you go back to the barbell it’ll feel like nothing. I typically won’t go over 5-6 reps when doing front squats because the upper back fatigues much faster than the legs, but when using this bar I go a bit higher because my main goal is working the upper back anyway.
It should also be mentioned that the front squat is actually a good assistance exercise in its own right, especially for the deadlift and the Olympic back squat.
You’re clearly a pretty strong guy and have put your time in, so you may just need some variety in your programming and/or exercise selection. This could mean dropping front squats for a month or so and trying something entirely different (not a bad idea), or it might mean just doing a different variation of the front squat to provide a slightly different stimulus while still keeping the same basic movement pattern. Since this article is about front squatting, I’ll go with that.
There are tons of different variations you could try, but I’d start with paused reps first because they’re relatively simple and give you a tremendous bang for your buck for both strength and muscle gains.
Now, not all paused reps are created equal, and which method you chose will depend on your goals.
Using a brief 1-2 second pause at the bottom of every rep is a great place to start. Everything else remains the same as a regular front squat. It’s important to maintain core rigidity in the hole to keep from falling forward, and you’ll need to pay special attention to keeping the knees pushed out as you transition from the eccentric to concentric as they’ll have a tendency to collapse inward if you’re not careful.
This is how I do the majority of my own training because the short pause serves as a great way to the keep my form in check, which is crucial for staying healthy over the long haul.
It forces you to control the eccentric portion to the rep (no dive-bombing) and keeps you from bouncing out of the hole, which can be potentially injurious to the knees if done in excess.
Furthermore, it’s harder, so you aren’t able to handle as much weight. If you have a history of back pain, less weight is a good thing because it equals less spinal loading. I’m always looking for ways to get more out of less.
More time in the bottom position also means more time developing hip mobility. Think of it almost like a weighted squat stretch.
If you want to focus more on your starting strength coming out of the hole, you could increase the length of the pause to 3-4 seconds. I highly recommend using the pins if you decide to go this route to take pressure off the knees. A brief pause may actually help the knees feel better, but anything over two seconds can become problematic.
The longer pause will dampen the stretch-shortening cycle (SSC) so you’re forced to do more work to overcome inertia coming out of the hole.
The rationale here is very similar to why a powerlifter might chose to do a paused box squat, but I don’t find box squatting works as well with front squats because it encourages an increased forward torso lean, which can make it difficult to hold the bar.
Although thousands of powerlifters have box squatted successfully without injury, the compressive forces that come from wedging your spine in between the bar and the box could be problematic for some. Pausing on the pins eliminates this scenario while still allowing for the removal of the SSC, which makes this variation appealing to those with back issues.
Note that this is not an Anderson squat. Normally I couldn’t care less what an exercise is called, but in this case I think it’s an important distinction. An Anderson squat is a version of a paused squat, but it’s done starting “bottoms-up” as opposed to “top-down.”
The dynamics of the lift change considerably when you get rid of the eccentric preload. Suddenly your core is forced to fire in a new way and you must explode off the pins to get the bar moving. Consider it the squatting equivalent of the deadlift.
One potential issue is that unless you’re Paul Anderson and do them standing in a hole or have absolutely freaky flexibility, it can be nearly impossible to get into a rock bottom starting position.
Thus, if you were trying to work on your strength from the deep position, I’d recommend starting from the top down. Otherwise, for every other sticking point, use Anderson squats. I recommend doing these as singles and literally stepping away from the bar and resetting on each rep to really get the full effect.
For a whole new level of awesomeness, make like Paul and do them with two hot chicks sitting on the plates.
Get really strong on front squats and you’ll have the diesel quads you desire. Ever seen Olympic lifters? I rest my case.
If your joints can’t tolerate all that heavy loading day in and day out, all hope’s not lost. You can also try taking a lighter weight and doing piston-like continuous reps without locking out at the top. This will keep constant tension on the quads and ensure that you’ll be hating life for the entire duration of the set. It won’t take much weight at all for these to suck, badly.
You’ll probably be cussing me out after your first set of these, but remember, you asked for it.
Wrap Up
The good news? Hopefully this article has given you some ideas about how to fix some of the problems you’ve been having with front squatting.
The bad news? Now you have no excuse not to do them. Get to it!
10 Exercises You’ve Never Tried: Backside Edition
One of my favorite T Nation article series is the 20-installment monster called Exercises You’ve Never Tried Before. I like it so much that I want to bring it back.
Rather than list a bunch of random exercises though, I’ll base my installment around a common theme: the backside of the body (aka the posterior chain). And more specifically, low back-friendly exercises to work the backside of the body.
Maybe you’ve hurt your lower back and can’t load your spine with the heavy basics like deadlifts and barbell rows but still want to strengthen your posterior chain. Or maybe you’re already banging away with heavy deads and squats and just want some accessory work that won’t hammer your lower back any further.
Either way, these exercises may be just what the doctor ordered.
1. L-Sit Chin-ups
For this chin-up variation, raise your legs until they’re parallel to the floor and don’t allow them to drop for the duration of the set.
Once you’ve established good body position, perform chin-ups as normal, pulling your upper chest to the bar on each rep. If you can, try to angle your torso so you’re leaning back slightly to further emphasize the lats. You can use any grip you’d like, but it’s best to vary it periodically.
This is a great one because it effectively kills two birds with one stone, functioning as both a back exercise and a core exercise. Having your legs raised in front of you also keeps you honest because you can’t use momentum from the lower body to propel yourself up.
You may initially lack the core strength and/or hamstring flexibility to do this with straight legs, in which case you can start with your legs bent and work on straightening them over time.
The position of the legs makes it difficult to add weight with a dip belt, so if you’re looking to make it harder, you can slow down the tempo, add a weight vest, put a small dumbbell between your feet, or use light ankles weights (absolutely brutal)!
2. Lean Back Chin-ups
Here’s one I picked up from Charles Poliquin, who refers to them as subscapularis chin-ups.
Using either a pronated or neutral grip, pull yourself up until your upper chest touches the bar. Your chest should be puffed out and your elbows pulled down and back – no rounded shoulders or sunken chests allowed.
Before you begin the descent, squeeze your lats, brace your core, contract your glutes, and begin to lean back as you slowly push yourself away from the bar. Use a controlled eccentric and continue to lean back as far as you can the whole way down.
Your torso should be at approximately 45 degrees to the floor. At the bottom, return your torso to an upright position and repeat for the desired reps.
Strive to keep your torso as straight as possible throughout the set. I recommend dorsiflexing the ankles to help lock the lower body into position. If you do these correctly, they’ll not only smoke your upper back and lats but fry your core as well.
3. Gironda Sternum Chin-ups
If you type “sternum chin-ups” into YouTube, you’ll get a whole bunch of videos showing guys doing standard chin-ups where they simply pull their chest to the bar. That’s a great exercise, but I wouldn’t call that a sternum chin-up. I’d just call that a good chin-up.
Chin-up standards have become pathetically low. In my mind, a properly executed chin-up should always be pulled to the upper chest. It’s like saying a full squat: it’s redundant and shouldn’t be necessary. Sadly, I guess it is.
A true Gironda sternum chin-up (as prescribed by the legendary Vince Gironda) is a whole different animal.
Right as you begin the pull, tip your head back and try to look behind you as if you were attempting to do a backflip. Continue looking back as you pull while keeping your chest elevated and your lower body still. Depending on the length of your arms, you should contact with the bar anywhere between your lower chest and mid-abdomen.
Poliquin has referred to these as the king of upper back exercises, and for good reason. If done correctly, the contraction you get in your upper back will be unparalleled and your lats will be on fire after just a few reps.
This is an extremely advanced exercise, so make sure you’ve mastered other easier variations first before trying it. Furthermore, the arching required to complete the movement may be too provocative for extension-intolerant individuals, so if you fall into that camp and it causes you any pain whatsoever, choose something else.
4. Inverted Rows (1.5 reps)
Inverted rows are extremely underrated. Fact is, over the past couple years, they’ve become my favorite rowing exercise, especially for those with back pain. They allow you to attack the upper back without putting pressure on the lower back, and they also help to activate and strengthen the glutes, which are generally underactive in back pain sufferers.
If you have suspension straps – TRX, blast straps, rings, etc. – they’re also very shoulder friendly because they allow you to rotate your hands through a natural range of motion from pronated to supinated, which strengthens the rotator cuff. If you don’t have straps, you can use a bar in a power rack or Smith machine.
The reason most people blow these off initially is that they just seem too easy. However, I’d urge you to try them first before jumping to conclusions. Elevating the feet on a bench so that the torso is parallel to the floor increases difficulty. Lying plates across the chest or wearing a weight vest are further progressions.
Once you’ve mastered regular inverted rows, try using “1.5″ reps. Row up, come halfway down, row up again, then come all the way down. That’s 1.
“1.5″ reps help ensure that your form stays tight and allows you to concentrate on retracting your scapulae and getting a good contraction on every rep. If crappy form on rows has kept you from experiencing what an upper back pump feels like, you’ll quickly find out with these. And you know what Arnold said about the pump, right?
5. One-Arm Inverted Rows
These are the mack daddy of all inverted row variations.
Set up as you normally would for an inverted row except hold only one strap. Extend the other arm straight up toward the ceiling and place your feet a little wider than normal for a more stable base.
To do these successfully requires extreme total body stiffness, so contract everything – glutes, core, lats, grip, the other arm – literally everything. When you’re ready, row yourself up and reach the non-working arm straight towards the ceiling.
Your torso will want to rotate slightly towards the side of the working arm, which is fine as it allows you to achieve a greater range of motion on the row. Just don’t allow your hips to sag. Lower yourself under control and repeat.
Each rep should be performed under control such that you could pause each rep at the point of contraction if need be. That’s actually a good rule of thumb for all rows, but it’s especially important here – if you start to get sloppy, you’re putting your shoulder at risk of injury. You can also start with your feet on the floor if elevating them is too challenging at first.
While this is ostensibly a back exercise, it’s really a total body exercise because every muscle from head to toe must fire to stay tight or you simply won’t be able to do it.
I promise you that after trying this one, any preconceived notions you may have had about inverted rows being a sissy exercise will go right out the window.
6. Inverted Row “Slides”
Here’s a good alternative if you don’t have suspension straps.
Set up using a pronated grip with your hands slightly wider than what you’d use for the bench press. Pulling primarily with your right arm, pull yourself up towards your right hand until your chest touches the bar. From there, keeping your chest close to the bar and your torso level, slide yourself over to your left hand and lower yourself primarily using your left arm to bear the load. Alternate which side you pull to first on each successive rep.
Adding a unilateral element into the mix significantly enhances the difficulty of the row by forcing each arm to lift a greater percentage of your total bodyweight. Moreover, performing the slide at the top amplifies the intensity of the contraction and increases the core demands by forcing the torso to resist rotation.
7. Inverted Face Pulls
Face pulls are an excellent exercise to promote good shoulder health and strengthen the middle and lower traps. They should definitely be a mainstay in your program, especially if you emphasize the bench press (i.e. 99% of you reading this).
The inverted face pull using suspension straps is a great variation because you get all the benefits of a regular face pull with the added benefit of core stability that comes from handling your own bodyweight.
What’s more, when you do these using cables or bands, you’re forced to stand in an asymmetrical split stance and brace yourself to keep from getting pulled in towards the machine. Using suspension straps allows you to be more symmetrical and focus your efforts completely on the task at hand since you aren’t being pulled off balance.
Set up just as you would for an inverted row, only instead of pulling your hands to your sides, pull just to the sides of your head. Control each rep and make sure to squeeze your scapulae together at the point of contraction. These are much tougher than they might look, so you’ll want to start with your feet on the floor.
8. Inverted Row/Hamstring Bodycurl Combo
This is a cool exercise that works both the back and the hamstrings at once.
It’s essentially an inverted row combined with an inverted hamstring bodycurl, which I discussed here. I like both exercises on their own, but they work even better in tandem.
As a standalone, the hamstring bodycurl is much harder than the inverted row. However, because you must hold an isometric contraction on each rep of the inverted row while you perform the leg curl, the difficulty of the row increases greatly. You’re actually working both your back and hamstrings to the max. In terms of exercise economy, that’s hard to beat.
That’s all well and good if you do full body training, but where does it fit in if you follow an upper/lower split?
It depends. If you’re quad dominant and want to bring up your hamstrings, you could include these on upper body days for some supplemental work. Conversely, if you need more upper back work – which most do – you could use it on your lower body days.
I use it on lower body days, but it doesn’t really matter. While these are challenging, they won’t tap into your recovery stores too much so it shouldn’t throw off the rest of your training.
9. Banded “Iron Cross” Glute-Ham Raise
Speaking of combination exercises that work the whole backside at once, here’s another doozy. It’s a glute-ham raise, which I’ve written about extensively here, combined with an isometric band pull-apart.
Along with engaging the upper back and traps, holding the band in an isometric pull-apart helps ensure good posture and body positioning throughout the exercise. Some people have a tendency to slouch their shoulders and round their lower backs, but having the scapulae pinched together has a trickle-down effect throughout the body to help maintain rigidity and alignment.
If it’s too much to handle at first, you can always use some band assistance to make it more manageable.
10. Back Extension/Rear Delt Raise Combo
Any time I mention the glute-ham raise, I invariably get the question: what about if I don’t have access to a glute-ham apparatus?
You might think my answer would be to revert to the “natural” glute-ham raise – otherwise known as the Russian leg curl – but I’m not a fan. It’s just flat-out too hard.
Very few people can do them without using a pushup for assistance at the bottom, and even fewer can do them with good form and hinging dramatically at the hips. They usually look ugly, so much so that I worry about the potential for a pulled hamstring.
Besides, I’m big on progressive resistance, and it’s nearly impossible to gauge progress on an exercise where you can’t even do one unassisted rep.
I think a better choice would be a 45-degree back extension, which is typically much more common in commercial gyms and can create a similar training effect as the glute-ham raise when done properly.
The problem with this exercise is that because it’s often referred to as back hyperextensions – people are under the impression that the primary movement should be initiated by the back, so they flex the lumbar spine at the bottom and hyperextend at the top. Not good.
Instead, think about it as a hip extension where the glutes function as the primary extensor and the lumbar spine stays in neutral. You want to feel these almost entirely in the glutes and hamstrings; if you feel it a lot in the lower back, it’s a sign you’re probably doing it wrong.
To include some work for the upper back and posterior delts, you can add a rear delt raise. It won’t take much weight to be challenging, but adding even a little weight to the arms in an outstretched position will significantly increase the challenge for the glutes and hamstrings by slowing down the movement and decreasing momentum, as well as slightly increasing the length of the lever arm.
Have Fun!
It should go without saying that the vast majority of your training should be built around the simple basics. But when you hit a plateau or grow bored of doing the same old stuff day in and day out, here are some cool tweaks you can try to spice things up.
Have fun and post your questions in the Live Spill!
9 Random Training Tips
I have a random mind. Maintaining focus on any given task can be a real challenge for me, much to the chagrin of many of my old teachers. My plan for this article was to examine several of my favorite training tips that you can implement today in your own training, but my ADD-saddled brain would have nothing of it.
Two ideas became three, then four, then five, and so on. I finally put a cap on the damn thing at nine, which is fitting, as this is my ninth article for T NATION to date.
See? There is a method to my madness.
1. Strong Side First with Unilateral Exercises
One of the many benefits of unilateral training is that it helps even out imbalances between limbs. Conventional wisdom says to do the weaker limb first to avoid exacerbating the imbalance, and then match that number of reps with the strong limb.
I’ve never been a fan of this method. While it may help create balance, it’s selling the strong limb short since you aren’t working it to its capacity.
Instead, try doing the strong limb first and then force yourself to match it on the weak side. You obviously won’t be able to do it all in one continuous set, so do as many as you can with good form, pause for 10 seconds and take a few deep breaths, then continue on until you match the reps you got on the strong side – plus an extra 1-2 for good measure.
So a typical set might look like this:
Left side – 7 reps, pause for 10 seconds, 4 reps.
This provides the best of both worlds because you can even out imbalances while continuing to get the strong limb stronger.
2. Learn the Hip Hinge
The importance of developing a technically sound hip hinge can’t be overstated. You’ll need it if you want to get strong on deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts, good mornings, Olympic lifts, kettlebell swings; basically all the moneymakers for the posterior chain.
It will also go a long way in keeping you injury-free on those exercises. If you can’t hinge properly at the hips, you’ll often compensate by rounding at the lower back, a recipe for hobbling through the office like the accounting Quasimodo.
It’s a simple movement pattern, yet many lifters just can’t seem to get it right, which is a big reason why so many get hurt.
Starting with your knees slightly bent, think about pushing your butt back as far you can without further bending your knees, all while keeping your back neutral or slightly arched. Dan John does a great job explaining it in this article. Look it over.
Still not quite getting it? Try this cue: Imagine yourself trying to take a no-handed morning piss with a boner. Voila, you just did a hip hinge. (Ladies, you should try this too, if for nothing else than to see what your man has to contend with.)
Now go do that in the gym. Just make sure to put some pants on first.
3. No Matter Your Goal, Do Pull-ups
Barring certain injuries, I think pull-ups should be a staple in almost every lifter’s program.
There’s much to be gained from getting good at them. There’s no better exercise for building the lats, which play a huge role in virtually every major lift. Try benching big weights, or front squatting, or deadlifting with weak lats. Not gonna happen.
During a mass-gaining phase, pull-ups will not only build huge amounts of muscle, they’ll also help keep you in check to avoid excessive fat gain. While pull-ups are definitely easier the lighter you are, if you’re gaining good weight, your pull-up performance shouldn’t suffer too much. If it does, there’s a good chance you’re getting fat.
Likewise, pull-ups act as a great incentive during a fat loss program because the leaner you get, the better you’ll be at them.
Make it a goal to be able to do at least 10-12 clean reps with your own bodyweight.
4. Do Upper Back Work Every Workout
This is an extension of number 3.
I’ve never looked at a person and thought, “Wow, that guy needs to lay off the upper back work.” I’d go so far as to say that I’m not even sure there’s such a thing as too much upper back work. We could all probably use more.
Strengthening the upper back will help offset all the horizontal pressing (i.e. bench press) and slouching we do on a regular basis, which will go a long way in improving posture and warding off shoulder injuries.
If you don’t care about that and just want to look better and lift more weight, you should still pay attention. Improving your posture will instantly make your chest look bigger. Fact is, if I were given a week to bring up the appearance of your chest, the first thing I’d probably do would be attack your upper back. It’s that profound.
The upper back is also often the weak link in many other key exercises. If you’ve ever struggled with your deadlift form (especially the lockout) or had trouble holding the bar for front squats, you know exactly what I mean. Strengthen the upper back and your other lifts often immediately skyrocket.
So what should you do?
The upper back can handle a tremendous workload, and in my experience, responds best to a higher frequency. The key is choosing the right exercises and modulating intensity and volume. As mentioned earlier, pull-ups are fantastic, but I’d limit them to twice a week at most to avoid shoulder and elbow issues.
On the other training days (2-3 days a week), I’d opt for horizontal pulls that don’t stress the lower back, since the lower back is much slower to recover and gets slammed during most lower body training.
Good choices include inverted rows, dumbbell rows, chest-supported rows, band pull-aparts, Batwings, and face pulls. If you have suspension straps, one of my personal favorites is inverted face pulls.
Three sets of 8-12 reps should be sufficient. Don’t worry so much about the weight, and don’t go overboard to the point where it starts to affect the rest of your workouts. Focus on doing the movements correctly and using the right muscles to do the work. This leads me right into my next point.
5. Learn Proper Form/Video Yourself
The best thing I ever did for my lifting career was to get a logbook. Luckily, I did that pretty much right from the start, saving me years of wheel spinning.
The next best thing I did was to get a video camera. My only regret is not getting it sooner.
I never had a coach or a trainer to show me the ropes when I was first starting out. I learned by reading and watching other people in the gym and then trying to mimic what they were doing. Trouble is, most gym goers have their heads firmly lodged up their rectums when it comes to training, so it was really a case of the blind leading the blind.
I was well intentioned, but misguided. I never missed workouts, ever, and I worked my ass off every time I stepped foot in the gym. I knew the key to success was progressive resistance, so I fought tooth and nail to beat the logbook, and I did most of the time. I paid attention to the little details, like sets, reps, and rest periods.
What I neglected, however, was good form. It’s not that I didn’t care about it, it’s that I didn’t really know better. I honestly thought my form was good – that is, until I watched myself. That was a rude awakening. You name it, I was doing it wrong. The harder I pushed, the more my form deteriorated.
I had to drop the weights way down and start over from scratch. Talk about humbling. You never realize how much harder a full squat is than a quarter squat until the first time you have to strip it from 365 to 135.
Learn from my mistakes and nail down good form from the start. If you’ve let it slide, suck it up, lighten the load, and take the time to get it right. Until you do, nothing else matters. Fancy programming is useless if you can’t execute the exercises correctly.
If you’re fortunate enough to have competent lifters in your gym, ask for help. If you’re like I was and have to go at it alone, invest in a camera and film yourself on all the major movements. With websites like this one, you can get solid form critique in a matter of minutes.
You don’t need anything expensive either. I’ve used the same little digital camera for five years and it’s been fine. Trust me, besides your two-dollar logbook, it’ll be the best money you ever spend.
6. Hammer Your Weak Points
It’s human nature to gravitate towards the things we do best and avoid the things we suck at. In the gym, this often manifests with us prioritizing our strengths and neglecting our weaknesses.
While it may be normal human behavior, it doesn’t make it right. This is a recipe for creating imbalances, which sets us up for stagnation and/or injury. I say “us” because I’m guilty of it too, and it’s something I consciously have to work on.
Now I’m certainly not advocating that you give all parts of your training equal priority, and there will always be some things that are more important to you than others. I’m suggesting that you look for the glaring weaknesses and attack them head-on, even if you don’t see the immediate benefit.
For example, I went through a phase where I stopped doing any specific core training. I justified it to myself by saying that “abs are made in the kitchen” and “the core gets enough work from heavy compound exercises,” but really I was just being lazy and didn’t like doing it.
I was fine for a while, but over time, some of my lifts began to stall and my back started to bother me. Eventually I broke down and decided to add some core stabilization work back into the mix. Within a few weeks, my front squat went up and my back pain went away. Funny how that works.
The takeaway point is, don’t just do what you like.
I’ll bet that you know exactly what your biggest weak point is. Maybe it’s your core strength, upper back, glutes, hamstrings, mobility, whatever. Now it’s just a matter of taking action and making a conscious effort to improve it.
That may mean putting it first in the workout to ensure that you give it full attention, or it may mean devoting an entire extra day each week specifically to that weak point. Just get it done. No excuses.
7. Walking Lunges 2.0
Walking lunges are one of my favorite single-leg exercises. It’s also very advanced, so before you try to tackle it, I suggest you take some time to master split squats, Bulgarian split squats and regular lunges first.
You’ll often see walking lunges loaded either by holding dumbbells at the sides or with a barbell on the back. While there’s certainly nothing wrong with either method, I rarely see it done correctly.
Instead, I see a big tendency to lean way forward, sometimes to the point of falling over. I don’t mind a slight forward lean when it’s being performed unloaded (forward lean has been shown to increase glute activation,) but when you add heavy weights into the mix, it’s putting the lower back in a precarious position. Part of the problem is simply going too heavy, but the placement of the weights exacerbates the issue.
Enter the front-loaded version.
Start by holding a dumbbell in the goblet position until you run out of weight before progressing to using a barbell with a front squat grip.
I like this style of loading better for a few reasons:
- It forces you to stay upright, putting less stress on the spine and more stress on the quads, where we want it.<
- There’s a built-in protection mechanism against your own ego. It keeps you honest because you’ll need to go much lighter than you would if you were to hold dumbbells at your sides or put a bar on your back, and you can’t cheat or else you’ll drop the weight.
- Loading the weight anteriorly provides an added core stability benefit as you must fight to resist flexion, giving you more bang for your buck.
Just make sure to start conservatively and follow the progression I laid out above to avoid being riddled with DOMS. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
8. Don’t Skimp on Mobility Work
Mobility work is to training as vegetables are to diet.
We may not enjoy eating vegetables, but we do so anyway because they’re good for us. We know that protein acts as the building blocks for muscle, but if we just ate meat and nothing else we might be off the charts on the Awesomeness Scale, but we’d be leaving a lot on the table nutritionally. Veggies provide fiber and nutrients and help us feel good, so while they may not contribute directly to building muscle, they certainly assist indirectly.
The same goes for mobility work. It’s certainly not as sexy and fun as weight training, but it’s still vitally important. It likely won’t contribute directly to gaining muscle (I’ve yet to see a jacked yogi, nor would I ever particularly care to), but it can augment the muscle-building process by helping us feel better, move better, and recover better.
We aren’t necessarily looking to reach Gumby status, but a certain level of flexibility and mobility is essential to train hard and avoid injury. I could sit here all day chewing up bandwidth preaching about how you must squat to at least parallel and give you all the great cues and drills to do so, but if you’re locked up in the hips and ankles, none of that stuff will matter.
As much as it might suck (trust me, I don’t like it either), make it a priority. In the beginning, it’ll take a lot of work. I’ve found that, just like with veggies, the key is consistency. I’d rather see you spend 15 minutes a day, every day of the week, than 30 minutes 2-3 times a week.
I recommend doing a bit before and during your workouts, and then spend a good 10-15 minutes of devoted stretching at night at home before you go to bed. I find doing it at night helps me to relax and alleviate some of the soreness caused by lifting, and I can do it in front of the TV so it’s not so boring.
Do it while you watch Jersey Shore and stretch every time Ronnie and Sam fight or Snooki says something moronic. You’ll be cured in no time. You’ll also be significantly stupider, but at least you’ll be more flexible.
This article is a good starting point for some stretches to do, and here are some quick and easy active mobility drills to try.
The good news though is that once you develop good mobility, it doesn’t take much to maintain it if you consistently train through a full range of motion. Until you reach that point though, make this stuff your best friend.
9. Believe in Yourself
Nothing pisses me off more in the gym than someone asking me for a spot and then saying, “I’m not sure I can get this.”
My response is always the same, “Come get me when you’re sure.”
I don’t say this to be a dick or because I’m lazy and don’t want to spot them, I say it because to be successful, you absolutely must believe in yourself. If you go into a set thinking you aren’t going to get it, chances are you won’t. You should be fully committed and have a distinct (and realistic) goal in mind, and there should be no doubt in your mind that you can pull it off. If you aren’t confident, you shouldn’t even be trying it.
I’m a big believer in positive self-talk (note the “self” part of self-talk; nobody wants to hear you tooting your own horn). I’m not talking about some fruity feel-good thing. I’m talking about getting in the zone where you’re in attack mode and nothing can stop you. Whenever I step up to take a weight, I’m absolutely convinced that I’m going to dominate it. That’s not to say I always do, but getting in the right mindset at least gives me a fighting chance.
End of Randomness
I warned you this was going to be random. Some of it may be new to you, while some may simply serve as a reminder of what you already knew but may not be putting into practice. Either way, I hope you can glean a few useful tips to take your training up a notch.
Back-Friendly Leg Training
Back-Friendly Leg Training
I’ve dealt with back problems my entire life. By problems, I don’t mean the occasional lower back tweak, but rather serious complications that greatly affected both my training and my overall quality of life. For many, a typical training session will look something like this:
It’s basically your run-of-the-mill leg program, only in reverse. Traditional methods will have you starting with some form of heavy squat, followed by something for the posterior chain before wrapping up with single-leg exercise accessory work. Single leg training is an effective way to overload the legs without stressing the spine, making it a great option for those with back problems. You’ll start each workout by picking one exercise from the list below for 3-4 sets of 6 reps per leg.
Remember, we’re using the single-leg work as a primary exercise, so treat it accordingly. Don’t just breeze through it. Work your way up to a top set where you go as heavy as you can for 6 reps using good form. Placing single-leg work first in the training session will allow you to get much more out it. When performing it at the end of the workout in a fatigued state, stability becomes much more of a limiting factor. When fresh, stability isn’t nearly as much of an issue, allowing the focus be placed on strength. It’s best those with back issues avoid heavy spinal loading. Unfortunately, this rules out some great time-tested strength and mass builders like deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts, and good mornings. If you still want to train the hip hinge pattern (you definitely should), try single-leg RDL’s, cable pull-throughs, or kettlebell swings instead. This isn’t optional because I’m a softie, but because I believe that once you become proficient with single-leg work, you won’t need it. I realize not everyone is ready to make this leap. Some find that as they first transition into single-leg training, they aren’t able to work their legs to the extent they’d like to. While this diminishes as form improves, some just love squatting and aren’t ready to part with it entirely. Another technique to use on occasion is “1.5″ reps, which I picked up from Charles Poliquin. You may want to have a fire extinguisher on hand because these burn.
If you’re feeling particularly masochistic, you can try something I got from Dan John called “Goji” front squats, using kettlebells suspended from chains. Be prepared for a roller coaster ride.
Sure, the weights will need to be lighter than you may be used to, but I assure you won’t be thinking this is easy. Those used to squatting big numbers may at first suffer a little ego bruising, but your back and legs will ultimately thank you. As a rule, I try to avoid using absolutes. I won’t push my luck and say that everyone should train like this as there are many different ways of doing things. I will say that everyone with the goal of getting bigger legs couldtrain like this – bad back or not – and get great results.
Suffice it to say, my issues weren’t the sort that a few Advil and ten minutes on the foam roller could cure. I’ll spare you the gory details, but things came to a head in 2005 after involuntarily wetting the bed several times and being forced to have surgery to repair a disk at L5-S1.
I was also an athlete and exercise junkie, but after the surgery I had a lot of trouble (and still do) running and cutting, which obviously ruled out most sports. So I turned to lifting weights for my daily endorphin fix.
My drug of choice is leg training. There’s just something satisfying about it – not necessarily fun, but satisfying. Leg day will push you to your physical limits and show you what you’re made of along the way.
It’s also a surefire way to separate the real lifters from the prima donnas. Big arms and broad shoulders are a dime a dozen, but when I see a guy with strong and muscular legs, he’s got my respect because I know he’s put the work in. There’s just no other way.
Leg day can be a slippery slope for those with back problems. On one hand, you’ve got to push it hard to see results, but most traditional leg training programs can wreak havoc on your back if you’re not ultra careful.
You don’t want to risk getting hurt, but you also don’t want to be relegated to a life of wussy training and wearing sweatpants at the beach, either. I struggled with this for a long time, and I suspect many reading this do too.
Through considerable trial and error, I’ve learned (often the hard way) how to modify leg training to not exacerbate my back problems while still training with the brutal intensity required to make progress. If what I’m saying resonates at all, this article is for you.
The Program Basics
This method has built many a big set of wheels and is no doubt effective, but if you have a preexisting back problem, it may also be setting you up for a world of hurt down the road.
In this back-friendly program, we’re still including all the same basic components of a traditional leg workout. We’re just flipping the order in which we do them.
I’ll now discuss the “whys” and go into each part of the workout with more depth.
Single Leg Work
I recommend taking 60-90 seconds rest between each leg to allow sufficient recovery (except for walking lunges, which will obviously be done in a continuous fashion), and at least two minutes between sets. If you’re doing it right, you’ll need every last second of it.
You’ll be surprised at how much weight you’ll be able to handle when you take it seriously. It may feel a little awkward at first, but the learning curve is typically very fast, so stick with it.
First Things First
For those new to single-leg training, I recommend starting with rear-foot elevated split squats because they’ll be the most stable.
Once you master those, lunges will be the next easiest to learn, followed by skater squats and single-leg squats. Be conservative with your weights the first couple times out to allow sufficient time to familiarize yourself with the movements and let your body adapt to the new stimulus.
Starting too heavy will only slow the learning process and leave you crippled with soreness. Trust me on this one.
You’ll notice I omitted step-ups. I’m not a fan of step-ups as a primary strength exercise for two reasons. First, many complain of knee pain from heavy step-ups. Second, it lends itself to heavy cheating from the back leg, especially as the weights get heavier.
If you feel strongly about step-ups and can do them pain-free with good form, certainly use them. I think most people will be better off choosing exercises from the list above.
Posterior Chain Work
I’m also not a big fan of machine leg curls. Sure, they won’t hurt your back directly, but they could indirectly contribute to low back pain by neglecting the glutes.
The glute-ham raise is my favorite alternative here because it works both the glutes and hamstrings simultaneously while putting lower amounts of stress on the spine in comparison to heavy deadlifts and good mornings.
For more on the glute-ham raise, including how to do it, check out this article. For those who don’t have access to a glute-ham bench, you can try some of these leg curl variations that are superior to machine-based alternatives.
Pick one exercise per workout and do 3-4 sets. Reps will depend on which exercise you choose. Glute-ham raises and single leg RDL’s are best done using slightly lower reps (5-8) while pull-throughs, kettlebell swings, and the various leg curl variations work better in the 8-15 rep range (swings can go as high as 20).Bilateral Finisher (Optional)
Think about it, if you gradually work to 250+ for rear-foot elevated split squats, 250+ pounds for lunges, and 100+ pounds for skater squats and single leg squats, and consume adequate amounts of protein and calories to support hypertrophy and weight gain (the most important and oft-neglected part of the equation when it comes to building muscle), your legs will have no choice but to grow.
In my case, I’ve transitioned almost exclusively to the single-leg stuff for my knee-dominant work (i.e. quad exercises), and don’t see myself turning back any time soon. I’ve gotten stronger, my legs have grown, and my back has never felt better.
Making the Leap to Single-Leg Training
For these types, placing squats at the end of the workout makes sense. My problem with bilateral squatting for back pain sufferers isn’t the bilateral movement pattern – it’s a very important pattern to learn and master – but rather the extreme spinal loading associated with heavy squatting, as well as the form breakdown that can occur as a result of heavy loads.
Doing them at the end takes care of both of these problems as it drastically reduces the amount of weight your legs will be able to handle. For those with back problems, lighter loads means less load on the spine, and it will also make it much easier to keep good form. I also prefer front squats over back squats for this reason because they require less overall load and promote a more upright torso, thereby reducing the shearing forces on the spine.
Still, with heavy front squats, the limiting factor for most will be the upper back, not the legs. Doing heavy single-leg work first fatigues the legs without fatiguing the back, so when it comes time to squat, the legs again become the limiting factor, making it safer and more efficient.
I recommend doing 2-4 sets of 6-10 reps. I usually prefer a lower rep range with front squats when they’re being performed at the beginning of the workout. Since the weights will be significantly lighter here, supporting the bar shouldn’t be a problem, and the higher rep ranges mean less load for the back and greater time under tension for the legs.
The weight you’ll use for front squats will depend largely on your proficiency with single-leg work (the better you are at it, the more it will tax you), as well as which exercises you did previously. Start light. You probably won’t be able to handle nearly as much as you think you can. (I personally use about 65-75% of what I could handle if I were fresh.)
Taking it a step further, you can even do things to consciously make the front squats harder so that less weight is required.
One way to do this is to slow down the eccentric portion of the rep.
Still not sold on the idea? It might help to think about it in bodybuilding terms as “pre-exhausting” the legs. Bodybuilders have long used leg extensions or the leg press to pre-exhaust their quads before squatting. That’s exactly what we’re doing here, only I’d argue that single-leg work trumps either of those other exercises in both safety and efficacy.
Wrap Up
Healthy individuals that enjoy heavy squatting would still be well advised to train like this periodically to deload the spine and keep it happy for the long haul. You might not think it’s important now, but you may change your tune when instead of lifting you’re stuck playing Angry Birds on your physiotherapists’ table.
Try it for yourself and see how it goes.
