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Rack pulls from knee height are one of my favorite functional strength & mass builders not only because they’re simple with a relatively small learning curve but also because you can overload the daylights out of the body in a safe manner that’s joint friendly. More about rack pulls in full article at https://www.advancedhumanperformance.com/blog/build-massive-traps-back-with-chain-resisted-rack-pulls

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Although I’ve been a fan of eyes-closed training for years & also discuss it in depth in my book MOVEMENT REDEFINED, I’ve noticed one primary issue over the years. That is, individuals still rely on vision even when their eyes are closed. Makes sense right? Yeah, I didn’t think so. Allow me to explain.

When an individual closes their eyes, whether they realize it or not, they end up taking a snapshot of their surroundings & storing it in their memory as a means of spatial referencing & visual imagery orientation. Throughout the set they continue to refer back to this mental spatial map as a means of controlling their body in space.

So while they may not be directly using sense of sight via the ocular system during the set they’re still relying on elements of visual feedback as a reference. Unfortunately this can be disadvantageous for 3 reasons.

1. Most individuals have ocular dominance meaning they favor one eye. This tends to produce subtle deviations and asymmetries in our movement as ocular dominance appears to be related to handedness.

2. Besides using vision to maintain balance during movement we also use it as a form of spatial geographic orientation. It is human nature to use straight lines as a spatial reference to determine what is aligned & what is not. In fact, when lifting it’s very common to rely excessively on our sense of sight & use the spatial orientation of the equipment, building, walls, & structures to create a visual reference map that lines up our body & limbs in relation to other objects. However, due to issues related to ocular dominance, our reference point for what constitutes a perfectly straight line is rarely correct.

3. In addition to sensory input issues there is the matter of attention. The science on the topic of attention is quite complex, therefore, what I describe here is a very simplistic overview to help illustrate subsequent points. Science has shown that attention capacity is limited such that we can only attend to a handful of elements and, in many cases, only one element at a time before sacrificing how much attention we allocate to each element. Simply put, the more elements we try to attend to at once the more the total amount of attention directed towards each individual element suffers. This is particularly true for complex skills or tasks that require high levels of brain function and cognitive focus.

Read more at: https://www.advancedhumanperformance.com/blog/eyes-closed-training-for-strength-performance-function

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OPTION #1

Here's the Eyes Closed VISRE Floor Press (Visual Imagery Spatial Referencing Elimination) Training which will help really lock in your bench press technique. Read more at: https://www.advancedhumanperformance.com/blog/eyes-closed-training-for-strength-performance-function

OPTION #2

This next exercise is a Single Arm Hip Thrust Chest Press. Think of this as a push press but for the chest. This is both an explosive power exercise (on the concentric phase) & an eccentric overload stimulus on the eccentric since the athlete should be handling heavy if not supramaximal loads for the incline position

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OPTION #1

NOTE: Slide out only as wide as you feel comfortable. The wider you go on the offset the more challenging the movement becomes.

Offset barbell leverage training is very similar to offset barbell loading in terms of the effects and benefits. The primary difference is that rather than placing more weight on one side of the bar to produce the offset stimulus, you’ll simply shift to one side of the bar. This places one side into a more biomechanically disadvantageous position and the other side into a biomechanically strong position. For instance if I shift to the right, I’ll have more of the weight on the left side of my body and visa versa. Although the effects are similar this tends to produce even greater rotational forces the lifter will have to resist both on the barbell and their body. Although it’s difficult to overload these the level of core stability, anti-rotation, full body tension, anti-lateral flexion, and rotary stability are through the roof.

Although you can use a moderate load (i.e. 50-70% your typical load) and simply shift several inches to one side, you can actually perform these with just an empty barbell by shifting all the way to the outside of the bar near or at the collar as I show here on the overhead press. Just remember the farther over you shift the exponentially more physically demanding these become. And yes even though it was just an empty 45 lb bar, this was without a doubt one of the most brutal overhead presses I’ve ever performed as it felt like more core and abs were going to burst. This same strategy can also be employed on chest presses, rows, squats, and other traditional barbell movements.

OPTION #2

This exercise has 4 unique benefits.

1. Besides working the core musculature & rotational muscles of the trunk, pelvis, & hips in a sport specific manner, these also help to complete the oblique slings activation patterns which involves contralateral activation patterns of reciprocal muscle groups on opposing sides of the body.

2. Furthermore these movements require the lifter to slow everything down & use very smooth controlled mechanics while eliminating momentum in order to synchronize the rotational elements with the pushing or pulling motion of the press or pulldown so they occur in unison.

3. Additionally the smaller intrinsic muscles of the foot & ankle complex get worked overtime particularly on the overhead press variations as the balance is quite tricky.

4. Both exercises not only provide intense activation of the entire kinetic chain but they also provide a functional therapeutic stretch to the hips particularly the hip flexors as holding an overhead position in a split squat elongates most of the muscles & fascia line that runs through the body from head to toe. Simply these are great for mobility & stability as well as posture & alignment.

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NOTE: Anchor band to dumbbell on floor if no partner available.

This next exercise is a pullup/chinup using a unique form of RNT (reactive neuromuscular training) via posterior band resistance. This provides 4 benefits.

1. It teaches the athlete how to engage their core & eliminate excessive lumbar extension. Many lifters have trouble creating proper t-spine extension without over-arching their low back. This helps remedy that.

2. One of the keys to focus on with proper pullup & chinup for is to pull slightly away from the bar at the top to help you squeeze your back & lats rather than leaning forward towards the bar. By driving the legs forward and engaging the abs it automatically helps reinforce an upper body position where the lifter is pulling away and using their back rather than crowding the bar (i.e. chin to bar). This creates enormous upper back & lat activation while also reducing stress to the shoulder joint.

3. This RNT pullup variation produces a very upright position that has incredible transfer to improving overhead pressing mechanics since they’re reciprocal movements. Normally proper pullups involve a slightly angled torso position especially at the top.

4. Most lifters try to pull too high and use excessive range of motion during pullups. They also tend to collapse at the bottoms rather than maintaining a strong shoulder position. This variation helps reinforce an optimal stopping point of 90 degrees (which is ideal for any pullup or chinup) as well as eliminate collapsing at the bottoms & overstretching the shoulder joint.

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Overhead Bulgarian barbell squats performed in an eccentric isometric fashion are one of the single most effective movements you can. It improves improves mobility, stability, postural alignment, balance, symmetrical loading, proprioception, strength, and hypertrophy from head to toe. For the eccentric isometric perform a slow negative followed by a several second pause in the stretched position. This allows the lifter to attend to the high levels of sensory feedback produced from muscle spindles and other proprioceptive mechanisms. As a result this allows the lifter to fine-tune and optimize their body positioning and movement mechanics.

It’s also imperative that the Bulgarian squat be performed with proper hip hinge mechanics to ensure optimal activation throughout the glutes and hip muscles. Most individuals perform Bulgarian squats and lunges with excessive anterior knee drift due to lack of ideal hip hinge mechanics in the eccentrically elongated position. The overhead mechanics typically exposes this dysfunction even further as the hips and knees will have a tendency to drift forward even more so unless technique is perfectly dialed in. Focus on keeping the hips and knees pushed back as far as possible while keeping the chest out and arms pulled back overhead as far as possible.

In addition try to aim for approximately 90 degree angles in both legs as this represents ideal joint mechanics for optimizing force production, force absorption, and joint stability. This is a challenging movement but if you can master it, the improvements in muscle function and body mechanics will be well worth the effort.

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The lateral raise performed with kettlebells is a great movement for targeting the lateral deltoids as it forces the lifter to use very strict form.

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The straight arm pulldown actually falls into the same movement pattern and muscle activation category as a pullover exercise. They also target nearly the same musculature only in a standing position rather than a supine/laying position. Similar to the negative pullovers in my article, the bilateral assisted negative accentuated protocol (BANA) can also be applied to straight arm pulldowns as demonstrated here by NFL athlete Prince Iworah as he uses a load thats greater that his 1RM for a typical single arm lat pulldown (allows him to overload his upper body). As illustrated, make sure you maintain a slight forward lean throughout in order to maximize core activation and lat recruitment as well as minimize lumbar extension.

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The bent over lateral raise with kettlebells is a great movement for targeting the rear deltoids as well as the upper back. Using kettlebells makes it slightly more challenging than dumbbells due to more challenging leverage and biomechanics.

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I’ve been asked quite a few questions lately about chest flyes and whether or not I recommend them. The answer is yes but only if they are done properly with very precise execution as shown here by one of my bodybuilders Ben Lai. If you’re performing chest flyes the way you see 99% of lifters on the internet doing them you’re setting yourself up for injury, ruining your shoulder stability, degrading your postural alignment, destroying shoulder mobility, and actually doing very little to stimulate size and strength gains in the chest.

Here’s the key; maintain nearly the same shoulder, scapula, and postural positioning that you would hold during a neutral grip dumbbell press, proper pushup, or proper bench press keeping the elbows pointed straight ahead and not using excessive range of motion. Focus on keeping the shoulders and scapula depressed, and retracted throughout while allowing them to medially rotate towards the spine the deeper you go into your position. Terminate the end range of motion when you feel the shoulders and traps begin to elevate and the elbows have to start pulling back.

And yes that means the optimal range of motion on a fly will be slightly more compact than what most coaches, trainers, and lifters would suggest but this represents the optimal way to perform them not only for joint health and muscle function but for maximizing the hypertrophy stimulus. In fact one factor that contributes to faulty chest fly mechanics is having the mindset of achieving as large of a stretching sensation as possible at the bottom of the movement. This is one of the most counterproductive cues as you’re essentially stretching the tendon insertion point rather than the belly of the muscle. Such a maneuver can create extreme soreness in the joints and surrounding connective tissue.

Contrary to popular belief this excessive stretch has little if any hypertrophy stimulating benefits as the muscles relax and go limp in order to allow this large amount of slack to occur. In contrast, the natural or moderate stretched position represents a lengthened yet tight and highly activated position. If you’re looking to tear a pec or ruin your joints then go for excessive stretch on flyes. If size and strength are more your thing then perform them as shown here.

On a side note I have Ben performing these with kettlebells as well as with a hollow core leg raise position. There are several reasons for this. First kettlebells provide more unique and constant tension on the chest due to the hanging and lateral pulling nature of the kettelbells. This makes them very conducive for creating abduction force vectors against the shoulder joint ultimately crushing the chest fibers through more direct stimulation.

Second, unlike dumbbells that tend to be fairly stable during flyes, kettlebells tend to be more unstable particularly as you go lower and the weights provide more of a hanging position. This instability helps to centrate and stabilize the shoulder joint thereby helping to eliminate excessive range of motion and faulty mechanics.

Lastly, the hollow body leg raise position helps keep his core engaged. As long as the core stays activated throughout the chance of losing spinal rigidity is markedly reduced. When the spine remains stable and properly aligned this directly impacts movement mechanics particularly in the shoulder joint as it becomes nearly impossible to collapse due to proper positioning of the scapula.