Hey All! Feel free to check out the Alpha Progression App: alphaprogression.com/HouseofHypertrophy Read more for timestamps and hamstrings/gastroc discussion: Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 0:30 Part 1: The New Study 2:13 Part 2: Principle One 11:08 Part 3: Principle Two 16:05 Part 4: Vastus & The Soleus As promised in the video, here's how principle one applies to the hamstrings and gastrocnemius. The hamstrings (the biceps femoris long head, semitendinosus, and semimembranosus) cross both the knee and hip joints. They can flex the knee but also extend the hip. During any squatting, leg press, and lunge exercise, the hamstrings (similar to the rectus femoris) are trained suboptimally. This is because, as mentioned in the video, these compound movements (squats/leg presses/lunges) require us to extend our knees and extend our hips. Although the hamstrings can extend the hips, we know they flex the knee (the opposite of knee extension), so it makes sense the nervous system would minimize hamstring involvement during these exercises. Indeed, we have multiple studies finding squats fail to meaningfully grow the hamstrings, reviewed in this paper: www.researchgate.net/publication/357897278_A_Brief_Review_on_the_Effects_of_the_Squat_Exercise_on_Lower-Limb_Muscle_Hypertrophy As for the gastrocnemius, its logic is similar to that of the hamstrings. We mentioned in the video how both gastrocnemius heads cross the ankle and knee joints. They are involved in plantarflexion (calf raising) and knee flexion. During any squat, leg press, and lunge variation, plantarflexion actually happens when you're lifting the weight. Your heel does not elevate, so this is why many of you might not instantly see this, but keep in mind that plantarflexion can be defined as when your foot moves away from your shin (this typically happens during the lifting part of any squat, leg press, or lunge). During any squat/leg press/lunge, we also extend our knees to lift the weight. Although the gastrocnemius is involved in plantarflexion, we know it's also involved in knee flexion (the opposite of knee extension), so it's no surprise these exercises are not great gastrocnemius builders.
I stand by my pull-ups & pulldowns, I'm 45 years old now been training with weights since 19. 💪🏾 I noticed my biceps stagnant 5 years ago, however, when I applied pull-ups & heavy pulldowns at 90°, I saw a lot of growth. It works for me.
I do both seated and standing calf raises. And I’ve been leaning back on leg extension since that video. Thanks for the tips, and keep up good work. 👍👍
Re: Biceps involvement into Pull-ups/lat pull-downs; Talking from experience and especially regarding the pronated grip: You can actively trick your body into involving biceps more or less: If you visualise squeezing the bar together ("moving" the hands closer) biceps involvement is increased. My guess is, It adds a layer of isometric hold signalling to the muscle. Vice versa, if you visualise ripping the bar apart, it decreases biceps involvement and increases the strain on the back muscles (involvement depends on your structure and technique) and involves/recruits the long head. I recommend playing with these cues based on what else is on the plan that day.
@overlord3481 The long head of the triceps crosses the shoulder joint and aides in shoulder adduction and extension. (Moving the elbow down and back) When the biceps is involved, the antagonist, the triceps' firing is inhibited. The "ripping apart" portion is contrary to what the biceps would achieve, therefore it "turns off" and the triceps can work since its antagonist isn't working. I tried keeping it simple - is it understandable? English is not my mother tongue.
When I first started the norm bro split chest on Monday etc ,when it comes to calves, I did standing and sitting once a week and found standing mostly did more burn than build and sitting was contracting more but not last. After 16 years of training and research from various sources and of course House of Hypertrophy, I ,me found it better to do both 4x a week and with different tempo , squeeze positions of ll A V in more angle positions. Saw more results than I ever did. Goblin ,standing , sitting,bent overs, These worked🎉
7:30 Chin-ups and Row are not comparable at all imo. Chins include a high stretch and weight in the top part of the movement. Currently research has provided that for hypertrophy, - it's the stretched muscle position that we should focus on. While doing rows we rather (should) focus on pulling with our back, limiting the bicep involvement, while chins are done sometimes with even more conscious emphasis on bicep that back.
No doubt that are not identical, and I do believe chin-ups would be better. But bear mind when hanging, although the elbows are extended which stretches the biceps, the shoulder is flexed, which actually shortens the biceps at the upper region. This will then reverse during the concentric.
Great video! Thank you! One of the most common misconceptions in the social media fitness space is to wrongly understand that the actions that do not produce optimal results do not produce results at all! This is to say that, as suggested, people might feel a high involvement of the biceps complex and therefore generating growth from, let's say, a chin up but, nevertheless, in equated circumstances, they might benefit much more from long length partial curls for instance. There is nothing wrong with chin ups but loads of people start to call others stupid for assuming biceps will grow from that exercise. This is very annoying and it is great to have content like the one from the House of Hypertrophy to help us navigate this incredibly noisy and treacherous space... Thanks again for this video!
All the recent research suggests that the greater the force applied in the stretched position, the greater the growth. So everything here you said makes sense including the bicep / chin up argument. An incline dumbbell curl might be more effective.
EMG readings are higher when there's more load. If EMG ratings were flawless, 1 rep maxes would be the most effective for muscle growth. The biceps had higher EMG ratings because there was more load, so they were "activated" more. EMG is more useful when you're trying to figure out if a muscle is worked at all. The EMG ratings of two exercises shouldn't be compared.
I think it’s a no brainer that isolation biceps work is more effective than compounds like pull-ups. I need look no further than that when I do pull-ups after a long break from training, I might feel a bit sore in my biceps. While when I did incline dumbbell curls, I got so sore I felt like I tore my biceps.
Man, I done supinated pulldowns for days, my biceps became blue, 0 growth, didn't look like I ever trained them. Isolation did wonders with ¼ of the sets, all you need is like 2 sets of biceps on your pull day and 2 sets on your arm day and watch the magic.
I agree. I’d say if you’re just looking for more of a bang for your buck exercise and have very very little time to workout, it’s a great exercise for you. But for maximal results, you best hit those bicep curls.
Concentration curls with maximum tension at the bottom by pushing inner thigh into tricep and pushing the arm forward rather than directly below you. They make your biceps scream like incline dumbbell curls except far worse, Arnold did most of curls with elbows in front of the body to create maximum tension hence the biceps he had + gentics
with much less weight and reps with curls I can feel the biceps pump in a very isolated way. I would guess this is good, because if there were any conflicting movements they would draw other muscles into the mix and I could do more reps
I’ve sent your channel to all my friends, you are and have been at the top of the game gotta be like 185 of pure muscle 🤣 love the content. Do you have an updated abdominal study coming up?
High electrographic activation of longhead during benchpress may be due to the muscle definitely working hard but being lengthened and shortened at the same time. Much like hamstrings during a squat. Meaning the muscle contributes, but is not getting good growth stimulus due to the muscle not being stretched to end range motion.
If the muscle is fully stretched with compound exercise, then do compound. Like bench press, chin up, squat. With isolate this muscle,you will not win more stretch. But, when isolation gives more stretch ,then better isolate, like lateral raises on on incline bench sideways, or incline curl, or preacher curl or overhead extension for triceps, then do isolation
I spent several years training for armwrestling, thinking that all the neutral and pronated work would hit my biceps enough so I didn't do any direct biceps isolation. My forearms grew, but biceps were underwhelming in comparison, not much growth. With just one or two extra biceps exercises, they have grown more. Supinated variations are important for the biceps for sure. This is why many armwrestlers have bigger forearms than biceps, since the biceps contribute less to armwrestling than you could imagine.
I believe we can affect our nervous system somewhat and that is why we can choose to use more biceps or more back. I think this is especialy true for long term lifters that feel like they can truly isolate a certain muscle.
I agree completely. It is a choice whether one uses the biceps or not when pulling. (Beginners are probably not aware of this and just pull with all they got.)
On the biceps getting worked during compounds: I would recommend adding Yates Rows with a supinated grip in the 10 - 12 Rep range being sure to do the movement properly. That means full extension. It charges the biceps up nicely and I think results in some good growth - although I work biceps directly on 2 arm days per week so it's hard to know for sure. Just saying - give them a shot.
1) Quads - so a pre-exhaust superset should train all heads maximally 2) Triceps - so a pre-exhaust superset of Triceps extensions/dips should train all heads maximally 3) Biceps- so a pre-exhaust superset of preacher curl/chin-ups should train all heads maximally
Bro, it still gets me hard that you use the music from my favorite retrowave playlist, which is old as hell by now, but still near or at the top of searching "retrowave" on youtube.
Love your videos, House of Hypertrophy. That accent of yours gets me every time at the start of the video. "Woah-come to the House of Hypertrophy." I know its British but I don't know the regional accents of Britain well enough to place it any more specifically than that.
Hi house of hypertrophy I was wondering what are your toughts about the JM press, wich is an exercise for triceps , whenever I do them I feel a really really good pump and it seems that it makes mi triceps bigger , and I’ve seen many other people on social media that agrees on this , that this exercise is really really good for triceps , i do need to mention that whenever I do them it’s usually laying on a flat bench under a smith machine and it feels amazing whenever I hit failure and my triceps gets hard af , I was expecting some kind of information about it in this video , but the closest you got to mention it , was when you talked about chest press and the “indirect” working of the tricep but I was really curious about it because since I added this exercise to my routine I can see a more rounded triceps in my arm and overall really voluminous
Thank you for the question! There's no direct research on them to my knowledge, but since we get motion at the shoulder, it may still fail to optimally grow the long head. But, I guess it will do a great job for the lateral and medial heads.
@@HouseofHypertrophy there’s also this weird variation of JM press and skull crushers where you position yourself first in a JM press position and as you start to go lower you do the motion of a skull crusher but without really moving from your JM press starting pose position wich makes your elbow flex and make it really stretch and as you go down but at the same time it’s also the motion of the JM press but with a little bit of the skull crusher motion as you go down , since I started to do it like this I feel a overall really good sensation in the whole triceps have you ever tried it?
@@JackWoodrup great to hear that brother!, I hope that more and more people get to know and try this exercise I feel like it’s the secret sauce for triceps growth for some reason hahaha , I remember that I stopped doing them and changing it for another exercise for some time and the roundness and volume of mi triceps went really down , but I started doing them like 3 months ago again and I’ve started to feel and see my triceps in a better way again
My biceps grew the most when I actually stopped training it in isolation and and focused more on adding weight on compounds, especially weighted chin ups. Imagine that your biceps have to bend the elbow to lift your whole weight and the added one aswell.
I didn't know what that meant, but I agree after looking it up. The point of this channel (for most people) is not for academic purposes, but to gain applicable tips and applicable insights from the academic articles.
The authors of the study get the credit for that haha! They did a great job using the Baysian approach. Anyhow, I personally do prefer this over statistical signficance talk :)
Great video! I'm really loving the channel, even after just 2 videos. Specifically going into the theory for pull-ups, could it possibly be related to overloaded eccentrics? I may be completely misunderstanding, but the concentric movement using shoulder extension from what I can tell, will pair with eccentric movement that uses shoulder flexion. Speaking simply from personal experience when I picked them up as a beginner recently, the sensation of resisting my entire body weight in my arms pulling it into a stretch was fairly unique.
On the triceps: anecdotally, I have to mix a compound(skull crusher or dip), with a cable exercise(the ones that is pure elbow extension) to feel soreness in most of my tricep muscles. In the video, I feel a mistake was made in calling something better or worse instead of both being necessary.
Can you make a video explaining in-depth the best exercises for the neck? I am grappler and I am looking for the most efficient exercises to train my neck from the front, back, sides, and rotation. I see all these different exercises used by different types of grappling sports and combat sports but I want to really know if there a specific way to go about it. For example there are two variations of the neck bridge I see where people either using the back of their head or the top of their head. Or doing a neck plank (a regular plank but instead of using your arms you use your neck) where the either use the top of their forehead or the top of their head. I would be really interested in seeing a video like this especially since neck training isn't as known and there isn't as much videos and I definitely know there are a lot of people curious about it. Especially people who play combat sports.
I don't see the problem with close chin up pull ups and the bicep. Having the arms completely overhead from a dead hang gets a long stretch on the biceps and we know now that putting the muscles on stretch is great for hypertrophy. if bicep involvement in shoulder extension & shoulder adduction is minimal then the stretch is more than worth it and is the controlling factor in the movement. As Mentzer said the close grip pull up leads to an even contraction of the bicep. The soreness is full length as well compared to a curl where the soreness is centered on the head. That develops full length thickness. And his ideal program has both bicep curls as well as close grip chin ups. So its not like you are going to neglect the biceps. His program does a good job combining compound movements and isolation movements for the major body parts.
What always worked for me is combining. Didn't get any substantial growth only from isolation exercises. I got past 100kg only thanks to heavy compound lifting + isolation. But if I only do compound exercises I start losing arm size and shoulder size.
You say in the end that the rectus femoris is suboptimally involved in all compound exercises, but i'm skeptical this is the case for lunges and split squats, particularly if you emphasize the back leg instead of the forward leg.
When I was first starting to train, my bis were naturally strong and my back totally untrained. I got massive stretch marks on my bis from chin ups, but this is likely because my bis took over because my back was the relatively weaker muscle group.
Theoretically, only way to train/exhaust a muscle completely is to isolate it so other muscles aren't helping it. However, it's well-nigh impossible for a muscle to move without somehow affecting other muscles - however minimally.
Stretch isn't king, king is the location where you do a lot of work to create the metabolic shift. This is why there are studies that show the opposite effect despite of more stretch. So one needs to see real reasons of muscle growth to make right conclusions
I think concentrationcurls on the cable is the best excercise for biceps. I gained more than 2cm on my Arms in the last 6 months woth only doing 3 hard Sets of this excercise. I have 12 years of experience.
Good to see the study, but this was not news for me. I had already heard that leg press is much less effective than leg extension for the rectus femorus, and that straight leg calf raises were best because bent knee calf raises don't work the gastroc as well as straight leg calf raises - for the reasons stated in the video.
for quadriceps growth at this point do un think that tha deep syssy squat would be the best exercise for overall quadriceps development? considering that you would have the rectus femourus in a lenghten position, and would achive high tension where the knees are mosr bended
Yes I believe that would be the case as long and you can isolate the quads and not have too much hip flexion. Makes the most sense and if done correctly I’d imagine you wouldn’t have to use that heavy a load.
Would it be safe to say that putting one joint, say the shoulders, into a flexed position while simultaneously doing lengthened partials with resisted elbow flexion (such as an overhead cable biceps curl) would not cause much stimulus for hypertrophy because of active insufficiency?
Personally, i imagine that isolation exercises are better for biceps. However, that doesn't mean that chinups are ineffective. While prehaps suboptimal, I think that the biceps minimal contribution to elbow flexion means that you get better growth than with comparative bi-articular muscles. Furthermore, if how well they grow the biceps is up for debate, how well they grow the brachialis is not. That leaves chinups as a good elbow flexer exercise (Great for the brachialis, ok for the biceps). Therefore, you can still get substantial arm growth from chinups even if they are a bit suboptimal for the biceps specifically.
@HouseofHypertrophy For many years, I did a lot of pausing at different chinup joint angles. My biceps would feel truly fried. I suspect isometric holds get around the 'biarticular' problem, and I would love to see what the science might find here.
Triceps lengthening- isn't that accomplished with the overhead press, since the Triceps are heavy used in that exercise? So lateral raise with overhead press and Triceps extension with dips and you've hit all the positions of the Triceps?
Bicep involvement in pulling exercises is a (mental) CHOICE! By this I mean that one can CHOOSE to pull only with the elbows without using the biceps. I think this is a (huge) source of error in studies of hypertrophy of the biceps from pulling exercises.
Something missing from the "Compound" argument for Chins/Pulls and Bicep activation-the movement of the elbow combined with the movement at the shoulder joint maintains greater myosin/actin overlap. The muscle is lengthening at one end but shortening at the other. Does this mean compounds are "better"? Not necessarily. But it is part of the argument "for" compounds.
The issue is this same logic would extend to the long triceps head and rectus femoris, but both of these fail to grow optimally from compound exercises
@@HouseofHypertrophy Hello HofH. Keep in mind I am saying "a" factor, not "the deciding factor". Point being, there are multiple factors which are amplified or minimized depending on other factors. In the case of chins/pulldowns, there is basically one force vector for the biceps. There is more variation in situational activation with triceps. I don't believe it is correct to say "fail to grow optimally from compounds" since to get the ultimate in recruitment for biarticulate muscles is going to involve turning an "isolation" exercise IN to a compound exercise by moving the opposite joint. Parallel Bar dips, which essentially have the long head contracting in a straight line are a great long head exercise. The rectus is in a terrible position to create force relative to the other heads in compound movements, BUT, if the leg extension is turned into a compound exercise-you will get even better activation of the rectus-Vince Gironda's "power" leg extensions, where you lean back on contraction, and lean forward on extension. Ditto similar results for hamstrings using the seated leg curl-leaning forward on contraction in this case. For triceps, a pullover motion to extension is a great long head exercise. A pushdown with the elbows next to the sides is not a good long head exercise relatively despite it being an isolation exercise due to the slack on the long head.
I saw this to target the lateral vs medial heads of the gastroc be an issue of feet facing out or in. I would imagine if this is unspecified most people would do a face out causing more medial growth, like here. Just a hypothesis.
I like the way you think, and I that could be in play. Although, I will cover this in a future dedicated video on the calves, I think another strong explanation is that the medial gastrocnemius tends to experience greater active insufficiency than the lateral gastrocnemius :)
In the end I care about outcomes over mechanisms, if pull ups grow my biceps I am fine. But I am not a physique sportsman, where I see the point of getting most out of every movement
Training muscles at longer lengths which in some cases is better the one thing that always seems to be left out is tendon activation on lot of exercises the initial movement is made by the tendon first before the muscle comes under tension o contact ie bicep curls , your forearm is near to a right angle before tension is activated on bicep muscle that seems a lot of wasted movement energy to get the muscle engaged would it not be more efficient to start at engaged position and stopping just before the dead point position where tension is lost
You can set up biceps curls in a way that there is more tension in the stretched position, like doing an incline curl or cable curl facing away from the cable
Do you have a recommended amount of sets for each invididual muscle? I want to do around 15 sets per muscle per week but I feel like I could be understimulating my triceps or lats, and over trainining my rear delts or quads
I do have some videos on the channel, and I might create an updated one at some point. But in general, somewhere around 12-20 weekly sets per muscle group seems like a solid recommendation. It's going to depend on how your structure your training, but you should be able to reach a nice balance. Ultimately though, feel free to experiement around and adjust accoridingly.
That is WAY too many sets if you're talking about direct work here, I'll show you my split that I'm progressing on very well with: Monday: bench press, deadlifts, pendlay rows, french presses Wednesday: close grip bench press, barbell hack squats, cheated Yates rows, and upright rows Friday: overhead press, RDL'S, curls, and chin ups
Im a bit late because of classes lmao. Im aware of another study which found similar biceps hypertrophy between arms behind shoulders and one with arms next to the shoulders when tension was maximum at the starting point showing that decent strech combined with a good resistance curve is better than just a big streach. So what I'm about to say very highly speculative so correct me if I'm wrong but I personally think resistance curve has more of a factor in vastus lateralis growing better in leg press vs leg extensions as we know that 90° hip angle squats produce similar quad hypertrophy as 140° knee flexion squats, but they have the more tension in the lengthened part of the lift unlike leg extensions which are hardest at the most shortened part of the lift.. we know from the nordic curls vs leg curls study that monoarticular muscles grow more in the nordics (shbfm) speculatively due to a better resistance curve on the most lengthened part of the lift. So does that mean reverse nordics and sissy squats may be the best quad builders overall due to them being hardest at the most lengthened position if we ignore issues like progression? Again this is very highly speculative so dont be mad if I'm completely wrong but id like to know ur opinion on this- anyways awesome video as always :)
I like the way you think, I indeed think this could be a possiblity! I guess soon enough we'll be able to say things more confidently, as there is more and more research coming out. It would be great to see a reverse nordic curl vs a leg extension. I also look forward to covering that biceps study when it's fully released (I know Milo, one of the authors, discussed it on his channel, but the full text is not out just yet). There are also a few other biceps studies on the way too!
@@HouseofHypertrophy yes it would be great to see such studies in the future to make concrete statements! I'm pretty sure reverse nordics vs leg extensions studies might be considered but for now we can unfortunately only make assumptions :)
Not convinced with the standing/seated calf raise study as it applies to the soleus. Why did they use 10 reps? That is nowhere near the ballpark for soleus development. I would expect far greater soleus development from the seated calf raise compared to standing if 25 reps had been used.
Re: push-down vs OH extension; I do not find the findings surprising at all. On push-downs you very often see flaring arms and therefore a considerable amount of pectoral engagement, taking away from the load on the triceps. If your medial and lateral head are lacking, i prefer switching to a closer grip on benching and focusing triceps work on JM-Press.
when doing pullups I always go chest to bar, towards the end of the set when my body fatigues I feel a contraction in the back of my arm around the tricep. anyone know why? I've had a look online and what I've concluded is that the long head of the tricep assists with shoulder/elbow flexion which occurs in pullups. ?
My best guess would be you have an overly active tricep. Try using your finger and feeling around your tricep for any spots that feel like the muscle is active even at rest. Then, take your finger, apply a good amount of pressure to this tight point, then open and close your elbow. This should be pretty uncomfortable, but it will relax the tissue and should help you with your problem
The long triceps head can assist in shoulder extension and shoulder adduction, these are the motions that happen at the shoulder during pull-ups. It won't be a massive involvement, but I wouldn't be suprised that some people end up feeling a bit of triceps during these movements.
Hey man! Have you seen the recent Kobayashi study (incline vs preacher curls) presented at ecss? Now things are much clearer and it explains the results found in the zabaleta one. Would love to hear your take on it
Hey dude! Yep, I am looking forward to covering that study when it's fully published. My current thinking is that with biarticular muscles (such as the biceps), placing them at a longer length (even if tension isn't at the most stretched position) still builds more muscle, especially at the proximal portions of the muscle. But the other elbow flexors (the brachialis and brachoradialis), due to them being monoarticular, may indeed just grow better with tension at longer lengths (especially at the distal portion) which the preacher curl involves. I will think about this more and see if there's anything I'm missing. Feel free to let me know any of your thoughts 🙏
I started programming front and back foot elevated bulgarians into my quad days for more rec fem targeting. I have access to a seated leg extension machine but i never am able to fee rec fem working.
@@userunknown1578i have tried them. They definitely hit your quads. The only issue i have is standardizing them and loading them. I tried to fit them in at the end of my quads days but they were so pumped it felt like my thighs were going to explode.
@@kwerby3285 I've never felt Nordics in my quads (I also have a build which is very good for Nordics, u are probably different). Loading them is hard. For me I found that adjusting the position of the weight is progression as well. For example, arms by my side I can do around 20 reps, but arms on my head I can only do around 12, because the center of mass is further from the knee joint. You can also play with lean and head position since that all affects the moment arm as well. (I'm just spewing my experience with Nordics, they're not for everyone's biomechanics or goals)
I actually juat do narrow (shoulder width) grip chin-ups and barbell rows and zero curls and have grown my biceps. With my chin-up PR at the moment being BW (200lbs) + 45lbs for 5 x 5. Just an anecdote
Hey All! Feel free to check out the Alpha Progression App: alphaprogression.com/HouseofHypertrophy
Read more for timestamps and hamstrings/gastroc discussion:
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
0:30 Part 1: The New Study
2:13 Part 2: Principle One
11:08 Part 3: Principle Two
16:05 Part 4: Vastus & The Soleus
As promised in the video, here's how principle one applies to the hamstrings and gastrocnemius.
The hamstrings (the biceps femoris long head, semitendinosus, and semimembranosus) cross both the knee and hip joints. They can flex the knee but also extend the hip.
During any squatting, leg press, and lunge exercise, the hamstrings (similar to the rectus femoris) are trained suboptimally. This is because, as mentioned in the video, these compound movements (squats/leg presses/lunges) require us to extend our knees and extend our hips. Although the hamstrings can extend the hips, we know they flex the knee (the opposite of knee extension), so it makes sense the nervous system would minimize hamstring involvement during these exercises. Indeed, we have multiple studies finding squats fail to meaningfully grow the hamstrings, reviewed in this paper: www.researchgate.net/publication/357897278_A_Brief_Review_on_the_Effects_of_the_Squat_Exercise_on_Lower-Limb_Muscle_Hypertrophy
As for the gastrocnemius, its logic is similar to that of the hamstrings. We mentioned in the video how both gastrocnemius heads cross the ankle and knee joints. They are involved in plantarflexion (calf raising) and knee flexion.
During any squat, leg press, and lunge variation, plantarflexion actually happens when you're lifting the weight. Your heel does not elevate, so this is why many of you might not instantly see this, but keep in mind that plantarflexion can be defined as when your foot moves away from your shin (this typically happens during the lifting part of any squat, leg press, or lunge). During any squat/leg press/lunge, we also extend our knees to lift the weight.
Although the gastrocnemius is involved in plantarflexion, we know it's also involved in knee flexion (the opposite of knee extension), so it's no surprise these exercises are not great gastrocnemius builders.
So Romanian deadlifts would be better for hamstrings than any squat, leg press or lunge variation.
@yamafanboyHow many sets and how often per week? Thinking of doing the same.
Best informative channel in the RUclips fitness game.
No ego, no weird narcassism, just straight *FACTS.* 🙌
I truly appreciate those kind words, thank you!
lol, where *is* Alex🤔
I stand by my pull-ups & pulldowns, I'm 45 years old now been training with weights since 19. 💪🏾 I noticed my biceps stagnant 5 years ago, however, when I applied pull-ups & heavy pulldowns at 90°, I saw a lot of growth. It works for me.
Must have girthy legs
Video came out 12 minutes ago it’s 20 minutes long and people are already commenting about it 😂WATCH FIRST
Some of us play videos at 1.5 or 2x speed...just saying...
@@ScottKent that too could be why we see comments where the commenter somehow missed answers that were given in the video itself.
😂😂😂
People will just read the title and comment off that 😂
😂😂😂😂
Love your channel and your way of presenting evidence based fitness guides! You are one of a kind! :)
Best evidence based video analysis about those studies. Amazing🙏🏼❤
Thank you for this video. You offer great information. I appreciate the fact that you make scientific studies easy to understand in a practical sense.
Thank YOU for checking out the video!
It's great to finally see the science coming out on this.
100% agreed!
i am glad content like this is free
🙏
His breakdowns were awesome. Appreciate your work and videos 🔥
I truly appreciate your kind words, thank you!
I do both seated and standing calf raises. And I’ve been leaning back on leg extension since that video. Thanks for the tips, and keep up good work. 👍👍
Thank you for this video !
Thank YOU for checking it out!
Wonderful! Glad to have more studies to lean into. Thanks again!
Thank you my friend, I appreciate your support as always!
Re: Biceps involvement into Pull-ups/lat pull-downs;
Talking from experience and especially regarding the pronated grip:
You can actively trick your body into involving biceps more or less:
If you visualise squeezing the bar together ("moving" the hands closer) biceps involvement is increased.
My guess is, It adds a layer of isometric hold signalling to the muscle.
Vice versa, if you visualise ripping the bar apart, it decreases biceps involvement and increases the strain on the back muscles (involvement depends on your structure and technique) and involves/recruits the long head.
I recommend playing with these cues based on what else is on the plan that day.
Why would it recruit more long head?
@overlord3481
The long head of the triceps crosses the shoulder joint and aides in shoulder adduction and extension.
(Moving the elbow down and back)
When the biceps is involved, the antagonist, the triceps' firing is inhibited.
The "ripping apart" portion is contrary to what the biceps would achieve, therefore it "turns off" and the triceps can work since its antagonist isn't working.
I tried keeping it simple - is it understandable?
English is not my mother tongue.
Hey, why dont u upload all these videos as a sound tracks on Spotify?
If enough people are interested, I would look into that! (feel free to reply to this if you would like this)
Bro , put it in audible too
I often listen to these in The car so i would also like just and audio version@@HouseofHypertrophy
@@HouseofHypertrophy that would be really great ngl
yes would be good@@HouseofHypertrophy
Awesome thanks for listing all the study links.
I'm grateful for the content, I feel like a better job could be done to simplify this and bring it into actionable principles
Amazing video like always! Great quality and valuable information. Thank you for another great video😊 Have a good day.
Your channel is goated man, keep up the great work
When I first started the norm bro split chest on Monday etc ,when it comes to calves, I did standing and sitting once a week and found standing mostly did more burn than build and sitting was contracting more but not last.
After 16 years of training and research from various sources and of course House of Hypertrophy, I ,me found it better to do both 4x a week and with different tempo , squeeze positions of ll A V in more angle positions. Saw more results than I ever did. Goblin ,standing , sitting,bent overs, These worked🎉
What an awesome channel, thx Mr House
Fantastic, I've learned a lot in this video. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for covering our study gracious king!
Haha, thank you once again for the awesome study! You guys are killing it 🙏
7:30 Chin-ups and Row are not comparable at all imo. Chins include a high stretch and weight in the top part of the movement. Currently research has provided that for hypertrophy, - it's the stretched muscle position that we should focus on.
While doing rows we rather (should) focus on pulling with our back, limiting the bicep involvement, while chins are done sometimes with even more conscious emphasis on bicep that back.
I'm finding more info that stretched muscle position help with bicep gains. Gym rings workouts always seem to show great bicep results.
No doubt that are not identical, and I do believe chin-ups would be better. But bear mind when hanging, although the elbows are extended which stretches the biceps, the shoulder is flexed, which actually shortens the biceps at the upper region. This will then reverse during the concentric.
Great video! Thank you! One of the most common misconceptions in the social media fitness space is to wrongly understand that the actions that do not produce optimal results do not produce results at all! This is to say that, as suggested, people might feel a high involvement of the biceps complex and therefore generating growth from, let's say, a chin up but, nevertheless, in equated circumstances, they might benefit much more from long length partial curls for instance. There is nothing wrong with chin ups but loads of people start to call others stupid for assuming biceps will grow from that exercise. This is very annoying and it is great to have content like the one from the House of Hypertrophy to help us navigate this incredibly noisy and treacherous space... Thanks again for this video!
Thank you so much for the kind words, I truly appreciate them!
Really interesting thankyou
thank you great video
Thank you for checking it out dude, as always!
the quality of this video is very good, way better than a year ago
All the recent research suggests that the greater the force applied in the stretched position, the greater the growth. So everything here you said makes sense including the bicep / chin up argument. An incline dumbbell curl might be more effective.
I edge to this study
need a spot?
Lets goo bro
this study is edging science
So real
Genius
EMG readings are higher when there's more load. If EMG ratings were flawless, 1 rep maxes would be the most effective for muscle growth. The biceps had higher EMG ratings because there was more load, so they were "activated" more. EMG is more useful when you're trying to figure out if a muscle is worked at all. The EMG ratings of two exercises shouldn't be compared.
Prawda
It would be so cool if you also did videos on studies about supplements, fat burners and test boosters etc.
I think it’s a no brainer that isolation biceps work is more effective than compounds like pull-ups. I need look no further than that when I do pull-ups after a long break from training, I might feel a bit sore in my biceps. While when I did incline dumbbell curls, I got so sore I felt like I tore my biceps.
I appreciate you sharing your perspective, and I would tend to agree!
Man, I done supinated pulldowns for days, my biceps became blue, 0 growth, didn't look like I ever trained them.
Isolation did wonders with ¼ of the sets, all you need is like 2 sets of biceps on your pull day and 2 sets on your arm day and watch the magic.
Depends on the goal. Compound is better for general health and performance.
@@jacklauren9359 With this being a hypertrophy channel, I think you can guess everyone's goal.
I agree. I’d say if you’re just looking for more of a bang for your buck exercise and have very very little time to workout, it’s a great exercise for you. But for maximal results, you best hit those bicep curls.
Concentration curls with maximum tension at the bottom by pushing inner thigh into tricep and pushing the arm forward rather than directly below you. They make your biceps scream like incline dumbbell curls except far worse, Arnold did most of curls with elbows in front of the body to create maximum tension hence the biceps he had + gentics
Dr. Brad rates indirect exercises as 0.5-0.75:1 ratio to direct exercises. Useful for specialized cycles (increase/decease) volume.
with much less weight and reps with curls I can feel the biceps pump in a very isolated way. I would guess this is good, because if there were any conflicting movements they would draw other muscles into the mix and I could do more reps
Shit. Now the only horizontal press machine in my gym is gonna be even more busy...
at least they don't take the bench press & power rack
Just do standing overhead press with the barbell
Smith machine and some step for the feet
Another high level video.
Thank you so much!
I’ve sent your channel to all my friends, you are and have been at the top of the game gotta be like 185 of pure muscle 🤣 love the content. Do you have an updated abdominal study coming up?
Alright you got me, downloading the app and going to start training seriously. Remind me to check back here in 6 months
Leaving comment, waiting for your update
High electrographic activation of longhead during benchpress may be due to the muscle definitely working hard but being lengthened and shortened at the same time.
Much like hamstrings during a squat. Meaning the muscle contributes, but is not getting good growth stimulus due to the muscle not being stretched to end range motion.
If the muscle is fully stretched with compound exercise, then do compound. Like bench press, chin up, squat. With isolate this muscle,you will not win more stretch. But, when isolation gives more stretch ,then better isolate, like lateral raises on on incline bench sideways, or incline curl, or preacher curl or overhead extension for triceps, then do isolation
Golden information ❤
10/10 video for breaking it down so simply from all facets. Cbeers kient.
I spent several years training for armwrestling, thinking that all the neutral and pronated work would hit my biceps enough so I didn't do any direct biceps isolation. My forearms grew, but biceps were underwhelming in comparison, not much growth. With just one or two extra biceps exercises, they have grown more. Supinated variations are important for the biceps for sure. This is why many armwrestlers have bigger forearms than biceps, since the biceps contribute less to armwrestling than you could imagine.
I believe we can affect our nervous system somewhat and that is why we can choose to use more biceps or more back.
I think this is especialy true for long term lifters that feel like they can truly isolate a certain muscle.
I agree completely. It is a choice whether one uses the biceps or not when pulling. (Beginners are probably not aware of this and just pull with all they got.)
It makes sense that straight leg calf raises are more effective since the calf is in a more stretched position when straight
On the biceps getting worked during compounds: I would recommend adding Yates Rows with a supinated grip in the 10 - 12 Rep range being sure to do the movement properly. That means full extension. It charges the biceps up nicely and I think results in some good growth - although I work biceps directly on 2 arm days per week so it's hard to know for sure. Just saying - give them a shot.
1) Quads - so a pre-exhaust superset should train all heads maximally
2) Triceps - so a pre-exhaust superset of Triceps extensions/dips should train all heads maximally
3) Biceps- so a pre-exhaust superset of preacher curl/chin-ups should train all heads maximally
Best channel on YT
My favourite fitness channel
Bro, it still gets me hard that you use the music from my favorite retrowave playlist, which is old as hell by now, but still near or at the top of searching "retrowave" on youtube.
Pause, me too
Heavy back exercises can totally spoke the biceps if you connect the mind just as much as curls
Love your videos, House of Hypertrophy. That accent of yours gets me every time at the start of the video. "Woah-come to the House of Hypertrophy." I know its British but I don't know the regional accents of Britain well enough to place it any more specifically than that.
Born and raised in London!
@@HouseofHypertrophy I thought it might be London!
@@HouseofHypertrophythat's your actual voice? I always thought it was ai 😂
@@KingAdjusti also thought this was an ai channel because of the cadence and the flat tonality.
I’ve always done what the recommendations were 😊
Haha, awesome to hear! I wish you continued gainz!
Hi house of hypertrophy I was wondering what are your toughts about the JM press, wich is an exercise for triceps , whenever I do them I feel a really really good pump and it seems that it makes mi triceps bigger , and I’ve seen many other people on social media that agrees on this , that this exercise is really really good for triceps , i do need to mention that whenever I do them it’s usually laying on a flat bench under a smith machine and it feels amazing whenever I hit failure and my triceps gets hard af , I was expecting some kind of information about it in this video , but the closest you got to mention it , was when you talked about chest press and the “indirect” working of the tricep but I was really curious about it because since I added this exercise to my routine I can see a more rounded triceps in my arm and overall really voluminous
Thank you for the question! There's no direct research on them to my knowledge, but since we get motion at the shoulder, it may still fail to optimally grow the long head. But, I guess it will do a great job for the lateral and medial heads.
I hear you brother. I do the Jm press on a low incline smith and have gotten great results
@@HouseofHypertrophy there’s also this weird variation of JM press and skull crushers where you position yourself first in a JM press position and as you start to go lower you do the motion of a skull crusher but without really moving from your JM press starting pose position wich makes your elbow flex and make it really stretch and as you go down but at the same time it’s also the motion of the JM press but with a little bit of the skull crusher motion as you go down , since I started to do it like this I feel a overall really good sensation in the whole triceps have you ever tried it?
@@JackWoodrup great to hear that brother!, I hope that more and more people get to know and try this exercise I feel like it’s the secret sauce for triceps growth for some reason hahaha , I remember that I stopped doing them and changing it for another exercise for some time and the roundness and volume of mi triceps went really down , but I started doing them like 3 months ago again and I’ve started to feel and see my triceps in a better way again
imagine doing leg extensions AND leg press in the same routine! we are so educated these days! thanks to studies and channels like this
Exercise selection for Day 2 of The Perfect (Principled) Routine since 1990
My biceps grew the most when I actually stopped training it in isolation and and focused more on adding weight on compounds, especially weighted chin ups. Imagine that your biceps have to bend the elbow to lift your whole weight and the added one aswell.
On a side note, I love the way you presented these results as Bayesian, rather than frequentist.
I didn't know what that meant, but I agree after looking it up. The point of this channel (for most people) is not for academic purposes, but to gain applicable tips and applicable insights from the academic articles.
The authors of the study get the credit for that haha! They did a great job using the Baysian approach. Anyhow, I personally do prefer this over statistical signficance talk :)
Best bicep exercise I've found is Curls with asymmetrical dumbells. Add more weight to the inside for more supination force
Great video! I'm really loving the channel, even after just 2 videos.
Specifically going into the theory for pull-ups, could it possibly be related to overloaded eccentrics? I may be completely misunderstanding, but the concentric movement using shoulder extension from what I can tell, will pair with eccentric movement that uses shoulder flexion.
Speaking simply from personal experience when I picked them up as a beginner recently, the sensation of resisting my entire body weight in my arms pulling it into a stretch was fairly unique.
Yet another new study 🤯
On the triceps: anecdotally, I have to mix a compound(skull crusher or dip), with a cable exercise(the ones that is pure elbow extension) to feel soreness in most of my tricep muscles. In the video, I feel a mistake was made in calling something better or worse instead of both being necessary.
Can you make a video explaining in-depth the best exercises for the neck? I am grappler and I am looking for the most efficient exercises to train my neck from the front, back, sides, and rotation.
I see all these different exercises used by different types of grappling sports and combat sports but I want to really know if there a specific way to go about it.
For example there are two variations of the neck bridge I see where people either using the back of their head or the top of their head. Or doing a neck plank (a regular plank but instead of using your arms you use your neck) where the either use the top of their forehead or the top of their head.
I would be really interested in seeing a video like this especially since neck training isn't as known and there isn't as much videos and I definitely know there are a lot of people curious about it. Especially people who play combat sports.
Hi, what app/programs do you use for creating those clips or imagine whit stickmans training? Thanks in case you respond
I don't see the problem with close chin up pull ups and the bicep. Having the arms completely overhead from a dead hang gets a long stretch on the biceps and we know now that putting the muscles on stretch is great for hypertrophy. if bicep involvement in shoulder extension & shoulder adduction is minimal then the stretch is more than worth it and is the controlling factor in the movement.
As Mentzer said the close grip pull up leads to an even contraction of the bicep. The soreness is full length as well compared to a curl where the soreness is centered on the head. That develops full length thickness.
And his ideal program has both bicep curls as well as close grip chin ups. So its not like you are going to neglect the biceps. His program does a good job combining compound movements and isolation movements for the major body parts.
What always worked for me is combining. Didn't get any substantial growth only from isolation exercises. I got past 100kg only thanks to heavy compound lifting + isolation. But if I only do compound exercises I start losing arm size and shoulder size.
You say in the end that the rectus femoris is suboptimally involved in all compound exercises, but i'm skeptical this is the case for lunges and split squats, particularly if you emphasize the back leg instead of the forward leg.
When I was first starting to train, my bis were naturally strong and my back totally untrained. I got massive stretch marks on my bis from chin ups, but this is likely because my bis took over because my back was the relatively weaker muscle group.
I love me some maszools.. great accent 😊
So how do u explain gymnasts huge biceps gains and all they do is compound pulling exercises ?
Genetics together with a daily pump.
Theoretically, only way to train/exhaust a muscle completely is to isolate it so other muscles aren't helping it. However, it's well-nigh impossible for a muscle to move without somehow affecting other muscles - however minimally.
Stretch isn't king, king is the location where you do a lot of work to create the metabolic shift. This is why there are studies that show the opposite effect despite of more stretch. So one needs to see real reasons of muscle growth to make right conclusions
Intresting way of showing the hip flexion because i imagined you're gonnna show that you're bringing your knee to the hip/core area.
Either way works!
I think concentrationcurls on the cable is the best excercise for biceps. I gained more than 2cm on my Arms in the last 6 months woth only doing 3 hard Sets of this excercise. I have 12 years of experience.
Good to see the study, but this was not news for me. I had already heard that leg press is much less effective than leg extension for the rectus femorus, and that straight leg calf raises were best because bent knee calf raises don't work the gastroc as well as straight leg calf raises - for the reasons stated in the video.
for quadriceps growth at this point do un think that tha deep syssy squat would be the best exercise for overall quadriceps development? considering that you would have the rectus femourus in a lenghten position, and would achive high tension where the knees are mosr bended
Yes I believe that would be the case as long and you can isolate the quads and not have too much hip flexion. Makes the most sense and if done correctly I’d imagine you wouldn’t have to use that heavy a load.
Could you please release the best study based workout plan🙏🏾
Would it be safe to say that putting one joint, say the shoulders, into a flexed position while simultaneously doing lengthened partials with resisted elbow flexion (such as an overhead cable biceps curl) would not cause much stimulus for hypertrophy because of active insufficiency?
Personally, i imagine that isolation exercises are better for biceps. However, that doesn't mean that chinups are ineffective. While prehaps suboptimal, I think that the biceps minimal contribution to elbow flexion means that you get better growth than with comparative bi-articular muscles. Furthermore, if how well they grow the biceps is up for debate, how well they grow the brachialis is not.
That leaves chinups as a good elbow flexer exercise (Great for the brachialis, ok for the biceps). Therefore, you can still get substantial arm growth from chinups even if they are a bit suboptimal for the biceps specifically.
@HouseofHypertrophy For many years, I did a lot of pausing at different chinup joint angles. My biceps would feel truly fried. I suspect isometric holds get around the 'biarticular' problem, and I would love to see what the science might find here.
Triceps lengthening- isn't that accomplished with the overhead press, since the Triceps are heavy used in that exercise? So lateral raise with overhead press and Triceps extension with dips and you've hit all the positions of the Triceps?
Bicep involvement in pulling exercises is a (mental) CHOICE! By this I mean that one can CHOOSE to pull only with the elbows without using the biceps. I think this is a (huge) source of error in studies of hypertrophy of the biceps from pulling exercises.
Something missing from the "Compound" argument for Chins/Pulls and Bicep activation-the movement of the elbow combined with the movement at the shoulder joint maintains greater myosin/actin overlap. The muscle is lengthening at one end but shortening at the other. Does this mean compounds are "better"? Not necessarily. But it is part of the argument "for" compounds.
The issue is this same logic would extend to the long triceps head and rectus femoris, but both of these fail to grow optimally from compound exercises
@@HouseofHypertrophy Hello HofH. Keep in mind I am saying "a" factor, not "the deciding factor". Point being, there are multiple factors which are amplified or minimized depending on other factors. In the case of chins/pulldowns, there is basically one force vector for the biceps. There is more variation in situational activation with triceps. I don't believe it is correct to say "fail to grow optimally from compounds" since to get the ultimate in recruitment for biarticulate muscles is going to involve turning an "isolation" exercise IN to a compound exercise by moving the opposite joint. Parallel Bar dips, which essentially have the long head contracting in a straight line are a great long head exercise. The rectus is in a terrible position to create force relative to the other heads in compound movements, BUT, if the leg extension is turned into a compound exercise-you will get even better activation of the rectus-Vince Gironda's "power" leg extensions, where you lean back on contraction, and lean forward on extension. Ditto similar results for hamstrings using the seated leg curl-leaning forward on contraction in this case. For triceps, a pullover motion to extension is a great long head exercise. A pushdown with the elbows next to the sides is not a good long head exercise relatively despite it being an isolation exercise due to the slack on the long head.
You can do chin ups without using the biceps or the brachialis the same way you can focus the exercise to those muscles while doing chin ups
I saw this to target the lateral vs medial heads of the gastroc be an issue of feet facing out or in. I would imagine if this is unspecified most people would do a face out causing more medial growth, like here. Just a hypothesis.
I like the way you think, and I that could be in play. Although, I will cover this in a future dedicated video on the calves, I think another strong explanation is that the medial gastrocnemius tends to experience greater active insufficiency than the lateral gastrocnemius :)
In the end I care about outcomes over mechanisms, if pull ups grow my biceps I am fine. But I am not a physique sportsman, where I see the point of getting most out of every movement
I think that is a perfectly fine view to have! 🙏
But are leg extensions really safe? I feel like I just can’t go hard on them without discomfort
Training muscles at longer lengths which in some cases is better the one thing that always seems to be left out is tendon activation on lot of exercises the initial movement is made by the tendon first before the muscle comes under tension o contact ie bicep curls , your forearm is near to a right angle before tension is activated on bicep muscle that seems a lot of wasted movement energy to get the muscle engaged would it not be more efficient to start at engaged position and stopping just before the dead point position where tension is lost
You can set up biceps curls in a way that there is more tension in the stretched position, like doing an incline curl or cable curl facing away from the cable
Do you have a recommended amount of sets for each invididual muscle?
I want to do around 15 sets per muscle per week but I feel like I could be understimulating my triceps or lats, and over trainining my rear delts or quads
I do have some videos on the channel, and I might create an updated one at some point. But in general, somewhere around 12-20 weekly sets per muscle group seems like a solid recommendation. It's going to depend on how your structure your training, but you should be able to reach a nice balance. Ultimately though, feel free to experiement around and adjust accoridingly.
That's fair, I guess 12 would be a solid minimum for each muscle group then, It'd be interesting to see the optimal volume of each muscle compared!
That is WAY too many sets if you're talking about direct work here, I'll show you my split that I'm progressing on very well with:
Monday: bench press, deadlifts, pendlay rows, french presses
Wednesday: close grip bench press, barbell hack squats, cheated Yates rows, and upright rows
Friday: overhead press, RDL'S, curls, and chin ups
Check out polarity fitness he knows his stuff 😎👍
Higher volumes have been shown to increase gains, Would keeping 12 as a minimum and 15 sets for most not be good?
Im a bit late because of classes lmao. Im aware of another study which found similar biceps hypertrophy between arms behind shoulders and one with arms next to the shoulders when tension was maximum at the starting point showing that decent strech combined with a good resistance curve is better than just a big streach. So what I'm about to say very highly speculative so correct me if I'm wrong but I personally think resistance curve has more of a factor in vastus lateralis growing better in leg press vs leg extensions as we know that 90° hip angle squats produce similar quad hypertrophy as 140° knee flexion squats, but they have the more tension in the lengthened part of the lift unlike leg extensions which are hardest at the most shortened part of the lift.. we know from the nordic curls vs leg curls study that monoarticular muscles grow more in the nordics (shbfm) speculatively due to a better resistance curve on the most lengthened part of the lift. So does that mean reverse nordics and sissy squats may be the best quad builders overall due to them being hardest at the most lengthened position if we ignore issues like progression? Again this is very highly speculative so dont be mad if I'm completely wrong but id like to know ur opinion on this- anyways awesome video as always :)
I like the way you think, I indeed think this could be a possiblity! I guess soon enough we'll be able to say things more confidently, as there is more and more research coming out. It would be great to see a reverse nordic curl vs a leg extension.
I also look forward to covering that biceps study when it's fully released (I know Milo, one of the authors, discussed it on his channel, but the full text is not out just yet). There are also a few other biceps studies on the way too!
@@HouseofHypertrophy yes it would be great to see such studies in the future to make concrete statements! I'm pretty sure reverse nordics vs leg extensions studies might be considered but for now we can unfortunately only make assumptions :)
bro got npc responded 🤖
Not convinced with the standing/seated calf raise study as it applies to the soleus. Why did they use 10 reps? That is nowhere near the ballpark for soleus development. I would expect far greater soleus development from the seated calf raise compared to standing if 25 reps had been used.
Re: push-down vs OH extension;
I do not find the findings surprising at all.
On push-downs you very often see flaring arms and therefore a considerable amount of pectoral engagement, taking away from the load on the triceps.
If your medial and lateral head are lacking, i prefer switching to a closer grip on benching and focusing triceps work on JM-Press.
Do you think passive insufficiency could affect lengthened training?
when doing pullups I always go chest to bar, towards the end of the set when my body fatigues I feel a contraction in the back of my arm around the tricep. anyone know why? I've had a look online and what I've concluded is that the long head of the tricep assists with shoulder/elbow flexion which occurs in pullups. ?
The long head assists with shoulder extension.
My best guess would be you have an overly active tricep. Try using your finger and feeling around your tricep for any spots that feel like the muscle is active even at rest. Then, take your finger, apply a good amount of pressure to this tight point, then open and close your elbow. This should be pretty uncomfortable, but it will relax the tissue and should help you with your problem
The long triceps head can assist in shoulder extension and shoulder adduction, these are the motions that happen at the shoulder during pull-ups. It won't be a massive involvement, but I wouldn't be suprised that some people end up feeling a bit of triceps during these movements.
I feel my biceps with cable flyes when i'm close to failure.
Hey man! Have you seen the recent Kobayashi study (incline vs preacher curls) presented at ecss? Now things are much clearer and it explains the results found in the zabaleta one. Would love to hear your take on it
Hey dude! Yep, I am looking forward to covering that study when it's fully published. My current thinking is that with biarticular muscles (such as the biceps), placing them at a longer length (even if tension isn't at the most stretched position) still builds more muscle, especially at the proximal portions of the muscle. But the other elbow flexors (the brachialis and brachoradialis), due to them being monoarticular, may indeed just grow better with tension at longer lengths (especially at the distal portion) which the preacher curl involves. I will think about this more and see if there's anything I'm missing. Feel free to let me know any of your thoughts 🙏
no summaries anymore? :(
I started programming front and back foot elevated bulgarians into my quad days for more rec fem targeting.
I have access to a seated leg extension machine but i never am able to fee rec fem working.
Do reverse nordics if you want to feel the rec fem.
@@userunknown1578i have tried them. They definitely hit your quads.
The only issue i have is standardizing them and loading them. I tried to fit them in at the end of my quads days but they were so pumped it felt like my thighs were going to explode.
@@kwerby3285 I've never felt Nordics in my quads (I also have a build which is very good for Nordics, u are probably different). Loading them is hard. For me I found that adjusting the position of the weight is progression as well. For example, arms by my side I can do around 20 reps, but arms on my head I can only do around 12, because the center of mass is further from the knee joint. You can also play with lean and head position since that all affects the moment arm as well. (I'm just spewing my experience with Nordics, they're not for everyone's biomechanics or goals)
I actually juat do narrow (shoulder width) grip chin-ups and barbell rows and zero curls and have grown my biceps. With my chin-up PR at the moment being BW (200lbs) + 45lbs for 5 x 5. Just an anecdote
Sure, but the study is about optimizing growth. They'd grow more with curls.