Exercise(s) of the Week
March 10, 2010 by danny · Leave a Comment
This week I thought I’d bring you a couple different exercises. Today I’ll be going over ”X-Band Walks,” and tomorrow I’ll cover pushup variations. Lets start off with X-Band Walks…
As you see in the video, “X” the band and put it around your feet. Make sure to keep your chest tall, and shoulders blades down and back. Be sure not to use “body english.” (keep your shoulders level throughout)
Obviously, you must have a band to do this. I got mine from Perform Better. Over to the right of your screen, you can just click on the Perform Better picture that will take you to the Performbetter website. When you get there, put “superbands” in the search engine and it will take you right to your band options. For X-Band Walks, I suggest either using the 1/2″ or 1″ wide band, depending on your strength and how reps you are going to perform. (the thicker the band, the harder it is)
X-Band walks are great for glute-activation. Strength Coach Mike Boyle coined the term, “glute amnesia.” Basically, with all of the sitting that we do, our glutes are sleeping. So we need to wake them up! When I (and my clients) am training legs, I always make sure to perform X-Band Walks as part of my warm-up. Getting your glutes firing will help your performance on your leg exercises. It will also help take the load off of the lower back, and help make your knees feel a whole lot better. Last week before I squatted, I forgot to bring my band to the gym with me…my knees didn’t like me. And yesterday during my squat session, I remembered my band and my knees thanked me 30 different times. 
(30 reps was the total number of reps I performed for that squat session) Seriously, what a difference it made!
Whenever I go to train at a commercial gym, I see ladies waiting in line to jump on the hip aBduction (outter thighs) machine. If you are someone that trains at home, you can get your own aBduction “machine” for less than $20. Or at the very least, bring the band to the gym with you so you no longer have to wait in line to get on that machine.
This post just scratches the surface as far as the importance of getting those glutes firing. Just know this; stronger glutes will help with sports performance, decrease your chance of injury, and get your booty looking a lot more purdy! And who doesn’t want that.
Tomorrow, I’ll go over pushup variations. EVERYONE should be peforming pushups, no matter how advanced you think you may be, or how new to this you are. So be sure to check back tomorrow…
Put Your Training Into High Gear
March 8, 2010 by danny · Leave a Comment
Us guys just love “advanced” lifting methods.
In the morning, we’re doing drop sets, and for the second part of our two-a-days, we head back to the gym for heavy negatives. Take a day off, then we’re back at it with max effort lifts.
Since working up to a 1 rep-max isn’t enough volume for us, we’re gonna finish off the session with some more drop sets. After all, that pump from earlier in the week felt oh-so-good.
What’s wrong with us? Seriously. Why can’t guys just keep it simple in the weight room?
Don’t get me wrong, including advanced training methods in your program is a smart idea… from time to time. Unfortunately, “from time to time” just isn’t quite as fun. Of course, neither is a fried central nervous system and beat up joints. Obviously, many dudes need to ease up on heavy lifting, and/or forced reps every single week.
However, when it comes to the ladies, it is time for y’all to start to incorporate some of these more advanced methods! Guess how many ladies I know who use at least one of the methods that you’re going to read about below? One, maybe two, total. Most girls I know seem to think that 6-8 reps is “very low” rep training.
Get HUGE, Ripped, Stronger, Smarter, Sexier, Mo’ Funny…
February 24, 2010 by danny · Leave a Comment
Us guys are such, well, guys. We want it all, and we want it yesterday! I want my wife to cook me 6 meals a day, bring me a beer when I get home from work, (not really, but maybe occasionally) let me watch the BIG game without getting any crap, and take the dogs out when it’s raining. *** I also want the Cubs to win the World Series, but who am I kidding! When it comes to our physique, we want to add 15 lbs of muscle while simultaneously lose 10 lbs of body fat. And while the 10lb reduction in body fat is happening, we want to increase our bench press by 25 lbs and add 2″ to our gunz!
As they say, try to accomplish everything, and you wind up accomplishing nothing. Want to add muscle? Well, you’re going to have to go on a hypercaloric (above maintenance) diet. Adding slabs of muscle is not easy. And if you are eating more calories than you are burning off, then it’s going to be difficult to get those abs to “pop.” Want to get ripped? Then it’s time to go on a hypocaloric (below maintenance) diet. It is more complex than simply, “calories in vs. calories out.” But in general, to add muscle or lose fat, the total amount of calories you eat plays a huge role. And you can’t be on a hypercaloric AND a hypocaloric diet at the same time. (although carb cycling helps…another post for another time. I’m such a tease!) 
I received 4 different e-mails over the last week asking what they needed to do to basically, “have it all.” Here is one of the e-mails; ”Danny, I’m looking to add quite a bit of muscle. Of course, with summer right around the corner, I also want to get as lean as possible. Also, do you have a program that you recommend for helping me add size to my pecs and traps?” To that I said, “No, I don’t have a good program that will help you accomplish all of that at once. But if you come up with one, let me know and I’ll be hiring you!”
Different scenarios…
1) I want to add 10 lbs (or whatever your number is) of muscle, and get “shredded bro.” More often than not, (genetic freaks aside) you’ll end up spinning your wheels, and end up maybe a touch bigger, and maybe a touch more lean. But not much noticeable difference.
2) I want to add some muscle, (pick your number; i.e. ~6-8 lbs) keep my body fat level about the same, but if I add just a touch of fat, I’m ok with that. Good, I’m starting to like this. The majority of your focus and effort will go towards adding some size. And as a secondary goal, you are going to try to keep your body fat levels in check. And if your 6-pack temporarily turns into a 4-pack, you’re ok with that. You can always diet down a bit just in time for beach season. In the end, you end up making progress with noticeable gains in muscle.
3) I want to get as lean as possible while not losing much, if any muscle. Once again, I like this. You can focus on your goal of getting leaner by adding a little extra cardio, reducing your carbs/calories, and using lifting to help maintain your muscle mass. In the end, you’re noticeably leaner. And, quite often, even if you don’t add any muscle, you look more muscular because now your waist is smaller, your “cuts” come out more, and every girl on the beach wants you. Life is good.
4) All I care about is adding more muscle. If I end up turning my 6-pack into a keg in the process, no worries dawg! This is the old school way of doing things. It’s basically an out-dated practice - adding size at all cost - even if you end up adding a bunch of fat in the process. Believe it or not, I still prefer this over option #1 from above. At least all of your focus can be channeled in one direction. And in the end, you will have a bunch of added muscle. Even if your physique doesn’t look unreal at the moment, you can always diet it off later. With that said, I usually suggest option #2 from above. Adding a bunch of fat in the process is not as healthy.
The Exceptions
Before you say, “but I knew a guy who…” Let me tell you, we all know a guy who… lived to 115 and smoked for 89 years…a guy who drank 42 beers in one night… a guy who beat up Chuck Norris. Whoa, I’ve taken it too far, I don’t see that ever happening, let me stop. But seriously, the genetic freaks out there may be able to accomplish some amazing things. They are not the norm. The “newbie” may be able to simultaneously add a bunch of muscle, lose a bunch of fat, and get much stronger. But when you add anything new into your life, there is always room for a ton of improvement. Just like when I learned to count from 29 all the way up to 40 during the summer before 5th grade. 11 numbers higher, are you serious?!? (I’m very intelligent, a genetic brain freak, if you will) These days it is a major accomplishment for me to add one new digit every year. I mean, when you can count up to 2041, there’s only so much one can to accomplish.
Conclusion
Don’t try to become the stud of the universe in a single training block. Spend some time training to improve one aspect of your fitness, and work to maintain the rest. And don’t compare yourself to the 1% out there that simply think about lifting a weight, and add an inch to their biceps. If you can apply this to your overall fitness plan, (weights, cardio, eating, lifestyle) I’m confident that you’ll be able to break through a rut, and start to see some much improved results!
***I’m kidding Shondra, (wife) you are very good with everything that I said in the first paragraph. Can I please get a second serving of chicken tonight?!? You’re so pretty, and smart, and nice. Pretty please?
Q and A: Female Training
February 19, 2010 by danny · Leave a Comment
Q: Danny, I am just getting back into working out. My goal is to get more toned, without the bulk. Since I don’t want to get too big, what do you recommend?
A: Man, if I had a nickel for everytime I had a female tell me they, “don’t want to get too BIG,” I’d be a VERY rich man! One of the biggest myths in this industry is the fact that so many people think that weight lifting will make a women basically turn into a man. Now, notice I say most people, not just women. I have husbands tell me this all the time; “I’m lifting the big heavy weights, because I want to get HYOOGE! But I have my wife lifting the pink dumbells, because she just wants to tone.” Come on now dude, stop it! On one hand it frustrates the heck out of me. But on the other hand, my calmer, more logical side takes over. After all, men usually want a lot of muscle, and girls don’t. So it seems to make sense to keep the ladies over in the 2.5 pound dumbell section. A women sees a picture of a lady that is a pro bodybuilder, and thinks that if she lifts heavy weights, she’ll turn into this…
So I get where this myth stems from. But don’t worry about it. The “lady” above is heavily assisted. She is all juiced up. She is good friends with the sauce. Know what I’m saying? If you’re not sure what I am getting at - I kinda, sorta think that she is using steroids. Now, I don’t want to accuse anyone of anything, but something tells me that my hunch is correct.
A lot of this line of thinking from above comes from a lack of education, and preconceived ideas. So, how ’bout we see if I can do a little educating, and help you squash the thought that heavy lifting will turn you into He-Man.
When I train myself, and many of the guys that I work with that are looking to add size, we scratch, claw, and fight for every ounce of muscle that we build. That also means we eat like a horse to support this attempt to gain muscle. The fact that a female is afraid that she is going to all of a sudden get 20 inch arms because she went from the 5 pound weights, to the 7.5 pound weights, is an insult to us guys that put all of our efforts into adding muscle. (But again, I’m not mad at you. Society has painted the picture that all females are frail little weaklings, and that is just the way it is supposed to be.) Lets look at some of the reasons that heavier lifting won’t make anyone wonder what a guy is doing in the ladies room, when you’re in a public restroom.
Hormones
Another reason females do not need to worry about getting all big ‘n buff, is the fact that their hormone profile is not as condusive to adding as much size as their male counterpart. We guys, have about 10 times more testosterone flowing through our body. This is a very important hormone for stimulating hypertrophy. (muscle growth) The picture of the guy girl above is a picture of a person that has added a great deal of testosterone to her body, allegedly. So, unless you decide to go the steroid route, most of you ladies will have to go WAY out of your way to truly get, “too big.”
Nutrition
Nutrition is by far the key when it comes to adding size, or losing size. Think about food like bricks to a house. If you want to make the house bigger, you need to add bricks. If you want to add size, you need to eat more food. If you don’t want to add size, make sure your nutrition strategy supports your goals. So, if you are a lady that is truly carrying more muscle than you’d like, the first thing to look at is your food intake. This may mean you need to eat more often, (smaller portions at each meal) eat less overall calories, and/or make better food choices.
Weight Lifting
You now see that adding a little weight to the bar is not going to be the reason that you are “too big.” More often than not, (not in every case) if a women was to look down at her legs and think they are too big, it is because there is too much fat covering them, not too much muscle. Use weight training as a tool to burn more calories. And that means lifting as much weight as possible for a given rep range. Think about it this way, if you were to do lunges with 10 pound dumbells in your hands, you’d burn X amount of calories. But if you worked on getting a little stronger and started adding some weight to the dumbells, like 20 pound dumbells, you’d start to burn more calories per rep, per set, per workout. That my friends, is an efficient use of your time. Remember, your body doesn’t want to change, you must give it a reason to change. And if the 10 pounders are no longer challenging you, it’s time to progress and start adding some weight to each and every exercise. Check out this recent post I made about how to make sure you are getting the most bang for your buck with your weight training sessions – when fat loss in your primary goal.
Cardio
Speaking of efficient use of your time, I prefer intervals, or “metabolic training,” over steady-state training most of the time. So, focus on progressively improving your numbers in the weight room, and make metabolic training the staple in your cardio plan. If you decide you need to add in some steady-state work, feel free to add a day or two. But more often than not, I’ve that found that a few full body weight training sessions, consistent clean eating, and a 2-3 metabolic days per week get the job done without having to do much, if any steady-state work.
Summary
As you can see, even if a female was going to try to “bulk up,” it would be pretty difficult. It would take purposeful overeating. If you still feel you are carrying too much muscle mass, make adjustments in your eating plan. Ask yourself if you are using steroids. Hahahaha. If the answer is yes, make adjustments. But please don’t blame your lack of “tone,” or lack of “definition,” on the fact that you are lifting too much weight, causing you to be too bulky. With this new information, (new for some of you) the next time your boyfriend, husband, or brother tells you that, “since your goal is to tone-up, make sure you are not lifting too heavy,” be sure to forward this article on to him and smack him in the face with a 25 pound dumbell. (as opposed to those 3 pounders you used to use)
Q and A: Fat Loss…
February 16, 2010 by danny · Leave a Comment
Q: Danny, I’ve lost about 20 pounds thus far, but my results have really slowed. I still have about 45 pounds
to go to reach my goal. I am currently lifting 4 days per week.
Day 1 – Chest, Back and Shoulders. Day 2 – Legs, Biceps and Triceps.
Day 3 – Chest, Back and Shoulders.(different exercises than day 1) Day 4 – Legs, Biceps and Triceps.
(different exercises than day 2) Do you like this set-up? Is this the best way to help me achieve my goals?
A: First of all, congratulations on losing your first 20 pounds! You should be proud of that. However, if you
were my client I would make some changes. I am definitely not a “full body guy,” an “upper/lower
guy,” or a “body part split” guy. To see my full thoughts on training splits, check out my previous article.
When I work with people that have a ways to go to hit their fat loss goals, I’ve found that full body training is
the best way to go. Full body sessions will burn the most calories per training session, and keep your metabolism elevated for hours after the workout is over. (This is known as EPOC) At the end of your full body session, I would then have you go into “metabolic training.” Like full body training, metabolic training will keep your metabolism elevated far longer than steady-state aerobic would. If you are very busy, like many of my clients are, I’d do your metabolic training right after your weight training session. If you have the time, you can do it on your non-lifting days. I’ll talk more about metabolic training below.
Basic Guidelines to Full Body Training
-Make free weight, compound movement the staple in your program. (i.e. choose bulgarian split squats over leg extensions; rows over bicep curls)
-For the majority of your exercises work in the 8-12 rep range. To maintain your strength, you can pick one or two exercises, to start off each session, in the 4-6 rep range. And occasionally it is ok to go into the 15-20 rep range.
-Try to go back and fourth between upper and lower body movement. (i.e. pushups supersetted with deadlifts)
-Keep the rest intervals as short as possible while NOT letting your performance drop too much. Your heart should be pounding the entire workout.
I’m not saying that you should do no “isolation” work, like bicep curls. But with your goals, exercises that are not targeting a large number of muscles at once, should make up a very small percentage of your program. This is the reason I’m not too thrilled with your current program – a leg, bicep, and tricep day would have you doing too much volume of isolation exercises. This is not an efficient use of your time.
Metabolic Training Ideas
The video below is just an example of some exercises that you can use as part of your metabolic work. It is a beautiful day here so I thought I’d record it outside.
-Jump Rope – I did “double-turns,” you work at your level. It may be more advanced than my example, it may be less advanced.
-Squat and Press – Squat down as deep as your mobility allows while keeping your chest up and your weight on your heels. Then rapidly stand up and push the dumbells up over your head. Use a weight that makes the exercise harder, but not so much weight that your shoulders and triceps become the limiting factor. The only weights I had on me at the time were 10 pounders. I usually use 100’s, but sometimes you got to go with what you have on hand. Ok, that’s a lie.
-Bench Jumps – Just spring back and fourth over a bench in your gym. (or at a local park)
-Moutain Climbers – Keep your abs tight and drive your knees towards your chest as fast as you can. Try to keep your back flat. Mine was slightly rounded – shame on me.
Again, these are just some examples. To save time, I did not rest between exercises in the video. I suggest you pick 4-5 movements and do each movement for 20 seconds, then rest for 20 seconds. Then move on to the next exercise. (i.e. 20 seconds of jump rope, then rest 20 seconds before moving on to the squat and press, etc. etc.) Get in as many rounds as you can get without letting your form break down or your intensity drop. So if you feel like you are not going as fast on round 6 as you were going on round 1, do NOT do a 7th round.
To make your cardio extra “fun,” you could just go to the park with a partner and run pass routes. But to get the fat burning that you are looking for, make sure you sprint back to the line of scimmage when it is your time to play Drew Brees. I think Carson throws a pretty nice ball for a 9-year old.
Wrap up:
-3 FB sessions/week
-3-4 cardio days/week. (with the majority, or all of them in the form of metabolic training. (fast paced, high intensity work followed by a brief rest interval) If you have the time, feel free to throw in a steady-state session lasting about 30 minutes.
Nutrition
Of course, I can’t make a fat loss post without at least bringing up nutrition. This is BY FAR the key to reaching your ultimate goal! No matter how hard you work during your training sessions, if you are not eating a lot of clean food, you’ll be spinning your wheels. I’ll address some of the nutrition “musts,” in posts real soon here. So be sure to check out the nutrition “category” in the near future.
Best of luck in achieving your goals.! I hope this helped a bit.
Exercise of the Week: Inverted Rows
February 12, 2010 by danny · Leave a Comment
This week’s exercise of the week is the inverted row. As you’ll see in the video below, the inverted row can be done in a smith machine that you’ll find @ most commercial gyms. It’s a little weird for me recommending an exercise involving the smith machine, but in this case, it gets my thumbs-up. As long as you use the smith machine for only 2.4% percent of your lifts or less, I’m ok with it. Next, what I want you to do is to take out your calculator and add up every exercise you’ve done up to this point in 2010, and make sure that the number of smith machine exercises is less than 2.5%. If so, you’re golden, and have earned the right to view the 1st video…
The next variation of the inverted row is done with TRX straps. This is a way cooler way to do them. It has been said that using TRX straps will make women want you, and men want to be you. I’m pretty sure these were a staple in Austin Power’s training program. I use them with my clients at our gym all the time. I’m assuming most of you do not have access to TRX straps at your gym. If that is the case, you can purchase them at performbetter.com. (I’ve provided the link to the right of your computer screen) I know some people that use them in their home gym, or take them to the park on nice days to use as part of their strength training and/or metabolic training (cardio) for the day.
So there you go. Adding inverted rows to your program will help improve your posture, keep your shoulders healthy, and give you a super sculpted, ripped back! (read that last part in the voice from the guy that does those P90X advertisements)
And by the way, I was kidding about busting the calculator out. You knew that, right?!?
Tools in your Training Toolbox
February 5, 2010 by danny · Leave a Comment
What’s the best piece of equipment for fat loss? Is it kettlebells? Maybe dumbbells? Neither, body weight exercises are the best choice, right? But if your goal is to get HYOOGE, then you better go with barbells. No doubt about it! Actually, this line of thinking is just plain dumb! Why limit yourself to only one of the above?
It really annoys me when someone says that they don’t use dumbbells because kettlebells are better. Or I may hear, I don’t lift weights, because I LOVE TRX training. “It’s way better than traditional weight training,” they may say. I once heard trainer extraordinaire, Alwyn Cosgrove say; (I’m paraphrasing) “I’m not a swiss ball guy. I’m not a dumbbell guy. I’m not a kettlebell guy. I’m an everything guy.” I couldn’t agree more. When it comes down to it, different pieces of equipment are just tools for you to use, to help you get to your goals. So why become a, “TRX guy” (or girl:) and limit yourself? I prefer to have a much bigger toolbox to choose from.
Most of us don’t close our minds this much in other aspects of our life. At least I hope not. You’ll never hear me say that I’m a “He-Man Guy,” therefore I can’t watch Transformers. I want need to get my Grimlock fix just as much as I need my Ram-Man fix. Call me selfish, see if I care.
It doesn’t matter if I’m training my clients for fat loss, hypertrophy, or increased power. One time or another they’ll be getting a taste of kettlebells, barbells, dumbbells, TRX straps, swiss balls… and the list goes on. I simply work these tools into their program where I see appropriate. I hope you all are doing the same thing, and NOT limiting your options en route to your goals.
Exercise of the Week
February 3, 2010 by danny · Leave a Comment
I’ll try to do my best to bring you a new exercise as much as possible. Each exercise will be one that I’m a big fan of, for one reason or another. Don’t worry I won’t leave you hanging. I’ll give you the reason(s) why I like the particular exercise. Maybe the exercise that I go over is not new to YOU. Maybe you’ve been dominating this exercise since the last time the Cubs won the World Series. (man that would make you REALLY old) I don’t mean to burst your bubble, but even if this exercise is not new to you, there are some people out there that I’m sure will get something out of this… you selfish son of a beehive! The first exercise in this series is, “McLarty Rollouts.”
I’m so important that people are naming exercises after me. No, no, I know I’m not really that special. (although, try telling my mom that, I dare you) One day a few years back I was foam rolling my shins. In the process I felt my abs working like crazy. So I thought hey, maybe I’ll just make this into a core exercise. I had my clients try it and pretty much each one of them came back to our next session will some very sore abs. One lady told me that I need to name them after myself since I “invented” this exercise. I’m sure some of the guys from the ancient Mayan culture were doing these with a log below their shins way back in the day to impress the ladies. But to my knowledge, I haven’t seen these pop up on internet or in any gyms I’ve visited. So I’m claiming them. And, my client told me I should, so there!
I know a function of the abdominals is to perform trunk flexion. But performing countless reps of crunches/sit-ups will just feed into the imbalances that we create with a little something called, life. You know, we sit in flexion (rounded shoulders) all day; in front of our computers, driving to and from work, watching tv…you get the point. There are many coaches/trainers out there that believe the main role of the abs is to resist trunk extension, and resist rotation. In other words, much of your abdominal training should be done with the purpose of improving stability. And McLarty Rollouts fits the bill nicely here. They are very similar to ab-wheel rollouts, and will provide you a little extra variety in your core training. I have many of my beginner clients starting with simple (maybe not simple for some) planks, and then progressing up to more challenging movements like McLarty Rollouts.
When doing these, make sure to keep your glutes and abs tight. Brace your core as if you are getting ready to take a punch to the stomach. Start with the roller down by your ankles and roll it up towards your knees. As the roller gets closer to your knees, the movement gets significantly harder. I either perform these for reps. Usually 10-12. Or for time. When doing them for time, I tell my clients, “make these as difficult as possible, without overloading your back, for 30 seconds. If you can get 31 seconds then you didn’t make them difficult enough. (i.e. you spent too much of your 30 seconds with the roller near your ankles, and not enough time with the roller higher up, near your knees)
So, work within your level, and give McLarty Rollouts a try. You may be extremely sore for the next day or two, but it will be well worth it! One more note; the baby-making music you hear in the video, has been shown to make this exercise 12.87% less effective. So be sure to pick a more hardcore song to train to!
Behaviors and Goals
February 1, 2010 by danny · Leave a Comment
A few years back I attended a great seminar. One of the presenters was Dan John. His talked centered around making sure your behaviors match your goals. This really stuck with me. After my clients set their goals, I always wait a week and ask them; “are your behaviors matching your goals?” If the answer is no, then it’s time to make a change. We have two options here. They can either change their behaviors, or change their goals. In the end, they must match. In other words, lets say I have a client that tells me she wants to lose 12 lbs. in the next two months. But she isn’t willing to give up Friday night pizza night, is going to continue to have two nights every week that she goes out drinking alcohol with her girlfriends, and is only going to perform 1 day of cardio per week. As you can see, her behaviors and goals do not match. I’d then have this conversation with her; “if those are going to be your behaviors, what can we expect to see in terms of results?” Lets say that we come to the conclusion that with her current training program, and clean eating most of the week, (except for pizza night and the drinking nights), and only one day
Very Strict Behaviors!
of cardio per week, she can achieve 2 lbs. of weight loss per month. Even know the end result is not as impressive, we now have behaviors and goals that match.
If she determines that 2 lbs. per month is not going to make her happy, then it’s time to revisit the behaviors. I may tell her; “in order to reach your goal of 12 lbs. lost in 2 months, you’ll need to get in 3 weight training sessions per week, 3 -4 cardio sessions per week, and you are only allowed 1 cheat meal all week long.” If she commits to these behaviors, then the 12 lb. weight loss in 2 months is possible. Once again, her behaviors and goals match.
So when you set your goals, make sure your behaviors match. If you are not willing to commit to strict behaviors, make sure your goals are less aggressive. If you are completely committed to greatly improving your health and physique, then go ahead and set your goals high. Only you can determine what you really want, and what you are willing to give up.
Speaking of goals, I’m sure many of you recently made your new year’s resolution. If you did not write them down and put them in a place that you see everyday, make sure you do so. My wife and I printed out ours and taped them on the bathroom mirror in our bedroom. But just writing down your goals isn’t enough. Make sure you write down 3-4 behaviors that will get you to your goals.
Get those behaviors and goals to match, and go achieve the physique of your dreams!
Overrated and Underrated Exercises
January 28, 2010 by danny · Leave a Comment
There are an unlimited amount of exercises that we can do. But not all exercises are created equal. For the most part I’m a believer that there are no bad exercises. Rather, there are bad applications of an exercise. The exercise should be performed with correct form. In other words, if a person lets the weight of his/her feet shift to the toes when squatting, rather than
Rack Pulls
keeping the weight back on the heels, then that is the lifters fault when his knees start to hurt. Not the fault of the squat. Another example would be a person doing a deadlift from the floor when they lack sufficient hip mobility to get in proper position to execute the lift properly. In this case, a rack pull (a deadlift from the pins in a squat rack, where the pins are set at about knee height) would be the appropiate choice. Since I don’t have the opportunity to properly assess each and everyone of you reading this, when I go over this brief list of exercises, I’ll assume you are healthy enough to perform the lift properly.
When I say, “Overrated/Underrated,” here is what I am talking about; this is my opinion based on what I see the typical trainee doing in the gym; what they prioritize; what they omit from their training sessions; etc. Just because I give one of the following exercises a grade of, “underrated,” it doesn’t mean that I don’t like or use the exercise for myself or with my clients. I think Michael Jordan is the greatest basketaball player of all time. BUT, if the general public was to make this statement; “You give me Michael Jordan with 4 guys off the street and I’d take Jordan’s team in 6 games over the 1986 Celtics.” Well, IF that was the thinking of the majority of people, then I’d have to say that Michael Jordan is overrated!
Ok, with that said, lets get to some of the exercises.
Biceps Curl
This is an exercise that most guys just can’t get enough of. Curls for the girls baby, yeah! Well excuse me Mr. Curl Guy, do you know what a chin up is? How about the deadlift? Ever heard of bulgarian split squats? Don’t get me wrong, I like curls. And I definitely think that when it comes to fully developing your biceps, you need to directly work them. But when I see guys doing set after set after set of curls, instead of some of the aformentioned lifts, it makes me wanna puke. (back in March of ‘08 I saw a guy perform 23 sets of biceps curls in one workout and it actually made me blow chunks all over the shoes of the guy right next to me that was performing tricep kickbacks while talking on his cell phone***)
Conclusion: Curls get a BIG fat OVERRATED!
Rows
I don’t care whether we are talking about cable rows, dumbbell rows, or TRX rows. Your call. Ok, lets talk about the boring row. Not quite as fun as bench pressing. Plus, you can’t even see your back muscles in the mirror when you performing the row. Double-boring! Definitely heading towards the side of overrated, right? Not so fast. In today’s society we sit WAY too much. We sit at work. We sit in our cars everyday. We sit at home when watching South Park. And you, yeah you, you’re sitting right now as you read this. All of these hours of sitting day-in-day-out, leads to poor posture – shoulders slumped forward which quite often leads to shoulder pain/injuries. Plus, all of that chest work that you are doing doesn’t look as good when slumped forward. To help this do more rows, way more rows. Believe me, in the long run you’ll have healthier shoulders, and an improved looking physique as better posture will make your chest look better as well.
Conclusion: No doubt about it, rows are UNDERRATED!
Alright, there you have it for this addition of overrated/underrated. Hopefully if your nickname is Mr. Curl, you’ll see the light and reduce the volume just a bit on all those curls. I’d rather call you Row Guy anyway. Afterall, chicks just can’t get enough of guys that perform rows. 
***Now that I think of it, did I puke because of seeing that guy spend 37 minutes doing nothing but curls? Or was it the combo of tricep kickbacks and the cell phone? Can’t remember.
