Similar to the elbows during Dumbbell flys. Passive insufficiency of the biceps can limit the range of motion/stretch on the pecs if you attempt to keep the elbows too extended.
I used to follow AthleanX few years ago, and stopped doing Dumbbell Flys after watching his videos, until I started following Milo and the research on lengthen partials and so on, and started doing them again. It's a great exercise and wrongly vilified for so long. Thank you Milo!
Funny you say that, as I was watching these and he mentioned face pulls I just thought to myself I wonder if the general arc is to start with athleanx, get sufficiently jacked to the point where you plateau and then seek out more scientific based lifting resources lol
Same story here. I'll always watch Athlean X but I no longer take it as gospel like when I was younger. You also have to realize Jeff is coming from a physical therapist perspective, he was surrounded by injured people all the time, that's going to change the way you think probably
Well AthleanX, Jeff isn't completely against dumbell Flys, he just would prefer you do them on the floor for better shoulder support. I think the main problem is people try to go too heavy on them and then get injured.
Dumbbell flys we’re my best friend after having shoulder surgery. Pressing movements were hard but the fly really let me work through the scar tissue and get a good stretch. As I progressed I found that the I was also able to push hard for sets of 15 or more and get real sore without pain. TLDR: flys are fucking dope
I use all these. For better ROM on quads at home I bought a pair of those dumbbell foot straps. I strap a dumbbell to each foot, lie on the floor on my back. I then raise one leg into the air and lower and raise the dumbbell. It is a leg extension that hugely improves the lengthened partial aspect providing tension right the way until your hamstring hits your calf. Try it!
To be fair, some leg extension machines are already pretty good at this... but I still think it'll be hard to beat the stretch of a reverse nordic curl.
Look up, Doug Brignoli, the rear belts. The best way to train them is start up from your chest down backwards towards your hips, so not up from your chest all the way out to your right, but up from your chest diagonally down towards your hips.
Re: Pistol squats I'm a calisthenics guy and I can do pistol squats but I don't really like them. I find that they're more of a challenge for my balance and hip flexors than for my quads and glutes. For my squats, I do shrimp squats (inactive leg tucked behind) from a deficit. In addition to being more stable, you can easily scale the exercise increasing/decreasing the deficit or increasing/decreasing assistance from the inactive leg.
Agree. Was able to do large volume of pistols, with slower eccentric, and got zero growth. Even when balance becomes less of an issue. Sets 15 approaching failure on a leg press and leg extensions built me more leg meat in a year than pistols did in 10 years.
Thanks for including Dumb Bell Fly. So many trainers tell people not to do these because one can over extend the muscles used in this exercise. However, by using lighter weights when one adds this to their work outs, this problem can be avoided. I've been doing this exercise for many years and have never had a problem. I'm 71 and use 35lb. dumb bells with 15 reps.
Nice! I have a resistance band version for most of these. You can load the band with equal-ish resistance throughout ROM by creatively playing with the shape of the band during reps. Triangle, square, 8, V, I, Y, W.
yoooo I've been doing side lying lateral raises for a few months now, these are a super underrated a way to train side delts for home gym owners so I'm glad these get some recognition!
I've never watched this channel before. Video seemed interesting, let's see what new exercises I can learn. Oh, I already do almost all of these, except the smith machine split squat but I do other variations of split squats without being worried about the balance and stability aspect. I work on stability and balance a lot. I get some weird looks in the gym for some of the stuff I do. Like single leg RDL with dumbbells; hard as heck at first but once you get the right miscles firing, it's pure gold.
I love the fact that you're including more humor in your videos, I think that'll pay off - after all, watching videos on RUclips is mostly a leisure activity, even if they're very educational. I love the laying lateral raises for the side delts: I prefer using the cables at the gym, but the accessibility of these over cables is ridiculous - you literally only need one dumbbell and like 5-15 mins including warm up to get what's probably more then enough side delt volume for the vast majority of living humans, outside of the biggest and most advanced. I'm personally a huge fan of deficit push ups and inverted rolls too, for the same reasons - super accessible(one could get away with some rope and a tree branch to loop it over, for makeshift rings, if times really get that tough), decent RSM and STR for most of the muscles involved, and because the whole body acts as a lever - a stretch under tension favorable force curve.
I have seen one person, a newbie girl, do pistol squats at the gym. She was holding onto a ladder, and wasn't really getting deep, but she was doing them. I've tried, during Covid when gyms were closed. 2hard4me. I'll definitely lower the weight and increase the ROM on elevated Smith Machine split squats, and I'll give sissy squats a shot. Interesting stuff.
Straight up fire! You need to do part 2- pullups and chins are done so sloppy and not done as they should be. Kelso shrugs, one arm dumb tricep extension, 1 leg calf raise with dumbbell, fat man pullups on smith machine, deficit pushups with weighted vest im sure you got a few more....
for lats, I prefer pull ups, but I totally agree with everything else, this video was really refreshing! Finally I don't feel like the weird one anymore, because I do a lot of pistol squats and reverse nordic (and deficit sumo deadlifts for the glutes and a little adductors, for which I prefer copenhagen hip adduction, that could have probably made this list)
I do reverse nordics as a leg workout finisher & the pump is unreal. I’ve worked up to a flexibility level so that I can basically lay on my back when doing them. Holding a 10kg plate in front of your knees helps with balance or if the knees want to go up. It’s also important to do tibialis anterior raises of some sort (ideally on a bench with a tib bar) as that will improve ankle mobility & allow you you to do high reps comfortably even without a yoga mat.
When you do the reverse Nordic hamstring curl, also known as the bodyweight leg extension, do not get your body vertical, you are taking the tension off of the legs. You want to go up to about the 95 maybe 100° mark. I actually do this with kettlebells since I have maxed out with my only slam ball being 25 lb. I did post a video recently on a different platform using a 55 lb kettlebell for sets of five, but I was doing sets of eight with a 50 lb kettlebell but I'm not a bodybuilder so I don't care if you challenged my repetition number. They were done after doing Nordic hamstring curls and getting a new 5x5 record on the back spot. But I am shocked you didn't include the Nordic hamstring curl because of how bulletproof they make your knees but maybe that's because you can't do them ?
I love the reverse nordic for quads! If you’re not strong enough to control a full range of motion, the TRX works really well to give some assistance with upper body as needed. I think many people are afraid of reverse nordics because it can be hard to progress into if you're not already quite strong. TRX has been a great solution👍
Great list. I would also add ring dips. Once you acquire the skill of the movement, you can experiment with different hand angles the rings allow (Bulgarian dips are an amazing chest exercise for me)
I absolutely love the body weight leg extension. I’ve been using them for two years now and going really low if the flexibility allows it and going there really slow fires up the quads a lot more that I would have expected.
lying dumbell raises are amazing. I started doing them again this past year. I still also do standard dumbbell side raises, i just finish the side delts off with these. you only need a super light weight
Would love a video on how to work up to being able to do full pistol squats! Lack of athleticism, coordination, and ankle flexibility have kept me from ever doing one, despite having squatted 255 kg raw in USAPL comp at 90kg bw.
I think Roman Chair squats using the Sissy squat apparatus is much more effective at building the rectus femoris than reverse nordics. It is also easier for progression, as most people can do an upright variation from the start. Also it is easier to load, either by leaning back or holding a plate or dumbbell in goblet squat position, or a combination of the two. The movement is like the reverse of a leg extension, harder in the stretched position and easier in the contracted position.
I was relieved to see that I am currently or have cycled in basically all of these 👌I definitely need to try DB flys again as it has been a minute size ive done them
Love this video and 66 years old I can do most of these ( and have) and especially like your take on pistol squats! After doing them for years with kettle bell training nobody believed me but you might have better luck!😂
What is my favorite exercise is flat bench pull over with barbell, but not with overhand grip but with underhand grip. Just grab barbell standing like you would like to do the curls. Sit on the bench with barbell on your laps, and then lie down. Now bend your elbows slightly and bring the barbell behind your head but rotating your shoulder mainly. Think of it like Nautilus machine movement but arms are not fully bent. I was introduced to this exercise by an old school body builder years ago, and haven't seen anyone doing that in any gym. For me it helped me expand whole ribcage by a lot.
I tried out reverse nordic curls after seeing one of your videos and now I do them every lower body day. Also, single arm dumbbell preacher curls are gotta be my fav curl now, so fun to grind the last few reps.
Honestly I think that a Bench/Fly hybrid can be really good. Straight arm on way down.. and only after you've finished cheat it back to the top with a bench press. That way you can do heavy eccentrics above 1rep max pretty well.. helped me grow it a fuck ton.
I like your home gym no machine alternatives. Haven't returned to the gym after Covid in favour of my Rube Goldberg home gym contraptions (and a whole lot of other sports). Since I work from home most days, it's more fun to throw in a few smaller sessions during the day using just home equipment and spend the evening on other things.
Dumbbell flye has always been my favourite chest excercise if I had to pick just one. I think im biased as when I started lifting (early 90's) it was the only chest excercise I did for years and built big pecs with it so I knew even then that it was goated whilst everyone else was obsessed with the bench
This is a good list. I'd think a little more attention to how to scale into reverse nordics without excessive knee strain is in order but good exercises!
I'm a super fan of the Single arm flat, lying dummbell lateral raises, and also I apply the same principle to work the rear delts (I have to do it with a highest bench, of course)
To be honest, I think the dumbbell pullover-skullcrusher is a massively underrated exercise for both the lats and triceps. I find dumbbell pullovers often hurt my neck unless I do them bent arm. I get no issues with the cable lat prayer which as it's a similar pattern I tend to prefer that.
I think tricep engagement on pullovers is a feature not a bug. It specifically engages the long head, the biggest head in the arm by a lot, because it connects to the scapula rather than the humerus, and this is a fantastic exercise for isolating it vs the other tricep heads which are easily stimulated by other movements that miss the long head. Complicated because you wouldn't normally try to train triceps and lats in the same session with any split I know of, but I've been leaning into it to good effect.
I love love love reverse nordics. Do a set of them immediately followed by body weight squats and my quads feel like they're going to burst. Rinse and repeat three times and thats quads cooked in under 10 minutes.
Concentrate really hard in the morning and see if you can feel me cussing you as I start working through some of these. Many are unpopular because they're tough. Others are unpopular because some uneducated influencer dismissed them. Personally - I love the dumbbell pullover because it hurts in such a good way. I tend to start with straight arms, then as it gets to my last few sets I will have some elbow bend on the last couple of reps. It's been years since I did any nordic curls - and having recently injured my quad I really need a better stretch. It will hurt like hell because the most painful part since my injury is when my hips are in front of my knees. I need to start doing these because none of the machines in my gym allow for even close to that stretch. Pistol squats are going to have to wait a little while - too many knee problems. Adding dumbbell flys back in - been a minute since I did those. Preacher curls - do them frequently, but on a machine not with a dumbbell. Rear delt cable crossover, in my mix already. Lateral raise - I tend to use cables over dumbbells, and I like to lean in against the pose rather than away because it hurts more.
i feel the bicep stretch on the preacher where it attaches on the elbow, but not the shoulder. so i'd say it does stretch. Cable stretch bicep curls stretch my shoulder insertion
Dumbellflies has in my opinon a to high risk to reward ratio. But that depens on your shoulders. Sissysquats are underrated, especially if you have trouble with quad activation in normal squats
Reverse nordic curls are amazing. It basically more effective then machines and you can do that AT HOME. What?? It transformed my leg training into better one. Doing them for 1-2 monts already.
On preacher curles I always put the seat down so my arms barely come up to the pads. Helps prevent back hunch to bring the weight closer to the safteys
I prefer cable flies. The dumbell fly has no resistance at the top. It's still a good exercise but you can definitely get the same stretch using cables and a bench.
I agree, it feels so much better and I find it hard to believe that a lengthened biased cable fly (that still has some resistance throughout the range of motion) is going to be significantly worse for hypertrophy than a dumbbell fly.
What’s your thoughts on skater squats. Some believe that it better for the eccentric phase of the squat over pistols, just interested in your thoughts.
Dumbbell Pullover has been my go to exercise for years - i noticed it fell out of popularity around the early 1990’s - it was the one exercise which can be tweaked in many different ways - lying parallel to the bench (although it causes arching in the back - you will need to start at a lighter weight to build the assisting muscles to support the movement safely) can really stretch the back and chest - in this position, bent arms are definitely recommended. Perform the exercise this way if you regularly perform stabilization exercises in and around the shoulder joint - Lying lengthwise on the bench takes out too much of the assisting muscles from the movement - I don’t know if it makes sense scientifically but it feels great once you are able to move up in weight over time.
I actually did the deep dips earlier today somewhat just fucking around, but I did them at the end of my workout and it’s not like my chest and arms were too tired to do dips, but I overall was so fatigued that I didn’t feel like bobbing up and down so much and so quickly, so I went super deep and resting for a bit between reps and was getting a great stimmy. Like you said easier to fatigue your chest while doing less reps. Great to use as a finisher for a chest day and if you’re good at dips, you almost get less tired doing them in the deep stretch. Sometimes dips can be damn near cardio if you’re pumping them out fast enough.
Hahaha! Finally a real Dr addressing my point about the preacher curl! And my hypothesis about why it's still a good exercise almost precisely the explanation given, too. Twenty years on and off studying various exercise science subjects to only leave uni with a bunch of useless bits of paper really paid off for this very specific unmarketable reason! Just like the time I answered a question on a forum only to be happy to find my answer in a book I spent £110 on. Go me! 🤣
Don’t need a study; one can feel the tension at the bottom attachment of the bicep. This is the purpose of the preacher curl- improving the connective tissue where the bicep attaches to the elbow.
One biceps exercise I can recommend that I haven't ever heard anybody mention is the preacher curl (or any kind of barbell curl) with the arms slightly elevated forward through the biceps alone ( biceps can do shoulder protraction) Never felt this much tension in my biceps as it's pulling from both sides.
I've been the only one doing dumb bell pullovers for years in the gym, until my friend joined me for my workouts. I heard one guy saying we were doing tricep extensions wrong :p Finally saw a guy doing them last week doing them. We think he saw us doing them since he uses the same seated row bench we do; we super set by turning perpendicular, adding the glute isometric. Thank you for these exercises.
Great video…I do some of these regularly, but will add in Reverse Nordic curl. Question: I find skater squats a valuable exercise..not quite as hard to do as pistols and I feel much more hamstrings. Curious as to your opinion. I usually do these when traveling..in a hotel, in a forest for an outdoor workout etc.
Pistol squats are crazy. Saw a couple doing them with dumbells at the gym (first time I've seen someone). I can't do them WITHOUT weights, LoL. Working up to them.
Could the rear delt cable crossover be done in a freeweight style too? Lying down on the bench with your back doing the partial from stretched position up to above chest for example. Or just powell raise, for full range of motion? Seeing the the single arm lateral raise lying flat on the bench I would even assume the lengthened partial might be fine though and doing both sides at once saves time? Thanks for the video.
Update: I included the db version with both hands lying flat on the bench in my training for 3 weeks now. for me personally it feels good, 10-15 reps make the rear delt already burn and it's much more isolated than doing facepulls. Nothing against facepulls tho.
1:10 Chest flys are good for pec development, but dumbbell flys on a bench run a high risk of shoulder impingement. A better and more effective alternative is standing cable fly or dumbbell fly on the floor, although, the on the floor method loses muscle tension when in the top position, when the pecs should be the most tensed.
really like that many of these don't need a machine or any equipment at all. Great for us lazy homegym goers that can't be asked to leave the house for our workouts and have a limited set of options
dunno but i dont like the dumbbell pullover. you can just angle yourself at like 45 degree and do cable pullover and that way you get a really good stretch aswell. and with the dumbbell i feel like you also have a lot of triceps and chest activation
Ooooh bending the elbows on the pullover to reduce tricep engagement is smart!
Classic bodybuilding technique + allows you to lift more (good for the ego 🗿)
Similar to the elbows during Dumbbell flys.
Passive insufficiency of the biceps can limit the range of motion/stretch on the pecs if you attempt to keep the elbows too extended.
Bending the elbows engages my tris more 🤔
Wouldn't bending the elbows stretch the tricep and engage it more? The lower tension is more because of the shorter moment arm?
Bending the elbows engages my tris more 🤔
Fantastic list, love the calisthenics + old school combination!!
Oh shit my favorite non pencil neck is here
He has been watching your videos for sure
I got the impression that you mad at the “optimal” bros. Let’s hope not.
1:07 Dumbbell Fly
2:21 Dumbbell Pullover
3:37 Single-Arm Dumbbell Preacher Curl
5:11 Single-Arm Flat, Lying Dumbbell Lateral Raise
6:13 Dips
7:15 Rear Delt Cable Crossover
8:51 Reverse Nordic Curl
10:31 Smith-Machine Split Squat
11:42 Pistol Squat
I used to follow AthleanX few years ago, and stopped doing Dumbbell Flys after watching his videos, until I started following Milo and the research on lengthen partials and so on, and started doing them again. It's a great exercise and wrongly vilified for so long. Thank you Milo!
Funny you say that, as I was watching these and he mentioned face pulls I just thought to myself I wonder if the general arc is to start with athleanx, get sufficiently jacked to the point where you plateau and then seek out more scientific based lifting resources lol
Same story here. I'll always watch Athlean X but I no longer take it as gospel like when I was younger. You also have to realize Jeff is coming from a physical therapist perspective, he was surrounded by injured people all the time, that's going to change the way you think probably
@@MattB90 i skipped athlean and came straight here, been getting coaching ever since i got into working out s i feel like i skipped the stupid phase
Well AthleanX, Jeff isn't completely against dumbell Flys, he just would prefer you do them on the floor for better shoulder support. I think the main problem is people try to go too heavy on them and then get injured.
Dumbbell flys we’re my best friend after having shoulder surgery. Pressing movements were hard but the fly really let me work through the scar tissue and get a good stretch. As I progressed I found that the I was also able to push hard for sets of 15 or more and get real sore without pain.
TLDR: flys are fucking dope
1. Dumbbell Fly [ 1:09 ]
2. Dumbbell Pullover [ 2:22 ]
3. Single-Arm Dumbbell Preacher Curl [ 3:36 ]
4. Single-Arm Flat, Lying Dumbbell Lateral Raise [ 5:08 ]
5. Dips (AS DEEP AS POSSIBLE) [ 6:12 ]
*obviously, pay attention to pain
6. Rear Delt Cable Crossover [ 7:14 ]
7. Reverse Nordic Curl or Sissy Squat [ 8:50 ]
8. Smith-Machine Split Squat [ 10:29 ]
9. Pistol Squat [ 11:39 ]
Saviour
Hero! thanks
The GOAT 🐐
👍✅ Thank you!
💝💝
this man talked about the cici squat and the nordic. hes legit, im subscribing.
Pistol Squat was my main squat when my gym temporarily closed a few years back, and Sissy Squats
I use all these. For better ROM on quads at home I bought a pair of those dumbbell foot straps. I strap a dumbbell to each foot, lie on the floor on my back. I then raise one leg into the air and lower and raise the dumbbell. It is a leg extension that hugely improves the lengthened partial aspect providing tension right the way until your hamstring hits your calf. Try it!
Someone needs to make a leg extension machine where you lie back and buckle yourself in to get maximum range of motion.
To be fair, some leg extension machines are already pretty good at this... but I still think it'll be hard to beat the stretch of a reverse nordic curl.
Someone needs to make a standing leg curl machine where you can fully flex your hips for maximum stretch in the hammies.
I believe menno has a video on this topic.
Sam Sulek showed how he put that together with a weight belt and it seemed awesome
@@ign0bilium Look up 4 way hip machine
Look up, Doug Brignoli, the rear belts. The best way to train them is start up from your chest down backwards towards your hips, so not up from your chest all the way out to your right, but up from your chest diagonally down towards your hips.
Sissy squats can also be loaded quite heavy if you have a backpack (worn backwards). I’ve never felt more of a stretch on my quads ever
Re: Pistol squats
I'm a calisthenics guy and I can do pistol squats but I don't really like them. I find that they're more of a challenge for my balance and hip flexors than for my quads and glutes. For my squats, I do shrimp squats (inactive leg tucked behind) from a deficit. In addition to being more stable, you can easily scale the exercise increasing/decreasing the deficit or increasing/decreasing assistance from the inactive leg.
Agree. Was able to do large volume of pistols, with slower eccentric, and got zero growth. Even when balance becomes less of an issue. Sets 15 approaching failure on a leg press and leg extensions built me more leg meat in a year than pistols did in 10 years.
High rep dumbell fly is awesome for sure, big fan 👌
Thanks for including Dumb Bell Fly. So many trainers tell people not to do these because one can over extend the muscles used in this exercise. However, by using lighter weights when one adds this to their work outs, this problem can be avoided. I've been doing this exercise for many years and have never had a problem. I'm 71 and use 35lb. dumb bells with 15 reps.
Absolutely love the advice - DB Fly has always been a staple for me and happy to hear that it’s getting some praise. Cheers
Nice! I have a resistance band version for most of these. You can load the band with equal-ish resistance throughout ROM by creatively playing with the shape of the band during reps. Triangle, square, 8, V, I, Y, W.
Resistance band sucks ass ngl
@@TurdBoi666 IF I hit a plateau, I'll consider free weights and a gym. I train outdoors, 100%
yoooo I've been doing side lying lateral raises for a few months now, these are a super underrated a way to train side delts for home gym owners so I'm glad these get some recognition!
Not even a minute into the video but already hyped. Enjoyed the reverse nordic curl advice in an other vid and the thumbnail gave a taste of it again
Weighted dip machine is one of my favorite chest workouts when I’m focusing on lower chest and triceps. The stretch you get is insane
I've never watched this channel before. Video seemed interesting, let's see what new exercises I can learn. Oh, I already do almost all of these, except the smith machine split squat but I do other variations of split squats without being worried about the balance and stability aspect. I work on stability and balance a lot. I get some weird looks in the gym for some of the stuff I do. Like single leg RDL with dumbbells; hard as heck at first but once you get the right miscles firing, it's pure gold.
I love the fact that you're including more humor in your videos, I think that'll pay off - after all, watching videos on RUclips is mostly a leisure activity, even if they're very educational. I love the laying lateral raises for the side delts: I prefer using the cables at the gym, but the accessibility of these over cables is ridiculous - you literally only need one dumbbell and like 5-15 mins including warm up to get what's probably more then enough side delt volume for the vast majority of living humans, outside of the biggest and most advanced. I'm personally a huge fan of deficit push ups and inverted rolls too, for the same reasons - super accessible(one could get away with some rope and a tree branch to loop it over, for makeshift rings, if times really get that tough), decent RSM and STR for most of the muscles involved, and because the whole body acts as a lever - a stretch under tension favorable force curve.
I'm adding in those lateral raises into my routine asap!
I have seen one person, a newbie girl, do pistol squats at the gym. She was holding onto a ladder, and wasn't really getting deep, but she was doing them.
I've tried, during Covid when gyms were closed. 2hard4me.
I'll definitely lower the weight and increase the ROM on elevated Smith Machine split squats, and I'll give sissy squats a shot. Interesting stuff.
Straight up fire! You need to do part 2- pullups and chins are done so sloppy and not done as they should be. Kelso shrugs, one arm dumb tricep extension, 1 leg calf raise with dumbbell, fat man pullups on smith machine, deficit pushups with weighted vest im sure you got a few more....
The Creation of Adam is the short title for Single-arm Flat Lying Lateral Raise. Great exercises, thanks
This is a great list! I like that a lot of these exercises require minimal equipment; very helpful for people working out at home.
for lats, I prefer pull ups, but I totally agree with everything else, this video was really refreshing! Finally I don't feel like the weird one anymore, because I do a lot of pistol squats and reverse nordic (and deficit sumo deadlifts for the glutes and a little adductors, for which I prefer copenhagen hip adduction, that could have probably made this list)
Decline pushups (upper chest pushups) are a reall nice exercise only exercise with normal pushups were i get a good chest pump
The reverse nordic is crazy good.. not only huge growth but also massive mobility gains, really made my knees felt more smooth overall
I do reverse nordics as a leg workout finisher & the pump is unreal. I’ve worked up to a flexibility level so that I can basically lay on my back when doing them. Holding a 10kg plate in front of your knees helps with balance or if the knees want to go up. It’s also important to do tibialis anterior raises of some sort (ideally on a bench with a tib bar) as that will improve ankle mobility & allow you you to do high reps comfortably even without a yoga mat.
Another great video! Add the chest fly back to my upper body routine and will now incorporate the lying down lateral. Thank you!
As someone who has been doing Pullovers, Gymnastics Dips, Natural Leg Extensions & Pistols for years this video makes me very happy.
When you do the reverse Nordic hamstring curl, also known as the bodyweight leg extension, do not get your body vertical, you are taking the tension off of the legs. You want to go up to about the 95 maybe 100° mark. I actually do this with kettlebells since I have maxed out with my only slam ball being 25 lb. I did post a video recently on a different platform using a 55 lb kettlebell for sets of five, but I was doing sets of eight with a 50 lb kettlebell but I'm not a bodybuilder so I don't care if you challenged my repetition number. They were done after doing Nordic hamstring curls and getting a new 5x5 record on the back spot. But I am shocked you didn't include the Nordic hamstring curl because of how bulletproof they make your knees but maybe that's because you can't do them ?
you've been uploading bangers recently, been checking all the vids you've been uploading
I love the reverse nordic for quads! If you’re not strong enough to control a full range of motion, the TRX works really well to give some assistance with upper body as needed. I think many people are afraid of reverse nordics because it can be hard to progress into if you're not already quite strong. TRX has been a great solution👍
Great list. I would also add ring dips. Once you acquire the skill of the movement, you can experiment with different hand angles the rings allow (Bulgarian dips are an amazing chest exercise for me)
A dip is just a super super decline press upside down
Yes.
But since there's countless ways to perform the dip, it's also extremely versatile 💪
I like the analogy! 😂
Inverted behind the back pull curl is what Milo what doing. 😂😂😂
Is this Menno's burner account? I've only heard such a L take from him.
But it has unrestricted ROM. A decline press is limited by using a bar
I absolutely love the body weight leg extension. I’ve been using them for two years now and going really low if the flexibility allows it and going there really slow fires up the quads a lot more that I would have expected.
I am glad to have found your channel, and I greatly appreciate your information!
lying dumbell raises are amazing. I started doing them again this past year. I still also do standard dumbbell side raises, i just finish the side delts off with these. you only need a super light weight
Would love a video on how to work up to being able to do full pistol squats! Lack of athleticism, coordination, and ankle flexibility have kept me from ever doing one, despite having squatted 255 kg raw in USAPL comp at 90kg bw.
Old school barbell Hack squats! I superset them with deficit deadlifts, chasing that heart rate PR
The pelican curl on gymnastic rings gives a great stretch for the biceps, it's like a reverse Nordic for the biceps.
Yes. I’m not sure all these hypertrophy focused guys like to think about rings much.
The single arm flat, lying dumbbell lateral raise i will try it today. Seems really good
Nice list. Some examples we're pretty short visually, would have liked those bits to be a bit longer
I think Roman Chair squats using the Sissy squat apparatus is much more effective at building the rectus femoris than reverse nordics. It is also easier for progression, as most people can do an upright variation from the start. Also it is easier to load, either by leaning back or holding a plate or dumbbell in goblet squat position, or a combination of the two. The movement is like the reverse of a leg extension, harder in the stretched position and easier in the contracted position.
Using the step for split squats is so underrated
Love the pistol squat
I’m 60 w 2 hip replacements and I’m just remastering the pistol squat
I was relieved to see that I am currently or have cycled in basically all of these 👌I definitely need to try DB flys again as it has been a minute size ive done them
Hey Dr. Wolf, I’d love to see a video about the benefits of unilateral training if there’s any scientific research on that topic
great video. #10 nordic hamstring curl?
Love this video and 66 years old I can do most of these ( and have) and especially like your take on pistol squats! After doing them for years with kettle bell training nobody believed me but you might have better luck!😂
What is my favorite exercise is flat bench pull over with barbell, but not with overhand grip but with underhand grip.
Just grab barbell standing like you would like to do the curls. Sit on the bench with barbell on your laps, and then lie down. Now bend your elbows slightly and bring the barbell behind your head but rotating your shoulder mainly.
Think of it like Nautilus machine movement but arms are not fully bent.
I was introduced to this exercise by an old school body builder years ago, and haven't seen anyone doing that in any gym.
For me it helped me expand whole ribcage by a lot.
I tried out reverse nordic curls after seeing one of your videos and now I do them every lower body day. Also, single arm dumbbell preacher curls are gotta be my fav curl now, so fun to grind the last few reps.
Heyy I've been doong that lateral raise thing!! I figured it would be better and found it weird nobody every talked about it.
thanks, dr. Wolf, great content as always! why do compound movements benefit more from heavier weights?
I'm definitely gonna program a handful of these in my next block. You da man
Genuinely one of the best fitness videos of 2024
these are great, but honestly reverse nordic curls are HUMBLING. the strech... bet my quads will grow lots. Thank you kindly, sir!
Yes! Finally someone defending the pistol squat. I’ve been defending it for years and constantly getting down voted for it.
Another great video, Doctor. Thank you.
Honestly I think that a Bench/Fly hybrid can be really good. Straight arm on way down.. and only after you've finished cheat it back to the top with a bench press. That way you can do heavy eccentrics above 1rep max pretty well.. helped me grow it a fuck ton.
great video for those with back pain 🥳
I like your home gym no machine alternatives. Haven't returned to the gym after Covid in favour of my Rube Goldberg home gym contraptions (and a whole lot of other sports). Since I work from home most days, it's more fun to throw in a few smaller sessions during the day using just home equipment and spend the evening on other things.
Dumbbell flye has always been my favourite chest excercise if I had to pick just one.
I think im biased as when I started lifting (early 90's) it was the only chest excercise I did for years and built big pecs with it so I knew even then that it was goated whilst everyone else was obsessed with the bench
This is a good list. I'd think a little more attention to how to scale into reverse nordics without excessive knee strain is in order but good exercises!
Couch stretch. ATG split squat.
I'm a super fan of the Single arm flat, lying dummbell lateral raises, and also I apply the same principle to work the rear delts (I have to do it with a highest bench, of course)
To be honest, I think the dumbbell pullover-skullcrusher is a massively underrated exercise for both the lats and triceps.
I find dumbbell pullovers often hurt my neck unless I do them bent arm. I get no issues with the cable lat prayer which as it's a similar pattern I tend to prefer that.
Single arm preacher curls are my fav in this vid
I think tricep engagement on pullovers is a feature not a bug. It specifically engages the long head, the biggest head in the arm by a lot, because it connects to the scapula rather than the humerus, and this is a fantastic exercise for isolating it vs the other tricep heads which are easily stimulated by other movements that miss the long head. Complicated because you wouldn't normally try to train triceps and lats in the same session with any split I know of, but I've been leaning into it to good effect.
I love love love reverse nordics. Do a set of them immediately followed by body weight squats and my quads feel like they're going to burst. Rinse and repeat three times and thats quads cooked in under 10 minutes.
Concentrate really hard in the morning and see if you can feel me cussing you as I start working through some of these. Many are unpopular because they're tough. Others are unpopular because some uneducated influencer dismissed them.
Personally - I love the dumbbell pullover because it hurts in such a good way. I tend to start with straight arms, then as it gets to my last few sets I will have some elbow bend on the last couple of reps.
It's been years since I did any nordic curls - and having recently injured my quad I really need a better stretch. It will hurt like hell because the most painful part since my injury is when my hips are in front of my knees. I need to start doing these because none of the machines in my gym allow for even close to that stretch.
Pistol squats are going to have to wait a little while - too many knee problems.
Adding dumbbell flys back in - been a minute since I did those. Preacher curls - do them frequently, but on a machine not with a dumbbell. Rear delt cable crossover, in my mix already. Lateral raise - I tend to use cables over dumbbells, and I like to lean in against the pose rather than away because it hurts more.
i feel the bicep stretch on the preacher where it attaches on the elbow, but not the shoulder. so i'd say it does stretch. Cable stretch bicep curls stretch my shoulder insertion
The chest flies are my favorite of all time I got stretch marks from it!
Dumbellflies has in my opinon a to high risk to reward ratio. But that depens on your shoulders. Sissysquats are underrated, especially if you have trouble with quad activation in normal squats
Reverse nordic curls are amazing. It basically more effective then machines and you can do that AT HOME. What??
It transformed my leg training into better one. Doing them for 1-2 monts already.
Good video!
And, that was a very deep dip!
My hats off to those who can pistol squat. I am still to weak to do them full ROM
On preacher curles I always put the seat down so my arms barely come up to the pads. Helps prevent back hunch to bring the weight closer to the safteys
I actually superset dips and reverse Nordic curls in my current workout.
Thanks! I've done some of these in the past. I'm gonna try em all out.
I prefer cable flies. The dumbell fly has no resistance at the top. It's still a good exercise but you can definitely get the same stretch using cables and a bench.
I agree, it feels so much better and I find it hard to believe that a lengthened biased cable fly (that still has some resistance throughout the range of motion) is going to be significantly worse for hypertrophy than a dumbbell fly.
What’s your thoughts on skater squats. Some believe that it better for the eccentric phase of the squat over pistols, just interested in your thoughts.
Dumbbell Pullover has been my go to exercise for years - i noticed it fell out of popularity around the early 1990’s - it was the one exercise which can be tweaked in many different ways - lying parallel to the bench (although it causes arching in the back - you will need to start at a lighter weight to build the assisting muscles to support the movement safely) can really stretch the back and chest - in this position, bent arms are definitely recommended. Perform the exercise this way if you regularly perform stabilization exercises in and around the shoulder joint - Lying lengthwise on the bench takes out too much of the assisting muscles from the movement - I don’t know if it makes sense scientifically but it feels great once you are able to move up in weight over time.
I personally noticed that in the lying DB lat.raise, a small incline on the bench offers a better stimulus.
I actually did the deep dips earlier today somewhat just fucking around, but I did them at the end of my workout and it’s not like my chest and arms were too tired to do dips, but I overall was so fatigued that I didn’t feel like bobbing up and down so much and so quickly, so I went super deep and resting for a bit between reps and was getting a great stimmy. Like you said easier to fatigue your chest while doing less reps. Great to use as a finisher for a chest day and if you’re good at dips, you almost get less tired doing them in the deep stretch. Sometimes dips can be damn near cardio if you’re pumping them out fast enough.
It’s not a “finisher,” it’s one of the most important upper body exercises everyone should be working towards, and measurably improving.
@@ericmalitz not that important I’m not starting my fucking workout with dips
Well, I can check on almost every exercise.Great video and info 😎💪🔥✅
thanks for all the info
Hahaha!
Finally a real Dr addressing my point about the preacher curl!
And my hypothesis about why it's still a good exercise almost precisely the explanation given, too.
Twenty years on and off studying various exercise science subjects to only leave uni with a bunch of useless bits of paper really paid off for this very specific unmarketable reason! Just like the time I answered a question on a forum only to be happy to find my answer in a book I spent £110 on.
Go me! 🤣
Don’t need a study; one can feel the tension at the bottom attachment of the bicep. This is the purpose of the preacher curl- improving the connective tissue where the bicep attaches to the elbow.
One biceps exercise I can recommend that I haven't ever heard anybody mention is the preacher curl (or any kind of barbell curl) with the arms slightly elevated forward through the biceps alone ( biceps can do shoulder protraction)
Never felt this much tension in my biceps as it's pulling from both sides.
I've been the only one doing dumb bell pullovers for years in the gym, until my friend joined me for my workouts. I heard one guy saying we were doing tricep extensions wrong :p Finally saw a guy doing them last week doing them. We think he saw us doing them since he uses the same seated row bench we do; we super set by turning perpendicular, adding the glute isometric. Thank you for these exercises.
Interesting video, Mr. Wolf!
Dont see pistol squats at all in the gym, but do see them in the calisthenics park from time to time.
I only use them when I can’t go to the gym, otherwise I’d rather barbell squat or something
@@garrettw.lessner4394 Same here. Much more control with your resistance using weights
Great video…I do some of these regularly, but will add in Reverse Nordic curl. Question: I find skater squats a valuable exercise..not quite as hard to do as pistols and I feel much more hamstrings. Curious as to your opinion. I usually do these when traveling..in a hotel, in a forest for an outdoor workout etc.
Pistol squats are crazy. Saw a couple doing them with dumbells at the gym (first time I've seen someone). I can't do them WITHOUT weights, LoL. Working up to them.
Could the rear delt cable crossover be done in a freeweight style too?
Lying down on the bench with your back doing the partial from stretched position up to above chest for example. Or just powell raise, for full range of motion? Seeing the the single arm lateral raise lying flat on the bench I would even assume the lengthened partial might be fine though and doing both sides at once saves time?
Thanks for the video.
Update: I included the db version with both hands lying flat on the bench in my training for 3 weeks now. for me personally it feels good, 10-15 reps make the rear delt already burn and it's much more isolated than doing facepulls. Nothing against facepulls tho.
how about the ATG split squat? promoted by kneesovertoesguy. not sure you can do it in a strictly vertical smith though.
1:10 Chest flys are good for pec development, but dumbbell flys on a bench run a high risk of shoulder impingement. A better and more effective alternative is standing cable fly or dumbbell fly on the floor, although, the on the floor method loses muscle tension when in the top position, when the pecs should be the most tensed.
really like that many of these don't need a machine or any equipment at all. Great for us lazy homegym goers that can't be asked to leave the house for our workouts and have a limited set of options
dunno but i dont like the dumbbell pullover. you can just angle yourself at like 45 degree and do cable pullover and that way you get a really good stretch aswell.
and with the dumbbell i feel like you also have a lot of triceps and chest activation
Fantasizing about repping back-to-ground reverse nordics while hugging several plates