Alternatives to the ordinary...

Discussion in 'Health and Fitness' started by Bigmikey, Aug 12, 2012.

  1. Bigmikey

    Bigmikey Internet Pacifist.

    If you knew just a single technique to defend against an assailant would you consider yourself well equipped or well trained? Would you have the same expectation for success that a person who knew 10 techniques perfectly might have? Probably not. Competent Martial Artists learn as many techniques as they can so they can be as prepared as possible for any situation.

    If you were forced to just eat a single food… say bananas, day in and day out, would you consider yourself well nourished? Again, probably not. Great nutrition comes through a varied and complete diet. One food just won’t cut it.

    Yet when it comes to resistance training and weight lifting I often encounter people who only do a single exercise for a given body part, over and over, never opening to the variety that’s out there. At first blush that doesn’t seem like such a big deal and maybe, for some, its not. But I happen to think its almost criminal when we take a step back and look at how hard many of us work to pursue our fitness goals. When we struggle in pursuit of a goal that often takes years to accomplish it seems silly to leave any tools on the table, untouched or over looked.

    This article takes a look at alternatives to some of our more customary lifting staples as well as just some old school heavy hitters many of us may have simply forgotten about. The hope is that reading this will spark a little creativity in your next workout and that instead of the same ol’ same ol’ maybe you’ll invest a bit of time in something new.
    I will break things out by prime mover where possible. There will also be a break out of compound moves which don’t fall under any particular, singular muscle group.

    Chest
    When it comes to chest flat bench barbell bench press springs to mind almost immediately for the vast majority of us, and rightfully so. But there is so much more than simply flat bench barbell bench press for a powerful chest. Lets take a look at some variations.

    Incline reverse grip:
    I’m sure many of you have heard of incline barbell bench press and I’m also sure that some have heard of reverse grip bench press, but have any of you tried incline reverse grip? You should!

    Note: I recommend doing this in a smith rack so that you can get your ROM set and not risk injury trying to needlessly stabilize. This exercise can get awkward at first so its best to use the smith rack until you get comfortable with the overall movement.

    I prefer a high incline, like 45 degrees or as close as I can come. From there, I spread my hands as wide apart as possible. You’ll find that its probably wider than most of you are used to going and that’s fine. In fact, that’s great since the wider the grip the more the chest is called into play, so get those hands out wide. With palms facing you, grasp the bar firmly. Since we’re in the smith rack, roll the bar back and slowly lower the weight toward the chest, touching about midway between the nipple and the clavicle. As we push upward, consciously try to slide your hands inward (DON’T LET THEM THOUGH!). This tiny change in mechanics will cause the chest to contract much more powerfully at the top of the ROM.

    Many will also feel this in the triceps and shoulders much more markedly than with the flat bench! Bonus!

    [​IMG]

    Primary muscle group
    Pectoralis major, Clavicular.

    Secondary muscle group
    Pectoralis major, Sternal, Deltoid Anterior, Triceps Brachii.


    Flat bench wide grip:
    As I stated above, the wider the grip the more the chest is called into the motion of the press as well as the more it gets stretched at the bottom. Always keep shoulder safety in mind when using a wide grip. If at any point you feel pain or unusual discomfort in the shoulder, rack the weights and adjust your grip.

    Many of us start lifting on small, inexpensive, plastic kits which small bars and narrow bench uprights. We adopt a neutral or middle grip simply out of convenience. A middle grip isn’t a bad grip at all. It brings a fair bit of tricep into the press while still using more chest than a straight narrow grip bench press which is largely triceps and very little chest in comparison.

    Dumbell Cross-Pulls:
    These are about as old school and obscure as can be due to the advent of the cable cross. Before cables this one was a keeper! Basically, stand with feet shoulder width apart grasping a dumbbell in each hand. Alternating between left and right, raise your hand upward, slanting across the chest, palms up, to a point about chin high. Body swing is ok to get the weight moving.
    This can be done with both hands simultaneously in which case the movement resembles a capital “A” in that both weights angle in toward the center, peaking right about chin high, like a letter “A”. This exercise is GREAT for inner, lower chest, biceps, and front delts. It may take a bit of playing with before you get it right but once you do, you’ll know it.

    Triceps:
    I don’t think anyone can argue the value of strong triceps, especially for any truly physical sport such as martial arts. Many have speculated that specifically training triceps is unnecessary and for some of us I agree that’s true. However for the rest of us the benefits of spending a little extra time on a few tricep exercises outweigh the investment in time. Here are a few exercises that would make a great addition to any workout and bring a big bang for the buck.

    Reverse, narrow grip flat barbell bench:
    As we all know, triceps are one of the muscles that benefit from barbell bench pressing, however, that benefit can be increased dramatically simply by changing our hand positions. A normal bench grip is palms facing out. For narrow reverse grip, palms face toward you and your grip should be shoulder width apart or a bit closer if your wrists will allow it.

    [​IMG]

    The exercise requires lowering the bar to the top of the abdomen, below the pecs, and then pressing off and slightly up toward the face, into a typical bench press location. Avoid touching off on the abdominals as going too low will place a great deal of strain on the shoulders.

    Primary muscle group
    Pectoralis major, Sternal.

    Secondary muscle group
    Pectoralis major, Clavicular, Deltoid Anterior, Triceps Brachii.


    Single arm, behind the head, tricep extensions:
    This is one of my all time favorites. If you can move a lot of weight this way, you’ve got strong triceps no doubt about it.
    From an upright, seated position grasping a dumbbell in one hand, raise the dumbbell above your head so that your arm is fully extended vertically. Bend at the elbow to slowly lower the weight behind the head, keeping the upper arm straight up and down, until the dumbbell dips below the base of the skull and raise again – CAREFULLY. Be sure to come to a fully straightened position before beginning the next rep.

    Shoulders:
    It’s no big secret the king daddy shoulder exercise is the military press – or some variation of, and there’s a reason for that. It WORKS. But sometimes its not enough or can’t be done for one reason or another. In that case I have a superset that will decimate shoulders in a quick minute.

    Incline barbell front raises/upright middle grip barbell rows:
    Some of you are scratching your head right now saying barbell front-huh? The front raise is probably the single most overlooked shoulder exercise out there. Heres why:


    Primary Muscles used:
    Deltoid, Anterior (Front Delts)

    Secondary Muscles
    Pectoralis Major, Clavicular (Upper Pecs)
    Deltoid, Lateral (Side Delts)
    Trapezius, Middle (Upper Traps)
    Trapezius, Lower (Lower Traps)
    Serratus Anterior, Inferior Digitations

    Stabilizer Muscles
    Trapezius, Upper (Upper Traps)
    Levator Scapulae (Rear Neck)
    Wrist Extensors (Forearm)

    And, if we bring them up high enough you can add posterior deltoids to the list of secondary’s as well.
    By using a barbell instead of a dumbbell and by being on an incline you force your shoulders to work in concert deprived of any change to generate momentum with the torso or legs. Due to the incline we also bring rear delts into the movement more prominently.

    To do this part of the superset, lie back on an incline bench (incline should be high. If we consider straight up and down to be 0 degrees then the incline is optimal at 15 degrees) with the bar held, palms downward, on your lap. With torso pressed firmly back against the back rest, slowly raise the bar until your arms are almost vertical and then slowly lower back down. Do NOT touch the lap.

    Next we immediately move to the second phase which is the upright barbell row – middle grip. For clarification, most upright rows are done using a narrow grip with hands roughly 6 inches apart. This can be incredibly hard on the wrists. Instead we’ll be using a grip that places the hands shoulder width apart. This actually makes it easier for us to keep our elbows up which is ESSENTIAL to doing an upright row properly.
    The reason upright rows are so effective in this superset is this:

    Primary muscles used:
    Deltoids, lateral
    Upper back

    Secondary muscles used:
    Deltoid, Anterior
    Suprespinatus
    Trapezius, Middle
    Trapezius, Lower
    Brachialis
    Brachioradialis
    Biceps Brachii
    Serratus Anterior
    Inferior Digitations
    Teres Minor
    Infraspinatus
    Teres Minor

    Stabilizers
    Trapezius, Upper
    Levator Scapulae
    Biceps Brachii
    Triceps, Long Head

    Between these two movements we literally hammer the entire shoulder girdle and anything supporting it.

    Standing with the bar held palms downward, resting on our thighs, hands shoulder width apart, lift the barbell upward toward the chin. It is VERY IMPORTANT to KEEP ELBOWS HIGH! I always tell people to imagine theres a string tied to your elbows, pulling them upward. Your hands are no more than hooks. It makes a BIG difference in the way people manage to move the weight.

    The bar should stay close to the body but not up against it. I usually keep it approximately 3 inches from my body the whole way. I find that clearance is enough to keep the movement smooth and comfortable. Raise the bar to chin level and lower slowly. Heres a great vid using the right hand position (though he lets his elbows drop at the top – NAUGHTY!:

    [​IMG]

    That’s all for this installment folks. MORE to come soon!!!
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 13, 2012
  2. Rand86

    Rand86 likes to butt heads

    This it, Big Man?

    http://vimeo.com/27434133
     
  3. Bigmikey

    Bigmikey Internet Pacifist.

    No. That would do a lot more for rear delt than chest.

    Stand with a dumbell in each hand, palms facing out, dumbells at least 6 inches from your sides. One at a time, pull (or raise) the dumbell upward at an angle across the body toward the midline at about chin level. It's ok to travel past the midline. I often like to end with the outer dumbell at the midline to make sure I get a good enough contraction.

    You can look up low pulley cable cross if you want. It'll be a similar ROM.
     

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