Tip of the week tip: The 4 exercises that should be part of every training session

The big four

The following exercises and movement patterns should not be missing from any program. If you are doing a full-body workout instead of a split program, they should be included in every training session.

1. Upper body press exercises: Exercises in which the upper body pushes an object away from the body or pushes the body away from an object. Examples: Push-ups, bench press, shoulder press, landmine press.
2. Upper body pulling exercises: Exercises in which the body pulls an object towards the body or pulls the body towards an object. Examples: Pull-ups, all variations of rowing, rope climbs
3. Quadriceps dominant leg exercises: Exercises that involve significant flexion of the knee and primarily train the quadriceps, gluteus and leg flexors. Examples: Squats, lunges, split squats, step-ups, vertical jumps.
4. Hip-dominant leg exercises: Exercises that bend the body at the hips and primarily train the posterior muscle chain. Examples: All variations of the deadlift, glute-ham raises, hip thrusts, sprints and long jump.

The not so big exercises:

Some of these exercises should be in every training session and should be practiced every week.

• Core exercises: Exercises that target abdominal muscles and lateral abs. Examples: Crunches, planks, hanging knee raises.
• Grip exercises: Exercises that challenge the hands and forearms in a significant way. Examples: Farmers walk, wrist curls. Exercises with a spring grip, hanging holds, exercises with a fat grip.
• Exercises for the rotator cuff: Thanks to primarily sedentary activities, most people have very poor posture. Rotator cuff exercises should be included in every training session to train the rotator cuff and upper back. Examples: Face pulls, Y-L-T raises, pull aparts.
• Lateral hip exercises: Weak lateral hip muscles can be a precursor to injury due to a change in movement mechanics. Examples: Lateral lunges, mini band walks, monster walk, lateral hip extensions

Tip: Perform these descending sets with 3 variations of squats

Set a new personal best by using smart mechanical descending sets to improve your technique and strengthen weak points.

By Christian Bosse

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-do-this-3-squat-drop-set/

Mistakes in technique are holding you back

Are you trying to perform squats with heavier weights? Do you think you need to train harder and get stronger? This may be partly correct, but you could be missing something.

Too many exercisers are trying to get stronger and stronger, but it's not their strength levels that are holding them back. Instead, it's their squat technique that has suffered over time and isn't getting enough attention. Mistakes in your squat technique will hinder your progress. Here are some possible technical mistakes:

• You bend your upper body too far forward during the downward movement and are unable to reach the full depth of the movement.
• The weight shifts too far towards the front of the foot at the lowest position and the force cannot be transferred efficiently to the ground.
• The hip comes up first in the upward movement and shifts the load to the posterior muscle chain.

How can you improve your technique?

Squats with the bar overhead and front squats can improve the form of the squat exercise. These squat variations should be a regular part of your strength training program.

Squats with the bar overhead require a more upright posture than classic squats because you are forced to perform the squat movement more precisely, otherwise the bar would fall forwards or backwards.

Squats with the bar above your head

In this squat variation, you hold the bar up above your head with your arms stretched out. You need to keep your upper body upright because if you bend forward, you will no longer be able to hold the bar in front of your shoulders.

Front squats

In this squat variation, you hold the weight in front of your body, which means that you can use far less weight than in classic squats and the load is shifted more to the quadriceps.

Mechanical descending sets

Mechanical descending sets are most commonly used to build strength and muscle mass, but they can also improve your squat mechanics and technique.

In a regular descending set, you reduce the weight to be able to perform more repetitions. With a mechanical descending set, on the other hand, you move to a more mechanically advantageous position. With front squats, you are in a mechanically more advantageous position compared to squats with the bar above your head. And with classic squats you are mechanically stronger than with front squats.

Mechanical descending sets with 3 squat variations

Perform one repetition of squats with the weight overhead, 2 repetitions of front squats and three repetitions of classic squats, each with the same weight. Do this as a warm-up before squats or an Olympic weightlifting exercise. Keep the reps low (1-2-3 reps) to avoid accumulated fatigue. This has several benefits:

• Time efficiency: you kill three birds with one stone.
• You combine three squat patterns in one exercise.
• Combining three different movement patterns in one set will result in better technical learning than training one movement pattern at a time.

However, there are also a few disadvantages:

• You need to be confident in all three squat variations to get maximum benefit from this descending set.
• Moving the bar from the overhead position to the front squat position is very difficult.

The correct use of this descending set

If you are like most exercisers, you can use more weight on front squats and classic squats than on overhead squats. To get maximum benefit from this descending set of three squat variations, you should use a near-maximal weight for overhead squats (a weight you can do 1 to 2 reps with) for all three exercises.

This is an advanced training method, so you should ensure that you have sufficient technical safety to perform these exercises safely and without injury.

Tip: Perform repetitions in 5 minutes

The fastest, hardest training strategy you'll ever use?

From TC Luoma

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-do-50-reps-in-5-minutes/

Many excellent trainers use this standard training recipe for growth:

1. Train one muscle group two or three times per week.
2. Use different repetition ranges per training session to either maximize muscle fiber recruitment (low repetition ranges) or to stimulate mechanical tension, metabolic fatigue or muscle damage (higher repetition numbers).

Thus, many exercisers dedicate their first training day of the week to a specific muscle group (chest, legs, back, shoulders) for strength training using 5 sets of 5 repetitions, cluster training or another of a hundred variations. Then they dedicate a second training day to high-volume training that causes metabolic fatigue and muscle damage. These types of workouts usually include multiple sets of 8 to 10, 10 to 12 or even 12 to 15 repetitions.

However, there is another type of "second day" workout that causes extreme amounts of fatigue, muscle damage and, if done correctly, sheer terror (because the workout is so damn hard).

50 reps in 5 minutes

1. Prepare a barbell or training station. Use a weight with which you can do around 8 to 10 repetitions.
2. Set a timer for 5 minutes and 3 seconds (the extra 3 seconds will allow you to press start and get into the starting position for the exercise).
3. Set up the timer so that you can keep an eye on it.
4. Activate the timer and get into the starting position for the planned exercise (deadlift, bench press, squat, leg press, bent-over row or another heavy exercise of your choice) and perform as many repetitions as possible - ideally something in the range of 8 to 10 repetitions.
5. Pause for as long as you like, giving you 5 minutes to complete the 50 reps - and the clock is ticking. If you pause for say 60 seconds, then each subsequent rest period will get shorter and shorter...

If you finish your reps long before the end of the 5 minutes, then the weight is not heavy enough and you should increase it in the next training session. If you can do just 50 repetitions within 5 minutes, then you have chosen the right weight. Increase the weight in the next training session. If you can't do the 50 repetitions, use the same weight for the next training session.

One 5 minute round is all you need. If you see the need (or are able) to perform another exercise for that muscle group, feel free to do so. If you use this method correctly - especially with leg exercises - you will dread going to the gym.

Tip: When to train to muscle failure and when to avoid it

This guide will help you achieve long-term success.

By Charles Staley

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-when-to-train-to-failure-when-to-avoid-it/

When should you train to muscle failure?

The good news is: Performing a set to muscle failure generates a stronger training stimulus than not doing so.

The bad news is that it also generates a disproportionate amount of fatigue, which can negatively impact the rest of your training session or the following training sessions of the week.

This means that most sets should be completed 2 or 3 reps before reaching absolute technical failure. This way you still achieve the most training stimulus, but at the cost of a much lower amount of fatigue.

Note: I use the term "technical failure" to emphasize that sets should never be continued past the point where maintaining proper form is no longer possible. Every single repetition should look exactly the same except for the speed.

The right time and place for muscle failure

There is definitely a place and time to continue sets to muscle failure. These include:

1. For "small" exercises and/or muscles: even if you do all your curls to muscle failure, this won't cause much damage or stress to your nervous system, so you can safely work your arms and calves hard most of the time.
2. Any exercise where you are not strong enough to use a lot of weight. Smaller or weaker people simply can't push themselves as hard as more muscular or stronger people - even if they train as hard as they can. For example, if your maximum weight for squats is under 90 kilos, then you should probably perform most of your sets to muscle failure.
3. On the last working set of an exercise: At this point you don't need to rest for further sets of the same exercise and as long as it's not a really demanding exercise (like deadlifts or squats), you can perform the last set to muscle failure.
4. One week before an unloading phase: If you know you have a light week planned (or the next week is a vacation week), then you can train to muscle failure - at least on your last sets.
5. During occasional strength tests. If you never continue a set to muscle failure, you'll never know how strong you are. Look for opportunities to beat your personal best for sets of 10, 5, 3 or even one repetition when the time is right.
6. If you're only doing one set anyway. The old "one set to muscle failure" approach has often been discredited as an optimal training strategy, but hey, we all have times when time and energy are limited. In these situations, a hard set is light years better than no set. So if you can only do one set, go all out.

Costs vs. benefits

Always remember that training with weights has its benefits, but it also has its costs - especially in the form of fatigue. Remember that training is a process, not a one-time event. Each time you perform a set, it pays to consider how it will affect your subsequent training.

Tip: You are confused about muscle confusion

If you think your muscles need to be "confused" every time you train, then you're confused. Here's why.

By Bret Contreras

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-youre-confused-about-muscle-confusion/

Confusion about muscle confusion

P90X has been promoting the concept of muscle confusion and the commercial has been a big hit. But while variety in your workouts is definitely a good thing, consistency is absolutely necessary for optimal results. You definitely shouldn't strive to "confuse" your muscles on a regular basis. Certain exercises should be performed every week throughout your training career.

A better way

Prioritize 1 to 3 exercises for 4 to 6 weeks at a time by performing them first in your training sessions with a progressive plan.

For example, you could perform squats and/or bench presses with varying repetition ranges three times a week for 4 weeks in a row, which could look like this:

• Monday: 4 sets of 6 repetitions
• Wednesday: 4 sets of 2 repetitions
• Friday: 4 sets of 4 repetitions

After the 4 week cycle you can test out your 1RM weight, unload and then repeat the process with new exercises such as deadlifts and/or shoulder presses.

After you have completed the hard training (in this case squats and bench presses), use variety and train the other muscles of your body with the exercises that seem ideal at the time. Aim for 2 to 3 sets of 6 to 20 repetitions. Make sure to perform multi-joint exercises and isolation exercises that work the entire body in combination.

If you consistently set personal bests while making sure you regularly activate all muscles to a high degree, your muscles will grow over time. Making strength gains and setting personal bests is much easier when you use a periodization approach instead of just doing something different in a different way every time you go to the gym.

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-the-4-movements-every-workout-needs/

By Dan Blewett