Are weighted push-ups as effective as the bench press? The bench press works. It has built a great number of strong and muscular upper bodies over the years. It’s also one of the three power lifts, and despite the effort of some strength organizations, the overhead press will not negate the royalty status of the […]
Will lat pulldowns help with pull-ups? Yes. Lat pulldowns can be beneficial to one’s pull-up performance because they strengthen the lats, the upper back, the rear deltoids and the arm flexors – the primary movers in pull-ups and chin-ups. The lat pulldown comes with a great technical advantage too – it’s a scalable exercise that […]
Do arm wrestlers use steroids? Yes, they do. Arm wrestling is a combat strength sport and as such it directly profits from the strength and muscle mass that anabolic steroids provide. Some of the arm wrestlers competing on the highest-level showcase elite muscular development that cannot be achieved naturally regardless of how hard you train. […]
Reason 1: Calisthenics Indorses Leanness, Barbells Promote Bulking According to the dictionary definition, an aesthetic physique is one that’s pleasing to look at. The condition requires a combination of decent muscle mass and leanness. If you have one without the other, the impact on the spectator suffers. If you’re in “bear mode”, you have the […]
1. Corrupted sources A while back, I ended up reading a forum post by a 20-year-old man frustrated with dating. The response that he got was infested with so much nonsense that I couldn’t resist checking the profile of the main person talking to him. It was a beautiful blonde woman. Unsurprisingly, she was telling […]
Short answer: The goal of the trainee determines the value of each exercise. If you are training primarily for strength and muscle hypertrophy, then the overhead press is a better choice because it offers a great range of motion right away and a straightforward progression unhindered by extreme balancing requirements. From an athletic standpoint, the […]
FAQ: What are feeder workouts? Feeder workouts are frequent pump training sessions designed to massively accelerated the hypertrophy of a specific body part. The modern originator of the feeder template is Rich Piana who uploaded several videos on the subject. According to Rich, feeder workouts should be done the day after a hard training session […]
The Bulgarian split squat (BSS) has the highest potential to produce hypertrophy of the lower body out of all single-leg lifts because: The difficulty of the exercise can be amplified to a very high level. The range of motion at the knee and hip joints is sufficiently long and can be increased even further by […]
Short answer: Professional bodybuilders and the amateurs imitating them in the gym often perform partial reps, especially when working the shoulders and the chest. Why? The official explanation behind this strategy is that partial repetitions ensure constant tension on the targeted muscle group and therefore hit the area harder. However, a good argument could be […]
Short answer: Together squats and deadlifts offer a very powerful formula that can result in decent development of the upper leg as they allow the lifter to overload the quads, glutes and hamstrings with progressively heavier loads. Nonetheless, naturals promised miracles will have to readjust their expectations as the promoters of 5×5 routines and the […]
Short answer: Theoretically, 5×5 routines are not inherently bad for building an aesthetic physique. But the poor nutritional advice, the unnecessary hype, the elitist attitude, the false claims, the egos of the coaches, the broscience and the needless glorification of barbell strength surrounding the 5×5 method often play a number on people who don’t know […]
Short answer: The shoulders participate actively in pressing and pulling exercises. Many lifters develop decent deltoids without doing isolation work or dedicating a special day to the muscle group. But the high market share of the shoulder in big compound lifts does not make direct work obsolete. In some cases, extra focus on the area […]