Tip of the week Tip: Build up your trapezius with the calf machine
- Position yourself as usual in a standing calf raise machine.
- Raise your shoulders. Hold the top position of the movement for a full 2 seconds. This is important as the range of motion in this exercise is small.
- Keep your glutes and abs engaged to protect your lower back.
A wide range of set and repetition patterns work for this exercise. Just try them out.
Tip: Add a booster training session to your training week
It doesn't matter if your primary goal is to become more muscular, stronger or more defined. This booster session will get you to your goal faster.
By Chris Shugart
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-add-a-booster-workout-to-your-week/
Stop trying to maintain your modest body development
Your training frequency - how often you train per week - could be the secret to transforming your body development from average to outstanding. If you want to look like a man or woman who works out, then you need to do a lot of training.
However, it's important to get the balance right. Exercise too often and you will burn out - either physically or mentally. Train too infrequently and you won't achieve optimal results. You may also find yourself in a permanent maintenance phase, which is unsatisfactory if you maintain a weak, average body.
Who wants to train three times a week just to maintain a body or performance development you're not happy with?
What can you do? Proper planning of your training program, adjusting volume and intensity, and good nutrition will help. But there is something else you can do: a booster training session.
The booster training session
A booster training session is a day when you go to the gym that would normally be free of training in order to train supporting exercises or muscle groups. These are important muscles or exercises, but also muscles and exercises that you leave out of your normal training sessions.
Maybe you're too tired after the primary exercises, or you simply run out of time because you have to go to work or your son has his soccer training. No problem, just train all of this on your booster training day.
Supporting muscle groups
- calves
- Abdominal muscles
- Forearms
Most exercisers tend to include a few exercises for these muscle groups in their training program at the end of a training session. But how effective is your calf workout if you do it at the end of a day of squats, deadlifts and leg presses? If you've worked your primary muscle groups hard, there's a good chance you'll just go through the motions when you get to calf training. Or you might skip your calf workout altogether because you're just too tired.
Don't worry about this anymore. Train your calves on your booster training day when you have more time and more energy to torture those stubborn muscles. You can do the same for your abs, forearms, rotator cuff, neck muscles, grip training, etc.
Just ask yourself: What do I need to do that I don't have time for during my normal training sessions? Do this during your booster training day.
Other supportive training
- Cardio or fitness training
- Rehab training or injury prevention
Maybe you need to dedicate some time to the Foam Roller. Maybe you need to improve your fitness, but you don't have 20 minutes during your normal lunch break. Do all this on your booster day and focus on it fully.
Try a 'new stuff' day
This is another way to use your extra training days. If you browse relevant training sites, you'll find dozens of things you'd like to try. But when? You don't want to mess up your training program by overloading your training days? And you don't want to waste a training session learning a new pull-up variation or experimenting with a new hip flexor stretch?
Use your extra training day to try new things. Think of it as practice or just time to try new things. Maybe you've always been interested in learning how to do hip thrusts, pull-ups to the sternum, kettlebell swings or something else. Play around with these things on your extra training day.
Learn the correct form of execution, find the right setup and what works best for your goals. Add it to your "real" training program later. Go through the process of "figuring it out" and experimenting during your booster workouts. As a bonus, you'll work up a sweat and burn a few calories.
An example booster day
It's Sunday. You want to try something new at the gym, but today is a planned training-free day. Try something like the following. It won't interfere with your regular training program. In fact, it could enhance the progress you're already making.
- A1. An abdominal exercise of your choice
- A2. One forearm exercise of your choice
- Repeat the above superset three or four times
- B. Experiment with something new. Check out our extensive archive of tips
Remember that your goal is not to get completely knackered, but to get better - that makes a big difference.
Tip: Are your estrogen levels too high or too low?
Here are signs to look out for and ways to get tested.
By TC Luoma
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/living/tip-are-your-estrogen-levels-too-high-or-too-low/
Your estrogen levels play an important role in the health of your heart and the health of many body systems and functions. Regardless of age, it's in every man's best interest to make sure his estrogen levels are in the right range.
Visible symptoms of high oestrogen levels
- Increased amounts of abdominal fat
- A loss of muscle mass
- A low libido and reduced erectile function
- Fatigue
- Increased amounts of fat in the nipple area
- Depression or emotional disorders
- Lower urinary tract symptoms associated with benign prostate enlargement.
Visible symptoms of low oestrogen levels
- Usable erection but unsatisfactory orgasms
- Crunching or aching joints
- Fatigue and depression
- Reduced emotions
- Possible weakness of the adrenal glands
- Anxiety
- Excessive jealousy
- Low blood pressure
- Excessive urge to urinate
Testing estrogen levels
It's important for every man to determine a baseline estrogen level that he can refer to, compare, and perhaps tell his grandchildren about in years to come. Here is a list of average estradiol levels in different age ranges, which were the result of a study published in the journal Clinical Endocrinology:
- Age 2-29: 28.0 pg/mL
- Age 30-39: 25.7 pg/ml
- Age 40-49: 24.7 pg/ml
- Age 50-59: 22.1 pg/ml
- Age 60-69: 21.5 pg/ml
- Age 70-80: 21.9 pg/ml
How can you get tested?
There are basically two ways to have your oestrogen levels tested accurately - via a 24-hour urine test or a blood test. The blood test is easier and more accurate, but you should insist on the "sensitive" test. By default, most labs use the standard test, which is designed for women.
In addition, most laboratories use immunoassay techniques to test blood samples, which can have variations of up to 53%. These types of discrepancies can lead to a doctor treating a problem that doesn't exist, such as high estrogen levels in a man whose levels are actually in the normal range, which can be dangerous.
Instead, liquid chromatography/mass spectroscopy should be used, which is more accurate when it comes to measuring hormone levels.
To further complicate the issue, steroid hormone binding globulin also plays a role in estrogen levels. SHBG, as the name implies, binds a certain percentage of certain hormones, which include both estrogen and testosterone, rendering them unusable by the body.
In addition, SHBG levels increase with age, so more hormones are bound, which can mean that even if oestrogen levels appear to be normal, the amount of free oestrogen is actually too low. Ideally, both SHBG and estrogen levels should be in the mid-range so that you get an accurate snapshot of your estrogen situation.
Tip: Build your pull-up strength in 10 minutes
Struggling with your pull-ups? Here's a smart progression method that can help you overcome a repetition plateau
By Derek Binford
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-build-pull-up-strength-in-10-minutes/
Pull-ups: That's all you need:
EMOM or "every minute on the minute" training is the best way to increase your strength and endurance on pull-ups if you're stuck somewhere in the 5 repetition range. All you need to be able to do is two pull-ups in a row. Two, that's all.
Set up your timer for a 10 minute EMOM session. Perform 2 pull-ups at the beginning of each minute. Start with about 30% of your maximum number of pull-up repetitions and increase from there. So if you can do a maximum of 5 reps, then only do 2 pull-ups per minute for a total of 10 sets.
Weekly progression plan
From here, gradually increase your volume. Pull-ups respond well to a progressive load, but if you increase the reps too quickly then you will sacrifice good form of exercise execution.
Here is an example of a three week progression for a trainee who can do 5 pull-ups:
- Week 1: 2 pull-ups EMOM for 10 minutes (20 total reps)
- Week 2: 3 pull-ups EMOM for 5 minutes, then 2 pull-ups EMOM for 5 minutes (25 total reps)
- Week 3: 3 EMOM pull-ups for the full 10 minutes (30 total reps)
So you add 5 repetitions per week to your total number of repetitions by adding one repetition to each of the first 5 sets. As long as you add at least one pull-up to your total number of repetitions per week, you will make progress. If you can no longer add reps every week, it's time to test your maximum number of reps again and restart the process.
Tip: Perform dead-stop rowing for a wider back
By John Meadows
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-do-the-dead-stop-row-for-a-bigger-back/
The multi press gets a lot of hate from strength coaches, but it can be an excellent hypertrophy tool for bodybuilders when used correctly. I love using the multi press for barbell rowing and consider this variation to be better than rowing with free weights.
Barbell rowing on the multi press
This variation is awesome once you figure out how to do it correctly. You can configure the stop points so that you can perform a "dead stop" variation (with the bar coming to rest completely) or a rest-pause version.
The most important point is to pull the bar towards your abs (minimally above the belly button) by moving your elbows upwards. Don't pull the bar up with your arms - move it with your elbows.
As with all rowing variations, keep your back flat and wear a belt.
Tip: Feel the pain, achieve your goals
Pain tolerance is a necessity for mental and physical strength.
By Matt Kroc
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-feel-pain-reach-goals/
To become superhumanly strong and insanely muscular, you must be able to tolerate a great deal of pain. The pain will come in many forms and will not only consist of pain from injury and training, but will also include mental exhaustion and even fear of pain.
Pain in the gym is routine. You have to endure it on a daily basis due to the strenuous nature of training. Breaking through the pain barrier on a daily basis is a prerequisite if you want to reap the rewards of pushing your body to new limits.
Every day is a struggle to move more weight, perform more reps and surpass what you accomplished the day before. If you can't endure this basic amount of necessary suffering, then you might as well trade in your barbells for crochet hooks.
Overcome the pain of injury
Most exercisers find it easy to push themselves every day, but the pain of injury - both chronic and acute - is an obstacle that throws many off track.
For strength athletes, regular tendonitis, sore elbows, aching shoulders, a sore lower back and frequent onset of extreme muscle soreness are all part of the journey. If you stop training because of minor limitations like these, you can be sure that you will never reach the extreme levels of strength and mass that you desire or that you could achieve.
Competing in a strength sport often results in muscle and tendon tears and even occasional broken bones that require surgery. Ask any top-level bodybuilder, powerlifter or strongman and they'll tell you that injuries like these are part of the game - and if you aspire to be the best of the best, then injuries are simply a toll you'll have to pay on the way to the top.
Lessons from a legend
Bill Kazmaier is a legend in the powerlifting world for good reason. For starters, he dominated powerlifting and set an all-time record of 2425 pounds. That was in 1981, way before all the supportive equipment available today.
Kaz is an excellent example of this type of mental toughness. At the 1982 World's Strongest Man competition, Kaz tried to bend a cold rolled steel bar and severely tore his pectoral muscle - so bad that he never got near 600 pounds on the bench press again (he was close to 700 pounds before).
Naturally, Kaz was advised to go straight to hospital. His response was legendary: "I can't do that! There are still 4 events left!"
Kaz not only continued the competition, but dominated it, fighting through the pain and successfully defending his World's Strongest Man title.
Does this mean you should train through injury? No, don't be stupid. You're probably not in the middle of such an important competition. But it does mean that there is always room to get tougher.
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-build-traps-in-the-calf-machine/
By Christian Thibaudeau