What Are B-Stance Hip Thrusts and What Are Their Benefits?

(See 00:46 in the video above)

The B-stance hip thrust is sometimes called a “hip thrust with a kickstand,” or a “staggered-stance hip thrust,” because you use one leg for balance while the other one thrusts. Like the conventional bilateral hip thrust, you lie back on a bench (your body perpendicular to it), and raise your hips up to lockout, but in the B-stance thrust, you push with one foot while the heel of the other one stays grounded for extra support.

You see, most people start out with the regular bilateral hip thrust, where you work both glutes at the same time. Later, they try to progress to the single-leg hip thrust, which has you holding one leg up in the air while you thrust with the other one. The problem is, going from two-legged hip thrusts to single-leg thrusts is too big a leap for most people. It can be very hard to stabilize your hips and avoid twisting to one side when you’re doing true single-leg hip thrusts, and many people find that even their bodyweight alone is too difficult to control for more than a few reps.

That’s where the B-stance hip thrust comes in. It’s a nice intermediate exercise that’s more challenging than the basic two-legged hip thrust, but more stable than the single-leg hip thrust, so you can work one side at a time and build your balance without having to work too hard to keep your body aligned and on the bench.

In addition, because it’s a unilateral exercise, it allows you to isolate one glute at a time, which helps correct any imbalances you have between sides. Also, focusing on one muscle area at a time recruits more muscle in that area, which can help you add muscle size more easily. So, if you want a big, round butt, the single-leg hip thrust is a very good exercise choice.

Lastly, if you have lower-back pain, and you find that two-legged hip thrusts hurt to perform—maybe because you hyperextend your back at the top of the movement—you may find that the B-stance hip thrust is more comfortable to do. Because you’re essentially working one leg at a time, you can’t thrust as hard or as high, so it’s harder to overextend your range of motion. The single-leg hip thrust keeps the force where you want it—in your glutes—and out of your lower back.

How To Do B-Stance Hip Thrusts

(See 03:00 in the video)

The B-stance hip thrust builds off the conventional two-legged thrust. Once you’ve found a comfortable position for bilateral thrusts, it’s an easy transition to B-stance thrusts.

Step 1. Secure a bench against a wall or rack so it doesn’t slide; you can also weight it down with heavy dumbbells. Lie back on the bench, perpendicular to its length, so that the edge of the bench supports your body right under your shoulder blades.

If you’ve tried hip thrusts in the past and felt them too much in your lower back, you can try sliding your body up a little higher so the bench supports your mid-back rather than the bottom of your shoulder blades. 

Now extend your hips to get into the top position of the double-leg hip thrust, so your shoulders, hips, and knees are aligned. Adjust your feet so that they’re directly below your knees. Now when you lower your hips down, your stance should be set so that you can thrust with the greatest range of motion and good form.

Feel free to play around with your foot position, angle, and spacing a little more, and do a few practice reps, until you find a setup that’s the most comfortable and lets you feel your glutes working more than any other muscle. This will be your normal bilateral hip thrust setup.

Step 2. Now you’ll transition from the bilateral hip thrust to the B-stance. Extend one leg forward so the heel lines up with the toes on the planted foot. This partially-extended leg is called your kickstand leg. Keep the toes on your kickstand leg elevated so the weight of your leg is resting on that heel.

Step 3. Tuck your chin to your chest, and make fists with each hand, driving the back of your arms into the bench for stability. Tuck your tailbone under, and brace your core. Now drive through the foot of your planted leg to extend your hips until they’re locked out and parallel to the floor. Push both knees out a bit as you extend your hips, and keep your ribs pulled down so you don’t bend at the spine.

Your shoulders, hips, and knees should form a straight line in the top position.

According to Bret Contreras, PhD, author of Glute Lab and arguably the world’s foremost expert on glute training, the kickstand leg should only apply about 30% of the force in your B-stance thrust. Most of the work should be done by the leg that’s closest to your body. Remember, the kickstand leg is only supposed to provide some stability, so make your other leg’s glutes do the majority of the work.

Use your bodyweight alone until you’ve mastered the B-stance hip thrust technique. But when you think you’ve got it down, you can add a barbell to your lap for resistance, just as you do with the normal two-legged hip thrust. However: “I suspect that as you lift more weight,” Contreras writes in his book, “you will inevitably use your extended leg more to counterbalance the weight, which defeats the purpose of trying to load mostly one leg. So, as with the single-leg hip thrust, it’s better to keep the load light.” If you get to the point where B-stance hip thrusts for higher reps (north of, say, 10) don’t challenge you much anymore, it’s probably time to progress to the true single-leg hip thrust (with the non-working leg up in the air), which we explain in the B-Stance Hip Thrust Alternatives section below.

What Muscles Do B-Stance Hip Thrusts Work?

(See 05:40 in the video)

The B-stance hip thrust really works the gluteus maximus, which is your main butt cheek muscle, responsible for extending your hips. But it also trains the gluteus medius, which is on the side of your butt cheek, and the glute minimus, which lies under the glute medius. Both the medius and minimus work to stabilize the pelvis, so they will get trained by any variation of the hip thrust too.

While all variations of the hip thrust are fairly new exercises in the fitness world, research on them is mounting, and pointing to positive benefits both in terms of athleticism and glute muscle gains. A 2019 trial found that hip thrusting with a barbell improved subjects’ sprint performance. Meanwhile, in a landmark 2023 study, subjects were divided into two groups, with one team training the hip thrust and the other doing the barbell back squat—no other lower-body work was performed. After nine weeks, glute growth in both groups was roughly the same, indicating that the hip thrust is at least as good a glute exercise as the much beloved, age old, and tried-and-true squat.

Perhaps even more impressive, however, was another 2023 study that had two groups perform a full-body workout. One group did leg presses and stiff-legged deadlifts for their lower body in the session, while the other group did those two movements and then two sets of hip thrusts at the very end of the workout. Both groups saw gains. The non-thrusting group enjoyed a six percent increase in glute growth, but the ones who ended their workouts with thrusting grew their glutes by more than nine percent.

This gives us a little to think about. On the one hand, the subjects who hip thrusted did end up performing more work for their glutes than the other group did, which may account for their extra gains. However, you have to factor in that their hip thrusts were done dead last in the session, after they had trained both upper and lower body and accumulated a lot of fatigue. The body’s ability to recruit muscle fibers is greatly diminished for exercises that are done late in a workout—i.e., exercises done at the end of your workouts will never be as effective as those that are done at the beginning—so this suggests that the hip thrust may have outperformed the other glute exercises in the session (the leg press and stiff-legged dead), regardless of fatigue.

Note that all of the above research was done on the TWO-legged hip thrust, NOT the B-stance exercise, so it’s hard to say how B-stance thrusting compares to back squats, single-leg squats, leg presses, deadlifts, or anything else. But, until further research emerges, it’s a good bet that any hip thrust variation is going to be a solid choice for building the glutes.

How Do B-Stance Hip Thrusts Compare To Other Hip Thrusts?

The B-stance hip thrust is essentially the middle man between the bilateral thrust and the single-leg hip thrust, helping you progress from the former to the latter. It won’t allow you to train as heavy as the more stable, two-legged thrust will, but the B-stance will help you to better isolate the glutes on one leg at a time, while providing enough stability for you to train hard and safely. It’s also likely safer for the lower back than the bilateral thrust, because it lessens the risk of hyperextending the spine when you lock your hips out.

How to Stretch Before Doing B-Stance Hip Thrusts

(See 07:45 in the video)

Warm up and stretch out your glutes and hips prior to a B-stance hip thrust session with these moves, courtesy of Onnit-certified coach Eric Leija (@primal.swoledier). Do 2–4 sets each.

Pelvic Hip Circle

Reps: 3–5 reps

Stagger-Stance Hip Hinge

Reps: 5–10

Hinge Jump

Reps: 3–5

B-Stance Hip Thrust Alternatives

(See 06:12 in the video)

When you think you’ve got the B-stance hip thrust down, you can move up to the single-leg hip thrust, where you raise one leg in the air and work the other one without any support.

Single-leg Hip Thrust

Step 1. Set up as you did for the B-stance hip thrust but raise one leg off the floor entirely and bend that knee, bringing it toward your chest.

Step 2. Push your working foot into the floor and raise your hips until they’re roughly in line with your working knee and your shoulders. Remember to keep your ribs down and core braced.

Single-Leg Glute Bridge

If you want to isolate the glutes a little bit more, you can do a single-leg hip thrust motion on the floor, without a bench. This is known as a glute bridge. Bridging your hips up from the floor will decrease the range of motion some, but it will ensure that only your glutes do the work to move your hips (as opposed to the hamstrings, which do contribute a little bit to the hip thrust, while the quads kick in a little as well to extend the knee).

Luckily, we have a whole video tutorial on how to do the single-leg glute bridge in a separate article.

The post How To Do B-Stance Hip Thrusts Like An Expert appeared first on Onnit Academy.

Let’s explore how to do the landmine squat for better squat technique, more quad development, and safer, user-friendly squatting in general.

What Is The Landmine Squat And What Are Its Benefits?

(See 00:35 in the video above.)

The landmine squat is done with the barbell in a landmine unit, which is a metal cylinder that swivels on an axis. A landmine allows you to lift the barbell in various arcing motions rather than straight up and down, letting you perform a number of exercises with a less complex squatting technique that can be easier on your joints.

In the landmine squat, the weight is held in front of your body rather than behind it, so landmine squatting resembles the front squat as well as the goblet squat that many people do with a kettlebell. Therefore, it’s sometimes called a landmine goblet squat. One big advantage of the landmine squat over the kettlebell goblet squat is that it’s more stable, and the barbell allows you to load more weight, so landmine squats in general can be done heavier and are usually a better choice for building muscle than the goblet squat.

Like the goblet squat, the landmine squat reinforces good squatting mechanics that keep you safe—for example, sitting your hips back and keeping your chest up as you descend. If you have trouble squatting with a barbell on your back—that is, if it bothers your low back or knees, or you just can’t seem to keep form—the landmine squat can be an awesome replacement exercise. Use it to ingrain good squatting mechanics, and then go back to the barbell back squat or front squat. You’ll probably find that your technique is sharper, and you can squat deeper than before.

How To Do The Landmine Squat?

(See 01:35 in the video.)

The landmine squat is pretty easy to perform, making it a great move for beginners, or other people who don’t have much experience squatting with load. You want the bar right up against your chest, and keep your torso as upright as possible as you squat down.

Step 1. Load a barbell into a landmine. If you don’t have a landmine unit, you can wedge the end of the bar into a corner in your gym. It won’t be quite as stable, but it should still work. Set a box or bench on the floor in front of the bar, right next to where the barbell plates will be loaded. Pick up the end of the bar and rest it on the box and load the plates you’ll use. Now you have a platform to lift the bar off, making it easier to get into position for the start of the exercise.

Step 2. Squat down in front of the bar and wrap your hands around the end of it. Tuck your elbows to your sides. Keeping your back straight and flat, lift the bar off the box and step away from the box if needed so it’s not in the way of your squat. You should end up standing with the bar right at your chest. (Don’t hold the bar any higher; that will make your shoulders work harder than they have to, and you’ll fatigue your upper body before your legs.)

Adjust your stance so your feet are between hip and shoulder width and your toes are turned out a few degrees. Now you’ll have to play around with your position and see what’s comfortable. You can lean forward so your weight is more on the balls of your feet, or you can stand tall—whatever allows you to squat with the deepest range of motion and good form.

Step 3. Draw your ribs down, take a deep breath into your belly, and brace your core. Keeping a long spine from your head to your tailbone, squat as deeply as you can, driving your knees apart so that they line up with your big toes. You should be able to go much lower than you normally could in a back squat without your heels rising off the floor or your lower back rounding.

Step 4. Extend your hips and knees to stand tall again. When you’ve finished your set, rest the weight on the box again.

What Muscles Does The Landmine Squat Work?

(See 03:05 in the video.)

Like the back squat, you can count on the landmine squat to work the following muscles:

• Quadriceps (front thighs)
• Glutes (butt)
• Rectus abdominis, obliques (core)
• Various muscles of the upper back (they act as stabilizers here)
• Deltoids (shoulders, again, working to stabilize)
• Spinal erectors (lower back)

The landmine squat is a perfect choice for people who want to emphasize quad gains. Because the range of motion is so great at the knee joint (greater than a hip-dominant back squat), your quads will work hard throughout each rep. It’s also ideal if you suffer from lower-back pain during back squats. Your torso stays very vertical on a landmine squat, minimizing shear forces on the lumbar. In other words, landmine squatting lets you train legs heavy and hard without undue stress on the spine.

How To Do The Landmine Hack Squat

(See 03:34 in the video.)

The landmine can also be used as a substitute for the hack squat—the squat machine you see in most gyms where the weight is held behind the body and your back rests on a pad. The landmine hack squat may allow you to squat even deeper than the regular landmine squat, making it a great tool for emphasizing the quads. That said, it’s a little more awkward to set up and, for most people, will take some getting used to.

Step 1. Set up the barbell in a landmine as you did for the regular landmine squat. You don’t have to use a box to rest the bar on if you’re using light weights that you’re sure you can control, but if you do, make sure that when you squat, the bar will be clear of the platform. Wrap your hands around the bar and lift it up, turn around, and rest the bar on one shoulder.

Step 2. Play around with your foot position until you feel balanced and stable. Your feet should be between hip and shoulder-width apart and a little in front of you, and you should lean your bodyweight backward into the plate on the bar—that’s right, let the barbell support your weight just like a hack squat machine would. In this case, the bar really should be in a landmine unit. A corner alone may not provide the stability to support your body—so be smart and stay safe!

Step 3. Lower your body into the squat, going as deeply as you can without your pelvis tucking under and your lower back rounding. You should be able to get your knees almost fully flexed.

Step 4. Drive through the balls of your feet to stand back up. On your next set, switch the shoulder that the bar rests on so you don’t develop an imbalance.

How to Stretch Before Exercising

Use the following drills from Onnit-certified coach Eric Leija (@primal.swoledier) to warm up your hips and knees for strong squatting.

Landmine Squat Alternatives

(See 05:15 in the Landmine Squat video at the top.)

If you don’t have a landmine or a barbell, you can perform a goblet squat with either a kettlebell or a dumbbell. Like the landmine squat, the goblet squat is an excellent movement for learning and refining good squat technique, as it automatically forces you to squat with your chest up while driving your knees apart and sitting back into your hips.

Step 1. Hold a kettlebell in front of your chest by the sides of its handle. Draw your shoulders back and downward (think: “proud chest”), and tuck your elbows in close to the bell—try to get your forearms as vertical as you can. Stand with your feet between hip- and shoulder-width apart, and turn your toes out a bit—up to 30 degrees if you need to.

Step 2. Tuck your tailbone and draw your ribs down so that your pelvis is parallel to the floor. Take a deep breath into your belly, and brace your core. Actively twist your feet into the floor, but don’t let them move. Think of your legs as screwdrivers, or that you’re standing on grass and trying to twist it up beneath you. You should feel the arches in your feet rise and your glutes tighten, creating tension in the lower body.

Step 3. Keeping a long spine from your head to your pelvis, push your hips back and squat down, as if sitting down into a chair. Squat as low as you can while keeping your head, spine, and pelvis aligned. Push your knees apart as you descend. You should feel most of your weight on your heels to mid-foot area. If you feel your lower back beginning to round, stop there, and come back up. Keep your torso as vertical as possible—you shouldn’t have to lean forward or work extra hard to hold the bell upright. Avoid bending or twisting to either side.

Step 4. Drive through your feet as you extend your hips and knees to come up.

Learn more about squatting variations for different goals with our guide to Front Squats Vs. Back Squats: Everything You Need To Know For Building Muscle.

The post How To Do The Landmine Squat: Hack Squats, Goblet Squats, and More appeared first on Onnit Academy.

What Are the Trapezius Muscles (Traps)?

(See 00:28 in the video above.)

When weightlifters say “traps,” they’re talking about the trapezius muscles on the upper back. There are two of them, one on each side of the spine, and they consist of three parts—each with a different function.

The upper traps start at the top of the neck and attach to the upper and outer edge of the shoulder blade. This part of the muscle shrugs your shoulder, rotates your shoulder blade upward when you raise your arm above horizontal, and helps turn your head. The middle traps originate in the center of the spine and spread out to the shoulder blade and acromion joint. The mid traps pull your shoulder blades back and together.

The lower traps start out way down at the bottom of the rib cage and stretch up to the shoulder blade. They do the opposite of what the upper traps do, drawing your shoulder blades downward.

Most guys only train their traps with barbell and dumbbell shrugs, but as we just explained, that shrugging motion really only works the upper traps, so shrugging alone is incomplete training when you want an upper back like a bull. To get trapezius muscles that appear three-dimensional and make you look like you’re wearing an oxen’s yoke—hence the term “yoked”—you need to train the traps’ other two functions. And that’s not just a good idea for building a bad ass physique. Strengthening the middle and lower traps will also help to ward off shoulder injuries and keep your upper back in balance with your chest.

Ask any physical therapist who’s dealt with clients complaining of shoulder pain from too much pressing or poor posture—they often prescribe scapular retraction and lower-trap exercises to restore balance. Chronic slouchers often experience scapular winging—excessive outward movement of the shoulder blades—which can lead to poor shoulder mechanics in pressing and reaching overhead. Strengthening the lower and middle trap helps offset that, explains Chad Waterbury, DPT, a physical therapist and strength and conditioning coach in Los Angeles (@drchadwaterbury). “You’ll open space in the shoulder joint and avoid pain and impingement when you reach overhead.”  

Finally, from a performance perspective, strong traps play a role in weightlifting cleans and deadlifts. “In sports, they help you throw a punch and swing a racquet,” says Andrew Heffernan, CSCS, an award-winning fitness journalist and co-author of The Exercise Cure and Your New Prime. In short, big traps aren’t just a sign of a guy or gal who can rip sh!t up—they actually help you do it.

Four Effective Exercises for Working Out Your Traps

(See 01:39 in the video.)

Start integrating the following movements into your training. They can be done toward the end of any upper or full-body training days you do, as well as on back days, if you follow a body-part workout split. (See sample workouts below in the Best Trap Workouts For Getting Huge section for examples of how they can fit in.)

1. Dumbbell Shrug With Forward Lean (Upper and Middle Traps)

(See 01:44 in the video.)

Most people do shrugs by shrugging their shoulders straight up. That will certainly hit the upper traps, but you’ll involve more of the muscle—specifically, the middle traps, the meatiest part of the muscle—by angling your body forward a bit. It also allows you to use a greater range of motion.

This kind of shrug was a favorite technique of Dorian Yates, a Mr. Olympia-winning bodybuilder with one of the biggest backs in history.

Step 1. Hold dumbbells at your sides and bend your hips back about 20 degrees. Keep a long straight line from your head to your tailbone, and brace your core. You don’t want to round your lower back here. Retract your neck and tuck your chin. Maintain this body position throughout the exercise.

Step 2. Shrug your shoulders up and slightly back. You should feel your whole upper back pinch together. Hold this top position for a second or two to really make the traps work, and then lower the dumbbells back down under control, letting the weight stretch your traps at the bottom of the rep.

As you get stronger, your grip strength will limit the weight you can use, shortchanging your traps of the stimulus. It’s OK to use lifting straps to reinforce your grip so you can shrug heavier weights and challenge your traps even more.

2. Wide-Grip Chest-Supported Row (Middle Traps)

(See 02:44 in the video.)

Any rowing movement that has you squeezing your shoulder blades together will involve a lot of middle traps. But supporting your chest on a bench will provide more stability, which allows you to lift heavier weight, and will better isolate the upper back muscles in general. There’s a time and place for bent-over rowing variations, but if you want to zero-in on the traps, it’s better to take your lower back out of the equation and not waste energy stabilizing the entire body.

You can do these on a machine, with a barbell, or with dumbbells, as shown in the video above.

Step 1. Set a bench to about a 45-degree angle. It just needs to be high enough to accommodate the length of your arms and prevent the weights you’re using from hitting the floor at the bottom of each rep. Lie on the bench, chest down, and grasp dumbbells.

Step 2. Row the weights with your arms out about 60 degrees. This will target the traps better than if your arms are close to your sides, which is more of a lat exercise. Drive your elbows back as far as you can and squeeze your shoulder blades together at the top. You may want to hold the top for a second or two as you did with the shrugs to make the exercise stricter and emphasize the traps as much as possible.

Step 3. Lower the weights and allow your shoulders to spread at the bottom.

As with the shrugs, it may be helpful to use lifting straps on your rows once you’ve worked up to very heavy weights that your grip can’t hold onto.

3. Kelso Shrug (Middle Traps)

(See 03:59 in the video.)

Here’s a movement that really isolates the traps. The goal here is to prevent the other back muscles, along with the biceps, from assisting, and force your traps to retract your shoulder blades alone. You can do these with a barbell or a machine, but dumbbells work fine too, as long as you use a wide enough grip to allow your shoulders to retract all the way.

Step 1. Set up on a bench the way we described for the chest-supported row.

Step 2. Simply retract your shoulders and squeeze them. Hold the top for a second or two. Be careful not to shrug your shoulders up or hyperextend your back. Just pull the weight straight back. Your chest may come off the pad a little, but don’t arch your back hard trying to get the weight up. It’s a short range of motion and a subtle movement, but the point is to isolate the traps, so don’t turn it into another row.

4. Y Raise (Lower Traps)

(See 04:41 in the video.)

Remember we said that your lower traps pull the shoulder blades down in a reverse shrugging motion, so any pullup or pulldown variation will involve the lower traps to a large degree while it trains the lats. Still, it’s a good idea to really isolate the lower traps to strengthen them, especially if you do a lot of overhead or chest pressing, which can be hard on the shoulder joints. Strong lower traps help to stabilize shoulders, and the Y raise is a great movement for this purpose.

Step 1. Set a bench to a 45-degree angle and lie on it, chest down. Hold a light dumbbell in each hand, and brace your core.

Step 2. Raise your arms out in front of you on an angle so your body forms a Y shape. Hold the top for a second or two. You should feel the tension in the middle of your back, and if you don’t, make sure you’re not going too heavy or arching your back.

The Best Trap Workouts for Getting Huge

(See 05:30 in the video.)

“The traps work in concert with other muscles—such as the rhomboids and serratus anterior—to perform a myriad of scapular movements,” says Waterbury. Any time you perform rows, chins, pulldowns, overhead presses, or deadlifts, you’re also hitting your traps—especially the upper traps. Because the traps are involved in so many of your other back exercises, you don’t need to blast them with a death ray of volume to see gains.

Try adding one or two trap-focused exercises to your routines for two sessions a week, and do only two hard sets to start. (This means sets taken to failure, or within one rep of failure.) If you feel your traps are really lagging and you want to emphasize them, prioritize them by doing a trap exercise first in your workout. Here are two examples of back workouts that emphasize the trapezius.

Sample Back Workout 1

1. Chinup

Sets: 2  Reps: 5–8

2. Wide-Grip Chest-Supported Row

Sets: 2  Reps: 5–10

3. Close-Grip Cable Row

Sets: 2  Reps: 5–10

4. Dumbbell Shrug

Sets: 2  Reps: 5–10

Sample Back Workout 2

1. Kelso Shrug

Sets: 2  Reps: 5–10

2. One-Arm Dumbbell Row

Sets: 2  Reps: 5–10

3. Lat Pulldown

Sets: 2  Reps: 5–10

4. Y Raise

Sets: 2  Reps: 6–10

How to Stretch Your Traps

(See 06:23 in the video.)

The traps can get tight from a lot of heavy training in combination with sitting in front of a computer or looking down at your phone all day, so it’s helpful to stretch them out a little bit throughout the day and after training. This stretch from Waterbury may help to prevent headaches as well as injury in the gym.

Step 1. Reach your right hand behind your back and place the back of your hand against the back of your left hip. Hold your shoulders down and back.

Step 2. Grasp the back of your head and gently pull it down and across in the direction of your left shoulder. You’ll feel a strong stretch in the back of your neck and traps. Hold for 30 seconds, and then repeat on the opposite side. Repeat for 3 rounds.

Learn an additional trap-building exercise with our guide to the landmine row.

The post 4 Traps Exercises and 2 Workouts for Getting Huge appeared first on Onnit Academy.

What Is The Landmine Row and What Are Its Benefits?

(See 00:15 in the video above.)

The landmine row is a barbell rowing movement where one end of the barbell rests on the floor, or is anchored using a landmine apparatus, allowing you to row the bar in an arcing motion rather than straight up and down. There are many ways to row with this setup, and we’ll go over all of them in this article, but the most basic and popular version is to straddle the bar and row it with both hands using a V-grip handle (the kind you see on cable machines). To bodybuilders, this is called a T-bar row, and it’s a great, old-school exercise for the back, and the lats specifically. (Some landmine machines provide barbells that have a handle fixed perpendicular to the bar, forming a T-shape, hence the name.)

While it’s very similar to the classic bent-over barbell row, the landmine row has some big advantages. “The arc that the bar travels allows you to keep a more upright torso, which is easier on your lower back,” says Jonny Catanzano, an IFBB pro bodybuilder and physique coach (@jonnyelgato_ifbbpro). It also means that the weight will be closer to your center of gravity at the top of each rep, and that allows you to control it better, and even hold the top position longer than you could with a bent-over row, if you choose to. That can give you a better muscle contraction in your back, and makes the landmine row a good choice for hypertrophy (muscle-gain) training.

With one end of the bar fixed on the floor, the landmine—aka T-bar row—is also a more stable movement than a conventional barbell or dumbbell row, and that allows you to lift heavier weights. Flip through old bodybuilding magazines or books and you’ll see many lifters hoisting hundreds of pounds on T-bar rows, but super heavy bent-over rows are less common. The landmine setup simply allows for heavier weights to be lifted in a safer, more user-friendly movement, so it’s arguably the better choice between the two barbell rowing movements for physique development.

How To Do The Landmine Row

(See 02:55 in the video.)

Ideally, you’ll perform the landmine row using a landmine unit. They usually look like home plate (baseball) with a metal sleeve attached that swivels, but some have feet (like furniture) or are simply a sleeve that can attach to the base of a power rack or even fit inside the donut hole of a weight plate (this is shown above). You can see a number of landmine options on amazon.com.

Using a landmine will keep the end of the bar secure and stable, but it isn’t absolutely necessary to perform landmine training. A second option is to cut a hole in a tennis ball and ram the end of the bar in so that you have a cushion, and then wedge the bar into the corner of a room. At the very least, you can wrap a towel around the bar and push it into a corner (the towel will help protect the walls).

Now let’s discuss how to perform the classic landmine row/T-bar row.

Step 1. Grasp a V-grip handle—the kind you often see people do cable rows with. If you don’t have a V-grip, you can improvise one by attaching gymnastics rings or any other adjustable handles you can access. The point is only to have a comfortable, firm grip that allows your palms to face each other when you row (a neutral grip). Place the handle on the floor next to the front of the bar.

Straddle the bar with feet about shoulder width, facing away from the landmine, and hinge your hips back. Allow your knees to bend, and keep a long line from your head to your tailbone, until your torso is 30–45 degrees to the floor and you can reach the handle. Hook the handle underneath the barbell, close to end of the bar where you’ll load the plates. Pick the bar up off the floor and play around with your stance, torso height, and the distance between your feet and the front end of the bar until you feel balanced and stable with your arms fully extended.

Step 2. Keeping your back straight and flat, and your core braced, row the bar until your back is fully contracted. Your elbows should come up close to your sides and your shoulder blades should squeeze together at the top. If the bar hits you in the groin, adjust your stance!

Step 3. Lower the bar until your arms are fully extended again, but don’t let the weight rest on the floor. Allow your shoulder blades to spread as you go down.

*Use 25-pound plates, or smaller. While it may be less efficient than loading the big 45s, smaller plates will allow you the greatest range of motion on the exercise. Bigger plates, on the other hand, will tend to bump into your chest and/or the floor, reducing the range you can train your muscles, and thereby making the exercise less effective.

“Think about driving with your elbows, rather than your hands,” says Catanzano. That will help you get the proper range of motion. “And be careful to keep a tight core.” As with a bent-over row, deadlift, or any other exercise that has you bending forward at the hips, you need to protect your lower back at all times. Bracing your abs and thinking “long spine” are essential. Catanzano also cautions against “ego lifting,” where you bounce the weight up and round your back on the way down for the sake of lifting heavier or getting more reps. Your hip and back position should remain the same the entire set; only your arms move.

Incidentally, if you’re in a gym that has a proper T-bar row (a handle that forms a T-shape), you can use that for your landmine rows too. The wider, palms-down grip will recruit more of your upper back and rear deltoids, while the landmine row with palms facing each other and elbows tight to your sides emphasizes the lat muscles.

What Muscles Does The Landmine Row Work?

(See 01:25 in the video.)

The landmine row works the back about as well as any exercise can. The muscles it activates include:

– Lats

– Traps

– Rhomboids (middle back)

– Rear delts

– Biceps

– Forearms

– Spinal erectors (lower back)

– Core (ab muscles)

It should be noted that holding the bent-over position tenses your hamstrings isometrically as well. Probably not to the degree that it will build hamstring size, but don’t be surprised if you feel stronger and more stable on deadlifts, RDLs, or other hip hinge exercises after a few weeks of landmine rowing.

Single-Arm Landmine Row Vs. T-Bar Landmine Row Vs. Barbell Landmine Row

Just to reiterate (or, if you’ve been skimming the page and missed it), the T-bar row and landmine row are essentially the same exercise. If you use a T-bar, which allows you to raise your arms out wider so your palms are turned down, you’ll work a little more upper/middle back and rear deltoids than if you use a V-grip handle and row with your elbows close in (the latter emphasizes the lats). There are several other variations of the landmine row, including single-arm versions, which we’ll explore in the next section. Single-arm landmine rows allow you to isolate one side of the back at a time and can increase the range of motion you get, making them a good option for physique training. They also allow you to use your free hand to help brace your hips, which can add stability. You’ll have to use less overall weight when doing a single-arm row of any kind, but this can be an advantage if your lower back is recovering from injury and you don’t want to load it with a heavy bent-over exercise.

Landmine Row Alternatives

The landmine row can be done in different ways to suit your changing goals.

Single-Arm Landmine Row

(See 08:20 in the video.)

By stepping off to one side of the barbell, you can easily turn the landmine row into a unilateral exercise for the lats, similar to a dumbbell row.

Step 1. Set up as you did for the regular landmine row, but stand to one side of the bar and narrow your stance to between hip and shoulder width. Hinge your hips and grasp the bar with the hand nearest to it (grip it close to the end of the bar). Stand up with the bar, and reset your hinge so your torso is angled forward and your back is straight and flat.

Step 2. Row the bar, retracting your shoulder blade, and then lower it back, allowing your shoulders to spread. Avoid twisting your torso to either side. Keep your core braced and your shoulders square to the floor.

“You can adjust your position to affect the muscles in different ways,” says Catanzano. If you stand with your feet a little further forward so that you get into an even deeper hip hinge, and then lift the bar with your elbow out a little wider, you will shift the emphasis from the lats to your upper back. “If you set up to where your legs are straighter and your chest is a little lower, you can hit a little more lower lat.”

Meadows Row (Elbow-Out Landmine Row)

(See 09:50 in the video.)

Standing perpendicular to the bar and rowing it with your elbow flared out really shifts the work from the lats to the upper back and rear delts. This version was popularized by the late bodybuilding coach John Meadows, and has therefore come to bear his name.

Step 1. Stand so that the end of the barbell points to your side and spread your feet shoulder-width apart, or stagger them—whichever feels more balanced and comfortable. Hinge at the hips and grasp the end of the bar with one hand. Since the sleeve where you load the plates is thick in diameter, it can be hard to hold onto—especially with sweaty hands—so consider using lifting straps to reinforce your grip. Brace the elbow of your free arm against your leg for some extra stability.

Step 2. Row the bar, driving your elbow as high as you can. Again, avoid twisting and keep your shoulders square. Your upper arm should end up about 60 degrees from your side—much farther away than the landmine rows we’ve shown up to this point.

Bench-Supported Landmine Row

(See 12:20 in the video.)

If the landmine row (any variation) has a weak link, it’s that it requires a lot of stability to perform. Bracing your core and torso in the bent-over position takes a lot of energy and spreads the muscle tension over your whole body. That’s cool if your goal is to build total-body strength with a movement that works a lot of muscle at once, but it’s a bit limiting if you want to make your back muscles work to the max and get the best stimulus for growth. In the latter case, Catanzano recommends pulling a bench over to rest your free hand and knee on while you perform the Meadows row. “The stability the bench provides will allow you to lift heavier loads,” says Catanzano, “and that will recruit more muscle fibers in your back.”

Band-Resisted Landmine Row

(See 13:00 in the video.)

Catanzano has one other minor gripe with the landmine row, arguing that, as you row the bar closer to your body, your mechanical advantage increases and the weight gets easier to lift. This reduces the tension on the muscles. “In a muscle-building scenario,” he says, “we ideally want the resistance to stay the same or get even heavier throughout the range.” The fix is as simple as adding a resistance band to the bar.

Step 1. Set up a bench as shown for the bench-supported landmine row, and place a heavy dumbbell on the floor next to it. Wrap a mini band around the dumbbell a few times so there’s only a foot or two of slack end. Loop the end of the band over the sleeve of the barbell.

Step 2. Row the bar in the Meadows row style explained above. Because the band will be pulling the bar back down, and the tension increases the higher you row it, you’ll have to row faster and more powerfully. This will ensure that your back is giving its all throughout the exercise.

See more back training ideas from Catanzano in our guide to getting a lat spread like a bodybuilder.

The post The Expert’s Guide To The Landmine Row Exercise appeared first on Onnit Academy.

How Many Times Per Week Should I Lift Weights?

Most people fall into one of two camps: they either don’t like training that much and go to the gym two or three days a week just to do the minimum, or they LOVE to lift and they go four, five, six, or maybe even seven straight days. The truth is, both approaches can yield significant results for both types of people, and to understand why, we have to look at the concept of training volume—the number of hard, growth-producing sets you do for a muscle group in a training week.

By hard sets we mean your “work” sets, not warmups. These are the sets that really count—the ones you take to failure, or close to it (i.e., the point at which you can’t do another rep with good form).

The question to ask yourself, then, isn’t “How often should I lift?” but “How much work do I want to do in each workout?” and “How much can I recover from?”

The majority of research on training teaches us a few things.

1. A muscle needs at least 48 hours rest before it can be worked again. So, if you train chest on Monday afternoon, you probably shouldn’t do any more sets for the pecs before Wednesday afternoon at the earliest, if building muscle is your main goal. The more sets you do, the more time you’ll need to recover.

2. The MAXIMUM amount of volume that a muscle group can handle in a single workout seems to be about 10 sets, but many people will grow from a lot fewer than that. Furthermore, 10 sets per WEEK, or slightly more, appears to be enough volume to stimulate gains (see the paper from the IUSCA linked above).

3. The frequency of your training is really just a way to manage the total amount of volume you do. So if you want to be in the gym as little as possible, do more work in each session, and if you like going more often, do less—or break up the muscles you train so that each major area gets its own session and you get several days’ break before training the same muscles again.

Now let’s look at what this means in real life.

Basically, if building muscle is your goal, you should aim for AROUND 10 sets for each muscle group per WEEK (any seven-day period). If you’re new to lifting or feel like you’re a little overtrained, start with closer to five sets and work your way up only as needed (it’s always best to aim for the minimum effective dose). Now the way you divide those five to 10 sets up is entirely up to you. You could do all 5–10 sets in one workout, 5 sets in two different workouts, 3 sets across three different workouts, or any number of other variables.

Most coaches will tell you that people who want to be as efficient as possible and minimize their time in the gym should train their whole body in one session two or three times per week. For example, Monday and Friday, or Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. With this kind of program, you can go in and do one or two exercises for each major muscle group, and maybe 2-3 sets for each. This will certainly give the regular Joe who just wants the minimum effective dose enough work to see results, and it’s still a good guideline for more serious, advanced lifters who like to do full-body workouts as well. Note that muscles never work in total isolation, and there’s typically a lot of carryover between exercises. For example, any pressing movement will work your triceps along with your chest and shoulders, so you probably don’t need a lot of direct triceps work if you’re already doing several sets of pressing. The glutes and hamstrings tend to work as a unit on leg exercises as well.

Sample 3-Day Full-Body Split

Monday

Back squat – 3 sets x 5 reps

Dumbbell bench press – 2 sets x 6–8 reps

One-arm dumbbell row – 2 sets x 8–10 reps

Biceps curl – 3 sets x 8–10

Wednesday

Military press – 3 sets x 5 reps

Weighted chinup – 2 sets x 6–10 reps

Leg curl – 3 sets x 6–8 reps

Triceps pushdown – 3 sets x 8–10

Friday

Cable row – 2 sets x 6 reps

Reverse lunge – 2 sets x 6–8

Romanian deadlift – 2 sets x 8–10 reps

Pushup – 2 sets x AMRAP

In the above example, the quads get worked Monday and Friday (squats, reverse lunges) for five total sets per week. The glutes get about seven sets between Monday and Friday (squat, reverse lunge, RDL), while the hamstrings get five (leg curl, RDL). The pushing muscles (pecs, shoulders, and triceps) get hit with the two pressing exercises and the pushups (about seven sets), and the back and other miscellaneous pulling muscles get worked with the rows and chinups for seven total sets. 

For those who love to train and really want to develop each muscle to its potential, you can do an upper-lower split or even a body-part split, where you train each muscle twice in a four to seven-day period. For example, you could do legs on Monday, a push-pull workout for the chest, shoulders, back, and arms Tuesday, take Wednesday off, then another leg day on Thursday and another upper day Friday. Note that while you spend more time working one area of the body at a time, the actual volume per muscle group is similar to the example shown above. Your total number of sets in a week is still in the five to 10 range.

Sample Upper-Lower Split

Monday (Lower Body)

Front squat – 2 x 6–8

Walking lunge – 2 x 8–10

Glute bridge – 3 x 5–8

Stiff-legged deadlift – 3 x 8–10

Tuesday (Upper Body)

Bench press – 3 x 5–7

Weighted pullup – 3 x 5–8

Dumbbell shoulder press – 2 x 6–8

Lateral raise – 2 x 8–10

Rear-delt flye – 2 x 8–10

Lying triceps extension – 3 x 8–10

Wednesday (Off)

Thursday (Lower Body)

Deadlift – 3 x 5

Leg press – 2 x 8–10

Back extension – 2 x 10–12

Leg curl – 2 x 8–10

Friday (Upper Body)

Military press – 3 x 5–8

One-arm dumbbell row – 2 x 6–10

Cable Flye – 2 x 6–8

Incline dumbbell curl – 3 x 6–10

Saturday (Off)

Sunday (Repeat Cycle)

Another example: You could train legs Monday, chest and shoulders Tuesday, take Wednesday off, train back and rear delts on Thursday, train calves and arms Friday, take Saturday off, and start the cycle with legs again Sunday.

Sample Body-Part Split

Monday (Legs)

Seated leg curl – 3 x 8–10

Bulgarian split squat – 1 x 6–10

Machine squat – 2 x 6–10

Hip thrust – 2 x 6–8

Tuesday (Chest and Shoulders)

Incline dumbbell bench press – 2 x 6–8

Low-to-high cable flye – 2 x 8–10

Cable lateral raise – 2 x 8–10

Machine shoulder press – 2 x 6–8

Wednesday (Off)

Thursday (Back and Rear Delts)

Weighted chinup – 2 x 5–8

Lat pulldown – 2 x 6–10

Cable row – 2 x 6–8

Dumbbell shrug – 2 x 6–8

Cable rear delt flye – 2 x 8–10

Friday (Calves and Arms)

Calf raise on leg press – 2 x 6–10

Dumbbell curl – 2 x 6–8

Triceps pushdown – 2 x 6–8

Cable curl – 2 x 8–10

Dip – 2 x 8–10

Hammer curl – 1 x 8–10

Saturday (Off)

Sunday (Repeat Cycle)

In these cases, you’d do roughly 3–6 sets per body part in EACH WORKOUT, totaling between 6 and 12 sets in a 7-day period.

If I Work Out More, Will I Build More Muscle?

The majority of the research does NOT SHOW ANY ADVANTAGE to higher training frequencies for muscle OR strength when volume is equated [2, 3]. That means that if you do five sets for chest, two days per week, you should make the SAME GAINS as you would doing two sets five times per week, or 10 sets in one day per week. The total amount of work is 10 sets either way, so the stimulus is roughly the same. Muscle research expert Brad Schoenfeld, PhD, author of Science and Development of Muscle Hypertrophy, sums it up in his book with the following: “These findings indicate that, as a standalone variable, frequency does not have much impact on muscle development; it seems that its primary utility is to act as a vehicle to manage weekly volume.”

With that said, most coaches agree that training intensity is a greater factor in gaining muscle than training volume. It’s a matter of efficiency. Most people are probably better served doing fewer sets and taking them closer to failure and training slightly more often (as opposed to marathon workouts for one muscle at a time, such as a chest day, back day, shoulder day, etc.). The more sets you do, the more fatigue you build, and that can make it difficult to recover from workouts and get stronger. So you’re probably better off doing four hard sets of chest in one session than 10 in one shot (four of which may be hard, followed by six sets that are lower quality due to your being tired). Most trainees seem to find that training muscles twice in seven days is the sweet spot, splitting their total volume down the middle and doing half in each session.

So you can tell your buddies who bench press EVERY day that they’re not going to get a bigger chest than if they benched just once or twice a week.

Is There A Way To Know If My Training Is Working?

If this all seems confusing, just remember this: progressive overload is the most important factor in the process of gaining muscle. If you can add reps and/or weight to most of your exercises each time you repeat a workout, i.e. you’re GETTING STRONGER, you’re getting enough volume and frequency to see gains.

See how to pair a proper nutrition program with your training with our guide to How To Set Up Your Diet for Fat Loss or Muscle Gain.

The post How Often Should You Lift To Build Muscle? appeared first on Onnit Academy.

What Is The Gorilla Row?

(See 00:27 in the video above.)

The gorilla row is a variation on the bent-over row you’re probably already aware of and usually see done with a barbell. You hinge at the hips and row the weight from the floor until your elbows are at your sides. The key difference with the gorilla row vs. a barbell bent-over row is that the kettlebells allow you to work one side at a time.

You’ll actively push one kettlebell into the floor while you row the other one, all while staying in that bent-over position. The movement can’t help but make you look something like a gorilla foraging for food, but it will also give you the back muscle strength to be king of your own (iron) jungle.

Gorilla Row Exercise Benefits

Any type of bent-over row is a good idea for stimulating total-body strength gains. Your lats and upper back work when you row the weight, but your lower back, hips, and core must also engage just to keep you in position and support your torso. Lifting the weight from the floor on each rep, as opposed to letting the weight hang just slightly above, as you do in some rowing variations, offers the added benefit of keeping the movement more strict, as well as training explosiveness. You can’t let your muscles’ stretch reflex bounce the weight up for you—you’ll have to pull the bell up with muscle power alone.

The gorilla row takes all of this to the next level by having you work unilaterally—one side at a time—which means you’ll be able to train your back through a greater range of motion, and you’ll have to resist any twisting or bending on one side while you row on the other, further heightening the core stability component. Of course, maintaining a deep hip hinge through it all is an important posture to master for lower back health and overall power and explosiveness (nearly all explosive movements involve hip extension, so you might as well master the setup for it).

How To Do the Gorilla Row Exercise Properly

(See 01:04 in the video.)

Step 1. Place two kettlebells on the floor and straddle them with your feet between hip and shoulder width. Hinge your hips back, keeping a long spine from your head to your tailbone. Allow your knees to bend as needed, but keep your lower back flat, not rounded. Grasp the kettlebell handles.

Step 2. Press one bell into the floor and brace your abs. Now row the opposite bell till your elbow is at your ribs. Lower it to the floor again, and repeat the row on the other side while you press the opposite bell into the floor.

The gorilla row is typically done by alternating sides, but you may choose to do all your reps on one side and then the other if you want to better isolate your back one side at a time.

For the best muscle gains, you should keep your shoulders square to the floor throughout the set. However, “You can also rotate your thoracic spine to get a little more mobility out of this exercise,” says Eric Leija, an Onnit-certified coach (@primal.swoledier) and the model in our video. “But you’ll get less lat activation, because the lat won’t be able to fully shorten.” So, if you’re an athlete like a fighter or baseball player who throws or twists a lot in their sport, you may want to allow your torso to turn a few degrees as you row. “But if you’re looking to put on a nice, thick back,” says Leija, “try to minimize that rotation.”

What Muscles Do Gorilla Rows Work?

(See 03:18 in the video.)

The gorilla row gives the following muscles a good drubbing:

–   Lats (the big muscles on the sides of your back)

–   Rhomboids (upper back)

–   Trapezius (upper back)

–   Rear delts (back of the shoulders)

–   Deep core muscles

–   Obliques (the ab muscles on your sides)

–   Rectus abdominis (your six-pack muscle)

–   Biceps

–   Forearms

–   Glutes

–   Hamstrings 

Dumbbell Vs. Kettlebell Gorilla Rows

(See 03:25 in the video.)

Due to kettlebells having handles that reach a few inches above their center of mass, they’re easier to grab a hold of than dumbbells when rowing weight from the floor. Unless you have a contortionist’s hip mobility, trying to grip dumbbells on the floor for gorilla rows will cause you to round your lower back, which you never want to do on a bent-over rowing movement for the sake of avoiding injury.

But, if dumbbells are all you have, you can still do the basic gorilla row movement and get plenty out of it. Simply elevate the dumbbells on a box, bench, or mats in order to raise them to mid-shin level. Now you’ll be able to bend over safely to grasp the handles.

How To Stretch Before Exercising

Warm up your upper back, lats, and core muscles with the sky reach to arm thread. Do this move as part of your warmup/stretching routine before any session that includes the gorilla row.

Step 1. Get on all fours with your hands under your shoulders and your knees directly beneath your hips. Brace your core.

Step 2. Draw your right arm up and across your chest as you twist your right shoulder toward the ceiling and reach overhead. Be careful to keep your hips facing the floor.

Step 3. Reverse the motion, reaching your arm across your body and behind the support arm. Twist as far as you can, ideally until the back of your right shoulder touches the floor. Complete 6–10 reps on that side, and then switch sides and repeat. Do 2–3 sets total.

Gorilla Row Alternatives

If the gorilla row feels too advanced, or you can’t seem to perform it with a safe lower-back position, try these two alternatives that will train the back and core in a similar way.

One-Arm, Split-Stance Row

(See 04:54 in the Build Muscle With The Gorilla Row video.)

Step 1. Step forward with your right leg, as if getting into a lunge position, and extend your left leg straight behind you. Your front knee should be bent about 90 degrees and your back heel may be raised off the floor. Bend at the hips and brace your right forearm against your right knee. Press it into your leg—this will help create stability. Your body should form a long straight line from your head to your heel. Reach with your left hand to grasp a kettlebell on the floor.

Step 2. Row the kettlebell to your side while keeping your shoulders square to the floor. Complete your reps on that side, and then switch sides and repeat.

Renegade Row

(See 06:10 in the Build Muscle With The Gorilla Row video.)

Step 1. Get into a pushup position, resting your hands on a pair of kettlebells (or dumbbells). Turn the handles so they make an A-shape, which will help you balance on them better. Place your feet as wide apart as is comfortable. A narrower stance will make the exercise harder; a wider foot placement will make it easier. Take a deep breath into your belly and brace your core.

Step 2. Lean your weight to your right side, pushing that hand into the floor. Your left side will feel lighter. Now row the left-hand weight to your side, but avoid twisting your hips or shoulders. Lower the weight and repeat on the other side.

Discover other great lat and back exercises in our guide, How To Lat Spread Like A Bodybuilder.

The post Build Muscle With The Gorilla Row Exercise appeared first on Onnit Academy.

The following workout is brought to you by one of our favorite mad scientists—the Onnit-certified Eric Leija (@primal.swoledier)—who came up with it while experimenting in his own garage gym. The routine requires only a pair of moderate-weight kettlebells (16kg are good for most guys; 8kg for ladies), and a light resistance band (we like the mini available at elitefts.com), and trains your chest, shoulders, arms, and upper back muscles in under 30 minutes.

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How To Do The Kettlebell and Band Upper-Body Workout

The workout is organized into supersets, meaning you’ll do a set for two different exercises in sequence with little to no rest in between. That makes the workout go faster while challenging your conditioning (it’s also a shortcut to a big, juicy pump).

On its own, the resistance band allows you to target your stabilizer muscles in a way you couldn’t with iron alone, so don’t underestimate the sword pull and pull-apart exercises. But when added to the kettlebell, the band brings a new dimension to your strength training. Because the elasticity of the band pulls back at you when you stretch it out, you have to do your reps harder and faster to overcome the resistance than you would using kettlebells alone. This is great for building power, and for making lighter weights (if that’s what you have) feel a whole lot heavier.

DIRECTIONS

Perform the exercise pairs (marked A and B) as a superset. So you’ll do one set of A, then a set of B, and then rest 2–3 minutes. Repeat until all sets are done for the pair, and go on to the next pair. Finish with the bent-over band pull apart, which is done on its own for straight sets (do a set, rest as needed, and repeat).

1A. Kettlebell Band Floor Press

Sets: 4  Reps: 9–12

Step 1. Grasp the band in one hand by its loop end and wrap it around your back. Grasp the other loop with the other hand. Lie back on the floor and bend your knees 90 degrees, planting your feet flat. Take a kettlebell in each hand (it will be easier if you have a partner to hand the weights off to you), holding them along with the band loops. Your arms should be at 45 degrees to your sides with your triceps resting on the floor.

Step 2. Press the weights and band straight over your chest. Lower the weights back until your triceps touch the floor—don’t let your elbows crash down.

The kettlebell floor press works the chest, shoulders, and triceps just as any bench press variation does, but the shortened range of motion emphasizes triceps gains. It’s also a good substitute for full-range benching if your shoulders hurt.

1B. Banded Sword Pull

Sets: 4  Reps: 10 (each side)

Step 1. Hold the band with your left hand down at your side, just outside your waist. Brace your arm against your side.

Step 2. Grasp the other end of the band with your right hand, thumb facing forward, and raise your arm diagonally up and outward until it’s overhead. The movement should look like you’re pulling a sword from a scabbard and holding it aloft.

Similar to Y raises (which are done two-handed, and often with a band or dumbbells), the sword pull works the lower traps, which help to stabilize the shoulder and balance the effect of lots of chest and shoulder pressing. In other words, the sword pull is a good rehab/prehab movement that pairs well with the floor press.

2A. Banded Gorilla Row

Sets: 4  Reps: 8–12

Step 1. Twist the band into an X shape, and place your foot on one loop to anchor it down. Run the band through the handles of two kettlebells on the floor. Place your other foot on the open loop of the band. Your feet should be outside shoulder width. Bend your hips back, keeping a long, straight line from your head to your tailbone, and grasp the kettlebells and the band.

Step 2. Row the kettlebells to your sides, retracting your shoulder blades completely. Keep your lower back flat and your core braced, and avoid shrugging or hunching your shoulders as you pull.

If you have a strong back already, you may find that the kettlebells you have aren’t heavy enough to provide much of a challenge on bent-over rowing motions. The addition of a band fixes that, and allows you to train your rowing more explosively—a sight rarely seen, compared with how much explosive pressing athletes, powerlifters, and CrossFitters do.

2B. Banded Push Press

Sets: 4  Reps: 8 (each side)

Step 1. Stand on one loop of the band with your left foot, and hold the other loop in your left hand. Grasp a kettlebell in your left hand along with the band, and hold the weight at shoulder level.

Step 2. Bend your knees quickly, dipping your torso to gather momentum, and explode upward, pressing the weight overhead to lockout.

The push press by itself trains power, and allows you to lift heavier than when doing a strict press, which is great for strength. Adding a band will force you to keep your speed and explosiveness up as you fatigue.

3. Bent-Over Band Pull-Apart

Sets: 3  Reps: 15

Step 1. Grasp the band with hands at shoulder width and palms facing each other, or turned upward. Hold the band at arm’s length in front of you and bend your hips back until you’re in a bent-over position with your back straight.

Step 2. Raise your arms straight out to your sides, as if pulling the band apart, squeezing your shoulder blades together.

Another rehab/prehab exercise, the pull-apart really isolates the scapular muscles, which are responsible for good posture and protecting the shoulder joints.

See another kettlebell workout for a specific body part—aesthetic abs—with our Best Kettlebell Ab Exercises & Workout To Get Lean.

The post Kettlebell and Band Upper-Body Workout appeared first on Onnit Academy.

Not so fast. While training with kettlebells won’t target the arm muscles as directly as those other methods, they offer some pretty cool benefits that you can’t replicate without them. Let us show you how to use kettlebells to get bigger biceps, triceps, and forearms while you build total-body strength and conditioning, improve athleticism and mobility, and more.

Benefits of Using Kettlebells To Work Out Your Arms

Kettlebells lend themselves to combination lifts—a blend of two or more exercises that flow into one another. For example, doing a curl into a shoulder halo, or a triceps extension into a pullover while maintaining a hollow-body position (both are featured in the workout below). Combo lifts like these emphasize the arms but allow you to train numerous other muscles and movements too, making the kettlebell a very multi-functional tool. In other words, you’ll get an arm pump with these exercises, but you’ll also build strength and movement skills that carry over to sports you may like to play and other training you enjoy.

Kettlebells also force you to squeeze the handle (or sometimes the bell itself) hard to hold on and keep control of the movement. This is a phenomenon that strength coaches call irradiation, where your gripping starts a chain reaction that creates tightness throughout the body. All this tension lights up lots of muscles, encouraging you to keep your form tight to prevent injury and build total-body strength.

How To Stretch Your Arms Before Working Out

Perform the mobility routine from Onnit Coach Eric Leija (@primal.swoledier)—featured at 00:30 in the video above—before you do the arm workout below. It will warm up your shoulders, elbows, and wrists, improving flexibility and preparing you for the training ahead.

Perform the exercises in sequence (a circuit), doing reps of each for 30–60 seconds. Repeat for up to 4 total circuits, depending on how much warming up you feel you need. If you’re coming off some injuries and your joints feel cranky, do more circuits. If you’re short on time and have healthy joints, you can get away with a shorter warmup.

Get Strong Arms With This Balanced Kettlebell Arm Workout

Leija put together the following arm routine. You’ll need at least two light kettlebells (8 kilos or less) and one heavier one (16–20kg) to do it, and it should be done once per week, separate from your other upper-body training.

Directions

(See 03:45 in the video above.)

The exercises are grouped in pairs, marked A and B. Perform a set of A and then B before resting (called a superset), and then rest 2–3 minutes. Repeat until 3 sets are complete for each exercise in the pair, and then go on to the next pair. Perform 8–12 reps for each exercise.

1A. Kettlebell Crush-Grip Row

Sets: 3  Reps: 8–12

(See 03:45 in the video.)

The first exercise in the routine really illustrates the principle of irradiation discussed above. “Smashing the bell between your hands activates the biceps, lats, and pecs,” says Leija, so you work your arms while giving some extra attention to the bigger muscles they support on your other exercises. “Crush the bell like it’s a tomato can.”

Step 1. Hold a moderate-weight kettlebell by the bell itself with both hands and squeeze it between your palms as hard as you can. Keep this tension throughout the exercise.

Step 2. Keeping a long line from your head to your tailbone, bend your hips back until your torso is nearly parallel to the floor.

Step 3. Row the kettlebell toward your belly until your elbows are at your sides, retracting your shoulder blades and pulling them together. Lower the weight back down until your arms are straight again, making sure to maintain the squeeze the whole time.

1B Kettlebell Pullover To Press

Sets: 3  Reps: 8–12

(See 05:18 in the video.)

The pullover works the lats and triceps, but doing it from a crunch position, says Leija, adds a little extra range of motion, since the floor isn’t there to stop the kettlebell when you lower it behind your head. You’ll feel this move all through your upper body and deep in your core.

Step 1. Lie on your back on the floor. Extend your legs in front of you, and dig your heels into the floor. Crunch your shoulders off the floor and hold the position, keeping your ribs drawn down toward your hips. Grasp the kettlebell by its bell end and reach your arms overhead and bend your elbows so that the weight is held just above the floor behind you. As you did with the row above, squeeze the kettlebell hard between your hands.

Step 2. Extend your elbows to lockout, and then pull the weight over your chest. Lower the kettlebell to your chest with your elbows close to your sides, and then press it back up. Reach your arms behind you again, and bend your elbows to begin the next rep.

2A. Kettlebell Curl To Halo

Sets: 3  Reps: 8–12

(See 06:50 in the video.)

“This move isolates the biceps and pumps up the shoulders, but it and also works mobility,” says Leija.

Step 1. Hold the kettlebell by its horns in front of your chest with your elbows tight to your sides.

Step 2. Slowly extend your elbows to lower the weight until your arms are straight. Then curl the weight back to your chest.

Step 3. Raise the weight up and around the back of your head in a circular motion, keeping the kettlebell close and your elbows in as tight as you can. Lower the weight down, curl again, and perfom the halo in the opposite direction. Each curl to halo counts as one rep.

2B. Half-Kneeling Bottom’s Up Press

Sets: 3  Reps: 8–12

(See 08:25 in the video.)

Any press will work your triceps, but trying to keep the bell from toppling over makes the bottom’s up press a real killer for the forearms/gripping muscles too. It also challenges shoulder stability, which can translate to stronger pressing with heavier, more conventional press exercises down the line. Leija says that, once you’ve mastered this move from the half-kneeling position, you’re welcome to try it standing for an even greater stability test.

Step 1. Get into a lunge position and lower your body to the floor. Both knees should be bent 90 degrees and your hips should be level with the floor. Hold a light kettlebell by its handle on the same side as the downed knee, and lift it to shoulder level upside down, so the bell end is facing the ceiling.

Step 2. Move your elbow away from your body about 45 degrees and press the weight overhead slowly—take two full seconds. Control it on the way down (another 2 seconds). You’ll have to squeeze the handle hard to maintain control of the kettlebell.

3A. Close-Grip Kettlebell Pushup

Sets: 3  Reps: 8–12

(See 10:09 in the video.)

Sure, you could just do close-grip pushups on the floor and get a hell of a triceps and chest hit, but doing them on a kettlebell demands more of your shoulders and core to keep you stable.

Step 1. Place a kettlebell on the floor and tilt it over so the handle digs into the floor and provides some stability. Res your hands on the bell and extend your legs behind you to get into pushup position. Your body should form a long, straight line. Brace your core.

Step 2. Lower your body until your chest is just above the kettlebell, tucking your elbows close to your sides as you descend. Squeeze your shoulder blades together as you go down, and then spread them apart as you press yourself back up.

To make the exercise harder, bring your feet closer together. To make it easier, widen your stance.

3B. Kettlebell Zottman Curl

Sets: 3  Reps: 8–12

(See 11:39 in the video.)

Trying to keep your wrists straight on these is a workout all by itself, and it will strengthen both sides of your forearms. “The way the weight is distributed with the kettlebell,” says Leija, “it’s a long lever. The weight is further away from the handle than it is when you use a dumbbell. So it’s going to feel a lot heavier. Go light on these.” Eight- or even six-kilo kettlebells will be fine for most people.

Step 1. Grasp two light kettlebells by their handles and squeeze hard. Keeping your elbows close to your sides, curl the weights up.

Step 2. At the top, turn your palms over to face the floor, and lower the bells back down slowly. Rotate your palms forward again to begin the next rep.

How Often Should You Train Your Arms?

The triceps are involved in any pushing or pressing exercises you do. The biceps are recruited on every pulling or rowing move, and the forearm muscles can’t escape working whenever you grip and carry anything—so, chances are, your arms are getting plenty of muscle-building stimulus as it is, if you’re following a balanced strength program. One day of more direct arm training, such as the routine outlined here, is a good adjunct for boosting your arm volume while giving a little extra attention to all the other upper-body muscles. To make a long story short, as long as your other workout days feature some kind of pushing and pulling, you only need one focused arm workout per week.

The post The Best Kettlebell Arm Exercises and Workout to Get Strong appeared first on Onnit Academy.

What Is The Landmine Press?

The landmine press is a type of pressing exercise that has the bar moving on an arc, rather than straight up and down. “Imagine the barbell moving like the minute hand around a clock,” says David Otey, CSCS, a trainer, author, and gym consultant (@davidoteyfit on Instagram). You load one end of the bar into a tool called a landmine unit, which is basically a metal cylinder attached to a stand—or you can wedge it into a corner of your gym—and you lift the other end like you’re throwing a lever on a machine.

This roughly 45 to 90-degree arcing motion makes the exercise a unique combination of an overhead and chest press, and it will work the deltoids, pecs, and triceps accordingly, but it’s much easier to perform than a traditional barbell overhead press.

Either due to tightness in the shoulders and upper back, or previous shoulder injuries, many people—maybe even the majority of people—cannot press a bar straight overhead safely. They’ll hyperextend their lower back, press the bar out in front of them rather than straight up, or fail to get a full range of motion at the shoulder without discomfort.

“For many people, there is no amount of foam rolling or stretching that will allow them to fully get their arm into an overhead position,” says Otey. “Their range of motion is what it is.” If this sounds like you, the landmine press is a great work-around, allowing you to train your pressing muscles heavy, and through a full range of motion, in a movement that feels more natural and safe. “With landmine pressing options, we can integrate vertical-ish patterns ranging from 45 degrees to entirely overhead, building up slowly with small increments in between,” says Otey. “No bench can replicate that much variability in range of motion.” 

How To Perform The Landmine Press

(See 01:18 in the video above.)

The classic, standing landmine press should be done as follows:

Step 1. If you have a landmine unit, load one end of the barbell into the unit’s cylinder. If you don’t, it’s OK to put the bar in a corner. (You can wrap the end in a towel to protect the walls you’re using, and simply wedge it into the space.) Load the other end of the bar with weight, and stand behind the bar.

Step 2. Pick up the end of the bar and hold it at the very end, wrapping your thumb around. Hold the end of the bar about one fist’s space away from your shoulder (see the picture below). There should be roughly 30 degrees of space between your elbow and your side. Stagger your stance for balance, and brace your core, pulling your ribs down. Retract your neck so you feel like you have a double chin—it may not look sexy, but it will keep you from straining your neck.

Step 3. Lean into the bar slightly for stability. You may want to extend your free arm out to the side and make a fist, which will help you keep balance. Press the bar upward to lockout, allowing your arm to move in whatever path feels natural. It may move close along your side, or in a more arcing, “around the world” motion—either is OK. As you press, your shoulder blade will rotate upward. Allow it to do this! You don’t have to lock it back and down as you might have done on a bench press. (More on this concept in a minute…)

Make sure you keep pressing at the top of the movement so that your shoulder blade moves through a full range of motion. Think, “press and reach.” You can even lean your torso forward a bit more as you press so your arm finishes straight overhead, or as high as you can comfortably go.

Hold the top position for a moment, and then lower the weight back down. Avoid letting your elbow drift behind your body in the bottom position, as that can be stressful to the shoulder. Stop where your hand is a fist space in front of your shoulder.

The Importance of Scapular Rotation in Landmine Pressing

According to Otey, the critical difference between landmine pressing and other kinds of barbell pressing is the upward rotation of the scapula—your shoulder blade—as you press the bar. Many strength coaches discourage shoulder blade movement on the bench and overhead press for the sake of greater stability to lift more weight. Whether this really contributes to stronger pressing is debatable, but locking your shoulders down can certainly lead to injury.

Otey explains that “the top side of your arm sits in a pocket called the glenoid fossa—a slight, concave structure on the outside of your shoulder blade. If you are moving your arm without moving your shoulder blade, you are inadvertently separating the joint little by little.” In other words, trying to get one body part to move independently of the other goes against the biomechanics they were designed for, and you’ll suffer the consequences with injury. 

The landmine gives you the freedom to move your shoulder blade without a bench restricting it, so take advantage of the opportunity and train your shoulder to work like it’s supposed to. “Your shoulder blade should rotate upward as you press your arm up,” says Otey, “and downward as you lower the weight back.” For the record, Otey also recommends you do this on bench presses and rows to ensure proper shoulder mechanics.

What Muscles Does The Landmine Press Work?

The landmine press is arguably a full-body movement. It works all the pushing muscles in your upper body, and relies on your core and legs as stabilizers. Here’s a list of the major upper-body muscles involved, per Otey.

• Anterior deltoid (front of the shoulder)
  
  
• Lateral deltoid (side of the shoulder)
  
  
• Pec major (your main chest muscle)
  
  
• Serratus anterior (the finger-like muscles under your chest)
  
  
• Triceps brachii (the back of your arm)
  
  
• Rotator cuff (the stabilizer muscles in your shoulder joints)
  
  
• Rectus abdominis (your six-pack muscle)
  
  
• Obliques (the muscles on the side of your abs)

How To Stretch Before Exercising

Before you jump into a landmine pressing workout, warm up your shoulders, elbows, spine, and hips with this mobility routine from Onnit’s Director of Fitness Education, Shane Heins.

Landmine Press Alternatives and Variations

There are several variations of the landmine press that can be used to increase the challenge to your muscles, emphasize different muscle groups, or target different fitness goals. Otey recommends concentrating on the standing variations first until you’re comfortable pressing through a full range of motion. Then you can go on to the half-kneeling and tall-kneeling progressions.

Banded Landmine Press

(See 04:47 in the Expert’s Guide To the Landmine Press video above.)

Some trainers argue that a flaw of the landmine press is that you lose too much tension on the deltoids as you press the bar higher. Due to the arc the bar travels in, as it gets closer to vertical to the floor, the easier the exercise gets. While we think this criticism is a little overblown, you can fix the problem completely by adding a resistance band to the barbell, which will make the bar harder to lift as you get closer to locking out your elbow.

This is also a great idea if you want to train power. Fighting through the resistance of the band will force you to press it as fast as possible, and that makes you more explosive.

Step 1. Attach a light resistance band to the end of the barbell and stagger your feet, standing on the band with your back foot to anchor it down. 

Step 2. Press the bar as hard and fast as you can, but control its descent back to your shoulder. Note that the bar may not move that fast due to the resistance, but you should still try to move it as fast as you can.

Rotational Landmine Press

(See 06:08 in the Expert’s Guide To the Landmine Press video above.)

Another great way to build athleticism with the landmine press is to do it as a rotational press, where you switch hands and twist your torso as you press, which mimics the action of throwing a ball or a punch.

Note that because this is an explosive movement, it might cause the opposite end of the bar (the one you’re NOT holding) to “jump” up and out of position if you’ve got it wedged into a wall rather than a landmine. So if you don’t have a landmine unit to provide stability, you might want to skip this one until you do.

Step 1. Load the bar with very light weight and stand perpendicular to it with a wide stance. If your left side is closest to the bar, pick it up with your left hand on the bar itself—not the sleeve where you load plates, as you’ve done up till now—and let your arm hang in front of your body as you get into an athletic stance.

Step 2. Extend your hips and knees explosively, shrugging the bar up in front of your body until it reaches the height of your lower ribs. At the same time, pivot your back foot to face the landmine and pass the bar to your right hand, grasping it at the end of the sleeve. Allow the momentum of your twisting torso to help you press the bar up as hard and fast as possible.

Reverse the movement on the way back down, so that the bar ends up in your left hand again.

Half-Kneeling Landmine Press

(See 03:00 in the Expert’s Guide To the Landmine Press video above.)

The half-kneeling landmine press is a progression you can move to after you’ve mastered the standing landmine press. “The standing press tends to be easier,” says Otey, “because the weight is slightly higher off the ground, and you gain stability by leaning into the bar. As you descend to lower positions, such as half-kneeling, it gets more challenging because the bar path is more vertical.” Kneeling on the floor is also a more unstable position than standing and really requires you to lock in your core and use strict form, but all the same technique cues still apply.

Step 1. Kneel on the floor with your right knee down and directly under your hips. Your left knee should be bent 90 degrees, and your stance about shoulder width. Tuck your tailbone under so your pelvis is level with the floor, and make sure you’re not kicking one hip out to the side. Pick up the bar and hold it at the end, about a fist’s space from your shoulder. Drive the downed knee into the floor so you feel your glute contract and help brace you.

Step 2. Press the bar up as high as you can while maintaining control, leaning forward at the top and reaching your arm up the best you can. Hold the top position for a moment.

Be careful you don’t twist toward the front knee while you’re pressing, or extend your lower back. Keep your ribs pulled down—imagine they’re connected to the front of your hips.

Tall-Kneeling Landmine Press

(See 04:00 in the Expert’s Guide To the Landmine Press video above.)

Pressing with both knees parallel to each other makes for a very unstable, and therefore very challenging press that also works the glutes pretty hard. You can’t use any momentum on this one, so it’s the next level up from the half-kneeling press, although it will probably require you to use lighter weight. 

Step 1. Kneel on the floor behind the bar so your knees are directly under your hips. You can point your toes into the floor or rest them flat—whichever feels more comfortable and stable to you. Pick up the end of the bar and hold it one fist’s space in front of your shoulder. Tuck your tailbone so your pelvis is parallel to the floor and brace your abs. You should be very tall, with a straight line from your head to your pelvis.

Step 2. Press the bar overhead, holding the top position for a moment.

Floor Press

(See 07:02 in the Expert’s Guide To the Landmine Press video above.)

The landmine doesn’t just make overhead pressing feel better on your shoulders—it can do the same thing for bench press variations. Try lying on the floor and doing a floor press with the landmine. The shortened range of motion is easy on the shoulder, and you’ll put more emphasis on your triceps to lift the weight, making it a good arm-building move.

Step 1. Lie on the floor with your head about even with the plate on the barbell. Bend your knees and rest your feet on the floor. Grasp the bar at the end of the sleeve with both hands to lift the bar into position over your chest. Flatten your back into the floor, and brace your core.

Step 2. Lower the bar with one hand until your triceps touch the floor—don’t let your arm crash down on your elbow. Pause a moment, and then press the bar up.

See more joint-friendly training ideas in our article, 3 Ways To Build Strength Without Wrecking Your Joints.

The post The Expert’s Guide To The Landmine Press appeared first on Onnit Academy.

What’s The Difference Between a Front Squat and a Back Squat?

The main difference between the front squat and the back squat is where you position the barbell. When performing a front squat, the bar is held on the fingertips (or directly on the front of the shoulders) and is supported by the front deltoids. Conversely, in a back squat, the bar rests across your trapezius and rear delts, so the weight is loaded on the backside of your body.

Front squatting recruits the chain of your body’s anterior muscles more heavily, engaging the quads and core to a greater degree. Back squatting, on the other hand, emphasizes the posterior chain—the large muscle groups of the back, glutes, and hamstrings.

Where you hold the bar also affects how you’re inclined to move throughout the exercise. “Back squats are a hip-dominant movement,” says Don Saladino, owner of Drive Health Clubs in New York City (where he trains stars such as Hugh Jackman and Blake Lively). “You’re leading with the hips, so your torso is more inclined to lean forward as you perform the exercise. With front squats, because of where the weight is loaded, you’re forced to remain more vertical.” If you lean forward on a front squat like you do back squatting, you’ll lose your balance and drop the bar at your feet. “This makes the front squat a more quad-dominant movement,” says Saladino.

The differences between the front and back squat are really just a matter of degrees. Both versions work your entire body, and Saladino compares squatting in general to moving while performing a plank position—your shoulders, abdominals, and back must engage to support proper form as your legs go through a full range of motion. That makes squats—of any kind—arguably the most functional and challenging exercise you can do.

How To Perform The Front Squat

(See 01:48 in the video above.)

Step 1. Grasp the bar with hands shoulder-width apart and point your elbows forward so that you can position the bar over the tips of your fingers (palms face up). As long as you keep your elbows pointing forward, you will be able to balance the bar.

Another way to do it is to cross your arms in front of you, holding the bar on the front of your shoulders (left hand in front of right shoulder, right hand in front of left, as pictured below). To do the classic front squat with the bar on your fingertips, you need a reasonable amount of flexibility through your shoulders and wrists to position the barbell correctly. If you don’t have it, the cross-arm version may be the better option for you at the moment (see also “Using Straps To Front Squat” below).

Step 2. Lift the bar out of the rack and step back, setting your feet between hip- and shoulder-width apart. Turn your toes out slightly. 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.

Step 3. Pull your ribs down and take a deep breath into your belly and brace your core. Your head, spine, and pelvis should form a long line—your pelvis should also be perpendicular to your spine, and not tilted toward the floor. Focus your eyes on a point straight in front of you.

Step 4. Squat as low as you can while keeping alignment and maintaining your upright torso position. Remember to point your elbows forward, and raise them up if you feel them slipping downward. Ideally, you’ll be able to descend to where the crease of your hips is below the top of your thighs.

Your knees must stay in line with your toes. Trying to push them out and actively root your feet into the ground will all but ensure this.

Step 5. Extend your hips and knees to return to standing, pushing through the middle of your feet and squeezing your glutes.

Note: Because of the awkward bar position, which is less stable than in the back squat, you won’t be able to use as much weight as you would back squatting. If you’re used to doing back squats, make sure you adjust accordingly.

Using Straps To Front Squat

(See 03:50 in the video.)

One way to make the front squat more comfortable is to use lifting straps. Many people don’t have the mobility in their shoulders, wrists, and fingers to hold the bar in the classic front squat position (called the rack position), and the straps allow you to rest the bar on your shoulders instead, making it much easier to stabilize the bar.

Simply loop the straps around the bar and wrap the loose ends around each hand. Then hold onto the straps when you take the bar out of the rack.

How To Perform the Back Squat

(See 04:57 in the video.)

Step 1. Set up in a squat rack and grasp the bar with your hands as far apart as is comfortable. Step under the rack 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.

A “high-bar” squat describes the position of the bar as being high up on the traps, just below the neck. If you feel more stable with the bar resting lower on your back, balanced across the rear delts, you’re doing a “low-bar” squat. The former is advantageous for staying more upright with your torso and hitting your quads. The latter may allow you to lift heavier, but you’ll lean forward more on the descent. Either technique is OK. Experiment with both and see which you feel more comfortable with.

Step 2. Nudge the bar out of the rack and step back, setting your feet between hip and 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.

Step 3. Pull your ribs down and take a deep breath into your belly and brace your core. Your head, spine, and pelvis should form a long line—your pelvis should also be perpendicular to your spine, and not tilted toward the floor. Focus your eyes on a point straight in front of you.

Step 4. Bend your hips back as if you were going to sit in a chair, continuing to screw your feet down. Allow your knees to bend and push them out as you lower your body down. Go as low as you can while keeping your alignment. Ideally, you’ll be able to descend to where the crease of your hips is below the top of your thighs.

Your knees must stay in line with your toes. Trying to push them out and actively root your feet into the ground will all but ensure this.

Step 5. Extend your hips and knees to return to standing, pushing through the middle of your feet and squeezing your glutes.

Front Squat Benefits

If you’re looking to develop your quads, you can’t go wrong with adding front squats to your workout routine. Some bodybuilders build their leg workouts around front squats for this reason. If you’re interested in training in Olympic weightlifting, the front squat is a major component of the clean and jerk, so it will give you a foundation of strength and technique to base weightlifting training on.

The biggest potential benefit to front squatting versus back squatting, however, is that the vertical torso position makes the squat pattern safer for the lower back. “When people are back squatting, it’s common that they can’t maintain a neutral lumbar spine,” says Saladino. They lean their torsos too far forward, or let their hips rise faster than their shoulders as they come up out of the bottom of the squat, and their lower backs round over, putting the little muscles and discs in the lumbar spine at risk for strain. In the front squat, your vertebrae are essentially stacked, so your torso moves almost straight up and down, avoiding shear forces that cause injury.

One study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research examined the biomechanical differences between front and back squats. Researchers found that the back squat placed significantly more compressive forces on the lumbar spine, and concluded that front squats may be the better choice for lifters with knee problems such as meniscus tears, as well as for long-term joint health.

Back Squat Benefits

There’s ample reason why the back squat is called the “king of all exercises.” If you’re interested in getting as strong as possible, or training in powerlifting, it’s essential. The bar placement (along the back) is more comfortable and easier to balance than that of the front squat, so you have the stability to lift greater loads. Though the science isn’t clear, most coaches argue that it also recruits more overall musculature than the front squat, drawing heavily on everything from your shoulders and back to your glutes, hamstrings, and calves, in addition to the quads and core.

Strength gains (i.e., big numbers) will come faster with the back squat, but, as discussed above, the risk for lower-back injury is greater. For general population clients who are only interested in having healthy, well-shaped, and strong legs, many trainers eschew the back squat entirely for front-loaded squat variations, such as front squats, landmine squats, and goblet squats. Unless you’re an athlete who competes in the sport of powerlifting or gets tested on back squat strength (as some power athletes do), it’s not an exercise that you “must” do.

Muscles Used In The Front Squat

The primary muscles worked are:

– Quadriceps

– Glutes

– Hamstrings

– Abdominals

– Lower back (spinal erectors), upper back

– Shoulders

A 2015 study published in the Journal of Sports Sciences compared the muscle-recruiting effects of the front squat versus the back squat. The researchers found that the vastus medialis—one of the four quadriceps muscles—was targeted more heavily during the front squat. Of course, all the major muscle groups of the legs were shown to be highly active during both lifts, but the quads engage to a greater degree when the weight is loaded anterior to the trunk.

Muscles Used In The Back Squat

The back squat targets all the major muscle groups of the body, but its focus is on the posterior chain. The primary muscles worked are:

­– Glutes

– Hamstrings

– Quadriceps

– Lower back (spinal erectors), upper back

– Abdominals

– Shoulders

The same 2015 study that identified that the vastus medialis worked harder in the front squat showed that the semitendinosus—one of the three hamstring muscles—was lit up more during the back squat. Again, both versions of the squat hit all the major muscles of the lower body, but when the weight is loaded posterior to the trunk, there’s greater engagement of the hamstrings.

Front Squat vs. Back Squat Ratio

Some coaches believe that a lifter should be able to front squat 90% of the weight that he/she back squats. So if your best back squat is 315 pounds, your front squat ought to be around 280. However, Saladino scoffs at this notion, arguing that it’s nothing more than nonsense used to help trainers market programs.

“There are any number of anatomical or mechanical reasons that a person might be better at either the front squat or back squat,” he says. Generally speaking, your front squat load will be less than your back squat load, simply because of the less stable bar position and biomechanics of the lift, but you don’t need to shoot for a specific strength ratio to ensure balance—or meet anyone else’s criteria of fitness. Rather, focus on incorporating both versions of the squat—if you can—and aim to perfect your form so you can safely and effectively improve the performance of both lifts over time.

See another squat variation in our guide to the squat clean.

The post Front Squats vs. Back Squats: Everything You Need To Know For Building Muscle appeared first on Onnit Academy.