Throughout your life, there are many instances in which being tall can help. The basketball court is one of them. Grabbing things off the top shelf or painting the topmost corners of your house is another one.
The deltoids are an easy muscle to hit… unless you’re talking about the rear deltoids. Targeting this muscle group takes more than doing standard dumbbell reverse flyes. Here’s what you need to know and do.
You can read all the most cutting-edge research you want to convince yourself that you’re on top of it, but if you’re not 21 anymore or genetically gifted, you’ve got to get real.
Training sports athletes requires an attention to injury prevention that transcends that of general population clientele, simply because their performance on the court or field is directly contingent on the training put in on the weight room floor. With that said, conventionally performed exercises may not be in the best interests of every athlete, especially when dealing with players who are larger than average, taller than average, and who may possess leverages that are favorable to excel in their sport, but unfavorable to excel in the weight room.
When it comes to pulldowns, chin-ups, rows, or any other upper back dominant movement, you first engage your back muscles by drawing the shoulders away from the load. That’s like, rudimentary.
I’ve written a lot on Bodybuilding.com about different ways I like to take the ego out of lifting. I’ve let you know how getting brutally strong may get you hurt, why you need to stop maxing out, and why you need to earn training “rights” you may be taking for granted. What do all these have in common? Taking things down a notch and focusing more on the weak links in your chain, rather than testing that chain with the amount of weight you can lift.
These 7 alternatives and modifications may be exactly what you need!
Any trainer worth his salt will say the big compound movements like squats, deadlifts, and overhead presses deserve an important place in your program. They deliver the most dividends for strength development, calorie burning, fat loss, and even carry over into hypertrophy (size gains).
I consider the barbell strict press to be a staple in upper body development. And I’ll say it – it one-ups the bench press as far as functional application and testimony to true strength goes.
For years, lifters have treated the “big 3” lifts – squat, deadlift, and bench press – as if they’re sacred. Just like the powerlifters, bro.
