Think about all the pullups, bench presses, dips and rows you’ve done in the gym. Now what if I told you that you have been doing them wrong?

This oversight is limiting your progress in all of these movements, leaving you with less strength and less muscle, and it’s eventually going to leave you with a shoulder injury that will either restrict you to the pink dumbbell and bouncy ball section of the gym or force you to skip upper body lifting altogether while you recover.

About two years ago I was sitting with Nate Green in a restaurant in Long Beach. What started out with one flirty waitress grew into a group of girls from a nearby table, and Nate went into the line of questioning that he had worked out as part of his research for Built for Show.

“Picture what you consider to be your physically ideal man. He’s wearing boxer shorts and you have a 360 degree view from the neck down. What three areas are you going to look at first?”

One of the top three answers to this question (meaning the place a woman looks at first when she’s trying to decide if you’re worth taking to bed) is almost always “upper back.”

This same mistake that impairs your performance on pulls, presses, and dips also significantly shortchanges the muscular development of the upper back, making you look less appealing to the fairer sex. The good news, though, is that it’s fairly simple to fix.

It seems like a simple distinction, but it’s such a fundamental aspect of upper body strength training that it’s the equivalent of initiating a squat with the lower back instead of the glutes.

The North American lifestyle, coupled with common training practices, works to predispose most people to a number of postural imbalances. As far as the upper body is concerned, the main factors at play relate to what you’re doing right now. In order to read this, you’re probably sitting in front of a computer with your arms directed in front of you, your scapulae protracted forward, at least a small kyphotic hunch in your upper back, and your head is most likely too far forward.

Almost all of us do this to some degree for much of the day, whether on a computer, reading, writing, or even driving. Over time, this leads to postural adaptations. The muscles that fire in order to maintain this posture, mainly in your chest, are chronically tightened while the muscles in your upper back and traps are relaxed and weakened in turn.

This tight-chest/weak-back imbalance is exacerbated by the position of the spine. With the upper spine flexed into kyphosis and the head carried along with it, the thoracic spine gradually adapts and becomes limited in its ability to extend. Because the scapulae have a difficult time retracting when the thoracic spine is flexed, you’ve got a one-two punch for faulty scapular function. What all this means is that most North American lifters are prone to some degree of scapular dysfunction, and this will carry over into any upper body lift they perform.

Because the scapulae are unstable and tend to be somewhat winged and protracted (pulled forward), any movement will occur with the humerus pitched anteriorly in the capsule. This anterior translation weakens the force that you can eventually produce in an upper body movement. Any good bencher will tell you that a tight back and strong lats play a huge role in the lift, especially in the early portion of the movement.

Poor scapular function also makes the shoulder prone to impingement and injury. All that grinding you feel in your shoulder when you bench press probably has some roots in the position of your scapulae when you’re training. Fix the scaps and you fix the shoulder.

The last point here is that when all the muscles that should be involved in retracting and depressing the scapulae are left unused or are only partially activated, they aren’t going to grow. This means that your upper back, which is one of the main areas in need of serious hypertrophy in order to exude a look of strength and power (and is also one of the first places a woman looks for when she’s checking you out) won’t be up to par.

The first step is fairly simple: Understand that pulling movements should be initiated and finished with the scapulae. This may feel a bit foreign when you first start focusing on it. You’ll be working with muscles and movement patterns that aren’t as strong or habituated as your old ones. As you pull, think of keeping your head upright and pulling your shoulder blades into your back pockets.

Fixing this faulty pattern by addressing the weak link at your scapulae will eventually enable you to reach new levels of strength in these movements and provide benefit to the entire kinetic chain. Chinning, rowing, and pressing with strongly functioning scaps will ultimately carry over into generating more force throughout the chain, lifting with greater loads, and eventually, to building bigger, stronger arms.

Every repetition you perform in the gym creates an auto-associative memory within your cerebral cortex. This is why it’s crucial that quality should be emphasized on every rep. You’re building a pattern–essentially a habit–and the more heavily ingrained that pattern or habit is, the more likely it will be recalled in the future, particularly if your body is under stress and fatigue.

With enough quality reps over time, this pattern of high quality scapular function will become ingrained strongly enough that it will become the default movement you produce in any upper body movement, even under fatigue.

When you do a pullup, the movement is complete when your scaps are locked in, down and back, as hard as possible.

You’ll probably notice how much more difficult it is to lock your scaps in well instead of just popping your chin over the bar. The bar should be pressing into the lower part of the sternum, not just below your chin or at your clavicles. Your elbows should finish behind your rib cage.

You’ll also notice how much more solid you feel when you do it this way, and pretty quickly you’ll begin to feel a new level of strength and muscle mass developing in your upper back.

Correct Pullup form is demonstrated below - crappy to the left, good to the right:

Always start the bench press by taking a big belly full of air, slightly arching the thoracic spine, and locking your shoulder blades down and back as hard as you can. You should feel a lot of tension in your lats.

In order to keep this tension, you’re going to need a good liftoff from a spotter. Reaching back over your head to pop the bar off the pins is a good way to lose the tightness in your back and pull your scaps out of place. As you lift, maintain that tension in your upper back. Even as the bar locks out and descends, don’t let your scaps drift out. Crazy bell presses are a great tool for teaching this tight bar path.

Due to postural flaws or motor pattern inefficiencies, many people don’t finish a horizontal row with their shoulder blades. Instead, their scapulae remain only partially retracted and they finish the movement by drawing their elbows as far back as possible, which wrenches the humeri forward in the shoulder capsule. Instead, start and finish the pull with your shoulder blades and ensure that your humeri stay seated solidly back in the capsule. The elbows only need to come back as far as necessary to get your scaps locked in.

Keep the head back and the cervical spine neutral during all pulling movements, including chins and pullups as well as rows. Don’t allow yourself to cheat your way through the movement by popping your chin forward to create momentum.

If you care about the health of your shoulders, don’t descend further into a dip than you can go with your shoulder blades fully retracted. As soon as your humeri start to pitch forward, you’re endangering your shoulders and reinforcing a faulty motor pattern.

A good way to speed your progress is to add in some drills to activate the necessary muscles around your scapulae and improve the ability of your thoracic spine to extend. I stole just about all of these from Mike Robertson, creator of Assess and Correct, so if you want to get really in-depth on this stuff, his material is a great resource. These can all be done in a few minutes and would be a good add to your warm-ups. Doing them between sets of upper body lifts as an active rest interval can be helpful as well, and is a good way to get the most out of your time in the gym.

Here, you’re going to let the band pull your shoulder blade upward and then use your lower trap to depress it by pulling down towards your hips.

This one works to activate the scapular retractors, primarily the rhomboids and middle and lower traps. In this one, make sure that the scaps stay locked down. Don’t allow your upper traps to dominate and pull your shoulders up to your ears.

The serratus anterior is an extremely important muscle for quality scapular function. It is often the first muscle to shut down in any sort of scapular dysfunction, so it’s crucial to keep it working well. It functions to keep the scapula locked down to the rib cage and is critical in movements involving scapular upward rotation.

This one improves thoracic mobility. Keep the top leg bent at ninety-degrees with the bottom leg straight. Brace the abs to prevent motion at the lumbar spine and rotate over as far as you can, following your hand with your head.

The pec minors have a tendency to become chronically tight. When you see someone whose shoulders always seem to be pitched forward, the pec minor is a likely culprit. Lengthening it will allow the shoulder capsule to fall back into a more natural, safe position.

One simple distinction when you train upper body can make the difference between continual training and injury, between getting stronger and being stuck on a plateau, between developing a massive, well balanced upper back and being that guy who only looks like he works out until he turns around. Pay attention to what you’re doing with your shoulder blades, and you’ll be ahead of the game.

Written by Craig Weller

Discuss, comment or ask a question

If you have a comment, question or would like to discuss anything raised in this article, please do so in the following discussion thread on the Wannabebig Forums - One Quick Fix for a Stronger Back and Shoulders discussion thread.

About Craig Weller

Craig spent six years as a member of a Naval Special Operations Force known as SWCC, the Special Warfare Combatant Crewmen.

The methods which result from this training philosophy are designed to deliver maximal results with improvised or non-existent equipment in as little time as possible for men whose lives depend on their physical abilities.

This passion for showing others the path to a stronger, healthier body stayed with Craig and led to the founding of Barefoot Fitness with facilities in South Dakota and Denver.

You can keep up with his training methods on Facebook.

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Tags: Quick, Shoulders, Stronger

I'm going to cut right to the chase and get to the point. Eat more veggies than starchy foods for your carbohydrate source.

Here's why:

The end result of all carbohydrates broken down by the body is glucose, also called blood sugar. So whether it's a spoon of sugar, a piece of bread, or some broccoli, the body breaks each down to use as its main fuel source, blood sugar. The difference between some of these carbohydrates is the rate in which the body metabolizes them, or breaks them down, to use as blood sugar. There are simple carbohydrates like fruit, syrup, and sugar and there are complex carbohydrates like bread, pasta, potatoes, and oatmeal. The difference between simple and complex carbohydrates is the speed at which the body breaks them down to utilize as glucose.

Simple carbohydrates like table sugar and fruit are converted more rapidly for a quick energy boost. Complex carbohydrates take longer to break down and offer a more sustained supply of energy for the body.

Complex carbohydrates should be your main choice for energy for that precise reason, they offer more of a sustained energy supply. Simple carbohydrates create a quick boost of energy followed by a rapid decline, almost like a "crash."

Complex carbohydrates mainly come from either starchy foods like rice, pasta, and bread, or by vegetables like broccoli, peas, and green beans. The biggest reason to switch from a diet full of starchy carbohydrates like bread, pasta, and rice to a diet with more fibrous, leafy ones like vegetables is the calories involved.

I have a friend named Shawn LeBrun who is a personal trainer in Maine and when he was getting ready for his bodybuilding show in which he lost almost 50 pounds in 10 weeks, he replaced his starchy carbohydrates with more vegetables and fibrous carbohydrates.

I have never had to lose that much weight that fast but can vouch this works.

Fat-Loss Veggies

This one simple modification accounted for a significant drop in calories that was soon followed by a significant drop in body fat. Just like it's wise to moderate fats because they are very calorie dense, starchy carbohydrates like bread and pasta are more calorie dense than fibrous, leafy ones like vegetables.

What we want to do is eat a lot of food that makes us full but without over-doing it with the calories.

For effective, permanent fat loss, I feel it's important to choose foods that offer high volume but low calories. This way you do not feel deprived because you're still eating a lot of food but you're not getting a lot of calories in return. Vegetables offer this luxury. You can eat a lot in volume, but do not get a lot of calories in return, unless they are deep fried or drowned in butter (not recommended). This high volume, low calorie luxury doesn't exist with starchy carbohydrates. A small serving of starchy carbs like pasta, bread, and rice is still high in calories.

For example, a 1/4-cup of rice has approximately 150 calories. A 1/2-cup of oatmeal has about the same amount of calories. However, you can eat an entire box package of broccoli and have fewer calories than what you consumed with the 1/4 cup of rice. Or almost an entire bag of raw baby carrots.

I know what you're thinking, "I love my bread and I'm not getting rid of it". I absolutely agree, do not get rid of your breads, pasta, rice, and oatmeal. But moderate it and reduce the amount of each serving. Instead, supplement the smaller serving with more vegetables.

Your body absolutely needs carbohydrates. Carbs are the body's main source of glucose. Your brain cannot function without glucose, in fact, you'd die without blood sugar.

To start eliminating excess calories from the diet, start to moderate and limit the amount of starchy carbs like bread, pasta, rice, oatmeal, bagels, and instead eat more vegetables like broccoli, carrots, green beans, spinach. lettuce, peas, and so on.

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Tags: Lower, Modification, Simple

by Ben Bruno – 10/19/2011 

Many lifters avoid front squats like a lifetime subscription to the Oprah Winfrey Network. That's a downright shame because not only are "fronts" an awesome exercise, they're really quite user-friendly, once you get the hang of them.

Like most things that "suck" at first or are difficult or uncomfortable, front squats deliver superior results. EMG data shows higher muscle activation in the vastus lateralis and rectus femoris as compared to the back squat, with similar muscle activation in the vastus medialis, suggesting that front squatting is a great way to build massive quads.

Front squats also keep you honest. If you cheat, you drop the bar, simple as that. For this reason, many strength coaches consider the front squat to be a better lower body strength test than the mighty back squat. It also creates a built-in safety mechanism.

On the topic of safety, having the bar loaded anteriorly forces you to keep a more upright torso, thereby reducing spinal shear and making it more low back-friendly. Similarly, biomechanical analysis shows that there are less compressive forces on the knee during a front squat as compared to a back squat.

When the rubber hits the road, the biggest knock on front squats is simply that they're hard and can be uncomfortable at first, which is a terrible excuse when you consider weight training is supposed to be at least a somewhat masculine endeavor.

But front squats are worth the temporary discomfort. This article will give you five tips and drills that you can try today to help you front squat more effectively and take your training to the next level.

First things first – you've got to figure out how you're going to hold the weight.

Assuming you have the requisite upper body flexibility to use the clean grip, that's your best bet. It's very secure and will have the most carryover to the Olympic lifts (if you're into performing them).

Unfortunately, not everyone will be able to get into this position without putting undue stress on the wrists. If you fall into this camp, don't force it. Definitely work on your flexibility (giving special attention to the wrists, shoulders, lats, and triceps), but use a different grip in the interim.

The cross-arm grip is another popular option and is what I used for years when I started out. While it worked well for the most part, I found that as the weights got heavier, I had a hard time keeping my elbows up, which led to me rounding my upper back and having the bar slide forward off my shoulders.

Behold, the best of both worlds – the modified clean grip using wrist straps, an idea I picked up from Charles Poliquin and Mike Boyle.

Loop the straps around the bar where the knurling meets the smooth to create a set of handles. I like to fold the straps in half first so there isn't much slack and I've something thicker to hold on to. (See figure below.)

This method is great because there's no stress on the wrists and it's easy to keep your elbows up. I was resistant to trying it for a while because I worried that the straps would slip under heavy loads, but that hasn't been a problem at all.

The fact is, I've found that I can actually use more weight than I could when using the cross-arm grip. This is definitely one of my favorites and something I highly recommend.

My other favorite is using the safety squat bar. Simply turn the bar upside down and backwards from how you'd use it for back squats so that the yoke is facing behind you and the camber on the ends of the bar is angled down and back.

I like this version for several reasons:

If you hold it correctly, there should be about a half-inch space between the yoke and your throat. This makes it easier to breathe and you don't get choked out like you do with a barbell.The yoke helps to keep the bar from sliding off your shoulders.The padding is more comfortable and forgiving on the shoulders, and could be particularly useful for people with AC joint problems who can't tolerate the direct pressure of the barbell.Because the camber bends back and down, it helps to keep your weight back on your heels as you squat, which in turn helps you stay more upright.It allows you to use higher rep ranges. I've done 20-rep sets with no problems.

Unfortunately, not many gyms have a safety-squat bar, but if you do, it's worth a try.

Once you have the grip figured out, it's time to move on to the squat itself.

Typical coaching usually revolves around a set of generic cues. You've probably heard a lot of them – "elbows up," "knees out," "spread the floor," etc. These cues can be great reminders if you have someone there watching you, but if you're on your own, it can be too much to process at once.

Instead, I'd prefer to give you some drills that will get you to do all the right things reflexively without over-thinking it.

I've seen this one called many different things but whatever you choose to call it, it works.

Put your hands together like you're praying, squat down to the bottom position with your weight on your heels and push your knees out with your elbows, keeping your chest up and your back arched.

Now hold it.

How long? It really depends. Do it until you can do it really well. If you can't, well, then you better be doing it all the time and supplementing it with some of the mobility drills in this article.

You really can't overdo it; the more the better. When I was first trying to master the squat, I would post up in this position for minutes on end while I was reading, watching TV, whatever. Laugh all you want, but it helped.

The beauty of this one lies in its simplicity. It functions as a screen (if you can't get into the proper position with your own bodyweight, then you have no business doing heavy squatting until you can), a mobility drill, and a teaching tool all in one, making it extremely versatile and efficient.

As a teaching tool, it's great because it reinforces the idea of pushing your knees out and allows you to experience what it should feel like in the hole. Most lifters – coaches included – think they're going much lower than they really are, as evidenced by all the ridiculously high squats you see in gyms.

I'll never forget the first time I filmed myself squatting (if you've never done it, I highly recommend it). I'd always squatted in front of a mirror, and they looked pretty good from the front – to me anyway. After watching them on film, it was eye-opening to see that the squats I had thought were deep were really quarter squats at best.

Don't be that guy. Learn from my mistake and save yourself the embarrassment.

Get used to sitting in the bottom of the prayer squat until it becomes second nature. You'll develop some great mobility in the process, killing two birds with one stone.

Don't worry, you don't have to do it forever. Once you master this drill, you really won't need to do it a lot except for perhaps as part of a quick warm-up, and you'll be able to maintain your mobility by squatting through a full range of motion. Until then, make this one your best friend.

This probably isn't the box method you're thinking of. It's common practice to use the box squat – where you sit back onto a box – to teach the squat, using a progressively lower box until the trainee can squat below parallel.

This sounds good in theory, and I have no qualms with the box squat as an exercise, but I don't like it as a teaching tool for the free deep squat. I think it's a fundamentally different movement pattern and doesn't translate very well.

The box squat is much more hip dominant and is typically done with a vertical (or almost vertical) tibia. The front squat, on the other hand, is much more of a knee dominant movement where the knees travel further out over the toes. The box squat teaches you to "sit back," whereas with the deep squat you need to think more about sitting down between your feet.

To help groove this pattern, I like to use the box in a different way, using a tweak of something I picked up from Dante Trudel, the creator of DC Training.

Stand in front of a mirror in your typical squat stance with a heavy box in between your feet (the box should be almost the same width as your stance).

Now pick it up, watching yourself in the mirror the whole time and making sure to keep your heels on the floor. That's it.

I love this drill because it essentially teaches itself. If you successfully pick up the box, then you've just figured out how to squat. You'll have to push your knees out to make space to grab the box, and by looking at yourself in the mirror, you'll ensure that your chest stays up.

Furthermore, it helps program proper sequencing in the hips and knees, which is essential to squatting well. Ideally you want to initiate the movement with a slight break at the hips (pushing your butt back) followed closely by a break at the knees. Many lifters struggle with this sequence and break from the knees first, which leads to weak squats as well as knee and back pain.

Putting a box between your feet automatically fixes this issue because you'll quickly find that you must push the hips back slightly first before descending or else you won't be able to get low enough to pick up the box without rounding the back.

Get up from your computer right now and give it a try. You may be surprised how quickly it clears things up!

I hear the collective groans and snickers already. Did he really just use the S word?

I'm not a fan of the Smith machine and think it ranks right up there alongside the Shake Weight and the Ab Solo for the "Most Useless Gym Equipment" award. I'm especially not a fan of it for heavy squatting because it takes away the need for stabilization and locks you into an unnatural movement pattern.

That said, I do think it can be effectively used as a teaching tool, albeit unloaded, to help teach and ingrain good technique, especially for those with a tendency to fold forward. Sometimes this issue is due to a mobility restriction, and sometimes it's simply a form flaw. The Smith machine can help with both.

Set up just as you would for a regular front squat using your grip of choice, only with your feet about a foot out in front of you, and start squatting as normal.

You won't have to worry about the bar sliding off the shoulders so you can focus on squatting correctly. Moreover, since the bar is on a fixed track, you literally can't bend forward, thereby reinforcing the idea of keeping an upright torso.

Having the feet out in front will make it significantly easier to squat to proper depth, allowing you to practice moving through a full range of motion. It also helps loosen the hips and ankles, making it function as both a technique drill and a dynamic mobility exercise.

As your mobility improves and the movement feels more natural, move your feet in closer until they're underneath your body in a normal squatting stance. At this point, you'll be amazed how much better your squat looks in a short amount of time.

Now go back to the barbell and forget the Smith machine ever existed.

Once you're comfortable with the drills above, the hands-free front squat is a great way to put everything together. I got this one from Mike Boyle and it works well for getting comfortable with bar placement.

The key here is getting the bar in the right groove in your deltoids so your wrists and hands don't have to do much work. Going hands-free makes it easy to find that sweet spot because otherwise you'll dump the bar. It also teaches you very quickly to keep your elbows high so the bar doesn't roll forward on you. If you can learn all that without the use of your hands, it will feel much more secure when you grip the bar again.

It's also useful for advanced lifters to use from time to time just to reinforce good technique. I still use it a lot during my warm-up sets with moderate weights to dial in my form before the heavier work.

Hopefully this article has addressed any issues you might have with front squats and perhaps even given you some ideas for improving your own. Regardless, I feel better knowing that I've done my part to help rescue the much-maligned front squat from the bodybuilding dog house.

If front squats leave you frustrated and sore in all the wrong places, try using some of the tips mentioned here for a month. I may just make a believer out of you too.

Gullett, Jonathan C; Tillman, Mark D; Gutierrez, Gregory M; Chow, John W. A Biomechanical Comparison of Back and Front Squats in Healthy Trained Individuals. Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research: January 2009 - Volume 23 - Issue 1 - pp 284-292.

Russell PJ, Phillips SJ. A preliminary comparison of front and back squat exercises. Res Q Exerc Sport. 1989 Sep;60(3):201-8

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Tags: Easier, Front, Squats

 

I was there once - a skinny teenager with dreams of being the next Arnold. Actually, all I wanted was twenty pounds of muscle so I could stand up to high school bullies and gain confidence to talk to girls. If I got better at sports in the process, then that would be icing on the cake.

Now, as a wise old lifter with almost twenty years of weight training experience, I’ve learned a thing or two. I’ve gained a ton of knowledge “in the trenches”, I’ve gleaned considerable insight from fellow gym rats, and I’ve learned from all the reading I’ve done.

When you’ve been in the game long enough, you are able to see the big picture as it pertains to strength and conditioning. You realize that the best lifters vary their workouts, but not by much. You discover that consistency might be the most critical component of your results. Finally, you figure out how to spend your time and energy wisely and focus your attention in the right direction.

These are the things that I wish someone had told me many years ago, when I first ventured into the weight room. Here are the five keys to getting and staying big and strong.

We don’t talk about this particular topic much in the strength and conditioning industry. Although anabolic steroid use is seen as a faux pas in the outside world, I personally don’t judge others if they choose to go down this path. However, I believe that lifters should make educated decisions on the topic, so I’m here to address some practical considerations.

If you decide to take anabolic steroids, there is no doubt that you’ll gain size and strength at a much more rapid pace than if you go the natural route. However, what many lifters fail to realize is that anabolic steroids can interfere with blood pressure, temperament, libido, and self-confidence.

The question that you need to ask yourself up front is, “For how long do I expect to take steroids?” Many people assume they’ll do a couple of cycles, gain some decent levels of size and strength, call it quits, and “fast-forward” their progress by a couple of years. I can assure you that this is rarely the case in practice.

Many individuals find that after experimenting with steroids, they just don’t feel right when they’re not on a cycle. They lose “the edge”, they aren’t as aggressive, their sexual performance drastically diminishes, they aren’t able to recover as quickly from workouts, and they struggle to hold onto their size, strength, and power. The temptation to keep using is just too hard to resist.

Here’s another important thing to consider: Do you really want to be that lifter who reaches his all-time greatest strength levels while using steroids at age 21 and then never returns to those levels? Would you rather get stronger year in and year out for a couple of decades? Would you prefer to always be at or near your best strength levels? Or would you rather be the guy who lives in the past and says, “Ten years ago I could bench press 365 and squat 500?? Many lifters simply can’t stand these feelings of past glory so they keep using or quit lifting altogether — because they never had to work hard and consistently for their gains.

My advice? Do it naturally. Although the training methods are similar between natural and drug-assisted lifters, there are also differences. Basically, you just can’t do quite as much volume, intensity, and/or frequency if you’re a natural trainee. Weigh the potential costs and benefits and make an informed decision.

The most important aspect of gaining muscular size is to make sure that your weight gains are always accompanied by strength gains in the big compound lifts.

How you look is largely dependent on your strength in:

1. Squats

2. Deadlifts

3. Bench press

4. Bent-over rows

5. Military press

6. Weighted dips

7. Weighted chin-ups

Of course it’s fine to substitute variations such as front squats, sumo deadlifts, incline presses, t-bar rows, push presses, close grip bench, and wide grip pull-ups. It’s also okay to perform other great exercises such as hip thrusts, glute-ham raises, lunges, one-arm rows, barbell shrugs, and barbell curls.

However, you need to make sure that you’re consistently getting stronger at the big lifts over time to ensure that the weight that you pack on consists of muscle and not fat. Furthermore, you need to gain weight steadily over the years. Beginner lifters can pack on 20 pounds of muscle in a year rather easily, but gains slow down after that, and you’ll need to gradually manipulate caloric intake to make sure your bodyfat levels never get out of control.

You can eat several pizzas each day, get up to 300 lbs, and squat and deadlift the house, but no one will envy your physique, and you won’t be proud to take your shirt off in public. I recommend that you keep your bodyfat levels under 15% and strive for the athletic look.

I have yet to meet a lifter who could squat 405, deadlift 495, bench press 315, bent-over row 275, military press 225, weighted dip 180, and weighted chin 115 and didn’t possess an amazing physique. These are some good goals to shoot for, and if you’re there already, then you can work on repping out with those weights!

 

How you look is largely dependent on your strength in the big, compound movements

A younger lifter rarely thinks about joint health when getting started with lifting. A large percentage of lifters are forced to stop performing certain exercises, work around pain, or quit training altogether because they never paid attention to joint health from the get-go. If they had the foresight to take good care of their joints, they could have trained pain-free for life and gotten much more results.

Joints require mobility, stability, and motor control. In other words, joints need flexible muscles and soft-tissue to surround them, strong and stabilizing musculature to prevent wasted movement, and coordination to move properly. Joints also need balanced levels of strength in the surrounding musculature in order to track properly.

Joint health is highly correlated with good habits and good form. Perform dynamic warm-ups before you start lifting, such as foam rolling/SMR, mobility drills, and activation drills. Conduct a more specific warm-up consisting of several progressively heavier sets prior to your first compound lift of the day. Use a full range of motion when you lift weights, and make sure you use perfect form. For the upper body, perform an equal amount of horizontal pushing and pulling as well as vertical pushing and pulling. For the lower body, perform an equal amount of quad-dominant and hip-dominant exercises. Better yet, skew the ratios in favor of pulling, as you can never go wrong by doing more pulling than pushing for the upper and lower body. Stretch at the end of your workouts.

Safe and unsafe ways to perform movements do exist; therefore, you need to learn ideal exercise mechanics, which means knowing how to optimally distribute stress throughout the body’s joints while lifting.

Due to variable genetics and training status, every individual responds best to his or her own personal program. Exercise selection, volume, intensity, and frequency are some of the variables that should be tinkered with by all lifters in an attempt to fine-tune their programming.

It is wise to experiment with high frequency training, high volume training, and high intensity training. All lifters should give bodypart splits, lower/upper splits, and total body training a try. Only after 8-12 weeks of strict adherence to each of these can a lifter truly understand how his or her body responds to various types of training stimuli.

However, you should never stray too far from what works. There are tried and true programs and templates that have stood the test of time, and when you get too radical or venture too far off the beaten path, you run the risk of not seeing results and possibly injuring yourself.

A good program always focuses on the big basics, and there are many ways to do them. In a bodypart split routine, big compound lifts should be placed first in each day’s workout.

Most important, it’s critical to find a routine that you enjoy. The best routine for you is the one you love to perform and the one with which you’ll be most consistent. If you hate 20-rep squats to the point where you dread going to the gym, then they’re just not worth performing regularly.

The greatest thing about meatheads is that they always have their gym memberships and whey protein powder. They can be in debt, in danger of getting their vehicle repossessed, and in dire straits otherwise, but they will always make time to train.

The single most important factor in getting and staying big and strong is consistency…not consistency for an entire year, but consistency for a couple of decades. It takes years to form those “mind-muscle connections” and to learn how to properly coordinate the activation of your muscles. Powerlifters and Olympic lifters never stop working on their technique. Each year, you get a little bit better, a little bit stronger, and a little bit bigger. Average lifters just don’t get this. They make excuses, they take time off from the gym, and they justify and rationalize missed workouts.

Big and strong lifters see lifting as their job. It doesn’t matter if a holiday comes around, if they start dating someone new, or if they start a new job, you can count on seeing them in the gym regularly performing their scheduled workouts. Big and strong lifters prioritize training and eating, which makes it nearly impossible to fail in their goals. Success is inevitable with this kind of motivation and determination.

 

Big and strong lifters see lifting as their job

So there you have it: the five keys to getting and staying big and strong. I hope this article has focused your attention on what really matters.

Small lifters who sporadically attend the gym for a quick bicep- and tricep-blasting workout are a dime a dozen. It takes some serious juevos to buckle down and put a couple hundred pounds on your squats, deadlifts, and bench press over a multiyear period. You can do it!

Written by Bret Contreras

Discuss, comment or ask a question

If you have a comment, question or would like to discuss anything raised in this article, please do so in the following discussion thread on the Wannabebig Forums - Five Keys to Getting and Staying Big and Strong discussion thread.

 

About Bret Contreras

Bret Contreras received his Master’s degree from ASU and his CSCS certificate from the NSCA.

He trains individuals out of his badass garage gym in Scottsdale, Arizona and maintains a popular blog at www.BretContreras.com.

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It's been twelve days since you ditched all barbell pressing and withdrawal has been a bitch.

Your cuff rehab routine has been mind-numbing. You miss the strain of the big heavy iron, and good God, what about your shirts? Your pecs and shoulders can't start to shrink now, you just moved up to a size XL.

But you couldn't go on pressing in pain. Wisely, you abstained.

What if I told you there was a press that could change your life? A press that, for once, wouldn't get tagged as a destroyer, but as a healer. One that could add serious muscle in places that no other press could?

If you think you're dreaming, it's time to wake up, cause this exercise needs to be added to your program, regardless of shoulder health.

Complaints about pressing and shoulder pain run rampant and of all pressing implements, the barbell press causes the most problems. It alters the neutral alignment between the wrist, elbow, and shoulder.

There are people out there that bench press and overhead press without problems. I know, back in the old days everyone used to press with a barbell for overhead and bench work and they never had problems. Or so everyone tells me.

But you might not be in that category. Don't feel bad if you're not, and don't force yourself into it, either. Your anatomy is different. Your posture is different. Your history is different.

Whether you train yourself, clients, students, or athletes, don't write off pain. I'm sure if Tiger Woods was paying you millions of dollars to train him, you wouldn't make him do anything that would jeopardize his game.

So why subject Mr. Jones to it? Having to miss work because your trainer destroyed you last night isn't hard training, it's assault.

So what can we do if pressing is a no-go? Swiss bars and push-ups are common ways to press around shoulder problems, but not everyone has specialty bars, and loaded push-ups are a pain in the ass.

Enter the unilateral dumbbell floor press, the new/old solution to your pressing problems.

Unilateral exercises are often deemed less effective than their bilateral counterparts because they can't be loaded as heavily. And since the load is offset, it requires more stabilization throughout the body. That means that sometimes, something other than the primary movers can hold you back. Those that have tried the unilateral dumbbell bench press know what I'm talking about.

Lifters often do their presses from a standing position for this very reason. They want to engage the entire kinetic chain to mimic how most movements are performed in both sports and real life.

This may be tagged as "functional" slop, but something tells me that firing the glutes and stabilizing the torso to produce movement at the shoulder isn't a bad thing.

For complicated reasons beyond torso strengthening, the unilateral version just works better. I have an overly scientific theory to explain why and it goes like this – you can't walk and chew bubble gum at the same time.

All available attention is allotted to one arm, which, for you math gurus, is 50% more than what there is in the bilateral version. It reminds us that we're doing more than exercising; we're accomplishing a specific goal.

Another advantage is the freedom to move and adjust your body position. If you lose your upper back tightness when taking the bar out of the rack during a bench press, there's no going back.

Dumbbells are easier to adjust, but when you use two you're going to be seesawing with weights above your face, making it look like you're scratching an unfortunate back itch. With only one shoulder pinned down, it's easier to get into proper position.

What if you're the guy with perfectly healthy shoulders that's not lacking in upper chest development? Well, Mr. Franco Columbu, it's still a great exercise for your triceps and lockout strength, just like any floor press variation.

Dumbbell floor presses will help you lift more weight during pressing exercises, and more weight is usually a good thing.

So you have a choice. You could be the guy doing kickbacks to get your triceps jacked, or you could be the guy on the floor doing this exercise. Not only are your triceps going to thank you, but you're also doing your shoulders and upper chest a favor.

The unilateral floor press protects the shoulders because the lower half of the press is eliminated, and that's where funky stuff happens. Shoulders uncontrollably externally rotate themselves into the impingement zone. The slow and controlled descent becomes a ballistic bounce. Even though range of motion is sacrificed, it's better to eliminate the possibility of these things happening.

The true magic, however, happens in the lockout position. The dumbbell compresses the shoulder into its socket, seemingly reversing postural problems. When done correctly, the shoulder blade lies flat on the ground, and the entire body is locked down.

Another beauty is how the dumbbell subtly teeters back and forth. The shoulder stabilizes much like it would during more specific rotator cuff movements, like quadruped rhythmic stabilizations.

Guys can be insecure about a lot of things, but nothing takes its toll quite like a lackluster upper chest.

Sufferers try everything. Flies, cable crossovers, incline pressing. Often, none get the job done because, like other lacking body parts, there's no mental connection with the muscle. Most compound lifts put your body in a disadvantageous position for optimal activation, and that includes incline pressing. When you combine bad activation with sub-optimal biomechanics, you're not going to get a good contraction.

The unilateral floor press gasses the upper chest because it solves both problems. First, you have a free hand so you can palpate your upper chest during the lift. You don't hope it's contracting, you know it's contracting. This sensory connection increases activation.

Second, the biomechanics lends itself to greater upper chest activation. Dr. Clay Hyght, in Building a Bodybuilders Chest explains:

At least one study has shown that using a slightly narrower grip improves upper chest activation even more so than an incline bench angle. This is because using a slightly narrower grip forces the elbows to come slightly in towards the sides (adduction of the humerus) as opposed to them being flared.

Subsequently, this puts the clavicular pectoralis in a better mechanical advantage to do its primary function(s) – flexion and horizontal adduction.

Dr. Hyght was referring to a narrow grip on a barbell. Yet when using a barbell, no matter how narrow the grip, there's a propensity to flare the elbows because the hand is pronated, which shifts the workload to the lower chest.

With a dumbbell, however, it's easier to keep the elbows from flaring because your wrist is in a neutral position, so the upper chest does more work.

The most difficult part about the floor press is getting into position with the dumbbell at lockout without killing yourself. There are two ways to do this.

The first step is the rolling method. You don't need to be a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu champion to do this, so don't get discouraged. You just need a few principles so you don't twist your spine like a Twizzler.

 

Lie on your side and cuddle the dumbbell as close to your body as possible with your knees bent. This is going to reduce the lever arm, lowering the torque throughout your spine. Both hands are important, but the top hand is the one that grips the handle; the bottom hand supports.

Next, extend your top leg to the ground. The bottom leg stays tucked.

Begin the roll by looking over your top shoulder. Where the head goes the body follows, so the head always leads. Once you feel a pull in the dumbbell, use your hands to roll it onto your chest and abs. It should be able to rest comfortably here.

Extend both legs, and use both arms to press the dumbbell to a desired side.

Pics are great, but video is often better. Here's a video of the rolling setup and press:

Second is the heave-ho method, and more similar to what you're used to doing on a traditional bench. Spread your legs into a "V" with the dumbbell resting on the ground between them.

Tilt the dumbbell so that side closest to you rests on the ground, with the other side in the air.

Interlock your fingers around the handle. Rock your momentum forward, and explode backward, heaving the dumbbell to the lockout position.

 

And again, a video description:

Regardless which method you use, you'll be at lockout with your feet extended. Squeeze your glutes and contract your abs to stabilize your body. This becomes more important as the weight increases.

Shift the dumbbell to the desired hand and make sure the shoulder is down and back. For you nerds out there – retract and depress the scapula. This is commonly known as a "packed" position.

However, remember that since you're only dealing with one dumbbell, you have more freedom to move. Wiggle around to set your shoulder if you have to; it's one of the perks this exercise offers.

Once you're confident that your shoulder is down and back, with the blade flat on the ground, either place your free hand on your chest, or let it roam in the air to challenge your stabilization even more. Hold this position for 5-10 seconds and just "feel" the head of the shoulder sink into its socket, while the upper back tightens. Now you're ready to go.

After the isometric lockout hold, slide the elbow down next to your torso. When the upper arm hits the floor, pause for a second while keeping everything tight. It's like the box squat. Just because you come to a dead stop doesn't mean you take a nap.

After pausing, extend the arm to its original position by cueing yourself to push the shoulder blade into the ground. This helps to keep your shoulder packed. Your elbow stays tucked close to your torso; don't let it flare.

After completing your set, hold the dumbbell at lockout again for another 5-10 seconds. If you want more shoulder stability work, you can do what I call "the compass." After your set, at lockout, nudge the dumbbell north, south, east, and west to mimic quadruped rhythmic stabilizations. This can get dangerous with heavier weights, so save it for warm up sets.

After finishing the set for one arm, return the dumbbell to the chest. Grip the dumbbell with the other hand, but use both to get to the lockout position.

Once both hands complete a set, return the dumbbell to the floor by reversing either setup.

If you're reversing the rolling directions, rest the dumbbell on your chest, tuck one leg to the side (the side you plan on rolling to), look over the shoulder, and cradle the dumbbell to the floor.

If you're reversing the heave-ho directions, hold the dumbbell at lockout with both hands, rock your momentum onto your thoracic spine, rock your momentum forward while doing a sit up, and place the dumbbell on the floor in between your legs.

Add mass to your triceps, size up your upper chest, and increase your lockout strength, all while healing your shoulders? You bet!

Stop wallowing in your pressing woes and start doing something about it. Maybe you can't overhead press or bench press just yet, so take care of your problems and increase your strength at the same time. Regardless of your goals, the unilateral dumbbell floor press is worth your consideration.

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5 Big Reasons Why Men Should Train Like Athletes

If you're like me, you probably want nothing more than to feel like a 'super-stud' every time you take your shirt off in public. You want to have the confidence to say, 'Boy, this sweaty shirt is chaffin' me', then reach over your shoulder and tear your shirt off like Brad Pitt in Fight Club. When you know that your pecs look like two soup bowls inserted beneath your skin, and your abs are as hard the asphalt you stand on, it's tough to keep your shirt on!

Today you are gonna learn the top 5 training principles that you MUST implement in order to make your physique and performance goals... a reality. But, before I open the info-floodgates, there is something you've got to understand. Men... all men, should recognize that we are athletes and our training programs must reflect this.

Even if you're a 'pencil pusher' or a 'white collar crook', the essence of your being is athletic. In order to see any type of fitness results it is essential to recognize that Squats, Power Cleans, 40 Yard Dashes and Vertical Jumps are not only for NFL Combine participants... they are for you!

1. You're An Athlete By Design

The foundation principle of everything that I teach all begins with one extremely powerful phrase:
"We are primal beings living in a modern world"

Our physical bodies have been unchanged for thousands of years. In fact, today, our bodies are an exact expression of what our ancestors were over 100,000 years ago. It is believed that it takes about 100,000 years for 0.001percent of a genome to change... so yourself and Primal Man are for all intents and purposes... the same.

What has changed is how WE have chosen to live, if you can even call it that. As we have 'advanced' in technology we have regressed in physical strength and stature.

We function at a much lower capacity than were inherently capable of. This is analogous to those people who buy off-road vehicles that will never see anything but concrete! You've been given the ultimate athletic tool... use it.

2. Short, Hard and Intense Workouts Yield Lean, Hard and Muscular Bodies

When you spend over an hour in the gym sitting on useless 'fitness machines' while you're waiting to do your 'next set'...your nervous system's primal response is to release Cortisol and Glucocorticoids - which are stress hormones, (these make you sick, sad, fat and, stupid) in response to your body thinking... "Holy Cow, we've been training for over an hour... perhaps we're being chased by a tiger and need to preserve body fat", then it begins sacrificing muscle tissue for energy! This is called The Catabolic Effect. Also, workouts exceeding 1 hour have been shown to be associated with a rapid decrease in androgen levels.

This is why marathon runners look so emaciated... id much rather look like one of those Lock, Stock & Ready Sprinters with muscles rippling across their backs and abs.

3. Aerobics and Cardio Training Is Boring & Ineffective

Strength coach Charles Poliquin has coined the phrase "Chunky Aerobic Instructor Syndrome" (CAIS).
You've seen them, they do cardio all day long... don't you think that they would be a bit leaner? Well, there is a scientific reason as to why they are cubby even though they bounce up and down on those colorful blocks all day long. In fact research has shown that aerobic instructors who taught an average of 3 hours a day maintained a body fat of 22-24% - mind you, that Olympic athletes hover around 9%.

Especially with repetitive exercises like aerobics the body adapts quickly to the stimulus and ceases to respond to the stimulus. Also, you begin to become very fuel-efficient... Listen, think of a metabolism that has adapted to long treks of cardio as being a Honda... it burns very little fuel (i.e. fat) but can go miles and miles. Think of a metabolism that is roaring with increased mitochondria activity (as is present in someone who weight trains with circuits) as a Hummer, large fuel combusting metabolism!

Here's Why this is so important! You want a stronger heart, without the fat saving response of long boring cardio treks. That is why I teach my clients how to do work capacity sets.
We take 4-6 exercises and complete them back to back with no rest and aim to complete them all with in about 2 minutes... if your heart is not ready to pound out of your chest after that, then maybe you should visit your veterinarian!

Here's a simple circuit that you can do at home - first 20 squats, then 20 lunges, then 'step ups' on a bench 10 each leg, finally do 10 squat jumps and get it all done in less than 90 seconds! Kick-ass workout!

We begin every session with Plyometrics and then get right into 3-5 "work capacity" sets for upper and lower body.

4. Get High on Oxygen & Sunshine

Besides the fact that training on treadmills and 'sit down' exercise equipment is less effective than getting your feet on the ground and learning how to use your own bodyweight, training indoors can be detrimental to your performance and fitness results.

As 'primal beings' we are in need of several vital elements and forms of energy. The suns rays are nourishing to your mind as well as body. It is well documented that those who live in the cooler northern climates that enjoy less sunshine through out the year are several times more likely to suffer from depression.

Also, if you're like most Americans you work and live indoors (maybe). In fact, the average person spends 90% of their time indoors. Several health experts have propounded that our homes and workplace are the most toxic environments in our lives. Many studies have stated that toxic particles and fumes found in your home and workplace include: air fresheners, spray starch, paints, mothballs and even 'new car' smell kills more people every year than automobile accidents!

So, what do you do? Train in the great outdoors! When I train my Strength Camp clients at Vinoy Park in St. Petersburg Florida, not only do we benefit from the sweet bay breeze but also the scenery is beautiful enough to give a nun spring fever!

5. It's Gotta Be Fun!

Drop out rates for exercise programs are almost as high as the drop out rate in my old middle school! The bottom line is, if you don't enjoy it - you wont do it. The most effective way to ensure that you stick with your training program is to change it often. This doesn't mean hop from one modality to the next before you get any results. It means stick with your weight-training program for a minimum of 90 day but change the exercises you use for each body part at least every 3 weeks.

This not only keeps you interested but also, your nervous system will be challenged with the new exercises and be forced to adapt. This yields fast and long-lasting results!

Coach Elliott Hulse CSCS is Tampa Bay’s most ‘in demand’ Strength Coach and Fitness Trainer. His programs get Athletes and “Tough Guys” fast, stronger, leaner and, meaner. Get Your FREE Audio Mp3 Report Men’s Fitness Secrets Revealed at [http://www.MensStrengthAndFitness.Com]

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Have You Ever Wondered Why People Are So Obsessed With The Bench Press?

I used to ask myself, what's the big deal with the bench press anyway?

It didn't matter if it was at school with my friends... at work with my co-workers... or at the gym with my lifting buddies... everyone would always ask me, "How Much Do You Bench?"

But over time, as I became more informed about exercise and muscle growth... I soon learned that the benching did a lot more for your body than just about any other exercise.

3 Reasons Why You'll Want to Focus on Increasing This Lift

1. As you probably already know... having a big bench press is like a badge of honor. Plain and simple... it gets you respect and attention in almost every area of your life. It's a measuring stick that you use with your buddies. The one with the biggest bench is usually the most respected. The strongest is usually the most respected (and most feared!)

2. Having a big bench usually means you're strong and in shape. In fact my football coaches in college were dead serious about knowing how much I could bench press and tested it several times a year. You see they knew something that most people don't.....

3. Increasing your bench press will also increase the amount of muscle mass you have on your entire body! It's true... and it's because of 2 reasons. First, when you keep lifting more and more weight, your body must add muscle mass so that it can handle that additional stress (weight) you're placing on it. And second, heavy intense lifts like the bench press releases anabolic hormones into your bloodstream... things like testosterone and human growth hormone. These are the male muscle builders that help you pack on muscle.

The bench press is not just about boosting your ego, having a head turning upper body, or about the ability to push people around on the field.

When done correctly (which most people don't) the bench press uses every single muscle in your body. You stimulate the chest, shoulders, triceps, biceps, your back and even your LEGS.

It's a fact that compound exercises that involve the most muscle groups give you the most results in the least amount of time. It's because you're using ALL of your muscles at the same time.

And honestly... no upper body exercise involves more muscles and becomes more of a full body exercise then the bench press. So if you don't have a lot of time you can spend in the gym... focusing on the bench press is a sure-fire way that you're getting an intense, good workout in for your whole body!

Why Many People Fail To Focus On Improving Their Bench...

Maybe you know someone that struggles with this exercise. And the way they deal with it is by ignoring it. Or they say it's an over-rated lift.

The problem with this mentality is that by skipping this mass building exercise... they're depriving their body of anabolic hormones that could be helping then pack on muscle mass. And they're not placing enough demands on their body so that they can gain muscle.

Foolish, if you ask me.

When you train the bench press the right way... you trigger a release of testosterone and growth hormone that helps all your muscles grow bigger and stronger.

And as a result... you'll pack on more muscle mass... which will help you feel more confident in your appearance.

We all know that jacked, muscular guys usually get attention, turn heads, and get others to notice.

The #1 Mistake People Make When Failing To Bench Press More Weight

I want to let you in on a little secret:

Because there are SO many muscles involved in the bench press... you don't want to neglect and forget them.

In order to up your bench press max and start packing on muscle mass... you'll need to pay close attention to the other muscle groups that are involved in the lift.

For example, just bench pressing more often will NOT help you gain strength or muscle. In fact, the opposite occurs... you actually lose strength and muscle if you start to benching too often. It's because you're OVERUSING the chest muscles... but UNDERUSING your other muscle groups.

What's the Solution? Power Building. Click HERE for the rest of the article.

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