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Back day can be one of the most enjoyable days you’ll have in the gym. Due to the sheer number of muscles in the back, it’s one of the strongest parts of the body — second only to the legs. Also, a well-developed back signals to the world that you have put in some serious effort at the gym.

There are countless exercises you can perform to build size and strength in the back. When you train the right exercises the right way, you will build your ability to move significant amounts of weight, better protect your spine, and all-around improve your performance in everyday life. Here are 18 of the best back exercises to construct your workouts around.

Best Back Exercises

• Deadlift
• Pull-Up
• Inverted Row
• Suspension Row
• Bent-Over Barbell Row
• Single-Arm Dumbbell Row
• Wide-Grip Pulldown
• Neutral-Grip Pulldown
• Single-Arm Kneeling Pulldown
• Lat-Focused Seated Cable Row
• Chest-Supported Dumbbell Row
• Chest-Supported Machine Row
• Landmine Row
• Meadows Row
• Cable Upper Trap Shrug
• Cable Rope Pullover
• Face Pull
• Farmer’s Walk

Deadlift

The deadlift — a noble member of the “Big Three” powerlifts — is best known for its ability to add size and strength to the back and leg musculature. Although it doesn’t directly work the back muscles through a long range of motion, it places a significant amount of tension across the back and entire torso, making it a unique and effective exercise for building mass.

Deadlift technique is straightforward, but it’s a skill-based exercise that takes some understanding and practice to make it safe and effective within your training program.

How to Do the Deadlift 

Stand in front of a loaded barbell with your feet shoulder-width apart with the bar just a few inches from your shins — aligned over the knot of your shoelaces. Drive your hips back and allow your knees to bend slightly as you tightly grip the barbell just outside of shoulder-width with a palms-down grip. Keep your back and torso rigid and your arms straight. Push your legs into the floor as you simultaneously pull your chest and shoulders upwards to lift the bar as you stand up into a fully upright position.

Benefits of the Deadlift

• It works multiple muscles in your back, plus your glutes, hamstrings, and grip strength.
• When performed consistently, your strength can progress substantially, especially as your form improves.
• It’s an exercise that can be performed in many different rep ranges, allowing you to build muscle and strength across the upper and lower body.

Pull-Up

The pull-up provides a potent stimulus to the muscles across the upper body with little need for specialized equipment to get the job done. All you need is any bar that can support your body weight.

If you really want to get a lot out of the movement, control the eccentric (lowering) portion of the lift and focus on keeping your torso rigid throughout the entire range of motion.

How to Do the Pull-Up

Take a pronated (overhand) grip on the bar, slightly wider than shoulder-width. With your body hanging from the bar, ensure your core is engaged to keep rigidity in your torso while minimizing swinging.

To initiate the movement, contract the muscles of the upper and mid-back. Aim to bring your chin up to or above bar level. Drive your elbows down toward your pockets. If you’re on the heavier side or a beginner new to the lift, perform more sets with fewer reps as you build up your strength.

Benefits of the Pull-Up

• You can perform this exercise anywhere there is a pull-up bar, which can be in your doorway at home, in the park, or a fully equipped gym.
• Learning to control and manage your body weight is a great way to build up joint stability as you get stronger.
• You can work the muscles of your back and arms through a long range of motion while also challenging the muscles of your core.

Inverted Row

The inverted row can be an effective bodyweight exercise, particularly for beginners, because you aren’t required to lift your entire body weight. This makes it an effective choice to increase strength on the way to performing a pull-up.

The exercise is also extremely useful when training at home since it requires only a solid bar and a sturdy surface for support. This way, a bodyweight-only workout isn’t limited to only pull-ups to work your back.

How to Do the Inverted Row

Place a bar in a stable rack. Adjust the height of the bar so you can just reach it when lying on the ground. Lie under the bar and grab the bar with an overhand grip. With your arms locked, your body should be in a rigid plank position with a straight line from your neck to your heels.

Lift yourself by pulling your elbows toward the ground while driving your chest toward the bar. Control your body weight back down to the starting position.

Benefits of the Inverted Row

• The inverted row is great for beginners and intermediate lifters aiming to build overall strength and muscle in the upper and mid-back.
• This can be used as a progression to get you closer to performing your first bodyweight pull-up.

Suspension Row

The suspension row is another effective bodyweight movement that progresses the inverted row to another level. By quickly adjusting your stance and body position, you can immediately alter leverage to make the exercise more or less challenging as needed.

This is a great exercise for developing overall strength and body control while allowing for a less restricted arm path. This helps to prevent discomfort in the wrists, elbows, and shoulders.

How to Do the Suspension Row

With your feet at shoulder width, grab the handles and lean back into position. Adjust your body angle as needed to set the difficulty. The more vertical your body, the easier the exercise will be.

With your feet on the ground and your body set in a rigid plank position, drive your elbows back and pull yourself toward the handles. Don’t allow your elbows to flare out to the sides and don’t allow your shoulders to collapse forwards.

Benefits of the Suspension Row

• This is another effective movement that allows the lifter to progress toward their first pull-up.
• The exercise difficulty can be quickly and easily adjusted by repositioning your stance and body angle.
• The suspension trainer allows for a less restrictive arm path compared to a traditional barbell, allowing you to better adapt the row to your individual structure and reduce joint strain.

Bent-Over Barbell Row

The bent-over row can add a lot of versatility to your training program. It can be performed with a traditional barbell, a hex bar, kettlebells, or dumbbells. For more efficient skill development, stick with one variation for at least several weeks before switching it up.

The basic barbell row allows you to build strength across the upper and lower body. The muscles of the posterior chain (lower back, glutes, and hamstrings) work to keep your lower body stable throughout the movement, while the muscles of your upper back, mid-back, and biceps help row the bar toward your stomach.

How to Do the Bent-Over Barbell Row

Set up as you would for the deadlift, standing with your feet hip-width apart in front of a loaded barbell. If you have exceptionally long legs, you may need to place the barbell onto blocks to allow for a more comfortable starting position. Hinge at the hips and allow your arms to hang down.

Tightly grab the bar just outside of shoulder-width with an overhand grip. Drive your elbows back and up as you focus on pulling the bar toward your upper abs, between your sternum and belly button.

Benefits of the Bent-Over Barbell Row

• You can effectively train the muscles of the upper, mid, and lower back, as well as the glutes and hamstrings.
• Simple variations can be performed with kettlebells, dumbbells, a hex bar, cables, or a traditional barbell.
• Due to the demands of this movement, you can build up functional strength throughout your core and low back, helping you prevent injuries in your everyday life.

Single-Arm Dumbbell Row

This single-arm row variation was one of the most popular among Golden Era bodybuilders like Arnold Schwarzenegger for building muscle size and strength across the entire back.

It can also help you build arm and grip strength, as well as work on muscular asymmetries that may have developed from past injuries or time away from the gym.

How to Do the Single-Arm Dumbbell Row

Stand behind the head of a high-angle incline bench. Lean over and place one hand firmly against the top of the bench with the same-side leg forward, positioned under your shoulder.

Reach your free hand down to grab a dumbbell by your feet. Keep your palm facing your body as you drive the weight back and up until your elbow is even with, or just past, your torso. Control the dumbbell back down to the stretched position.

Benefits of the Single-Arm Dumbbell Row

• By working the body unilaterally (one side at a time), you allow for more versatility with your program design, with the added ability to address any muscular imbalances.
• In addition to building up muscle size and strength across the back, you will also improve your grip, which can carry over to any other movement that requires holding a weight.

Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown

Aside from the fact that you’re sitting while performing this move, a lat pulldown is essentially the same movement pattern as a pull-up. This makes the pulldown one of the most effective weight training (non-bodyweight) exercises to work towards a pull-up.

The cable’s constant resistance helps create a more stable environment while improving time under tension, which can lead to increased muscle size.

How to Do the Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown

Grasp a long bar attachment slightly wider than shoulder-width, with a palms-down grip. Sit down and set your legs securely under the thigh pads. Keep your core tight and your torso upright while pulling the bar down toward your chest.

Think of pinching your shoulder blades together in the bottom position. Resist the weight as you slowly return to the starting position.

Benefits of the Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown

• The cable’s constant resistance helps create a more stable environment while improving time under tension.
• This is a great exercise to strengthen your back, arms, and grip if you are working up to your first pull-up because you can progressively add weight and build strength.
• The wide, pronated grip allows you to emphasize the muscles of your upper back.

Neutral-Grip Lat Pulldown

This pulldown variation has you pulling with a neutral-grip (palms facing each other). This adjustment allows you to place more focus on your lats and biceps compared to your upper back.

A neutral-grip gives your arms a stronger biomechanical advantage by recruiting more biceps into the pulling motion, while the elbow position activates more back muscles. This allows you to move heavier weights more safely compared to other pulldown grips.

How to Do the Neutral-Grip Lat Pulldown

Grab a neutral-grip attachment (palms facing each other) and sit on the seat with your legs secured under the thigh pads. Keep your core tight and your torso upright while pulling the bar toward your chest.

Aim your elbows forward, not sideways, to ensure stress remains on the lats. Resist and control the motion back to the stretched position.

Benefits of the Neutral-Grip Lat Pulldown

• This exercise gives you a way to progressively work towards your first pull-up.
• The cable’s constant resistance helps create a more stable environment while improving time under tension.
• The neutral-grip puts you in a great position to bias the lats and biceps compared to the upper back, adding variety and customization to your back training.

Single-Arm Kneeling Lat Pulldown

This unilateral exercise can add variety to your back training. It works the lats through a long range of motion and challenges tissues the rear delts and teres major.

The kneeling position reduces lower back strain, encourages core stability, and ensures a long range of motion. This exercise is relatively advanced because it involves both upper and lower body positioning, so take time to nail down your setup and technique.

How to Do the Single-Arm Kneeling Lat Pulldown

Grab a single handle attached to a high cable pulley. Step back with the opposite foot and kneel on the ground, keeping your front foot flat on the floor. Squeeze the handle and drive your elbow toward your hip.

Control the weight when returning to the starting position. Maintain a kneeling position as your arm, shoulder, and back are stretched before performing the next rep.

Benefits of the Single-Arm Kneeling Lat Pulldown

• This exercise builds back and core strength with minimal lower back strain.
• The cable’s constant resistance increases time under tension throughout the range of motion.
• The setup of the exercise can be adjusted to an individual’s structure, by changing the cable’s height and distance from the pulley.

Lat-Focused Seated Cable Row

This seated row variation uses specific hand position, upper body position, and arm path to place a large amount of muscular tension on the lats.

By maintaining a slight forward lean and utilizing a neutral-grip, your body is in a better position to engage your lats during the movement and minimize the role of the upper back and traps.

How to Do the Lat-Focused Seated Cable Row

Sit in the cable row station with your feet on the platform and your hands grasping a wide attachment with a neutral-grip (palms facing one another). With your core tight and your torso position leaned slightly forward at the hip, pull toward the top of your abdomen.

Do not round your back. Control the weight as you return back to the starting position. In the stretched position, don’t allow the weight to pull you far forward out of a strong postural alignment.

Benefits of the Lat-Focused Seated Cable Row

• The cable’s constant resistance creates a more stable environment while improving time under tension throughout the range of motion.
• This variation is great for building size and strength in the mid-back.
• The neutral-grip allows you to emphasize the lats and biceps.

Chest-Supported Dumbbell Row

The supported position takes your low back out of the equation, giving you more stability to isolate the work to the muscles in your upper and mid-back.

This exercise can be performed with dumbbells or kettlebells in a prone position on an incline bench, or more horizontally in a cable station. Both will effectively place tension across your traps, rhomboids, rear delts, and lats, but may depend on your equipment availability.

How to Do the Chest-Supported Dumbbell Row

Lie face down on an incline bench set around 45-degrees. With a dumbbell in each hand, drive your chest into the bench while rowing the weight until your elbows are even with, or just past, your torso. Slowly lower the weight to a full stretch before repeating additional reps.

Benefits of the Chest-Supported Dumbbell Row

• The chest support takes stress off the lower back, increasing your ability to isolate muscles of the upper and mid-back.
• This movement encourages strict form and reduces the chance of momentum-based cheating.
• It’s easy to set up and only requires an adjustable bench and a pair of dumbbells or kettlebells.

Chest-Supported Machine Row

This machine-based variation has you pull the load toward your chest. Your general arm path will be similar to a seated row, which aligns the rowing motion with the muscles of the lats, rear delts, and upper back (traps, rhomboids, and teres major).

Your grip will have a significant impact on the muscles being biased during the exercise. A neutral-grip (palms facing each other) will focus more on the lats, while a semi-pronated grip (diagonally between palms facing down and facing each other) will focus more on the rear delts and upper back.

How to Do the Chest Supported Machine Row

Sit in the machine and grab the handles with your chest against the pad and your feet against the provided supports. With your chest pressed firmly into the pad, pull the handles toward you, extending your elbows behind your body. Control the weight as you return to the starting position.

Benefits of the Chest Supported Machine Row

• The machine provides a clear and consistent movement path, allowing you to focus more on the muscles working and less on maintaining a steady pulling position.
• The chest support and foot pads allow your entire body to brace more effectively, delivering more stability and allowing you to lift heavier loads.
• The multiple grip options allow for more individualization and control over what muscles are being emphasized.

Landmine Row

This bent-over barbell row variation is effective at placing tension across the traps, rhomboids, rear delts, and lats. This movement also recruits the posterior chain (glutes and hamstrings), low back, and abs for total-body stability.

The unique leverage moves the bar along a slightly angled path rather than completely vertical, which creates different muscular stress in the top position compared to dumbbell or barbell rowing movements.

How to Do the Landmine Row

Slide a barbell into a landmine attachment sleeve or wedge it into a corner of the wall. Stand over the barbell with one foot on each side, a few small steps behind the weight plates.

Position a landmine row attachment onto the front of the barbell and grasp the handles. If your gym doesn’t have a landmine row attachment, use a rope handle or V-bar attachment and place it around the bar just behind the weight plates.

Hinge at the hips and keep your legs bent. Maintain a tight core and a neutral spine. Pull your hands toward your waist. To increase the range of motion, load the bar with 10-pound or 25-pound plates instead of larger 45-pound plates.

Benefits of the Landmine Row

• This variation can be performed anywhere you have access to a barbell, whether locked in a landmine sleeve or wedged into a corner at your gym. 
• It challenges multiple muscles of the back, glutes, hamstrings, and abs.
• Different stances and body postures can be used (such as a more upright torso or more horizontal torso) to add variety with an emphasis on different back muscles.

Meadows Row

This exercise, popularized by the late bodybuilding coach John Meadows, has become known for its ability to build up thickness in the back — specifically the rear delts and teres major.

This exercise is unique in that it’s unilateral and has the lifter standing perpendicular to the barbell positioned in a landmine setup. The landmine alters your leverage during the lift, which places unique stress on the muscles.

How to Do the Meadows Row

Assume a staggered stance with your front foot perpendicular to a barbell loaded into a landmine sleeve. Hinge at the hips and grip the bar with an overhand grip, using lifting straps to secure your grip on the bar. Rest the elbow of your non-working arm on your front thigh.

Row the weight up at an angle, so your hand ends up just outside your chest and your elbow is pulled back. Lower the weight into a full stretch. Load the bar with smaller 10-pound or 25-pound plates to ensure a long range of motion.

Benefits of the Meadows Row

• The exercise builds thickness in the upper back by emphasizing key muscles, including the rear delts and teres major.
• The staggered stance creates a need to resist rotation of the torso, adding a challenge to core strength and stability.
• Because of the very stable base and strap-assisted grip, much heavier weights can be used compared to a dumbbell row.

Cable Upper Trap Shrug

Shrugs are typically performed with free weights such as dumbbells or a barbell. However, the movement can be optimized with the cable pulley because the angle of resistance from low cables matches the fiber alignment of the upper traps — on diagonal angle rather than strictly vertical — which increases muscle activation.

High-tension from the cables also means a more effective workout with relatively less weight, making the movement less stressful on joints and more stressful on the target muscles.

How to Do the Cable Trap Shrug

Stand in the middle of two low-cable pulleys, with your knees slightly bent and your hands firmly grasping a single handle from each pulley.

Keep your core stationary as you shrug your shoulders up and in toward your ears. Don’t swing your torso or drive with your legs. Control the weight as you slowly return back to the starting position.

Benefits of the Cable Trap Shrug

• The cable resistance allows a longer time under tension, creating a greater stimulus for muscle growth.
• This variation lines up the resistance with the muscle fibers of the upper traps, maximizing muscular tension while minimizing stress around the shoulder joint.
• The exercise delivers significant muscular stress without extremely heavy weights, making it ideal for lifters with joint pain.

Cable Rope Pullover

The cable rope pullover, sometimes called a stiff-arm pulldown, is great for placing tension strictly on the lats. It avoids the arms-overhead stretched position required for dumbbell pullovers, making this a great alternative for lifters with upper back or shoulder mobility restrictions.

Using a longer rope or strap allows each arm to move in a more individualized arm path, which creates even less strain on the shoulder joints and more muscular stress on the lats.

How to Do the Cable Rope Pullover

Stand in front of a high-pulley cable station, holding a rope attachment with both hands. Lean slightly forward and keep a soft bend in your arms. Keep your torso rigid and abs tight while driving your upper arms down. Pull the attachment toward your hips as far as possible.

Control the weight as you return back to the starting position. Don’t allow your arms to bend when lifting or lowering the weight.

Benefits of the Cable Rope Pullover

• The peak contraction of the movement creates extremely high muscle activation in the lats.
• This exercise is one of the few ways to effectively isolate the lats without involvement from other back muscles.
• It provides a more effective resistance compared to the dumbbell pullover because the cable resistance is constant throughout the full range of motion while a dumbbell pullover delivers less resistance at the top of the movement.

Face Pull

To facilitate increased growth and strength of larger back muscles, your smaller muscles often act as synergists. They add strength and stability to the joints connected to those muscles, which allows them to function optimally and efficiently. The face pull is effective for training the upper back muscles around your shoulder blades, helping improve postural strength and control.

Unlike several exercises on this list, the face pull shouldn’t be used to break any strength records. Go light with higher reps. As you build up strength, you can start to slowly increase the weight, but moving heavy loads is not the best use of this exercise.

How to Do the Face Pull

Attach a rope handle to a high-cable pulley and adjust it to near eye-level. Grab the rope with your palms facing each other. Take a few steps back so there’s tension in the cable and extend your arms in front of your body.

Pull the rope toward your face and flare your elbows out and back. In the contracted position, your wrists should be close to your ears and your elbows should be in-line with your shoulders

Benefits of the Face Pull

• The face pull increases your scapular strength and stability, which is crucial for upper back bracing during movements like the deadlift as well as overhead pressing.
• It works the muscles between the shoulder blades such as the traps and rhomboids, while also building up strength in the rotator cuff muscles, improving overall shoulder joint health.

Farmer’s Walk

This loaded carry isn’t a strict “back exercise,” but it’s effective for placing tension across the muscles of the upper and lower body simultaneously. The postural muscles of the spine, as well as the upper back and traps, are challenged to a very high degree.

When performed consistently, it can build grip strength, core strength and stability, and improves postural strength and control. This exercise mimics many activities performed in your daily life, and can be performed by all ages and experience levels.

How to Do the Farmer’s Walk

Find a stretch of open space, as long as possible, and walk while carrying a pair of dumbbells, kettlebells, or even a trap bar. Keep your hands at your sides and your shoulder blades pulled down and back, not shrugged up. Remain upright and don’t allow your back to round forward as you fatigue.

When walking with load in your hand, the challenge becomes maintaining a steady, upright position. Focus on taking slow, controlled steps while moving a straight line with total-body stability. Don’t allow the weights to make you drift laterally.

Benefits of the Farmer’s Walk

• Can easily be performed anywhere you have open space and weights to hold onto.
• It builds grip and core strength, while also improving postural strength and control.
• It can be easily adapted to training for conditioning or fat loss by increasing the total duration or length of the walk.

The Back Muscles

The back is made up of a group of muscles that work together to achieve a wide range of movement patterns. As such, certain muscles will be biased more or less depending on the exercise being performed.

The primary muscles when it comes to training the back include the latissimus dorsi (lats), teres major, trapezius (traps), rhomboids, rear delts, and erector spinae (lower back).

When training your back, you will be using both muscles anatomically located more superficially (like the lats and traps), as well as deeper (like the rhomboids or erector spinae) within the back and torso. The back muscles have many different functions and are designed to work in synchronicity with one another, or as a unit.

Latissimus Dorsi

Commonly referred to as the lats, the latissimus dorsi are most widely known for their role in adducting the arm toward the body (bringing the upper arm towards the body’s midline), as well as medially rotating the arm around the back of the body (similar to “opening your chest” during a stretch).

During back movements, the lats play many roles — most notably helping stabilize the pelvis and interacting with the abdominal muscles in everything from respiration, maintaining shoulder positioning, to protecting the spine. (1)

Teres Major

The teres major attaches on the upper arm, next to the lat attachment, and stretches across to the lower part of the scapula. Sometimes referred to as the “little lat,” this muscle, along with the teres minor, are not technically part of the rotator cuff but share many roles with the muscles of the rotator cuff when it comes to glenohumeral (shoulder) stabilization.

The teres major also assists the latissimus dorsi in adducting the arm (bringing it closer to the body), as performed during a lat pulldown motion. (2)

Trapezius

The trapezius is a big muscle that spans across the better part of your upper and mid-back. This muscle has three divisions — upper, mid, and lower — and each plays an essential role in stabilizing the shoulder blades.

All three sections of the muscle are hard at work during pulling movements to help maintain tension and stability in the back. (3)

Rhomboids

The rhomboids are positioned directly below the traps in the middle of the back (between the shoulder blades). Both the major and minor divisions of this muscle retract, elevate, and rotate the scapula.

Weakness or loss of function of the rhomboids can be a significant contributing factor to a winged scapula (when the shoulder blades “point” away from the body), which makes it even more important to keep these muscles strong and working properly. (4)

Rear Delts

Also known as the posterior deltoid, the rear delts primary function is to bring the arm back around the body (shoulder extension), assisting the lats and teres major.

A flared arm position, with the elbows aimed out to the sides, makes the rear delts a primary mover during an exercise. This type of movement is how the muscle plays a big part in your back strength and development. (5)

Erector Spinae

These muscles, also known as the spinal erectors, are positioned deep within the torso and are responsible for controlling the axial skeleton — which includes the skull, vertebral column, and ribs. The spinal erectors primarily control flexion/extension, side bending, and rotation of the spine.

The lower back, in particular, is critical for stabilizing the pelvis and spine during movements such as the deadlift or many bent-over movements previously explained. (6)

How Often Should You Train the Back

To optimize muscle growth, train your back two to three times per week, depending on how many total days per week you’re training. Since the back is filled with different muscle groups, all with different fiber alignments and jobs, it’s important to train the back using many different exercises and rep ranges.

Depending on your training split, each workout may include a different amount of training volume. Anywhere from 10 to 16 total sets per week is a great starting point. Advanced lifters could potentially exceed 18 to 20 sets per week, especially if their goal is to emphasize a specific part of the back over another.

To achieve this total volume, choose three to four exercises and divide the sets up evenly across your training week. It’s generally a good idea to have a balanced ratio of vertical pulls (pulldown or pull-up variations) and horizontal pulls (rowing variations) to ensure balanced development across the entire back.

How to Progress Your Back Training

Since the back can be trained with a wide variety of exercises, it’s possible to steadily add weight to each specific exercise every week. As little as two-and-a-half to five pounds per week can be a sufficient increase to stimulate growth when the sets are taken near failure.

For multi-joint (compound) exercises like the barbell row or deadlift, you can add slightly more weight more quickly compared to an isolation-based exercise like dumbbell pullover or cable rope pullover.

If you find any exercises require more time to improve your technique, be sure to perform those movements towards the beginning of your workouts to avoid training them when fatigued.

If you’re new to lifting in general, simply improving your technique in an exercise can lead to gains in strength and muscle size across a few months’ timespan. Keep in mind that whenever you add a new exercise into your routine, it will take your body a few weeks to get used to the new challenge and nail down the technique.

How to Warm-Up Your Back

One of the most effective ways to warm-up for any muscle group is going to be with the exercises you are performing in that day’s training session. For example, if you’re performing chest-supported rows, you can warm-up by performing reps with light weight and raise the intensity (load lifted) as you proceed toward your working sets.

This ensures that the appropriate muscles and joints are being primed, reducing the risk of injury and improving your overall training performance.

If you need additional time to warm-up, include exercises that work the muscles surrounding the joints you’ll be working in that session. For a back workout, that would include the elbow and shoulder joints.

Building a Complete Back

Designing a back workout doesn’t need to be an arduous process. To be effective, choose three to four exercises that train multiple muscle groups and progress them over time with varying rep ranges. Be sure to train the back both horizontally (with rows) and vertically (with pulldowns) for complete development. This detailed list gives you plenty of options to choose from, ensuring a bigger, stronger back in the long-term.

References

1. Jeno SH, Varacallo M. Anatomy, Back, Latissimus Dorsi. [Updated 2020 Aug 13]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2021. 
2. Barra-López, M. E., López-de-Celis, C., Pérez-Bellmunt, A., Puyalto-de-Pablo, P., Sánchez-Fernández, J. J., & Lucha-López, M. O. (2020). The supporting role of the teres major muscle, an additional component in glenohumeral stability? An anatomical and radiological study. Medical hypotheses, 141, 109728. 
3. Ourieff J, Scheckel B, Agarwal A. Anatomy, Back, Trapezius. [Updated 2020 Aug 22]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2021. 
4. Farrell C, Kiel J. Anatomy, Back, Rhomboid Muscles. [Updated 2020 Jul 27]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2021. 
5. Elzanie A, Varacallo M. Anatomy, Shoulder and Upper Limb, Deltoid Muscle. [Updated 2020 Aug 22]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2021. 
6. Modes RJ, Lafci Fahrioglu S. Anatomy, Back. [Updated 2021 Mar 27]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2021.

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On June 6, 2022, powerlifter Tiffany Chapon competed raw in the 2022 International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) World Classic Powerlifting Championships in Sun City, South Africa. After breaking three separate IPF World records on the squat, bench press, and total, she captured her second consecutive IPF World Championship (2021-2022) in the 47-kilogram weight class. 

Here’s a complete rundown of Chapon’s stats from her successful title defense:

Tiffany Chapon (47KG) | 2022 IPF World Classic Powerlifting Championships Stats

• Squat — 160.5 Kilograms (353.9 pounds) — IPF World Record
• Bench Press — 96 Kilograms (211.6 pounds) — IPF World Record
• Deadlift — 170 Kilograms (374.85 pounds)
• Total — 426.5 Kilograms (940.4 pounds) — IPF World Record

Chapon eclipsed her own previous World Record squat mark by 7.5 kilograms (16.4 pounds). She beat Hanna Rantala — the previous bench press World Record holder — by half a kilogram. Finally, her final total not only broke the record held by Chen Wei-Ling since 2015, but also beat second-place finisher, Heather Connor, by 29 kilograms (63.9 pounds). 

Here’s a full recap video of Chapon’s dominant performance, shared by her on Instagram:

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Related: Learn How To Build Strength With Three Key Principles]

Chapon’s Record Performance

Chapon actually broke and extended the squat World Record on both her first and second attempts. She went for 163.5 kilograms (360.4 pounds) on her third attempt to try and further extend her record but missed the rep. The French athlete has shown more strength in the recent past. During a May 2022 training session, Chapon managed to squat 166 kilograms (366 pounds).

On the bench press, Chapon broke the World Record with a press of 96 kilograms (211.6 pounds) on her second attempt. She ended up forgoing the third attempt so she could save energy for her deadlift. 

Finally, on the deadlift, Chapon successfully locked out a rep on each of her three attempts. Her final pull of 170 kilograms (374.8 pounds) gave her a second-place result to fellow 47-kilogram competitor Heather Connor — who deadlifted 185 kilograms (407.8 pounds) for a new IPF World Record. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Related: How To Build Muscle: The Training And Diet Guide For Beginners And Advanced Lifters]

Notably, Chapon’s final World Record total is 9.5 kilograms less than the 435 kilograms (959 pounds) she notched during a training session in mid-April 2022. Chapon still had a record-breaking day to remember, but more stellar achievements might be en route if her past hard work is any indication. 

The Future 

For most of spring 2022, Chapon appeared to be dead set on defending her 47-kilogram IPF World title. Her social media was filled with constant reminders of this competition being on the near horizon and how thrilled she was to get a chance to compete.

Now that Chapon has successfully repeated as champion, it’d be more than appropriate if she wanted to rest and take a well-earned break. Judging by the sample size of her work ethic and her pure power, it likely won’t be long before she gets a loaded barbell into her hands again. 

Featured image: @turbo_tiff on Instagram

The post Powerlifter Tiffany Chapon (47KG) Breaks 3 World Records at 2022 IPF World Classic Powerlifting Championships appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

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The question at hand today is whether alternate-day fasting is a viable, perhaps even preferable, option for folks who want to experiment with intermittent fasting. I’ve written about fasting many times here on the blog because it’s one of my favorite tools for managing insulin, blood sugar, appetite, and (possibly) promoting longevity, but I’ve never dedicated a post to alternate-day fasting per se. Time to remedy that.

I call it a tool, but fasting—having regular, distinct periods of little or no food—is the natural human condition. Or at least it should be. As I like to say, physiologically speaking, some of the best stuff happens when we aren’t eating. Fasting triggers desirable hormonal responses, reduces oxidative damage, promotes autophagy, and offers a mental challenge.¹ Of course, in today’s food-rich environment, most people eat regularly for upwards of 16 or 18 hours every day. Eating in a 6- or 8-hour window, much less going 24 hours or more without food, is rare.

For the most part, I’m agnostic about the optimal fasting schedule. Whether someone prefers time-restricted eating like the popular 16:8 or 18:6 protocols, a weekly 24-hour fast, semi-annual prolonged fasting of three days or longer, or eating WHEN (when hunger ensues naturally) is a matter of personal taste. They each have pros and cons, but none so compelling that I’d say one is clearly best for everyone. Since a lot of people seem inclined to try alternate-day fasting, it deserves a closer look here.

What Is Alternate-day Fasting Exactly?

There are two broad categories of alternate-day fasting (ADF):

True ADF is where you skip entire days of eating. Eat one day, don’t eat the next. Simple, not necessarily easy. With this kind of ADF, you’ll be doing 36-hour fasts (dinner one day to breakfast two days later) every other day. Maybe even longer.

Modified ADF is where you eat every day but alternate between days where you eat normally and days where you significantly restrict calories. The general rule is to consume 25 percent of your typical daily calories. If you usually eat 2,400 calories, your week would look like this:
Day 1: 2,400 calories
Day 2: 600 calories
Day 3: 2,400 calories
Day 4: 600 calories
Day 5: 2,400 calories
Day 6: 600 calories
Day 7: 2,400 calories

Beyond that, anything goes. You can pair ADF with any way of eating—Primal, keto, vegan, carnivore, even SAD (though I wouldn’t recommend it for obvious reasons). There aren’t any rules about when or how often you eat on your regular eating days, but the idea is to consume the same number of calories you’d eat for weight maintenance, perhaps a bit more. Assuming you don’t go hog-wild, you’ll end up in a pretty hefty caloric deficit even while eating normally half the time.

There are also a few specific variations in ADF:

• 5:2 fasting is probably the most well-known. This is akin to modified ADF, but instead of eating in a deficit every other day, you pick two days per week, usually non-consecutive, to restrict calories.
• Eat Stop Eat, the brainchild of Brad Pilon, is a type of modified ADF where you do one or two 24-hour fasts per week. Once or twice per week, you eat dinner one day and then not again until dinner the next day (or breakfast to breakfast, lunch to lunch, whatever you prefer).
• The Every Other Day Diet was devised by Krista Varady, PhD, currently a Professor of Kinesiology and Nutrition at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and the author of dozens of scientific papers on the topic of fasting, plus a popular book of the same name. This is your typical modified ADF approach with one notable difference: you’re allowed to eat ad libitum (as much as you want) on the eating days. According to Varady, most people still end up in a caloric deficit and lose weight even with “feast days.” Some readers of her book, The Every Other Day Diet, beg to differ. However, she’s had proven success with this method in her academic work.

Benefits of Alternate-day Fasting

Possible benefits of ADF include:

• Lower fasting insulin^{2 3} (but inconsistent effects on insulin sensitivity)
• Lower triglycerides (plus LDL and total cholesterol if you go for that)⁴
• Lower blood pressure⁵
• Reduction in adipokines involved in systemic inflammation and cardiovascular disease⁶
• Promoting ketosis

If it sounds like I’m hedging my bets here, that’s because there’s no standardization with how researchers use the term “alternate-day fasting.” There’s a lot of promising data, but it’s hard to generalize from one study to the next when one uses an Eat Stop Eat design and the other uses 5:2 with two consecutive fasting days. The metabolic effects may not be the same.

Researchers are also still trying to tease out whether any benefits are unique to fasting or if they’re mostly due to the caloric restriction inherent in these types of fasting protocols. It’s very much an open question at this point, although I suspect there’s more to fasting than mere calorie restriction.

What about weight loss? Can alternate-day fasting help you lose weight?

Yes. This has been demonstrated in multiple studies using different styles of ADF and different populations. Not to mention all the anecdotal evidence.

The more interesting question is whether you’re likely to lose more weight—or lose weight more easily—with ADF. The available studies seem to suggest that while you might lose more weight with ADF in the short term,⁷ fasting and regular calorie-restriction dieting (aka “continuous calorie restriction”) eventually even out when calories are matched.⁸ As for ADF compared to other types of fasting like daily time-restricted eating, there aren’t enough head-to-head studies to draw conclusions one way or another.

“But wait,” you say, “I couldn’t lose any weight when I tried to diet until I started fasting.” I hear this a lot. Just because ADF might not have a strong weight-loss advantage on average doesn’t mean it wasn’t advantageous for you. When it comes to losing weight, dietary adherence plays a big role.⁹ Many people find it easier to stick to a schedule where they don’t have to restrict food every single day.

Downsides of Alternate-day Fasting?

To do ADF right, you have to track your food, which can be onerous. Folks who don’t want to weigh and measure every bite can try the Eat Stop Eat approach, which doesn’t limit what you can eat on your fasting days (or, more precisely, at the end of your 24-hour fasts).

It’s also not easy to only eat 500 or 600 calories, especially if you want to break it up into multiple meals or snacks. You’ll want to limit fat intake since fat is the most calorically dense macronutrient at nine calories per gram. Once you factor in adequate protein, there’s little room for anything else. I’d suggest eating just one or two meals on fasting days and loading up on low-calorie, non-starchy vegetables like leafy greens. Sipping on bone broth can help stave off hunger too, but there will be hunger, especially at the beginning.

One potential concern is the preservation of lean mass. Across four studies with overweight/obese adults, dieters lost more lean mass on average with ADF than with continuous calorie restriction (regular dieting).¹⁰ These studies ranged from 12 to 30 weeks in duration, and participants ate a decent amount of protein. However, none of the studies provided exercise instructions, and it’s not clear whether any of the participants engaged in resistance training.

Bottom Line: Alternate-Day Fasting Yay or Nay?

Overall, the benefits of ADF seem to be in line with the benefits of fasting more generally. From what I can tell, the biggest advantage of ADF compared to daily time-restricted eating or calorie-restriction diets is that some people find it easier to stick with.

The findings regarding lean mass give me pause, but not enough to write off ADF at this point. While the four studies were fairly consistent, there was also a lot of variability between participants. Whenever you’re eating in an energy deficit, you want to make sure to eat plenty of protein and lift heavy things to protect your muscles. That’s just best practice no matter what type of fasting you’re doing. That said, the strict ADF I outlined above lands you in a 33 percent energy deficit, which is pretty big—perhaps too big to be safely sustained long term. We could use more human studies here to tease all this out.

And speaking of best practices, what you eat during your non-fasting days does matter. Even though ADF doesn’t strictly require it, eating the same nutrient-rich, whole foods whether or not you’re practicing ADF just makes sense.

Finally, the same rules also apply regarding who shouldn’t fast: people who are already overstressed and those with high energy needs like competitive athletes, kids and teens, and people who are pregnant or breastfeeding.

All right, what do you think? Yes or no, are you interested in alternate-day fasting? If you’ve already tried it, how did it go?

The post Alternate-day Fasting – Worth Trying? appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

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The Giants Live Strongman Classic only started in 2020, but it is no less competitive. With 11 athletes already confirmed for the 2022 edition on July 9, 2022, at the Royal Albert Hall in London, England, there was still an unknown Wild Card. A little over a month before the competition, a rising strongman star finally rounded out the final 12-person roster. 

On June 3, 2022, the Giants Live organization announced that Mitchell Hooper would take the final slot in the 2022 Giants Live Strongman Classic. The announcement of Hooper’s addition might not be a surprise with recent developments. Once Hooper made the 2022 World’s Strongest Man (WSM) Finals in his debut, it’s reasonable to assume his star would rise soon after. His Cinderella story of sorts in winning Group 1 of the Qualifying Round was one of the more noteworthy moments during the competition.

Hooper’s spot in this upcoming competition is now a natural step forward.

Here is where the 12-person roster now stands:

2022 Giants Live Strongman Classic Roster

• Oleksii Novikov (Ukraine) — Defending Champion
• Evan Singleton (United States)
• Paul Smith (United Kingdom)
• Chieck Sanou (Burkina Faso)
• Ken McClelland (United States)
• Konstantine Janashia (Georgia)
• Rob Kearney (United States)
• Andy Black (United Kingdom)
• Mark Felix (United Kingdom)
• Spenser Remick (United States)
• Adam Bishop (United Kingdom)
• Mitchell Hooper (Canada)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Related: How To Build Muscle: The Training And Diet Guide For Beginners And Advanced Lifters]

After the news of his addition was made official, Hooper took to Instagram to explain his potential approach. As a newcomer, he seems to think this competition might be an uphill battle worth the challenge anyway. 

“This will be a fun show,” Hooper wrote. “The events aren’t great for me. It’ll expose some of my weaknesses and set a great benchmark to improve upon. The goal — win despite a tough set of events.”

Here are the events that Hooper notes will present an obstacle for him and the other athletes:

2022 Giants Live Strongman Classic Events

• Dumbbell Medley
• The Pillars of Hercules
• Farmer’s Carry for Distance
• Axle Deadlift
• Castle Stones

Notably, while the format is different, Hooper might not have too much trouble with some of the events.

For example, the Farmer’s Carry for Distance could bear some functional similarities to the 2022 WSM Car Walk — which Hooper crushed at 11.64 seconds. If the event turns out to be centered on speed — one of Hooper’s strengths — he could be in great shape. Meanwhile, the Axle Deadlift will again be for reps. That could also play into Hooper’s favor, who did well with the somewhat similar WSM Deadlift Ladder while pulling five reps in 31.21 seconds. 

Hooper might not be entirely confident now, but a victory definitely isn’t out of the realm of possibility. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Related: How To Do The Deadlift For Strength And Muscle]

A Rising Star 

Whatever result Hooper enjoys in the 2022 Giants Live Strongman Classic, it assuredly won’t be the end of his strongman ambitions.

Hooper has previously said he’d like to break the deadlift world record of 505 kilograms (1,113.3 pounds) during the 2022 World Deadlift Championships (WDC) on August 6, 2022. At the time of this writing, Hooper does not yet have an invitation to the competition. If Hooper does eventually get an invite — as someone who once deadlifted 475 kilograms (1047.2 pounds) while weighing under 140 kilograms (308.6 pounds) — his goal doesn’t seem outlandish. 

Only time will tell what the summer holds for Hooper. If his recent burst onto the professional scene is any indication, he’ll likely have no issues securing invites wherever he wants to compete. 

Featured image: @mitchellhooper on Instagram

The post Strongman Mitchell Hooper Announced as Final Addition to 2022 Giants Live Strongman Classic Lineup appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

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Rauno Heinla is known for his deadlift prowess. The Estonian strongman is one of the few people to have pulled at least 453.6 kilograms (1,000 pounds), which he managed in December 2020. He also possesses the 400-kilogram (881.8-pound) deadlift for reps World Record with six. He set that figure at the 2020 World’s Ultimate Strongman Feats of Strength series.

Recently, Heinla might have captured his most impressive deadlift feat yet. 

The 2022 Silver Dollar Deadlift Estonian Championship took place on June 4, 2022, in Viljandi, Estonia. It is there where Heinla broke the Silver Dollar deadlift World Record with a pull of 579.7 kilograms (1,278 pounds). He completed the pull while wearing lifting straps and a lifting belt. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Related: Learn How To Build Strength With Three Key Principles]

Heinla’s record pull might be particularly notable considering what he went through to get here. The veteran strongman withdrew from the 2022 World’s Strongest Man (WSM) after suffering an undisclosed injury from a heavy Silver Dollar deadlift. Rather than continue preparing for the most prestigious event in strongman, Heinla spent a few days in the hospital recovering after that pull. 

A little over a month later, Heinla’s persistence pays off with a World Record. 

The Silver Dollar deadlift World Record baton seems to be changing hands a lot lately. Heinla’s record comes after Ben Thompson set the previous Silver Dollar record with a pull of 577.2 kilograms (1,272.5 pounds) in May 2022. Thompson followed Sean Hayes, who set the past high-water mark with a pull of 560 kilograms (1,235 pounds) in mid-April 2022. 

If recent history is any indication, the latest record might not stand for long. It’s undoubtedly still a well-earned achievement for Heinla. 

Heinla at a Glance

While he built a reputation for deadlift proficiency, Heinla is certainly no slouch as a green strongman. According to Strongman Archives, the 39-year-old Estonian athlete has competed professionally in some capacity since December 2009. Here are some of the more notable strongman results of his career:

Rauno Heinla | Notable Strongman Results

• 2011 Giants Live Finland — Third place
• 2014-2015 Strongman Champion’s League (SCL) Finland — Third place 
• 2014 SCL Savickas Classic — First place
• 2014 SCL Estonia — First place 
• 2017 Arnold South America — First place
• 2018 Arnold Australia — First place 
• 2019 Arnold USA — Third place
• 2021-2022 Força Bruta — Second place 
• 2021 Europe’s Strongest Man (ESM) — Fourth place

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Related: Why You Should Be Greasing The Groove During Your Workouts]

What’s Next

It doesn’t seem like Heinla will rest on his laurels after notching a record. He will next compete at both the 2022 Giants Live World Open & World Deadlift Championships. Those will take place on August 6, 2022, at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, Wales. He could break the traditional deadlift World Record of 505 kilograms (1,113.3 pounds) if all goes well. Should Heinla manage to do so, the Giants Live organization will reward him with a prize of $55,000 — the set wager to all 12 competitors. 

For a deadlift technician like Heinla, another record later in the summer is certainly very possible. 

Featured image: @rauno_heinla on Instagram

The post Strongman Rauno Heinla Breaks Silver Dollar Deadlift World Record With Pull of 579.7 Kilograms (1,278 Pounds) appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

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When most lifters make the decision to commit to the gym, the barbell bench press is often one of the first exercises selected for building a stronger and bigger chest. However, despite its reputation as a “must-do” movement, the barbell bench alone is not going to produce the type of well-developed chest most hope for. That requires an introduction to the dumbbell bench press.

The exercises are similar in setup and execution, with a few key differences. The dumbbell bench press allows a longer range of motion and more freedom of movement at the shoulder joint. These can elicit a greater muscle-building response, build upper body strength unilaterally (one side at a time), improve core stability, and increase your barbell bench pressing strength.

Here’s everything you need to know about the overlooked dumbbell version of one of the most popular barbell exercises.

• How to Do the Dumbbell Bench Press
• Dumbbell Bench Press Mistakes to Avoid
• Benefits of the Dumbbell Bench Press
• Muscles Worked by the Dumbbell Bench Press
• Who Should Do the Dumbbell Bench Press
• How to Program the Dumbbell Bench Press
• Dumbbell Bench Press Variations
• Dumbbell Bench Press Alternatives
• Frequently Asked Questions

How to Do the Dumbbell Bench Press

Using dumbbells instead of a barbell provides a different shoulder and elbow position, which in turn increases the range of motion and makes the muscle-building stimulus of this exercise even greater.

Step 1 — Get into Pressing Position

As you lie back on a flat bench, bring a pair of dumbbells to the outsides of your chest with your hands facing each other. Pull your shoulder blades back into the bench. Make sure that both of your feet are placed firmly on the ground, with your feet directly under your knees.

Your hips, your head, and both of your shoulders should be firmly touching the bench. Rotate your arms to point your elbows at an angle slightly away from your feet and allow your hands to point towards your knees.

Form Tip: For total stability, feel for six points of contact  — two feet on the ground plus your tailbone, two shoulders, and your head on the bench. This will mean you are in a good position to start the exercise

Step 2 — Drive the Weights Up

Hold the dumbbells firmly in a pronated (palms facing your feet) position with your wrists directly above your elbows. Drive your elbows up to the ceiling in a straight line until the dumbbells are positioned directly above of your pecs. Do not allow the dumbbells to touch at the top of each rep.

Form Tip: Make sure your elbows are stacked directly under your wrists before you drive up. Allowing your wrists, and the weights, to break the plane of your elbow will increase joint strain and increase the potential risk of injury.

Step 3 — Lower into a Stretch

Slowly lower the dumbbells down while squeezing your shoulder blades into the bench. Keep your elbows pointed at an angle between your feet and your shoulders. Emphasize feeling your pecs stretch as the dumbbells come to a position resting just outside your chest.

Form Tip: Think about pulling the dumbbells toward you while reaching your chest to the ceiling.

Dumbbell Bench Press Mistakes to Avoid

When using dumbbells, increased freedom at the shoulder joint also means the exercise requires increased control and coordination. There are a few errors to avoid when performing the dumbbell bench press. 

Having an Unstable Body

It is very common to see lifters place their feet in the air and cross their ankles or haphazardly sprawl their legs away from the bench during the exercise.

This creates an environment of instability and prevents you from being able to produce the most force, which compromises strength production because the lower body is an essential contact point and base of support.

Avoid It: Driving your legs into the ground will help maintain balance with the torso and allow you to create more force with the upper body. Your feet, calves, hamstrings, glutes, and quadriceps should all be tense and fully engaged.

Ego Lifting

Some lifters think that just because they can bench impressive weights with a barbell, they’re “supposed to” bench with heavy dumbbells, too.

What they fail to realize is that dumbbells involve the smaller stabilizer muscles of the shoulder more than a barbell, which means excessively heavy weights can strain the shoulder joint and decrease chest muscle recruitment.

Avoid it: Lean the ego at home when it’s time to use dumbbells. Whatever you barbell bench press, cut that weight in half and then take off another 5-10kg (10-20 pounds). This will give you a good starting point for the total weight (both dumbbells combined) when learning the exercise.

Benefits of the Dumbbell Bench Press

The bench press is be a staple movement in nearly every lifter’s repertoire.

Here are two big advantages that dumbbells have over the barbell.

Greater Range of Motion

With a barbell, your hands and arms are set into fixed angles with relatively limited range of motion. Dumbbells allow the weights to move in an arcing path, relatively wider in the bottom position and nearly touching at the top.

This provides a longer range of motion as you lengthen the muscle with a deeper stretch which can increase your muscle building potential compared to a barbell. (1) Dumbbells also allow your hands to rotate, which can individualize pressing angles to reduce joint strain.

Unilateral Strength

Overemphasizing barbell training can create muscular discrepancies, since most lifters naturally favor one side more than the other. Because a barbell doesn’t allow each side to focus its own share of work, you may not notice the subtle differences in your unilateral strength.

Using  dumbbells will allow you to build that unilateral strength and reduce any muscular imbalances from occurring while still strengthening your pecs, triceps, and shoulders.

Muscles Worked by the Dumbbell Bench Press

All chest presses focus the work, appropriately, on the chest. However, several muscle groups work together to perform the exercise.

The dumbbell bench press allows lifters to train their pressing muscles (chest shoulders, and triceps) without excessively heavy weights.

Pectoralis Major 

The pec major is the big, basic chest muscle. It includes two separate heads: the clavicular (upper chest) and the sternocostal (mid-chest). Both heads of the pecs function to pull the upper arms across the chest toward the midline of the body.

Anterior Deltoid

The shoulder muscles is composed of three separate heads — the posterior (rear), the lateral (side), and the anterior (front). Each head contributes to moving the arm in its respective plan, so the anterior deltoid is heavily recruited during the dumbbell bench press because the arm is moving in front of the body.

Triceps

The triceps consist of the long, medial, and lateral heads, each playing a role in extending the elbows and raising the arms. The medial and lateral heads, in particular, are emphasized during the dumbbell bench press to move the weight and straighten (lock out) the elbows.

Pectoralis Minor and Serratus Anterior

These relatively smaller muscles are both found near the pec major. They share similar functions, helping to control shoulder blade movement and stability during pressing (and chest flye) movements.

Who Should Do the Dumbbell Bench Press

Much like the barbell bench press, the dumbbell bench press can offer benefits to strength athletes, physique-focused lifters, and general fitness enthusiasts.

Bodybuilders and Physique Enthusiasts

Whether it’s a 220-pound bodybuilding monster, a lean Men’s Physique competitor, or a typical lifter wanting to improve their pec size and shape, the dumbbell bench press can be a key player in any chest workout.

The dumbbell bench press puts the pecs through a long time under tension with maximum muscle activation, leading to more muscle growth.

Strength Athletes

With the barbell bench press being a sport-specific lift for competitive powerlifters, using the dumbbell bench press as an accessory exercise allows the same pressing muscles to be trained without wear and tear on the joints from the barbell’s repetitive use.

Overhead strength athletes, like Olympic weightlifters and CrossFitters, can also benefit from the dumbbell bench presses ability to train more unilaterally and reduce muscle discrepancies, which leads to improvements in strength overall.

How to Program the Dumbbell Bench Press

The dumbbell bench press can be programmed using a variety of set and rep schemes. It can be performed as a primary exercise at the start of your workout or as a supplemental exercise to maximize muscle fiber recruitment during a session.

Heavy Weight, Low Repetition

To maximize strength, three to five sets in the four to eight rep range is a good place to start. Because of the dumbbell’s stability requirements, lifting excessively heavy with extremely low reps to failure isn’t safe or effective. You should be using a weight that has you finish each set with at least one to two reps left “in the tank” to avoid reaching muscular failure. A rest period of three to five minutes between each set will ensure you lift with maximum effort.

Moderate Weight, Moderate Repetition

For muscle building purposes, working for three to four sets in the six to 12 rep range will bump up your overall training volume of the pecs, which is beneficial for building muscle. (2) The multiple sets and reps also allow you to develop your bench press technique without excessive fatigue from heavier weights.

Low Weight, High Repetition

It could better to use a machine or cable-based machine when working with a higher rep target and being in a closer proximity to failure, because shoulder stabilizers can fatigue before the chest muscles. However, working for two to three sets in the 13-20 rep range is a great way to improve your technique without impacting any extra stress on your joints that may come about from using heavier weights.

Dumbbell Bench Press Variations

Below are several effective variations that can be used by coaches and athletes to keep training varied, progressive, and more finely tuned to a lifter’s needs.

Dumbbell Floor Press

As you may have guessed, the dumbbell floor press is a dumbbell bench press performed on the floor, without a bench. This deliberately limits your range of motion to prevent the weights from traveling down past your chest. This is ideal if you experience shoulder discomfort due to restricted mobility.

It can also helps to train the triceps and improve lockout strength because top-half of the range of motion, where the triceps are most engaged, is emphasized.

Dumbbell Foam Roller Press

Using a foam roller instead of a flat bench allows the scapulae (shoulder blades) to move more freely throughout each rep, which improves upper back and shoulder health.

The mechanics of this is surprisingly similar to that of a push-up and optimizes your natural scapulohumeral rhythm — the way your shoulder muscles and shoulder blades coordinate during movement. This improvement can lead to improved shoulder joint health and increased muscular engagement.

Single-Arm Dumbbell Bench Press

This exercise variation is great for improving total-body stability and unilateral strength while also improving core engagement. You simply use one dumbbell and perform the exercise with one arm for your target number of reps before switching sides.

Your core musculature is going to be targeted to a much higher degree due to the fact that you’re preventing your torso from rotating to far to one side. It is best to use comfortable weight when first taking on this variation and build your confidence remaining stable before increasing weight.

Dumbbell Bench Press Alternatives

If you’re looking for options beyond the dumbbell bench press, there are several effective exercises that work that upper body in a similar fashion.

Barbell Bench Press

While the dumbbell bench has many specific benefits, sometimes it’s appropriate to just load some weight and bench. The key difference with this exercise is its bilateral component, moving both arms together, which exactly what makes it a great way to load up the weight and focus on building strength.

However, the barbell bench press is not limited to purely a strength focus. It can be used to provide a significant amount of volume which triggers a greater muscle-building response. Performing it later in the workout, when the chest is fatigued from other exercises, is one very effective approach.

Seated Cable Chest Press

This may appear to be an unconventional exercise, but it’s very effective when executed correctly. Much like the dumbbell bench press, there is a unilateral factor involved which allows the shoulders freedom to move with reduced joint strain.

The adjustable height of the cable pulleys allows you to train at angles (simulating an incline or decline press) while remaining seated upright. Many gyms have a dedicated seated cable machine, but an identical movement can be performed placing a seated bench in the center of a two-pulley cable station.

FAQs

Can I perform the dumbbell bench press and barbell bench press in the same workout?

Yes, absolutely. Use the barbell bench press as a primary strength lift, performed with heavy weight and low reps, and use the dumbbell bench press as a hypertrophy-specific lift with light to moderate weight and moderate to higher reps. This will let you fully exhaust the muscle fibers with the increases range of motion that the dumbbell bench press offers.

How far should I lower the dumbbells?

Ideally, you’d lower the weights to the level of your chest, with your elbows slightly below the bench. However, you should focus on using your active range of motion, not the maximum range of motion regardless of pain or mobility.

If you cannot lower the dumbbells to achieve the deepest stretch of your pecs, or if you feel any discomfort that takes the emphasis off your pecs, then only move where you can maintain tension without pain. Regardless, always take your time to warm-up and physically prepare the muscles being used. Sometimes a thorough warm-up of your back, chest, and shoulders allows you to use a larger range of motion.

Rethink “Bench Day”

You wouldn’t solely rely on the dumbbell bench press to build a bigger and stronger chest, just like you wouldn’t (or shouldn’t) over-focus on the barbell bench. But when you take into consideration its benefits and versatility, it’s time to include this central exercise in your chest or “upper body pushing” workouts, with or without its barbell cousin.

References

1. Farias, D. A., Willardson, J. M., Paz, G. A., Bezerra, E. S., & Miranda, H. (2017). Maximal Strength Performance and Muscle Activation for the Bench Press and Triceps Extension Exercises Adopting Dumbbell, Barbell, and Machine Modalities Over Multiple Sets. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 31(7), 1879–1887. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0000000000001651
2. Schoenfeld, B. J., Contreras, B., Krieger, J., Grgic, J., Delcastillo, K., Belliard, R., & Alto, A. (2019). Resistance Training Volume Enhances Muscle Hypertrophy but Not Strength in Trained Men. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 51(1), 94–103. https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0000000000001764

Featured Image: Jasminko Ibrakovic

The post How to Do the Dumbbell Bench Press for a Bigger, Stronger Chest appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

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Last week we gave you a recipe for air fried green beans, and today we’re back again with another fun and oh-so-easy way to use your air fryer: fried pickles!

That’s right, you can “fry” pickles for a crunchy, salty snack in minutes. This particular fried pickle recipe skips the questionable fry oil and batter in favor of a breading made with Primal-friendly ingredients. Whip up a batch of these, get out the Trivial Pursuit, and host an at-home pub quiz with gluten-free beer or these Primal mocktails for the abstainers.

Here’s the recipe:

How to Make Fried Pickles in the Air Fryer

Serves: 4

Time in the Kitchen: 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 cup sliced pickles (see Tips below)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup almond flour
• 2 Tbsp tapioca starch
• 3/4 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• Avocado oil spray
• Dipping ideas: Primal Kitchen Ketchup, Mayo, Ranch Dip, Buffalo Ranch Dip

Directions

In a small bowl, mix together the tapioca starch and spices. Add half of this mixture to the almond flour in another bowl. In a third bowl or dish, whisk together the egg.

Dry the pickles well on a towel to remove any excess moisture. Spray your air fryer basket with avocado oil.

Toss the pickles in the tapioca starch mixture. One at a time, use a fork to dip each pickle slice into the beaten egg, then dredge the slice in the almond flour mixture. Place the breaded pickle in the basket.

Repeat with the remaining pickles. Lightly mist the tops of the pickles with avocado oil spray.

Place the basket into an air fryer set to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 degrees Celsius) for about 10 minutes, or until the outside is golden brown. If needed, air fry for an additional 1 to 2 minutes more to achieve a nice golden brown exterior. Allow them to cool slightly before removing them from the basket.

Serve with your favorite Primal Kitchen dips and condiments!

Tips

• Every air fryer is different and therefore cooks slightly differently. Refer to your manual for details.
• Use savory vinegar-based pickles for this recipe. Avoid pickles with sugar in the brine as it will negatively affect their overall taste.

Print

Air Fryer Pickles Recipe (Primal, Paleo, and Keto)

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• 
  Author: Mark’s Daily Apple
• 
  Total Time: 20 minutes
• 
  Yield: 4 servings

Print Recipe

Pin Recipe

Description

Air fried pickles are a crunchy, salty snack or side dish. This version skips the questionable fry oil and batter in favor of a breading made with paleo- and Primal-friendly ingredients.

---

Ingredients

1 cup sliced pickles (see Notes)

1 egg

1/4 cup almond flour

2 Tbsp tapioca starch

3/4 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

Avocado oil spray

Dipping ideas: Primal Kitchen Ketchup, Mayo, Ranch Dip, Buffalo Ranch Dip

---

Instructions

In a small bowl, mix together the tapioca starch and spices. Add half of this mixture to the almond flour in another bowl. In a third bowl or dish, whisk together the egg.

Dry the pickles well on a towel to remove any excess moisture. Spray your air fryer basket with avocado oil.

Toss the pickles in the tapioca starch mixture. One at a time, use a fork to dip each pickle slice into the beaten egg, then dredge the slice in the almond flour mixture. Place the breaded pickle in the basket. Repeat with the remaining pickles. Lightly mist the tops of the pickles with avocado oil spray.

Place the basket into an air fryer set to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 degrees Celsius) for about 10 minutes, or until the outside is golden brown. If needed, air fry for an additional 1 to 2 minutes more to achieve a nice golden brown exterior. Allow them to cool slightly before removing them from the basket.

Serve with your favorite Primal Kitchen dips and condiments!

Notes

Every air fryer is different and therefore cooks slightly differently. Refer to your manual for details.

Use savory vinegar-based pickles for this recipe. Avoid pickles with sugar in the brine as it will negatively affect their overall taste.

• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 10 minutes
• Category: Side dish
• Method: Air fryer

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1/4 of recipe
• Calories: 84
• Sugar: <1g
• Sodium: 389mg
• Fat: 4g
• Saturated Fat: <1g
• Trans Fat: 0g
• Carbohydrates: 7g
• Fiber: 1g
• Protein: 4g
• Cholesterol: 47mg
• Net Carbs: 6g

Keywords: Air fryer, Air fried pickles

The post Air Fryer Pickles Recipe (Primal, Paleo, and Keto) appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

Originally Posted At: https://breakingmuscle.com/feed/rss

It wouldn’t be a stretch to say bodybuilder Derek Lunsford is in a critical period of his career. As the reigning 212 Olympia Champion, Lunsford has his sights on a repeat performance at the 2022 Mr. Olympia. While his off-season ramps up, he has to fuel that potential repeat with the proper nutrition. 

On June 1, 2022, Lunsford shared a full day of eating on his YouTube channel. The protein-packed, carbohydrate-loaded schedule is a glimpse into preparing one of modern bodybuilding’s elite competitors. 

[Related: Why You Should Be Greasing The Groove During Your Workouts]

It’s a busy day of nutrition for Lunsford and he wastes no time diving right in. 

Meal 1

For breakfast, Lunsford wastes no time packing on the protein and carbs. He eats 200 grams of egg whites, three ounces of Icon Meals steak, and some mushrooms and potatoes (quantity unspecified)

In total, his breakfast comes out to 50 grams of protein and 60 grams of carbs. Lunsford notes that he generally aims to eat something similar at each meal. After he finishes breakfast, Lunsford takes a couple of scoops of supplements from Evolog and Evovite. He does this a few times a day and maintains the supplements help with any potential nausea since he’s consuming so much food. 

Meal 2

At mid-morning, Lunsford combines eight ounces of some Icon Meals shredded chicken and eight ounces of white rice into a bowl. He also generously lathers buffalo wing sauce and light ranch all over the chicken. Lunsford explains that it’s the off-season, and he’s giving himself some breathing room. If he were in prep mode, he would not be as generous with things like sauces. 

I like consistency when I eat. I like each bite to be about the same.

Lunsford’s second meal comes out to 50 grams of protein and 75 grams of carbs. 

Meal 3

For his third meal of the day, Lunsford leans on a pre-workout shake with an unspecified amount of cream of rice. He also includes almond milk and a scoop of Evogen’s chocolate protein powder. This adds up to 50 grams of protein and 75 grams of carbs. Lunsford notes that drinking a protein shake at this moment is a bit from the norm for his diet. 

“Normally, I like to eat most of my meals, and a protein shake is like post-workout,” Lunsford says. “Sometimes I’ll even have a second shake of the day, but I like to eat whole food. I like to eat chicken, beef, salmon, eggs, whatever.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Derek Lunsford (@dereklunsford_)

[Related: Deloading 101: What Is A Deload And How Do You Do It?]

Meal 4

Lunsford says he still does cheat meals where he treats himself in the full throes of his off-season. His fourth meal of the day is a reflection of that. After waking up from a late nap, the bodybuilder eats eight ounces of ground chicken with taco seasoning and eight ounces of rice. It’s another 50 grams of protein and 60 grams of carbs. 

Lunsford insists that the day he filmed the video was a rest day, so he’s again giving himself more leeway. 

“Today, I’m not training. I’m resting.” Lunsford says. “So, I’ll eat five meals for sure, and late tonight I’ll eat a sixth meal. I do have cheat meals sometimes, like twice a week I’m having cheat meals.”

Meal 5

For his (usual) fifth meal of the day, Lunsford goes to one of his tried-and-true staples: An unspecified amount of steak and white rice. This meal tops out at 50 grams of protein and 80 grams of carbs.

As Lunsford explains, he believes that a bodybuilder should consume red meat at least once a day during their off-season. 

“I think you need to eat at least one red meat meal a day in the off-season, maybe two,” Lunsford says. “I wouldn’t eat too much, but one to two meals a day is good. You’ll probably notice your strength goes up, your volume will increase, so this is important to get at least a little red meat into your diet consistently.”

Meal 6

Lunsford has one more protein shake to close out his day of eating before sleeping. It has the same almond milk structure, except this time he puts in two scoops of Evogen’s protein. The final shake gives Lunsford another 50 grams of protein and 75 grams of carbs. 

On the whole, Lunsford’s entire day’s total of protein comes out to 300 grams. His carb total is 425 grams. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Derek Lunsford (@dereklunsford_)

[Related: Everything You Need To Know About How To Burn Fat]

Mr. Olympia Is Next

Lunsford will assuredly continue to plug away in his off-season as he prepares for December’s Mr. Olympia. His nutrition should undoubtedly play a huge role in his performance on stage. The bodybuilder will try to become a repeat 212 Olympia Champion on December 15-18, 2022, in Las Vegas, NV. 

Featured image: @dereklunsford_ on Instagram

The post Check out Derek Lunsford’s ‘Full Day of Eating’ Ahead of the 2022 Mr. Olympia appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Originally Posted At: https://breakingmuscle.com/feed/rss

The 2022 European Weightlifting Championships (EWC) are taking place from May 28-June 5, 2022, in Tirana, Albania.

There, for the first time in his career, Bulgarian weightlifter Karlos Nasar competed in the 89-kilogram weight class. That didn’t prove to be much of an obstacle for Nasar, the reigning International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Champion in the 81-kilogram weight class. The 18-year-old athlete went on to have a weekend to remember as he showed off his strength by setting three separate Junior World Records. They are as follows:

Karlos Nasar (89KG) | 2022 European Weightlifting Championships Junior World Records

• Snatch — 171 kilograms (377 pounds) — Junior World Record
• Clean & Jerk — 211 kilograms (465.2 pounds) — Junior World Record
• Total — 382 kilograms (842.2 pounds) — Junior World Record

 

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by karlosnasar (@karlosnasar)

[Related: Weightlifter Eishiro Murakami (+109KG) Sets 3 National Records During 2022 All-Japan Championships]

Nasar’s snatch record officially surpasses Karen Avaygan’s previous Junior World Record mark by a kilogram (2.2 pounds). His clean & jerk eclipses Keydomar Giovanni Vallenilla Sanchez’s Junior World Record by seven kilograms (15.4 pounds). Finally, Nasar’s new Junior World Record total exceeds Revaz Davitadze’s previous record by 11 kilograms (24.2 pounds)

2022 European Weightlifting Championships Results

Nasar’s three Junior World Records were not enough for him to take home the gold. The athlete ended up finishing in second place with a silver medal. Senior 89-kilogram weightlifter Antonino Pizzolato was the only competitor to outdo Nasar’s performance with two separate feats. Pizzolato notched a World Record clean & jerk of 217 kilograms (478.4 pounds) along with a World Record total of 392 kilograms (864.2 pounds). These achievements helped the Italian weightlifter finish with the eventual gold medal.

Here are the top three finishers in the 2022 EWC for the Men:

2022 European Weightlifting Championships | Top Totals

1. Antonino Pizzolato (Italy) — 392 kilograms (864.2 pounds)
2. Karlos Nasar (Bulgaria) — 382 kilograms (842.2 pounds)
3. Revaz Davitadze (Georgia) — 369-kilograms (813.5 pounds)

 

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Karlos shturi (@shturi)

[Related: Olympic Weightlifter Katherine Nye Squats 186 Kilograms (410 Pounds) For A New PR]

Nasar at a Glance

These results don’t appear to be anything new for Nasar if his career trajectory indicates anything. In addition to his 2021 IWF World title, he has previously featured well in several youth competitions to start his competitive life.

Perhaps among the more notable, Nasar took first place in the 2019 World Youth Weightlifting Championships in Las Vegas, NV. He also finished in second place in the 81-kilogram weight class in the 2021 EWC that took place in Moscow, Russia. 

In the lead-up to the 2022 EWC, Nasar frequently alluded to a potential record-breaking performance. His social media is rife with footage of the weightlifter breaking unofficial records in training. A 210-kilogram (463-pound) clean & jerk from an April 2022 session might be one of the more noteworthy overhead feats Nasar had beforehand. He even previously locked out a 175-kilogram (385.8 pounds) snatch in November 2021. That is the same snatch weight that Pizzolato captured at the 2022 EWC. 

While Nasar’s competition is over, the 2022 EWC will finish on June 5, 2022. 

Featured image: @karlosnasar on Instagram

The post Weightlifter Karlos Nasar (89KG) Captures 3 Junior World Records at 2022 European Weightlifting Championships appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/

Research of the Week

Controlling glucotoxicity might not be enough in diabetes.

To spike brain derived neurotrophic factor, intense exercise wins.

Imagine this prehistoric giraffe relative with a helmet for a skull and a neck joint morphology explicitly adapted to high velocity movement swinging its thirty pound bowling ball of a head at you.

Resveratrol has no effect on metabolic health in overweight type 2 diabetics.

The difference between exogenous and endogenous ketosis.

Seems that masks didn’t do much good in schools.

Fear impairs immunity.

Sweat protects against Lyme disease.

New Primal Kitchen Podcasts

Primal Health Coach Radio: Kathleen Trotter

Media, Schmedia

I support moccasins’ status as formal wear.

Wait, are people not doing this to identify their friends?

Interesting Blog Posts

A double-edged sword? As a society increases focus on equality and individual self-determination, it suffers from higher rates of mental illness.

Best meat grinders.

Social Notes

Great crow story.

I appeared on the Health Coach Conversations podcast.

Roll with the contradictions.

Everything Else

Urine beer.

Nice little symbiotic relationship.

Things I’m Up to and Interested In

Uncharted territory: The labor situation at US ports might get a little interesting next month.

A true classic: The Oiling of America.

Interesting news: Spanish celebrities, business leaders (and even a pharma exec) in trouble for buying fake vaccine cards.

More of this, please: Luring predatory birds to farms to take care of pests.

Great potential here: Personalized diet based on insulin phenotype.

Question I’m Asking

How are you getting ahead of potential food price hikes?

Recipe Corner

• Golden cauliflower fried rice.
• Authentic jerk chicken.

Time Capsule

One year ago (May 28 – Jun 3)

• The Definitive Guide to FODMAPs—All about them.
• Three Breathing Exercises to Improve Vagal Tone and Reduce Stress in a Flash —Try them.

Comment of the Week

“Mark,
Thank you for you latest Sunday Post. This post hit close to home.
I have always been a bit of an empath and years ago after another major tragedy, I found myself physically and chronically ill after I was unable to separate myself from this event. After years of therapy and alternative medical intervention I realized I needed to find ways to distance myself from what what going on around me.

While my husband can listen to and read the news all day, every day without any ill effects, I cannot, and I am now able to advocate for myself acknowledging this difference.

Disconnecting has been incredibly healing. I now have more time to spend with my family and do things that help improve my resilience, mentally and physically, which is what I need in order to continue my career as an educator to young children, and as a mother.”

-Glad to hear you’ve figured out what works for and helps you, Katie.

The post New and Noteworthy: What I Read This Week—Edition 180 appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.