[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
JoshM wrote:
Thanks for the feedback, guys. I’ll definitely be playing around with the cable shoulder stretch when I get back in the gym.
I’ve been tossing this around in my head for a bit, and would be interested in what you guys think: How would power shrugs work for back thickness?
My upper traps need work, but I feel that putting in 2 deadlift variations( as Dante has suggested) would burn me out fast, and would force me to sacrifice other movements I love(say goodbye to RDL’s, my best hammie movement). Power shrugs seem like a good compromise–they absolutely torch my middle/upper back, while being easier to recover from than something like a floor deadlift.
So what’s the verdict?
Hmmmmm… I dunno, consider that you want to balance pressing with back work a little, and backthickness is what mostly does that… A real shrug isn’t so good for that particular thing.
If you want more traps, consider yates rows (supinated or not, mostly the angle is important), rack pulls (shrugging not up but to the back after locking out, retracting scapulae, shoulders back chest out etc, then reverse that when going down… a little like trying to get into PL bench position, just not overarching the low-back… Same thing you do on rows for backthickness),
SLDL, pinwheel curls even (with straps and when you go heavy on those, you basically don’t cheat through the hip joint but by sort of shrugging your shoulders up and then back), kroc rows on the DB rack, and you can try a hybrid of upright row and BO row for shoulders.
I described that last thing in the BBB thread. Doesn’t bother the shoulders like a regular upright row, and works the side-delts pretty well along with the (upper)traps.
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To add to the subject…
[quote]DoggCrapp wrote:
You know, I see alot of guys in this forum freaking out about their weaker bodyparts with the 2 day split (mon wed fri) and every time I see these posts I think “dont these guys think this stuff out?”…but maybe its my fault and my brain works a certain way and some of you guys think more on a straight and narrow view. (please dont take that as a putdown–its constructive criticism
This is pretty simple guys, it really is.
If your chest is weak what does that mean? That means you
a) find the 3 most productive exercises that you can rotate for your chest and rest pause them (as you already knew)
b) and that means for triceps you put your 3 rotated exercises as dips, close grip bench presses, and reverse grip bench presses or any other exercise that secondarily will also hit your chest–its just that simple. If you are rest pausing incline barbell presses, decline barbell presses, and hammer strength presses as your rotated chest exercises and hitting dips, close grips and reverse grips for your triceps (and secondarily chest) exercises, and its not responding TRUST ME–the problem lies in something else your doing (diet is way off, overtraining, low testosterone levels, the worst chest genetics known to man)
and its up to you the individual to figure out your body and how you percieve your weak bodyparts–and think it out on how to set up this attack.
Traps arent up to snuff? Gee what does that mean? Ill tell you what that means to me…that means your three rotated back thickness exercises are floor deadlifts, rack deadlifts, sumo rack deadlifts, or hammer machine deadlifts. What is that going to give you? huge traps and a back that is as thick as a brick
Biceps not up to snuff? Whats that mean to me? You find the 3 most prolific bicep exercises to rotate obviously and then I would probably have you do undergrip assisted chins, undergrip pulldowns and maybe something similiar for your third rotated back width exercise or maybe I would have one of your back thickness exercises really hit your biceps hard in place of the 3rd width exercise (example: you do wide rack chins on that day but for back thickness (and biceps) you do t-bar rows or seated cable rows with a close grip parallel grip)
Hamstrings suck? Well that means your probably going to end up doing heavy lunges somewhere in your quad exercises. Shoulders suck? Well maybe that means close grip, high incline bench presses find their way into your tricep exercises among other things
This really isnt that hard guys if you think it out. I can give you a basic outline to all this as Ive felt Ive done, but I cant go thru your individual bodies and tell you what I would do. Look in the mirror, figure out what needs to come up and start developing an overlapping gameplan.
Why do my personal trainees seem to develop pretty evenly? Because I try to think out this stuff by their pictures and what they tell me. I switch them to exercises I think will take care of weak areas and to secondary exercises that I feel will do the same. Thats your job–your job is to figure out what you need to be doing exercise wise. If your triceps absolutely suck dont you think doing deep dips for one of your chest exercises might be alot better than the decline cable flyes you are currently doing?
I see some guys in this forum just going with the thought “well im just going to do what that guy over there does” Huh? That guys chest, shoulders and triceps are awesome, while your chest sucks. His back width is awful though and your back width is by far your best bodypart. WHY THE HELL ARE YOU DOING EXACTLY WHAT HE IS DOING? Sit down and figure out what you need to be doing on the 2 way split to get weak bodyparts moving along with your strong bodyparts. I hope you guys take this post and really think about what im trying to relay here and this post helps you start fixing the particulars as it pertains to your body.
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