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Pre-workout nutrition is one of those areas where people love to lose themselves in the minutiae. They obsess over what to eat, when to eat it, and how much of it to eat. Instead of just getting into the gym or out into the world and getting active and lifting something heavy, they read blogs and watch videos for weeks, searching for the one pre-workout meal to rule them all. They end up avoiding the gym altogether because they can’t figure out the “perfect” pre-workout meal, or whether they should eat something at all.

Even when you figure out what to eat before a workout, you can go too far. You know the type of guy. This is the guy who travels with a suitcase full of powders, pills, and packaged foods. He’s so wedded to the pre-workout ritual that he can’t skip a day—even on vacation. If he doesn’t get his 40.5 grams of waxy maize, 30.2 grams of whey isolate, and preworkout blend of superfoods he can’t operate in the gym. He crumbles without the perfect, most optimal pre-workout nutrition.

Don’t be like this. Let me tell you what to do so you can stop stressing about what to eat before a workout. Let’s simplify things.

General Rules for Pre Workout Meals

What you eat will depend on what kind of workout you’re doing, what your goals are, and what kind of diet you’re already following, but there are general rules that apply to everyone.

• Keep things light. No heavy meals. If you eat too large a meal, you may have trouble digesting it, or some of the energy that’d otherwise go to your muscles will be diverted to your gut.
• Eat foods you know you can easily digest. No surprises.
• Salt your meals. Sodium is an enormous boon to exercise performance, particularly if you’r on the lower-carb side of things.
• Powders are fine. While whole foods are usually ideal, for quick pre-workout nutrition, protein and carbohydrate powders can be very helpful and beneficial.
• Include 15-20 g collagen and 50-100 mg vitamin C. This a great way to improve connective tissue health when taken pre-workout.
• Protein and carbs are more important, dietary fat less important pre-workout. If all goes well you’ll be eating the fat on your body.
• Oh, and you don’t have to eat anything. You can fast (it’s what I typically do). It’s just that this article is intended to help people who are interested in pre workout nutrition..

What to Eat Before High Intensity Interval Workouts

Since running, cycling, and rowing sprints and intervals burn through a ton of glycogen, most conventional sources recommend ample carbohydrates before the workout—around 4 grams per kilo of bodyweight in the hours leading up to the session. These aren’t “wrong.” If you’re a serious high intensity athlete training to compete or perform at very high levels, you should eat a good amount of carbs before your training sessions. That will maximize force output and optimize subsequent training adaptations. And besides, you’re burning through your muscle glycogen, boosting insulin sensitivity and opening up a ton of space for dietary carbohydrate to be partitioned.

If you train hard and intensely enough, you can even eat a big carb-rich pre workout meal and still reach ketosis after a session.

Unless you’re going for a specific goal and absolutely must avoid all carbohydrates, I’d recommend that everyone who wants to eat a meal before a HIIT session have 15-30 grams of fast-digesting carbs along with 30 grams of protein, half of which is collagen, 45 minutes before a workout. If you want to go a bit higher carb, get 40-60 grams two hours before in addition to the 15-30 45 minutes before.

Again: you don’t have to eat before sprints or HIIT. But if you do eat, this is what I recommend.

What to Eat Before Low Level Aerobic Workouts

The kind of low level aerobic training I recommend in Primal Endurance—where your heart rate never exceeds 180 minus your age, where you can breathe through your nose and hold an easy conversation, where it feels easy enough to maintain for well over an hour if you had to—doesn’t require much pre-workout nutrition.

If you’re metabolically-flexible or fat-adapted, I recommend fasting before these workouts to really boost fat burning and mitochondrial biogenesis. No need for food at all.

If you’re more carbohydrate-dependent, you can still probably get away with fasting, but you can also eat 15-20 grams of easily digested carbohydrates and 20 grams of protein. That could be a scoop of whey isolate protein powder, some collagen peptides, and a small potato or an apple. It could be a few eggs with a banana.

What to Eat Before Strength Training Workouts

As lifting can be a very glycogen-intensive activity, you can treat this similarly to HIIT or sprints only with a stronger focus on protein. If you’re going to eat before a lifting session, aim for 30-40 grams of protein (half from collagen), either from whey isolate or actual food plus collagen. Eat 15-30 grams of easily digestible carbohydrates, like bananas, rice, potatoes, dates, or other fruits. You could even sip on some coconut water.

Specific Foods That May Be Helpful Before a Workout

There are specific foods with uniquely ergogenic effects. that you should consider including in your pre-workout meals.

• Beetroot: Improves endothelial function, increases the “pump,” boosts blood flow. Higher carb.
• Pomegranates: A pomegranate extract has been shown to improve blood flow and increase blood vessel diameter when taken 30 minutes prior to a workout.¹ Higher carb, particularly if you eat the seeds or sip on the juice.
• Coffee: Provides caffeine, which has been shown to improve exercise performance. Zero calorie (unless you add milk and sugar).
• Coconut water with extra salt and blackstrap molasses: This is my go-to “electrolyte energy drink,” providing potassium, carbohydrates, sodium, and magnesium. It’s a good way to add some digestible carbs to your pre workout meal along with excellent hydration.

What I Eat Before Workouts

I usually fast before workouts. It just works for me.

In fact, except for very rare occasions, either I go into the workout fasted or take 20 grams of collagen beforehand. Since collagen doesn’t directly contribute to muscle protein synthesis or affect mTOR or autophagy or fat-burning, I consider these to be fairly equivalent. The only thing that changes between fasted training and pre-training collagen is the collagen plus 50-100 mg vitamin C helps me fortify my connective tissue.

Anything resembling lower level “cardio,” like walking, hiking, standup paddling, and bike rides are all done totally fasted.

Before heavy lifting or sprints sessions, I’ll drink 20 grams of collagen peptides with some vitamin C. This isn’t to “fuel” me. The collagen provides the raw material my connective tissue (tendons, ligaments, cartilage) needs to adapt to the training stress and the vitamin C helps that collagen go where it’s supposed to—the connective tissue. This drink doesn’t contain many calories, nor does it provoke a huge insulin response that derails the fasting benefits. I’m technically breaking the fast because I’m consuming calories, but I’m retaining most of the benefits.

I favor collagen on heavier or more intense days because at my age, I’m most interested in maintaining the integrity of my joints. Having intact and durable ligaments, tendons, and cartilage is what allows me to play and stay active as I age. It’s not the big muscles, which are easy to maintain once you’ve got them. It’s the connective tissue.

If you’re trying to decide whether you should eat or not before a workout, I’ve explained the potential benefits of fasted workouts before. To summarize, fasted workouts can:

• Enhance insulin sensitivity
• Increase a biomarker known to correlate with muscle hypertrophy
• Improve lean mass retention in endurance athletes
• Improve capacity to perform without calories
• Help you burn more fat and potentially lose more inches off your waist²

Keep in mind that fasted training isn’t optimal if your primary concern is gaining mass. It’s great for lean mass maintenance, fat burning, and even gaining strength and muscle provided you eat enough calories when you do eat, but for pure muscle hypertrophy and weight gain and absolute performance you’re better off eating.

It’s probably smart to try both pre-workout meals and pre-workout fasting to see what works best for you.

However there’s nothing wrong with eating actual meals or taking in protein/carb supplements before a workout, nor is there anything wrong with fasting. All that matters is what works for you—what helps you stay consistent with training, what gets you the best results, what makes training the most enjoyable.

Use this article as a guide, but don’t let it decide for you. What do you eat before your workouts?

The post What to Eat Before a Workout appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

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Madeline Sturt and Jay Crouch are the winners of the 2022 Down Under Championship. The two CrossFitters managed to pace ahead of the respective Women’s and Men’s fields to capture their Individual titles at the contest that took place on Nov. 18-20, 2022, in Wollongong, Australia.

On the Teams side, LSKD Gold — featuring Briony Challis, Christee Hollard, and Emily de Rooy — took first place for the Women, while Men at Work — featuring Noah Ohlsen, Saxon Panchik, and Chandler Smith — won out for the Men.

Here’s an overview of the top five finishers in each of the participating competitive categories at the 2022 Down Under Championship:

Individual Women

1. Madeline Sturt (584 points)
2. Gemma Hauck (559 points)
3. Christina Livaditakis (552 points)
4. Grace Walton (535 points)
5. Georgia Pryer (532 points)

Individual Men

1. Jay Crouch (648 points)
2. Jake Douglas (604 points)
3. Peter Ellis (579 points)
4. Zeke Grove (548 points)
5. Evan Morris (510 points)

Teams (Women)

1. LSKD Gold (680 points)
2. Team LNMD (596 points)
3. Awaside (584 points)
4. Starr Strength Gals (577 points)
5. Torian Pink (559 points)

Teams (Men)

1. Men at Work (670 points)
2. Downunder Dogs (665 points)
3. Underway Full Senders (577 points)
4. Superstarr’s (554 points) 
5. Batman, Robin, and JJ (544 points)

Here’s a quick rundown of the Individual results event by event from the 2022 Down Under Championship.

Event One — Randy

The first event gave the competitors six minutes to perform 75 snatches as fast as they could. The weight for the Women was 25 kilograms (55.1 pounds), and it was 35 kilograms (77.1 pounds) for the Men.

Katelin Van Zyl finished in two minutes and 40 seconds to win, while Sturt tailed just behind in two minutes and 52 seconds for the Women. On the Men’s side, Rees Machell (two minutes and 51 seconds) edged out Jay Crouch (two minutes and 53 seconds) by two seconds for the win.

Event Two — Nasty Girls V3

In the second individual event of the contest, the athletes had to work through the Nasty Girls V3 — finishing three rounds of 50 single-leg squats, 10 ring muscle-ups, and 10 hang cleans for time. The Women’s weight on the hang clean was 52.5 kilograms (117.5 pounds), and it was 80 kilograms (176.3 pounds) for the Men.

Sturt (eight minutes and 44 seconds) paced ahead of the Women, taking first place by 21 seconds. As for the Men, Peter Ellis (eight minutes and 47 seconds) bested Crouch (eight minutes and 50 seconds) by three seconds.

Event Three — John Cleary Shuffle

For this event, the CrossFitters were given 10 minutes to finish 11 sandbag cleans, a sandbag carry, nine sandbag cleans and a sandbag carry, and seven sandbag cleans and one sandbag bear hug carry. The Women’s sandbags weighed 45 kilograms (99.2 pounds), while the Men’s worked with 60 kilograms (132.2 pounds).

Grace Walton managed to finish her cycle in four minutes and five seconds for the Women’s victory, while Jake Douglas (three minutes and 31 seconds) strode ahead of a second-place Crouch (three minutes and 45 seconds) for the Men.

Event Four — Regionals 17.1

The roughly middle event of the 2022 Down Under Championship mandated respective time limits of 20 minutes (Men) and 23 minutes (Women). The athletes had to run 1,200 meters, then they had to do 12 rounds of four strict handstand push-ups, eight chest-to-bar pull-ups, and 12 squats. All of this happened with the Women wearing 14-pound weighted vests and the Men’s wearing 20-pound vests.

Marnie Sykes finished in 15 minutes and 19 seconds for the Women, and Crouch took the event win in 13 minutes and 57 seconds on the Men’s side.

Event Five — Regionals 12.5

Next, the CrossFitters had to perform a snatch ladder with double-unders during the Regionals 12.5. The Women began their snatches at 50 kilograms (110.2 pounds) and worked their way up to 90 kilograms (198.4 pounds). The Men started their snatches with 80 kilograms (176.3 pounds) and finished at 135 kilograms (297.6 pounds).

Christina Livaditakis won the event by completing the 87.5 kilogram snatch followed by 28 double-unders on the Women’s side. Isaac Newman won the Men’s tiebreaker over Douglas by working through 30 double-unders after a 130 kilogram snatch.

Event Six — Regionals 16.6

The second-to-last event of the competition was a doozy. It had both groups of Individual athletes ride 1,000 meters on a C2 Bike, do a 30-meters handstand walk, 10 overhead squats (70 kilograms/154.3 pounds for the Women and 100 kilograms/220.4 pounds for the Men), 500 meters on a rowing machine, 50 burpee box jump-overs, and five more overhead squats. The time limit was 16 minutes.

In what was undoubtedly instrumental in her eventual overall podium result, Livaditakis completed the entire exhaustive workout in 11 minutes and two seconds — 34 seconds faster than the next-best Women’s athlete. Meanwhile, Crouch started to cement his overall victory by concluding his workout in nine minutes and 17 seconds.

Event Seven — Regionals 16.7

To cap the competition, the CrossFitters had one more gauntlet during the Regionals 16.7 event. With a six-minute time limit, they had to perform 21 thrusters (30 kilograms/66.1 pounds for the Women and 45 kilograms/99.2 pounds for the Men), three legless rope climbs, 15 more thrusters, two legless rope climbs, nine more thrusters, and one final legless rope climb.

To put the cherry on top of her competition victory, Sturt won the event with a sterling time of three minutes and 27 seconds. Meanwhile, Peter Ellis snuck onto the final podium by winning this event.

As the 2022 CrossFit season draws to a close, Sturt, Crouch, and the respective other winners in the rest of the competitive divisions can hold their heads high. The 2023 CrossFit season awaits, and they may well be riding a wave of momentum into it.

Featured image: downunderchampionship on Instagram

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Rongo Keene is the winner of the 2022 Magnús Ver Magnússon Strongman Classic (MVMSC). During the contest that took place on Nov. 18-20, 2022, in Reykjavík, Iceland, the Australian athlete captured his first victory since the 2016 Australia’s Strongest Man (ASM) contest.

The two competitors who joined Keene on the podium were Canada’s Maxime Boudreault (second) and Eythór Ingólfsson Melsted (third), respectively. For Boudreault, it’s his first podium finish since winning the 2022 Canada’s Strongest Man (CSM) in late August. Meanwhile, Melsted once again finished in the top three at the MVMSC after a second-place result at the 2021 iteration.

Here are the final standings from the 2022 Magnús Ver Magnússon Strongman Classic:

2022 Magnús Ver Magnússon Strongman Classic

1. Rongo Keene (Australia) — 87.5 points
2. Maxime Boudreault (Canada) — 81.5 points
3. Eythór Ingólfsson Melsted (Iceland) — 79 points
4. Vilius Jokužys (Lithuania) — 72.5 points
5. Colton Sloan (Canada) — 68.5 points
6. Stefán Karel Torfason (Iceland) — 65.5 points
7. Ervin Toots (Estonia) — 65.5 points
8. Mika Törrö (Finland) — 56.5 points
9. Jacob Finerty (United States) — 54.5 points
10. James Jeffers (Canada) — 51.5 points
11. Kristján Jón Haraldsson (Iceland) — 50 points
12. Kim Ujarak Lorentzen (Greenland) — 46.5 points
13. Pierre Motal (France) — 33.5 points
14. Ryan England (United Kingdom) — 26.5 points

Here’s an overview of the respective results at each event of the 2022 MVMSC.

Event One — Rock Press

The weight of the six stones during the opening rock press event of the 2022 MVMSC ranged from 100 to 150 kilograms (220.4 to 330.7 pounds). In the end, Keene, Melsted, and the United States’ Jacob Finerty finished in a three-way tie for first place. They all successfully lifted the fifth stone, which weighed 138 kilograms (304.2 pounds).

1. Rongo Keene — 138 kilograms (304.2 pounds) | Tied-first
2. Eythór Ingólfsson Melsted — 138 kilograms (304.2 pounds) | Tied-first
3. Jacob Finerty — 138 kilograms (304.2 pounds) | Tied-first
4. Vilius Jokužys — 122 kilograms (268.9 pounds)
5. Colton Sloan — 112 kilograms (246.9 pounds) | Tied-third
6. Stefán Karel Torfason — 112 kilograms (246.9 pounds) | Tied-third
7. Mika Törrö — 112 kilograms (246.9 pounds) | Tied-third
8. James Jeffers — 112 kilograms (246.9 pounds) | Tied-third
9. Kristján Jón Haraldsson — 112 kilograms (246.9 pounds) | Tied-third
10. Maxime Boudreault — 100 kilograms (220.4 pounds) | Tied-fourth
11. Ervin Toots — 100 kilograms (220.4 pounds) | Tied-fourth
12. Kim Ujarak Lorentzen — 100 kilograms (220.4 pounds) | Tied-fourth
13. Pierre Motal — 100 kilograms (220.4 pounds) | Tied-fourth
14. Ryan England — 100 kilograms (220.4 pounds) | Tied-fourth

Event Two — Natural Stones

In an event akin to the famed Atlas stones, the respective athletes had to lift four stones ranging from 130 to 185 kilograms (286.6 to 407.8 pounds) in the fastest time possible. Iceland’s Kristján Jón Haraldsson lapped the rest of the field, being the only athlete to finish lifting all four stones in less than 30 seconds en route to the event win.

1. Kristján Jón Haraldsson — Four stones in 26.73 seconds
2. Eythór Ingólfsson Melsted — Four stones in 32.17 seconds
3. Maxime Boudreault — Four stones in 33.21 seconds
4. Ervin Toots — Four stones in 34.13 seconds
5. James Jeffers — Four stones in 38.79 seconds
6. Stefán Karel Torfason — Four stones in 45.41 seconds
7. Vilius Jokužys — Three stones in 16.33 seconds
8. Rongo Keene — Three stones in 19.39 seconds
9. Jacob Finerty — Three stones in 21.74 seconds
10. Mika Törrö — Three stones in 24.97 seconds
11. Colton Sloan — Three stones in 25.12 seconds
12. Pierre Motal — Three stones in 25.96 seconds
13. Kim Ujarak Lorentzen — Three stones in 33.68 seconds
14. Ryan England — Two stones in 19.9 seconds

Event Three — Hammer Throw

The hammer throw event — where the competitors hurl a 21-kilogram (46.3-pound) hammer implement as far as possible — finished the first day of the contest. Iceland’s Stefán Karel Torfason won the event when he threw his hammer 9.9 meters.

1. Stefán Karel Torfason — 9.9 meters
2. Vilius Jokužys — 9.22 meters
3. Maxime Boudreault — 9.14 meters
4. Ervin Toots — 8.78 meters
5. Mika Törrö — 8.43 meters
6. Rongo Keene — 8.32 meters
7. Kim Ujarak Lorentzen — 8.03 meters
8. Jacob Finerty — 7.94 meters
9. James Jeffers — 7.81 meters
10. Ryan England — 7.55 meters
11. Kristján Jón Haraldsson — 7.41 meters
12. Eythór Ingólfsson Melsted — 7.19 meters
13. Colton Sloan — 6.62 meters
14. Pierre Motal — 6.47 meters

Event Four — Husafell Stone Carry

To start the second day, the competitors had to carry around the usual Husafell stone weighing 186 kilograms (410 pounds) in a circle for a maximum distance, with one rotation being 35 meters. Lithuania’s Vilius Jokužys ultimately finished on top when he took his stone 83.9 meters.

1. Vilius Jokužys — 83.9 meters
2. Maxime Boudreault — 80 meters
3. Colton Sloan — 75.3 meters
4. Stefán Karel Torfason — 70.9 meters
5. Ervin Toots — 67.2 meters
6. Kristján Jón Haraldsson — 58.9 meters
7. Rongo Keene — 51.4 meters
8. James Jeffers — 51.2 meters
9. Mika Törrö — 49.6 meters
10. Eythór Ingólfsson Melsted — 48.9 meters
11. Pierre Motal — 48.7 meters
12. Kim Ujarak Lorentzen — 45.4 meters
13. Jacob Finerty — 36 meters
14. Ryan England — 35.9 meters

Event Five — Stone-to-Shoulder Medley

In the stone-to-shoulder medley, the athletes had to lift four successive stones weighing from 100 to 145 kilograms (220.4 to 319.6 pounds) to their shoulders as fast as they could. Keene had the best result, lifting all four stones in 34.16 seconds, more than two full seconds faster than the next-best competitor.

1. Rongo Keene — Four stones in 34.16 seconds
2. Eythór Ingólfsson Melsted — Four stones in 36.2 seconds
3. Maxime Boudreault — Four stones in 36.91 seconds
4. Colton Sloan — Four stones in 52.07 seconds
5. Kim Ujarak Lorentzen — Four stones in 54.77 seconds
6. Ervin Toots — Four stones in 1:01.89 seconds
7. Vilius Jokužys — Three stones in 22.69 seconds
8. James Jeffers — Three stones in 22.73 seconds
9. Kristján Jón Haraldsson — Three stones in 26.69 seconds
10. Jacob Finerty — Three stones in 30.02 seconds
11. Pierre Motal — Three stones in 31.35 seconds
12. Ryan England — Three stones in 35.66 seconds
13. Mika Törrö — Three stones in 38.91 seconds
14. Stefán Karel Torfason — Two stones in 12.39 seconds

Event Six — Farmer’s Walk

In a slight shift from the usual farmer’s walk structure where equally weighted handles are carried, the competitors had to carry two differently weighted implements (137 kilograms/302 pounds and 142 kilograms/313 pounds) in each hand for the farthest distance. Finland’s Mika Törrö took his respective weights 35.88 meters for the win.

1. Mika Törrö — 35.88 meters
2. Rongo Keene — 34.77 meters
3. Stefán Karel Torfason — 29.4 meters
4. Maxime Boudreault — 27.95 meters
5. Vilius Jokužys — 25.44 meters
6. Colton Sloan — 18.6 meters
7. Kristján Jón Haraldsson — 15.42 meters
8. Ervin Toots — 15.3 meters
9. Jacob Finerty — 13.78 meters
10. Eythór Ingólfsson Melsted — 10.1 meters
11. Pierre Motal — 8.21 meters
12. James Jeffers — 5.53 meters
13. Ryan England — 4.55 meters
14. Kim Ujarak Lorentzen — 1.13 meters

Event Seven — Axle Deadlift for Reps

To kick off festivities on the final day of the 2022 MVMSC, the athletes had to complete as many reps of a 325-kilogram (716.5-pound) axle deadlift as possible within a 75-second time limit. Melsted paced ahead of the field by pulling seven reps.

1. Eythór Ingólfsson Melsted — Seven reps
2. Rongo Keene — Five reps | Tied-second
3. Colton Sloan — Five reps | Tied-second
4. Pierre Motal — Five reps | Tied-second)
5. Kim Ujarak Lorentzen — Five reps | Tied-second
6. Jacob Finerty — Four reps | Tied-third
7. James Jeffers — Four reps | Tied-third
8. Mika Törrö — Three reps | Tied-fourth
9. Stefán Karel Torfason — Three reps | Tied-fourth
10. Maxime Boudreault — Two reps | Tied-fifth
11. Ervin Toots — Two reps | Tied-fifth
12. Vilius Jokužys — One rep | Tied-sixth
13. Ryan England — One rep | Tied-sixth
14. Kristján Jón Haraldsson — N/A

Event Eight — Log Press Medley

The final event of the competition featured the log press medley, where everyone had to successfully press four logs with weights ranging from 110 and 165 kilograms (242.5 and 363.7 pounds) in the fastest time. Famed for his shoulder press strength, Boudreault was able to coast to the event victory and cement his overall second-place finish.

1. Maxime Boudreault — Four logs in 30.63 seconds
2. Eythór Ingólfsson Melsted — Four logs in 38.28 seconds
3. Rongo Keene — Three logs in 24.09 seconds
4. Colton Sloan — Three logs in 30.63 seconds
5. Ervin Toots — Three logs in 31.97 seconds
6. Ryan England — Three logs in 32.36 seconds
7. Kim Ujarak Lorentzen — Three logs in 36.37 seconds
8. Jacob Finerty — Three logs in 1:00.86 seconds
9. Vilius Jokužys — Two logs in 14.72 seconds
10. Mika Törrö — Two logs in 17.54 seconds
11. Stefán Karel Torfason — Two logs in 19.46 seconds
12. Pierre Motal — Two logs in 19.8 seconds
13. James Jeffers — Two logs in 20.86 seconds
14. Kristján Jón Haraldsson — Two logs in 29.58 seconds

The 2022 calendar year has been productive for Keene. With this victory in the 2022 MVMSC, the Australian athlete has now notched three podium finishes in five 2022 contests. Capturing a victory in one of the bigger strongman competitions might be the perfect cherry on top.

Featured image: magnus_classic on Instagram

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In the Asian powerlifting circuit, Sen Yang has been a mainstay for quite some time. He’s a former Asian Powerlifting Federation (AsianPF) World Champion — both as an Equipped (2016-2017, 2019) and Raw competitor (2019). Of late, he’s been making a name for himself under the international strength spotlight.

On Nov. 19, 2022, during the latter portion of the schedule at the 2022 International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) Equipped World Championships, Yang successfully locked out a 440.5-kilogram (971.1-pound) equipped squat. The display of leg strength is an all-time IPF World Record in the 120-kilogram weight class, and places Yang alongside other unique competitors who captured equipped World Records at the same contest. (Note: As the final results are calculated, Yang’s exact position and finish remain unclear at this time.)

According to the IPF database and Open Powerlifting, this squat World Record for Yang surpasses his previous best equipped squat of 440 kilograms (970 pounds) at the 2022 IPF World Games by half a kilogram. Yang has featured as a simultaneous AsianPF and IPF powerlifter since November 2015 and has generally steadily improved in the years since. The athlete also appears humble over his latest achievement, given his quiet bows to the respective spotters for his World Record lift in the clip of the squat.

Here’s a rundown of some of the more notable results from Yang’s powerlifting resume:

Sen Yang | Notable Career Results

• 2011 AsianPF Asian Powerlifting Championships (Sub-Juniors/Equipped) — First place | First career full power meet victory
• 2016-2017, 2019 Asian PF Asian Powerlifting Championships (Open/Equipped) — First place
• 2016-2017 IPF World Sub-Juniors and Juniors Powerlifting Championships (Juniors/Equipped) — Second place
• 2018 IPF Equipped World Championships (Open/Equipped) — Third place
• 2019 IPF Equipped World Championships (Open/Equipped) — Fourth place
• 2019 AsianPF Asian Classic Powerlifting Championships (Open/Raw) — First place
• 2022 IPF World Games (Super/Equipped) — Second place

On a pure strength basis, Yang appears to have a well-rounded profile of power — even outside his new IPF World Record squat in the 120-kilogram division. Here are the athlete’s all-time equipped competition bests:

Sen Yang | All-Time Equipped Competition Bests

• Squat — 440.5 kilograms (971.1 pounds) | IPF World Record
• Bench Press — 322.5 kilograms (711 pounds)
• Deadlift — 332.5 kilograms (733 pounds)
• Total — 1,095 kilograms (2,414 pounds)

Given the versatility and competitive profile Yang has amassed at this stage of his career, it’s fair to wonder what else he has up his strength sleeve. If he can get a World Record now, he might have opened up a Pandora’s box of pending milestone accomplishments.

Featured image: theipf on Instagram

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Whether you celebrate Thanksgiving formally or just see the end of November as the beginning of a drawn-out “holiday season,” many people spend the day eating, drinking, and being merry with friends and family.

While some lifters jump at the chance for a socially sanctioned cheat day, which too often blends into a cheat week once leftovers are factored in, others are on the fence about the potential effects such indulgence has on their fitness plans and hope to avoid counteracting any hard-earned progress in the gym.

Here are some of the most effective tips to get the best of both worlds — an indulgent holiday without sacrificing results.

• Don’t Skip Your Workout
• Train with Volume and Intensity
• Use Strategic Over-Reaching
• Focus on Homemade Food
• Protein and Veggies First
• Watch the Booze
• Enjoy the Day

Make Time to Train on the Big Day

Most lifters intuitively connect the dots between increased calories and increased exercise. On a cheat day, or any high-calorie day, it makes sense that you might be able to “undo” or minimize any excessive calories by pushing yourself harder than usual in the gym.

This is fundamentally true and mathematically accurate — trying to burn more calories when you eat more calories should create balance — so it’s important not to let your cheat day turn into a “rest day.”

A slew of research has shown that training after a large meal can help to control increased glucose levels. (1)(2) When blood glucose levels rise, the body often goes into fat-storage mode. However, the body’s physiological response to training can hijack that signal and re-route it toward building muscle or burning fat. (3)(4)

By stimulating your body with a good workout, you can essentially shift the physique-boosting odds in your favor when you know you’ll be hitting a cornucopia of holiday goods. If the thought of squatting on a full stomach makes you a little queasy, know that training before the meal, rather than after, has also been shown to be beneficial. (5)(6) Alternatively, taking a simple half-hour walk after dinner is another effective option. (7)

Program Your Workout for Better Results

If you do hit the gym for some lifting, it shouldn’t be a half-hearted session with your mind focused more on dinner plates than weight plates. To get the most benefit from a workout on the day of an extra-large meal, treat the session like any other rather than just going through the motions.

To burn the most calories in the gym and outside of it, you need to use sufficient training intensity and ample volume. (8)(9) That means working with weights that are at least 70% of your one-repetition max for multiple sets in the six to 12-rep range.

Ideally, you’d follow a full-body workout focused on big exercises like squats, presses, and rows. This will be an efficient way to train multiple muscle groups quickly and efficiently. If you’re traveling away from home and can’t find a gym, a simple bodyweight workout can still get the job done as long as you crank up the intensity with challenging exercises.

While cardio exercise can be an effective option, it’s hard to beat the intensity and muscle stimulation that weight training provides. (10) Any type of training can help make the best of a big food day, but if you have the opportunity, grab a lifting session.

Overtrain or Over-Reach

Another potential way to approach training through the holiday is to crank up your workouts beforehand, putting your body into a state of over-reaching — a short-term scenario where you significantly tax your body’s recovery systems before backing off, setting up a “rebound” that can produce major results. (11)

This could be as simple as squatting every day leading up to the big meal or performing the popular 10,000 kettlebell swing program. Whichever route you take, the general idea is to push hard with a focused short-term plan before the calorie surge, knowing that you’ll ease up and allow your body to adapt.

If you’ve already been pushing yourself for weeks or months and are feeling run down, you may not technically be overtrained, but you might be on the way there. (12) This would be an ideal time to dial back on the training in the short term, flood your body with nutrients, and come back refreshed and ready to tackle a new training plan.

“Relative energy deficiency in sport” is a complicated way of saying that some athletes consistently under-eat and/or train excessively, which affects their performance in the gym or on the field. (13) Adjusting their food intake, as well as their training program, is essential for correcting the hormonal problems caused by insufficient calorie intake. Going whole hog (or whole turkey, in this case,) can play a big role in addressing the problem.

Homemade is the Way

The Thanksgiving table might be the centerpiece of many family arguments ranging from “You’re dating who?” to “You voted for who?” but one of the less dramatic disputes might come from declaring the best dish of the night.

Whether it was Aunt Dottie’s pumpkin cheesecake, Uncle Elmer’s deviled eggs, or Cousin Eddie’s green bean surprise, you can bet it was something made with their own two hands in the family kitchen. It most likely wasn’t simply picked up, paid for, and unwrapped. Not only is homemade food typically fresher and tastier than store-bought dishes, but it’s typically less processed and made with relatively healthier ingredients.

Research has shown a connection between ultra-processed foods and increased fat gain. (14) Highly processed foods are also more likely to contain high levels of sugar, saturated fat, and sodium — a potentially health-damaging trifecta. (15)

When it’s time to finally sit at the table and dig in, dedicate more room on your plate to the foods made by hand rather than the stuff you can get at the supermarket. Even if it’s homemade mashed potatoes loaded with cream and butter, you’re ahead of the nutritional game compared to sodium-packed, instant-whip potatoes that lack both flavor and fiber.

The same principle holds especially true for desserts. Store-bought cakes, pies, and cookies fall exactly in line with the types of ultra-processed foods that should be on your own personal no-fly list. Even the most decadent homemade pecan pie topped with fresh maple-infused whipped cream would be a better nutritional choice than any off-the-shelf “defrost and serve” pies.

Because the homemade goods are reliably tastier (unless you’re dealing with an atrocious home cook), you’ll be more likely to actually savor and enjoy each bite, making a second or third slice entirely unnecessary.

Put More Protein and Vegetables on the Plate

This tip is a bit obvious, but if there’s one reliable way to set yourself up for minimal fat gain, around the holidays and year-round, it’s to focus on eating more protein and vegetables and less of anything else.

A higher protein intake has been associated with a lower rate of fat gain, even with significant calorie intake. (16) Getting enough protein will also boost your recovery from the tough workout you were sure to complete before eating.

The order in which you eat the food on your plate is an extremely simple yet overlooked way to improve your nutrition. You can control post-dinner blood sugar levels by essentially “padding” your stomach with protein and vegetables before carb-laden foods like potatoes or oven-fresh dinner rolls. (17)

Go Easy on the Drinks

Holiday season or not, most dedicated lifters understand that alcohol intake is generally counterproductive to any physique goals.

Not only does drinking booze impact sleep and recovery, which affects your training, but certain cocktails and hoppy IPAs contain as many calories, or more, as regular soda. The same people in the gym who wouldn’t dream of downing a bottle of sugar-filled pop with dinner sometimes don’t hesitate to throw back a DIPA (double IPA) or a sugary cocktail (or two).

Indulging in an adult beverage may be tempting around the holidays, but one of the simplest ways to stick to your fitness goals is to limit your drinking to the bare minimum. If that minimum is zero, even better.

Alcohol intake is shown to be associated with fat gain, so it makes sense that limiting your liquor can help keep you on the nutritional straight and narrow. (18) Of all the food-based debauchery Thanksgiving offers, monitoring or outright restricting your alcohol intake is the simplest way to avoid going too far off the rails from your standard diet plan.

Most of All, Enjoy

Thanksgiving is often seen as the first snowball in an avalanche of holiday parties, each one making it more and more difficult to stick to a rigid training schedule, let alone keep some semblance of dietary discipline. But, take a breath.

As the saying goes, “how you eat from November to December is less important than how you eat from December to November.” If you’re truly consistent for 48 or 50 weeks out of the year, then you won’t be pulled too far from center over the holidays.

When you’re dialed in to your plan the majority of the time, you can indulge in (and potentially benefit from) what researchers tantalizingly call “planned hedonic deviations,” or cheat days. (19) When you spend that day being de-stressed, not distressed, around friends and family, then it’s all the more worthwhile.

Unless you’re a competitive bodybuilder whose contest is the day after Thanksgiving, you probably don’t have to worry too much about overdoing the big meal. Apply as many of the previous tips as possible, for sure, but ultimately you don’t have to be “that person” who brings a baggie of low-carb beef jerky to the dinner table or who says “no thanks” to grandma’s handmade cookies.

Let the Season Begin

Thanksgiving doesn’t have to be too stressful. Okay, actually, it probably does when you factor in traveling, inevitable family drama, and marking the tip of the iceberg that is that holiday season. But at least now, you don’t have to worry about derailing your progress in the gym. So that’s one stress you can take off your plate, which conveniently leaves a little more room for turkey.

References

1. Chacko E. (2016). Exercising Tactically for Taming Postmeal Glucose Surges. Scientifica, 2016, 4045717. https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/4045717
2. Borror, A., Zieff, G., Battaglini, C., & Stoner, L. (2018). The Effects of Postprandial Exercise on Glucose Control in Individuals with Type 2 Diabetes: A Systematic Review. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 48(6), 1479–1491. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-018-0864-x
3. Fujita, S., Rasmussen, B. B., Cadenas, J. G., Grady, J. J., & Volpi, E. (2006). Effect of insulin on human skeletal muscle protein synthesis is modulated by insulin-induced changes in muscle blood flow and amino acid availability. American journal of physiology. Endocrinology and metabolism, 291(4), E745–E754. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpendo.00271.2005
4. Ross, R., Janssen, I., Dawson, J., Kungl, A. M., Kuk, J. L., Wong, S. L., Nguyen-Duy, T. B., Lee, S., Kilpatrick, K., & Hudson, R. (2004). Exercise-induced reduction in obesity and insulin resistance in women: a randomized controlled trial. Obesity research, 12(5), 789–798. https://doi.org/10.1038/oby.2004.95
5. Katsanos, C. S., & Moffatt, R. J. (2004). Acute effects of premeal versus postmeal exercise on postprandial hypertriglyceridemia. Clinical journal of sport medicine : official journal of the Canadian Academy of Sport Medicine, 14(1), 33–39. https://doi.org/10.1097/00042752-200401000-00006
6. Bittel, A. J., Bittel, D. C., Mittendorfer, B., Patterson, B. W., Okunade, A. L., Abumrad, N. A., Reeds, D. N., & Cade, W. T. (2021). A Single Bout of Premeal Resistance Exercise Improves Postprandial Glucose Metabolism in Obese Men with Prediabetes. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 53(4), 694–703. https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0000000000002538
7. Bellini, A., Nicolò, A., Bazzucchi, I., & Sacchetti, M. (2022). The Effects of Postprandial Walking on the Glucose Response after Meals with Different Characteristics. Nutrients, 14(5), 1080. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14051080
8. Børsheim, Elisabet & Bahr, Roald. (2003). Effect of Exercise Intensity, Duration and Mode on Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.). 33. 1037-60. 10.2165/00007256-200333140-00002. 
9. LaForgia, J., Withers, R. T., & Gore, C. J. (2006). Effects of exercise intensity and duration on the excess post-exercise oxygen consumption. Journal of sports sciences, 24(12), 1247–1264. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640410600552064
10. Gillette, C. A., Bullough, R. C., & Melby, C. L. (1994). Postexercise energy expenditure in response to acute aerobic or resistive exercise. International journal of sport nutrition, 4(4), 347–360. https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsn.4.4.347
11. Bell, L., Ruddock, A., Maden-Wilkinson, T., & Rogerson, D. (2020). Overreaching and overtraining in strength sports and resistance training: A scoping review. Journal of Sports Sciences, 38(16), 1897-1912.
12. Halson, S. L., & Jeukendrup, A. E. (2004). Does overtraining exist? An analysis of overreaching and overtraining research. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 34(14), 967–981. https://doi.org/10.2165/00007256-200434140-00003
13. Statuta SM, Asif IM, Drezner JARelative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S)British Journal of Sports Medicine 2017;51:1570-1571.
14. Hall, K. D., Ayuketah, A., Brychta, R., Cai, H., Cassimatis, T., Chen, K. Y., Chung, S. T., Costa, E., Courville, A., Darcey, V., Fletcher, L. A., Forde, C. G., Gharib, A. M., Guo, J., Howard, R., Joseph, P. V., McGehee, S., Ouwerkerk, R., Raisinger, K., … Zhou, M. (2019). Ultra-processed diets cause excess calorie intake and weight gain: An inpatient randomized controlled trial of AD Libitum Food Intake. Cell Metabolism, 30(1). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2019.05.008 
15. Poti, J.M., Braga, B. & Qin, B. Ultra-processed Food Intake and Obesity: What Really Matters for Health—Processing or Nutrient Content?. Curr Obes Rep 6, 420–431 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13679-017-0285-4
16. Leaf, A., & Antonio, J. (2017). The Effects of Overfeeding on Body Composition: The Role of Macronutrient Composition – A Narrative Review. International journal of exercise science, 10(8), 1275–1296.
17. Shukla, A. P., Iliescu, R. G., Thomas, C. E., & Aronne, L. J. (2015). Food Order Has a Significant Impact on Postprandial Glucose and Insulin Levels. Diabetes care, 38(7), e98–e99. https://doi.org/10.2337/dc15-0429
18. Suter P. M. (2005). Is alcohol consumption a risk factor for weight gain and obesity?. Critical reviews in clinical laboratory sciences, 42(3), 197–227. https://doi.org/10.1080/10408360590913542
19.  Rita Coelho do Vale, Rik Pieters, Marcel Zeelenberg, The benefits of behaving badly on occasion: Successful regulation by planned hedonic deviations, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Volume 26, Issue 1, 2016, 17-28, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2015.05.001.

Featured Image: Roman Samborskyi / Shutterstock

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As a powerlifter, Daria Rusanenko first made her hay in her native Ukraine, winning several contests of the Sub-Juniors and Teen variety in the mid-2010s. Years later, as a seasoned competitor and if her latest performance says anything meaningful — the athlete could be ready for a significant breakthrough to bona fide strength sports stardom.

On Nov. 19, 2022, during the 2022 International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) Equipped World Championships in Viborg, Denmark, Rusanenko captured a 275.5-kilogram (607.4-pound) equipped squat. Rusanenko entered the competition as an 84-kilogram Juniors competitor, making her top squat a Juniors and Open all-time IPF World Record in the same division. (Note: At the time of this writing, it is unclear precisely where Rusanenko finished in her category, as results continue to be tabulated.)

This squat performance isn’t the first time Rusanenko has turned heads with a record mark on an international stage.

According to the IPF database, the athlete is also the Sub-Juniors squat IPF World Record holder in both the 76-kilogram (240 kilograms/529.1 pounds) and the 84-kilogram divisions (225 kilograms/496 pounds). The first leg strength milestone occurred during the 2019 IPF World Juniors & Sub-Juniors Championships, while the latter happened at the 2019 iteration of the IPF Equipped World Championships. Suffice it to say: This young powerlifter has already demonstrated plenty of leg power in the recent past.

Here’s an overview of Rusanenko’s all-time equipped competition bests:

Daria Rusanenko | Equipped All-Time Competition Bests

• Squat — 275.5 kilograms (607.4 pounds) | Juniors and Open IPF World Record
• Bench Press — 150 kilograms (330.7 pounds)
• Deadlift — 212.5 kilograms (468.4 pounds)
• Total — 627.5 kilograms (1,383.4 pounds)

On a competitive basis, over an approximate seven-year career, Rusanenko can boast 17 victories with nine other podium finishes. Here’s an overview of some of her more notable contest results:

Daria Rusanenko | Notable Career Results

• 2015 UkrainePF Donetsk Powerlifting Championships (Sub-Juniors/Equipped) — First place | First career victory
• 2016 UkrainePF Ukrainian Powerlifting Championships (Sub-Juniors/Equipped) — First place
• 2017 European Powerlifting Federation (EPF) European Classic Powerlifting Championships (Sub-Juniors/Raw) — First place
• 2017, 2019 EPF European Equipped Powerlifting Championships (Sub-Juniors/Equipped) — First place
• 2017, 2019 IPF World Classic Powerlifting Championships (Sub-Juniors/Raw) — Second place (2017) | First place (2019)
• 2019 EPF European Equipped Powerlifting Championships (Sub-Juniors/Equipped) — First place
• 2019 IPF World Juniors & Sub-Juniors Championships (Sub-Juniors/Equipped) — First place
• 2020-2021 UkrainePF Ukraine Powerlifting Championships (Open/Equipped) — First place

At the time of this writing, Rusanenko doesn’t appear to have a consistent social media presence, making it unclear what her future plans for any competitions resemble. Though, given her equipped prowess, it’s probably fair to expect another resounding result — one that might include another World Record — the next time she steps on a sanctioned platform.

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Throughout his extended strongman career, Ivan Makarov has risen in acclaim for his ability to do one thing at a rare, high level — deadlift staggering amounts of weight. As the 2021 World Deadlift Champion (WDC), a recent majority of Makarov’s career competitive appearances have largely focused on the deadlift, and his current social media mainly features the athlete’s latest pulling progress. One exception would be his commitment to overhead strength.

On Nov. 9, 2022, Makarov shared footage of himself successfully locking out a 190-kilogram (418.9-pound) strict overhead press with a barbell. According to the strongman’s post, the lift is a personal record (PR). Makarov wore wrist wraps, elbow sleeves, and a lifting belt to help notch the personal milestone.

This overhead press PR isn’t the first instance of Makarov challenging his upper body roughly once a week this fall. The training focus appears to be part of a pursuit for the overhead press reps World Record. (Note: At the time of this writing, it is unclear when and where Makarov intends to break the current mark, or where the rep figure currently stands.)

For example, with the same wrist and elbow wraps set-up, Makarov showcased himself completing a 140-kilogram (308.6-pound) overhead press for eight reps in mid-October 2022. An approximate week later, Makarov overhead pressed 170 kilograms (374.8 pounds) for two reps. Two weeks ago, he managed to finish 160 kilograms (352.7 pounds) for six reps. Now, in large part due to his hard work, he has a new single-rep PR.

According to Strongman Archives, the 31-year-old Makarov has participated in seven strongman competitions since the 2017 Strongman Champions League (SCL) World Overhead Lift Championships. While he used to compete in the full slate of a competition’s events, of late the athlete has almost exclusively centered on his energy on ensuring his max deadlift is up to a top standard.

That sort of commitment has paid off in Makarov putting himself within striking distance of elite company. The competitor’s all-time highest raw deadlift PR captured on camera is a 490-kilogram (1,080.2-pound) pull from a September 2020 training session. He has made numerous attempts at deadlifting 500 kilograms (1,102.3 pounds). Should he ever be successful lifting at least that much weight during a sanctioned competition, Makarov would become just the third strongman to deadlift 500 kilograms. The only other strongmen to deadlift at least 500 kilograms are former World’s Strongest Man (WSM) champions Eddie Hall (2017) and Hafhor Björnsson (2018).

Notably, Makarov has attempted to officially surpass Björnsson’s all-time World Record deadlift of 501 kilograms (1,104.5 pounds) from the May 2020 edition of the World’s Ultimate Strongman (WUS) “Feats of Strength” series. Makarov made an attempt at deadlifting 502 kilograms (1,106.7 pounds) at the October 2020 iteration of the WUS Feats of Strength series, but fell just short. Makarov more recently made an unsuccessful attempt pulling 505 kilograms (1,113.3 pounds) at the 2021 Giants Live World Open.

Makarov is at a point where many eyes will turn toward him and his loaded barbell any time he deadlifts. It appears he’s setting up a future where he, soon enough, will also be famous for his overhead prowess.

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There’s no shortage of compelling storylines on deck at the 2022 Mr. Olympia. For example, Chris Bumstead is vying for a fourth consecutive Classic Physique Olympia title while being coached by a legendary steward. On the flip side, the 212 champion from 2021, Derek Lunsford, will be a part of the flagship Men’s Open division after a noteworthy transition. Though, all these tidbits likely pale in comparison to what could be the top dogfight on Dec. 16-18, 2022, in Las Vegas, NV.

Mamdouh “Big Ramy” Elssbiay is seeking to join an exclusive, all-time company with a third straight Mr. Olympia championship. Nick Walker, the athlete some consider to be the No. 1 contender to Elssbiay’s throne, is seemingly coming on with a full head of steam. In a Nov. 14, 2022, video on James “Flex” Lewis’ YouTube channel, legendary coach and 1989 Mr. Universe Miloš Šarčev maintained he thinks Elssbiay and Walker will present the main attraction at the 2022 Olympia.

At the moment, few people might be as plugged into what could happen at the 2022 Olympia as Šarčev. The coach is currently working with two separate rising athletes who have qualified for the contest — Samson Dauda and Behrooz Tabani Abar Ghani — and could add Joe Mackey to that catalog soon enough.

As he told Lewis, Šarčev has the informed opinion Elssbiay will once again stand on top of the Olympia podium.

“I see how the judges would favor Ramy [Elssbiay] because he’s just too overwhelming,” Šarčev said. “So, I still think Ramy, it’s his show to lose, but I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

Of course, the competitor Šarčev saw fit to mention as someone who could topple Elssbiay was Walker. The coach reflected on what Walker brought to the table performance-wise in a stellar fifth-place debut at the 2021 Olympia. He considered that the young athlete might return for his second go-round with an impeccable flourish against the sport’s current king. In fact, Šarčev believes a battle between Elssbiay and Walker is what everyone in the bodybuilding sphere is waiting for with bated breath.

“He [Nick Walker] was overwhelming,” Šarčev noted. “That front double biceps. Jesus Christ, those arms are [expletive] phenomenal. How could you not compare them? The world wants to see him [Nick Walker] next to Big Ramy, right? They are going to compare them, and let’s see which direction they go.” 

Šarčev probably isn’t wrong. Elssbiay indeed might be the headliner in a stacked respective field of athletes and stories. However, a promising competitor like Walker, who is looking to make a name for himself in one of the best possible ways, sets up a potential bodybuilding battle the world won’t soon forget.

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The barbell deadlift is the king of the jungle when it comes to pulling exercises. It’s a primary movement with the potential to move the most weight. Plus, it’s a competition lift in powerlifting, along with the back squat and bench press. The classic deadlift will always be popular.

But if you’re looking for a deadlift variation that’s easier on the spine, builds muscle in your upper and lower body, improves posture, and helps to boost your barbell deadlift, trade the bar for a pair of dumbbells. 

The dumbbell deadlift is an overlooked exercise that can increase muscle and strength while providing less compressive load on your spine. It allows you to train the same movement pattern with reduced lower back strain compared to the barbell exercise.

Here’s a closer look at the dumbbell deadlift including how and why it’s done, what not to do, programming tips, and more. mistakes to avoid. It’s time to be reminded why “the deadlift” is not all about the barbell.

• How to Do the Dumbbell Deadlift
• Dumbbell Deadlift Mistakes to Avoid
• How to Progress the Dumbbell Deadlift
• Benefits of the Dumbbell Deadlift
• Muscles Worked by the Dumbbell Deadlift
• How to Program the Dumbbell Deadlift
• Dumbbell Deadlift Variations
• Frequently Asked Questions

How to Do the Dumbbell Deadlift

Here’s a step-by-step guide for performing the dumbbell deadlift with safe and effective technique. This movement is performed “suitcase-style” with a pair of dumbbells by your sides.

Step 1 — Nail the Setup

Stand up straight with a dumbbell in each hand, facing your hips with your arms down by your sides. Pull your shoulders down away from your ears, puff your chest up, and firmly grip the weights. Begin with your legs straight but not fully locked out and grip the floor with your feet to create tension in your glutes.

Form Tip: Starting this exercise with good posture is vital. Pinch your shoulder blades together to open your chest and create a neutral spine. Stand “tall” looking straight ahead.

Step 2 — Control the Descent

Push your glutes toward the wall behind you and hinge at your hips. Keep your arms straight and allow the weights to “slide” alongside your legs. Keep your shoulders back and down — don’t allow the weights to pull your arms out of position.

Focus on feeling your hamstrings stretch as you lower the weights. As the weights approach your knees, bend your legs to reach a lower position. Don’t force your way to the bottom or sacrifice form, but if you can touch the weights to the ground without losing your posture, that’s an excellent goal.

Form Tip: The barbell deadlift has no significant eccentric contraction (lowering phase), but the dumbbell deadlift is all about the eccentric. Feeling tension in your hamstrings is critical because, if you are not, it means the movement isn’t coming from the target muscles.

Step 3 — Pull and Lockout

Push your feet through the floor to reverse the movement. Drive your hips forward and keep your shoulders pulled back to “un-hinge.” Ensure you finish at the top by squeezing your glutes, not your lower back. The dumbbells should remain near the sides of your legs throughout the repetition.

Form Tip: When returning upright, avoid simply “standing up” like a squat. Imagine squeezing your armpits together to ensure a neutral spine and to prevent your hips from shooting up too quickly.

Dumbbell Deadlift Mistakes to Avoid

The main thing to remember with the dumbbell deadlift is performing a hinge, not a squat. This requires using your glutes and hamstrings as intended, and keeping your body in the proper position. Lifting out of position creates most problems.

Squatting the Weight

There is nothing “wrong” with doing a dumbbell squat, unless you actually intended to do a dumbbell deadlift and performed a squat accidentally. You end up changing the exercise focus and not achieving your goal.

Some lifters tend to move the weight by squatting with a deep knee bend and an upright torso. Instead, you should be hinging at the hips and getting your torso nearly parallel to the ground while keeping their knees only slightly bent. When the dumbbell deadlift is performed correctly, it’s a glute and hamstring exercise. When it’s performed incorrectly, with a squat, it becomes an exercise for the quadriceps.

Avoid it: Pay attention to the muscles you feel stretching and contracting during each repetition. Your hamstrings and glutes should be doing much more work than the quads on the front of your thighs. Performing this exercise sideways to a mirror, or recording a video of your training, may also help you determine whether you’re squatting and not hinging.

Losing Tension

Maintaining muscular tension is the key with most strength exercises, and the dumbbell deadlift is no different. Keeping your upper back engaged, maintaining a neutral spine, and feeling your feet screwed into the floor are keys to a properly performed dumbbell deadlift.

As you lower and lift the weight, the entire back side of your body should feel tense — from your feet up through your hamstrings and glutes, to your abs, lower back, and shoulders.

Avoid it: Squeeze your arms to your sides, like you’re bringing your armpits together through your body. This will engage your upper back and lats, which helps to keep your upper body in a strong position. Trying to grip the floor with your feet, even when you’re wearing shoes, will also help to provide a stable base with good total-body position.

How to Progress the Dumbbell Deadlift

The key to the dumbbell deadlift and most other strength exercises is adding more muscle-building tension and providing progressive overload (gradually challenging yourself by doing more work). Here are a few ways to progress other than adding weight or doing extra reps.

Bodyweight Hip Hinge

If you have yet to master the hinge movement, go back to bodyweight training before adding the dumbbell deadlift. Using a wall as a reference point is a good way to learn how to lead with your hips.

This simple-looking drill will help teach your body the difference between a true hinge movement and a squat. Focus on pushing your hips back and keeping your hands sliding along your legs while keeping your spine stiff.

Tempo Dumbbell Deadlift

Every repetition of an exercise has four components: the eccentric or lowering portion, the stretched position, the concentric or lifting portion, and the lockout. Manipulating how long each component takes is called tempo lifting, and it can be an effective training method when the dumbbells at your gym only go so high. 

For example, perform a dumbbell deadlift with a 4-3-3-1 tempo. You take four seconds to lower the weight, hold the bottom position for a three-second pause, take three seconds to stand upright, and pause for one second. This puts your glutes and hamstrings through a longer time under tension which can increase muscle growth. (1)

Single-Arm Suitcase Deadlift

Holding the weight in one hand does two things. First, you must train each side independently, which means more opportunities to strengthen any imbalances between sides and, hopefully, add more overall muscle and strength.

Second, you add an anti-rotation, anti-lateral flexion component to the exercise because the single-sided load with try to pull, rotate, and shift your core toward the weight. Resisting this pull and maintaining a stable torso can improve core stability and strength.

B-Stance Dumbbell Deadlift

Single-leg deadlifts are challenging because you must have great balance to perform them well. Enter the B-stance dumbbell deadlift, which helps your stability and balance while still putting more focus on the front working leg.

This modified stance delivers all the benefits of a single-leg deadlift without having to worry about losing your balance. Focusing the work on each leg separately will also help to address any strength or muscle discrepancies between sides.

Benefits of the Dumbbell Deadlift

The dumbbell deadlift can deliver some big benefits when the exercise is performed as a consistent part of your training program. Here are some reasons to grab the dumbbells instead of the barbell.

Better Hinge Technique

The dumbbell deadlift helps develop the hinge technique using relatively lighter weights because some lifters struggle to maintain a neutral spine once the load gets heavy. Dumbbell deadlifts can make you more aware of any form deviations, like when the dumbbells’ path may change.

The dumbbells act independently as opposed to the barbell deadlift, which keeps you more aware of your body’s position throughout the lift. This develops better total-body awareness and control.

Increased Upper Back Engagement

The dumbbell deadlift requires rock-solid upper back strength because the dumbbells can swing and cause you to lose position. Locking in your upper back and shoulder muscles can prevent this.

The dumbbell position, with a neutral-grip alongside your legs, can make you aware of your shoulder and back position compared to a barbell. Ultimately, this leads to a stronger back and better, safer deadlift technique.

Better Grip Strength

Performing dumbbell deadlifts, especially for higher reps, can deliver gains in grip strength. Your grip strength is challenged by holding onto individual dumbbells, rather than so your stronger hand can’t pick up the slack to perform each rep.

Decreased Joint Strain

Holding dumbbells with a neutral-grip at your sides, instead of holding a barbell with a palm-down grip in front of your body, puts your shoulders and upper body in a more stabilized position.

This decreases the strain on your lower back by reducing the compression and shearing forces. This is a similar benefit of the trap bar deadlift, but can be accomplished much easier with dumbbells since not all gyms provide a trap bar.

Muscles Worked by the Dumbbell Deadlift

There is almost no a muscle untouched when performing the deadlift movement, but there are a few primary muscles emphasized with the dumbbell deadlift in particular.

Hamstrings

The hamstrings assist your glutes with hip extension (straightening your legs and standing up straight) during the lifting and lockout portion of the dumbbell deadlift, and their eccentric strength allows you to control the weight’s descent. Feeling your hamstrings stretch and contract is the exact feedback needed to know you are performing the exercise correctly.

Glutes

Your glutes are primarily responsible for extending your hips during the deadlift, bringing your lower body straight in-line with your upper body. They significantly engage and contract during in the upper portion of the movement, as you approach a complete lockout.

The glutes work together with the hamstrings, and the upper and lower back, to ensure good hip hinge technique. Driving your hips back and “pushing” them through are important steps for activating the glutes.

Upper Back

Your upper back — which includes the rhomboids, trapezius, and parts of the latissimus dorsi, among other smaller muscles — is trained almost as a single unit while performing the dumbbell deadlift.

The primary function of the upper back is to keep a safe and strong neutral spine by maintaining a stable thoracic position. The upper back also helps to control your shoulder blades and keeps them pulled back when controlling the weight.

Lower Back

The erector spinae, a.k.a. “the lower back,” is actually a long column of muscles along the full length of your back. This powerful muscles works together with your glutes, hamstrings, and upper back for strength and stability during the dumbbell deadlift.

The lower back muscles’ primary responsibility is stabilizing your spine, supporting torso, and resisting spinal flexion (bending) under load. If you deadlift with a rounded back, you limit the strength and stability of these important muscles and expose them to significant (and potentially dangerous) direct stress.

How to Program the Dumbbell Deadlift

How you program the dumbbell deadlift depends on your actual goal. Below are some goal-specific set and rep schemes to incorporate the movement into your training program.

To Improve Hinge Technique and Deadlift Form

When you want to improve your deadlift form, it pays to spend more time drilling the hinge position. With its reduced load compared to the barbell, the dumbbell deadlift is helpful for beginners looking to improve general technique and strength the movement-related muscles. Perform three to five sets of six to 10 repetitions, using a controlled eccentric and focusing on good posture.

For Hypertrophy

Because it’s not well-suited to moving hundreds of pounds, the dumbbell deadlift is best used to build muscle size. This exercise can be performed for more reps and, potentially, through a longer range of motion than a barbell because the diameter of the dumbbells is smaller than barbell weight plates.

Increased training volume and a greater range of motion leads to more time under tension for hypertrophy gains. Start by performing three to four sets of eight to 16 reps, using a moderate-to-heavy weight and taking each set close to technical failure — the point at which you can’t perform another rep with good form, as opposed to muscular failure when the target muscles cannot control the weight.

For Muscular Endurance

To improve muscular endurance in the legs, back, and core, training in the higher rep ranges for fewer sets and shorter rest periods is the name of the game. Two to three sets of 15-20 repetitions with less than one minute between sets will have you feeling the burn.

Dumbbell Deadlift Variations

Adding variety to your training keeps you more engaged, reduces the likelihood of picking up an overuse injury, and gives you ways to progress when you can no longer increase the load. These three variations of the dumbbell deadlift will keep you guessing and progressing.

Single-Leg Dumbbell Deadlift

The single-leg dumbbell deadlift is one of the more challenging leg exercises, requiring total-body strength, stability, and coordination. If, or when, you can perform these with good form, you can end up with performance benefits ranging from addressed muscle imbalances, better balance, and improved glute hypertrophy. (2)

You may need to work on B-stance dumbbell deadlifts, explained above, as an intermediary step toward this difficult exercises. The time and effort is well worth it.

Dumbbell Sumo Deadlift

The dumbbell sumo deadlift is a wide-stance deadlift that focuses a little more on your quadriceps, along with your glutes and hamstrings, and without as much lower back stress because you are not as bent-over or hinged forward compared to other deadlifts.

The movement can be performed with a dumbbell in each hand or holding a single dumbbell with both hands.

Dumbbell Stiff-Legged Deadlift

The dumbbell stiff-leg deadlift minimizes knee flexion and focuses almost entirely on hip flexion to put the hamstring and glutes under a little more tension. This is an ideal exercise for lifters looking to emphasize the back halves of their legs.

This simple variation is also effective for lifters who have “outgrown” the dumbbell deadlift in terms of potential load but want to keep progressing.

FAQs

References

1. Burd, N. A., et al. Muscle time under tension during resistance exercise stimulates differential muscle protein sub-fractional synthetic responses in men. The Journal of Physiology, 590(Pt 2), 351-362. https://doi.org/10.1113/jphysiol.2011.221200
2. Diamant, W., Geisler, S., Havers, T., & Knicker, A. (2021). Comparison of EMG Activity between Single-Leg Deadlift and Conventional Bilateral Deadlift in Trained Amateur Athletes – An Empirical Analysis. International journal of exercise science, 14(1), 187–201.

Featured Image: YAKOBCHUK VIACHESLAV / Shutterstock

The post How to Do the Dumbbell Deadlift for Size and Strength appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

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Some powerlifters seemingly have a great passion and energy for displaying their strength under a big spotlight. German athlete Sonja Stefanie Krüger might be one of them. Krüger is just 22 years old, but has already had over 60 competitive powerlifting appearances since her debut in June 2014. Krüger’s latest stellar performance is a yet another example of top-level lifting.

During the 2022 IPF Equipped World Championships on Nov. 16, 2022, in Viborg, Denmark, Krüger successfully locked out an equipped World Record squat of 280.5 kilograms (618.4 pounds) in the 76-kilogram weight class. (Note: At the time of this article’s publication, the competition is still underway, making it unclear where Krüger has finished in her category.)

The video of Krüger’s astonishing squat isn’t only noteworthy for its showcase of dynamic leg strength on an international lifting platform. As soon as Krüger finished her rep, she stepped away from her loaded barbell, clearly overjoyed as she proceeded to jump around in place in excitement.

Somewhat unlike other competitors at the 2022 IPF Equipped Worlds, a glance at Krüger’s resume on Open Powerlifting will denote she mainly competes while equipped. Of those mentioned 60-plus competitive appearances, Krüger wasn’t equipped in just 18 of them.

Here’s an overview of some of the more notable results from Krüger’s official powerlifting ledger:

Sonja Stefanie Krüger | Notable Career Results

• 2014 Bundesverband Deutscher Kraftdreikämpfer (BVDK) Hessiche Meisterschaft im Kreuzheben (Youth/Raw) — First place | First career victory
• 2014 Global Powerlifting Committee (GPC) World Championships (Youth/Wraps) — First place
• 2015-2016, 2018-2019 IPF World Bench Press Championships (Sub-Juniors/Equipped; Juniors/Equipped) — First place
• 2015-2016 IPF World Classic Powerlifting Championships (Sub-Juniors/Raw) — First place
• 2016 European Powerlifting Federation (EPF) European Classic Powerlifting Championships (Sub-Juniors/Raw) — First place
• 2019 EPF European Equipped Powerlifting Championships (Juniors/Equipped) — First place
• 2021 IPF World Powerlifting Championships (Open/Equipped) — Second place
• 2022 EPF Equipped European Powerlifting Championships (Open/Equipped) — First place

Krüger is no stranger to record lifts. The athlete is now the equipped IPF squat World Record holder in the 69-kilogram (260 kilograms/573.2 pounds), 76-kilogram (280.5 kilograms/618.4 pounds), and 84-kilogram (275 kilograms/507 pounds) divisions. She also possesses the equipped IPF World Record bench press (182.5 kilograms/402.3 pounds) in the 69-kilogram division, which doubles as the equipped Single Bench Press IPF World Record.

Here’s a rundown of Krüger’s all-time equipped competition bests:

Sonja Stefanie Krüger | Equipped All-Time Competition Bests

• Squat — 280.5 kilograms (618.4 pounds) | IPF World Record
• Bench Press — 210 kilograms (462.9 pounds)
• Deadlift — 205.5 kilograms (453 pounds)
• Total — 685 kilograms (1,510.1 pounds)

Even as the 2022 IPF Equipped Worlds start to close on Nov. 20, 2022, there’s little doubt Krüger’s squat record will be one of the contest’s highlights when all’s said and done.

Featured image: theipf on Instagram

The post Powerlifter Sonja Stefanie Krüger (76KG) Squats World Record 280.5 Kilograms (618.4 Pounds) at 2022 IPF Equipped Worlds appeared first on Breaking Muscle.