[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
[quote]rds63799 wrote:
is that why some people use a thumbless grip on back exercises then? I’d always just dismissed it.[/quote]
Yes, that is the exact reason. Some people do it and they don’t know the reason… it just makes them feel their back more…they do not make the connection between a looser grip and a better back activation.[/quote]
excellent, implementing that next back workout. Much appreciated.
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
[quote]rds63799 wrote:
is that why some people use a thumbless grip on back exercises then? I’d always just dismissed it.[/quote]
Yes, that is the exact reason. Some people do it and they don’t know the reason… it just makes them feel their back more…they do not make the connection between a looser grip and a better back activation.[/quote]
Why do I use more lats when I use a thumbless grip?
edit: When I bench press.
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
[quote]Powerpuff wrote:
Christian mentioned that many people get a lot of bicep work while trying to train their back. This has been a big frustration for me. I can turn almost anything into a bicep move - or a biceps and forearms move, which might explain why I don’t have much lat development. It’s not always possible, but it’s better if I can find a way to take my hands out of a movement. I’ve had some success using ab straps on the horizontal cable row so I’m pulling more from the elbow.
Also, DB pullovers seem to help me with lat activation as my hands are just a platform for the DB, no grip required. I saw a video of Penny Price McIntosh doing pullups with wrist straps. I’ve never tried straps of any kind, but I’ve wondered if it might help me actually hit my lats more.
[/quote]
The straps WILL help. The more you can keep the hands relaxed when doing pulling exercises, the less the arms will have a tendency to kick in. That is due to a phenomenon called irradiation: the contraction of a muscle will lead to a contraction in the surrounding muscles.
So the harder your grip a bar when pulling, the more the forearms and arms will take over. Thats one of the reasons why women have a hard time hitting their back: they normally have smaller hands and a weaker grip: so when pulling they have to grip extra hard which does what? Increase biceps activation.[/quote]
Thank you. I’m sure this is exactly what I have going on. It can be pretty pervasive. The first time I used a lat pull-down machine my friend asked me if I was trying to arm wrestle the thing. 
I wanted to bend my wrist and use my bicep and forearm instead of using my back. Thank you for the analysis. It’s really helpful to understand the mechanics.
OP, sorry for the thread hijack. Back to arm training. Word of warning, I recently had to remove all the down from my jacket to make room for all my huge muscles. It’s a little cold, but ya do what ya gotta do. 
[quote]Powerpuff wrote:
OP, sorry for the thread hijack. Back to arm training. Word of warning, I recently had to remove all the down from my jacket to make room for all my huge muscles. It’s a little cold, but ya do what ya gotta do. [/quote]
pfft, that’s nothing, I had to cut all the sleeves off my tapout shirts
[quote]funckygarcon wrote:
[quote]MytchBucanan wrote:
My arms always shrunk when I quit training them in favor of doing just compound lifts. I also don’t believe your arms will grow (more or as much) from doing just basic lifts.[/quote]
but professional body builders like Arnold Shwarzenneger said that the base of their impressive bodies is compound lifts, some of them like Greg Park went even further to say that isolation is a waste of time. now i’m just confused
[/quote]
That doesn’t mean they didn’t train their arms, they certainly did. They just meant that those are the most important lifts to get strong on.
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:
what body angle do you set yourself at for dips?
If I keep myself upright I feel my tris more, but I feel like I get more shoulder stress. If I lean forward I feel my chest start to take over.[/quote]
That is correct for most people, so I keep an upright torso.[/quote]
Maybe I’m just trying to go too deep. I’ll try upright and shallower than I’ve been going next arm day.[/quote]
And keep your elbows tucked to your side, don’t let them flare out.[/quote]
Keeping my elbows close did the trick. No shoulder pain and a good tricep burn.