Yeah…apparently they got a bad rap sometimes in the 90s at one point from what i understand.
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PC with a 365lbs BTNP:
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Lol at the spotter. So scared
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Something tells me that he actually is doing partials and just doesn’t know it
You’re welcome to watch the video in my training log, there’s a raw squat with 500 in there somewhere too. I don’t believe in partials, and I have an actual history of competition in Strongman.
Not to be a pedantic dick, but I think most people think of a “lateral raise” as using both arms at the same time. You seem to be doing a one arm version with the other arm holding onto something yeah?
Not that most people could use 70lb anyway, but that version does give you a big boost in weight used.
The other arm is holding nothing, it’s free. I actually prefer to do thes with two DB’s, but where I am atm I have only one and it’s apparently an act of congress to find any weights to buy right now. I’m technically stranded away from home because of Covid, so I make do with what I can get my hands on. It actually is easier with two DB’s, although maybe if I held something with the free hand it would be easier.
I’ve seen your log, and that squat, and I know you’re plenty strong - I couldn’t do that much weight with them for sure. But I don’t see the point in 4x8 with heavy ass dumbbells. Strong as you are, it’s clear to see a lot of traps and other muscles are coming into play when you rep that. Sets of 20-30 with something, for you, like a 30-35# DB would elicit more growth, IMO. It’s just too hard to focus on only that tiny muscle with weight like that.
Also, BTNP’s are the shit. No leaning back to get the weight up, your shoulders are moving it or they aren’t. Neck tweaks are the only real risk there, gotta be pretty strict about your head position. The bar slides down the back of my head. Can’t forget the time I did it with a BB with center knurl without thinking about it.
LOL. That can hurt. But I really like that isolation with BTN because I have way too much chest involvement when I press in front. It really hits some weak points for me. If I cared even a little about hypertrophy or Bodybuilding, and had access to normal equipment, I would probably do a different workout. It started as an experiment. Doing the same thing with 30’s or 35’s and not seeming to make any progress led to me goin heavier anyway and just AMRAPing it with 2-4 reps initially. Then I would progress until one day I didn’t have access to what I wanted and had to make a jump again. Complete and utter lack of options drives it atm.
Well then fuck, you’re a beast then cause strict 70lb laterals are insane. Good work
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I know for myself is that a overhead press from the front end up being more of tricep movement. Seated Btnp…pretty much pure shoulder. Also i found it help with my shoulder mobility. Of course its going to vary depending on ones shoulder structure.
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Since we’re on the topic of “controversial” exercises… What’s your opinion on upright rows?
It’s far from something that you’d see on an “essential recommended exercises” list, yet it’s a pretty unique movement if you ask me. You have shoulder abduction, which the only other exercise where you can find a substantial amount of is lateral raises, and it’s a compound movement of that works the hell out of your traps on top of the delts.
I understand possible injury concerns, and I myself have on occasion found that the movement felt awkard.
Something that I recall impressing me, is that Jim Wendler actually mentions it in one of his books under the assistance exercises list. He does say it’s far from being one of his dscorites, but still.
So what’s your take on it, for physique goals?
I know you’re not asking me, but I used to really like them for traps and rear delts. As long as I kept my grip wider and didn’t act weird about pulling into my neck, they felt fine - basically a clean pull, I guess. I’m not really sure why I don’t do them much anymore, now that I think about it
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Have you ever given them a shot with dumbbells? A while back I did a big drop set of these with them, really seemed to flush all the muscles in the shoulders/traps but not anywhere targeted. The DBs feel “safe” since you can move them outwards a bit as you come up.
My personal opinion? Great trap builder… questionable as a direct delt builder. Im sorta in the same camp as @TrainForPain.
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No worries man, I should have specified that the question was aimed at anyone who wanted to chime in as well!
I think I did. One thing I didn’t like about them, even with dbs, was the tension seemed to go away pretty quickly on the negative, which makes sense if you look at the lever the movement creates (as opposed to, say, lateral raises where the lever arm is long at all points in the ROM thus creating significant torque even at the bottom). Basically it only felt hard at the top and it was too easy to cheat by letting the forearm hang instead of following the elbow path.
I remember YouTube channel Athleanx making a video on db “high pulls,” which looked like upright row except at the end of the movement he’d bring the dbs a little higher up by externally rotating the shoulders. I did try those and they felt like heavier lateral raises, basically.
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As long as someone has access to enough shoulder internal rotation, I don’t think its a problem. Just to play it safe though, I’ll usually get clients to either pull all the way to the bridge of their nose or use a wider grip. I also agree that it’s definitely much better suited for traps than delts
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My thoughts:
BTNP is a great exercise.
Lets start with the fact that unlike the “standing inline bench press” that most people do there is very little cheating with this movement. It also attacks the middle delts like nothing else. For shoulder size I don;t think there is a better exercise.
With regards to the injury agrument:
I’ve had shoulder surgery and I have 0 issues with this movement. I can see the obvious injury route. And I’d personally keep the reps at 5+. Maybe 3+ at a push. But I’ve a firm believer that - it highlights existing injuries. Rather that causes new one. And I also believe that in the “use it or lose it” theory. I have the shoulder mobility to be this pretty easily - so I’m gonna keep using it.
Upright row - not so keen on these. I always find them to be “grindy”. I get a pain in my shoulders (not just the one that had surgery). I guess we are all different. And if this one does not hurt you its okay. But for me - its a no.
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Press behind the neck is like the upper body sumo deadlift.
Back when gyms were a thing the BTNP was one of the few exercises I actually enjoyed doing on the smith machine. Always seems like the stations they have for the free weight version have the bar placed so far forward or backwards it makes it hard to safely unrack or rerack, and with the smith you just twist your wrist and it’s on. Also a good movement to get into a “power groove” with and just bang it out.
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