As for violent flys with a fast eccentric, that is extremely high risk. I have heard of people tearing pecs from doing flys the normal way. That is why Josh Bryant mostly has his guys do flys on the floor, the potential benefit just isn’t worth the risk.
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I don’t do flys with DBs anymore the risk reward for me is not there. I do cable flys. Everything I’ve read, watched, etc suggest the cable fly is a better movement because of not having the pec release at the top of the fly. Being able to keep the pec under tension full range of motion without the risk of tearing a shoulder out is a huge plus for me.
DB flys just are not the whey for me…
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I’d base my training around controlled negatives, of course. But if we took a well-warmed up and pumped muscle there could be some benefit - but then again, the same benefits could probably be achieved by doing static stretches with weights. To be clear, I do agree that dive bombing squats and doing cheaty flies is not a sustainable way of training if you don’t have joints and tendons made out of titanium. Cheat rows on the other hand - as long as you have either am overhand or a neutral grip I think they can be very beneficial. But an underhand grip would just be begging for a bicep tear.
I don’t know if anyone has studied the hypertrophic benefits of a fast eccentric but people like Mike Israetel and Josh Bryant talk about using slow eccentrics for improved mind-muscle connection and because controlling the eccentric also helps hypertrophy itself. Eric Helms actually said that he finds slow tempos to be a waste of time because any benefits from increased time under tension per rep are basically evened out due to the fact that you can’t handle the same weight and do the same volume as with a regular eccentric speed. I would personally save the slow eccentrics for isolation exercises unless you are a bodybuilder (this is also what Josh Bryant recommends).
Even without cheating, underhand grip rows seem kind of risky. I just don’t like how they feel, maybe if you sets of 15+ it could work. Losing the use of an arm would mean I can’t work or drive, I would be fucked outside of the gym too.
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Cable flys are good. I do dumbbell flys with a band stretched over my back, the stretch at the bottom is reduced and there is plenty of resistance at the top. You could do that on the floor to limit ROM if you are worried about blowing a pec or shoulder. I was doing regular dumbbell flys for a while and eventually got up to somewhere around 60-70 and it started to feel like something could easily go wrong so I took off some weight and added bands and have no more issues.
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Thx for the tip brotha brotha! Until I read through this I’ve never thought about doing floor flys.
I did do some banded incline Db presses this week and I like it. Since buying bands I’m just playing with them adding them to all kinds of movements. It’s fun!
I wouldn’t overdo it with the bands but they definitely have some uses for raw lifting. One thing in particular, if you have a tendency to tip forward and let your hips shoot back when you squat then adding bands can help. It will make it way harder if you get out of position, it’s like a kick in the ass every time you screw up. I would say sets of 2-5 staying a couple reps away from failure would work best.
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2/6/18
W3D3
Under eating again going in so a bit low energy today. Picked up a bit at the start of deadlifts but dropped off again pretty quick. All three lifts felt kind of sloppy technique wise.
Squats 5x4 @ 130kg
Bench 4x4 @ 90kg
Pause DL 2x4 @ 150kg
Sumo Deadlift 2x3 @ 190kg and 3x7 @ 180kg
Block Pull 2x4 @ 220kg
Try increasing your sodium intake for a week and see if energy levels improve.
When I have a workout like that I pour salt into my hand (1/2 tspn- 1 tspn) and my energy levels are usually much better.
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From the amount of fast food I eat I probably get lots of sodium lol
I do that too before any session and I also have about 5 grams of salt in my intra-workout drink. I’m probably getting in a good 10 grams in the peri-workout window.
Feels good man
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Pulled a couple of mixed grip sumo reps this past week and it hasn’t felt half bad. Pls refer to last rep of previous vid.
The bar feels like it gets out in front of me a bit vs hook and more so on one side but it moves well and the whole movement feels nice without having to spend time at the bottom setting the hook grip. Like setting up from the top instead of from the bottom.
I started hook grip when I started sumo so I never really experimented with mixed + sumo but I’m curious now.
The rep with 190kg last session ties my previous mixed grip PR so grip strength hasn’t tanked much even after an extended period of hook and straps.
Future grip is still TBD. Will keep throwing in both and see how it goes. So far I’m thinking hook grip is more secure in terms of straight up weight to be held onto but mixed get me an overall nicer deadlift if I can hold onto the weight and get it closer to me.
Funny that this comes right after @BOTSLAYER’s thread on why hook grip is best grip but maybe we can add it’s a bit more awkward to use for top down set ups like krystof wierzbicki to the pros and cons list
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Added to Part 6 which goes over some things I missed or want to clarify (it is going to be really long LOL).
This is kind of contradicted by that…
I highly recommend getting used to the bottom down set up or doing something like this:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BjVyR4YhcCg/?taken-by=dawsonwindham
Skip the passing out part. If you have already become adapted to Hook going to mixed is so far backwards and just for the sake of a certain type of setup really doesnt seem worth it.
In my eyes this is like deciding to stay loose in the Bench because you dont feel like taking the time to arch and brace.
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Thanks for the advice. I’ll try out setting the hook a bit quicker maybe both hands at once. As long the hook locks in right it should be good.
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This was the person i was looking for, Dawson works too but this guys is flawless with with actually all of his set ups but here we see the hook.
He also looks to leave it looser like i recommend.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BjkqlECl3dO/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=1ou3cjqrrgku4
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Yeah that was the guy I was thinking of. Quick easy effective hook set up. Rest of the set up is a bit on the rushed side for my liking and I’m trying to maintain upper back positioning
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I don’t know if he is trying to switch to hook grip or was just messing around but see how he sets up here:
https://www.facebook.com/mkwierzbiccy/videos/1440931052670830/
I think it’s both lol. A lot of lifters have dabbled in it. Some pick it up others not so much. If someone been using mixed for a while and doesn’t have grip issues or grip and rip bicep tears they might feel the switch is worth it
Yo, hows your training going?
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Been busy the past two weeks maybewent to gym twice to mess around. Gonna jump back on now right where I left off
Good luck for your meet. Give me some big numbers to chase pls
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