This is where a lot of your confusion lies I believe. Those are not optimal movements for the LATS. They are good movements for the upperback. Which is what I covered in my back training article.
Sorry, I meant lats. I mostly mean lats when referring to the back. And I read that article and was referring to it when I wrote that.
There’s always going to be some trial and error.
I’ll give an example of this - when I was in Colorado and working with the students there coach Kas joined me in teaching bio mechanics. As you might expect, each person responded differently to different cues. So while one cue would work perfectly for one person, it wouldn’t for the next. So even with hands on coaching, there’s trial and error as to helping people get better.
I wish there were some super short cut option but there’s really not. And the fact is, there are some things, like proper execution, that are much harder to learn off of reading stuff on the net and watching videos because someone has to actually put hands on you and see what’s going on mechanically.
But plenty of people have indeed gotten big and strong without ever having gone that route as well. It all depends on just how exact you’re wanting to be about this.
Haha, tough part of any worth-while doing thing in life.
I see. My goals right now are to look like a football player. Just started college, and the players there and in high school tended to have similar looks - big thighs, shoulders and traps seemed to stand out. So while I also have plans to compete in some things someday, it seemed like training the way they do - lots of squatting, cleaning, pressing, etc. would be the best route to go. I hate to say “I don’t want a big chest” or “big arms” or something, since really, you want to improve everything, but that’s why I train the way I do. Maybe it’s not the best, but’s what made sense to me.
If you’re playing college ball then I’d totally focus on getting stronger overall and working within the framework of the strength program there.
No, I’m not playing. I’m horrible at sports, haha. I just like the phsyiques of football players.
Then looks wise the best places to go after are delts, traps, upper chest in terms of torso. That’s the areas that you work with with actors to make them look suddenly “jacked” out of nowhere.
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From another thread, you mentioned these are good for your structure,
but provided you can feel a solid MMC, no pain, etc. would you still stand by them?
EDIT: I’m just gonna try them out and see how I feel. You don’t know me so I’m sure you can’t really answer that question as well.
Well I wrote one part there wrong for own self…the cable flye is loaded more in the lengthened position and deloaded in the shortened.
I just wrote that recently so I’m not sure why I wouldn’t stand by them…I also don’t suggest trying to look at what I’m doing RIGHT NOW. That makes no sense. Look at what I did in my earliest years which is what I talked about in the 8-12-8 sense.
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Is your new hypertrophy book going to elaborate on the principles behind the 8-12-8 methodology? I’m really interested in the minimalist approach to hypertrophy, but most authors who have delved into the topic heavily promote the use of the big 3.
That’s just progressive overload. But yes that’s going to be a big principle in the book.
one of my best switches was from traditional back squat to highbar smith machine squat. More upright, feet more out front, a pause in the bottom-the smith i dont have to worry about balance. I foucs on a knarly stretch under load, then a full contraction on lockout. Quads came up, and i wasnt using 405lbs with most of the load on my hips and hams (lowbar PL style)
For years i was a smith-squats are for girls and old men.
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I’ve got several clients right now that were really good powerlifters. None of them wanted to squat anymore, and all of them have fell in love with smith machine squats for all of those reasons. More easily able to focus on the quads and despite the fact that the machine is in a fixed groove they all feel less beat up joint wise.
I don’t know a lot of bodybuilders who use actual barbell squats. None of the top pros I know personally do. And they all have ridiculous leg development.
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Agreed. If I tried to walk out with some of the weights I used to squat, it would look like those YouTube “epic gym fails” lol. Even though my lower body has more size then those days.
Don’t want to open a new thread just for this question, but for incline benching do you recommend a 30 degrees angle?
EDIT:
There’s also a CT article about toes elevated RDLs to maximize hams involvement, what’s your thought for it being unnecessary?
For more quad stimulation using hack squats where should one put his feet?
Ty
It won’t do anything to maximize hamstring involvement at all. The “extra stretch” you feel isn’t in the hamstrings, but in the gastroc. It absolutely does not lengthen the hamstrings more.
Looks like I’ll have to spend the next year correcting Thibs on his bio mechanics. LOLLLL
The angle of the incline I like is around 30 degrees but that’s only because the higher up you go, the more you involve the anterior delt. The main factor you need to pay attention to is the angle of the humerus in relation to the torso. It needs to be at 45 degrees to the body.
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Where you can get the greatest amount of knee flexion where your heels or toes aren’t coming off the pad.
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Ya i can only get deep near top of platform which makes me think im just doing a lot more hamstrings and glutes.
Is there any way you can elevate your heels with it?