But if benching hurts your shoulders, you train at home without a trusty spotter, or you’ve found that barbell training just doesn’t give you a bigger chest, dumbbell work is the answer.

Strengthen Your Chest with Dumbbells

Dumbbell training may not be as sexy as loading up the bar till it bends, but for most people, it’s actually a better road to a bigger, stronger, set of pecs, and offers less risk of injury to boot.

We’re about to show you the best dumbbell exercises and workouts to develop your chest, top to bottom.

What Are The Benefits of Working Out My Chest With Dumbbells?

“The second you put two weights into your hands, it becomes doubly hard to stabilize them,” says Dr. John Rusin, a strength and conditioning coach and author of Functional Hypertrophy Training (available at drjohnrusin.com). That’s a good thing, he says: the smaller muscles in your shoulder joints learn to stabilize those joints, while the big muscles (the pecs, mainly) work harder to control the weights, preventing them from drifting in all directions. Dumbbell training offers the following benefits for chest gains.

#1. Dumbbells Allow a Greater Range of Motion

When you perform bench presses with a barbell, the bar hits your chest before your pectoral muscles achieve a full stretch. That’s not so bad if your goal is to press the biggest weight you can. But if you want to gain size and athletic performance, you may be better off with dumbbells, which allow you to lower the weights past chest level—maximally stretching the pecs and activating more muscle fibers. A study from the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research suggests that larger ranges of motion lead to more muscle growth.

#2. Dumbbells Build More Stability

Yes, they’re harder to control than a barbell or machine handle, but that’s kind of the point. Your arms may shake a bit when you’re doing a dumbbell bench press or flye for the first time, or the first time in a long time, but that’s because your muscle are learning to stabilize your shoulder joints while they’re producing force. This is helpful for making you functionally stronger in the long run, so your muscles can produce force under various conditions—not just when the object they’re pushing against is perfectly balanced or moving in a straight line.

#3. Dumbbells Place Less Stress on Your Joints.

Funny thing about the human body: it only looks symmetrical. In fact, your shoulders, hips, wrists and other joints are all slightly different from one side to the other. So, when you force the body to move with perfect symmetry—as when you lower an evenly-weighted bar directly to the middle of your chest—one side will always take on a little more of the stress than the other. Do this often enough, and the joints on that side will start to complain.

Dumbbells allow both sides of your body to find their optimal path when performing an exercise. Your wrists are free to rotate, and your elbows and shoulders can travel along the path that’s most comfortable for them, essentially customizing the exercise for your body. That places the stress of the exercise right where it belongs—in your muscles, and not your joints.

#4. Dumbbells Give you Balanced Development and Strength.

This builds on our last point. You may feel like your right and left arm push with equal force on the barbell bench press, but humans are very good at compensating—throwing a little more stress onto their stronger side while favoring their weaker one. That’s not possible with dumbbells: your right and left sides have to stabilize and push with equal force—and if one side lags behind, you feel it immediately. This ensures that you never push a set farther than your weaker side can handle. Eventually, the strength on your two sides should roughly even out. And if you need extra work to bring up the weaker side, dumbbells make doing a few more reps or sets with it simple to do.

#5. Dumbbells Work the Pecs Harder.

Bench-press a pair of dumbbells and you’ll feel that the chest muscles have to contract at the top of the movement to prevent the weights from drifting outward. That’s not something you need to worry about when your hands are connected by a steel bar. A 2017 study found that dumbbell bench presses activate the pectoralis major—the impressive slab that makes up most of the chest musculature—more effectively than both the barbell bench press and the Smith machine bench press.

#6. Dumbbells Are Safer

We all know somebody who’s gotten trapped under a barbell when he couldn’t press it back up (you probably see him in the mirror every day). When you train at home, alone, such accidents can be extremely dangerous, so dumbbells are the better equipment choice for solo chest training. If your muscles give out sooner than you expect, you can easily drop the weights to the floor and live to lift another day.

What Kind of Dumbbells Should I Buy?

If you’re tired of schlepping to the gym and are ready to build a weight room of your own at home, dumbbells should be one of your first buys. You basically have two choices in the dumbbell market:

1) Adjustable dumbbells. Plates can be added and held on with collars, or the turn of a dial or lever.

2) Fixed dumbbells. The weight is secured to the handle. This means you’ll need multiple pairs of dumbbells to cover an array of weight increments.

While fixed-weight dumbbells are inexpensive, indestructible, and have a nice old-school vibe to them (your grandfather probably had a pair), they’re not all that practical. If you work out at home, you’ll need at least three pairs (something that feels light, medium, and heavy) right off the bat, plus new ones whenever you get too strong for the old models. Over time, you’ll be tripping over dumbbells, and wondering why you didn’t shell out a little more for the adjustable type up front.

But, if you like the real-gym feel of one-piece dumbbells, and money and space are no object, it’s hard to beat CAP Barbell Rubber-Coated Hex Dumbbells, which feel great in your hands and won’t nick up your flooring if you drop them. You’ll pay about 25 bucks for a pair of 10-pounders, 60 bucks for two 25-pounders, and 110 for a pair of 45s.

With adjustable dumbbells, you’ll save money in the long run, and space right away. PowerBlocks ($160 per bell for the Elite model, adjustable from 5–50 pounds in 2.5 or 5-pound increments)—are industry standard, and easy to use after some practice shifting the weight around. Known as selectorized dumbbells, the handles sit in the center of square-shaped plates, and you can load and unload them quickly with the flip of a lever. Try a pair before you buy though, as some people find the handgrips a little awkward.

Another adjustable option is Bowflex Selectech Dumbbells, which range in weight from 5 to 52 pounds in 2.5 or 5–pound increments. They work similarly to the PowerBlocks and they’re about as pricy (you’ll pay around 300 dollars for a pair), but are a little easier to use and feel better in your hands.

If you’re after a classic strongman feel, and don’t feel like plopping down three bills for hand weights, you can’t beat a pair of York Fitness Cast Iron Dumbbells. You load and unload plates with these guys like they were mini-barbells, spinning the collars into place around the ends of the threaded bars. Not as convenient as the other adjustable options, but at about $120.00 for a 5 to 45-pound pair, they’re way less expensive.

One other thing about adjustable dumbbells vs. fixed: sometimes it pays to get both. Most selectorized sets only go up to around 50 pounds, and ones that do offer more weight tend to be long and bulky and cumbersome to use. To economize space as well as cash, it’s a good idea to get a selectorized set that goes up to 50 pounds, and then fixed-weight dumbbells for every increment you need beyond that.

What Chest Exercises Can I Do With Dumbbells?

Any chest move that you can do with a barbell can be replicated with dumbbells. Here are our favorites—many of them classic moves you’re probably already familiar with, but with a clever twist that elicits even greater gains—courtesy of Rusin. We categorized them by the area of the chest they emphasize most.

Upper Chest:

#1 Slight Incline Dumbbell Bench Press

(See the video above at 0:31)

Step 1: Elevate one end of a flat exercise bench on two or three heavy barbell plates, or a small box or step. The angle should ideally be 30 degrees or less.

Step 2: Lie back on the bench, your head at the elevated end, holding two dumbbells at arm’s length above your chest.

Step 3: Slowly bend your elbows and pull your shoulder blades together on the bench, lowering the dumbbells until they are close to the sides of your chest. In the down position, your elbows should be at a 45-degree angle to your torso—not straight out to the sides.

Step 4: Pause in the stretched position, and then press the dumbbells back up, flexing your chest as you push.

Standard incline bench presses put your hips in a flexed—or bent—position, says Rusin. This basically takes your entire lower body out of the exercise, which isn’t always what you want. By elevating the bench just a little bit, you can incorporate leg drive into the movement in the same way you do (or should) perform a flat barbell bench press. This effectively turns the move into a full-body exercise, which will allow you to handle more weight.

The incline also works the pec fibers that attach to the clavicle more strongly.

#2 Incline Fly-Press

(See the video at 1:20)

Step 1: Elevate one end of a flat exercise bench on two or three heavy barbell plates (the same as you did for incline press described above).

Step 2: Lie back on the bench with your head at the elevated end, holding two medium-heavy dumbbells at arm’s length above your chest, palms facing inward.

Step 3: Slowly lower the dumbbells directly out to the sides, simultaneously bending your elbows and squeezing your shoulder blades together until your chest is comfortably stretched and your elbows are at about a 90-degree angle. (If you experience shoulder pain in the fully stretched position, limit the range of motion).

Step 4: Reverse the movement, contracting your pecs as you straighten your arms fully, until you are back in the starting position.

Standard flyes are great for building muscle—but brutal on the shoulders. Bend the arms as you lower the weights, explains Rusin, and you maintain the stress on the pecs while taking it off the shoulder joints.

Middle and Inner-Chest:

#3 Crush Press (aka Squeeze Press)

(See the video at 1:55)

Step 1: Lie back on a flat exercise bench holding two heavy dumbbells on your chest, palms facing one another.

Step 2: Press the dumbbells together in the center of your chest (this is your starting position).

Step 3: Keeping the dumbbells pressed together, slowly push them to arm’s length over your chest. Pause for a moment, squeezing your chest muscles.

Step 4: Slowly reverse the movement, returning to the starting position.

Crush presses force the pecs to contract hard in a shortened position. This makes for a good contrast to flyes and dumbbell pressing movements—where the weights lower past your chest, emphasizing a stretch on the muscles. Squeeze hard at the top on crush presses and you’ll get a similar effect to cable crossovers, without needing two fancy cable stations to do it.

For an even better contraction, attach bands to the dumbbells so they’re pulling the weights away from each other when you do the exercise. You’ll have to work much harder to maintain the squeeze.

#4 Fly-Press

(See the video at 2:39)

Step 1: Lie back on an exercise bench holding two dumbbells at arm’s length above your chest, palms facing inward. This is your starting position.

Step 2: Slowly lower the dumbbells directly out to the sides, simultaneously bending your elbows and squeezing your shoulder blades together, until your chest is comfortably stretched and your elbows are at about a 90-degree angle. (If you experience shoulder pain in the fully stretched position, limit the range of motion).

Step 3: Reverse the movement, contracting your pecs as you straighten your arms fully, until you are back in the starting position.

Flyes take the triceps virtually out of the equation, largely isolating the pecs and working them hardest in the fully stretched position—where the maximum amount of muscle fibers can be recruited.

Lower Chest:

#5 45-Degree Dumbbell Floor Press

(See the video at 3:16)

Step 1: Lie on your back on the floor, holding two dumbbells at arm’s length over your chest. You can either lie back from a sitting position while holding the dumbbells, or have a partner hand them to you.

Step 2: Rotate your wrists so that the thumb sides of your hands are closer together than the pinky sides (as if holding a steering wheel at 10 and two o’clock). This is your starting position.

Step 3: Slowly lower the weights, keeping your elbows close to your sides, until your triceps lightly contact the floor.

Step 4: Press the weights back to the starting position.

The floor press works similarly to the crush press, working the pecs when they’re in a shortened position. Because the range of motion is abbreviated, resulting in little stretch on the shoulders, they’re a good option for people with shoulder pain.

#6 Feet-Up Slight Decline Dumbbell Bench Press

(See the video at 3:56)

Step 1: Elevate one end of a flat exercise bench on two or three heavy barbell plates.

Step 2: Lie back on the bench, your head at the lower end, holding two heavy dumbbells at arm’s length above your chest. Place your feet flat on the bench.

Step 3: Slowly bend your elbows and pull your shoulder blades together on the bench, lowering the dumbbells until they are close to the sides of your chest.

Step 4: Pause in the stretched position, and then press the dumbbells back to the starting position.

The slight decline works the pecs with the shoulders in a centrated—or neutral—position. This balanced position permits maximal drive from your muscles, while the decline angle recruits more of the muscle fibers that connect to the sternum (targeting the lower chest). Want to load up on a chest exercise? Choose this one. It’s safer than doing flat or incline presses with heavy weight.

How To Stretch Before A Dumbbell Chest Workout?

Warm up your chest, shoulders, and elbows before you train pecs with these moves from Onnit’s former Chief Fitness Officer, John Wolf.

What Is the Best Dumbbell Chest Workout?

If you’re ready to build some serious pressing strength and size in your chest, try one of the workouts below. Each is designed to suit a specific goal and experience level.

Dumbbell Chest Workout For Beginners

If you’re fairly new to the iron game and are looking to dumbbells to build your chest, start with this simple, two-move workout. You can do it as part of a full-body workout or upper-body day. On the pushup, perform each rep at a deliberate pace, stopping before you reach failure on your first set. On the final effort, get as many reps as you can. Then hit the second move, leaving a couple of reps in the tank on all your sets. Perform this workout up to three times a week on nonconsecutive days.

1. Pushup

Sets: 2 Reps: Stop two reps shy of failure on the first set; last set, as many reps as possible

Step 1: Place your hands on the floor, or on a stable elevated surface (a bench, box, or table work well—the higher the surface the easier the exercise). Set them slightly wider than shoulder width and do the same with your feet. Your arms should be locked out and your body straight from your heels to the top of your head. Tuck your tailbone under, brace your core, and squeeze your glutes, so your pelvis is perpendicular to the floor.

Step 2: Keeping your body straight and your head in a neutral position, simultaneously bend your arms and retract your shoulder blades until your chest is just above the floor—or as far as you can go without losing good form.

Step 3: Press back up, spreading your shoulder blades at the top of the movement. (Think of yourself as pushing through the floor.)

2. Incline Fly-Press

Sets: 2–3 Reps: 12–15

See the directions above.

Dumbbell Chest Workout For Intermediates

If you’ve been hitting the weights consistently for at least six months, this trifecta of pec punishers will nudge you up another level. Use it in place of the chest day you were doing, or add it to your program for extra work (spaced out a few days from any other chest work you do). Rest about 2 minutes between sets of the first move, 60 seconds between sets of the second, and 30–45 seconds between sets of the third. On each exercise, choose weights that allow you to complete the lowest number of reps listed. Over time, work up to completing the highest number of reps listed for every set before increasing the weight. Perform the workout twice a week on nonconsecutive days.

1. Slight-Incline Dumbbell Press

Sets: 4–5 Reps: 4–6

 See the directions above.

2 Press-Fly

Sets: 2–3 Reps: 8–12

 See the directions above.

3 45-Degree Dumbbell Floor Press

Sets: 1–2 Reps: 15–20

 See the directions above. 

Advanced Dumbbell Chest Workout

Ready to sear your chest? This workout will do it. Use it in place of your current chest day and limit any other chest training you do in the same week to ensure recovery. Load up on the decline presses—they’re a serious strength builder—and use progressively lighter weights as the workout goes on and fatigue sets in. Finish with two sets of old-fashioned pushups, which will feel shockingly difficult after the other moves.

1. Feet Up, Slight-Decline Dumbbell Bench Press

Sets: 4-5  Reps: 3–5

See the directions above.

2. Incline Fly-Press Hybrid

Sets: 3–4  Reps: 6–10

See the directions above.

3. Crush Press

Sets: 2–3  Reps: 12–15

See the directions above.

4. Pushup

Sets: 2  Reps: As many reps as possible

See the directions above. If you can do more than 20 reps, wrap an elastic exercise band around your back and grasp an end in each hand for extra resistance.

The post Strengthen Your Chest with Dumbbells appeared first on Onnit Academy.

That’s a bummer, because the lats are essential for a physique that looks muscular and lean. When you flex them, they make your waist look smaller and your shoulders look wider, giving the impression of a powerful, even super-heroic upper body.

Whether you’re a regular guy or gal who wants to sculpt a more balanced physique, or a die-hard lifter who has aspirations of one day competing in a physique show (Bodybuilding, Figure, Classic Physique, etc.), we’ll help you get your back training on track, so that when you spread your lats, you look like you’ve sprouted wings!

What Is A Lat Spread and Why Do People Do It?

The lat spread is a traditional bodybuilding pose used in competition to highlight the width and thickness of the competitor’s latissimus dorsi muscles. The lats, if you weren’t sure, are the big slabs of muscle that run down the sides of your back. They originate on the lower three or four ribs, lower six thoracic vertebrae, and iliac crest (the top border of the pelvis), and insert on the humerus (upper-arm bone) just below the shoulder joint.

In a physique contest, the athlete is required to display their lats in two distinct lat poses—the front and rear lat spread. (The competitor must show the lats facing the judges/audience, as well as facing away, so the dimensions of the muscles can be appraised.) The term “spread” refers to how the lats appear when they’re flexed in a dramatic fashion. When well-developed, the lats appear to spread out from the person’s torso, and the effect is something like a bird spreading its wings—the back looks so wide and dense that you can see it from the front!

Of course, if you’re not planning on posing your physique on stage for sport, you don’t absolutely need to know the technique of flexing the lats aesthetically. But many people like to motivate themselves to get in their best shape by scheduling a photo shoot or other event where they’ll have pictures taken to commemorate their condition, and in that case, understanding how to show off your lats to their best advantage will help them get the credit they deserve, and prove that you put some serious time and dedication into building them. Scroll down for a full tutorial on how to pose your lats effectively when that time comes.

Exercises To Build Stronger Lats

The lats work to pull the arms from overhead to down to your sides, extending your shoulder joints. They’re the main upper-body muscles involved in climbing and swimming. For ages, the go-to lat-building exercises for bodybuilders and other weight-training populations alike have been the classic pullup, chinup, and lat-pulldown, along with various types of rows. These are all great options, but if you’ve lived on a steady diet of the standard lat exercises for years and still feel like your wings haven’t spread, we’ve got some variations to show you that may help you target your lats a little better.

These come by way of Jonny Catanzano, an IFBB Classic Physique pro bodybuilder and coach to physique competitors at all levels (@jonnyelgato_ifbbpro and @tailoredhealthcoaching on Instagram).

1. Reverse-Incline Lat Pulldown

(See 00:52 in the video above)

Pulling with your palms facing each other (a neutral grip) helps you to keep your arms closer to your sides during a pulldown or row. This in turn helps to focus the exercise on the lat muscles, as opposed to the muscles of the upper back. Furthermore, doing the movement with your torso supported on a bench makes the exercise more stable, so your muscles can focus purely on lifting the weight rather than trying to brace your body position at the same time.

“This type of pulldown primarily hits the lower lat fibers, which really contributes to the V-taper,” says Catanzano, referring to the impression the lats give as they descend from their widest point beneath your shoulders to their insertion at your pelvis. The lower fibers are usually underdeveloped relative to the rest of the lats, and adding size to that area will improve the cobra-hood effect of your lats when you spread them. In other words, it will make your waist look smaller while your back looks broad.

Step 1. Set an adjustable bench on a 45–60-degree angle and place it in front of a cable station with a high pulley. If the station offers dual pulleys, attach single-grip handles to them. But if it’s a single pulley, attach a lat-pulldown bar and then attach some single-grip handles to the bar at about shoulder width (we used Angles90 Grips in the video, another great option).

Step 2. Rest your chest on the bench and grasp the handles with palms facing each other (inward). Pull the handles down until your elbows reach your hips. Lower the weight with control.

Be careful not to pull the handles too far back—go until your arms are in line with your body. Pulling further than that can shift the emphasis to the upper back, and we want to keep it on your lats.

2. Close-Grip Cable Pulldown

(See 01:28 in the video)

You’re almost certainly familiar with the close-grip pulldown done with a V-grip handle attachment, but Catanzano recommends using two separate single-grip handles instead (preferably the type with soft, spongy material on the handle). These are the kind you’re probably used to using for chest flyes and lateral raises.

The single-grip handles will allow you to move your hands further apart as you pull the cable down, and that means more range of motion, so you can get your elbows closer to your hips for a full contraction of the lower lats.

Step 1. Attach the two handles to the pulley of a lat-pulldown station and grasp them with a neutral grip. Secure your knees under the pad so your lower body is braced. Lean back a bit so you feel a stretch on your lower lats, but try not to arch your back.

Step 2. Pull the handles down until your elbows line up with your hips. Lower the weight with control.

3. Reverse-Incline Dumbbell Row

(See 02:09 in the video)

This one hits the lats but puts more emphasis on the rhomboids in the middle back, which is literally the centerpiece of a rear lat-spread pose. “Developing this area will add to the overall width of your back,” says Catanzano. As with the reverse-incline pulldown, using a bench takes the lower back out of the movement and reduces your ability to cheat or use momentum, so the target muscles get worked in near isolation.

Step 1. Set a bench to a 45-degree angle and grasp dumbbells. Rest your chest against the bench and allow your shoulder blades to spread apart at the bottom of the movement.

Step 2. Row the weights to your sides with your elbows pointing at about 45 degrees from your torso. Squeeze your shoulder blades together at the top. You may want to use wrist straps to reinforce your grip, as your hands will likely tire before your back does.

4. Kelso Shrug

(See 02:52 in the video)

Done standing upright, shrugging motions work the upper traps, but when done with your chest supported, they hit more of the trap fibers, along with the rest of the upper back. Like the incline rows above, this movement will widen and thicken the middle part of the back, which contributes to a powerful lat spread viewed from behind.

Step 1. Set up as you would for the incline row and simply retract your shoulder blades, squeezing them together at the top of the movement. Keep your elbows straight. Lower the weights with control, and allow your shoulder blades to spread apart at the bottom.

Incidentally, Kelso shrugs can be done at the end of a set of incline rows to finish off the upper back. In other words, do a set of rows to failure, and when you can’t perform another full-range row anymore, simply retract your shoulders for a few reps of shrugs to failure.

5. Neutral-Grip Pullup

(See 03:39 in the video)

“Pullups with a neutral grip almost force you to keep your elbows a little in front of your body,” says Catanzano, “which is where your lats are more active than they would be pulling with your elbows flared out to the sides.”

Step 1. Hang from a bar using a neutral grip. If your chinup bar doesn’t allow that, attach single-grip handles as explained in the close-grip pulldown above. Your hands should be about shoulder-width apart.

Step 2. Pull yourself up until your chin is over the bar and your elbows are in line with your hips. Lower your body down with control.

If that’s too hard, attach an exercise band to the bar and stand on the free loop. The band’s tension will unload some of your bodyweight so that you can get more reps.

Sample Workout For a Better Lat Spread

Catanzano offers the following routine to bring up your lats and improve your lat spread. Perform it once every five to seven days. Rest 2–3 minutes between sets. Note that the neutral-grip pullups and Kelso shrugs are paired, so perform them in alternating fashion, doing a set of the pullup and then a set of the shrug without rest in between. Then rest 3 minutes before repeating until all sets are complete for the pair.

1. Reverse-Incline Lat Pulldown

Sets: 4  Reps: 10–12

2. Close-Grip Cable Pulldown

Sets: 4  Reps: 10–12

3A. Neutral-Grip Pullup

Sets: 4  Reps: 10

3B. Kelso Shrug

Sets: 4  Reps: 12

4. Reverse-Incline Dumbbell Row

Sets: 4  Reps: 12

A Lat Flexing and Spreading Tutorial

Once you’ve built a substantial set of lats, you can work on posing them effectively. Catanzano, who coaches posing as well as training for physique competitors, offers this three-step guide to mastering the lat spread.

(See 04:09 in the video for Catanzano’s demonstration)

1. Squeeze your shoulder blades together and place your fists on your hips. “Imagine holding a pencil between your shoulder blades,” says Catanzano. That’s how far back you want to pull your shoulders.

2. Drive your shoulders down. The movement is the opposite of a shrug, so get your shoulders as far south of your ears as you can. You should feel your lats get tense.

3. While keeping your shoulders down and your lats tense, roll your shoulders forward and slightly upward. Your chest and ribcage should lift in front of you, “nice and high and proud,” says Catanzano. Think about spreading your lats apart as wide as you can.

Catanzano warns that you need to have good shoulder mobility in order to spread your lats impressively. You should be able to raise your shoulders up and down and retract and protract them through a large range of motion—and pain-free. If you can’t, then you won’t be able to achieve the positions that showcase the lats to their fullest potential. If you need work on shoulder mobility, start with this article, Shoulder Mobility for Strength and Injury Prevention.

The post How To Lat Spread Like A Bodybuilder appeared first on Onnit Academy.

– The posterior chain is the collective term for the muscles on the backside of the body that are the main drivers of explosive power.

– The posterior chain includes the glutes, hamstrings, and lower back, but also muscles of the upper body and core.

– Due to imbalanced training, the posterior chain is often weak in relation to muscles on the front of the body, especially the quads.

– Targeting the glutes and hamstrings with different exercises for power, strength, and muscle size will develop the posterior chain as a whole and build athleticism, as well as help to prevent injury.

5 Posterior Chain Exercises For Stability And Strength

What you can’t see can hurt you. Or, it can take your strength, muscle gains, and athletic performance to the next level.

What you can’t see, at least not without contorting in front of the mirror, are all the muscles on the backside of your body. The glutes, hamstrings, spinal erectors (lower back), lats, and a ­handful of other key movers. Collectively, these are known as the posterior chain.

Developing the pecs, abs, and biceps—aka, the “beach muscles”—might make you look good (at least from the front), but it’s the muscles on your backside that are most responsible for producing power, helping you dominate in sports and in the gym, and keeping you injury-free.

“On the front of the body are the ‘show’ muscles,” says Jim Smith, CPPS, a strength coach and owner of Diesel Strength & Conditioning (Dieselsc.com). “The posterior chain is the ‘go’ muscles.”

If you’re currently dedicating more time and intensity to your pecs and abs than your glutes and hams, it’s time to start focusing more on your rearview. This article provides a simple yet thorough guide to exactly why and how to train your posterior chain for better gains, better performance, and a better overall physique.

What is the Posterior Chain?

Some confusion exists as to what exactly constitutes the posterior chain. The glutes, hamstrings, and lower back muscles are the centerpieces, and represent the musculature most trainers are referring to when they use the term posterior chain. But it doesn’t stop there.

“There’s more back there than hamstrings and glutes,” says Jeff Jucha, owner and head coach at West Little Rock CrossFit in Arkansas (westlittlerockcrossfit.com). “The traps, lats, and other muscles along the spine are also part of the posterior chain.”

Smith adds a few more muscles to the count, including the adductors (which span from the front of the thigh to the rear), calves, and core musculature (not including the rectus abdominis, your six-pack muscle, which is obviously on your front). But basically, he says, “When you look in the mirror, [the posterior chain is] all the muscles you can’t see.”

Major Posterior Chain Muscles

– Upper, middle, and lower trapezius

– Posterior deltoids

– Latissimus dorsi

– Rhomboids

– Spinal erectors (erector spinae)

– Transverse abdominis

– Gluteus maximus, gluteus medius

– Hamstrings (biceps femoris, semimembranosis, semitendonosis)

– Calves (gastrocnemius, soleus)

The reason it’s called a “chain” is because these muscles all work together to create movement.

“The posterior chain works synergistically to propel the body forward, perform reactive agility, and initiate throwing, jumping, sprinting, acceleration, and deceleration of athletic movements,” says Smith. “The fancy term for how they work together is ‘intermuscular coordination.’”

Why is Working Out the Posterior Chain Important?

Jumping, sprinting, and all the foundational gym lifts require posterior chain action. Squats, deadlifts, lunges, and their many variations, naturally use the muscles of the core and lower body, but classic upper-body lifts like rows, presses, and chinups call on the backside muscles too. If you’re bench-pressing properly, your glutes should be clenched and your feet driving into the floor. These actions help stabilize the torso.

The posterior chain is mainly responsible for hip extension (pushing your hips to lockout, which uses the glutes and hamstrings), knee flexion (bending your knees, working the hamstrings, primarily), and plantar flexion (raising up onto your toes, performed by the calves). While the pulling and retracting motions provided by the traps, lats, rear delts, and rhomboids are part of the chain, they get worked in most back and pull day workout routines (see examples HERE and HERE), so we won’t spend more time on them here. The lower-body posterior chain muscles are more often ignored, so they’re the focus of this article.

If you’ve been paying attention, you might be wondering about the quads. They’re not part of the posterior chain, but knee extension, initiated by the quadriceps, is obviously important for sports and strength athletes as well; it makes up one-third of the all-important “triple extension” sequence—the simultaneous extension of the hips, knees, and ankles to produce explosiveness. The problem is, lifters commonly overemphasize knee extension in their training. Most gym warriors like to do squats and leg presses (it’s fun to see the legs get a big pump). The posterior chain can also get undertrained simply because the lifter doesn’t see it in the mirror, and so working it is an afterthought. In any case, the result is quads that overpower the glutes and hamstrings, and a posterior chain that’s disproportionately weak. Therefore, most athletes would do well to prioritize the posterior chain and put the quads on the back burner for a while.

“There should be a balance,” says Smith. “Many athletes and lifters become quad-dominant, and begin their squatting patterns by initiating knee flexion first, instead of sitting back into their hips to engage the glutes. When lifters can’t sit back in a squat, the glutes get even weaker, the knees push forward, and that puts even more focus on the quadriceps.” It also shifts more of the load to the lower back, which can lead to injury. “The development of the quads is important for all things, including athletics,” says Smith, “but the hamstrings, glutes, and other posterior chain musculature must also be strengthened to create a balance of forces across the ankles, knees, and hips.”

Imbalanced development due to weak hamstrings, glutes, and other posterior muscles is a recipe for not only diminished strength and athletic performance, but also injury. Lower back and knee pain, just to name a couple common issues, are the debilitating byproducts of neglecting the posterior chain. This is because of the improper squatting Smith described above, as well as a general imbalance that has a domino effect on all movements and exercises.

“A weak posterior chain, especially in relation to the rectus abdominis, quads, and hip flexors, can create an increased potential for injury,” says Brian Strump, DC, a licensed chiropractor, certified strength coach, and owner of Live Active Charlotte in Charlotte, North Carolina. “The risk of low-back pain, hip pain, and knee pain are often greater with increasing imbalances in musculature. The body does best with similar push and pull capability of the muscles and tendons on the joints.”

Further down are five posterior chain-focused exercises to incorporate into your training to improve (or avoid) these issues, and boost your gains and performance.

How To Stretch Your Body Before and After Training

Perform the following exercises from Onnit Durability Coach Natalie Higby (TheDurableAthlete.com) before training the posterior chain. Complete each exercise in sequence. Work for 45 seconds on each move (don’t rush), and then repeat for 3 total rounds.

Sumo Squat

Step 1. Stand with feet outside shoulder width and feet turned out as far as you can. Tuck your tailbone under slightly so that your pelvis is parallel to the floor, and brace your core.

Step 2. Squat down while driving your knees out as much as you can. Keep your shoulders stacked over your hips. Note: don’t hinge at the hips as you would for a back squat movement—keep your body as vertical as possible.

Half Mountain Climber to Full Mountain Climber

Step 1. Get into a child’s pose—sitting back on your heels with both arms stretched in front of you. From there, come up to all fours, and then raise your right knee up to your chest, and plant your foot on the floor outside your right hand (your hands should be directly under your shoulders now).

Step 2. Extend your spine as much as you can, striving to create a long line from your head to your pelvis. Drive your shoulders back and down (think “proud chest”), and keep your right foot flat.

Step 3. From there, extend your left leg, raising your knee off the floor. Your torso may want to round forward, forcing you to lose your spine position. Fight it, and try to maintain extension.

Step 4. Lower your knee to the floor, return to child’s pose, and repeat the entire sequence on the opposite side.

Lying Sphinx

Step 1. Sit upright with your legs extended and rotated out 30–45 degrees.

Step 2. Twist your torso to the left, placing your hands on the floor outside your left hip and driving your shoulders back and down (“proud chest”). Keep your left leg as straight as you can, but allow your right leg to rotate inward as you turn.

Step 3. Bend your hips, trying to bring your torso closer to the floor. Feel the stretch in your left glutes. Come back up, and then twist to the opposite side and repeat.

After training, try this move from Onnit’s Director of Fitness Education, Shane Heins. Hold the position for 30 seconds, and repeat for 1–3 rounds.

Downward Dog

Step 1. Get on all fours, and push through your hands and feet to raise your knees off the floor.

Step 2. From there, push your hips back and high into the air, straightening your legs as much as you can while keeping your head, spine, and hips aligned. Don’t put your heels flat on the floor at the expense of your spine position—focus on length.

Top 5 Posterior Chain Exercises

These moves can be inserted into virtually any lower-body workout. As Smith mentioned, balance is the key—a balance between movements as well as muscles used. There’s no one-size-fits-all description for how to juggle your exercise selection, but a good rule of thumb is to include one of the below movements for every quad-dominant exercise in your program (i.e., back squat, front squat, leg press, leg extension).

If your training has been imbalanced for some time, or you consider your glutes, hamstrings, or lower back to be a major weak point, do twice as many posterior-chain exercises as you do lifts for the quads. For instance, if you want to barbell squat, you might begin the workout with cable pull-throughs and then follow the squat with Romanian deadlifts. (See more on placement of exercises below.) If you follow a body-part split, and find it hard to fit enough posterior chain moves into your leg day, you can add some of them (say, Romanian deadlifts or kettlebell swings) to your back day for some extra pulling—just space it two or more days apart from any leg day you do. Glute/hamstring/lower-back training pairs well with lat and upper back training, as both sets of muscles perform pulling motions and overlap to a degree.

1) Romanian Deadlift

Many will contend that the traditional deadlift is the “king of posterior chain exercises” (as if such a thing existed). It’s a great exercise, and it will absolutely build your posterior chain, but we’re putting the crown on the Romanian deadlift for this list. The conventional deadlift (and, really, the sumo deadlift as well), is very difficult for most people to do with good form. As a result, it’s been the cause of many back injuries. It also takes a lot of drilling to perfect the technique. The Romanian deadlift is more user-friendly, and works nearly all the same muscles (mainly the glutes, hamstrings, and lower back), so we’re giving it the edge here.

The Romanian deadlift (RDL for short) is performed with lighter loads than traditional deadlifts, and doesn’t involve pulling a barbell off the floor. You start at the top, hips locked out, and bend your hips into flexion. That means you’re less likely to round your lower back, regardless of any mobility restrictions you have in your hips. There’s also virtually no strain on the front side of the knee, because the knees remain only slightly flexed throughout the movement.

These features make RDLs a good alternative to traditional deads for those getting up in age, those who have a lot of miles on their joints already, or anyone else that’s concerned about wear and tear on the knees and lower back.

How To Do Romanian Deadlifts

Step 1. Place a barbell on a rack set to hip level. Grasp the bar with your hands at shoulder width, and pull the bar out of the rack. Step back, and set your feet at hip width; hold the bar at arms length against your thighs. Draw your shoulders back and down—think “proud chest,” and keep this upper body tension throughout the lift.

Step 2. Take a deep breath into your belly and brace your core. Begin bending your hips back. Keep your head, spine, and pelvis aligned as you slide the bar down the front of your body—keep it in contact with your legs. Allow your knees to bend slightly as you hip hinge. Continue until you feel a stretch in your hamstrings. On the way back up to standing, squeeze your glutes.

For most people, the bar will end up somewhere between the knees and lower shins in the bottom position.

Exercise Variations

The RDL can also be done with one leg at a time using a barbell, one or more dumbbells, or a barbell in a landmine unit (all of which are discussed in our guide to the single-leg RDL HERE). Single-leg RDLs are a must-do for ensuring balance between the right and left legs; with the standard double-leg version, a stronger side can potentially compensate for the weaker side and further magnify strength imbalances. One good strategy is to alternate between double- and single-leg RDL variations every other time you do RDLs. 

Sets/Reps/Load

Perform 3–4 sets of 6–10 reps on heavy days, and anywhere from 12–20 reps on light days.

2) Cable Pull-Through

Like RDLs, cable pull-throughs are a great way to zero-in on the glutes and hamstrings. But that’s not to say they’re just the same exercise with different equipment. Running the cable between your legs and behind your body creates a unique line of pull. On any deadlift variation, the resistance is pulling straight down; but with a pull-through, it’s going backward.

“Pull-throughs are great for teaching the hip hinge,” says Smith—your ability to bend your hips while keeping your head, spine, and pelvis in line—“because the line of pull of the cable drives the athlete’s hips back. The exercise also teaches a powerful lockout of hip extension at the top of the rep, which is important for jumping, deadlifts, and squats.” Another benefit to pull-throughs is that they’re easy on the lower back. You’re not loading it directly as you do in a back squat, deadlift, RDL, or good morning, so you’re not likely to aggravate it. You can just concentrate on extending the hips.

Because it’s something of an isolation move done with a cable instead of free weights, the pull-through may seem like a natural finishing move for a leg workout, but Smith actually prefers to program it early, before the big lifts. “Pull-throughs create a neural drive to the glutes, and work well as a primer before a loaded lower-body strength workout with exercises like squats and deadlifts,” he says. In other words, if you start your workout with pull-throughs you may feel your glutes and hams working harder on your other exercises, as well as feel that you have better control over them.

How To Do Cable Pull-Throughs

Step 1. Stand in front of a cable column, facing away from it, with a rope handle attached to the pulley. If possible, set the pulley height to where it’s right below your crotch, which will make for the most direct line of pull. Otherwise, use the low setting.

Step 2. Straddle the cable and grasp the ends of the rope in front of your thighs so that the cable runs between your legs and behind you. Step forward to raise the weight off the stack, far enough so that it won’t touch down at the bottom of the rep. Space your feet shoulder-width part.

Step 3. Push your hips back to slowly your lower torso, keeping your back flat throughout, and your knees slightly bent. Lower until you feel a stretch in the hamstrings.

Step 4. Extend your hips, focusing on contracting your glutes and hamstrings, to return to the standing position.

Exercise Variations

Pull-throughs can also be done with a resistance band. When using a band, anchor it to a sturdy object, and step far enough away from the anchor point to create a good amount of tension. As with the cable version, there should still be tension on the band at the bottom of each rep.

Sets/Reps/Load

Perform 2–3 sets of 12–15 reps using a moderate weight. As mentioned above, you can slot pull-throughs early in a lower-body workout, before compound moves like squats or deadlifts, but they also work well done for high reps to finish out a session.

3) Medicine-Ball Throw for Height

This exercise works similar to a jump squat, but don’t let the squat fool you into thinking this is just a dynamic quad move. As Smith puts it, what you have here is a “full-body expression of explosive power, utilizing the major joints of the body and the entire posterior chain working together as a single unit.”

This version of the med-ball throw first teaches you to decelerate. You drop into the squat quickly to generate power, but you put the brakes on fast so you don’t sink too low. Then it builds your ability to change direction on a dime, as you have to come back up out of the squat fast and jump up while launching the ball overhead. The ankles, knees, and hips do this, just as they work in any other triple extension movement.

In other words, with one powerful, lightly loaded move, you’re training your ability to absorb, redirect, and explode, all the way up the backside of your body, from calves to upper traps.

How To Do the Medicine-Ball Throw for Height

Step 1. Pick up a 10- to 20-pound medicine ball and go to an open area (no people or equipment close by), either outdoors, or a room with high ceilings. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, and hold the bottom portion of the ball at arms’ length in front of you.

Step 2. Keeping your head, spine, and pelvis in a straight line, quickly bend your hips back, and squat about halfway down.

Step 3. Rebound out of the bottom of the squat explosively, extending your hips and knees to propel you upward. As you do, throw the ball straight up in the air as high as possible. The movement should be so powerful that your feet leave the floor by a few inches at the top.

Step 4. Land with soft knees, and keep an eye on the ball to make sure it doesn’t hit you on the way down. Let it fall to the floor (don’t try to catch it), and then pick it up and perform the next rep. Don’t rush between reps—settle yourself and get back into proper position.

Exercise Variations

Medicine-ball throws can be done several different ways. The ball can be thrown out in front of you for distance, or even back behind you. You can also change the exercise by holding the ball in front of your upper chest and performing an overhead pressing movement as you come up from the squat, again releasing at the top and letting the ball fall back to the floor.

Sets/Reps/Load

Perform 2–3 sets of 5–8 reps using a 10-20-pound ball. The purpose of med-ball throws in this context is to develop explosive power; it’s not about building muscle directly or even conditioning. Keep the volume low, the weight light, and recover fully between sets with 2–3-minute rest periods. Do this move early in a lower-body strength session, before loaded squats, deadlifts, and/or lunges.

4) Kettlebell Swing

Kettlebell swings have become a poster child for posterior chain development in the last couple decades, thanks in part to the popularity of CrossFit and kettlebell training. When performed correctly, swings check off several important boxes.

“Not only does the kettlebell swing work your hamstrings and glutes, it also requires explosiveness and coordination from the trunk, core muscles, and shoulders,” says Jucha. “You’ll work the posterior chain, but you’ll also practice the essential hinge movement pattern for explosive power.”

The kettlebell swing is a unique exercise in that it’s effective for developing explosiveness, but it’s also commonly done for high reps to improve conditioning (as in CrossFit WODs). If doing the latter, proper form is paramount for keeping the lower back safe.

How To Do Kettlebell Swings

Step 1: Place a kettlebell on the floor and stand about two feet behind it with feet shoulder-width apart. Draw your shoulder blades together and downward (think: “proud chest”). Draw your ribs down, and tuck your tailbone slightly to make your pelvis level with the floor. Brace your abs.

Step 2: Bend your hips backward to lower your torso and grasp the handle of the kettlebell with both hands, overhand. Keeping a long line from your head to your pelvis, and your shoulder blades pressing downward toward your back pockets, shift your weight to your heels. Bend your knees slightly and lift the kettlebell off the floor and hike it back between your legs.

Step 3: When your wrists make contact with your inner thighs, forcefully contract your hamstrings and glutes and thrust your hips forward, coming into a standing position. The momentum you generate will swing the kettlebell forward and up to about eye level. Allow the kettlebell to swing back between your legs, folding at the hips and bending your knees slightly as the kettlebell swings down and back to begin the next rep.

Do not lift the kettlebell with your upper body, as if performing a front raise shoulder exercise. The swing is an explosive movement and the glutes and hamstrings must perform almost all of the work.

Exercise Variations

Kettlebell swings can be performed holding the weight in only one hand, and they can also be done holding one kettlebell in each hand (but that’s advanced). Swings can be done with a dumbbell in place of a kettlebell (holding it in one or both hands), but a kettlebell generally offers a better grip and is more practical.

Sets/Reps/Load

Kettlebell swings are most often programmed with relatively high rep counts—anywhere from 15 up to 50+ reps per set. That said, if you’re new to the exercise, start at the low end to build good technique without fatigue setting in.

Beginners to the swing (or lifting in general) should do 2–3 sets of 10–15 reps using a light kettlebell (10–15kg, or 22–33 pounds). More experienced lifters can work up to 3–5 sets of 25–50 reps using a heavier kettlebell (up to 24kg/53 pounds, or more for very advanced individuals).

5) Hip Thrust

When you want to target one particular group of muscles, isolation exercises are best. Three of the aforementioned posterior-chain moves—RDLs, pull-throughs, and kettlebell swings—focus on the hip hinge, with the upper body moving freely in space. To better isolate the glutes, the shoulders and upper back can be locked into place with a flat bench while the feet are anchored to the floor.

The hip thrust is an exercise utilized as much by physique athletes wanting to develop their glutes as it is powerlifters looking for a relatively safe way to load up the posterior muscles with heavy weight. As with the pull-through, there’s little stress on the lower back with hip thrusts.

We’d be remiss not to reference Bret Contreras here, aka “The Glute Guy,” and arguably the leading torchbearer of the hip thrust exercise. (He even invented a special piece of equipment, The Hip Thruster, specifically for this movement.) Research performed by Contreras and others has shown greater muscular activation by the hip extensor muscles (glutes, hamstrings) during the barbell hip thrust compared to other major exercises like the front squat and traditional deadlift.

“The hip thrust is incredibly functional,” Contreras states on his website BretContreras.com. “Not only does it safeguard people from injury to the knees, hips, and low back, it also transfers quite favorably to performance. Lifters and athletes who employ the hip thrust notice improved gait function at all speeds, increased hip power, stronger squats and deadlifts, increased throwing/striking power, and more. They build glute hypertrophy [muscle growth] incredibly well, and this added glute mass does wonders for improving functional fitness.”

How To Do Hip Thrusts

Step 1. Load a barbell on the floor. Lie with your upper back resting on a bench and your legs flat on the floor in front of you. Your torso should make a roughly 45-degree angle with the floor. Roll the bar into the crease of your hips (you may want a pad or towel to cushion it), and hold it firmly on each side. Place your feet flat on the floor, hip-width apart, and turn your toes out slightly.

Step 2. Tuck your tailbone so that your lower back is flat. Take a deep breath into your belly, and brace your abs. Drive through your heels to extend your hips, finishing when your torso and hips are parallel to the floor, and your shins are vertical. Hold the position for a moment.

Exercise Variations

Hip thrusts can (and should) also be done one leg at a time. When doing so, the technique and equipment is the same, only the non-working leg is lifted off the floor in front of you. You will, of course, have to use much less weight.

Single-leg hip thrusts are ideal for promoting balanced development between the right and left sides. Alternate between double-leg and single-leg versions every time you do hip thrusts.

Sets/Reps/Load

Perform 2–4 sets of 12–15 reps. Make sure you use a weight that allows you to reach full hip extension on every rep.

The post 5 Posterior Chain Exercises For Stability And Strength appeared first on Onnit Academy.

With the help of Bobby Maximus, owner of the Maximus Gym in Salt Lake City, and author of The Maximus Body (@bobbymaximus on Instagram), we’ve put together the quintessential guide to two-a-day training.

Benefits of Two-A-Day Workouts

It makes sense that the more work you put in, the better the results. That usually holds whether you’re studying for an exam, or trying to build muscle with strength training (but not always, as you’ll see below). According to a recent study in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, training volume is the make or break factor that determines gains. The researchers discovered a “dose-response” relationship, where more sets led to greater improvements in muscle mass. Other research has found that training twice a day may better help your central nervous system adapt to exercise, and in turn improve your strength.

Two-a-days can also boost your stamina. Two studies (1, 2) showed that training twice a day can increase your endurance, and help your body burn fat and glycogen (stored carbohydrate) more efficiently.

But remember: too much of a good thing is bad. When subjected to higher training volumes, your body can adapt, but it needs time to do so, and there is a tipping point. If you’re putting in so much work that you can’t recover from your sessions, you’ll become overtrained, and you won’t see progress. Be warned: “If you have trouble recovering from one-a-days now,” says Maximus, “you shouldn’t be doing two-a-days.” Nutrition, sleep, stress management, and active recovery practices (foam rolling, massage, cold therapy, meditation, etc.) are hugely important for anyone to see gains, but they become even more so when doing two-a-days.

If you work too hard, too soon, and recover too little, you can hurt yourself. Research in the British Journal of Sports Medicine revealed that training-related injuries are largely due to excessive and rapid increases in work performed, but noted that high training volumes can actually help protect against injury as long as you ease into them.

The key is to up your workload gradually, and in a way that balances out your training. Maximus says to think opposites. “On days you train twice, train opposite energy systems or opposite movements. For example, weights in the morning and cardio at night, pushing exercises in the morning and pulling exercises at night, or lower body in the morning and upper body at night.”

This works because it “builds recovery in,” says Maximus. One energy system or group of stressed muscles rests while another works, maximizing training efficiency. You never hit any one area of the body or style of training (such as HIIT or long-duration cardio) more often than you can handle. The evening sessions complement the morning ones, and vice versa.

“Training twice per day by separating resistance training from a cardio metabolic workout allows you to perform better during each individual workout, without sending your body conflicting training signals,” says Eric Bach, C.S.C.S., a Georgia-based online performance coach (bachperformance.com). He adds that lifting twice a day is fine for those who want to bulk up, but you should train heavier, lower-rep exercises in the morning, and higher-rep, bodybuilder-esque accessory work in the evening. For instance, do your heavy squats and deadlifts in the a.m., and light dumbbell pressing and rows in the p.m.

None of this should give you the impression that bidaily wokouts are only for the most dedicated athletes. “Two-a-days are also a good approach for people who are busy and constantly racing the clock,” says Bach. “Breaking up your workouts can be an effective way to piece together a training plan for busy professionals and parents.” You could take the amount of training you were doing in one-hour sessions and simply split it in half, performing 30 minutes of training in the morning, and 30 minutes after work, if that better suits your schedule.

Is Working Out Twice A Day Bad for Building Muscle?

Two-a-days work by stressing your body more than it’s used to, forcing it to adapt faster. But if you don’t prioritize your recovery, you could overtrain and get injured. So the upside to two-a-day training is huge, but it comes at a higher risk. In addition to the guidelines Maximus and Bach gave above, consider the following to decrease that risk and improve your odds of making the best gains of your life.

First, both coaches say it’s key to have at least four to six hours between workouts. This will give your body enough time to rest and recover for the next round. Have a meal with protein and carbs after your first training session, and another small meal before your second session. This replenishes your energy stores and elicits the repair and rebuilding process. Maximus suggests you eat a meal that’s roughly 75% carbs and 25% protein (you don’t need to include fat at this time that isn’t a byproduct of your protein consumption). If you’re trying to bulk up, make sure this meal contains at least 500 calories.

“Don’t try to perform two full workouts in the same day,” says Bach. “You should cut back your training volume and do two shorter sessions. Doing less but better is a key to making two-a-day training work for you.” Streamline your workouts so that each session is 70–80% of what you’d usually do for a full-intensity workout.

Avoid any exercises that have plagued you in the past. If you’ve hurt your back deadlifting, this is not the time to add deadlifts back to your routine. Extra training can drain your recovery ability, and it may put your body in a more vulnerable state, setting you up for injury. Furthermore, the additional fatigue you’ll experience from the increased workload can compromise your form on lifts, especially ones you’re not proficient in or that have proven problematic for you in the past. By the same token, this is a good time to revisit old standby exercises that you know work for you and that you can perform safely.

For example, in the Advanced Two-A-Day plan below, one day calls for overhead squats. It’s a massively beneficial exercise, but many lifters struggle to do it with perfect form. If you’re one of them, find an easier swap, like rear-foot elevated split squats. Both exercises train the quads hard, but the split squat is easier on your lower back, and doesn’t require the same degree of shoulder and thoracic mobility.

Make sure your form on all your exercises is damn near perfect. “The biggest thing I tell people to watch is their knees and shoulders,” says Maximus. “The worst offenders for the knees are improper squats.” Maximus also stresses keeping your program balanced. “The shoulders get hurt when you do too much pushing [like bench pressing] without enough overhead work and pulling exercises [like rows and pullups].”

No matter what exercises you choose or how you set up your program, you’ll need to bulk up your recovery practices. “If you’re going to do two-a-days, you’re essentially doubling the stress on your body,” says Maximus. “So think of it in business terms: If your operating expenses double, you need to pay for that somehow. We pay for workouts through recovery practices—so plan on increasing your efforts there.”

For example, if you used to sleep seven hours a night, you may need to plan on getting eight or even nine. You might need to do more foam rolling, or get massages, or incorporate yoga and other stretching. “Whatever it is you usually do for recovery, double down on it,” says Maximus.

Understand that you don’t need to do two-a-days every day you work out, and if you haven’t been training long, you shouldn’t (see the sample schedules for two-a-days below). With all that said, you can do two-a-days for as long as you want, particularly if you feel healthy. Let your body be your guide—and know when to back off if you’re feeling down.

Sample Schedule for Multiple Workouts Per Day

The number of twice daily workouts you should perform each week depends on your training history.

If you’re new to training (or are coming back after a year or so off), you probably only want to perform two-a-day workouts once each week. “Dip your toe into the water rather than jump into the deep end,” says Maximus. “And, if after a couple of weeks, you feel good and like you’re acclimatizing well, then you can add on another two-a-day each week. And when you’re acclimatized to that, you can add another day, so you’re doing three a week.”

You can continue building up until you are doing four or five two-a-days a week, max (8–10 total workouts). Anything more than that, and you’re certain to get injured, say both Maximus and Bach. “How much people can take is often dependent on genetics, training history, how they pay attention to recovery, and more,” says Maximus. But a program of three or four two-a-days is plenty for most people and most goals.

Below, Maximus offers two sample two-a-day programs that will accelerate fat loss and muscle growth. Expect to get in the best shape of your life!

Two-A-Day Workout Plan for Beginners

If you’re a “I haven’t been in a gym for years…” type of beginner, then this plan isn’t for you. But if you’ve been lifting religiously for at least a few months and have hit a plateau, or you want to peak your fitness in a few weeks for an upcoming event, give this program a try. It’s a six-day a week schedule, but you’ll perform three two-a-day workouts per week. If that’s intimidating, ease in by selecting just one of the multi-session days, and build up to three from there.

Monday A.M. 

Warmup: 10 minutes of easy cardio, just to break a sweat. You could use a rowing machine, ski erg, or run.

Cardio Workout: “Can’t” Vs “Won’t” Rowing

Set a rowing machine computer’s interval setting to 30 seconds of work and 90 seconds rest. Row 140 meters (115 for women), and stop there, even if you have time left in the 30-second interval. Rest 90 seconds. That’s 1 round. Next round, row 141 (or 116) meters and no more, followed by 90 seconds rest. Continue to add 1 meter to each round until you “can’t” or “won’t” go any farther.

Step 1. Sit on the rower and strap your feet down. Pick up the handle and extend your arms. Bend your hips and knees so that your shins are vertical and your chest is just behind your knees with your back straight. Your hips are behind your shoulders.

Step 2. Push through your legs until they’re extended, and then lean back slightly. Now row the handle to your chest. Keep your wrists straight and in line with your arms.

Step 3. Extend your arms, bend at the hips to close the angle between your torso and your legs, and then bend your knees to slide back to the starting position.

Cooldown: 10 minutes of easy rowing.

Monday P.M. 

Warmup 1: 10 minutes of easy cardio.

Warmup 2: Take 10 minutes to practice and warm up with pullups, barbell bench press, barbell overhead press, and barbell bent-over row. Do light reps of each to prepare yourself for the workout.

Strength Workout: “Ticket To Gainzville”

Do the exercises as a circuit, completing one set for each in sequence. Do 10 reps of each exercise the first round, 9 reps the second, then 8, and so on until you’ve completed a final round of just 1 rep of each exercise. Choose a weight that makes it moderately difficult to complete the first 10 reps, and stick with it throughout (you may have to change weights for each barbell exercise). Rest as long as you need between circuits to complete the next round with good form (try starting at 2 minutes).

Bench Press

Step 1. Lie on the bench and arch your back, pulling your shoulder blades down and together. Grasp the bar just wider than shoulder width, and pull it out of the rack.

Step 2. Take a deep breath, tighten your glutes, and lower the bar to your sternum, tucking your elbows to your sides at 45 degrees on the descent. When the bar touches your body, push your feet into the floor and press the bar up at the same time.

Pullup

Step 1. Hang from a bar with your hands shoulder-width apart and your palms facing away. Pull your ribs down and keep your core tight.

Step 2. Draw your shoulder blades back and together and pull yourself up until your chin is over the bar. If your body weight isn’t challenging enough, attach extra weight with a belt, or hold a dumbbell between your feet.

Overhead Press

Step 1. Place a barbell in a power rack and grasp it with hands shoulder-width apart. Take the bar out of the rack and stand with feet shoulder-width apart. Rotate your elbows forward so that your forearms are vertical, and the bar is just below your chin. Tuck your pelvis slightly so that it’s parallel to the floor, brace your core, and tighten your glutes.

Step 2. Press the bar overhead, pushing your head through as the bar passes it. Shrug your shoulders at the top, and then lower the bar back down under control.

Bent-over Row

Step 1. Place a barbell on a rack set to hip level. Grasp the bar with your hands at shoulder width, and pull the bar out of the rack. Step back, and set your feet at hip width; hold the bar at arm’s length against your thighs. Take a deep breath, and bend your hips back—keep your head, spine, and pelvis aligned. Bend until your torso is nearly parallel to the floor.

Step 2. Draw your shoulder blades together as you pull the bar up to your belly button.

Core Workout: Pushup Plank Holds

Finish the workout with pushup plank holds. Hold the position for 30 seconds, and then rest 60 seconds. Repeat for 6 total sets. As you gain core strength, work up to 10 sets.

Pushup Plank Hold

Step 1. Get into a pushup position with hands shoulder-width apart and legs extended behind you. Tuck your pelvis so that it’s perpendicular to the floor, and brace your core.

Step 2. Hold the position, keeping your body straight from your shoulders to your heels.

Cooldown: 10 minutes of easy cardio.

Tuesday

Warmup: 10 minutes of easy cardio.

Cardio Workout: 30/30 Intervals

Use a rowing machine and row as hard as you can for 30 seconds. Rest 30 seconds. That’s 1 round. Do 6 total rounds, and then rest 4 minutes. That’s 1 block. Do 3 total blocks (you’ll have completed 18 total rounds).

Men should aim to row 150 meters each round. Women should shoot for 120.

Note: If you don’t have access to a rower, you can use a fan bike, stair stepper, or treadmill, and focus on the intensity rather than distance.

Cooldown: 10 minutes of easy cardio

Wednesday A.M.

Warmup: 10 minutes of easy cardio. 

Cardio Workout: “The Long Road”

Row 500 meters in 2 minutes, and then rest 1 minute. That’s 1 round. Do 10 total rounds, trying to take 1 or 2 seconds off your time each round. So, for example, you’d want to finish your second round in 1:58, and your last round somewhere around 1:40.

Cooldown: 10 minutes of easy cardio.

Wednesday P.M.

Warmup 1: 10 minutes of easy cardio.

Warmup 2: Take 10 minutes to practice and warm up with the barbell deadlift, barbell bench press, pushup, pullup, and barbell back squat. Do light reps of each to prepare yourself for the workout.

Strength Workout: “555”

Do the exercises as a circuit, completing one set for each in sequence. Do 10 reps of each exercise the first round, 9 reps the second, then 8, and so on until you’ve completed a final round of just 1 rep of each exercise. Choose a light weight for the barbell exercises—one that you don’t have to work up to so that you can keep the circuit moving fast. We recommend no more than 135 pounds. Rest as needed between rounds of the circuit, but aim to finish the workout in 20 minutes. 

Maximus calls this workout 555 because you do 5 exercises for 55 total reps each!

Bench Press

See the description from Monday.

Deadlift

Step 1. Stand with feet hip-width apart and tilt your tailbone back. Bend your hips back to reach down and grasp the bar with hands just outside your knees.

Step 2. Keeping a long spine with your head in line with your hips, take a deep breath into your belly, brace your abs, and drive through your heels. Pull the bar up along your shins until you’re standing with hips fully extended and the bar is in front of your thighs. Keep the bar pulled in tight to your body the whole time with your shoulder blades pulled together and down (think “proud chest”).

If you can’t keep your lower back flat throughout the exercise, it’s OK to elevate the bar on some weight plates or mats, as shown.

Pushup

Step 1. Place your hands on the floor, shoulder-width apart, and extend your legs behind you. Tuck your pelvis so that it’s perpendicular to the floor, and brace your core.

Step 2. Keeping your body straight from shoulders to heels, bend your elbows and lower your chest until it’s about an inch above the floor. Press yourself back up.

Pullup

See the description from Monday.

Squat  

Step 1. Set up in a squat rack and grasp the bar with your hands as far apart as is comfortable. Step under the bar and squeeze your shoulder blades together and down, wedging yourself under the bar so that it rests on your traps or the back of your shoulders.

Step 2. Nudge the bar out of the rack and step back, setting your feet at shoulder width with your toes turned slightly outward. Without letting your feet actually move, try to screw both legs into the floor as if you were standing on grass and wanted to twist it up—you’ll feel your glutes tighten and the arches in your feet rise. Take a deep breath into your belly and bend your hips back, then bend your knees and lower your body down. Push your knees out as you descend.

Step 3. Go as low as you can while keeping your head, spine, and pelvis aligned, and then extend your hips and knees to return to standing.

Cooldown: 10 minutes of easy cardio.

Thursday 

Warmup: 10 minutes of easy cardio.

Strength Workout Part A: “Gut Punch”

Grab two kettlebells or dumbbells (men should use 16-kilogram kettlebells or 35-pound dumbbells; women should use 12kg or 24 pounds)—and do 20 reps of each of the following exercises in circuit fashion. Rest 1 minute, and then do 15 reps, then 10, then 5. As you improve week to week, increase the number of reps you do. Build up to where you can complete sets of 50, 40, 30, and so on down to 10 reps.

Dumbbell Stepup

Step 1. Hold a weight in each hand and place your foot on a box or bench. It should be high enough so that your thigh is about parallel to the floor when the foot is resting on it.

Step 2. Step up onto the bench without letting your rear leg rest on it—let it dangle behind you. Step back down with the trailing leg. Do 10 reps on each leg (20 total).

Feet-to-Hands

Step 1. Hang from a pullup bar with your hands shoulder-width apart.

Step 2. Raise your feet to your hands. If that’s too tough, pull your knees to your elbows instead.

Strength Workout Part B: Pushups

Do 100 pushups, breaking them into however many sets you need to in order to complete all the reps. Tip: Don’t go to failure on any of the sets. For example, if you can do 20 reps when going all out, do sets of only 10 to 15. This will ensure you keep enough in the tank to reach the total without burning out.

Cooldown: 10 minutes of easy cardio.

Friday A.M.

Warmup: 10 minutes of easy cardio.

Cardio Workout: “Row To Hell” 

Hop on a row machine and set its computer to “Single Distance.” Enter 500 meters into the computer. Row as hard as you possibly can until you finish 500 meters. Now rest as long as it took you to complete the 500-meter row. So, for example, if you rowed 500 meters in 1:30, you’d rest for 1:30. Repeat the process for 400 meters, and so on down to 100 meters.

Cooldown: 10 minutes of easy cardio.

Friday P.M.

Warmup: 10 minutes of easy cardio. 

Strength Workout: “The Holy Trinity” 

Set a timer for 30 minutes. Do as many reps of each of the three exercises as you can in circuit fashion, resting as needed, until the timer goes off. Tip: Don’t go to failure. Instead, cycle through small sets of each. If this feels like a lot, take longer rest breaks between exercises.

Pullup

See the description from Monday.

Dip

Step 1. Suspend yourself over parallel dip bars with hands just outside shoulder width. Lean slightly forward, and lower your body until your upper arms are parallel to the floor.

Step 2. Push yourself back up.

Pushup

See the description from Wednesday.

Core Workout: 100 Curlups

Take as many sets as you need to complete 100 total reps of the curlup.

Curlup

Step 1. Lie on your back on the floor with feet flat on the floor and knees bent.

Step 2. Slowly lift your shoulder blades off the ground, curling your torso upward while you slide your hands forward on the floor.

Cooldown: 10 minutes of easy cardio

Saturday

Perform steady-state cardio for 30–90 minutes. You can row, run, or bike at 70–90% of your max heart rate.

This is meant to be hard but not crushing. The goal is to get a really good sweat. If you like, you could do the workout “Fartlek” style. Fartlek is Swedish for “speed play.” That means an unstructured interval run, where you go from easy to moderate to hard efforts at random. Fartlek is fun to do with friends by playing games like follow the leader. There’s a huge mental benefit from this training due to its unpredictability. So, ditch your watch, your distance goals, and all your other numbers, and just go out, have fun, and keep it free flowing.

Sunday

Rest day

Advanced Two-A-Day Workout Plan

If you’ve trained regularly for years, and are ready to take your body and performance to the next level, this is the plan for you. It’s designed to help you build muscle, burn calories, and enhance your athleticism.

The program features five two-a-day workouts—the maximum allowable—which should be enough to bust any rut. However, it’s also a lot to recover from. If you feel run down at any point during the program, it’s OK to skip a training session, or reduce your intensity for a session or two. Make sure you’ve put in some time doing 3 two-a-days per week before you attempt five.

Monday A.M.

Warmup: Do the exercises in the order shown.

Wall Squat 

Sets: 3  Reps: 5

Step 1. Stand facing a wall with your toes touching it.

Step 2. Squat as low as you can. (The wall is used to keep your torso upright.)

Bodyweight Squat 

Sets: 2  Reps: 20

Step 1. Stand with your feet between hip and shoulder-width apart.

Step 2. Push back your hips, bend your knees, and squat as low as you can while keeping your back straight.

Walking Lunge

Sets: 3  Reps: 20

Step 1. Take a long step forward. As your foot lands, bend your knee and lower your body until your front thigh is parallel to the floor.

Step 2. Step forward with your rear leg and lunge on that side. Each rep should have you walking forward.

Strength Workout: Deadlifts

Deadlift

Sets: 4  Reps: 4

See the description in the beginner’s workout above. Slowly add weight to the bar, working up to about 80% of what you know or estimate you can lift for one perfect rep. Use that weight to perform 4 sets of 4 reps, resting 4 minutes between sets.

Core Workout: Pushup Plank Hold

See the description in the beginner’s workout above. Take as many sets as you need to complete 5 total minutes of holding, or as much time as you can.

Monday P.M. 

Warmup: 10 minutes of easy cardio, just to break a sweat. You could use a rowing machine, ski erg, or run.

Strength Workout: Walking Lunge/Wall Sit Ladder

Do 20 walking lunges on each leg, and then immediately perform a wall sit, holding the position for 30 seconds. Next, do 19 walking lunges on each leg, and then immediately perform a wall sit, holding the position for 30 seconds. Continue the pattern, doing one fewer walking lunge on each leg, until you’ve performed just one lunge on each leg.

Walking Lunge

See the description from Monday a.m.

Wall Sit

Step 1. Get into a squat position with your back supported by a wall and your hips and knees 90 degrees.

Step 2. Hold the position.

Cooldown: 10 minutes of easy cardio

Tuesday A.M.

Cardio Workout: Perform 60 minutes of cardio at a pace that would allow you to easily hold a conversation. You could run, row, climb stairs, etc.

Tuesday P.M. 

Cardio Workout: Perform 60 minutes of cardio at a faster pace than you used in your morning session. Think: a pace that would make it challenging to have a conservation. If possible, perform a different activity than you did in the morning.

Wednesday A.M.

Warmup: Do the exercises in the order shown.

Wall Squat

Sets: 2  Reps: 5

See the description from Monday.

Bodyweight Squat

Sets: 2  Reps: 10

See the description from Monday.

Goblet Squat

Sets: 2  Reps: 5

Step 1. Hold a dumbbell or kettlebell close to your chest and under your chin with both hands. Stand with feet between hip and shoulder-width and turn your toes out slightly.

Step 2. Push your hips back, bend your knees, and squat as deeply as you can while keeping your torso upright.

Walking Lunge

Sets: 2  Reps: 10 (each leg)

See the description from Monday.

Strength Workout: Barbell Complex and Front Squat

Do the exercises in the order shown. For the clean + front squat + hang clean complex, use a light weight that allows you to maintain good technique.

Clean + Front Squat + Hang Clean Complex

Set a timer for 20 minutes, and perform 1 rep of the complex every minute on the minute until the time is up. For example, when the clock starts (0:00), you’ll do one rep. Rest until that minute is up, and then perform your next rep when the clock reads 1:00.

Step 1. Hold the bar at hip level with arms straight and shoulder-width apart. Stand with feet between hip and shoulder-width.

Step 2. Keeping a long spine (a straight line from your head to your pelvis), push your hips back, and then quickly lock them out, using the momentum to pull the barbell up to shoulder height. Catch the bar at your shoulders, your palms facing the ceiling and upper arms parallel to the ground. The bar should be resting on your front delts.

Step 3. From this position, push your hips back, bend your knees, and descend into a front squat. Go down as fat as you can without your lower back rounding. Come back up.

Step 4. Lower the barbell back to your hips. Now put both moves back together into one: clean the bar up to your shoulders, immediately squat with it, stand back up, and lower it. That’s one rep.

Front Squat

Sets: 5  Reps: 2

Work up to a weight that’s 80–85% percent of your one-rep max, and use that load for your 5 sets of 2. Rest 2–3 minutes between sets.

Step 1. Set the barbell on a power rack and grasp it with hands shoulder-width apart. Roll your elbows under the bar so that they point forward, and lift the bar off the rack with arms parallel to the floor. Step back into your squat stance.

Step 2. Lower your body into the squat, and come back up.

Core Workout: Knees-To-Elbows

Perform 100 reps of knees-to-elbows, taking as many sets as you need. If that’s too hard, aim for 50 total reps, and build up from there.

Knees-To-Elbow

Step 1. Hang from a pullup bar with your hands shoulder-width apart.

Step 2. Bend your knees and raise them to your hands.

Wednesday P.M.

Warmup: Do the exercises in the order shown.

Wall Squat

Sets: 2  Reps: 5

See the description from Monday.

Bodyweight Squat

Sets: 2  Reps: 10

See the description from Monday.

Goblet Squat

Sets: 2  Reps: 5

See the description from Monday.

Walking Lunge

Sets: 2  Reps: 10 (each leg)

See the description from Monday.

Banded Shoulder Circles

Sets: 2  Reps: 10

Step 1. Stand holding an elastic exercise band (or dowel) with both hands outside shoulder width. Draw your ribs down, tuck your pelvis so it’s parallel to the floor, and brace your core.

Step 2. Keeping your arms straight, raise the band over and behind your head as far as you can. Reverse the motion to bring the band back in front of you.

Push Press Hold

Sets: 2  Reps: 10

Step 1. Grasp two light dumbbells and hold them at shoulder level. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart. Tuck your pelvis and brace your core.

Step 2. Dip your knees quickly and, keeping your torso upright, use the rebound to press the weights overhead to lockout. Complete 10 reps, holding the lockout position of the last one 30 seconds. Repeat for 2 total sets.

Strength Workout: Overhead Squat and Turkish Getup

Do the exercises in the order shown.

Overhead Squat

Sets: 5  Reps: 10

Step 1. Load a bar with a light weight and grasp it with hands wider than shoulder width. Press the bar overhead, and get into your squat stance.

Step 2. Squat down, keeping the bar behind your head and a long line from your head your pelvis. Rest 2 minutes between sets.

Turkish Getup

Sets: 1  Reps: 6 (each side)

Step 1. Lie on your back on the floor and hold a kettlebell or dumbbell over your chest with your right hand. Bend your right knee and plant that foot; extend your left arm out at 45 degrees and push your hand into the floor for stability.

Step 2. Roll your torso up off the floor, using your left arm for support. Keep the kettlebell overhead and pointing to the ceiling. Drive your right foot into the floor to bridge your hips up, and swing your left leg under you to rest on your left knee.

Step 3. Windshield wiper the left lower leg so it’s in line with the right leg, and you’re resting in the bottom of a lunge.

Step 4. Stand up tall, with the weight still raised overhead.

Step 5. Reverse the steps to return to the floor. Complete 6 reps on the right side and then 6 on the left. That’s one set. Rest 1–2 minutes between sets.

Cooldown: 10 minutes of easy cardio.

Thursday A.M. 

Warmup: 10 minutes of easy cardio. 

Cardio Workout: “Can’t” Vs “Won’t” Rowing

Set a rowing machine computer’s interval setting to 30 seconds of work and 90 seconds rest. Row 140 meters (115 for women), and stop there, even if you have time left in the 30-second interval. Rest 90 seconds. That’s 1 round. Next round, row 141 meters (or 116) and no more, followed by 90 seconds rest. Continue to add 1 meter to each round until you “can’t” or “won’t” go any farther.

Cooldown: 10 minutes of easy cardio.

Thursday P.M.

Warmup: 10 minutes of easy cardio.

Strength Workout

Do the exercises in the order shown. For the barbell overhead press, slowly work up to a weight that is 80% of what you think you can lift for a one-rep max. Use that load for all 4 sets, resting 3 minutes between sets.

Overhead Press

Sets: 4  Reps: 4

See the description in the beginner’s workout.

Bent-over Row

Sets: 10  Reps: 10

See the description in the beginner’s workout.

Push Press Hold

Sets: 4  Reps: 10

See the description from Wednesday.

Cooldown: 10 minutes of easy cardio

Friday A.M.

Warmup: Do the exercises in the order shown.

Wall Squat

Sets: 2  Reps: 5

See the description from Wednesday.

Bodyweight Squat

Sets: 2  Reps: 10

See the description from Wednesday.

Goblet Squat

Sets: 2  Reps: 5

See the description from Wednesday.

Walking Lunge

Sets: 2  Reps: 10 (each leg)

See the description from Wednesday.

Strength Workout: Back Squat and Wall Sit Hold

Do the exercises in the order shown.

Squat

Sets: 9  Reps: 8

See the description in the beginner’s workout. Work up to 90% of what you estimate to be your one-rep max and perform 1 rep. Then back off to 55% of your max and perform 8 sets of 8 reps, resting 2 minutes between sets.

Wall Sit

Sets: 10  Reps: Hold for 30 seconds

See the description from Monday.

Cooldown: 10 minutes of easy cardio

Friday P.M.

Cardio Workout: Perform 60 minutes of cardio at a pace that would allow you to easily hold a conversation. You could run, row, climb stairs, etc.

Saturday

Warmup: 10 minutes of easy cardio. 

Strength Workout: “The Holy Trinity” 

Set a timer for 30 minutes. Do as many reps of each of the three exercises as you can in circuit fashion, resting as needed, until the timer goes off. Tip: Don’t go to failure. Instead, cycle through small sets of each. If this feels like a lot, take longer rest breaks between exercises.

Pullup

See the description in the beginner’s workout.

Dip

See the description in the beginner’s workout.

Pushup

See the description in the beginner’s workout.

Core Workout: 100 Curlups

Take as many sets as you need to complete 100 total reps of the curlup.

Curlup

See the description in the beginner’s workout.

Cooldown: 10 minutes of easy cardio

Sunday

Rest day

The post The Pro’s Guide to Working Out Twice A Day appeared first on Onnit Academy.

The truth is, there are no one-word answers here. Both the barbell and dumbbell are amazing implements that can bring value to your training, and you should use both, if possible. But to provide the ultimate guidance, we’ve enlisted the help of some reputable fitness experts to break down when, why, and how to use barbells and dumbbells to reach your goals.

“The key with training is to not get married to only one method or one training tool,” says Zach Even-Esh, founder of the Underground Strength Gym in Manasquan and Scotch Plains, NJ (zacheven-esh.com). “It would be closed-minded to do so, and in turn would hinder your results. My preference is to mix barbell and dumbbell work, and find the right time and place for each.”

The History of Barbells and Dumbbells

Although historical records are limited, dumbbells seem to have first appeared in a rudimentary form in ancient Greece, as early 700 BC. Halteres, as they were called then, were small stone implements used by long jumpers. Athletes would swing the weights backward, and then forward before takeoff, to create greater momentum and thrust for the jump.

Now fast-forward more than two thousand years. In the 1700s, church bells began being used for exercise. To silence them, the clappers were removed, and so the name “dumb” bell was born. By the early 1800s, the dumbbell better resembled the form we know now (handle in the middle, equal weight on both ends), and was being used in European schools and exercise classes, as well as in the military. (Interestingly, “Indian clubs,” the forerunner to steel clubs, were just as popular, if not more, at the time in Europe and Asia.) By the end of the 19th century, gyms in both Europe and America were equipped with dumbbells.

Barbells actually became popular after dumbbells did, reportedly in the mid-1800s. But they caught on quickly. The vintage “globe” barbell came first (the weights on the ends looked like planets), followed by the plate-loaded barbell. In 1896, weightlifting officially became an Olympic sport, with both dumbbells and barbells used in competition. Then, in 1928, a German named Kasper Berg introduced the revolving-sleeve barbell, which was more or less the modern Olympic bar we know today.

Through the rest of the 20^th century, dumbbells and barbells continued to evolve as technology and sport science advanced, strength and physique competitions became more and more popular, and the public’s interest in health and fitness exploded. Today, dumbbells and barbells are as popular, and effective, as ever, and come in various forms to accommodate individuals of all levels.

The Different Types of Dumbbells

There are two basic types of dumbbells: fixed-weight dumbbells and adjustable dumbbells.

Fixed-weight dumbbells are the kind you see in commercial gyms, usually ranging (in pairs) from five-pound weights up to 100+ pounds, and typically in five-pound increments. The weights are fixed to the bar, and cannot be adjusted.

Adjustable dumbbells allow you to change load quickly, by sliding weight plates on and off the handle and clamping it, or by pulling a pin or turning a dial that locks and releases the plates. They, too, typically range from five to 100+ pounds, in increments of five pounds. Adjustable dumbbells tend to be a little more rickety than the fixed-weight kind (you better make sure the weight is secured, or it can fall off the handle during use), and can be a bit awkward to use (heavy weight often means lots of plates that make for a long dumbbell that can be hard to move around your body), but they’re cost-effective, space-efficient, and a solid choice for a home gym. (A full set of fixed-weight dumbbells is expensive and takes up a lot of room.)

The Different Types of Barbells

Like dumbbells, barbells can be fixed-weight or load-adjustable, though the latter is the more common type.

The standard plate-loaded Olympic barbell, the kind you see at any serious gym, weighs 45 pounds on its own and is approximately seven feet long. The middle part of the bar has knurling (rough grooves) to optimize traction, while the outer rotating “sleeves” (where you load the weight) are smooth and thicker, to fit standard Olympic weight plates.

Similar style plate-loaded bars also come in smaller sizes (25 pounds, and shorter), but these are less common than standard Olympic bars.

Fixed-weight barbells are typically found at large commercial gyms, and are stored on dedicated racks. They may range from 20–100+ pounds, and often in 10-pound increments. These barbells are considerably shorter than Olympic bars, and are designed for convenience on lighter-load exercises, as well as for beginners.

All of the barbells described above are straight bars. Other types of barbells offer different designs, including curves in them that help the lifter perform an exercise more efficiently or safely. The EZ-bar (typically used for arm exercises) and trap bar (for deadlifts) are two examples.

Differences Between Barbell and Dumbbell Exercises

Most of the time, when you use a barbell, you’ll hold it with both hands. As we’ll discuss in the next section, this allows you to stabilize the weight you’re lifting to a great degree, and that makes it easier to lift heavy, providing maximum overload to your muscles. Training with a barbell is most applicable to weightlifting sports (Olympic weightlifting, powerlifting, CrossFit, for example), where the barbell is used in competition. In contrast, when you use dumbbells, each hand moves independently. You have the option of lifting either one or two dumbbells at a time, but because your hands aren’t fixed to one bar, the range of motion on any lift is going to be greater, and so is the challenge in stabilizing it.

When doing one-arm dumbbell exercises (e.g., one-arm dumbbell rows, one-arm dumbbell concentration curls, etc.), where the non-working side is not holding a dumbbell, you’re training “unilaterally” (one side at a time). Unilateral training is great for targeting a weak side, and increasing the range of motion for a muscle group. It also works your body in a way that’s more in line with how you move it in real life. Often times we need to use one side of our body while stabilizing the other side (running, throwing, punching, etc.), so dumbbell exercises are highly functional.

Benefits of Using a Barbell

Having your hands locked into a fixed position via a barbell offers one major benefit that you really can’t duplicate to the same degree with any other workout tool: strength. Specifically, high-end maximal strength—the ability to produce as much force as possible.

Barbell lifts, where both legs/arms are working in unison (such as in a back squat, bench press, and deadlift), allow for maximal loading. This is why world-record lifts are recorded with barbell exercises (no one cares how much you can DUMBBELL bench press). However, such gains in overall strength require sacrifice in other areas. A lifter with a 300-pound one-rep max (1RM) on bench press probably won’t be able to press a pair of 150-pound dumbbells, because stabilizing the two weights is too difficult.

“A more stable load means you can add more weight and control it a bit more with larger muscles,” says John Rusin, PT, DPT, CSCS, owner of the online fitness platform John Rusin Fitness Systems (DrJohnRusin.com). In other words, when you use a barbell, you won’t be calling upon smaller (and weaker) stabilizing muscles to the extent you do with dumbbells. With barbell exercises, the strongest, most powerful muscles are taking the brunt of the load. (More on stabilizing muscles in Do Barbells and Dumbbells Use Different Muscles? below.)

It’s pretty clear, then, that the barbell is a critical tool for anyone looking to truly maximize muscular strength—including competitive lifters, athletes in strength-speed sports like football, basketball, and track and field, and any gym enthusiast with lofty 1-rep max (1RM) goals. Because the barbell accommodates heavy loading, and big weights recruit a greater number of muscle fibers, one can also argue that barbell training is crucial for maximizing gains in muscle size. You’d be hard-pressed to find a bodybuilder or other physique athlete who has never made at least some use of it.

Benefits of Using Dumbbells

Whether you’re using one or two at a time, dumbbells allow for both greater range of motion (ROM) and more freedom of movement than an equivalent barbell exercise. Let’s use the barbell and dumbbell variations of the bench press to illustrate these points.

With a barbell, your ROM is limited to the point at which the bar is touching your chest at the bottom of the lift. With dumbbells, you’re able to bring your hands lower at the bottom simply because there’s no bar stopping you at chest level. The obvious benefit of greater ROM is increased joint mobility. “Many individuals and athletes have limited mobility in joints like the shoulders, elbows, and wrists, so dumbbells can offer a more movement-friendly motion and help restore that mobility,” says Even-Esh.

As for freedom of movement, your hands are in a fixed position when using a barbell; you’re not able to rotate your wrists or change the orientation of your hands in any way during a set. Dumbbells, however, allow you to freely move your hands independently and rotate your wrists at any point during the movement. This is a key benefit if you have injuries that act up when you lift with a barbell. You may find that, because dumbbells allow your arms and legs to find their own best paths, you don’t experience the same joint pain you get from barbell lifts. So injury-prevention, rehabilitation, and all-around more joint-friendly strength training are all more possible with dumbbell work than with barbell.

ROM and freedom of movement can also be huge for helping you build more muscle, as compared to barbell exercises.

“You can look at this as a sliding scale,” says Rusin. “Bodyweight training is the highest form of rotational requisite, where we can truly explore space. And then on the opposite side of the spectrum is machine training, where you literally lock yourself into position, have little to no freedom of movement, and you move a weight from point A to point B on a strict range of motion through a specific pattern. A barbell is closer on the scale to a machine, and dumbbell movements are closer to bodyweight exercises. Both pieces of equipment are very advantageous, but if the goal is to build muscle, especially working in that 8–12-rep hypertrophy range, dumbbell exercises are preferable.”

Another key benefit of using dumbbells is muscular balance from side to side (left to right). When doing a barbell exercise, your dominant arm can compensate for the weaker arm. This may help you get the weight up, but it will only exacerbate any imbalances you have, and could eventually lead to injury. With dumbbells, each side carries its own weight, so the stronger arm can’t make up for the weaker one. This comes into play even when doing bilateral dumbbell exercises (both arms lifting the weights at that same time), though unilateral exercises can be used to further isolate each side, particularly the weaker one.

Dumbbell training is a great way to identify a lagging side, and immediately begin to correct it. “Using dumbbells develops unilateral strength, which can help bring up your weaker side [usually your non-dominant side],” says Bill Shiffler, owner of CrossFit Renaissance in Philadelphia, and a competitive amateur bodybuilder (crossfitrenaissance.com). “This will be beneficial overall, and also translate into you being able to move more weight on a similar movement when you load up a barbell. For example, dumbbell bench presses can make your barbell bench press stronger.”

Dumbbells also accommodate countless isolation (single-joint) movements, like chest flyes, lateral raises for the delts, and triceps kickbacks. These moves can’t be done with a barbell, so if maximum muscle growth is your goal, you can’t train exclusively with a bar. These exercises often get bashed for not being “functional,” but even non physique-focused lifters should make some use of them. They’re highly effective for targeting specific muscles, and can play a role in overall performance and injury-resistance.

“There’s huge value and ROI to performing isolation movements, regardless of what your goals are,” says Shiffler. “Dumbbells can hit muscles in a way you simply can’t with barbells.”

Are Dumbbells Safer Than Barbells?

Dumbbells don’t allow you to use the same kind of crushing weight that barbells do, and they’re (arguably) less awkward to use. They also mostly lend themselves to less risky exercises. Both Even-Esh and Shiffler, for example, generally consider the one-arm dumbbell snatch a safer variation than the more complex Olympic barbell snatch. But that doesn’t mean dumbbell exercises are injury-proof. With improper form, you can hurt yourself just as easily on a dumbbell press, curl, or triceps extension as you can with the barbell version. “Thinking that dumbbells are an inherently safer implement to use in your program can be a mistake,” says Shiffler.

For instance, it’s not uncommon to pull or tear a pec by pushing the range of motion on dumbbell chest presses or flyes too far. And simply setting up for those exercises—rocking back onto the bench to get into position, or rocking back to a seated position at the end of a set—can be tricky.

With that said, the barbell needs to be treated with more respect, generally speaking. “Any athlete and individual must earn the right to train with a barbell,” says Even-Esh. “Exercises like the squat, deadlift, military press, bench press, snatch, and clean require a solid baseline of strength and skill in moving properly. Before an individual can perform basic barbell lifts, I want to see a foundation of strength built through calisthenics, resistance-band work, sled work, dumbbells, and kettlebells.”

The barbell is simply a more unforgiving implement. With no room to adjust your hand/arm position during a set, the path of your range of motion is very limited. If your shoulders, knees, or lower back aren’t agreeable to it, you can get hurt. This is why there are far more back injuries from back squats and deadlifts than there are from the dumbbell versions of those lifts.

“I suggest staying clear of a barbell if you’re someone who already has a great deal of injuries, or if you have noticeable muscle imbalances, as a barbell can tend to make the imbalances more prominent,” says Jim Ryno, owner of Iron House, a home-gym design and remodeling company in Alpine, New Jersey (Iron-House.co). “I tend to lean toward barbell use for clients that are primarily looking for serious strength gains and want to engage in performing 1RM attempts.”

Do Barbells and Dumbbells Use Different Muscles?

In any exercise you do, you’ll hit the same target muscles whether you’re using a barbell or dumbbells. For example, both a barbell back squat and a dumbbell goblet squat are primarily hitting the quads, with some activation of the glutes and hamstrings as well. A barbell curl and a dumbbell curl both work the biceps. The degree of activation will vary, however, according to how your body moves, and, as already explained, you do move differently using dumbbells versus a barbell.

For instance, in the dumbbell goblet squat example, form dictates that your torso will be more upright than it would be doing a back squat. For many people, that involves the quad muscles to a greater degree, and de-emphasizes the glutes and hamstrings. When you curl dumbbells, you have the option to supinate (twist) your wrists outward as you bring the weight up, which you can’t do curling a straight bar. That can give you greater activation of the biceps and forearm muscles.

Apart from different movement paths and ranges of motion, dumbbell exercises differ from barbell moves in one major way: they utilize more “stabilizer” muscles than barbell variations, due to the greater ROM and freedom of movement involved. When coaches and trainers talk about stabilizers, they’re usually referring to relatively small muscles—the rear delts, rotator cuff, serratus anterior, and levator scapula in the upper body, or gluteus minimis and piriformis in the hip region.

Generally speaking, the less you have to rely on stabilizers for an exercise, the more weight you’ll be able to move, since stabilizers are smaller and weaker than prime movers like the pecs, lats, quads, and glutes. As the saying goes, you’re only as strong as your weakest link; thus, your stabilizers are the limiting factor when doing a given movement with dumbbells versus a barbell.

It can be said, then, that dumbbell exercises activate more muscles (big ones and small ones combined), while barbell exercises get the most out of the larger muscles. Yet this doesn’t mean the latter is best for gaining size.  

“I’m really not a huge believer that the barbell deadlift, squat, and bench press are really best to build muscle, just because of the way they fit on the body,” says Rusin. “These exercises lock you into position, giving you less natural rotation through space [freedom of movement], which is where we tend to get better peak targeting of muscles and a stronger mind-muscle connection. When we lock that rotation, we tend to shift the focus naturally to a strength emphasis pattern, where the goal becomes more global in terms of moving a load from point A to point B.”

As implied, Rusin favors dumbbells over barbells for building muscle, with his rationale focused on movement quality.

“I tend to not program barbell moves for anything over around 6 repetitions,” he says. “The barbell has the most loading capacity, but the biggest limiting factor for getting into extended rep ranges is a lack of movement quality. People tend to break down at the midsection on big barbell lifts, and the core is the first thing to fatigue and create a weakness, typically after you get past around 6 reps. You can build muscle in any rep scheme, but working in that 8–12 rep range is important because, one, you have enough weight to create mechanical tension, and two, the sets are long enough to keep the muscles under tension for the time it takes to create great metabolic stress in the tissue—another factor for growth. That’s what really creates the so-called perfect stimulus for hypertrophy [muscle gain].”

In other words, to create the perfect storm for muscle gain, do some barbell work for low reps, and dumbbell work for higher reps.

Our Favorite Barbell Exercises

Juan Leija, General Manager of Onnit Academy, and a coach at Onnit Gym in Austin, TX, recommends the following barbell exercises to build overall strength and stability. Practice them for sets of 6 reps or fewer to start, using light weight until you’ve mastered form. Follow Leija on Instagram, @juannit_247.

Deadlift

Many coaches and lifters consider the deadlift to be the best exercise you can do with a barbell, and the best test of total-body strength. It’s particularly good for building strength in the hips, lower-back, and grip.

Step 1. Stand behind the bar with feet between hip and shoulder-width. Draw your shoulder blades together and downward—think, “proud chest.” Now bend your hips back, as if trying to touch your butt to the wall behind you. Your head, spine, and pelvis should form a straight line.

Step 2. Grasp the bar overhand, and take a deep breath into your belly. Make sure your shoulders are pulled back and down again, and brace your core. Begin to push your heels into the floor to lift the bar off the floor. Come up until your hips are locked out and you’re standing tall.

Floor Bridge Press

Pressing from a bridged position involves the lower-body in the lift, making for a more athletic bench press exercise. Glutes are often a weaker muscle group, because most people spend so much time sitting, and don’t train the glutes directly. This exercise helps to bring them up while training upper-body power and strength.

Step 1. Set the bar on a power rack, low to the floor. Lie on your back on the floor and bring your feet in close to your butt. Tuck your pelvis so that it’s in line with your spine, and brace your core. Drive through your heels to lift your butt off the floor (keep your core braced so you don’t hyperextend your lower back).

Step 2. Grasp the bar with hands just outside shoulder width. Pull the bar out of the rack and hold it above your chest. Take a deep breath into your belly, and lower the bar until your triceps touch the floor. Pause a moment, and press the weight back up. Maintain your bridge position the entire time.

Offset Overhead Press

Learning to stabilize an uneven load helps prepare your body for movements in sports and in life, which are often asymmetrical. Keeping the bar straight on an overhead press that’s unevenly loaded will develop stability in the shoulders. Complete your reps on one side, and then switch sides and repeat. (Rest between sides if you feel you need to.)

Step 1. Load only one side of the bar. Beginners (and those new to the movement) should start with only 10–25 pounds. Grasp the bar with hands at shoulder width, and take it out of a power rack, or, clean it up from the floor while keeping your lower back flat. The bar should be just below your chin, and held perfectly straight. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, and tuck your pelvis under so it’s level with the floor. Take a deep breath into your belly, and brace your core.

Step 2. Press the bar overhead while keeping it as level as possible. Note that you’ll need to lift it slowly to maintain control. Lower the bar back to chin level.

Pendlay Row

Named for the late Olympic weightlifting coach Glenn Pendlay, this rowing variation targets the upper back, lats, and lower back with a strict movement. No bouncing the weight up or using momentum here.

Step 1. Stand behind the bar with feet between hip and shoulder-width. Keeping your head, spine, and hips in a straight line, bend your hips back as if you were trying to touch your butt to the wall behind you (allow your knees to bend as needed). Grasp the bar outside shoulder width and take a deep breath into your belly. Draw your shoulder blades down and together (think, “proud chest”), and extend your spine so it’s long and straight.

Step 2. Explosively row the bar from the floor to your upper abs. Lower it back down and let it come to a dead stop on the floor before you begin the next rep.

Suitcase Deadlift

Similar to the offset overhead press, the suitcase deadlift challenges your body with asymmetrical loading in a movement you’re probably not used to doing unilaterally. It’s also killer for the core and grip.

Step 1. Stand to the side of the bar, as if it were a suitcase you were about to pick up. Place your feet between hip and shoulder-width, and bend your hips back to reach down and grasp the bar in the middle. Square your shoulders and hips with the floor, and draw your shoulders back and down as much as you can. Your head, spine, and pelvis should form a long, straight line. Take a deep breath into your belly and brace your core.

Step 2. Drive through your heels to stand up, raising the weight off the floor and to your side. Try to keep the bar as level as possible as you lift it—squeeze it tightly—and avoid bending or twisting your torso to either side. Complete your reps on that side, and then switch sides and repeat.

Landmine Row To Press

Once you’ve gotten familiar with basic lifts like the deadlift, row, and press, combining them into one movement can help you better mimic the demands of life outside the gym. The landmine row to press has you lifting the bar off the floor and overhead explosively, building total-body strength and power—but in a more user-friendly movement that’s also easier on the joints, thanks to the arc of motion provided by the landmine.

Step 1. Load a barbell into a landmine unit, or use the corner of a room. Stand to one side of the bar with feet shoulder-width apart. Draw your shoulder blades together and downward—think, “proud chest.” Bend your hips back, as if trying to touch your butt to the wall behind you. Your head, spine, and pelvis should form a straight line. Grasp the end of the barbell’s sleeve with one arm.

Step 2. Explosively deadlift the bar up while rowing it and twisting away from it. As your free hand comes toward the bar, use it to take the bar from the rowing hand, and allow the momentum to help you follow through and press the bar overhead along the arc that the landmine provides. Start extra light so that you can master the movement in one fluid motion. Complete your reps on one side, and then repeat on the other side.

Our Favorite Dumbbell Exercises

We like the dumbbell exercises below because they offer distinct advantages over their barbell counterparts, including safety, muscle balance, and freedom of movement. All of these exercises can be performed with kettlebells as well, but doing so can be awkward in some cases (due to the kettlebell’s offset handle and ball structure). Kettlebells also provide fewer loading options, as they don’t come in the same weight increments that dumbbells do. The snatch lends itself well to a kettlebell, but you may do better with dumbbells on the other moves until you’ve mastered them.

Dumbbell Snatch

The barbell snatch is possibly the most complex and intricate barbell exercise there is, but its dumbbell counterpart is relatively easy to learn, and offers similar benefits in terms of power. It’s also great for your core.

Step 1. Hold a dumbbell with one hand and stand with feet slightly wider than shoulder-distance apart. Draw your shoulders back and downward (think: “proud chest”). Press your hips back while keeping a long spine—your head, spine, and pelvis should maintain alignment as you hinge at the hips. Bend your knees as needed. Your chest and shoulders should be level with the floor and remain facing forward. Breathe into your belly, and engage your core. Allow your free arm to hang at your side.

Step 2. Powerfully extend your knees, hips, and ankles, drawing the dumbbell straight up and close to your body. The movement should be powered by your lower body, not your shoulders. Your feet may or may not rise off the floor for a moment.

Step 3. Shrug the shoulder that’s holding the weight, driving your elbow up high and backward. The dumbbell should travel in a straight line up in front of you. Think about pulling your whole body under the weight as it rises.

Step 4. When it reaches its highest point (above shoulder level), turn your elbow under the dumbbell. Catch the weight overhead with arm extended as it continues upward.

Single-Arm Dumbbell Row

“This is probably my favorite dumbbell move,” says Rusin. “It targets the upper back and core. You can get your hips involved if you add rotation. It’s killer in terms of metabolic capacity, and will ramp up your heart rate. You can go heavy with low reps, or go lighter with high reps. There are so many different ways you can do it.” The basic one-arm row, in which you get in a stable stance and pull to your hip, is described below.

Step 1. Hold a dumbbell in one hand and stagger your legs. Bend your hips back so that you can rest your free arm on your front knee for support. Your body should form a straight line from your head to your heel.

Step 2. Row the weight to your hip, drawing your shoulder blade down and back. Your upper arm should end up in line with your torso. Complete your reps, and repeat on the opposite side.

Arnold Press

It’s not clear if this movement got its name from Arnold Schwarzenegger, but there’s ample evidence that the Governator—and lots of other famous bodybuilders—used them successfully. Instead of pressing the weight straight overhead, you rotate your wrists and elbows outward. This limits the weight you can use, but it activates more of the lateral head of the deltoid, and can be a good strategy for working the shoulders while lessening the risk of injury. If your shoulders are banged up from years of sports or other activity, performing lighter Arnold presses may be the best way to work them in an overhead pressing motion.

Step 1. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, and hold the dumbbells at shoulder level with palms facing you.

Step 2. Press the weights overhead, and rotate your wrists outward as you lift, so that your palms face forward at the top of the movement.

Dumbbell Bench Press 

No surprise here. You’ve probably done these already, along with everyone else who’s ever gone to a gym wanting to get a pump. But there’s no wonder as to why (nor is there any reason to stop doing them). The dumbbell bench press trains the pecs through a full range of motion, and can be effective for size and strength in any rep range. If chasing a big barbell bench press number has left you with sore shoulders, switching to dumbbells can provide some relief while offering even more stimulus to your pec muscles.

Step 1. Hold a dumbbell in each hand and lie back on a bench. Position the weights at shoulder level.

Step 2. Press the weights over your chest, squeezing your pecs as you come up. Lower your arms with elbows pointing 45 degrees from your sides.

Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift

Strong glutes, hamstrings, and spinal erector muscles are crucial for being able to run fast, jump high, and lift a lot of weight. Any version of the RDL will accomplish that, but the dumbbell variant gives you a bit more range of motion, and the option to alter your technique for the sake of emphasizing one muscle over another. For instance, Rusin says you can hold the weights at the sides of your legs instead of in front to get more glute involvement.

Step 1. Hold a dumbbell in each hand and stand with feet hip-width apart. Twist your feet into the floor to generate tension in your hips.

Step 2. Tilt your tailbone back and bend your hips back as far as you can. Allow your knees to bend as needed while you lower the weights until you feel a stretch in your hamstrings. Keep your spine long and straight throughout. Squeeze your glutes as you come back up to lock out your hips.

The post Barbells vs Dumbbells: What’s Better for your Workout? appeared first on Onnit Academy.

With that said, the dumbbell push press deserves mention as a pretty big bang exercise too, and, we’ll argue, offers several distinct advantages over the aforementioned lifts. For starters, it’s much easier to master (technique-wise). It’s also safer, gentler on the joints, and offers major benefits for conditioning as well. We’ll go so far as to say that the dumbbell push press ought to be in every lifter’s repertoire, from beginners to advanced athletes. Here’s how to do it right to build muscle and get ripped.

What Muscles Does A Dumbbell Push Press Work?

The dumbbell push press is, very simply, a standing overhead press done with momentum from the lower body. Holding the dumbbells at your shoulders, you quickly dip and then extend your hips and knees to get the weights moving upward, and then you lock out your elbows with a pressing motion. Because it’s pretty much a full-body effort, the dumbbell push press incorporates several major muscles in the upper and lower body. They are:

Glutes. Your butt muscles are the prime movers during the quarter-squat portion of the exercise. They help flex the hips during the descent and then explosively extend the hips to generate the power that propels the dumbbells overhead.

Hamstrings. They bend the knees in a controlled manner as you dip, and work synergistically with the glutes to extend the hips on the way up.

Quads. The thigh muscles stabilize the knees as you squat and work to extend them when you come up.

Core. The abs, obliques, and spinal erectors all work to stabilize the spine and keep it in a safe, neutral position. The heavier the load, the more your core musculature will be recruited.

Deltoids. The prime mover when driving the weights overhead, the delts are responsible for flexion and rotation of the shoulder joint. If you’re push pressing lighter weights with a powerful leg drive, their role is secondary to that of the leg muscles in this exercise, but still vital. When doing heavy push presses, their role increases.

Trapezius. The muscle that makes your neck look yoked stabilizes the upper back and shoulders. It’s also responsible for stopping you from slumping out of good posture during the lift, rounding your shoulders forward.  

Triceps. The “back arms” work with the deltoids to extend the arms overhead, locking out your elbows.

Forearms. Any time you’re holding a barbell or dumbbell—or just squeezing your fists hard—the forearms are working. In this case, the wrist flexors and extensors stabilize the wrists throughout the exercise.

How To Stretch Before The Dumbbell Push Press

Onnit Durability Coach Natalie Higby (@nat.trill.fit on Instagram), offers these two mobility drills to increase range of motion and stability in your shoulders and upper back before you perform the push press.

How To Do A Dumbbell Push Press

Step 1. Hold a pair of dumbbells at your shoulders with one end of each dumbbell resting on your shoulders. Your palms will face one another, and the handles of the dumbbells should be parallel to the floor. Stand with feet about hip width and brace your core.

Step 2. Drop into a quarter-squat, initiating the descent by bending your knees and flexing your hips back slightly. Keep your head, spine, and pelvis in line so your back is flat and your eyes and head are forward. You don’t want to turn this leg drive portion of the lift into a squat, so only bend your knees enough to get some momentum, and don’t hinge your hips too much. Imagine yourself doing the move against a wall and sliding your torso up and down it—you should be that upright.

Step 3. As soon as you’ve dipped, extend your hips and knees explosively to stand up straight, driving through your heels, and simultaneously press the weights straight overhead. You’ll need to push from your shoulders and triceps, but with a strong and quick leg drive, most of the power for the press should be provided by your lower body. Keep your core tight throughout the move so your spine is stable and safe. Lower the weights back to your shoulders and drop your hips to immediately move into the next rep.

Benefits Of A Dumbbell Push Press

There are two major benefits to doing the dumbbell push press:

1. Increased upper- and lower-body strength and power
2. Improved conditioning

Ancillary benefits include improved core stability, and a strength and power carryover effect to Olympic weightlifting. In other words, if you perform snatches and clean and jerks in your workouts, and you add push presses into your routine as an assistance exercise, you’ll probably see benefits.

The dumbbell push press can’t be loaded as heavy as the barbell version of the exercise, but the challenge to your stability is greater, as you have to control two dumbbells moving overhead at the same time. And because your arms are free to move, rather than being fixed to a barbell and whatever path it may take when you lift it, your joints find the range of motion that’s best for them. In other words, the dumbbell push press is a safer, joint-friendlier push press.

James “Smitty” Smith, a strength coach and co-founder of the Certified Physical Preparation Specialist certification (and owner of Diesel Strength & Conditioning), says the exact gains you’ll see from the push press depend heavily on your “training age”—the number of years you’ve been lifting.

“For beginners using very light weight, there’s a great conditioning benefit,” Smith says. When you’re new to lifting, you don’t have the strength to train very heavy. (The weight may feel heavy to you as a newbie, but 25-pound dumbbells, for example, won’t cause the same kind of overall fatigue and muscle damage that the 60-pounders a more experienced lifter can use will.) Therefore, at this stage in your development, you’ll get more out of the push press doing it for high reps so that you challenge your endurance and conditioning. Smith notes that, “as you use leg drive to get them overhead, the dumbbells feel weightless during that drive phase.” Your shoulders aren’t really doing much work, so the push press won’t blow them up, but banging out lots of reps that work muscle from your legs on up will burn lots of calories and make your heart race.

On the other hand, more advanced lifters who can handle beastly weights can build even more strength and power with the push press, as well as gain conditioning. “That leg drive enables them to use heavier weights than if they were doing a strict overhead press without momentum,” Smith explains. And when you’re lifting, say, 60-pound dumbbells, you’ll be training heavy enough to feel your shoulders pushing that load, regardless of the help they get from your legs. “But your rack position is going to affect how much you can get out of the exercise.”

The rack position refers to the starting position of the push press, where the dumbbells are held at the shoulders while standing tall. This is the same basic starting position used for regular overhead presses, front squats, and many other moves that are derived from Olympic weightlifting (which the push press is), although there are a few variations of it. The best rack position for push pressing is the one explained above in the “How To” portion of this article: palms facing each other with the dumbbells parallel to the floor, and one end of each dumbbell resting on your shoulders.

A second rack position is dumbbells at shoulder level but with the palms facing forward. Most guys simply default to this without knowing any better because it’s how most guys would execute a strict overhead dumbbell press. Push pressing with palms facing forward isn’t necessarily wrong, but by using the same exact hand position as you’d be forced to use during a barbell push press, you’re losing the best benefits of doing this exercise with dumbbells—shoulder safety and range of motion. The first rack position with palms facing each other is much easier on the shoulders, because it allows the upper-arm bones to move more freely through the shoulder joints. There’s more risk of impingement over time with palms-forward pressing—especially for guys who already have tight shoulders, or who carry a lot of upper-body mass. When the dumbbells are held with a neutral grip, it’s also much easier to get them to rest on your shoulders, giving you a little extra distance to press for greater muscle activation.

Palms-forward can also be “a much weaker postion,” according to Smith, due to the fact that a lot of guys are so tight they can’t get the weights to rest on their shoulders, and instead have to work to control the weights in space throughout the exercise (i.e., held slightly in front of the shoulders). This not only fatigues the shoulders much faster, but oftentimes causes the weights to sway back and forth as you do reps, banging into the shoulders and making it harder for you to keep position or press safely.

Still a third rack position exists: holding a single dumbbell, T-boned against the shoulder while the lifter leans away from the weight (see below). This position is often used by strongmen when the competition event is pressing a circus dumbbell or other odd-shaped weight overhead. With this rack position, you press one side at a time, using more of the upper body.

How Do I Use The Push Press In My Workout?

If your goal is to build power for athletics or to improve your ability to do other Olympic lifts, Smith says to place the dumbbell push press first thing in your workout, right after your warmup and before any other strength training sets. With all your muscles fresh and primed, you’ll get the best gains in power by placing it there.

A classic set and rep range for building power would be a relatively higher number of sets, say 6 to 7, with a relatively low number of reps, such as 2 to 4.

If your goal is more geared toward conditioning, or you’re a relatively inexperienced lifter, you can place the dumbbell push press toward the end of your workout, after your strength training sets. For this purpose, you could do 3 sets of 15–25 reps, and you might want to use it as part of a dumbbell circuit where you perform other exercises that can flow together with the push press, such as a bent-over row, Romanian deadlift, and dumbbell clean.

The push press can also be used as a way to cheat out a few extra reps on strict overhead presses. Toward the end of a set, when you feel you can’t do any more regular presses with good form, you can switch to push presses and eke out a few more reps, thoroughly frying your shoulders. The push press can work at the beginning of a set, too. If you’re coming back from a shoulder injury, and you want to do overhead presses but reduce the strain on your shoulders in the bottom position, you can get the weight moving by doing a push press on the first rep. In other words, the first rep won’t begin from a dead stop on your shoulders, which puts a lot of stress on your shoulder joints. As you lower that first rep to completion and begin the next rep, the stretch reflex will kick in—your delts feel like they’re being stretched, potentially into a dangerous position, and so they’ll contract harder to help you lift the weight. Your joints won’t have to “shoulder” as much of the load.

Alternatives To The Dumbbell Push Press

Three exercises that can produce a similar training effect to the dumbbell push press are:

Med-Ball Chest Pass

Throwing a ball for height mimics the push press. In CrossFit parlance, this is known as a “wall ball shot.” Like the dumbbell push press, it’s a pressing motion and it involves leg drive—but from a much lower position. The implement used, however, leads to some key differences. First, the med ball must be held at the chest, meaning your arms are working hard throughout the exercise to support the ball (it’s not resting on your shoulders like dumbbells do in a push press). Second, the ball is released at the top of the move and thrown for maximum height. Some additional work is required as well, as you either have to catch and stabilize the ball as it falls, or gather it up after it hits the ground.

Pentagon-Bar Push Press

This five-sided bar with rotating handles (picture the front half of a trap bar) plugs into a landmine unit and does for overhead moves what the trap/hex bar did for deadlifts and shrugs. The load is perfectly balanced around you, and somewhat stabilized by the base of the landmine unit. The video below will show you how to do a strict overhead press with the Pentagon bar. Just add leg drive to do a Pentagon bar push press

Dumbbell or Kettlebell Snatch

Like the dumbbell push press done with light weight, most of the power for this move is provided by the lower body. When done right, the shoulder acts in a stabilizing capacity—not to press the weight overhead. Just be careful: technique is key and mastery is required to gain maximum benefit and to stay safe.

See our guide to good snatching HERE.

And see our guide to a similar exercise, the dumbbell clean and press, HERE.

The post The Dumbbell Push Press: How To Do It & Get Ripped appeared first on Onnit Academy.

The clean and press was dropped from weightlifting competition because judges deemed it too difficult to assess valid technique (lifting a ton of weight causes you to bend backward, and it’s hard to tell to what degree the knees are bending, and therefore how much assistance you’re getting from them). Though it may have fallen out of fashion, the clean and press is still a worthwhile exercise, and an efficient choice for building muscle, strength, and explosiveness—even if you choose to perform it with dumbbells. In fact, the dumbbell clean and press is arguably a better choice for most people than its barbell predecessor (particularly those of us who aren’t trained Olympic lifters).

The dumbbell clean and press will allow you to access most of the same benefits gleaned from the barbell variation, but without the same steep learning curve or risk of injury. Here’s everything you need to know about the dumbbell clean and press.

What Muscles Does a Dumbbell Clean and Press Work?

The dumbbell clean and press works just about all of the major muscles along the posterior and anterior chains (i.e., the muscles that work together on the back and front of the body). In other words, it’s a total-body exercise.

Starting at the bottom of the body, the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles in the calves work in tandem with the quads, hamstrings, and glutes to drive the weights up from the floor (or hang position; see below) and extend the hips. The abdominals (including the rectus abdominis, transversus abdominis, and internal and external obliques) and spinal erectors provide stability for the spine as you extend the hips and stand up tall.

The traps, lats, and rhomboids contract powerfully to shrug and pull the weights up to shoulder level. As your elbows come under the dumbbells, the muscles of the hands and forearms work hard to maintain grip, while the biceps come under tension, too. To finish the exercise with a press, the deltoids, upper pecs, and triceps fire as the core works to maintain stability.

What are the Benefits of Doing the Dumbbell Clean and Press?

“The dumbbell clean and press develops total body-strength and power, and stability in the shoulders,” says Sean Pangelinan, owner of The Fit Lab in San Diego. Like the barbell clean and press, the dumbbell version has you taking a weight from the floor (or at least knee level) and controlling its path all the way overhead. You can’t ask for a greater range of motion through which to work your whole body, and the result is a total-body workout. Working all those muscles burns a lot of calories for one exercise, so the clean and press is a good move to use when training for fat loss. Though you won’t be able to lift as much weight with dumbbells as you do a barbell, the exercise is still intended to be done heavy, so you’ll build strength and size.

While you sacrifice some loading using dumbbells, they offer a few big advantages over a barbell. For one thing, they make the exercise unilateral. You have to control two weights separately, but coordinate their movement together. That increases the challenge to your core and many stabilizer muscles, including the ones in the shoulders that you need to press safely in any exercise. The dumbbells also offer a slightly greater range of motion than you’d get with a barbell clean and press, and greater range means more muscle activation.

“The dumbbell clean and press is a great introduction to the Olympic lifts,” says Pangelinan, “and is more forgiving for most people who don’t have experience in this area. You get most of the benefits of cleaning and pressing with a barbell, minus the stress on the wrists and other joints. The clean and press is one of the most efficient movements you can do, as it’s a compound lift that engages multiple joints and major muscle groups.”

How To Stretch Before A Dumbbell Clean and Press

Use these two mobility drills, provided by Onnit Durability Coach Natalie Higby (@nat.trill.fit on Instagram), to increase range of motion and stability in your shoulders and upper back before you perform the clean and press.

How To Do A Dumbbell Clean

It’s easier to learn the dumbbell clean and press when you break it down and master its component parts individually. This means starting with the dumbbell clean. A proper clean is not a sloppy curl done with momentum. When done correctly, it’s a full-body movement that builds power. Here’s how to do the clean portion of the clean and press.

Step 1. Place two dumbbells on the floor. You may position them so that the handles are horizontal, right in front of your feet. However, if it feels like they’re too far away to reach, you can place them vertically at the outsides of your feet—or angled slightly inward. If the floor still seems too far away, and you know you won’t be able to pick up the dumbbells without rounding your lower back (don’t worry, this is common), simply start with the dumbbells hanging at your sides.

Step 2. Stand with your feet straight and hip-width apart. Hinge at your hips, bending them back and allowing your knees to bend until you can reach the dumbbells on the floor. You should end up in the same starting position as a deadlift. Grip the dumbbells with your arms straight. Your head, spine, and pelvis should all be aligned.

If you’re starting from a standing position, bend your hips back and allow your knees to bend as needed until the dumbbells hang just outsides your knees. This is called the hang position of a clean, and you can begin the exercise from here.

In either case, draw your shoulders back and downward (think “proud chest”), so that someone standing in front of you could read the front of your T-shirt.

Step 3. Push your feet hard into the floor and squeeze your abs and glutes. Extend your hips and knees to get the dumbbells moving upward.

Step 4. As the weights pass knee level, shrug your shoulders hard, squeeze your glutes again, and allow the momentum to carry the dumbbells up in front of you.

Step 5. Thrust your elbows forward so that they come under the dumbbells and you “catch” the weights at shoulder level, bending your knees to drop into a quarter squat to absorb the force. Your thumbs should be facing backward and your closed palms facing each other.

How To Do A Dumbbell Clean and Press

To perform the full clean and press, clean the weights up to shoulder level as described above. From there:

Step 1. Ensure that your tailbone is tucked under slightly so that your pelvis is parallel to the floor. Brace your core, pulling your ribs down.

Step 2. Press the weights straight overhead to lockout while keeping your ribs down. Reverse the motion to bring the weights back to shoulder level, and then bend your hips back to lower them to the floor (or your knees) again.

How Many Reps Should I Do?

If your goal is power and strength, Pangelinan suggests doing the clean and press for sets of 3 to 6 reps. Three work sets (the challenging ones you do after your warmup sets) is enough. “This is the ideal amount of volume to get the full neuromuscular benefits of the exercise,” says Pangelinan, “without your form being compromised by fatigue.”

However, if you’re aiming to build your endurance and get more volume for the sake of muscle size gains, you could do 3 sets of 10 to 20 reps with a lighter weight. “Just make sure you stop if you begin to slow down or your technique deteriorates,” says Pangelinan. If you’re brand new to clean and presses, train with lower reps first to master the movement, and work on endurance after you’ve gotten the technique down.

Like the other Olympic lift variations, the dumbbell clean and press is a versatile movement that can be done in combination with other movements or with slight variations of technique. You can use the clean portion to get the weights into position for front squats or front-loaded lunges. Called the front rack position (weights held at shoulder level), you can also go into different pressing movements or overhead carries from there. If you want to train heavier or target even more power development, you can perform the press portion with leg drive, making it a push press exercise (shown in the video above). In other words, clean the weights up to your shoulders, and then quickly dip and extend your knees to help power the dumbbells overhead. Pressing the dumbbells strictly is better for shoulder strength and muscle gain, but getting assistance from your legs tweaks the exercise into more of a full-body power move.

At The Fit Lab, Pangelinan’s clients often combine the dumbbell clean and press into a circuit with reverse lunges and Romanian deadlifts. “I’ll also add in single-arm rows to improve scapular control, pushups as an antagonist to the vertical pull component of the clean and press, and single arm floor presses,” he says. Now you have a full-body circuit workout that’s great for fat loss.

Alternatives to the Dumbbell Clean and Press

If you’re not ready for the full dumbbell clean and press, you can regress the movement to something more manageable. If you want to make it even more challenging, there are progressions you can employ as well. See below for some alternatives you can use to customize your training.

Regression

If you’re not able to perform a dumbbell clean and press explosively, or you struggle with one or more stages of the exercise, no need to worry. Pangelinan recommends backing up and working on some foundational moves. “When someone’s struggling with the clean and press, we’ll work on the dumbbell deadlift, upright row, and press, separately, to groove the patterns of each phase of the movement,” he says. “I’ll also have them do quarter-jump squats [lowering your body just one-quarter of the way down], to work on the explosive component, and an overhead waiter carry to improve the integrity of their overhead position.” For the waiter carry, simply press dumbbells or kettlebells overhead and walk for distance or time. Keep your ribs down, core tight, and pelvis level with the floor.

Progression

Once you’ve got the two-handed dumbbell clean and press down, you could start doing single-arm clean and presses (shown in the video above), which add an even greater challenge to your stability and can help you correct any strength discrepancies between sides. “The kettlebell clean and press is another great alternative for someone who’s competent in the dumbbell variation,” says Pangelinan. Kettlebells require even more core stability and grip strength to control, so they’ll develop both areas.

Of course, you can also experiment with the barbell clean and press. “Start with a power clean from above the knees,” advises Pangelinan, “which gives you most of the advantages of the full clean, but with a shorter amount of bar movement, so it’s easier to control.” When that feels comfortable, you can start cleaning from below the knees, and eventually progress to full cleans from the floor.

If you want a more joint-friendly alternative to a classic barbell clean and press, try using a landmine unit (see above). The bar loads into a rotating sleeve that allows it to act as a long lever and move on an arc. The path of motion will be more controlled than doing a pure free-weight movement, but you’ll still have to stabilize it, and you won’t have to deadlift and catch the bar the same way as you do during a normal clean and press, which will take a lot of pressure off your lower back, wrists, and elbows. Still another option is using a Pentagon bar (see below). This barbell alternative offers swiveling handles, so you can get the feel of cleaning a barbell without the wrist and elbow stress, or having to time your clean perfectly to avoid a sloppy catch.

The post Dumbbell Clean and Press: The Exercise Your Body Needs appeared first on Onnit Academy.

Rumor has it, however, that such development is genetic—you have the potential for it or you don’t. Some trainers say that an impressive inner chest is a product of steroid use, and that “natty” lifters just can’t isolate their pecs well enough to etch that kind of definition into their muscles.

But the truth is that—with dedicated, consistent effort—anyone CAN carve out a deeper inner-pec groove. Getting there primarily comes down to mastering three inner pec-focused exercises, and adding one chest workout per week to your routine.

Why Work Out Your Inner Chest?

It’s easy to joke about “guy cleavage,” but most men can’t deny that they would like to have the lines and edges you see on the inner pecs of bodybuilders and physique competitors. Called striations, they make the chest look more imposing and complete, sending the message that you’re a serious lifter who’s put his/her time in at the gym—you’re not just another “bro” or poseur.

But trying to target a specific portion of any muscle is a touchy subject in the strength and conditioning community. “Once a muscle fiber is contracted, there’s an all-or-nothing phenomenon,” says John Rusin, D.P.T., C.S.C.S., creator of Functional Hypertrophy Training. “If you recruit some portion of the pec, you’re going to recruit it all.” In the case of the chest, the same nerves that control the inner part of the pecs activate all the other regions—the upper, lower, and outer pecs. “So, the science will tell you, no, you can’t truly isolate one part of a muscle. But there are ways to target the inner pec fibers to help build that area.”

Rusin says that by focusing your mind on contracting a specific area of muscle (what bodybuilders call the mind-muscle connection, see below), and using exercises that stress contractions in the places you want to target, it is possible to emphasize very specific portions of that muscle for potentially greater development.

Anatomy of the Inner Chest

When it comes to working the inner chest, we’re technically only talking about one pair of muscles: the pectoralis majors. These are the big chest muscles that attach to the sternum. There’s a second pec muscle on each side—the pectoralis minor—but it’s smaller, and doesn’t reach the sternum, so it doesn’t need to be targeted when trying to bring up the inner chest.

The space between where the two pec majors attach at the sternum forms a vertical column. For a well-defined inner chest, these attachment points need to be as built-up as possible, so that each individual pec major is clearly separated from the other one and looks like it’s been carved out of granite. (You’ll have to be pretty lean as well for striations to show.)

There are four anatomical motions that the pec major performs:

• Flexion of the humerus (raising the arm in front of your body). This is accomplished by the clavicular head of the pec muscle—the pec fibers that attach to the collarbone.

• Extension of the humerus (lowering the arm down to your side). This is done by the sternocostal head—the fibers that attach to the sternum.

• Horizontal adduction of the humerus (moving the arm across the front of the body). Both the clavicular and steroncostal heads work together to move the arms in a hugging motion.

• Internal rotation of the humerus (rotating the arm in toward the midline of the body). Again, both muscle heads work together here.

In the gym, you can train all of these movements by using two types of exercises: presses and flyes. Pressing exercises, typically done with a barbell or dumbbells, are considered primary movements for the chest, because they give you the most bang for your training buck. As compound exercises, presses let you lift a lot of weight and activate a lot of muscle. But it’s the lifts that emphasize horizontal adduction (i.e. flye variations) that Rusin says are the most effective for targeting the inner pecs. “If you want to hit those inner fibers, you can’t just be doing bench press, dumbbell bench press, and standard pushups,” he says. “Horizontal adduction is the key to hitting the inner pecs, and it’s one action that most people never truly train optimally.”

Creating A Mind-Muscle Connection for Better Inner-Chest Gains

Bodybuilders speak of the mind-muscle connection as mentally zeroing in on the muscles you’re training to improve their activation. As former pro bodybuilder Ben Pakulski (mi40nation.com) explains in The Men’s Health Encyclopedia of Muscle, written by Onnit Editor-in-Chief Sean Hyson, C.S.C.S., to use the mind-muscle connection properly, you have to picture the two ends of the muscle coming together with each contraction.

In the case of the pecs, the muscles originate at the collarbone and sternum and insert on the humeral bones. When you do a press or flye movement, the insertion points pull closer to the origins. “When I train,” says Pakulski, “I’ll picture what my insertion looks like, and how I’ll bring that closer to the origin.” So, to get the most out of your inner-chest training, visualize the pec muscles’ connection at the top of your arms pulling toward the parts of the muscle that attach at your sternum. Imagine the inner portion of the pec fibers tensing and jumping out from your skin. It may sound woo-woo, but the mind undoubtedly has an effect on the body.

In 2016, a study in the European Journal of Applied Physiology had subjects use the mind-muscle connection during bench-press workouts. When the lifters visualized their muscles working, there was greater activation in the pecs and triceps. Also in 2016, a review in Strength and Conditioning Journal concluded that use of the mind-muscle connection could increase the effect of all factors that contribute to muscle growth, including muscular tension and overall muscle damage.

What Are the Best Inner-Chest Exercises?

Below are Rusin’s three favorite exercises for targeting the inner pecs.

1) Hybrid Flye-Press Combo

As the name implies, this exercise is a cross between a flye motion and a press. You maintain a neutral grip (palms facing each other) and perform an arcing motion with the arms, as in a flye, but you also bend your elbows quite a bit in the down position, like you do in a press.

“The hybrid flye-press combo really targets horizontal adduction at the top of the movement,” says Rusin. “This exercise goes against the belief that you have to do these really long moment-arm flyes,” that is, flyes where your elbows are almost fully extended. While some lifters think it helps them get a better stretch on the pecs in the bottom of the movement, that technique is dangerous for the elbows, and Rusin says it’s not necessary.

You can perform this hybrid move with dumbbells or cables, but Rusin prefers you use cables, because of the constant tension they provide. “With dumbbells, when the arms are in a vertical position, we lose our line of pull,” he says. That is, when your elbow and shoulder joints are stacked at the top of the movement, there’s no tension on the pecs—the weight is just resting on the joints. But when you use cables, the pulley system makes the weight continue to resist your muscles at every point in the range of motion, “and that keeps tension on the tissues through that portion of the movement.”

Note: The hybrid flye-press combo is NOT a standing cable crossover. Rusin wants it performed lying on either a flat bench or with a slight incline (the incline will emphasize those clavicular head fibers more, and therefore give you a better inner, upper-chest hit). “With standing flyes, people tend to compensate too much,” he says. “They increase upper back involvement, and they use the hips, when they should be concentrating on contracting the pecs to get the most out of them.”

How To Do the Hybrid Flye-Press Combo

Step 1. Set an adjustable bench at a slight incline (15–30 degrees), equidistant between two cable columns. Attach single-grip/stirrup handles to the pulleys at the lowest positions.

Step 2. Grasp both handles and lie back on the bench. Your elbows should be bent about 90 degrees. The pulleys should be in line with your shoulders so that the cables run more or less perpendicular to the weight stacks; if this isn’t the case, scoot the bench either forward or backward. If you like, rest your feet on the bench, which will add an element of instability to the exercise.

Step 3. Press the handles up while drawing your hands together so that they nearly touch at the top and your arms are fully extended over your upper chest. Squeeze the contraction hard, visualizing your inner pecs doing the work, and then slowly lower your arms to the start position.

2) Hammer Squeeze Press

Like the flye-press combo exercise, this move combines a pressing movement with an added focus on horizontal adduction, courtesy of squeezing a light medicine ball between your hands.

“This exercise is fricking amazing,” says Rusin. “It will instantaneously activate that portion of the pecs we’re talking about. It’s something that will get you sore in the right kind of way, especially in that inner-pec area. This will blow you up.”

How To Do the Hammer Squeeze Press

Step 1. Set a bench to a 15 to 45-degree incline and hold a pair of moderate-weight dumbbells with a light medicine ball secured between them. The purpose of the medicine ball is simply to have something to squeeze, not to provide additional resistance, so find the lightest ball possible—preferably a leather or Kevlar one that will stay in place and not slip out. (Have a partner place the ball between your hands and squeeze your hands together, or bear hug the ball with the dumbbells and then get into position.)

Step 2. Set up on the bench with your arms extended straight upward and palms facing each other. Press in on the ball by contracting the inner pecs and hold it isometrically. Think about your inner-pec fibers firing hard throughout the whole exercise.

Step 3. Maintaining the squeeze, bend your elbows to lower the dumbbells and ball down to your chest.

Step 4. When the ball touches your upper chest, press back up under control to the arms-extended position, squeezing the ball hard throughout.

3) Diamond Pushup

All pushups are underrated chest-builders. A simple way to target the inner pecs with a pushup is to narrow your hand spacing into what’s commonly known as the “diamond” position: the tips of your index fingers and thumbs touch each other, or close to it, forming a diamond shape between your hands. This will also activate more triceps muscle as well.

“The hardest muscle to build is the one you can’t feel,” says Rusin. “That’s why I like using the diamond pushup. You can feel that inner-pec area working, so you’re more likely to be able to build that area.”

How To Do the Diamond Pushup

Step 1. Assume a standard pushup position with your hands and toes on the floor and your body in a rigid, straight line from heels to head.

Step 2. Move your hands together so that the ends of your index fingers and thumbs are nearly touching each other (the exact distance between them should be whatever feels comfortable to you and won’t aggravate your elbows). The space between your hands will resemble a diamond shape.

Step 3. Bend your elbows to slowly lower yourself toward the floor. When your chest touches your hands, press back up explosively to full elbow extension. As you press up, try to draw your hands even closer together but without actually moving them—just tense the muscles and focus your mind on contracting the inside of your chest.

How Can I Stretch My Pecs?

Rusin doesn’t recommend stretching the pecs before or after workouts. “The shoulder is the most mobile joint in the body,” he says, “so rarely do we need more mobility there.”

He does, however, recommend one stretching technique during a chest workout to increase overall muscle activation, including the inner-pec fibers. He calls it “loaded stretching,” and it’s best utilized on the hybrid flye-press combo exercise.

Here’s how to do it: On your last set of flye-presses, after reaching muscle failure, lower your last rep down as slowly as possible. When you reach the bottom of the range of motion, hold that position for as long as you can (aim for 30 seconds). “This will light up every aspect of your pecs,” says Rusin.

Stretching a muscle under load creates even more tension in it, stimulating a growth response. Loaded stretching is another concept that is explained in The Men’s Health Encyclopedia of Muscle.

Beginner Inner-Chest Workout

The following workout, designed by Rusin, can be done once a week in place of your existing chest workout. You can also train other muscles (i.e. triceps, back, or shoulders) after your chest work in the same session. For the best gains in chest size, you should work your pecs one other day in your training week, either with the same exercises or other chest moves of your choice.

“You’re not training for power and strength with the inner pecs,” says Rusin. “This workout is about hypertrophy [muscle gain], so we’re going to implement higher reps on the inner-chest exercises and more total volume to deliver a good pump. You’ll definitely feel the inner chest working.”

1. Hammer Squeeze Press

Sets: 3  Reps: 12–15

See directions above.

2. Barbell Bench Press

Sets: 3  Reps: 3–8

Step 1. Set up in a power rack if you’re training alone, so you can set the spotter bars to just below your chest to catch the barbell if you can’t press it up. Draw your shoulder blades down and together to arch your back. Place your hands about shoulder-width apart on the bar.

Step 2. Pull the bar out of the rack without losing your arch and shoulder position. Lower the bar to your chest, right at the nipple line, tucking your elbows 45-degrees on the descent.

Step 3. Press the bar to lockout.

3. Cable Hybrid Flye-Press Combo

Sets: 3  Reps: 10–15

See directions above.

4. Diamond Pushup

Sets: 2  Reps: To failure

See directions above.

Advanced Inner-Chest Workout

Also designed by Rusin, this chest routine can be done once per week. The extra volume (and a more advanced diamond pushup variation) makes it slightly more challenging than the beginner’s routine above, but it’s still based on the same exercises that offer the best inner-pec hit.

1. Hammer Squeeze Press

Sets: 4  Reps: 12–15

2. Barbell Bench Press

Sets: 4  Reps: 3–8

Step 1. Set up in a power rack if you’re training alone, so you can set the spotter bars to just below your chest to catch the barbell if you can’t press it up. Draw your shoulder blades down and together to arch your back. Place your hands about shoulder-width apart on the bar.

Step 2. Pull the bar out of the rack without losing your arch and shoulder position. Lower the bar to your chest, right at the nipple line, tucking your elbows 45-degrees on the descent.

Step 3. Press the bar to lockout.

3. Cable Hybrid Fly-Press Combo

Sets: 3  Reps: 10–15

4. Feet-Elevated Diamond Push-Up

Sets: 3  Reps: To failure

Perform the diamond pushup as described above, but rest your fee on a bench or other elevated surface so that your torso is angled down toward the floor.

The post The Best Inner-Chest Workouts for Getting Sculpted appeared first on Onnit Academy.

How To Do The Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift Like A Pro

Consider this your guide to an exercise that’s truly irreplaceable for muscle, mobility, and overall fitness.

What Is The Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift?

You probably know what a deadlift is already. There’s a barbell on the floor, and you bend down to pick it up. A Romanian deadlift is a variation where you start at the finish position of the classic deadlift (standing tall, hips locked out), and then bend your hips back, allowing your knees to bend until you feel your hamstrings stretch. The single-leg Romanian deadlift is simply the unilateral version of that movement.

Like these other deadlifts, the single-leg RDL is a hinge movement—the main training effect occurs from the bending and extending of the hips. The single-leg RDL can be done with a barbell, one or two dumbbells/kettlebells, a steel mace, sandbag, or virtually any other training implement you like. You stand on one leg, hold a load in one (or both) hands, and bend your hips back while keeping a long spine. The movement trains the whole back side of the body (called the posterior chain) while developing balance and improving mobility in the hips.

Due to its versatility, the single-leg Romanian deadlift can be used everywhere in a workout program from the warmup to the finisher.

Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift Benefits vs. A Normal Deadlift

Old-fashioned, two-footed deadlifts train the hell out of the glutes and hamstrings and build overall muscle strength, size, and power. While the single-leg Romanian deadlift can’t be loaded as heavy due to the less stable position it puts you in, it offers a lot of other advantages that the classic deadlift doesn’t, or at least serves them up with a lower risk of injury. “I like it best for developing pelvic control while the legs are separate and moving independently of each other,” says Jim “Smitty” Smith, co-founder of the C.P.P.S. certification and owner of Diesel Strength & Conditioning. “This mimics running, sprinting, carrying odd objects, and crawling patterns, which we all should be able to do.”

Balance and coordination

Standing on one leg activates muscles from the hip down to the foot in order to keep you from falling. On higher-rep sets, you may even find that the bottoms of your feet burn from single-leg RDL’s, as you struggle to maintain balance. Not only are you training stability on one leg, which is especially important for playing sports that have you running and jumping, you’re also training a hip hinge at the same time. Learning to flex and extend your hips powerfully, one leg at a time, will translate directly into faster running, higher jumping, and quicker changes of direction.

Stronger posterior chain

The single-leg RDL works all the same muscles as any other deadlift variant, so you know you’re getting a great workout for your glutes, hamstrings, lats, and spinal erectors (just to name a few). But you’ll also train them through a greater range of motion than you do on bilateral deadlifts. The arc of the movement on the single-leg lift allows your hips to bend further, activating more of the hamstrings. So what you sacrifice in load, you make up for with range, and that makes the single-leg RDL a fine choice for a bulk-building program.

Increased mobility

Because you can move into greater ranges of motion, the single-leg RDL is a great movement for improving the mobility of your hips and stretching out your hamstrings. Trainers often prescribe bodyweight single-leg RDLs in a warmup routine to loosen the hips and hammies before doing squats or conventional deadlifts. It’s also a great move to do on your off days as part of a mobility routine that helps you recover from workouts. If you practice yoga, you’ll notice that standing-split poses like warrior 3 are basically bodyweight single-leg Romanian deadlifts.

Improved posture and body mechanics

Like yoga, the single-leg RDL can improve the way you move and carry your body. Learning to hinge properly is essential for working out safely. If you can’t hinge, your lower back will take on the brunt of any load you’re lifting, and that leads to injuries. Poor hingeing during a heavy bilateral deadlift can hurt you badly. Look around your gym at the people who deadlift with a round back… they’re ticking time bombs.

In contrast, if you don’t hinge correctly during a single-leg Romanian deadlift, you know it right away. You’ll feel it in your back and you’ll lose balance. So the single-leg RDL is a great teaching tool. It also forces you to draw your shoulders back into what we call a “proud chest” position. This reinforces good posture that makes all your lifts more efficient and safe (and makes you look stronger and healthy too).

Anti-rotation core stability

When you stand on one leg, your body immediately senses that it’s out of whack. If you start bending at the hips so that your torso moves toward the floor, it’s going to have a tendency to twist toward the side that isn’t supported with a leg underneath it. Your core muscles have to kick in hard to prevent that rotation from occurring, so the single-leg RDL is very much a core exercise in addition to a leg and back movement.

When you develop the stability to resist rotation when it’s not wanted, you’ve taken a giant step toward preventing lower-back injuries.

Restored muscle balance

Many people avoid unilateral training because it’s challenging (and not as soothing to the ego, since you can’t go as heavy as when you lift with both arms or legs at the same time). As a result, they develop muscle and strength imbalances, i.e., the stronger limb takes over for the weaker limb. This is particularly common in the lower body, where you might see the hips shift to one side on a squat or deadlift movement, or you’re able to do 10 lunges on one leg but can only muster eight good reps on the other.

The single-leg RDL helps to expose these imbalances and correct them, so that both sides of the body get to (at least nearly) equal strength.

What Muscles Are Used in the Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift?

The short answer is “most of them.” But to be more specific, we’ll list the main ones you’ll feel here:

• Glutes
• Hamstrings
• Lats
• Traps
• Spinal erectors
• Obliques (core)
• Forearm flexors
• Calves
• Peroneus longus (outer shin)
• Posterior tibialis (in the foot)

How Do You Stretch Before Doing A Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift?

One of the great features of the single-leg RDL is that it serves as a warmup all by itself. You can use it to prepare your lower body for a heavy workout and stretch out your hamstrings at the same time. If using it in your warmup, Smitty recommends performing 2–3 sets of 5–10 reps per leg using only your bodyweight, or very light dumbbells.

How To Perform The Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift

Step 1. Hold a dumbbell or kettlebell in your right hand and stand on your left leg. Draw your shoulder blades down and together (think “proud chest”), and tuck your tailbone under slightly so that your pelvis is parallel to the floor.

Step 2. Reach your left arm out to your side and make a fist—this will help you keep your balance. Take a deep breath into your belly and brace your core, pulling your ribs down and locking them in place.

Step 3. Begin bending your hips backward so that your torso moves toward the floor. Focus your eyes on the floor so you don’t hyperextend your neck. Keep your head, spine, and pelvis aligned as you move, and allow your left knee to bend as needed. Your right leg will naturally extend behind you—squeeze the glutes on that side as it does.

Step 4. Try to keep your hips level with the floor, but it’s OK if your right toes rotate outward a little. Maintain your proud chest position—the weight will try to pull your shoulders forward, so fight to keep them locked back and down. Bend as far as you can without losing your alignment. You should feel a stretch in the hamstrings of the working leg.

Step 5. Squeeze your glutes as you come back up, extending your hips to lockout. You can touch your right foot down for a moment if you need to regain your balance, and then begin the next rep. Perform an equal number of reps on each side.

Form mistakes to watch for:

• Twisting the hips to one side as you bend them back. Think about pulling yourself down with your hip flexors (the muscles on the front of your hip that raise your leg up) so that your hips bend as a hinge does. Your hips and shoulders must be pointing straight in front of you throughout the exercise.

• Rounding your lower back. This is an absolute no-no. Keep a long spine at all times with core braced.

• “Don’t come up on your toes or rock back on your heels,” says Smitty. Doing so may indicate tightness in your hips, so if you can’t perform the lift flat-footed, try an easier version (see Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift Alternatives below).

• Twisting your torso to reach the weight to the floor. Your shoulders must stay level and in line with your hips.

Expert tip:

“The weight of your body should load into the center of your planted foot,” says Smitty. To do this properly, your foot needs to be arched so that it can provide the maximum amount of stability. Before you begin your set, try to “screw” your foot into the floor. Twist it down as if it were a screw and the floor were wood—don’t let your foot rotate or roll over, but make it feel tense and deeply rooted into the floor.

“Grip the ground with your toes,” says Smitty. The arch in your foot should rise. If you need help feeling what it’s like to have your arch turn on, keep your heel on the ground and raise your toes up as high as you can. “When you put your toes back down, try to pull them toward your heel.” Your foot should arch hard and you’ll feel stable.

How To Use The Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift In Your Workouts

As mentioned above, the single-leg RDL fits in well as part of your warmup routine. You can also use it as a main lift in a strength workout. Say you’re doing a full-body session comprising push, pull, squat, and hinge movements (one exercise for each movement pattern). You could choose the single-leg Romanian deadlift as your hinge exercise. If you want to load it heavy, you might go for reps of 5–8. If you want to train it in higher rep-ranges, you could do reps of 12–20. Be careful doing high reps, though. Lower-rep sets are better for learning an exercise, as the set will end before you’re very fatigued and about to break form. As you get more experienced and conditioned, you can perform higher reps to push your muscle endurance and cardiovascular capacity.

Of course, the single-leg RDL is most often used as an assistance exercise to support performance on the barbell squat and deadlift, so it works well when done second, third, or fourth in a leg workout for moderate sets of moderate reps. “I’ll usually have clients do single-leg RDLs as part of their assistance work for 3–4 sets of 8–12 reps per leg,” says Smitty. The move is typically performed as shown in the video above, with one dumbbell, but it can be done with two (if you want to make it less of a balancing act) or with a barbell (if you want to load it as heavy as possible). For an extreme balance challenge, you can hold the dumbbell on the same side as the leg you’re standing on, but we don’t suggest you start off learning the exercise that way.

Another option is to use a barbell but treat it like a dumbbell, by gripping the sleeve of the bar (where you load plates) and sliding the other end into a landmine unit. This will allow you to load the exercise heavy with less challenge to your balance (see below).

A trap bar can also be used with the single-leg RDL. This can spare your lower back some stress versus the barbell version because the weight is held at your sides. As the load is closer to your center of gravity, you won’t have to lean your torso as far forward as you would doing a straight-bar RDL, and you won’t have the same shear forces acting on your spine. As a trade-off, however, you won’t get quite the same activation of the posterior chain muscles.

See the single-leg Romanian deadlift in action in these workouts.

Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift Alternatives

At the top of this article, we said that the single-leg RDL was irreplaceable. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be modified—regressed or advanced depending on your goals and level of expertise. If you’re having trouble with the balance component, try staggered-stance RDLs for a while (aka kickstand RDLs). In this case, you simply keep the foot of the non-working leg on the floor as you perform the hip hinge movement. You’ll get a great stretch in your butt and hamstrings, and most of the benefits of unilateral training, but without having to worry about tipping over. To gently progress to doing the move one-legged, you can hold on to the support beam of a power rack, or even a foam roller that’s held vertically and balanced on one end.

To add more load to the movement, you can wrap a band around your hips and attach the other loop end to a power rack/sturdy object. “As you come up from the bottom position, the band’s resistance will overload the hip extension portion of the exercise,” says Smitty. Of course, conventional bilateral RDLs are a natural progression, as are good mornings, which are essentially the same movement but with the barbell held on the back of your shoulders for an additional posterior-chain challenge. Back extensions done on a 45- or 90-degree bench will work most of the same muscles as well, and are gentler on the lower back than the RDL or good morning.

Smitty is a proud supporter of the Shawn Perine Memorial Fund, which benefits environmental and animal charities, as well as after-school programs for children.

The post How To Do The Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift Like A Pro appeared first on Onnit Academy.

How to Do The Dumbbell Snatch For Huge Gains

Benefits of the Dumbbell Snatch

The dumbbell snatch is a unilateral exercise, meaning that you focus on one side of the body at a time. Unilateral movements are excellent for reducing side-to-side muscle imbalances that exist in many people, while helping athletes improve performance in areas that can translate directly to the court, field, or mat.

To perform a dumbbell snatch, “An individual is forced to utilize greater levels of balance, stability, and coordination, when compared to a traditional [barbell] snatch movement,” says Dr. Brian Brabham, C.S.C.S., Associate Professor of Exercise Science at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton, TX. “Whether you’re experienced with the snatch or not, using dumbbells is a great way to increase the level of difficulty of a program.” Like the barbell snatch, the dumbbell snatch is also a triple extension movement, meaning that the hips, knees, and ankles all extend at the same time, making for a powerful jumping movement that trains the explosiveness that’s specific to so many sports.

A study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research compared the effects of barbell snatching to the dumbbell version. It confirmed that the dumbbell snatch generates greater ground reaction forces and doubles the speed at which forces impact the body during the pull phase (lifting the weight in front of your body) and the catch phase of the lift (finishing the rep overhead), respectively, on the non-lifting side—the one not holding the dumbbell. This asymmetry caused the researchers to conclude that unilateral variations of lifting movements, like the dumbbell snatch, offer different and beneficial training stimuli for athletes.

While the dumbbell snatch may look like it’s primarily an upper-body pulling motion—ripping the dumbbell off the floor and flinging it overhead by using your shoulders and upper back—the power that produces it is actually grounded in the major muscle groups of the lower body and the core. You have to use your quads, glutes, and hamstrings to powerfully extend your knees and press your hips forward as you draw the dumbbell away from the floor. Next, you need to brace your core when you “catch” the dumbbell above your shoulder, and stabilize the weight with your shoulders and upper back to keep the momentum of your pull from tearing your arm off. In other words, the dumbbell snatch targets just about every muscle group in your body, and, when done for high reps, demands a lot from your cardiovascular system.

Muscles Worked With The Dumbbell Snatch

– Glutes (for a powerful hip extension)

– Hamstrings (assist the glutes with hip extension)

– Quadriceps (extend the knees)

– Lats (assist in drawing the dumbbell from the floor)

– Trapezius (assist with pulling the dumbbell from the floor and up in front of the body)

– Spinal erectors (protect the lower back and maintain stability of the spine during hip extension and through the catch)

– Abdominals (assist the spinal erectors in protecting the back and maintaining stability of the spine)

– Shoulders (assist in pulling the dumbbell from the floor and raising it overhead; the rotator cuff stabilizers also help keep the shoulder joints safe as the dumbbell is extended overhead)

– Triceps (help to pull the dumbbell from the floor and lift it into overhead extension)

How To Do The Dumbbell Snatch

“If the movement is new to a client, I always recommend starting with lighter weights and working on technique rather than jumping into the movement with heavier weights,” Brabham says, adding that the dumbbell snatch is meant to be fast and explosive—so muscling up heavier weight at the expense of technique and speed is pointless. “I instruct my students to keep the dumbbell close to the body,” he says. “Pull with a high elbow, and then extend over the head. A common mistake I see is that they will get to the armpit position [where the weight is at armpit level] and then try to press the dumbbell overhead. Momentum should carry the dumbbell overhead—not a press.”

The Setup

Step 1. Place a dumbbell on the floor between your feet. Position your feet slightly wider than shoulder-distance apart.

Step 2. Roll your shoulders back and downward, pulling your shoulder blades down toward the center of your spine (think: “proud chest”). Press your hips back while keeping a long spine—your head spine and pelvis should maintain alignment as you hinge at the hips. Bend your knees as needed so that you can reach the dumbbell. Your chest and shoulders should be level with the floor and remain facing forward.

Step 3. Grasp the dumbbell with one hand, breathe into your belly, and engage your core. Keep your shoulders driving down and back and lock in your long spine position. Allow your free arm to hang at your side.

The Pull

Step 4. Powerfully extend your knees, hips, and ankles, drawing the dumbbell up off the floor and close to your body as you come up. The movement should be powered by your lower body, not your shoulders. Your feet may or may not rise off the floor for a moment.

Step 5. Shrug the shoulder that’s holding the weight, driving your elbow up high and backward. The dumbbell should travel in a straight line up in front of you. Think about pulling your whole body under the weight as it rises.

The Catch

Step 6. When it reaches its highest point (above shoulder level), turn your elbow under the dumbbell. Catch the weight overhead with arm extended as it continues upward.

Step 7. Finish in a quarter-squat position, which will allow you to decelerate safely. Then extend your legs to stand tall. Carefully lower the dumbbell back to the floor as you squat back down to set up for the next rep.

Where To Use The Dumbbell Snatch In Your Workout

The dumbbell snatch can be incorporated into a workout in a variety of ways, depending on your goals and your experience with the movement. If you’re not experienced with the dumbbell snatch, Brabham says your first priority is to master the technique. “I tend to keep the sets, reps, and weights low, initially,” he says. “Such as 2–3 sets of 3–5 reps. As an individual becomes more confident in his or her ability to correctly and safely complete the movement, the sets and reps and weight can all be gradually, although independently, increased for progressive overload.”

When you’re familiar with the exercise and your form is on point, you can perform the dumbbell snatch with lighter weight as part of your warmup for a heavy-lifting workout. As it targets all the major muscle groups in a functional manner, the snatch primes your nervous system to recruit your muscle fibers effectively for the work that’s to come. You can also do moderately-heavy snatches to kick off a lower-body or back workout, sometimes using it in place of deadlifts.

Likewise, because the dumbbell snatch engages so many muscle groups, it can effectively be used as part of a conditioning workout that helps you develop strength and endurance at the same time. Consider using the snatch as part of a circuit that includes other exercises like lunges, pushups, and pullups.

Another idea: use the dumbbell snatch as a finisher at the end of your workout, done EMOM style (every minute on the minute). Set a timer for five to 10 minutes and choose a weight that you can do 15 reps with. At the start of the first minute, do 10 reps on one side, and then rest for the remainder of the minute. Repeat at the top of the next minute, doing reps for the other side. This is a good way to perform a lot of volume without going to failure, therefore accomplishing more work than you could usually perform in a similar amount of time with conventional sets.

What’s the Difference Between The Dumbbell Snatch and Kettlebell Snatch?

Both the dumbbell and kettlebell versions of the snatch will build power and muscle, but the dumbbell snatch is better suited to less experienced lifters and those who aren’t familiar with explosive Olympic lifting exercises.

“I like to start people on the dumbbell snatch and then progress them to a kettlebell,” Brabham says. “The kettlebell requires the individual to have more control of the weight compared to the dumbbell.” Slight deviations in form can cause the weight to slap the back of the forearm on a kettlebell snatch, which can cause injury. The dumbbell snatch, therefore, is safer, as well as easier to execute.

Nevertheless, your ultimate goal should be to graduate to the kettlebell snatch. “Because the kettlebell has the ability to roll backward over the hand during the overhead extension, there’s more activation of the posterior chain musculature in a kettlebell snatch,” says Brabham—namely, the glutes and hamstrings.

The post How to Do The Dumbbell Snatch For Huge Gains appeared first on Onnit Academy.