ATHLEAN-X™

If you have poor posture, you are likely aware of it and looking for a quick, easy fix. In this video, I am going to show you one simple stretch that you can do to help undo that ugly, slumped posture. Doing this stretch everyday, I guarantee that you will notice an immediate change in your posture that will have you standing upright and feeling better overall.When it comes to addressing posture, our common thought process is to attack the weak muscles in our upper back and the tight muscles in our chest. However, we often overlook our lats, which when tight, pull our shoulders down and forward. Throughout the day as we work and night as we sleep, we don’t often bring our arms overhead (which would create stretch on the lats.) Instead, we opt to have our arms down and tight by our sides. Thus, we need to address this tightness with an effective and efficient stretch that can be done every day.Before getting into the stretch for the lats, it’s important to take a look at the anatomy of the lats to understand how to properly stretch them. The attachments of the lats are the spinous processes of the T7 to L5 vertebrae, the iliac crest of the pelvis, the inferior border of the scapula, and the humerus. As I will mention later, to stretch the lats in the best way possible, we need to get the upper attachments of the lats further from the lower attachments.Next, I want you to try a quick test; raise your arm straight overhead, one at a time. See how far up it goes (without forcing it.) I bet you will notice that its not very far and that is indicative of what your posture looks like. We’ll come back to this after the stretch.Now, bend your arm and raise your elbow up, bracing it against a door frame. Then, drop your leg (on the same side) back behind your other leg while dropping the pelvis. Next, to bring the spinal processes further from the upper attachments, rotate your trunk in the direction of the arm that is posted into the door frame. Now that the upper and lower attachments have increased their distance from each other, you can utilize manual soft tissue mobilization by using your free hand to move the stretched lat back and forth. Do this for 30-45 seconds each side.Back to that test I asked you to perform. Again, raise your arm straight up overhead and notice how much further it goes. You will even notice that you are standing more upright than you were prior to this stretch, thanks to mobilization of the lats and a release of the tight upper thoracic region. This simple lat stretch does not take very long and can be done in junction with your other posture fixes that you’re performing every day (such as hanging from a bar or doorframe in the morning.) As I mentioned before, you will notice an immediate difference by taking 60-90 seconds to address a problem that you didn’t even know was causing your poor posture.For a complete program that addresses posture while allowing you to build muscle and burn fat at the same time using science backed and results proven methods, head to http://athleanx.com and get the ATHLEAN-X Training System. Starr training like an athlete so that you can start feeling and looking like one in no time at all.For more videos on how to fix posture as well as muscle imbalances and weaknesses, be sure to subscribe to the ATHLEAN-X channel here on YouTube at http://youtube.com/user/jdcav24

Nobody wants to waste their time doing exercises that don’t work. That said, even good exercises can become bad ones when they are performed incorrectly. However, certain movements deserve the title of the "worst exercise ever" simply because of their low reward, high risk nature. In this video, I’ll show you 11 of the worst exercises for building muscle and what you can do instead.As a physical therapist and strength coach for professional athletes and celebrities, I have to know where the risks outweigh the rewards. If you know the science of training there are always other ways to get the desired result without jeopardizing the health and safety of your athletes.So, without further adieu here a few of the 11 worst exercises we cover in the video:1. Chest flies - I've covered before but I can’t say it enough. People swear they feel an amazing stretch on their pecs by doing this exercise. They also claim that the adduction at the end of the movement gives them an incredible contraction. Both of these are actually exaggerated as the resistance of adduction is absent at the top of the movement and the stretch being felt is actually more on a secondary muscle than it is on the pec. Floor flys and standing crossovers are much better options for reasons explained in the video.2. The Behind the neck press - The problem with this exercise is that it is just plain bad for your shoulders. It places the glenohumeral joint in an awkward position for pressing, which can lead to impingement. Pressing from the natural scapular plane is much more natural and will allow you to press more weight overhead in the long run, leading to bigger shoulders.3. Upright Rows - I’ve gone on extensively about the problem with this exercise. It is possible one of the worst things you can do due to the position of the elbows and hands at the end of the movement. The exercise puts your shoulders into a provocative position for testing impingement. Instead, you want your elbows below your hands (as in the high pull) to still get the benefits of the abduction of the shoulders without the internal rotation.4. Concentration Curls - You may be wondering how this ended up in the graveyard. Sure the concentration curl isn’t dangerous but it surely isn’t the best tool for job. To understand why, we need to look closer at the movement. Pushing the elbow into the thigh while curling the weight up is only using leverage to get the weight to the top rather than pure muscular force. Normally, leverage is not a bad thing but when you are doing it in close proximity to the muscles that you are trying to work (and with a muscle group that is often overactive during the curl in the first place) you are taking away from the effectiveness of the movement. For a more effective biceps builder you should look to the standard barbell curl. People ask “how did you get such big biceps?’ The answer is right here, by doing effective exercises like the barbell curl and by avoiding things like concentration curls!5. Leg Extensions - This is a no brainer for me. This open chain leg exercise lacks any true function when compared to the numerous closed chain options you can be doing instead. Throw in the compressive stresses on the kneecap and lack of hamstring co-contraction, and you've got a recipe for disaster.These are just a few of the worst exercises covered in this video. Make sure to watch the whole thing to see how things like the popular rack pull above the knee, cuban press and even the tried and true dumbbell side bend earned the title of something you should avoid. As always, I’m putting the science back in strength to show you not just why these should get nixed from your workout but which exercises should take their place.

Do you have a flabby chest or a lower chest that sags and you hate looking at it? In this video, I’m going to show you a simple and straight forward four step plan to getting your pecs to be more muscular and look better than ever, without the B.S. The key is going to be to make sure you don’t skip any part of this since it will all lead to a combined best result when you do.This means, we have to start with fixing your posture. That’s right. Posture can be one of the main contributors to a saggy chest. The problem is actually two-fold. First, just slumping your shoulders forward will instantly give your chest the appearance of being a lot smaller and saggier than it actually is. This often comes from having a tight pec minor and weakened upper back muscles. Do the pec minor stretch shown and foam roll your upper back to get more thoracic extension while not forgetting to work on your weak muscles with the corrective exercises shown.Next, we have to talk about nutrition. Far too often, the chest looks much worse than it should because of the amount of body fat that you’re carrying. You can do a simple test to determine how much of your problem is coming from having too much fat versus simply having underdeveloped chest muscles. Look in the mirror and see if you can see your upper two abs. If you are unable to do so then you are likely to have at least 15 percent body fat and this is going to be a problem since men often times will accumulate a good portion of fat on their lower chests when their overall levels get too high.The simplest way to fix this problem is to start eating better. The key is consistency however and randomly approaching your nutrition plan is going to leave you frustrated over the long term. Instead, try adopting the plate division method I show you in this video. It makes eating any meal a lot easier when you can just visualize the plate in this way and partition the macronutrients of proteins, fibrous carbs, starchy carbs and healthy fats accordingly. You will likely find this much less frustrating and easy to stick to long term.For a list of all of these macronutrient suggestions in one place you can visit http://athleanx.com/carbs and see my favorite choices in each of these categories.Last but not least we have to address the training side of the equation. There are actually chest exercises that do a better job than others at hitting the lower chest and helping to get rid of that saggy or flabby appearance. These are all going to have in common the direction of movement of the upper arms. In general, to hit the lower chest fibers in the abdominal head of the pecs the best you need to take your arm from a high and away position to a low and in position. You’ll see that all of the ones shown here do just that.Additionally, applying tension and pausing in the stretch position on every one of the reps you do in any of these exercises will help the chest muscle to undergo a more effective stimulus for change. Don’t skip this part or rush through it if you want to see the best results for your saggy lower chest.To put it all together, I would recommend the following:- Perform the foam rolling for the thoracic spine and the pec minor stretch each time you do your chest fixing routine.- Choose one of the three exercises (face pulls, band pull aparts, tubing external rotation) and perform 3 sets of 12 high quality reps as a neuroactivator of the pecs prior to your training.- Choose 4-5 chest exercises shown and perform 3 sets of each if you are going to perform this as a dedicated chest only workout worked into your current training schedule. If doing this as accessory work to your current total body training split, I would recommend dropping this to just 2-3 exe

There are muscle gaining mistakes that can affect anyone of any age that lifts weights, and then there are those that are even worse when you get to be 40 years old. In this video, I’m going to show you the 8 biggest muscle building mistakes that you can make and how they are amplified when you get to be a little older.The first is the warmup. This one is tricky since many people forget to warmup at all when they are getting ready to lift weights. On the other hand, those that turn their warmups into workouts themselves are doing far too much and it’s actually holding back the progress they should see on their workouts. Four sets working up to your working weight on compound exercises and 2 sets working up to your working weight on single joint exercises is a good recommendation of what is needed. A general total body core temperature raiser like jump rope or a bike is also important for overall prep.When it comes to the actual training you can never forget to prioritize strength training. It doesn’t matter what age your are, training for strength via progressive overload on the big lifts should always be the base of your training pyramid. The issue comes when the pursuit of that strength comes at the expense of responsible training. This means that chasing numbers at the expense of your joints and muscle health is a big mistake. Ensure that you own the weight you’re lifting by incorporating paused lifts at every opportunity.Not including enough of a focus on developing your mind muscle connection (and maintaining it as you age) is the next big workout mistake for men over 40. This is because the ego tends to get in the way and focusing on getting the weights from point A to point Z becomes more important than ensuring that the muscles you were trying to train to get them there are actually doing the job. Since we focus on quality of reps, the way to expand this out to the entire set and the whole workout is to include some metabolic training into your plan. This is actually important for trainees at all levels since metabolic stress is one of the three known drivers of muscle growth (along with eccentric muscle damage and progressive overload) but it is particularly so for men over 40. The reason this works so well is that it doesn’t leave you with the soreness that makes it tough to recover between workouts and the joints are given a break by the lighter weights.Next you cannot forget to do what we preach all the time on this channel, and that is train like an athlete. This not only means taking a scientific interest in the type of training that you do but to actually get out there and include some athletic activities in your workouts. Things like running, jumping and doing agility work are all things that your body will lose if you don’t use them. The old phrase of use it or lose it has never been more true.This also brings about the importance of doing corrective exercises. Things like face pulls and band pull apart may seem like small and unnecessary exercises but they are not. Particularly when you get older, these exercises have a high value and allow you to get more out of the more commonly performed exercises simply by making sure there are no imbalances in place to get in the way.As you can see, there are many things that you must make sure you’re getting right if you want to look your best not just in your 40’s but well past. This is what the ATHLEAN-X Training Systems allow you to do better than any other program out there. If you’re ready to start training like an athlete again and look better than ever before, click the link below and start training with me today.For more videos on how to build muscle at any age and the biggest muscle gaining mistakes to avoid, be sure to click

To perform a picture perfect pullup, there are few things you need to keep in mind. This checklist will lay the foundation for proper pullup form, whether you are working on your first pullup or you’re trying to do even more pullups than you are doing now. In this video, I am going to give you details on the prerequisites. setup, and execution of the pullup, including one all-important caveat that will help to keep your shoulders healthy.Before you even jump up to the bar, there are a few prerequisites that are important to take note of. To start, it is important to strengthen your abs, as they help provide strength and stability throughout the exercise, but also train them while hanging from the bar. Secondly, you should work on strengthening your deadlift as well as you’re working on pulling strength that will transfer to the pullup. You should also note the importance of strong scapulae, as they are key in the execution of a pullup. You can do this by including straight arm pushdowns into your workouts. Finally, the last prerequisite is your bodyweight to strength ratio. Carrying excess weight / body fat will make the pullup incredibly difficult as you are pulling more weight.Next, is the setup of the pullup and that starts with your grip, elbow positioning, and what to do with your legs. The bar should be deep into your grip as to help avoid undo stress on the deep flexor tendons that can cause medial epicondylitis. However, a hook grip can be used sparingly in order to perform as many reps as possible, but is not ideal in the long term. You should be grabbing the bar just outside shoulder width as this will give you the optimal pulling position. Too narrow or too wide can cause the wrong muscles to take the brunt of the work, as well as limiting the number of pullups that you can do. Proper grip width is also related to elbow positioning, as too wide will also take the elbows away from the front of our body and more to the outside, instead of infront of your body (the ideal position). Your legs should be out in front of your body slightly, toes pointing down, quads flexed, glutes squeezed and abs flexed to plug any common energy leaks. When it’s time to execute the movement, make sure to squeeze the bar through the pinky and ring fingers as they are the weakest digits involved in the pullup. Make sure to look up at the bar on your ascent and don’t think of pulling your body off the floor and to the bar; think of pulling the bar to your body! The last point to remember on the execution is to “attack the bar” with your chest. This will open your back into thoracic extension which is important to scapular movement.For that all important caveat in the execution of the pullup, when you reach the bottom of the movement, don’t unpack your shoulders! Dead hang does NOT mean destabilize. Instead of allowing your shoulders to come up to ears when you hang from the bar, keep your shoulder blades down and back. This, in conjunction with thoracic extension (attack the bar with your chest) allows for stable but mobile scapular upward rotation and will help to keep your shoulders healthy.As you can tell, the pullup is not just as simple as grabbing the bar and hoisting yourself up. It’s not just what exercises you do, but how you do them, that matters the most. If want to be able to do more pullups or any other exercises without missing any of the all important details, be sure to click the link below and use the program selector to help find the program that matches your training goals right now. Put the science back in strength and witness your best results ever in the next 90 days.For more videos on pullups as well as other important exercise checklists, make sure to subscribe to our channel here on youtube using the link b

To get a wider chest and broader pecs you need not do any crazy exercise. Instead, you need to focus on how you’re doing the chest exercises you’re already doing in your chest workout. In this video, I’m going to show you the best way to perform a bench press, dips, cable crossovers, flyes and pushups to build a wider chest than you are already getting from doing these exercises. The key is to take each through their full range of motion, which is something that isn’t often being done.To start it helps to understand a bit of the anatomy of the pec muscle. We know that there are three heads of the pecs; the upper or clavicular head, middle or sternal head and the lower or abdominal head. Only the first two are separately innervated and therefore responsive to slightly different stimulation from exercises. The sternal head however is only capable of contracting as an all or one unit. There is no such thing as targeting the outer portion of the pecs specifically.That said, you can heavily influence the appearance of the outer pec depending how well developed your chest is overall. In other words, the chest muscle is going to be much broader and overhang your ribcage if you increase the size of it through proper training. Beyond that however, it is going to be most responsive to your growth inducing workouts if you don’t forget to take the chest muscle through it’s full available range of motion on every exercise and apply focused tension in the longest stretch position of the pecs.We can do that very easily on a dip. All too often people perform the dip and cut short the time they spend in the bottom of each rep. It is at the bottom that the pec major is under its most stretch tension. You do not want to short change the benefits of keeping the pec loaded here. Of course, you do this safely by pulling the shoulders back and expanding the ribcage. Never allow your elbows to bend more than 90 degrees at the bottom and don’t weight this unless you have the strength to hold the position.You want to do the same thing on a dumbbell bench press. Instead of just getting to the bottom of the rep and bouncing out of it you want to perform a slight 1-2 second pause on each rep. This will once again not only ensure that a more full range of motion is being applied to the chest but that you are loading the pec muscle in this position and providing a stretch stimulus for growth. From here, you also want to ensure that you initiate the contraction with the pecs instead of letting the shoulders or front delts dominate and take tension off the chest.Next, you can apply these techniques to a pushup. Think about attacking the ground with your chest rather than simply falling to the ground. This way, you’ll apply a greater stretch to the chest and each rep will help with the tension being developed and applied to the very muscle you are trying to grow.Finally, the chest fly is a great option - but only if you don’t perform it on a bench but rather on the floor. As I’ve talked about many times on this channel, performing a bench unsupported version of the fly you are placing a great deal of strain on the anterior capsule of the shoulder when going too low with the arms and also not providing a safety net of sorts to prevent an overextension of the arm. The floor fly prevents this.Take a small half of a foam roller and put it under your back for a few extra inches of stretch on the pecs without risking the same injuries you might incur with the unsupported position of the bench.As you can see, it’s how you do the exercises you do that makes all the difference not just what exercises you do. If you want to see just how much faster you’ll be able to grow a wider chest as well as the rest of your body, be sure to head to t

If you have IT Band Syndrome or pain on the outside of your knee or thigh, then you know how debilitating it can be to your running, biking and lifting. In this video, I’m going to show you a permanent fix for your IT band that is not going to involve a single bit of foam rolling. That’s right. All too often people rush to foam roll their Iliotibial band to treat their pains and all it does is result in more pain than when you started.To get to the bottom of this problem it helps to first understand the anatomy of the IT band. This is not a structure that is going to be able to be influenced by a little, or even a lot, of rolling it on a piece of foam. I don’t care how hard the foam roller you’re using is either. It simply is too resilient and incapable of being influenced by this type of activity.Instead, it helps to understand the muscles that attach and feed into the IT band. In this case, there are two in particular that need your focus. The first is the TFL or tensor fascia latae. This muscle runs vertically down from the top of the pelvis into the IT band and provides a tension or pull upward on the structure, especially when unopposed by the second muscle. That muscle is the gluteus medius. This muscle is one of the most important in your entire body and often times, the weakest.In the case of IT Band Syndrome, the imbalance of pull between these two muscles is what causes the resultant pull and pain you feel along the band or down at the knee. When the glutes are weak they contribute little if any to the balance of the forces on the IT band and the TFL will get reactively even more dominant - just further contributing to a problem that already exists.So what do you do? Well, the first thing as I’ve said is never to foam roll the IT Band. This poor structure is already taking a beating because of the imbalances you placed on it in the first place. Instead of trying to beat it into submission by rolling it, try to take a long term approach to getting to the real root of the problem. That is where the exercises shown in this video come into play.But first, work on the TFL by watching the video I put up on the channel, that is linked at the end of this video. You want to floss the tissues of the TFL using a small structure like a fat grip that I used in that demonstration. Move your hip into flexion and external rotation while downward pressure is being placed on the TFL and not the IT Band. This will work to decrease the overactivity of this muscle and set the stage for the changes you are about to make to the Glute Medius.For the glute medius you want to first test its strength. You can do this by laying down on your side and getting into the position Jesse demonstrates. If you can’t hold this position for 60 seconds without an intense burn developing in your hip then you are too weak and need to strengthen this muscle. You can do this by simply performing repetitions of this movement as shown. If needed, a band can be used for added resistance if you get to the point where your glutes are even strong enough to handle that.The other drill is one that places resistance on the glutes while in different degrees of hip flexion. Remember, the flexion and extension of the hip and knee in a repetitive manner is what most often leads to the onset of IT band issues. When the weakness is present in the glutes, it can cascade into the pain felt down the side of the leg and knee. Do the band resisted seated abductions 10 in each position and you will quickly see a strengthened hip and elimination of your IT Band pain for good.If you are looking for step by step workouts that will build your body into its strongest version yet without pain, be sure to check out the ATHLEAN-X workouts at the link below.

What does Jeff Cavaliere eat in a day? In this video, I’m going to reveal what I eat at every single meal; breakfast, lunch, and dinner as well as snacks throughout the day. Many people have wanted to know what to eat to stay ripped and shredded year round without sacrificing hard earned muscle or being too skinny. This will show you exactly what to eat to build muscle and stay lean 365 days a year.It starts with breakfast. Here my staple meal is pumpkin walnut oatmeal. One thing you will see is that I don’t often measure any of the foods I eat. I find this to be too time consuming and likely to turn eating into too much of a process. Once a person becomes even the slightest bit inconvenienced by the process, they opt for an easier (and often times unhealthier mechanism) and the quality of the nutrition suffers greatly.Here however, I show that I have about a cup of uncooked oats in my oatmeal. This equates to about 300 calories. When you add in the maple syrup, pumpkin, walnuts and brown sugar you are looking at about 550 calories for this portion of the breakfast. I get in additional protein however in the form of an egg white soufflé. This is made by putting in about 7-10 egg whites into a microwave safe bowl and cooking them for a little over 2 minutes. Finish with some pickled ginger and salsa and you have an incredibly fast and tasty side dish. I have a glass of skim milk as well which brings this breakfast to about 850 calories.Moving on, for lunch I tend to have a grilled chicken wrap with grilled or sautéed veggies. For this particular wrap it’s zucchini and eggplant. On top, I usually have a combination of hot sauce and pesto (for some additional healthy fats) at a fairly large size wrap, which brings the total to about 550 calories. Throw in a full fat greek yogurt with some whipped cream and the lunch totals just about 755 calories.Dinner usually varies quite often but follows the plate concept that I shared in a previous video on youtube. I like to divide my plate into zones. The two occupying the largest amount of space on the plate are my protein and fibrous carbohydrates or vegetables. The remainder of the plate is filled up with a starchy carb or two. On this particular night I had grilled chicken as my protein with a mango ginger salsa on top. The fibrous carb was corn but could just as easily be asparagus, broccoli, grilled mushrooms, etc. The starchy carbs are a combo of sweet potato mash (with butter and cinnamon) and pasta.I have sparkling water with this (and almost every other meal as well) since it makes hydration more interesting and helps me to ensure I’m getting in enough fluids throughout the day. The total amount of calories here (when included with the tomato chicken orzo soup is around 900 calories or so.I finish the night with dessert. That’s right. I may only eat carrot cake once a year but I have a dish of fat free frozen yogurt with whipped cream every single night. I do tend to stick to the lower calorie variations for dessert since I don’t want to turn this into a mammoth calorie bomb at night before going to bed. I feel this would certainly cost me my leanness.The meals or snacks in between consist of an RX2 X-LR8 protein shake. I don’t show this since I didn’t want to turn this into a commercial for the supplements. While I believe I have the highest quality supplements on the market I don’t want you to feel as if you need to have them to get results eating the way I do. You will. The supplements simply make it easier to stay consistent with getting the high quality nutrition that my muscles need from their hard training.While these are calorie estimates, the most important thing is that you can see that I’m not taking in 1400 calories to stay as lean as

If you have skinny triceps that you want to make wider, especially when viewed from behind, then you are going to want to watch this video. Here, I’m going to show you the best way to widen your triceps and get bigger, thicker arms in the process. Many times people focus on the front of their arms by working on the biceps. While bigger, wider biceps are definitely impressive, this approach is not the best for maximal width as the triceps make up two thirds of the upper arm girth. When triceps width is the goal, you have to look to the back. This video is going to show best triceps exercises to hit both the medial and the long heads. We’ll start with the long head. The long head makes up most mass. When training the long head, people make the mistake of just doing overhead triceps work. This can work but to get maximal stimulation you also have to put the muscle into a fully contracted position. The two best ways to do this are Lying Triceps Extensions and Drag Pushdowns, keeping your elbows back behind body to keep long head fully shortened. If, however, you are short on time and want one effective, simple exercise that can pull double duty, it's this Dumbbell Overhead / Kickback combo. To perform this move, take two dumbbells and perform the overhead extension while making sure to keep elbows in front your body. Upon completion, lean forward and perform a standard kickback. When performing this combo move, be sure to use lighter weight to be able to perform the kickback. Because we are able to use a heavier weight in the overhead extensions, you will have to perform more reps in that position compared to the kickback - approximately 2:1 or 3:1 rep ratio for the extensions to kickbacks. The overhead extension portion of the move provides maximum stretch on the triceps, while the kick back puts the triceps into a fully contracted position. From there we move onto the medial head. The medial head is responsible for stabilizing the elbow while in full extension. Common mistakes here are that most people never fully extend elbow on any triceps exercise and therefore miss out on those last few inches where medial head gets the most activation. Any triceps exercise that extends the elbow, done to full lock out, is going to adequately train the medial head of the triceps. Examples are Pushdowns, Diamond Cutter pushups with full extension, and Thumbs Up Elbow Tucked DB Bench Press. Interestingly and not surprising, powerlifters almost never have under developed medial heads of their triceps because their competitive lifts are judged on full lockout. If they don't hit full lockout, their rep is not counted. As a result, they usually have superb medial head development.If you are looking for a science based step-by-step workout plan that helps you to build muscle by getting the most out of every exercise you do, head to the link below and get the ATHLEAN-X Training System. See how training like an athlete and taking your training more seriously can speed up the gains you get and help you keep them for years to come.For more videos on how to build bigger arms or wider triceps, be sure to subscribe to our channel here on youtube at the link below and turn on your notifications so you never miss a video when we put one out.Build Muscle in 90 Days - http://athleanx.com/x/my-workoutsSubscribe to this channel here - http://youtube.com/user/jdcav24

If you have shoulder pain when you bench press you are definitely going to want to watch this video. You may even think you have a justified reason for having the shoulder pain if you have either a rotator cuff or labrum tear, bursitis, ac joint issue or impingement. While that may be true, that sort of focus on the structure is often times undermining your ability to get to the root cause of the problem which is the instability of the shoulder instead.You see, the structure (while compromised) can always be protected against further injury if the stability of the shoulder is not compromised. The muscles of the scapulae and rotator cuff are there to serve an important function to stabilize the humerus as you perform each rep of the bench press. This occurs both on the way up and on the way down on every rep.Things that hurt at the bottom of the bench press could be a torn labrum or biceps tendon, which get placed in a disadvantageous position at the fully stretched position near the chest. When you get further up towards lockout you may experience additional biceps tendon pain as it slides in and out of the groove of the upper arm, or even a bursitis or impingement of one of the other supporting structures or tendons of the shoulder.Either way, it really isn’t about the structure that is hurting as much as it’s about the fact that it is likely hurting because it is not stabilized by the muscles that should be stabilizing it. So what you can do is easy and will take just a single set to convince yourself of this. Simply take a weight that is one half of what you would normally use for a 10-12 rep set taken to failure. For the purposes of the demonstration in this video I’m using a light dumbbell.First start by setting the shoulder blades down and back. Don’t just get them to this position and forget about them. Get them here and then focus on keeping them in this stabile position from the first rep to the last. The key is that you establish this stabilized position first and never let it up. The second biggest key is the tempo. When you lift each rep on the bench press this slowly and mindfully it forces you to prioritize stability over load.I’m not saying that you lift this way exclusively. What I’m saying is that this can be used as both a diagnostic tool and a method of convincing yourself just how possible it is for you to bench press without shoulder pain. You can opt to try and progressively increase your strength in this stabilized position by gradually adding weight to the lift without allowing the onset of pain.The key is that you not feel any more pain in your shoulders when you bench. It is entirely possible. Simply focus on what I’m showing you here and institute it the very next time you bench press and I promise you will not feel pain. From here, it would be important that you train your chest with this classic strength building exercise and stop omitting it from your training because it hurt you in the past.If you’re looking for a complete program that will help you to build back up the size and strength of your chest without the shoulder pain you’ve become accustomed to, be sure to click the link below and head to athleanx.com where you can get the program that best matches your current goals. Start training like an athlete and start feeling more powerful, explosive and strong in the next 90 days and beyond.For more videos on how to bench press and the proper form when doing an incline bench press or flat bench press, be sure to subscribe to our channel here on youtube at the link below and turn on your notifications so you never miss a new video when it’s published.Build Muscle in 90 Days - http://athleanx.com/x/my-workoutsSubscribe to this channel here - ht

The best dumbbell exercises for back are based on the criteria for what you are trying to specifically train for. In this video, as I’ve done in this entire series, I’m showing you which exercises you should be doing to develop strength, power, hypertrophy, metabolic overload, total body, corrective and low back strength. Each of the dumbbell exercises shown has been carefully chosen to be the best at helping the viewer to achieve each of these goals.When it comes to strength, the best exercise for your back that you can do with dumbbells is the weighted pullup. The pullup alone is one of the all time greatest back exercises. Add some additional weight by either gripping a dumbbell between your feet or hanging it around your waist with a belt and you’ll be positioned to progressively overload your lats each time you perform the exercise.Next, when trying to optimize power you need to choose a dumbbell back exercise that allows you to incorporate speed and explosiveness into the movement. The dumbbell dead row is a perfect option for doing this. You begin the exercise by generating a huge amount of force through your feet into the ground and drive them up in one motion. It is essentially a deadlift up to the level of the knee, at which point the elbows are driven behind the body with the strength and power of the lats.To create hypertrophy of the lats you want to switch the focus from one of blended muscle involvement to more isolation. Here, the dumbbell pullover is the winner. By dropping the hips as shown, you’ll be able to increase the stretch on the lats and place an even greater eccentric stretch on the muscles (a known stimulus for muscle growth and size). Add in the drop set to the forced eccentrics and you will be able to get even more out of the set when you thought you had already reached failure.As a metabolic option, the goal for creating overload is to get to the point of muscle burn and find a way to sustain it. This is a great opportunity for the lats but is often compromised by the fact that the lower back is the area that fatigues first, prior to the lats themselves, especially if you perform a standing row as your exercise choice. You can avoid this by simply putting your body in the position of a chest supported row. The low back is protected and the lats can take the continued fatigue that comes from taking this set to and through the burn.The corrective exercise of choice is the W raise. This not only hits all of the muscles of the back and mid-scapular area but most importantly, the rotator cuff. People forget just how important the rotator cuff muscles are to the overall development of the back. By performing this exercise that requires external rotation of the shoulders to get in the right position, you will be sure not to be overlooking this anymore.Total body and lower back options are also covered in this video for the best dumbbell exercises for back. The key is that there are no limitations to the gains you can make from your back workouts just because you are training with or limited to just dumbbells. If you have the right exercises for back in mind, you’ll be able to get great gains regardless.If you’re looking for a complete workout program that hits not just your back but every other muscle in your body to create massive muscle growth and performance, be sure to visit the link below and grab the ATHLEAN-X Training System that best matches your current training goals.For more videos on how to build a thicker back and the best back workout for getting big lats, be sure to subscribe to this channel at the link below and turn on your notifications so you never miss a new video when it’s published.Build Muscle in 90 Days - http://athleanx.com/x/

If you are a skinny guy and you struggle to put on muscle with your traditional heavy workouts, you are going to want to watch this and start doing the exercise I show you here every single day. This is something you can do whether you work out that day or not and it is going to provide benefits beyond just strength and size.The exercise is the carry. Not only is it one of the most versatile, as it can be performed with dumbbells, barbells, farmers bars, kettlebells or even plates, but it can be done in either a large area of space as in gym or walking back and forth in a small space if training at home. Jesse from Athlean-X has incorporated this exercise into his foundational strength exercises like the squat, deadlift and bench press and it has been helping him to get bigger and stronger on all of his lifts. The main benefit of the carry is that it is especially helpful for those guys that are very skinny when they start lifting and don’t have enough muscle mass on their frames to comfortably support the weight on the bar.It is for this reason that I actually prefer the deadlift to the squat for really skinny guys since they can more easily train with weights that their body can accommodate. When trying to rest a heavy barbell on the “shelf” of upper back muscles that doesn’t exist, it can be distracting and counterproductive for the very hardgainer to get past this early on.The carry however is something that allows you to get around this issue and start adding significant amounts of weight to the total system (you plus the weights you’re carrying). In addition, because the dumbbells or bars can be held at your sides in line with your center of gravity they are going to allow you to not have to load the spine or compress the vertebrae as much in the process of performing the lift.Beyond the strength benefits of the farmer’s carry there are many other significant and often overlooked ones. Most importantly is the posture improvements the carry provides the lifter. As was the case with Jesse, a beginner with terrible forward rounded shoulders and head posture, the carry promotes an upright torso with proper activation of the muscles of the upper back and traps. The fact that this can be done for time allows for an endurance benefit to these quick fatiguing muscles that helps to correct the issues long term.As a conditioning exercise, the carry is one of the best you can do particularly for skinnier guys who are hardgainers. This is due to the fact that the exercise itself is far more muscle sparing and less catabolic than a long 8 mile run daily would be. The caloric expenditure is lower but the weight bearing stress on the bones and muscles is something that is a net positive in terms of muscle gain.This also allows for good trap development without having to subject the shoulder joint to the abnormal dow and in motion that something like the rack pull would do. For this reason, this exercise is one that can build the traps without excessive risk to shoulder health.This exercise can and should be done every day because it does not impede on recovery from your workout. With no significant eccentric muscle stress applied to the body, it is easy to perform just a few laps of this exercise at the beginning or end of your workout for that day (or even on non-training days) and see all of the benefits mentioned above.If you’re looking for a complete training system that never underestimates the value of the carry as a good muscle gainer for everyone, be sure to check out the TOTAL BEAXST program at the link below and start seeing all new gains. This total body training program is going to add muscle to your body faster than any other workout you’ve tried.For more video

There are ab workouts and then there are ridiculous ab workouts. In this video, Jesse shows what happened when he followed the “Baby Shark Ab Workout” for 30 days. This was the result of losing a bet with his buddies. Given that he works for a fitness company, they thought it would be funny if he followed this sequence of ab exercises as his punishment. The catch is, he didn’t wind up losing after all. In fact, after 30 days of doing this bodyweight ab routine Jesse had an even better looking set of 8 pack abs than before.The Baby Shark Ab Workout is something that was created for kids as a way to get them exercising. The problem is, it is certainly not easy. Utilizing some serious time under tension and a sequence of floor based v-sit ab exercises, it takes the user through a series of 8 moves without rest.See if you can keep up with the exercises before your ears burn out from listening to the song.Ab Workout:- Scissors- V Sit Hold- Alternating V-Sit Leg Raises- V Sit Hold- Double V-Sit Leg Raises- V Sit Hold- Alternating V-Sit Knee Tucks- V Sit Hold- Double V-Sit Knee Tucks- V Sit Hold- Mountain Climbers- V Sit Hold- V Sit Wipers- V Sit Hold- V Sit BackstrokeDon’t let the ridiculousness of this ab workout fool you. Now, this certainly isn’t a song that I would recommend you work out to, but I can tell you this. Music has a way of distracting you from the burn that you might otherwise focus on too much when training your abs. If you can find something to listen to that will distract you in a good way from the difficulty of what you’re doing then you may find that it is easier to get through your ab workout.The other benefits to this type of training are that the exercises are being performed to a time rather than a rep count. For instance, ab routines that prescribe 10 reps of a certain exercise may be challenging for some and not even the slightest bit difficult for someone else. When you use time to failure as a metric of work you will find that it is much easier to equalize the workload despite the difference of ability.Here, you could perform the same exercise for multiple characters in the song rather than limit it to just one if you were more advanced.The next key is that the abs remain under constant tension from the first rep to the last. This is because even during the rest periods, the user is maintaining the v-sit hold position. This is an isometric ab exercise and one that definitely is not easy, especially as fatigue continues to set in and make each new task more difficult.Now, is this the ultimate ab workout for training like an athlete. Not at all. I’d much rather see you get on your feet and perform more rotational ab exercises if possible, but as far as something that may get more people trying it simply because of the novelty of the idea I think it could be a good thing. After all, the more times people will engage in fitness that otherwise wouldn’t we are doing something right.If you are looking for a step by step workout program that will train you much more athletically and still get you the 8 pack or 6 pack abs you may be looking for, be sure to click the link below and get the ATHLEAN-X Training System that best fits your current goals. Start training like an athlete and looking like an athlete faster than ever before.For more ab workouts and ab routines that you can do at home without any equipment at all, be sure to subscribe to our channel here on youtube at the link below and turn on your notifications so you never miss a new video when it’s published.Get Ripped in 90 Days - http://athleanx.com/x/my-worko

The bench press is one of the most popular chest and strength exercises performed. While many would like to continue to increase their bench press they find it difficult to break through plateaus that can stagnate their strength on the lift. In this video, KC Mitchell joins me to show you three more bench press accessory exercises that will assist you in increasing your traditional bench press totals as fast as possible.The key behind the success of these lifts is that it takes you away from doing the straight bench press. Contrary to what some believe, the most successful bench pressers in the world almost all spend more time doing lifts other than the bench press in a given training block. For instance, while the bench press, done traditionally, will be done once a week…the variations of the bench and the other accessory movements to the bench will be done far more frequently.Last year, KC came by the gym and discussed three of his favorite accessory lifts for the bench. These were the lean back pulldown, barbell floor press and the seated shoulder press. Each of these lifts was performed with a different purpose in mind. They all had in common the fact that they were able to positively impact the bench by strengthening a different portion of the lift.This time around, we were back in the gym and wanted to show a few more variations that could improve your bench press gains. The first is the pause bench. Due to the fact that each rep is going to be paused and held in the bottom of the rep, the time under tension will obviously increase but more importantly, the momentum of the rep will be removed. The stretch shortening cycle will be taken out of the equation and pure strength and leg drive will be responsible for moving the weight off the chest.This is great for those that still struggle to feel the contribution of leg drive to their bench press that was talked about in the last video we did on the exercise.Next, we address a variation of the floor press. This time instead of doing it with a barbell we use dumbbells. Not only are they easier to set up with in a crowded gym but they provide the additional stability benefits that are inherent to using dumbbells and help to groove the elbows and wrists into their proper position on the rep. The limited adduction that occurs with a fixed barbell is also something that is able to be overcome by splitting the load into two hands which can help those that fail to feel the contraction in their chest to finally feel it.Finally, the static incline dumbbell presses are an amazing variation that will have high carry over to the bench press. Not only are you learning to develop isometric strength that will compliment your concentric strength on the lift but you are having to learn how to tap into a deeper well of concentric strength because of the fatigued state that you will find yourself in after the isometric contraction. These are tough but very helpful and will certainly carry over to the pause bench discussed earlier as well.The use of accessory lifts in training cannot be understated. Too often, people continue to bang away at the lift they are trying to get stronger on failing to realize how likely it is that they will not see significant strength gains (or at least fast ones) by continuing to do that. Instead, by instituting bench press variations, they are providing a unique stimulus for their muscles that tends to provide a stimulus for better neural connection and ultimately performance on the traditional lift when you go back to it.If you’re looking for a program that builds these accessory bench press movements right into the plan exactly when you should do them for best gains, be sure to head to the link below and check out the TOTAL BEAXST program fr

If you want to get bigger biceps but feel you have tried every biceps exercise without seeing the results you have been aiming for, then you need to watch this video. Here I’m going to show you the best tip for improving every bicep workout you will do from here on out. In fact, when you see and feel how to perform this move, you’re going to start getting more out of your bicep exercises that may have not felt as effective as they should have in the past.It starts with understanding how the body prefers to work. When trying to accomplish a task, the body is always going to look for ways to compensate in order to be more efficient. It does not want to waste any unnecessary energy and therefore will look for other muscles that it can ask to chip in to complete the task, whether you wanted them to or not.When it comes to strength training, this is a great thing. Moving the most amount of weight from point A to point B is essential when it comes to getting stronger. In fact, it is the definition of strength. The more you can lift the more strength you have. That said, when you are trying to simply grow the size of a muscle, in this case the biceps, your job is to find ways to make sure the muscle in question does all of the work without the help of others.When it comes to the biceps, the forearms are the enemy of your gains. This is because this nearby muscle group (the flexors of the forearms) are not just in the immediate vicinity of the biceps but share a similar function in that they like to contribute to the pulling exercises in your workouts. This means that when you are doing bicep exercises that pull the weight towards you (as in every variation of a curl or even a chinup or a row) the forearms will contribute - if you let them.I say if, because if you want to take them out of it you can greatly minimize their contribution by consciously making a tweak to the position of your wrist on every bicep exercise. You want to allow your wrist to bend backwards as opposed to curl towards the upper arm when doing your exercises. This will take some practice and awareness but if you try the two handed waiter curl that I show you in the early part of this video you will be able to feel what it is that you are trying to recreate on every other movement.From here, you can do this on every other biceps curl exercise or chin up and get the same feelings and benefits. The key is never to let the bar or pullup bar drift too far towards the fingers. Grip them deep in the palm. This will prevent unnecessary overload on the distal deep finger tendons which will place an undue stress on the medial elbow tendon attachment.Give this a try and let me know how it works for you. I promise you, if you do exactly what I show you here in this video you are going to start building bigger biceps starting in your very next workout. It doesn’t take long to start feeling and seeing the benefits of this one powerful tip. If you’re looking for a step by step complete workout program to not just build bigger biceps but an overall more ripped and powerful body, click the link below and start your 90 day transformation.For more videos on how to get bigger biceps and the best way to build big biceps fast, be sure to subscribe to our channel here on youtube at the link below and turn on your notifications so you never miss a new video when it’s published.Build Muscle in 90 Days - http://athleanx.com/x/my-workoutsSubscribe to this channel here - http://youtube.com/user/jdcav24