Tips of the week Don't look up when doing squats

Your head should not be bent backwards so that you are looking at the ceiling, nor should you be looking downwards while performing squats. The ideal position is with your head slightly bent back and your chin slightly pulled back. And slightly does not mean excessively.

Sure, many trainers will tell you to look up. Why? Because they don't do heavy squats themselves and don't expect you to. Do you know what's worse than suffering a herniated disc in your lower back? A herniated disc in the cervical spine that prevents you from speaking, eating and doing anything in life.

You can look up without bending your neck backwards. Where you look is not so important. Some look upwards, some look straight ahead, others look downwards. However, it is important that you keep your cervical spine in a neutral position regardless of where you are looking.

Tip: Use descending sets to get better at pull-ups

Are you bad at pull-ups? Here's a way to get stronger and add enough volume to build muscle.

By Nick Tumminello

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-use-drop-sets-to-get-better-at-pull-ups

We are much stronger when we perform pull-ups with a narrower underhand grip than when we use a wider overhand grip, as we have a mechanical advantage in the position of the arms in the first variation. With this information in mind, we can combine both versions of this exercise in a descending set, starting with the most difficult version and working our way up to the easiest version. As you fatigue, the exercise becomes easier, allowing you to perform more quality repetitions.

Descending sets of pull-ups:

1. First perform as many pull-ups as possible with a wide overhand grip and good form.
2. Without pausing, move on to pull-ups with a narrower underhand grip and perform as many repetitions as possible again.
3. If you want even more volume, you can extend this to a triple descending set by performing as many band-assisted pull-ups as possible.

Tip: Combine kettlebell swings with planks

Not only will this melt your fat, but it will also teach you to breathe correctly when you're exhausted.

By Eric Johnson, Ryan Johnson

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-pair-kettlebell-swings-with-planks

Set your lungs on fire

Developing the ability to control your breathing will allow you to deliver more oxygen-rich blood to your muscles, lower your heart rate and blood pressure, maintain optimal conditions on a biochemical level and perform better. This combination of exercises is designed to optimize your breathing in a state of stress.

Swings and Planks

This finisher for your workout pairs an explosive exercise with planks. The kettlebell swing is the perfect choice for strength and endurance-based sets. When performed correctly, your heart rate and oxygen requirements will increase.

This exercise is paired with planks, as weakness in the abdominal area provokes a poor breathing pattern and diaphragmatic dysfunction. This combination will allow us to train the contraction of the abdominal muscles while optimizing breathing. The planks will force the muscles responsible for breathing to work simultaneously with the diagonal abdominal muscles, the external and internal lateral oblique abdominal muscles and the rectus abdominis. Instead of holding planks for time, count each inhale and exhale as one repetition.

Perform 20 kettlebell swings and transition to a plank position without pausing. Perform hard-style planks with 10 deep breaths. Repeat for 5 to 10 repetitions.

How to perform hard-style planks

1. Assume a plank position with your spine in a neutral position and your body resting on your elbows and toes. Look down and keep your neck in a neutral position.
2. Contract your quadriceps. Don't just stretch your knees. Instead, try to pull your kneecaps towards your hips.
3. Tilt your pelvis back and contract your gluteus hard.
4. Engage the latissimus by pulling the elbows towards the pelvis. Do not allow your elbows to move. Instead, pull the shoulder blades down
5. Breathe. Your body will automatically stiffen in this position. Learn how to breathe behind the contraction of the abdominal muscles by allowing your chest to expand sideways and your belly button to move down and out.

Tip: perform plate raises with high reps for your trapezius

This will burn hard, but you'll love the results.

By Paul Carter

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-do-high-rep-plate-raises-for-traps

Are you a member of "Team no trapezius"? Then add this exercise to your trapezius training program. Many exercisers use plate raises(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePK_-52OOKM) but don't get results with this exercise. The first mistake they make is to lift a very heavy weight plate only to eye level. In the version presented here, you use a lighter plate and lift it all the way up above your head. Moving the plate all the way up over your head will engage the trapezius and upper back. This exercise variation will intensely work the upper trapezius and rhomboid muscles.

Perform 100 repetitions without rest. While I normally use a 20 kilo plate for the heavier version, I only use a 10 kilo plate for this variation. If you fatigue by using a 20 kilo plate, you will bend your arms too much. Make sure you only bend your elbows slightly and don't do hammer curls to move the plate upwards.

Choose a weight that allows you to do 100 repetitions. If this exercise is used as a finisher after your shoulder lift or row, you may well need no more than a 5 kilo plate. However, the results are more than worth the temporary shame.

Tip: Try out the deadlift walk

Improve your fitness and see what you're capable of.

By Chad Waterbury

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-try-the-deadlift-walk

This is an excellent exercise for total body conditioning, performed as follows:

1. Go to a power rack and place the rack pin on the front slightly lower than knee height.
2. Load a barbell bar with about 65% of your 1 RM deadlift weight. Place the bar about 2 steps away from the rack pins on the floor in front of the rack.
3. Take a shoulder-width stance and grip the bar to the right and left of your legs. Use a symmetrical overhand grip.
4. Move the weight up in a deadlift motion. Once you have reached the top position of the movement, take two steps forward and place the weight on the rack pins.
5. As soon as your muscle tension decreases, move the weight back up, take two steps back, pause, correct your stance and lower the weight to the floor. That was the first repetition.
6. Then perform the next repetition without pausing until you have completed the specified number of repetitions.

Parameters:

• Weight: 65% of your 1RM weight for deadlifts
• Sets: 2 to 3
• Repetitions: 15
• Rest: 60 seconds.

Perform this exercise once a week as part of your conditioning training. Keep the weight constant as you progress from week to week and instead reduce the pauses between sets by 5 seconds.

Note: If you don't have a power rack available, you can also place the bar on a bench.

Tip: Perform Spoto Presses to improve your bench press performance

Do you get stuck at the bottom of the movement when attempting maximum bench presses? Then this exercise can help.

By John Gaglione

https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-do-spoto-presses-to-boost-your-bench-press

For advanced trainees, it's important to get stronger in every area of the bench press. Board presses typically work well for the upper range of motion, but performing board presses without boards can help you kick your strength gains up a notch.

"Board presses with invisible planks are much more challenging because you can't put the weight on the planks. You have to rely on your muscles to stabilize the weight (yes, this looks like a beginner trying to do partial reps, but it's a technique used by very advanced powerlifters). This technique will build a lot of strength in the range of motion reversal, as it takes a lot of effort to bring the weight to a complete stop and let it hover in the air before you push it back up.

Spoto Bench Press(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ggw9I2_eWGc)

Eric Spoto, one of the best bench pressers of all time, who pressed raw 328 kilos, gave this exercise its name.

You can pause at different heights depending on where your weak points are. I like Spoto bench presses, for example, to strengthen the middle range of motion. Remember that whenever you perform isometric training, you are also strengthening the area a few degrees before and after this position. For this reason, the Spoto bench press works in both the lower and middle range of motion.

However, you should use different heights in this exercise to build strength in all areas. The area just before the chest and about 10 centimeters higher are good areas to start with. You can perform this exercise with a heavy weight for a few repetitions or with a lighter weight and high repetitions.

Tip: Do more direct training for your gluteus

Many people need more than squats and deadlifts to fully train their gluteus. Here's why you might need more training for your glutes.

By Dr. John Rusin

https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-do-more-direct-glute-training

To reap all the benefits of strength training, you need to perform exercises that target your gluteus. Poorly executed squats, lunges and machine exercises are not enough. None of these exercises really target the gluteus and none of these exercises will stimulate or exhaust these muscle fibers enough for significant benefits.

Not everyone can target the gluteus with excellent squat mechanics or will feel confident using weights on variations of the deadlift that are sufficiently heavy to really stimulate the posterior chain of muscles. But these training deficiencies are no excuse to forgo the many benefits of gluteus training, which include maintaining a healthy lower back and burning extra calories.

Simple exercises such as glute bridges, hip thrusts and their many variations have a steep learning curve and are safe and effective exercises for building a strong back.

Performing direct gluteus training several times a week can revolutionize any training program - and, of course, the development of your glutes. The gluteus is one of the strongest muscle groups in the body and consists of three separate but synergistically working muscles that are primarily hip extensors, support external rotation and abduction of the hip and even stabilize the entire posterior muscle chain when functioning correctly.

The gluteus maximus is also the thickest and strongest muscle in the body, capable of burning extra calories and boosting your metabolism. If you want to burn fat at an exponential rate for hours after a workout, then focusing on training the gluteus directly could be the most effective way to achieve this.

It's one thing to activate the gluteus, as preached by every functional training guru, but it's quite another to exhaust these muscles to the point where remodeling of the locally active tissue becomes necessary. While activation is a step in the right direction, an intelligently designed program that targets strength, hypertrophy and metabolic conditioning of the gluteus has the ability to take your training and fat loss to a whole new level.

Tip: Master super-slow pull-ups

Build your biceps, forearms and grip strength with these challenging sets consisting of just one pull-up

By Ben Bruno

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-master-the-super-slow-chin-up

The explanation of this exercise is easy, but the execution is not. Perform a pull-up with a close underhand grip as slowly as you can. Aim for 20 to 30 seconds for the concentric part of the movement (upward movement) and 30 to 40 seconds for the eccentric part of the movement (downward movement). Once you have achieved this, use additional weights. If this is too much for you, then perform the movement as slowly as you can. Add static holds at the top of the movement if you are really hardcore.

Pull-ups with only one repetition

Use an underhand grip (palms facing the body) to emphasize your biceps or use a neutral grip (palms facing each other) to target the brachialis. Both variations will also work your forearms and build tremendous grip strength.

Save this exercise for the end of your training session and only perform one painful repetition. If you do everything right, that's all you'll be able to do.

https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-dont-look-up-when-you-squat

By Paul Carter