Tips of the week Hip Thrusts

Perform hip thrusts for better glutes

Learn this exercise and make it one of your basic exercises

If you want to transform your backside, then hip thrusts should be your weapon of choice. Professional and competitive figure athletes use this exercise to strengthen their gluteus and build strength, speed and quickness.

Perform this exercise as follows:

1. Get into the starting position, tighten your body and take a deep breath before initiating the concentric (lifting) action.
2. Your back is supported on a bench with the edge of the bench directly under your shoulder blades. Do not slide up and down the bench.
3. Place your feet medium to wide apart on the floor with your toes pointing forwards or slightly outwards.
4. Push over your heels and do not lift your toes off the floor. The bar rests directly over your pubic bone and remains in this position throughout the entire set.
5. Make sure that you achieve full hip extension (hip extension). If you cannot hyperextend your hips, then you are using a weight that is too heavy.
6. Your shins should be almost vertical to the floor at the highest point of the movement and your knees should be over your toes. Do not let your knees bend outwards.
7. Keep your chest down during the entire set to prevent your chest from bulging. This ensures that you do not hyperextend the lumbar spine and that your pelvis does not tilt forward. Maintain a stable, flat torso throughout the movement, with all movement coming from the hips.
8. Use a steady tempo and avoid throwing the weight upwards. Lower the bar while maintaining an eccentric contraction of the gluteus. You can perform each repetition to the point where your gluteus touches the floor again, or reverse the movement in the air without touching the floor with your buttocks.
9. Concentrate on using the gluteus to push the hips straight up. This focus is crucial for building the gluteus.
10. Hold the last repetition of each set isometrically in the top position for 3 to 10 seconds. This will ensure that you strengthen the end range of hip extension.

Stop dieting if you are skinny-fat

Yes, choose better foods, but focus on building muscle. Use specific supplements to selectively increase your insulin sensitivity

By Chris Shugart

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/tip-stop-dieting-if-youre-skinny-fat

Many men today have the idea that if they just lose 5 or 10 kilos, they can uncover a body worthy of gracing the cover of a fitness magazine. What they discover, however, should they actually try this, is that underneath the layer of fat they've lost, there was nothing worth showing off.

It's understandable. You're working out with weights, but seem a little soft and flabby. And having visible abs might increase your chances of seeing a woman naked outside of the internet. The result? A skinny but still flabby body, a slowed metabolism and the inability to eat more than a few grams of carbohydrates without gaining fat.

The first thing to remember is that these lean men in the figure class weigh somewhere in the region of 90 kilos - defined. So if you weigh a soft 77 kilos, you won't be much happier at a leaner 68 kilos. Muscle matters - not just a lower body fat percentage. Make sure you have muscle before you start your definition phase.

The supplement solution

Many experts recommend that these guys build mass before they diet. And it's certainly true that they need to build muscle. But men in the skinny-fat category (thin but still flabby people) often have the same basic problem as fat people - dysfunctional nutrient uptake mechanisms and poor nutrient partitioning abilities.

Basically, these people mainly build fat when they eat to build muscle mass. And when they diet to lose the fat again, they look scrawny. Food seems to be preferentially stored as body fat instead of being used to build muscle. The solution is therefore not to diet or to go through a classic mass-building phase. Rather, the solution is to address the underlying problems.

Yes, these people should avoid the foods that are obviously problematic for everyone, but they should not diet in the traditional sense. Instead, they should "repair" these metabolically active but dysfunctional fat cells using cyanidin-3 glucosides to selectively increase insulin sensitivity in muscle and burn fat while maximizing nutrient uptake in muscle. Essentially, food is actively used instead of stored and you can now build muscle and lose fat without extreme dieting.

Know when to use grip aids

The strongest exercisers use grip aids - but not all the time. Here's a guide that can help you decide when you should and shouldn't use them.

By Christian Thibaudeau

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-know-when-to-use-lifting-straps

Now that 'functional' is the big trend in training, many training aids are frowned upon. Don't do squats and deadlifts with a weightlifting belt or your core won't become functional. Don't use grip aids when training, otherwise your grip will become weak and you won't have "real" strength.

Here's what's really funny: those who rail against grip aids and weightlifting belts because they will supposedly make you weak are rarely really strong themselves. The more they are against these tools, the weaker they are.

Hey, I've got good news for you: most really good Olympic weightlifters use grip aids during their training. Not all the time, of course, but they use them quite often. About 75% of them also wear weightlifting belts. Strongman competitors often train with grip aids and almost always with a weightlifting belt. The same is true for powerlifters. They understand that these aids can improve their training. They should not become crutches, but they are useful in many circumstances.

The use of grip aids: The good stuff

• Grip aids allow you to train with your arms relaxed, which allows you to shift tension to other areas. This is useful for bodybuilders in rowing and pulling exercises if they have dominant biceps that tend to do most of the work.
• Grip aids make it possible to continue training heavy despite sore or otherwise injured hands. Sore hands and chapped blisters are common among CrossFit athletes, strongmen, Olympic weightlifters and powerlifters who use a high frequency of training. Training deadlifts, snatches or heavy pulls with grip aids is better than not training heavy at all.
• Grip aids reduce the neurological stress of heavy deadlifts, snatches and pulls. They can be a good idea during an unloading phase if you want to give your CNS a chance to recover. They can also be used occasionally to allow you to perform a higher volume of heavy training with fewer negative effects.
• Grip aids allow you to perform extra reps and use a little more weight during heavy multi-joint exercises - which is great for occasionally overloading the large muscle groups.

The use of grip aids: The bad stuff

• For many weightlifters, feeling the heavy weight in their hands is a reason for failed max attempts. This is especially true for variations of Olympic weightlifting exercises. If you always use grip aids during training, you will lose the feeling of pulling a heavy bar up and if you then have to move heavy weights without grip aids, you will suffer from a serious loss of performance.
• Grip aids allow you to pull the bar up more easily from the ground. This technique is not always possible (or safe) with heavy weights and without grip aids. If you then have to stop using grip aids, it could be that your technique is not suited to the new situation. A good example of this is Pat Mendes, who always used grip aids when snatching in training and always managed 20 to 30 kilos less in competitions than in training. He was also known for pulling the weight up from the ground.
• If you always rely on grip aids, then your grip strength can become a weak link in the chain. While an occasional set with grip aids is perfectly fine, it could become problematic if you over-rely on grip aids and compete in a sport where you can't use grip aids or if your sport requires a strong grip.

Exercises where you can use grip aids

• Snatch and clean and jerk (from the floor or blocks or from a hanging position)
• Snatches and power snatches from a hanging position or from blocks
• Shoulder lifts (shrugs)
• Rowing and pulling

Exercises where you can occasionally use grip aids

• Deadlifts (all variations and heights)
• Snatches and power snatches from the floor

Exercises in which you should not use grip aids

• Repositioning and power repositioning
• Farmers walk
• Training with a thick bar

If you are a bodybuilder and grip strength is not really an issue, then you can use grip aids all the time, although you can still benefit from training without grip aids to build up your forearms. If you are a strength athlete, then you should perform supportive training for your grip strength and grip endurance in addition to your regular training.

Swap oatmeal for buckwheat

Buckwheat is insanely healthy, filling and delicious. Here are a few tips on how to prepare it properly

By Chris Shugart

Buckwheat is a healthy source of carbohydrates and a true superfood. Despite its name, buckwheat is not wheat, but a fruit seed. Buckwheat is gluten-free and has a low glycemic index, in case you're worried about that.

In addition to phytonutrients and other good stuff, buckwheat contains chiro-inositol, which supports glucose metabolism and cell signaling. Buckwheat also appears to be better than oatmeal and wheat cereals when it comes to heart health and lowering levels of bad cholesterol - and it has anti-inflammatory properties. Because buckwheat grows very quickly, few pesticides are used in its cultivation. And as a special bonus, the protein in buckwheat contains all 8 essential amino acids - even though you probably won't actually use buckwheat as a protein source.

Leaving all the nerdy stuff aside, buckwheat also tastes very good and is extremely filling, which has been confirmed in numerous satiety studies.

The easiest way to make yourself a steaming bowl of buckwheat is to buy instant buckwheat, which you can find in some health food stores. Simply add water and heat in the microwave for 3 to 4 minutes. Try these quick recipes:

Berries Vanilla Buckwheat

1. Prepare one serving (a quarter to half a cup) according to the microwave instructions, but use more water.
2. Stir in a scoop or two of vanilla protein powder after cooking.
3. Add a handful of berries - fresh or frozen.

Nut chocolate buckwheat

1. Prepare one serving (a quarter to half a cup) in the microwave according to the instructions, but use more water.
2. After cooking, stir in a scoop or two of chocolate-flavored protein powder.
3. Stir in a spoonful of natural nut butter (peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter, walnut butter, etc.) while the buckwheat is still hot.

Use Strip-the-Rack Presses for big, strong and healthy shoulders

by Christian Thibaudeau

https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-do-the-strip-the-rack-press

Shoulder presses - this exercise used to be the benchmark for upper body strength before bench presses came into fashion. And this exercise is also an excellent muscle building exercise. However, a lot of people can't do this exercise without pain in the shoulders or elbows. Here's a better alternative. This variation could actually build more muscle mass than regular shoulder presses.

Strip-the-rack press

Use a power rack and maintain contact between the bar and the rack throughout the exercise. Imagine that you wanted to scrape the color of the rack during the press. Press up and slightly forward.

Why is this exercise more shoulder-friendly?

This exercise increases the activation of the serratus (the finger-shaped muscles on the side of your ribcage). The serratus helps to press the shoulder blade against the chest wall and increases the stability of the shoulder joint. Activating the serratus therefore allows the shoulder to work better, making shoulder training safer.

If you look at Olympic weightlifters who do a lot of overhead pressing exercises, you'll see that they have amazing serratus development, which allows them to press heavy weights without pain.

By pressing forward and upward in strip-the-rack presses, you increase the activation of the serratus compared to regular pressing. So not only will you activate the serratus during your set, making the movement safer, but you will also develop this muscle, giving you a superhero look by making your torso appear thicker.

Should bodybuilders use this exercise?

From a muscle development perspective, this exercise increases the recruitment of the serratus, pectoralis minor (which will make your chest look thicker), the long muscle head of the triceps (through the isometric shoulder extension as you push forward against the rack), as well as the front shoulder muscles.

In addition, this exercise keeps the muscles involved under constant tension (you can even perform partial repetitions at the end of the set). Even in the areas of the range of motion where you are exerting less upward force, you continue to push forward, which keeps the muscles working hard. All of this helps to make this a very effective exercise for stimulating muscle growth.

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-do-hip-thrusts-for-better-glutes

By Bret Contreras