Plain and simple, a deload is a short planned period of recovery. You take your training slightly lighter, maybe workout a little less, and generally just ease things back. A typical deload will last a week.

To the uninitiated outsider, deloads seem like a waste of time or an excuse to sit on your butt for a week, watching TV instead of hitting the gym and shifting some heavy lumps of iron.

What the Heck Is a Deload?

Plain and simple, a deload is a short planned period of recovery. You take your training slightly lighter, maybe workout a little less, and generally just ease things back. A typical deload will last a week.

To the uninitiated outsider, deloads seem like a waste of time or an excuse to sit on your butt for a week, watching TV instead of hitting the gym and shifting some heavy lumps of iron.

Not so fast.

What if deloads could actually be just what your workouts need? The secret ingredient to take your training from good to awesome. Feeling banged up, demotivated, or stuck in a training plateau? Adding a deload will do you the world of good and propel you on to greater gym gains.

How Do I Deload? Option 1

The most common method of deloading is just to reduce your poundages. As a guide, all your sets should be performed at around 40-60% of your 1RM.

This doesn’t mean you go hell for leather and bust out a ton of reps either. The loads are light and the reps and sets are low. That’s the whole idea of a deload – you just gotta chill and take it easy.

How Do I Deload? Option 2

A less popular option is to keep your weights more or less the same, but greatly reduce your volume. Say for instance your regular training program calls for five sets of five squats with 275 pounds.

Under a normal deload, you’d probably do your five sets of five at around 155 to 175 pounds. With a volume deload though, you could stick at 275 and hit a couple of singles or doubles, or just go for one set of five reps.

This approach does work better for some people. Particularly competitive strength athletes who find performance suffers when they don’t have a heavy load on their back or in their hands week in, week out.

How Do I Deload? Option 3

A more obscure, though equally effective way to deload is to change your exercise selection. This is harder to regulate but definitely has its advantages. As an example, Dave Tate advises taking four to six weeks after a powerlifting meet where you perform no barbell exercises whatsoever.

This might sound a little extreme, but it can be particularly beneficial to do this after a long period of intense training and heavy poundages, or after a competition, just to give your body a break.

How Do I Deload? Option 4

Finally, individual lift deloads work a treat when one lift is suffering, but the others are going along great guns. Say for example you just can’t get past a plateau on your squat, but all your other main and accessory lifts are increasing week on week and you’re feeling great.

Taking a week off everything would be counterproductive, so just drop the weight on your troublesome lift, hit a few easy sets a couple of times and work on nailing your form and technique.

When to Deload

First thing’s first, if you’re following a pre-designed program, you deload when you’re told to. There’s no point following the weight, set, rep and exercise guidelines laid down by the Juggernaut Method, 5/3/1 or any other program you’re performing if you’re ignoring all the advice on deloading.

If you’re planning your own training though, there are a few key signs to look out for as an indication of when you should implement a deload:

Getting Weaker – No one wants to get weaker. It’s kind of the opposite of why we train. When your lifts are suffering, particularly on your low rep work, it could indicate you’re starting to overreach and your central nervous system is getting a little bummed. The solution? Have a week of downtime and take a deload.

Sore Joints – You’re going to get the odd injury from time to time and a little soreness is part and parcel of the wonderful world of the iron game. But being in constant pain, having your knees scream at you every time you squat, your elbows not playing ball when pressing, or your hips giving you grief just from walking up the stairs is not good.

You’ll probably need a good dose of foam rolling, stretching and a trip to your physio or sports massage therapist, but combine this with a deload and your body will thank you.

After a Meet – We’ve already touched on this slightly, but if you’ve just competed in a powerlifting, weightlifting or strongman event, or even a CrossFit competition, it’s definitely time to deload.

People seriously underestimate how much mental and physical stress you put your body through in competition, so play it smart and take a deload. A little personal side note here:

I competed in my first powerlifting meet in the summer of 2012. The competition was on a Saturday and I had to cut a few pounds to make weight, which meant cutting water and sodium and going a whole day with virtually no food.

Combine that with stressing about the three-hour drive to the venue, my nervousness about it being my first competition, listening for the calls, meeting other competitors and so on, plus the actual physical stress of trying to set PBs, and that’s a whole lot of pressure. After the (fortunately successful) meet, I was pumped and hit the gym the next day for a full-on session. Three days later I was in bed with the flu.

Coincidence? Maybe. But I’m pretty sure not deloading following the meet was almost solely responsible for my illness. Heed my advice, don’t try to be a hero. Deload fully after a meet.

Can I Skip the Deload?

In a word, no. It’s horrid having to take things easy. If you’re in any way serious about your training, going a week without hitting the iron with a vengeance and having to take things light is a thousand times more painful than the most grueling Smolov squat workout. In the long run, though, deloading is without a doubt the smart thing to do.

This is certainly the case for beginners and intermediate lifters. When you’re a little more experienced, and know what your body responds best to, maybe you can skip the odd deload, push it back a few weeks, or cut it a few days short if you know you’re fully recovered, but for now, keep it in.

The post Deloading 101: What Is a Deload and How Do You Do It? appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

As chin-up connoisseurs will appreciate, there’s nothing quite like a perfectly executed chin. It really is a thing of beauty – a full range of motion; that dead hang at the bottom; a smooth, fluid ascent with a rock-solid core; slight pause at the top; and a controlled, elegant descent.

My love affair with chin-ups has evolved throughout my training career, and in my mind there are few more perfect upper-body exercises. But as awesome as regular chin-ups are, why just stick to one variation?

“When you put your mind to it, there are probably thirty or forty different types chin-up you could think of just sitting here now.”

You wouldn’t just do one type of bench press – for optimal results you should be doing close-grip benching, paused reps, pin presses, floor presses, and dumbbell pressing variations on top of your regular benching. So why stick to plain old chin-ups?

To really get the most bang for your buck, you should be doing different types of chin-ups. We’re not just talking about your boring close grip or wide grip here. When you put your mind to it, there are probably thirty or forty different types chin-up you could think of just sitting here now.

7 Interesting Chin-Up Variations

I have seven chin-up variations I always look to when I want to amp up my upper-body training:

1. Neutral Grip Chin-Ups

I’ll admit it; I’m not too much of a fan of regular supinated (palms facing chin-ups.) I don’t know why, they just don’t feel that natural to me. The neutral grip is far kinder on your shoulder joints and I find grip is easier too.

This seems to make sense. Those with shoulder issues are often told to switch to neutral grip dumbbell presses or bench with a Swiss bar, rather than hammer out set after set of straight bar bench presses. You’ll also find your grip and forearms are less likely to give out on trap bar deadlifts where your hands are in a neutral position than they are on regular pronated grip barbell deadlifts. I want chin-ups to beast my back, so why compromise this by risking my grip giving out first or stressing my shoulder joints?

2. Weighted Chin-Ups

Sorry, these probably aren’t exactly a “new” exercise for you, but they’re progression numero uno for chin-up newbies. Once you can perform ten good quality body-weight reps, it’s time to start adding weight. Just 10 pounds for a set of five or six should do you at first but keep plugging away. As soon as you can do ten reps with an amount of weight, add another 5 pounds to your belt.

3. Band Resisted Chin-Ups

Powerlifters use bands to boost their squats, bench presses, and deadlifts, so why not use the same technique with chin-ups? There’s not much tension at the bottom of each rep here, but the bands really come into their own towards the top, which forces you to squeeze your shoulder blades together hard, and properly activate your rhomboids and lower and mid-traps. They’re also fantastic for developing chinning speed and power – there’s no way you’ll get your chin over that bar without a good hard pull right from the bottom.

4. Towel Chin-Ups

Holy grip strength Batman, it’s towel chin-ups. While they may look like a walk in the park, towel chin-ups should be a staple in any true gym rat’s routine. You can kiss goodbye to poorgrip strength once you introduce these bad boys into your program. I’d advise doing them toward the end of your session – you won’t be able to pick up your workout logbook after a few sets of these, let alone a heavy dumbbell.

5. Contrast Loading Chin-Ups

Stick a dumbbell between your feet and perform 3 to 5 reps. Drop the dumbbell while still keeping hold of the bar and immediately perform another 3 to 5 fast reps.

Contrast training (or post activation potentiation) involves performing a heavy set of an exercise, immediately followed by an explosive set. For example – a set of barbell squats followed by un-weighted jump squats or bench presses paired with medicine ball throws. So strictly speaking, this isn’t contrast loading, but it works and it’s the closest you can get with chin-ups. Unless you can perform super-heavy weighted chin-ups, followed by clap chin-ups, in which case hats off to you.

6. 1.5 Rep Chin-Ups

These are cool as they work two ways. The premise of any 1.5 rep exercise is that you perform a full rep followed by a half rep, or a half rep followed by a full rep. The first way you can do this with chins is to bring yourself all the way up to the bar, halfway down, and all the way back up again. Alternatively you can go just halfway up, all the way back down, and then go into a full rep.

The former option works best if you’re weaker toward the top of your chin-ups, as it gives you more focus on the end range, whereas the latter option is better if you struggle with getting moving from the dead-hang.

7. Super Slow Reps

These were thrown in purely for fun. The whole super-slow training, combined with an HIT routine died a death in the 1980s, but super-slow reps are still an awesome way to shake up your training and give you a real test. The main bonus of these is that they increase your time under tension (TUT) and generally a higher TUT leads to greater increases in muscle size.

Plus, it’s great watching someone’s face as they walk into the gym and you see them wondering why everything has suddenly gone into slow motion. I actually like these with a wide, pronated grip – go figure.

The Wrap Up

And there you have it – seven ways to shake up your back training and make your way toward some shockingly impressive chins.

Read these related articles:

• 10 Tools for Getting Better at Pull-Ups

• What’s New on Breaking Muscle UK Today

The post 7 Chin-Up Variations to Amp Up Your Upper Body Training appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Where to Start?

Flip through the pages of Muscle and Fiction, Beefy Biceps Weekly, or whatever other bodybuilding publication you fancy, and you’ll come across some hardcore workouts. Things like supersets, drop sets, forced reps, high volume, heavy weights, and specialization programs so complicated they make Einstein’s theory of relatively look like a kindergarten math test. Then you look at the guys promoting these workouts, and they’re massive – sheer behemoths, men of muscle and might. This is surely a testament to the effectiveness of these routines, so you’d be forgiven for thinking that’s what you’ll get here.

Not so fast, young grasshopper. Yes, the bodybuilders in the magazines do train like this. And yes, they do make the Incredible Hulk look like a pre-pubescent schoolgirl, but this isn’t how you’re going to train.

Professional bodybuilders have – how shall we say this – some assistance. Plus, they dedicate every minute of every day to training, eating, and sleeping. Something you don’t have the luxury of doing. Along with years of experience lifting heavy weights and stellar genetics, this makes them poles apart from you and I.

Does this mean the busy, dedicated muscle-seeking brethren can’t get jacked? Hell no, we’re just to go about it in a different, more effective way.

No B.S. Plan for Maximal Hypertrophy

You’re a natural lifter. Rather than pound each muscle into oblivion once per week with every intensity-boosting technique, rep range, machine, and tempo known to man, you’re going to adopt a high frequency approach. Hit every muscle group twice per week. Yes, even biceps. High frequency training provides additional training stimulus and increasing the rate of muscle protein synthesis.

Muscle Protein Synthesis and Training Frequency

To build muscle, you need to have a positive net protein balance. Net protein balance (NPB) equals muscle protein synthesis (MPS) minus muscle protein breakdown (MPB).

NPB = MPS – MPB

In other words, the higher MPS in relation to MPB, the better your gains. Increased training frequency is optimal because training a muscle increases muscle protein synthesis in that muscle, peaking around 24 hours post-session and returning to baseline roughly 36 hours after your workout.¹

So, that means just crushing more volume each workout, right? Hold on just a second. Research has shown that increasing your volume per workout, using extra intensity techniques, or generally training past the point of muscle failure, doesn’t have any extra impact on MPS.² Going past failure and only working muscles once a week in your typical bodybuilder split neglects a massive opportunity to spark more growth through optimal MPS.

The Solution: Train More Frequently

If you’re a beginner, then full-body workouts are the best way to train. But an intelligent, iron junkie like yourself is no longer a beginner, so you can’t train all the major movements at a high intensity in one session because, ironically, you’re too strong to maintain that long term. Plus, you’re so smoked from workouts filled with squats, deadlifts, chin ups, and bench presses that you neglect those mirror muscles. Yep, guys who spend all their time curling get a lot of grief, and in a battle of biceps curls versus squats it’s no-contest of what’s more effective for building maximum muscle, but neglecting those smaller muscles won’t give you the jaw dropping physique you’re seeking.

Enter the Upper-Lower Split

By using an upper-lower split, you get the massive benefits of increased MPS, along with adequate recovery between workout, and can give every muscle group the attention it deserves.

Day 1: Monday

1A. Bench Press or Incline Bench Press – 4-6 sets of 3-5 reps

Alternate between variations week to week and work up to one heavy set of three to five reps. So, week one would be bench presses and week two would be incline presses. Each time you train the exercise, aim to hit a new weight or reps personal record.

2A. Chin-ups (Neutral grip) – 4 sets of 6-8 reps

3A. Cable Rows – 4 sets of 6-8 reps

4A. Seated Dumbbell Press – 2 sets of 6-8 reps

5A. EZ Bar Curls – 3 sets of 8-10

5B. Dips – 3 sets of 8-10

Day 2: Tuesday

1A. Back Squats or Deadlifts (sumo or conventional) – 4-6 sets of 3-5 reps

2A. Stiff-Legged Deadlifts or Paused Squats (SLDLs if squats or front squats were your main exercise, paused squats if you deadlifted first) – 4 sets of 6-8 reps

3A. Barbell Lunges – 3 sets of 6-8 reps each leg

3B. Glute Ham Raise – 3 sets of 8-10 reps

4A. Standing Calf Raises – 5 sets of 8-10 reps

5A. Seated Calf Raises – 3 sets of 10-12 reps

Day 3: Thursday

1A. Flat Dumbbell Press or Incline Dumbbell Press – Alternate as per days one and two, but for 4 sets of 8-12 reps

2A. Dumbbell, Barbell or Chest-Supported Rows – 3 sets of 8-12 reps

3A. Wide Grip Pulldowns – 3 sets of 8-12 reps

4A. Dumbbell or Machine Flyes – 2 sets of 15-20 reps

5A. Cable or Dumbbell Lateral Raises – 2 sets of 15-20 reps

6A. Close Grip Bench Presses – 3 sets of 8-10 reps

7A. Straight Bar Curls – 3 sets of 8-10 reps

8A. Pushdowns – 2 sets of 15-20 reps

8B. Seated Dumbbell Curls – 2 sets of 15-20 reps

Day 4: Saturday

1A. Leg Press or Hack Squat – Alternate as per days one, two, and three, but for 4 sets of 8-12 reps

2A. Lying, Seated or Standing Leg Curls – 3 sets of 8-12 reps

3A. Cable Pullthroughs – 3 sets of 10-15 reps

3B. Leg Extensions – 3 sets of 20 reps

4A. Walking DB Lunges – 1 set of 20-30 reps each leg, performed immediately after your final set of extensions

5A. Seated Calf Raises – 2 sets of 20-30 reps

6A. Calf Raises on Leg Press – 4 sets of 12-15 reps

Notes: Days One and Two

• Days one and two are your power or strength based days. The goal is to train fast-twitch muscle fibers to build maximum strength and increased muscle density.
• Take ninety to 180 seconds between all sets. Except for your top set of back squats/deadlifts/front squats, where you may need four or five minutes to psyche yourself up for a personal record.
• Aiming for a new personal record on your main exercises on these days is a must. You may not always get it, but that’s your main aim for these sessions. For the accessory work, using more weight or increasing your reps within the desired ranges is desirable, but not essential.
• There are no set tempos for this workout. Each rep should be quick and powerful.
• The letters A and B represent a superset. When you see a pair of exercises labelled like this, perform your set for exercise A and then go straight into exercise B with minimal break.
• Take some time off. Rest for a day or two between sessions two and three to promote recovery.

Notes: Days Three and Four

• Days three and four are hypertrophy-based days. The volume is higher, the weights are lighter (though still challenging) and your time under tension (TUT) is increased.
• This type of training targets moderate-twitch fibers. This increases muscle cell volume and storage of glycogen.
• Treat your first exercise each session in much the same way as in the strength workouts. Aim for extra weight/reps on this set.
• Shorten your rest periods to thirty to ninety seconds between all sets. This creates metabolic stress and muscular damage, two proven components of muscular hypertrophy.³
• Perform every rep using a controlled tempo. Take two seconds to lower each rep, pause briefly at the bottom, take one second to lift, then go straight into your next rep. Done right, this should feel like the target muscles are under constant tension.

References:

1. JD MacDougall et al., “The time course for elevated muscle protein synthesis following heavy resistance exercise,” Canadian Journal of Applied Physiology 1995 Dec;20(3):480-6.

2. MJ Gibala et al., “Myofibrillar disruption following acute concentric and eccentric resistance exercise in strength-trained men,” Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology 2000 Aug;78(8):656-61.

3. Brad Schoenfeld, “The Mechanisms of Muscle Hypertrophy and Their Application to Resistance Training,” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research Oct 2010; 24,10;2857.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Ultimate Guide for Lean Gains, Part 2: Your Lifting Program appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Imaginary lat syndrome.

The Urban Dictionary defines imaginary lat syndrome as:

… a common case of someone, typically a male, who believes they are rather muscular when in reality this isn’t the case. Those with Imaginary Lat Syndrome can typically be seen walking uncomfortably while flaring their small lat muscles and tensing their arms in an attempt to look “jacked.” In reality, it appears douchey and looks like a toothbrush has been shoved up their ass. Manlets are at high risk of falling victim due to overcompensation reasons.

Another way to spot someone with ILS is if they’re walking around, looking like they’re holding a rolled-up carpet under each arm.

These guys have probably got fairly impressive bench presses (due to their commitment to international bench press Monday,) and their biceps may be a little beefier than the average Joe’s, but their lats resemble that of a gym newbie’s. Aside from those protruding pecs and beneath those boulder shoulders, there’s nothing that looks even remotely muscular.

Are you sitting there screaming, “Wait! This is me, I have it, and what can I do?” Fear not. Imaginary lat syndrome might be caused by years of neglect, but it can be remedied by making a few simple switches to your training routine.

Big Lats: What’s the Deal?

When was the last time you heard someone say, “Yeah, that guy’s in shape, but his lats are too big”? Yep, never. It just doesn’t happen. A big, wide back, so huge it blocks out the sunlight will only ever be an asset to your overall physique.

And apart from the aesthetic quality, the lats also have several vital physiological functions. Due to their sheer size and the fact they have numerous points of origin along the spine, the ribs, sacrum and scapular, all inserting at the humerus (upper arm), they take care of many different actions.

These include adducting, medially rotating, and extending your arm from the shoulder joint. A stronger, more stable scapular and upper-back will aid shoulder stability, which is essential if you’re involved in any type of throwing sport.

Thus, stronger lats can make you a better bench presser or help balance out your physique to combat those years of over-training your chest and shoulders and neglecting your back.

Give Me the Prescription for ILS

If your back workout currently takes place only on days when your chest isn’t feeling sore or if it consists of little more than a few sets of pulldowns and a dumbbell row or two while talking shop with the hot personal trainer, it’s time to get a bit more serious about lat training. We’re talking twice a week.

Leave three to four days between sessions, but make sure you get your two weekly workouts in. This could either mean doing two back-specific workouts, or a better approach would be to follow an upper-lower split, hitting each session twice a week, but starting both upper-body workouts with your back exercises.

The Exercises

You could probably reel off eight, maybe ten, possibly even a dozen back exercises if pushed, but how many of those actually get you pumped up to go and train? You know plenty of back exercises, but never do them, so something’s got to be up.

And this is exactly where a lot of people fall down in curing their imaginary lat syndrome – back exercises just aren’t that exciting.

With that in mind, here are four awesome lat-building moves that will get your training mojo working overtime, strengthen your back, and give you some lats you can actually be proud of for the first time.

The Exercises: 1. The Mighty Chin-Up

Before getting fancy, learn to do chin-ups. If you can’t do ten strict bodyweight chin-ups yet, that’s your first port of call. No other exercise builds the lats like chin-ups.

You can throw pull-ups into the mix too. While the terms are generally interchangeable, and different people use one or the other to describe a different type of bodyweight pull, chin-ups are usually thought of as being performed with a close, underhand grip, while pull-ups are wider with an overhand grip.

You need some form of chin-up in every single back workout. I suggest starting here.

The Exercises: 2. Pull-Downs? You Serious?

Pull-downs are often considered the skinny dude’s version of the pull-up, and while I’d argue chin-ups and pull-ups are your number one weapon in the fight against imaginary lat syndrome, there’s most certainly a place for pulldowns too.

My two favorite pulldown variations are the neutral-grip pulldown, performed with your palms facing inward, and the single-arm pulldown.

The neutral grip places your shoulders in a more natural position, and means you get a bigger contraction at the bottom of each rep, whereas single-arm pull-downs help you activate those pesky lat muscle fibers.

Not being able to “feel” the lats is a common problem among wannabe strength-builders.

This is generally due to a poor mind-muscle connection, but in my experience, switching to single-arm pull-downs suddenly cures this. The lats kick in, you stop feeling the exercise in your biceps, forearms, and shoulders, and start building some monster wings. If you’re still having trouble, try placing your non-working hand on your working lat and this should do the trick.

The Exercises: 3. Going Straight

An isolation exercise in an article on lat training? Yup, despite the fact it seems in vogue to hate isolation exercises and promote the use of compound moves in the “functional training” sphere, isolation moves absolutely have a place when working your lats.

The straight-arm pulldown really gets that mind-muscle connection going once again. Use a rope attachment on the high pulley of a cable machine, take a step back, and start each rep with a big stretch. Then squeeze your lats hard as you bring your hands in to the side of your waist. These work well as a pre-exhaust exercise before launching into your regular pull-downs.

The Exercises: 4. Put Your Chest to Use

You’ve spent hundreds of workouts building that impressive set of pecs, now it’s time to put them to use. They’ll be used to help support you on this exercise, as we perform some chest-supported rows.

Your gym might have a machine for this, in which case feel free to use that. If not though, just set a bench to around a thirty-degree incline, lie face down on it, and grab a dumbbell in each hand. Start with your arms hanging straight down, then row the dumbbells up to your sides, squeezing your lats hard on every rep.

Position is crucial on these. While you’ll hit your lats no matter how you do this exercise, you’ll get much more bang for your buck if you bring the dumbbells up slightly lower – around waist height – rather than higher up.

Rowing the dumbbells up to your ribs will transfer the stress onto your traps and rhomboids, which isn’t what we want at the moment.

You can break the rules here as well, and wind up the functional crowd even more by using wrist straps.

Ideally, you’d have a grip of iron and not need straps, but if you find your grip’s giving out before your lats are fully fatigued, then strap up and go to town. Make sure you do some grip-strengthening exercises like plate pinches and fat grip work in your other sessions, though.

Lighting Up Lat City

Keep things simple by picking just two exercises each workout and sticking with these for four weeks.

This can be any combo and any variation of the four listed above. You might choose weighted chin-ups and machine chest-supported rows in your first workout, and neutral grip pull-downs and straight-arm pull-downs on your second, for instance.

Follow an undulating loading scheme. So your program would look something like this:

• Week 1: 3 sets of 12-15 reps on all exercises
• Week 2: 4 sets of 8-10 reps on all exercises
• Week 3: 5 sets of 5-6 reps on all exercises
• Week 4: 2 sets of 20 using a light weight (This is essentially a mini deload)

On week five, go back to 3 sets of 12-15, either on different exercises, or on the same exercises as weeks one to four, but using a bit more weight, or aiming to beat your reps from the last cycle. Do this, and imaginary lat syndrome will be but a distant memory.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post 4 Exercises to Cure the Dreaded Imaginary Lat Syndrome appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

My love affair with chin-ups has evolved throughout my training career, and in my mind there are few more perfect upper-body exercises. But as awesome as regular chin-ups are, why just stick to one variation?

You wouldn’t just do one type of bench press – for optimal results you should be doing close-grip benching, paused reps, pin presses, floor presses, and dumbbell pressing variations on top of your regular benching. So why stick to plain old chin-ups?

To really get the most bang for your buck, you should be doing different types of chin-ups. We’re not just talking about your boring close grip or wide grip here. When you put your mind to it, there are probably thirty or forty different types chin-up you could think of just sitting here now.

Personally, I have seven chin-up variations I always look to when I want to amp up my upper-body training:

1. Neutral Grip Chin-Ups

I’ll admit it; I’m not too much of a fan of regular supinated (palms facing chin-ups.) I don’t know why, they just don’t feel that natural to me. The neutral grip is far kinder on your shoulder joints and I find grip is easier too.

This seems to make sense. Those with shoulder issues are often told to switch to neutral grip dumbbell presses or bench with a Swiss bar, rather than hammer out set after set of straight bar bench presses. You’ll also find your grip and forearms are less likely to give out on trap bar deadlifts where your hands are in a neutral position than they are on regular pronated grip barbell deadlifts. I want chin-ups to beast my back, so why compromise this by risking my grip giving out first or stressing my shoulder joints?

2. Weighted Chin-Ups

Sorry, these probably aren’t exactly a “new” exercise for you, but they’re progression numero uno for chin-up newbies. Once you can perform ten good quality body-weight reps, it’s time to start adding weight. Just 10 pounds for a set of five or six should do you at first but keep plugging away. As soon as you can do ten reps with an amount of weight, add another 5 pounds to your belt.

3. Band Resisted Chin-Ups

Powerlifters use bands to boost their squats, bench presses, and deadlifts, so why not use the same technique with chin-ups? There’s not much tension at the bottom of each rep here, but the bands really come into their own towards the top, which forces you to squeeze your shoulder blades together hard, and properly activate your rhomboids and lower and mid-traps. They’re also fantastic for developing chinning speed and power – there’s no way you’ll get your chin over that bar without a good hard pull right from the bottom.

4. Towel Chin-Ups

Holy grip strength Batman, it’s towel chin-ups. While they may look like a walk in the park, towel chin-ups should be a staple in any true gym rat’s routine. You can kiss goodbye to poor grip strength once you introduce these bad boys into your program. I’d advise doing them toward the end of your session – you won’t be able to pick up your workout logbook after a few sets of these, let alone a heavy dumbbell.

5. Contrast Loading Chin-Ups

Stick a dumbbell between your feet and perform 3 to 5 reps. Drop the dumbbell while still keeping hold of the bar and immediately perform another 3 to 5 fast reps.

Contrast training (or post activation potentiation) involves performing a heavy set of an exercise, immediately followed by an explosive set. For example – a set of barbell squats followed by un-weighted jump squats or bench presses paired with medicine ball throws. So strictly speaking, this isn’t contrast loading, but it works and it’s the closest you can get with chin-ups. Unless you can perform super-heavy weighted chin-ups, followed by clap chin-ups, in which case hats off to you.

6. 1.5 Rep Chin-Ups

These are cool as they work two ways. The premise of any 1.5 rep exercise is that you perform a full rep followed by a half rep, or a half rep followed by a full rep. The first way you can do this with chins is to bring yourself all the way up to the bar, halfway down, and all the way back up again. Alternatively you can go just halfway up, all the way back down, and then go into a full rep.

The former option works best if you’re weaker toward the top of your chin-ups, as it gives you more focus on the end range, whereas the latter option is better if you struggle with getting moving from the dead-hang.

7. Super Slow Reps

These were thrown in purely for fun. The whole super-slow training, combined with an HIT routine died a death in the 1980s, but super-slow reps are still an awesome way to shake up your training and give you a real test. The main bonus of these is that they increase your time under tension (TUT) and generally a higher TUT leads to greater increases in muscle size.

Plus, it’s great watching someone’s face as they walk into the gym and you see them wondering why everything has suddenly gone into slow motion. I actually like these with a wide, pronated grip – go figure.

The Wrap Up

And there you have it – seven ways to shake up your back training and make your way toward some shockingly impressive chins.

The post Mastering the Chin-Up: 7 Variations to Beat Gym Boredom appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Related: The Best Chest Workouts for Muscle Mass, Strength, and More

Well, what if I told you that push ups have a place in your training, regardless of your goals? What if I went on to tell you that certain types of push up may be even more beneficial for building muscle mass and strength than bench presses, dumbbell presses, or dips? Seems crazy, right? Well, read on.

Why Push Ups Will Give You Your Best Gains Ever

Whenever you come back to an exercise you’ve not performed for a few months, you get that intense DOMS for three or four days afterwards. That’s because your muscles are moving in a slightly different plane of motion to what they’re used to, and they’ve become unaccustomed to this newly reintroduced movement.

The other thing that will probably happen is your gains on the new exercise will shoot up for several training sessions. You’ll add extra weight and perform more sets and reps each workout, without really feeling like you’re even trying.

Surprisingly, that will transfer over to other exercises. Coach Charles Poliquin claims that increasing your overhead press will boost your bench press, and the Westside Barbell powerlifting system is based around regular squatting variations, with heavy deadlifts performed only sporadically, the theory being that building a bigger squat automatically improves your deadlift. The same goes for push ups, too. Provided you’re using the same width grip and hand spacing you’d use on your pressing exercises, you can bet every last dime in your bank account that by getting stronger at push ups your dumbbell and barbell presses will shoot through the roof, along with your parallel bar dips.

So, What Push Up Variations Can You Do?

Let’s face it, unless you’re a rank beginner, regular pushups are probably a little easy. They work great as part of a bodyweight conditioning session, but you probably won’t get much out of them as a strength exercise.

There are five push up variations however, that will build serious strength. Even the strongest of bench pressers will feel like they have the strength of a nine year old girl when trying these for the first time.

Band Resisted Push Ups

Band assisted push ups are often recommended as a way of adding pushups to your training plan if you can’t do bodyweight reps yet. Reverse this round though, and band resisted pushups are a way of kicking your butt once you find bodyweight reps too easy.

Grab one end of the band in each hand and loop it over your upper back, then perform your push ups as you would usually. These have the added benefit of increasing the load at the top as the band tightens, which increases triceps activation. Plus, the band tension as you descend forces you to control the negative portion of each rep.

Incline Extended ROM Push Ups

Like band assisted push ups, regular incline pushups are an easier variation. That is, until you extend the range of motion. Think of the dumbbell press – you get a much greater range of motion (ROM) with these as opposed to bench presses, as your chest doesn’t get in the way of the weight. The same is true of push ups – if you go as low as you can, your chest hits the floor before you’ve achieved your full ROM.

This issue is solved with incline extended ROM push ups. You can use dumbbells, push up handles, or any other piece of equipment you like, but my personal favorite is kettlebells. These put you a fair way off the ground, meaning you can get a much bigger ROM, plus they add a small element of instability. While this isn’t as much instability as performing push ups on gym rings would add, the fact you don’t have to worry too much about balance means you can concentrate on getting a better mind muscle connection, rather than wondering how long it will be until your girlfriend gets you home so she can take you to the hospital to get your broken nose looked at.

Band Resisted Extended ROM Push Ups

Band resisted push ups too easy? Incline extended ROM push ups a pushover? Combine the two – see how you fare now.

Drop Push Ups

Drop push ups are an awesome way to teach your nervous system how to exert maximum force. They also look damn cool.

By dropping from the box onto the floor, you minimize contact time with the ground, forcing your muscles and central nervous system to react quickly, and exert a high amount of force in a very short space of time. Just like powerlifters perform dynamic effort versions of squats, deadlifts, and bench presses to increase their speed, power, and ultimately strength on the big three, drop push ups work in a similar way.

They also act as an excellent activation exercise. Perform a set of three to five drop push ups before a heavy set of bench presses. These get your nervous system primed and your chest muscle firing, meaning you can bench press more. As with all plyometric exercises, your focus should be on quality, not quantity, so keep the sets short, and stop the exercise when you feel you’re not moving as quickly.

Offset Close Grip Push Up Combo

The offset close grip pushup combo (let’s call it the OFCG pushup from now on) places extra emphasis on your triceps, but is a lot more interesting and challenging than your regular close grip pushups.

Place a kettlebell on its side on the floor, and start with your right hand on it, and left hand out to the side on the floor. Perform a pushup like this, then move your left hand onto the kettlebell too, do another pushup, then take your right hand off onto the floor, and do another rep. Keep switching round like this, for as long as you can.

Rather than going for a certain number of reps and sets, these work better going for time. Set a stopwatch for 30 seconds and go as quickly as you can between hand positions until the time runs out.

Want to make them harder? Wear a weighted vest.

The Wrap Up

Hopefully pushups don’t seem so boring now, and they definitely shouldn’t seem so easy. Bench presses, dumbbell presses and dips are all still amazing exercises, and no training routine should be without them. But if you want a change from your regular exercises, need a way to break through strength plateaus, or just fancy some killer DOMS, give these pushup variations a go – you might just be surprised.

The post 5 Killer Pushup Variations for Greater Gains appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

But don’t just go and blast away with some haphazard routine you randomly picked from an old bodybuilding magazine – you need a plan that’s specific to your goals. For cyclists, one key area to focus on when weight training to improve your performance is your hamstrings.

Anatomy

The hamstrings are one of those muscles that no one seems to know too much about. We all know that squats work your quads, bench presses hit your chest, and planks train your core, but hamstrings? For most guys, the leg curl’s probably as far as they get with hamstring training, and it’s not a bad exercise, but if it’s the only thing you do for your hammies, then you’re selling yourself short.

The hamstrings are actually three different smaller muscle groups; the semitendinosus, semimembranosus, and biceps femoris. Together, they work to perform two main actions – knee flexion (think lifting your heel towards your bum,) and hip extension (kicking your leg backwards.)

Cycling may be more of a quadriceps-dominant activity, but that doesn’t mean that your hamstrings are unimportant. Knee flexion occurs a lot when riding – every time your feet lift up from the bottom of a revolution, and a degree of hip extension is also involved, especially when you’re riding out of the saddle and climbing hills.

The other point to consider is that by specifically training your hamstrings with resistance based movements, you’re making them generally stronger. This helps when sprinting, and increases your lower body work capacity and resistance to fatigue – Good news when you’re reaching the top of another arduous climb.

Hamstring injuries are also one of the most common athletic ailments. Weak hamstrings are far more prone to strains and tears than strong ones, and the last thing you want is time out of the saddle due to injuries.

Hit your hams hard to increase speed, power, endurance and longevity.

Exercises

Glute Bridge Raises

These should be on page one of “Hamstring Exercises 101.” Before doing any of the fancy stuff, you need to nail the glute bridge raise. While the name may imply that it’s more of a glute exercise, your hamstrings play a big role too.

Lie on your back with your knees bent to roughly 90 degrees, and your heels pressed firmly into the floor. With your hands at your side, push your hips off the floor as high as you can, all the time squeezing your hamstrings and glutes.

These aren’t too tough, but are a great way to start to feel your hamstrings working. Try a couple of sets of 15 at the start of your workout as a bridge between your warm up and the heavier work.

Glute Ham Raises

If you train in a commercial gym, you probably aren’t too familiar with these, which is a shame, because glute ham raises offer a multitude of benefits. They’ve long been used by powerlifters for strengthening the group of muscles known as the posterior chain, which comprises the hamstrings, glutes and lower back, and are an absolute must for any woman looking to target those pesky saddlebags and butt muscles. As a cyclist, they’re your new best friend too.

Chances are, unless your gym caters for athletes, you won’t have a glute ham raise machine. Worry not though, there’s a simple, but just as effective alternative that you can do using one piece of equipment that almost every gym on the planet has – the lat pulldown.

Kneel on the seat, so that you’re facing away from the weight stack, with your heels secured firmly under the knee pads. Shuffle forwards so that your knees are right on the edge, and hold your hands in front of your chest. Slowly lower yourself towards the floor by straightening your legs, while keeping your lower back and core muscles held tight. Control the descent by keeping your hamstrings tensed. Once you can’t lower yourself any further slowly, use your hands to push you back away from the floor. On your first go, just try three sets of three reps, but add a few more reps or an extra set in each workout. You should also aim to make your descent slower over time, and use your arms less on the upwards phase.

You’ll have to prepare for some funny looks from fellow gym-goers when doing these, but the results are worth it. No post-ride hamstring soreness will ever rival the pain felt the day after your first attempt at glute ham raises.

Bodyweight Leg Curls

No doubt you’re familiar with machine leg curls. Most gyms carry at least one leg curl machine – usually a lying or seated version, although kneeling and standing ones are also pretty familiar sights. The trouble with leg curl machines though, as with most resistance machines, is that they’re very much designed in a “one size fits all manner,” which, as we know, certainly isn’t the case. Due to limb length, biomechanics, and muscle origins and insertions, machines may not be the most comfortable way to perform an exercise, or the most beneficial. There are ways to perform leg curls though, which make them far more applicable and to you.

The first of three variations is the Swiss ball leg curl. Lie on your back with your legs straight, and heels on a Swiss ball. Lift your hips off the floor, squeeze your hamstrings and glutes, and bend your knees to bring the ball in towards you. Once you can’t bend your knees any further, pause for a second, and squeeze your hamstrings as hard as you can, then slowly straighten your legs again. This is the most simple leg curl, so once you can knock out 15 good reps, move on to the second variation.

Up next is the gymnastic ring leg curl. If you’ve got access to a set of gym rings, or some kind of suspension trainer, then these are another useful exercise to use in your artillery. Lots of gyms do now have suspension training systems, but even if yours doesn’t, then about thiry dollars; a quick trip down to the nearest home improvement store to pick up some lashing straps, PVC piping and a couple of carabiners; and twenty minutes of knot tying and measuring is all you need to make your own.

Loop the rings over a power rack or chin up bar, so the handles are hanging around two feet from the floor. Set up in the same way as for the gym ball version – lying on your back, with your legs straight. Place your heels in the handles/straps, lift your hips up, and bend your legs. This is a slightly tougher version of the ball leg curl, as your hamstrings and glutes have to work harder to stabilize your lower body.

The final leg curl variation can be done using a towel or set of dusters. Sounds mad, but these can be very effective training tools. You’ll need a wooden floor for this, so make your way into your gym’s studio. Lie on your back, and place the towel or dusters under your heels. Lift your hips again, and pull your feet in towards your bum. Bring them in as far as you can, then slide them out again. This again, is slightly more difficult than the gym ball leg curls, as you have to overcome the friction provided by the floor.

Programming

You know all the best exercises for your hamstrings, but what’s the best way to put it all together? There are loads of ways you can program weight training into your schedule, and there’s no right or wrong method, but it tends to work best if you have one dedicated lower body workout each week.

This plan is for an intermediate rider, who has some experience in weight training, and is looking to increase hamstring strength and endurance:

* 2a/2b is a superset – perform a set of split squats on each leg, then go straight into glute ham raises. Rest, then go back to split squats.

• Keep rest periods to 30-60 seconds between all exercises.
• The split squats are a quadriceps-dominant exercise, and will aid in improving lower body strength and endurance.
• Aim to add a small amount of weight, or a few extra repetitions every workout, while maintaining perfect form.
• If you feel that your hamstrings are still a weak area, there’s no harm in throwing in some extra glute bridge raises or towel leg curls on one or two other days every week.

Wrap Up

Whether or not your performance on the bike is improving, and no matter how healthy your legs feel, adding in extra hamstring work is always a good idea. Stronger hamstrings will make you a faster, healthier rider.

The key to successfully implementing this type of training into your schedule is to make sure that you still recover properly between workouts. Stretch after your weight sessions and your rides, and get regular sports massages for your hamstrings. If you’re putting the weight training in on top of all your other activities, then you’ll probably need to increase your calorie intake slightly too, to prevent you from feeling lethargic and picking up injuries.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Hamstring Training for Cyclists appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Surprisingly, cardio helps with weight training. Granted, a squat session or a back workout isn’t exactly running a marathon and you won’t be gasping for air and dripping with sweat after each set, but you do need at least a base level of conditioning. If you’ve ever felt yourself flagging during a high volume deadlift session or have been convinced your heart is about to explode inside your chest when doing your accessory work, chances are your fitness isn’t where it needs to be.

Cardio helps with dropping weight too. No one can argue in regards to its ability to burn calories and speed up the fat loss process.

The trouble is, when people think of cardio they automatically think of treadmills, bikes, and steppers. The more adventurous among you may shout “prowler sprints” or “kettlebells,” but even those can get boring after a while. What we need is something a little more stimulating and definitely more macho. While cardio will never rival weight training in the alpha male stakes, it would be nice not to have to hand in your man card every time you go for a run.

Unfortunately, ultra manly cardio isn’t allowed in most gyms. While the rules at the local Planet Fitness may not specifically mention a ban on wrestling tigers or chasing down muggers as a way of getting your conditioning session in, I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t approve of it. Don’t despair, though. There are still plenty of ways you can get an awesome cardio session while sustaining your masculinity. So step away from the recumbent bike, put your leg warmers back in your gym bag, and prepare for the ultimate in alpha-male cardio.

Hill Sprints

Although they’re far from a new concept, hill sprints are getting more and more popular, mainly due to the fact that if you’re not in tip-top condition you’ll get your butt handed to you. Even the fittest of guys will end up in a quivering, sobbing wreck, laid out on the floor in the fetal position after a hard session of hill sprints.

From a performance point of view, the benefits of hill sprints are numerous. Besides the obvious fitness and cardiovascular factor, hill sprints are generally less stressful on your joints than running on the flat, they increase calf, glute and hamstring activation, and lead to a more natural running stride.

Structuring your hill sprint sessions is simple:

• Step 1 – Find a big hill.
• Step 2 – Run up it as if Leatherface is coming after you.
• Step 3 – Walk down.
• Step 4 – Repeat until you:
• A – Finish your intended number of sprints
• B – Pass out and or be sick
• C – Give up and go home when you realize you’re not quite the perfect specimen of physical fitness you thought you were.

To increase the “man factor,” do your hill sprints wearing a weighted vest or on sand if you’re lucky enough to live near a beach.

The Kettlebell Snatch Challenge

You thought you knew what kettlebell training was. Well, this is kettlebell training part deux – the ultimate in gut-wrenching, tear-jerkingly tough cardio.

Set a timer for 5 minutes and grab a kettlebell (16kg works well to start with).

The aim is to do as many snatches as you can in the time limit. You can switch hands as many times as you like, but the catch is that you can’t put the bell down. Should you need a rest, you must hold it in the rack position. Any prolonged holding of the bell in another position or letting the bell touch the floor results in a void challenge.

Burpee Tabata

If you know what burpees are and you know what a Tabata interval is, you’ll be cursing the fact you ever laid eyes on this article. For those of you not quite in the loop on either of these, here’s the lowdown:

Burpees are the ultimate man-maker. Start from a standing position, place your hands on the floor in front of you, kick your legs back so you’re in a push-up position, touch your chest to the floor, jump back in, then jump in the air. That’s one rep.

A Tabata is an exercise protocol, designed by the appropriately named Dr. Tabata (what a coincidence!) – a Japanese exercise researcher. It only lasts 3 minutes and 50 seconds. 3 minutes 50 – pretty easy right? Don’t jump to conclusions just yet.

A Tabata comprises 20 seconds of all out maximum effort, followed by 10 seconds of complete rest, repeated eight times. The premise here is simple. Get as many burpees done as you can in 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds, then go again until the time’s up. If you get it right, this should be hell on earth. The trade off for it being so brutal, though, is that you’ve done your whole workout in less than 4 minutes.

Unless you’re man enough to go again that is.

The Wrap Up

There you have it, three awesome cardio drills guaranteed to shred fat and send your fitness levels through the roof. Not only that, but you can keep your dignity and pride and avoid the elliptical machine and Stairmaster while other men stare on in awe. This cardio couldn’t be more masculine even if it sported a Tom Selleck-style moustache, was best friends with Chuck Norris, and rode a Harley.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

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