[quote]HypertroPHd wrote:
Had to post another magic movement, this works wonders for functional (yeah i said it) shoulder stability and strength, I call it the Olympic Walk, just stand up and lock out a barbell overhead (p.s you NEED to be proficient in “core control” and military presses to do these safely.) and start walking either in a straight line or in a zig-zag pattern, I prefer the latter over the former. because of the “reflexive fibers” that come into play, this really prehabs and strengthens the F*** out of the phasic and tonic shoulder fibers .
I and many clients have personally raised PRs in all variations of overhead presses by utilizing this movement in addition to our programming.
If you want to try this out I suggest doing it outdoors for 3-5 sets of 20-40 yards in a zig-zag walking pattern. I beleive the width of about 14 car parking spaces in a parking lot is 40 yards.(just a lil tip)
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I’ve done these with DB’s and liked them, but I always tended to go into lumbar hyperextension. Does the barbell minimize this in your experience, or should there be no difference?
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The only difference would be having to put more focus into stabilizing 2 dumbells as opposed to a barbell, which can detract from keepin a tight core.
lumbar hyper-extension is very common when resistance is placed high on the torso, such as a squat, bench or overhead press, you just have to know how to keep the core tight. What i suggest to u is to try the barbell. and put a lot of focus into walking with “closed glutes”
(like your holding in diarrhea:) which will definitely help prevent to hyper-extension, whilst also kind keeping your abs and obliques solid and tight (think walking while keeping the abs contracted). If you tell the body to nearly hold a flex in the spine, it’ll prevent an extension in it. I hope this all makes sense.
p.s you don’t want to walk with a rounded or hyper-extended lower back, so just try the methods, watch yourself and make sure you find a balance between the two.
[quote]MytchBucanan wrote:
Good topic here. I recently ditched wide grip pullups for pulldowns and my lats have grown significantly. I noticed that the pump on pulldowns was also much more intense.
I’m not saying I will never do pullups again, but right now pulldowns with some body movement is giving me good results.[/quote]
x2… ive always been pretty good at pullups but they never did a ton for my lat development but ive been doing a sets ranging from 4 to 10 reps and im finally starting to grow some wings, and its driving up my pullup numbers too
Dumbell rows have increased my bench and deadlift significantly, and they’re probably the reason why I’m still able to do all my back work without straps.
Just found out about a new kind of cable crossovers. These really target the upper pecs. I believe it also targets a function of the pecs that is often neglected. Set up the pulleys in the low position. pin the elbows to the sides and pull the handles from out wide to together in front of the upper abs. Next lift the hands together up to chin, possibly eye level. Then reverse the motion in the same two steps. I learned this move from some impressive guys at a hardcore gym I joined recently. When walking by the mirror after these I barely recognized myself as it looked like I had developed a brand new upper chest during the workout. The soreness is the real deal too, since, like many of you I rarely get sore when training consistently.
its an old fairly well known movement, dudeness. Female Bbers usually perform this movement a LOT.
Personally, Im not too sure about the long term or even medium term potential of cable crossovers for chest thickness, personally. It definitely helps with mastering your most muscular pose, and suppose it helps chest thickness to some extent…cos, I don’t know too many bodybuilders who AVOID doing cable crossovers.
[quote]MiJuggernaut wrote:
Just found out about a new kind of cable crossovers. These really target the upper pecs. I believe it also targets a function of the pecs that is often neglected. Set up the pulleys in the low position. pin the elbows to the sides and pull the handles from out wide to together in front of the upper abs. Next lift the hands together up to chin, possibly eye level. Then reverse the motion in the same two steps. I learned this move from some impressive guys at a hardcore gym I joined recently. When walking by the mirror after these I barely recognized myself as it looked like I had developed a brand new upper chest during the workout. The soreness is the real deal too, since, like many of you I rarely get sore when training consistently.[/quote]
From a shoulder saver standpoint, I’d say my magic exercise is the “muscle snatch from a dead hang” relatively upright with little to no movement at the hip - using traps, rear delts and upper back muscles (start light and work up in weight slowly). I believe this is a much better alternative to rotator cuff work with light DBs. Thanks to these and heavy reverse pec deck flies at the beginning and between sets, I’m able to train my chest and shoulders PAIN FREE these days.
Javelin Presses have really helped me bust through my shoulder plateaus and have also helped me with shoulder stability issued. They are hands down one of the best shoulder exercises I have done.
im with bonerjams on this one.
I think i read it in one of Thibs articles, but doing a a set up french curls immediately followed by a set of close grip ez curl bench gave me tremendous results for my triceps. I stopped doing thing for…I don’t know why. I know what I’m doing in the gym tomorrow.
Hammer curls in my ‘early’ training years did wonders for my forearm flexors and enabled me to go very, very heavy with bb curl variations almost right from the get-go (~80% of bw for clean reps, at the beginning).
Later on: heavy OH pressing (before and behind my neck) with cleaning the bar off the floor (had no rack, back then). Did wonders for my delts and overall strength. Took me about 3/4 of a year to transform my delts from the weakest bodypart (strength- and mass-wize) to one of my better ones.
Lateral raises: one of the most underrated ancillary exercises, IMHO. Provided you have your OH pressing in order.
rotator cuff and scapula work: I’ll never forget how these suckers got my BTN press up 44 lbs in a matter of three weeks (from an already respectable strength level, that is).
I really like doing triceps pressdown with a mechanical drop set. (ie drop set where instead of lowering weight you change grips really quickly) I use the V grip , straight bar, and rope and do them in a different order everytime. Its a great way to add more reps with the same weight and get a better pump
