Ground Up Strength

Should I Push or Pull for Deadlifts?

I see this all the time. Should I just call this blog the "false dichotomy" blog? However, if there is one thing I hate more than people always preaching one of two extremes in strength training it's people teaching the deadlift that don't know what they are doing.

Verbal cues become mental cues. Mental cues slowly morph into mental imagery. Mental imagery becomes a visual mental schema of the lift. What am I saying in plain language here? I am saying that the words people use will eventually affect the way you "look" at an exercise with your mind's eye. It will 'become' that word. If I say "wet" to you then you visualize water. You don't think about the concept of "wetness" in some abstract way. Well, the same thing goes for most everything, whether you wish it or not.

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What Muscle Should I Feel Working When I Do Deadlifts and Why Do I Feel It Mostly in My Back?

One of the most common questions out there is what muscle group one should predominantly feel working during the deadlift. Also related to this is where one should expect to get DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) after they deadlift.

The question occurs because many trainees have been told, rightly, that the deadlift is not a "back exercise" but a hip dominant exercise that utilizes the entire posterior chain. So, when trainees feel that most of the work seems to be centered in the lower back they become concerned that they are not performing the lift correctly.

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Deloaded Barbell Rows

Deloaded Barbell Rows are rows requiring the resistance (or weight) to be deloaded onto the floor after each repetition performed. Therefore, every repetition performed is done so from a dead stop and the bar is picked up off the floor or a raised platform (if required), unlike a regular barbell row in which the bar remains suspended above the floor and tension is maintained in the body, shoulders, and arms.

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Pinch Grip Dumbbell Deadlifts

The video below is self-explanatory so I'm going to list some small tips which make this exercise more efficient:

• Learn to apply grip tension while keeping your entire arm loose and un-flexed. The challenge is to be able to make a tight fist while keeping your upper arm and shoulder loose.
• Progress by adding weight. After a point you will need to branch off into something else (once it becomes too difficult to pinch the dumbbell).

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Rope Pull-ups

The video below is plenty helpful - I won't go putting it all into words. I am going to list some tips/suggestions:

• Remember this is a Grip Training Exercise.
• Progression is via adding weight to your body or adding reps or sets. Basically you have total load, volume and workload to play with.
• When you grip the towel remember to have it rotating in a cross counter fashion in terms of hand-to-hand. What I mean is, for example if you're rotating the towel in a counter clockwise direction with your left hand, you should be rotating/twisting the towel in a clockwise direction with your right hand.

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Unilateral Lat Pulldowns

Exercise Description with Video: Unilateral Lat Pulldowns

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Unilateral Press With Lunge

Exercise Description of the Unilateral Press with Lunge

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Dumbbell Lunge Press (aka Dumbbell Lunge and Press)

Also called a front lunge press, the dumbbell lunge press is basically a lunge combined with an overhead press. It can be performed with dumbbells in one or both hands and with a front or reverse lunge. This exercise is not only a great stability challenge and a full body strength exercise it is a great conditioning challenge and perfect for incorporating into conditioning days. Heavy weights are not required to make this exercise demanding.

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How to Perform the Front Squat Exercise (Barbell)

The barbell front squat is a squat carried out with the barbell positioned in the clean position, the bar resting on the lifters front deltoids. Front squats allow a more upright torso position than barbell back squats and is are an excellent alternative or adjunct exercise. This article is meant to be basic technique instruction for the lift, followed by a discussion of the clean grip, which is the preferred grip for the front squat, then follows many very useful tips and other information.

Although the clean grip is recommended this article assumes that the trainee is using the front squat as a stand-alone exercise and not as part of the development of the Clean or the Clean and Jerk. As such there will be no need to actually clean the bar to the shoulders.

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Front Planks

Front Planks are a core exercise - which means they target your core muscles: the abdominal muscles and the lower back with the structural supporting muscles kicking in as well. This works the stabilization function of the abdominals and back and a co-contraction of these muscle groups is necessary to maintain the plank position. Front squats, in this way, are also an example of two sides of the body functioning in tandem rather than as agonist/antagonist.

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Overhead Press And Weighted Pull-Ups

I’ve been working on my Overhead Press and Weighted Pull-ups and I wanted to share some recent developments.

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Stability Ball Exercise Progressions for Building Muscle and Core Strength

After my article Stick Your Neck Out was published I surprisingly caught some flack from the “hardcore” types just because I showed a stability ball being used in a few of the exercise applications.

Since I’m not emotionally attached to any one piece of equipment or style of training, I was not upset in the least about this. However, it did make me realize how misunderstood the Swiss ball is within the “hardcore strength” community. So, in light of this realization, I’m stepping up to set the record straight once and for all about Swiss balls and how they should and shouldn’t be utilized in and effective strength program.

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Olympic Snatch Technique Video Module from Lift Up

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How to Perform the Military Press (Standing Overhead Barbell Press)

The Military Press has also been referred to as Shoulder Press or Overhead Press and while some may claim they are different exercises, we can say that the heart of the exercise is a vertical press with a straight bar.

Having several different names for the same exercise is quite normal in the strength training world. Names like "overhead press" and "shoulder press" are likely an attempt to use more useful and appropriate names for the military press exercise…but they fall short in several ways.

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Tweaking the Overhead Squat: Dislocates, Reaching Back, Grip Width and Mobility Drills

The basic bar position for the overhead squat is barbell held overhead and lined up in the imaginary "pocket" between the scapula and the back of the ears. Some people teach this as being between the shoulders and ears as well. It doesn't make a lot of difference. The bar will be somewhere in that area and with practice you will develop the proper position.

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Stability Ball Exercise Progressions for Building Muscle and Core Strength

Split Squats, Lunges, and Single-Leg Squats (Pistols)

Pistols: What have you done for me lately?

Romanian Versus Stiff Legged Deadlifts