Training
Maintaining muscle mass during fat loss
Q: What is the best training program for muscle maintenance while dieting? Should you try to maintain strength while keeping volume low or should you focus on hypertrophy to pump up the individual muscles?
A: First of all, muscle loss during a diet won't be a real risk as long as you don't get below 9% body fat.
The point is that if you train hard enough and eat enough protein, there is no need to worry about muscle loss until you are lean or close to that body fat percentage.
You may have the impression that you are losing muscle because you feel and look less muscular. You tend to lose water, intramuscular triglycerides, glycogen, etc. during a diet. And unfortunately, you won't look that much better when you're really lean. So you'll feel thinner without looking significantly more muscular. The main reason you might be losing muscle while training hard is the overproduction of cortisol. Cortisol is known as the stress hormone because it is released during periods of stress. Training is stress. And so is inadequate food intake. A chronic and excessive increase in cortisol levels is the main reason for a loss of muscle mass, as this scenario directly stimulates a breakdown of muscle tissue. It also slows down muscle repair and rebuilding of muscle tissue after exercise by inhibiting the function of the immune system (which is involved in muscle growth) and limiting the amount of muscle mass you gain by increasing myostatin levels. (Myostatin is a protein that controls how much muscle mass your body can build, with more myostatin meaning less muscle). The function of cortisol during a training session is to mobilize energy so that sufficient energy is available to the muscles. The higher your training volume per training session, the more cortisol your body will produce, which is the reason why in steroid-free exercisers, increasing training volume while reducing calorie intake during a diet can lead to muscle loss. "But bodybuilding gurus recommend that you do a ton of volume to burn fat." Well, if you are using steroids then this will work as steroids will protect you from the muscle wasting effects of cortisol. However, if you are a steroid-free exerciser, then using your workouts to burn more calories is one of the best ways to lose muscle. I am not against high repetition ranges for fat loss. Sets that are 40 to 70 seconds long can be effective when it comes to preventing muscle loss while dieting. These lighter sets don't cause as much muscle damage and are easier to recover from. This is also the duration of the set where there is the greatest release of lactic acid, which itself is anabolic - it can help to maintain existing muscle mass. Using some lactate training in combination with some heavier training is the best combination for maintaining muscle mass, as both types of training provide different stimuli that will make it easier to maintain or even build muscle. The key is to keep the overall volume low and the overall frequency high: Q: What is the most common reason for a standing barbell shoulder press plateau and how can it be broken? A: The most obvious reason is that this exercise is under-trained compared to bench presses and other pressing exercises. You should be able to use 60% of your maximum weight on the bench press on the standing shoulder press - both with good form and no bending. If you bench press the minimum macho weight of 140 kilos, this means that you should be able to press at least 85 kilos overhead in good form when shoulder pressing. Someone who is considered strong in the shoulder press must be able to press at least their bodyweight. Few people can do this, however, because this old standard was defined when the shoulder press - not the bench press - was still the primary upper body exercise. And what did people do when the standing shoulder press was still the primary upper body exercise? They did what most guys do today with the bench press: they trained it more often and harder than other exercises. So if you want to improve your shoulder press performance, my first recommendation is to train this exercise more often. Here is a basic tutorial: Most people are not technically efficient when it comes to pressing a weight up over their head. And as a result, they are not good at showing their full strength in this exercise. If you really want to be good at this exercise, you should train it three times a week. One of the workouts should focus solely on shoulder presses and would consist of heavy shoulder presses and supporting exercises for the shoulder press. The other two workouts should consist of technical training for the press followed by your regular training. It is important that you reduce your bench press for a period of time if you are trying to increase your shoulder press performance. A. Standing shoulder press Then carry out your regular training A. Standing shoulder press B. Support exercises for shoulder presses Here you choose a basic exercise to strengthen the weak point in your shoulder press. Use this table to help you choose the right exercise: Weak point Cause Possible support exercises Start from the collarbone Front shoulder muscles and/or upper pectoral head Incline bench press with an angle of 60 to 75 degrees Nose level External shoulder rotators Cuban presses or seated transfer and press with dumbbells Forehead height Lateral or posterior shoulder muscles Bradford Presses or Arnold Presses Highest point of the movement Long head of triceps, shoulder instability or lack of mobility Partial repetitions shoulder presses over the upper third of the range of motion, push presses or shoulder presses standing with hanging bands technique. Change the support exercise every 4 weeks. Train in a repetition range of 4 to 6 repetitions. Try to increase the weight, but not at the expense of form. C. Vertical pull exercise At this point you will perform a vertical pull exercise with a repetition range of 6 to 8 reps, focusing on full range of motion, complete control and the mind-muscle connection. Perform 3 to 5 sets. D. An isolation exercise for a lagging muscle group (see table) A. Military Press Then perform your regular training session Q: If you can increase the weight on an exercise but stop feeling the target muscle working with increased weight, is it better to stay at the same weight and feel the mind-muscle connection? My goal is hypertrophy. A: This is an excellent question and the answer depends on the exercise and the purpose of the exercise. If hypertrophy is your goal, maintaining a good mind-muscle connection with the target muscle is more important than for someone who is training for strength and for whom the primary goal is to move a weight from A to B. Even in the case of someone training for strength, not feeling the right muscle can be a sign that other muscles are compensating and not the right muscles are doing the work. If I'm training someone whose goal is to increase strength, I'll be a little more generous in the main exercise of the session when it comes to allowing the exerciser to feel a little less, BUT if they feel the weight more in the joints than in the muscles, then I'll reduce the weight. With support exercises, I don't increase the weight if the feeling is lost because the purpose of support exercises is to eliminate weak points. A loss of feeling in the target muscle is usually a sign of compensation, which means that the exercise is not optimally addressing the weak point I am trying to eliminate. If you're training to build muscle mass, then it's even more important to feel the target muscle. A study by Dr. Brad Schoenfeld and Dr. Bret Contreras recently showed that the hypertrophy response is stronger when the mind-muscle connection is better (1). However, I would like to mention one caveat. Dr. Nick Winkelmann, the Head of the Sports Performance & Science team at the Irish Rugby Football Union has shown that when it comes to performance and complex movements, external cues and focus are better than internal cues and focus. This means that when performing a multi-joint exercise (bench press, Olympic weightlifting exercises, standing shoulder press, pull-ups, etc.) it is better to have an external focus. External focus means that you put your body in relation to your environment to make the whole body do the right thing. For isolation exercises and machine exercises, you should have an internal focus - concentrate on squeezing the target muscle hard. For multi-joint exercises with free weights, on the other hand, you should have an external focus. With squats, bench presses or Romanian deadlifts, you will feel the exercise correctly if you concentrate on optimal movement mechanics - i.e. perfect technique. If you can no longer feel the big exercises properly (you start to feel the exercise in your joints and become unstable), then the weight is too heavy for your level of technical perfection. Feeling an isolation exercise or machine exercise is not the same as feeling a multi-joint exercise with free weights. Feeling an isolation exercise is all about maximizing the mind-muscle connection with a single muscle. A multi-joint exercise is all about distributing the load across the muscles involved in the best possible way. You may not feel the same direct tension in one muscle, but the exercise should just feel good. Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/question-of-strength-51, https://www.t-nation.com/training/question-of-strength-52 By Christian ThibaudeauThe cortisol factor
The two key roles of cortisol are as follows:
Repetition ranges and fat loss
Breaking through a plateau in the shoulder press
Day 1 - Technique
Day 2 - heavy
Day 3 - Technique
Mind-muscle connection vs. more weight
Training for strength
Training for muscle mass
Here are some examples:
In Romanian deadlifts:
For power cleans:
When bench pressing:
For squats:
Summary
Reference:
Huge forearms. A handshake that can compress steel. Why is it so rare to see something like this these days? Probably because most exercisers neglect their forearm training.
It's understandable. Direct forearm training is painful and boring, and it's also often done as an afterthought at the end of a training session when you're already exhausted. But what if there was an exercise that would allow you to build serious mass on your forearms while building your biceps at the same time? Well, there is such an exercise.
Zottman Curls
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrjEdVZrkhk
- Grab a pair of dumbbells using a thumbless grip.
- Start with an underhand grip with palms facing up.
- Begin the exercise with a curl movement like regular bicep curls.
- Consciously tense your biceps in the highest position for 1 to 2 seconds before rotating your wrists and forearms so that your palms are facing down.
- Lower the weight until your biceps and forearms are fully extended.
How does this exercise work?
By starting Zottman Curls like regular dumbbell curls, you are able to use a weight that is much heavier than the weight you might normally use for reverse curls. By rotating your wrists and forearms at the highest point of the movement, you shift the load to your forearms and overload the last muscle fiber of your forearms with a heavy, slow eccentric repetition.
A huge contraction of your biceps plus an eccentric overload of your forearms? Welcome to the best of both worlds.
Sets and reps
Zottman Curls are most effective in certain sets and repetition ranges. Perform either 3 to 4 sets of 8 to 10 repetitions per set or 2 to 3 sets of 20 to 30 repetitions.
Within your training sessions, Zottman Curls serve as an excellent exercise at the beginning of your workout to improve blood flow to your arms and warm up your elbow flexors. Alternatively, you can perform them at the end of your training session as a finishing exercise with high repetitions to fill your arms with blood and achieve a massive pump.
Tip: Perform leg extensions standing up instead of sitting down
Most standard leg exercises ignore a very important part of the quadriceps. Here's a way to address it to build stronger legs.
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-dump-the-seated-leg-extension-do-this-instead
By Tyler Thomas
There's a gaping hole in the leg exercises you perform. Yes, squats, lunges and especially leg extensions leave out a very visible muscle: the rectus femoris.
The rectus femoris is the large muscle that you can see in the middle of the thighs. Unlike the rest of the thigh muscles, which only have one function - to extend the knee - the rectus femoris has other functions: Hip flexion (all movements in which the hips bring the upper and lower body closer together) and a forward tilt of the pelvis.
The fact that the rectus femoris has two extra tasks to fulfill means that it needs to be trained differently from the rest of the thigh muscles. Your best option for training the rectus femoris properly is to perform leg extensions in a standing position.
Standing leg extensions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imZN-OSa_bQ
- The key to performing this exercise correctly is to find something to hold onto. As the weights get heavier, balance will become an issue. If you don't have a firmly anchored bar in front of your cable pulley, you can also hold on to another person.
- To get the weight in the right position, you need to pull the weight out of the cable pull and stand on it. Once you have your foot on the cable, you can place the cuff around your foot.
- Place the lower pulley of the cable pulley approximately at the height of your buttocks. A higher or lower position will reduce the range of motion.
Sets and repetitions
The rectus femoris is a fast contracting muscle which means that it uses up its energy quite quickly. Keep the number of repetitions between 4 and 8 and the number of sets per week between 3 and 6.
Why do the two extra functions mean that the rectus femoris needs to be trained differently?
There is a concept known as the length-tension relationship. Muscles that pull on two joints are called "bi-articular". Because they attach to two joints, these muscles have multiple jobs, but they don't multitask very well.
You can imagine this as follows: You can watch TV and listen to your girlfriend tell you about her day at the same time, but you can't do either of them very well. You have to choose one of the two: Listening to your girlfriend or watching TV. For your biarticular muscles, you need to do the same: pick a task.
Remember that the rectus femoris is responsible for hip flexion and knee extension. Most leg exercises, including squats and lunges, involve hip flexion. If your hip is already flexed, then your recus femoris cannot perform its task of extending the knee properly.
At least with squats and lunges, your hip is extended when you move the weight upwards. Since your hips are in a flexed position during leg extensions in a seated position, this exercise is even worse for your rectus femoris than squats and lunges. The natural solution to this problem is to perform leg extensions in a position where your hips are already extended or while standing upright.
What about sissy squats? Aren't they technically a variation of the standing leg extension?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8QV0xs-WGo
Yes, classic sissy squats are a variation of the leg extension where the hips are extended. However, standing leg extensions are a better option for several reasons. With standing leg extensions, you can easily change the weight to make the exercise lighter or heavier, which is not quite as easy with sissy squats.
With sissy squats, the range of motion is slightly greater when the calves touch the hamstrings. However, due to the forward movement of the knees and the lifting of the heels off the floor, sissy squats put significantly more strain on the knees.
Tip: When life gets tough, work hard
Successful strength athletes find confidence and self-belief in discipline. Here's what you can learn from them.
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/powerful-words/tip-when-life-gets-hard-work-hard
By Dani Shugart
Some exercisers are relentless. They know what they want, make plans to achieve it and always follow those plans. They never seem to lose their passion for their training and are always on track. In short, they get results.
But what separates the relentless from those who give up? Here's one of those things: they are disciplined. They are comfortable in the familiarity of a physical challenge.
Are you going through tough times? This is exactly the situation in which successful strength athletes train. Instead of sinking into frustration or waiting for these times to pass, they channel their energy into something productive. And by doing so, they reap the rewards: a stronger will, a better body and a job well done.
Clear the fog
A stressful career, social dramas, tragic losses, relocations, divorces or just pure vague feelings of inadequacy - there's not much that can throw a relentless person off track. They sweat, they exert themselves, they push themselves, they get out of breath and they concentrate. And when it's all over, they've cleared their head enough to see the more optimistic side of what they're facing.
Weak people are addicted to their victim role
Working hard when life gets tough makes people more resilient. Whining in the face of difficulties, wallowing in self-pity and blaming others makes people addicted to their victim role. This attitude of weakness can spread like cancer. It causes a learned helplessness.
When life gets hard, work hard. Fight it, kick yourself in the butt before someone else has a chance to - by doing this you will steal their power. Can you think of a better remedy when you feel helpless because of circumstances?
Once the dust clears on serious problems, relentless people will find it easier to overcome future problems. Their inner voice tells them that if they had the discipline to get through those tough times, your strength must not falter when life gets easier again.
Immerse yourself in your training
Apply your work ethic to your training sessions. Don't give anyone the opportunity to see you as lazy, distracted, inefficient or weak...and don't give yourself the opportunity either. Accept the work part of your training session.
No "turn training into something so much fun that you don't even know it's training anymore" garbage. Training is work. It's hard and it pays off every time. Workout sessions don't have to be a bunch of jumping around, hula hooping or Zumba to be fun.
Workouts that are fun consist of personal bests, muscle pumps, brutal time under tension, bloody shins and calluses. Go hard and something interesting will happen: Your life will get easier.
Tip: Try Blood Flow Restriction Training
This training method, popular with hardcore bodybuilders, can also be used for rehabilitation training
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-try-blood-flow-restriction-training
By Dr. John Rusin | 06/13/16
Blood Flow Restriction (BFR) training has reached a high level of popularity among many hardcore bodybuilders. But because muscle form and function are essentially the same regardless of intended use, BFR training has also caught the attention of rehab centers that are pursuing the same goals with their patients.
By tying off a muscle area with bands, bandages or cuffs at about 7/10 of the perceived maximum tightness, resistance training can be performed with fractions of the external load (20 to 40% of 1RM weight). Higher set and repetition ranges will then create a highly anabolic environment perfect for increasing strength and muscle growth.
Blood Flow Restriction Training (BFR)
The most exciting aspect of BFR is the ability to build muscle tissue in lagging areas while minimizing the joint stress and shear forces that are inevitable when using maximum weights.
Performing work with less weight means less stress on the joints while maximizing the metabolic stress of the local environment.
This allows you to kill two birds with one stone and for this reason I prioritize this type of training not only for rehab purposes, but also for performance training and muscular appearance training programs - i.e. training to look good naked.
Tip: Finish what you start
Sometimes broscience beats scientific studies. Here's why and what you need to do to get better.
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-finish-what-you-start
By Paul Carter
Fact: Successful, experienced exercisers finish their programs and learn from the results There's a saying in English that translates something like this: "You never lose. You either win or you learn." The same can be said about training and nutrition programs. Don't look at a plan as unsuccessful, look at it as an educational experience. That's what successful exercisers do.
This is the crux of the matter. You have to complete a training or nutrition program to understand what it does for you. Even if this ends up being a counterproductive process, you will learn from it and ultimately grow. This experience is invaluable in training and nutrition. It shows you what works best for you.
You can cite study after study, but if you never do a training technique, program or nutrition plan long enough to know how it works for you, then you can never tell from experience how well or poorly it works for you.
Why "broscience" often works
A randomized double-blind study conducted in a controlled environment where subjects can't talk on the phone for six weeks while eating only apples and broccoli is not real life. Real life has a human element and that means that different methods will work for different people at different times. That's why a broscience method that seems to contradict all science can often work very well regardless of what studies say.
Your own "n=1" result is what matters. But you will never see results if you don't allow the process to go all the way. Finish the program first. Quit your damn diet. Shut up and learn something.
I once spent a summer on an exercise program where I worked out three days a week. It was based on Bulgarian Olympic weightlifting methods and yes, there was no reason I should have been doing it. But I went through with it. By the end of the program I was physically beat up, hadn't made any progress and had even regressed in some areas. But I had gained experience.
The lesson
No one got better at training with weights by discussing it on the internet. Sure, do your research, but don't forget to get under the bar and gain experience. Experiment with nutrition plans. Follow them to the end, learn and apply the knowledge you gain to future programs and nutrition plans. In the long run, you will become more muscular, leaner and stronger than those who just throw studies at each other online.
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-do-zottman-curls-for-bigger-biceps-forearms
By Alex Mullan
The idea is to load the bar with small plates and the more confusing the arrangement of the plates is, the better.
If you want to load the bar with 100 kilos, then most exercisers would put two 20 kilo plates on each side. With the "small plates" method, you could instead use two 10 kilo plates, two 5 kilo plates and four 2.5 kilo plates on each side, but these plates don't have to be in that order on the bar (and don't even have to be in the same order on both sides).
This works even better if you have a training partner load the bar for you, as it is then harder for you to mentally calculate the weight.
This method eliminates the psychological inhibition that some people have when they see several 20 kilo discs per side. Loading the bar with smaller plates is less intimidating and can help you feel more confident.
Tip: Use single repetitions to prepare
Here are two ways smart exercisers can prepare their bodies for heavy weights and new personal records.
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-use-primer-singles
By Tony Bonvechio
The purpose of warm-up sets is to prepare your body for your work sets. Do too few warm-up sets and you won't be ready. Do too many warm-up sets and you will lose valuable kilos or repetitions due to excessive fatigue. Submaximal single repetitions performed with perfect technique and high speed can boost your confidence and wake up the high threshold motor units to get you ready for your work sets.
There are two ways to use such preparation sets:
1. a heavier single repetition before a lighter set with higher repetitions
In the first option, you use a heavier weight for a single repetition than for your heaviest work set. Choose a weight that is lower than your maximum weight but lighter than your weight for your work sets and perform one repetition with it. For example, if you wanted to warm up for 8 repetitions of bench presses with 100 kilos, this could look like this:
- Empty bar x 8 reps
- 60 x 5
- 80 x 5
- 90 x 3
- 97,5 x 1
- 105 x 1 (preparation set)
- 100 x 8
After performing a single repetition at 105 kilos, the 100 kilos will feel lighter, giving you the confidence to perform the higher repetition sets with ease.
2. one repetitive single repetition at high speed after multiple warm-up sets
This method involves using the weight of a warm-up set for a single repetition instead of multiple repetitions. Many more advanced powerlifters advocate using more low repetition sets instead of a few high repetition sets to warm up. This approach lets you reuse a weight to get additional warm-up volume while increasing your confidence through single repetitions at high speed. For example, if you want to work your way up to a new max weight of 200 kilos for squats, you could do the following:
- Empty bar x 10 repetitions
- 65 x 5
- 65 x 5
- 90 x 3
- 110 x 3
- 140 x 3
- 155 x 3
- 180 x 3
- 180 x 1 (preparation set)
- 190 x 2
- 190 x 1 (preparation set)
- 200 x 1 (new personal best)
Performing 3 repetitions with 180 kilos and 2 repetitions with 190 kilos will help you get a feel for the weight and using the same weight for a single repetition will help you achieve perfect technique and work on your explosive speed. The single reps should feel light after the sets with more reps, allowing you to take your confidence to your new max attempt.
Tip: Perform pull-ups without elbow pain
Use a grip for pull-ups that allows your wrists to rotate naturally
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-do-pull-ups-without-elbow-pain
By Chad Waterbury
Most people stop doing pull-ups regularly because of an elbow injury. Sometimes these problems occur in the shoulders as well. In both cases, the culprit is the same: pull-ups on a fixed bar.
When you pull up on a vertical plane, your wrists want to rotate. How far they rotate depends on your skeletal structure and the mobility of your soft tissue. However, your wrists do not want to stay in the same position continuously during this exercise. You can easily check this. Work up to your maximum weight for 3 reps of pull-ups on rings and watch your wrists - they will never stay in the same position the whole time.
If the wrists cannot rotate naturally, the strain will be transferred directly to the elbows, which will lead to pain and inflammation. After that, the shoulder joints will also join the pain party. If you look at the shoulder movement of someone doing pull-ups on a fixed bar, it looks exactly like pull-ups on rings. However, there are small biomechanical changes when the wrists cannot rotate. You may not see a difference, but you will feel it at some point when the underlying dysfunction manifests itself in the form of shoulder pain.
The next best option
If you don't have access to rings or handles that rotate, then the next best option is to perform pull-ups with a neutral grip. The hammer grip (where the palms face each other) is easier on the elbows. Using thicker handles further relieves the elbows.
Tip: Use foam rolling for faster recovery
Soft tissue work with the foam roller before training is okay, but it is best done after training
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-foam-roll-after-training-for-fast-recovery
By Dr. John Rusin
Although traditional myofascial release techniques such as foam rolling play only a minor role in pre-workout preparation, these techniques are a highly effective way to aid post-workout recovery. From limiting muscle soreness to aiding lymphatic drainage, foam rolling could be the easiest way to keep the recovery process going.
During the post-workout window (5 to 15 minutes after your workout), target the soft tissue that was most active during your training session of the day. For example, if you worked out legs, then your post-workout foam rolling should focus on the muscles of the legs. It's not rocket science, but this is where it gets interesting.
If you do foam rolling before your workout, choose a target area that you want to loosen up. However, the opposite is true for stimulating recovery. The recovery window is the time to work on the whole tissue, spend time on multiple segments and really spend time on the floor addressing every aspect of the area.
To get the most out of your efforts you should focus on large surface muscles rather than small acute muscles. For example, it's more appropriate to work the entire gluteus than to focus on trigger points like the piriformis. Take your time. Get the rest of the body that is not on the roller into a comfortable position and start rolling.
Tip: Build a stronger, harder butt
Train your glutes and hamstrings with dynamic static compound sets like never before
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-build-a-stronger-harder-butt
By Travis Pollen
The framework for dynamic static compound sets is simple
- A1. One dynamic exercise with 12 repetitions
- A2. Static hold to muscle failure
Start with 12 minutes of a dynamic exercise to pre-fatigue the muscles and then immediately perform static hold to failure with an exercise that trains the same area. Pause for 90 seconds and repeat twice more, aiming for at least 8 repetitions in the following sets. With gluteus and hamstring exercises, it could look like this:
Dynamic static compound set for leg flexors & gluteus
- Romanian deadlift: 12 repetitions
- Single-leg gluteus bridge on the foam roller (for advanced users) or double-leg gluteus bridge on the foam roller (for less advanced users) until muscle failure
These three rounds will be sufficient if you perform each hold to muscle failure.
Technique tip
During the gluteus bridge, press your arms firmly into the floor to engage your abdominal muscles and tighten your gluteus as if you were holding a coin between your buttocks. The mind-muscle connection is key here. You can hold a half-hearted bridge for 2 pointless minutes or you can tense every muscle in your body hard for a grueling 30 seconds.
Tip: Speed up your recovery after training in two ways
Lymphatic drainage: Sounds unpleasant, but it's not. Here's a rationale for why you should encourage it in combination with some very simple ways to do so.
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-accelerate-workout-recovery-two-ways
By Dr. John Rusin
Active lymphatic drainage for regeneration
This might be the easiest way to speed up recovery after exercise - and it's very effective too. When you exercise a muscle group, there is increased blood flow to that area to supply nutrients and oxygen to the muscle activity. This increased blood flow also releases a certain amount of localized fluid retention, which can be felt in the form of a sustained pump after a hard training session.
Even though the lymphatic system is crucial for the function of the human body, too much localized accumulation of lymphatic fluid can limit the regeneration process of the local tissue and the entire system. Controlling the amount of local lymphatic fluid is crucial for accelerating regeneration. We can achieve this in several ways.
1. lift your arms and legs
First, we can utilize gravity and achieve systemic drainage by lifting the extremities (arms and legs) to a level above the heart to push lymphatic fluid back into circulation.
On lower body training days, this can easily be achieved by lying on your back and lifting your feet and legs (with your knees slightly bent) and placing them on a bench or other elevation.
After an upper body workout, you can simply raise your arms above your head in a relaxed position to increase drainage. Do this 5 to 15 minutes after your workout.
2. take a relaxed walk
A second simple mechanism to reduce lymphatic fluid accumulation is to perform low-intensity recovery activities such as walking or cycling. The active muscle contractions put pressure on the passive veins and lymphatic vessels to push fluid back into the central circulation. A few minutes of slow walking is all you need.
Tip: Use mechanical descending sets to build bigger biceps
Here's a cool method that will force your stubborn biceps to grow again
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-for-bigger-biceps-do-mechanical-drop-sets
By Christian Thibaudeau
The goal of a common descending set is to allow you to continue an exercise past the point of muscle failure (the point at which no more repetitions are possible). When you reach the point of muscle failure, you reduce the weight by 25 to 50% and perform more repetitions. This can be effective, but it is not optimal.
Mechanical descending sets are similar in that you also focus on performing more reps after you reach the point of muscle failure. With this method, however, you do not reduce the weight. Instead, you make slight changes to the exercise execution that allow you to perform more repetitions with the same weight. These changes can consist of changes to the grip, the distance between the feet, the angle of movement, etc. So by and large, you're using the same basic exercise/movement pattern but with slight technical variations.
Here's a cool bicep workout that uses mechanical descending sets.
Mechanical descending sets for biceps
A1. Scott curls with a steep angle for 6 to 8 reps, followed by 10 seconds of rest during which you change the angle of the bench.
Execution: Perform this exercise with your elbows on the steep side of the scott bench, using either dumbbells or a barbell. Once you reach the point of muscle failure, turn around and use the angled side of the bench.
A2. Scott curls at 45 degrees using the same weight, performing as many repetitions as possible. Rest for 10 seconds.
Execution: Perform the curls on the angled side of the scott bench using dumbbells or a barbell. Go straight to exercise A3 after reaching muscle failure.
A3. Standing barbell curls using the same weight for as many repetitions as you can.
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-set-new-prs-with-the-small-loading-trick
By Christian Thibaudeau
The optimal training frequency is a hotly debated topic. Some would have you believe that you should train the whole body three times a week, while others think this approach will lead to overtraining, injury and burnout.
Anecdotal reports also cover a wide range of different training frequencies. Browse online forums and chat groups and you'll see stories of fantastic gains with just one training session per muscle group per week, as well as three, four or even five training sessions per muscle group.
Some exercisers also use mixed approaches where they train different muscle groups at different frequencies.
For example, some say that smaller muscle groups such as shoulders, biceps and calves should be trained three to four times a week, while large muscle groups such as the thighs only need one intensive training session per week.
If you turn to the scientific literature, you will find few reliable answers. Some studies seem to show that higher training frequencies work best, while others show that you can make just as much progress with fewer training sessions per week.
So what should you do?
Should you play it safe and keep your training frequency at the lower end of the spectrum, or should you go to the other end of the extremes, or should you choose something in the middle?
Here's the short answer:
As a natural exerciser (who doesn't abuse performance-enhancing substances), your optimal training frequency depends on the volume with which you train each muscle group per week.
In fact, you can think of training frequency more as a tool to achieve optimal weekly volume - rather than a vital element of muscle building.
In other words, there is no universal, one-size-fits-all answer to the question of optimal training frequency.
Are you ready for the long answer? If so, read on.
What is training frequency?
Training frequency is nothing more than a fancy term for how often you train per week. Most strength training programs include a training frequency of 3 to 5 times per week, which means you're doing 3 to 5 workouts with weights per week.
Some exercisers get even more specific and control their training frequency for each muscle group. Instead of just looking at how many times they go to the gym per week, they also look at how many times they train each muscle group per week.
For example, an upper body-lower body training program includes four training days per week and each muscle group is trained twice a week (two upper body training sessions and two lower body training sessions). So if you do bench presses on your first upper body day and incline bench presses on your second upper body training day, you will train your chest twice a week.
When putting together a training program, it's important to look at how often you train each primary muscle group per week.
For example, you could have a training frequency of 5 training days per week, but what if all your training sessions were focused on upper body exercises? This would not give you the results you want.
Summary: The term training frequency refers to both how often you train with weights per week and how often you train a specific muscle group per week.
What is the best training frequency for muscle building?
You will typically find two answers to this question:
- On the one hand, the traditional bodybuilding approach is to train each muscle group once a week until it's pumped up and sore.
- On the other hand, many scientists, bodybuilders and trainers advocate training each muscle group two to three times a week.
Who is right?
Well, the first thing you need to know about training frequency is that there is no one-size-fits-all solution that works for everyone in all circumstances. Instead, scientific research shows that the ideal training frequency depends on several factors.
One study review that helps solve this puzzle was conducted by scientists at the University of Gothenburg (1), who conducted an extensive search for studies that looked at the relationship between training frequency and muscle growth between 1970 and 2006. The scientists limited their search to studies that used...
- used MRI or CT scans to measure muscle growth, which is considered the gold standard for quantifying muscle growth.
- Used healthy, uninjured people between the ages of 18 and 59 as subjects.
- All key details of the study design including number of sets, number of repetitions and exercises used were reported.
They also excluded all studies in which the subjects had a negative energy balance (weight loss), which significantly reduces gains in muscle mass and strength.
They ended up with 44 studies that they examined further and when they pooled and analyzed the data, they found that two to three workouts per muscle group generally produced the greatest gains.
The scientists emphasized that this is just a rule of thumb and that you should adjust your training program to fit your goals, experience level and recovery ability.
They also highlighted that beginners can often make excellent progress using lower training frequencies, while slightly more advanced and more advanced exercisers may require a higher training frequency.
This means that if you have just started training, you may only need to train each muscle group once or twice a week to maximize your muscle growth, whereas you may need up to three training sessions per week if you are closer to your genetic limit.
The results of this review are supported by numerous other studies conducted at the University of Alabama, Lehman College, Auckland University of Technology and the National Research Institute (2, 3, 4, 5)
On the other hand, there are many anecdotal reports from experienced strength athletes who have achieved good results with one workout per muscle group per week.
What's going on here?
Well, a comprehensive study review conducted in 2018 by researchers at Lehman College provides the missing piece of the puzzle (6). The scientists looked at 25 studies that looked at the relationship between training frequency and muscle growth. The results were surprising.
Unlike previous studies, they found no relationship between training frequency and muscle growth. So it didn't matter how often the subjects trained a muscle group per week - they built more or less the same amount of muscle.
However, there is a catch:
This only held true when they looked at studies where subjects in the high and low training frequency groups completed the same total volume (measured in total repetitions per week per muscle group) per week.
For example, if one group performed 30 repetitions of chest exercises twice a week, but another group performed 20 repetitions of chest exercises three times a week, then both groups built about the same amount of muscle because both groups had performed a total of 60 repetitions per week.
When the scientists went into further detail, they found that when one group performed a higher volume than the other group, the higher frequency usually led to more muscle growth.
In other words, this means the following: If you perform a high volume (repetitions) for a specific muscle group each week, then you will generally make greater gains if you split those repetitions across multiple workouts instead of performing them within one workout.
If you do a moderate volume per week for a specific muscle group, then you can do it all in one session without fear of compromising your results.
This is the reason why the authors concluded that, assuming you do enough total volume, you can choose your weekly training frequency per muscle group based on your personal preferences.
This means that the ideal training frequency for you will largely depend on the volume you complete per muscle group per week.
However, it's worth noting that there are several ways to quantify training volume. The number of repetitions performed is one, but I personally prefer to quantify training volume by counting 'hard sets' (sets performed to technical muscle failure) for several reasons.
When I refer to volume below, I mean it in the context of hard sets. This does not change anything we have said so far about the relationship between volume and frequency. It just makes it easier and more practical.
Summary: If you do a high volume (repetitions) for a specific muscle group each week, you will generally make greater progress if you split these repetitions over two to three training sessions. On the other hand, if you do a moderate volume, you can do it all in one session without compromising your results.
How to find your ideal training frequency
At this point, you probably want to know how to figure out how often you should train each muscle group to maximize your muscle growth.
How many sets should you do per muscle group per week?
Now, the ideal training volume is outside the focus of this article, but to make a long story short, most people will maximize their muscle growth if they perform 10 to 20 sets per muscle group per week.
If you are a beginner, then you can build muscle effectively with fewer sets (10 to 12) and if you are an experienced strength athlete, then you will make better progress with more sets (12 to 20). And in some rare cases, such as correcting muscle imbalances or preparing for a competition, you might also benefit from periodically performing 20 to 25 sets per week for specific muscle groups.
The next question is how you should distribute these sets over the week.
As mentioned earlier, there is no hard and fast rule for this, but here's what I've found works well:
If you perform 10 to 12 sets per muscle group per week, you'll have the most flexibility in terms of your training frequency. You should have no problem doing all these sets during one training session if you want to. However, you can also split these sets over several training sessions if this suits your schedule or training style better.
However, if you are performing 10 to 20+ sets for one muscle group per week, you are better off splitting these sets into 2 or more workouts per week.
Why?
Well, you've probably experienced for yourself that you can only complete a certain number of productive sets during a training session before fatigue sets in and your performance starts to decline.
For example, if you were trying to complete 20 sets of chest training in a single session, you would probably feel good for the first 6 to 8 sets. After 8 sets you will start to feel exhausted, but you can continue. After another 4 or 5 sets, however, you will be on your last legs and have to force yourself to do every repetition, but you still have another 8 sets to go.
At this point, the only way to end the session is to reduce weight or reps or perform each set to absolute muscle failure, all of which will compromise your gains in strength and muscle mass over time.
A better approach is to perform 10 to 12 sets in one training session, give your chest a few days to recover and then complete 8 to 10 sets during another training session.
This approach is also supported by scientific research conducted by scientists at Hosei University, which showed that spreading your training volume over more days of the week reduced the perceived fatigue of each training session (7).
In other words, using a higher training frequency despite the same total volume will make your training sessions feel lighter (allowing you to train harder and use heavier weights).
Higher training frequencies are not inherently better than lower training frequencies - they just make it easier for you to perform more sets per week.
Here's an example of this principle in action:
- Barbell bench press: Warm up and 3 hard sets
- Barbell incline bench press: 3 hard sets
- Dumbbell bench press: 3 hard sets
- Tricep press: 3 hard sets
In this case, you perform 9 sets of chest exercises and 3 sets of tricep exercises. All of your chest exercises will also train your triceps to some degree, so you will perform the equivalent of about 6 to 12 sets of triceps exercises.
Later in the week, the program includes 3 more sets of chest training in the form of close grip bench presses, bringing the total amount of sets for chest to 12 per week.
In the case of other muscle groups such as biceps, you only train these directly once a week. In reality, however, you train your biceps twice a week, as you also train them indirectly with dumbbell rows and lat pulldowns. Your biceps also get a bit of a workout when you bench press, which is especially true for reverse incline bench presses and close grip bench presses (8, 9).
Some exercisers will still feel that the training frequency in this training program is far too low, but the truth is that you don't need to train each primary muscle group with more than 10 to 122 repetitions per week to maximize muscle and strength gains as a beginner. And as a result, you don't need to train each muscle group more than once or twice a week.
The bad reputation that "one muscle group per day" training splits have is mainly based on poor program design in the form of sub-optimal exercises, sub-optimal repetition ranges and sub-optimal training volume.
Many poor "bro splits" include too much isolation training with low weight and high repetitions, resulting in low training intensity and excessive volume with inferior exercises.
However, if you don't make these mistakes and follow a well-designed training program, you can achieve good results with just one training session per muscle group per week.
Everything you have learned so far is mainly applicable to beginners. What about more advanced exercisers.
The closer you get to your genetic potential for strength and muscle gains, the harder you will have to train to achieve further gains. And it usually comes down to using a higher volume and heavier weights than when you were a beginner.
So it's generally necessary to increase your training frequency to make it easier to cope with the extra volume and heavier weights.
For example, I design a training program that includes 16 sets of chest exercises per week - and you won't want to do all of this in one training session.
As you've just learned, this would necessitate reducing the training weight or reps, or performing the last sets to absolute muscle failure, which is far less productive than splitting the volume over multiple workouts.
To get around this problem, you could do 8 sets for chest on Monday and another 8 sets for chest on Friday.
In conclusion, the important thing to remember about training frequency is that it's not that important. What matters most is your total weekly volume (sets) and as the volume increases, so should the frequency.
Summary: The ideal training frequency for you depends on how much volume (sets) you perform for each muscle group per week. If you perform 10 to 12 per muscle group per week, then it is sufficient to train each muscle group only once or twice a week. If you perform 15 to 20+ sets per muscle group per week, then you can benefit from training each muscle group two or three times a week.
The bottom line on the best training frequency for muscle building
For decades, bodybuilding orthodoxy has consisted of maltreating each muscle group with a large amount of volume once a week.
This may work if you have exceptional genetics or better yet steroids, but as science shows, this approach is misguided for the rest of us.
In reality, the ideal training frequency for you depends on how high your total volume (sets) per week is for each muscle group.
High or low training frequencies are not inherently better or worse - the details are important.
If you try to pack too many sets into a single training session, then the quality of those sets will start to suffer as your training session progresses and you will be better off splitting those sets into two or three training sessions.
If you are relatively new to training with weights, and you don't need to perform so many sets per muscle group per week to build muscle and strength, then you can achieve good results with just one workout per muscle group per week.
However, you will eventually reach a point where you will need to do a few more sets per muscle group per week to continue making progress and the most productive way to do this is to increase your training frequency.
Although there are no definitive guidelines on how many sets you should perform per muscle group per week or exactly when you should increase your training frequency, here is what I have found works best:
- If you are relatively new to training with weights, then training each muscle group 10 to 12 sets per week is enough to maximize strength and muscle gains. If you want, you can do all these sets in one day a week without compromising the quality of your sets.
- If you are a slightly advanced or more advanced exerciser, then you will need to train each muscle group 15 to 20 sets per week to maximize gains in strength and muscle mass. In this case, you should split these sets into two or more training sessions per week.
References:
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17326698
- https://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Abstract/2000/08000/Comparison_of_1_Day_and_3_Days_Per_Week_of.6.aspx#pdf-link
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25932981
- https://openrepository.aut.ac.nz/handle/10292/1173
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4885621/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30558493
- https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphys.2018.00744/abstract
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5295722/
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16095407
Source: https://legionathletics.com/training-frequency/
By Michael Matthews
Fortunately, most athletic women today are no longer afraid of moving heavy weights. But how should they train with these weights? Almost exactly the same as men, with a few minimal differences. Here they are:
- Slightly more repetitions per set: Women do not have the capacity to recruit as many motor units as men. Therefore, they need 1 to 2 more repetitions to fully stimulate their muscles. If a man is training for strength, then he should perform 1 to 5 repetitions per set, while women will benefit more from 3 to 6 repetitions. If men are training to build muscle, they will benefit from 5 to 10 repetitions per set, while women should stick to 7 to 12 repetitions.
- Slightly more sets per exercise: Most women will need to perform 1 to 2 more sets per exercise to achieve the same level of stimulation as men, which is also related to their lower activation of motor units.
- Slightly lower intensity: This is not to say that women should not train with heavy weights, but since they need a few more reps and sets, the relative intensity needs to be reduced a little to allow for adequate progression.
Tip: Try this healthy weight gainer shake:
The sport is called body building, not belly (ab) building. Here's an easy-to-prepare shake that will grow your muscles without ruining your health.
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/tip-make-this-healthy-gainer-shake
By Chris Shugart
Experienced exercisers need to be in a state of caloric surplus to build muscle at an optimal rate, but this doesn't require thousands of calories beyond maintenance calories. After all, you want to build your muscles, not your belly. A few hundred calories over and above maintenance calories is all you need to provide your muscles with everything they need to grow.
Although it may not seem too difficult, many people claim that they find it hard to eat a sufficient amount of calories. They say that they simply can't get enough "clean" calories, so they turn to junk food. Of course, that sounds much better than "I'm lazy, not very intelligent and just love to eat junk food." For those who are black belts in the discipline of justifying poor dietary choices, it's not hard to eat 300 to 500 quality calories on top of their regular diet. Here's one way to do it:
The healthy weight-gainer shake
Most people don't just want to gain weight - they want to gain muscle. The problem with most weight gainer shakes on the market, however, is that you'll mainly be building fat with their help. This is because they contain lots of sugar or other cheap fillers. For the weight gainer shake described below, we use healthy foods with a high calorie density instead. Mixed with water, this shake provides 500 functional kcal:
Ingredients:
- 2 scoops of vanilla or chocolate flavored protein powder
- 1 small banana
- 2 tablespoons natural peanut butter (or nut butter of your choice)
- 500 ml cold water or almond milk
- A handful of ice
Mix all the ingredients together and give your body what it needs to make gains. This shake can be easily customized to the exact number of calories you want to add to your diet plan. Simply add more or less banana, peanut butter or protein powder and adjust the amount of liquid if needed.
Tip: Train with Arnold's golden six
The Austrian Oak started bodybuilding with this full-body training program, which is performed three days a week
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-train-with-arnolds-golden-six
BY Bradley Joe Kelly
Even though Arnold was the definitive king of split training at one point, he started his career with a full-body training program and he still recommends it for beginners today. The program is nicknamed "The Golden Six" because it focuses on 6 of the most basic exercises.
|
|
Exercise |
Sets |
|
|
A |
Squats |
4 |
10 |
|
B |
Bench press with wide grip |
3 |
10 |
|
C |
Pull-ups |
3 |
Muscle failure |
|
D |
Neck press |
4 |
10 |
|
E |
Barbell curls |
3 |
10 |
|
F |
Sit-ups with bent knee |
3-4 |
Muscle failure |
That's all there is to it. Simple, direct and effective. Like most full body workouts, this program should be done three times a week on non-consecutive days and because of the low volume per session, this type of program is ideal for beginners. This is a complete full-body approach that involves every major muscle group.
But what about....
Some common but often short-sighted objections include questions like: Why no deadlifts or rowing? Where is the side lifting and tricep training? Is this why it took Arnold forever to build usable calves?
Well, hard sets of 10 reps of squats three days a week don't leave much room for deadlifts or a sore calf. Building your base with pull-ups is just as effective as rowing, and the bench press and neck press will work your shoulders and triceps sufficiently.
This may not be a program you'll use forever, but it's a good place to start. It's also a great old-school plan to go back to basics if you want to simplify things or only have time to train three days a week.
Tip: 10 ways to challenge and grow your body
Muscle growth is an adaptive response. No challenge, no gains. Are you using at least some of these progressive methods?
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-10-ways-to-challenge-your-body-and-grow
By Christian Thibaudeau
A lot of people don't train hard enough or smart enough to build muscle. They are content to go to the gym and do their usual program. They forget (or don't know) that muscle growth is an adaptive process.
For this to take place, the body needs to be challenged to a certain degree. And in order to achieve continuous progress, it is important to achieve a certain progression in the level of difficulty of the training sessions.
10 ways to increase the level of difficulty
- Increase the weight: this is a very obvious method - move heavier weights. Sadly, this is the only method of progression that many use and this will affect their long-term progress.
- Increase the volume by doing more repetitions: Perform more reps while keeping the weight the same. Example: Increase from 10 repetitions with 100 kilos to 12 repetitions with 200 kilos.
- Increase the volume by doing more sets: This is often the traditional way of progression. And while it is true that adding more sets (if the weight can be maintained) causes more physiological damage, there is a point at which the return becomes negative. An increase from three sets per muscle group to 9 to 12 sets mg perhaps stimulate new growth, but an increase beyond this could lead to stagnation or even regression.
- Increase the training density: Perform more work per unit of time. The best way to achieve this is to shorten the rest intervals between sets while maintaining the training weights. Many coaches are now aware of this method and train their athletes to gradually shorten their rest intervals.
- Increase the eccentric load or work: The eccentric or negative portion of an exercise causes the most damage to the muscle fibers and therefore has a greater potential to stimulate muscle growth. Rapidly contracting muscle fibers (which have the greatest potential for growth) are preferentially activated during eccentric work, making it doubly effective. You can increase the eccentric load either by performing the eccentric phase of the movement more slowly or by increasing the weight (by having a training partner push the weight down during the negative repetition).
- Move the weight up faster: Force = mass x acceleration. You can increase the force release by either moving more weight or moving the same weight with greater acceleration. More force equals more intramuscular tension, which is one of the most important factors involved in stimulating muscle growth.
- Use more complex exercises: We're not talking about squats on a stability ball here. Progressing from structurally simple exercises to more complex exercises increases the training load. For example, leg extensions are easier than leg presses, which are easier than squats.
- Use advanced training methods: pre-fatigue, cluster sets, rest/pause, descending sets, isodynamic contrasts, tempo contrasts, etc. All these methods can increase training stress (and should not be abused) and represent a progression in training difficulty.
- Focus better: Never neglect the mental aspect of training. If you are training for strength and speed, then you need an efficient nervous system. If you are a bodybuilder, the ability to focus on the working muscles will increase the efficiency of your sets. When you progress from simply going through the motions without concentration to 100% focus on each set, then you have improved.
- Don't ruin yourself: Don't fall into the trap of training excessively with too little rest. But how does this increase the difficulty of the training? That's easy. For dedicated exercisers, it is often more difficult to recover than to do more work. Some exercisers train excessively by either
a. Performing too much volume per training session
b. Training too frequently with high volume
c. Increasing the difficulty of their training program too quickly.
Inadequate recovery or excessive training will lead to stagnation or regression. So if you find it difficult to recover, it probably means that you need more rest. In the history of mankind, no one has ever gotten stronger or more muscular in the gym. You often leave the gym in a worse state than when you entered. Your energy stores are depleted, your muscle fibers have suffered micro-traumas and your nervous system is on its last legs. So when do you grow? At the dinner table and in your bed.
Tip: Use simple blocks of time instead of sets
Here's a new way to plan your workouts that will get you out of your rut and keep you focused.
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-use-time-blocks-instead-of-sets
By Travis Pollen
Workouts are generally structured based on specific numbers of sets. What if instead you set aside a specific span of minutes for each training priority of a session and simply perform as many sets as you can within that time span (with appropriate weight and reps, of course).
The exact blueprint of your training session will depend on your goals, but the average exerciser looking for gains in strength, muscle mass and endurance, the following framework would represent a well-rounded training session:
|
|
Training Priority |
Time |
|
A |
General warm-up/mobility training |
10 minutes |
|
B |
Strength/speed |
15 minutes |
|
C |
Hypertrophy (training focused on muscle mass) |
15 minutes |
|
D |
Conditioning |
10 minutes |
|
E |
Warm down |
5 minutes |
That's 55 minutes from start to finish, as long as you take the time seriously. Even if you allow yourself a super long 5 minutes for the transition from block to block, that's still only 75 minutes. How does this compare to your recent gym visits?
Incorporate some core training into one of the blocks above and you have the blueprint for an adaptable, comprehensive and compact program.
Tip: Master dips for chest and triceps
Everything you need to know about dips.
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-master-dips-for-chest-triceps
By Christian Thibaudeau
Dips are great. The problem is that most people use an incorrect form of execution. This has led to dips getting a bad reputation as shoulder killers. And some exercisers use correct form but use the wrong type of dips. Are you using dips for chest development? Or are you using them to target your triceps?
Guide to performing dips
Guidelines for dips for the chest muscles
- Torso forward
- Legs forward
- Medium to wide hand spacing
- "Gunslinger" elbow position
- Contract the abdominal muscles to maintain correct form
- Do not hyperextend the elbows in the highest position
- Shoulders should drop slightly below the elbows in the lowest position
- Keep the head in a neutral position: do not look up or down
- Perform dips through the full range of motion with an additional 50% of your body weight and 6 to 8 repetitions
Guidelines for dips for the chest muscles
- Keep the torso more upright
- Legs back
- Closer hand spacing
- Tighten the gluteus to maintain form
- Overextend the elbows in the highest position
- Shoulders should drop slightly below the elbows in the lowest position
- Keep your head in a neutral position: do not look up or down
What to do if your shoulders hurt?
Dips cause shoulder problems for some exercisers because they suffer from pre-existing shoulder problems that need to be addressed. But what can you do about shoulder pain during execution if your shoulders are healthy and functional? Usually, technical issues are the cause if you feel something in your shoulders while performing dips. If you are turning dips into a shoulder exercise, then you are doing something wrong.
One of the biggest mistakes is moving your shoulders forward as you lower yourself. This puts enormous strain on the shoulder joint and shoulder muscles.
If you want to make dips safer for your shoulders, then you should make sure that you keep your shoulders in their sockets as you lower yourself. You can achieve this by tensing the muscles of the upper back as you lower yourself (pull the shoulder blades together, as you do when bench pressing).
This may make dips harder at first, as you are using the right muscles for the job rather than levering yourself up. However, once you become more efficient with this technique, you will also become stronger and your strength will transfer more easily to pressing barbell exercises, while stimulating more muscle growth in the chest and triceps.
The first sign of good or bad dips is body sway. Those who perform dips incorrectly tend to move their torso and legs during the exercise. When performed correctly, the torso and legs appear to be fixed in line.
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-women-train-like-men-for-the-most-part
By Christian Thibaudeau
