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Technique for Novice Deadlifters

Deadlifts provide valuable training stimulus

They also go to show how strong you REALLY are.

That is because true strength requires muscles throughout the entire body to work at the most efficient joint angles. Technique is incredibly important for injury prevention and performance.

Deadlifts are for strength

Deadlifts are for strength

Like any exercise, deadlift is a skill which requires the lifter to learn the deadlift movement pattern.

Deadlift Fundamentals

For the deadlift, you should take note of these

1. Full body tension

2. Legs and hip drive

3. Squeeze the butt aggressively

4. Bar is as close to the body as possible during the entire lift

Deadlift Critique

Setup
Need to correct – Leaning forward
1. Chest Up
2. Hips back
3. Drive through the heels
Sit back into the rep, focus on using glutes as the power player.
Mid-Range
Need to correct – Hips rise too fast
1.Focus on Leg Drive
2. Push heels into the ground
3. Spread the floor with your feet
Lockout
Need to correct- Stopping short
1. Pull the bar towards the body
2. Squeeze glutes forcefully
Lowering
Need to correct – Too much lower back on way down
1. Keep the chest up
2. Let the hips drop as soon as bar passes the knees

How to Improve your Deadlift

Main ways to improve the Deadlift

  • Practice the deadlift (train the deadlift)
  • Get stronger in all key areas (upper back, lower back, core, glutes, hamstrings, quads)
  • Practice the deadlift!!!

More reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LhYspMFUmY

More reference 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4qRntuXBSc

Keep at it y’all. Cuz you realize that when you’re deadlift technique is good, you WILL have a strong, strong, strong back and legs. Your spine will be protected by slabs of muscle and you will feel the strength in all the other areas of your life!!

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Physical Fitness by Dre
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Lifting weights for aesthetics and strength

Strength, aesthetics, and overall improvement of quality of life.

That’s what a lot of gym goers are seeking.

The benefits of strength has been explored many times, but I’ll just say that it feels good to stronger.

He looks alright

He looks alright

We are going to talk about aesthetics. This is a complicated subject because everyone has these perceptions:

  • What do I think about my body?
  • What do I think that other people think about my body?
  • What do people actually think about my body?

What are the characteristics of an aesthetic physique?

It’s well known that men would prefer to have greater mass overall, whereas women say they would rather be attracted to a man with a slimmer more athletic physique. My overarching theme here is that first and foremost you should lift weights for whatever reasons you want to, and pursue goals relentlessly.

This, however, is a topic about aesthetics, so if you are interested read on.

Aesthetic physiques typically:

  • Fit, athletic, good muscle tone
  • Balanced, symmetrical
  • Move with ease, flexible yet strong, poise of a Greek God.
  • Healthy skin tone (from fruits/vegetables and sun exposure)
  • Look as if they are able to perform functionally (mass monsters need not apply)

So it seems like aesthetics are the underlying factors of physical attractiveness. It’s about looks, yet it’s about what it looks like that aesthetic person is capable of. It’s about what it looks like that person has in terms of personality traits and confidence.

If you had the body of a Greek God, wouldn’t you find confidence in those accomplishments.

How to Train for Aesthetics

Now I could tell you to squat, deadlift, and bench press and then see what happens. Some people will turn out great, while others will have obvious weak points that detract from their physique. In other words, everyone is built differently and requires unique modifications to their training based on limb length, torso size, prior injuries, etc.

And yet, I will still tell you to Deadlift, Squat, and Bench Press because this will help to build AND measure your overall strength. Some people hardly deadlift, except to see where their strength levels are at.

The major lifts are the foundation, then from there on all you have to do is hit the muscles from different angles and rep ranges. WITH INTENSITY.

Beast mode should definitely be activated during those crucial moments.

Natural vs unnatural

For people who choose to not use steroids/AAS, the gains will come differently and the training will be different as well. Just don’t expect to look big and shredded like the people in the magazines unless you’re willing to use the same chemicals they do.

A very famous strongman from the old days

Overall, I’d say that general population appreciates a natural physique in terms of aesthetics. There is more value to the strength because it is unassisted.

Eat clean, train hard, and sleep well.

Then do it consistently.

Physical Fitness by Dre
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End Scrawny: 5 Fixes to Gain Muscle Mass for the Skinny Guy

How to Gain Lean Bulk for the Skinny/Underweight Male

Guys who are skinny are skinny for either one of two reasons.

1. They are young, somewhat active, and still experiencing growth

OR

2. Most skinny guys haven’t learned how to eat properly

The author with a 50 lbs difference in body mass

The author with a 50 lbs difference in body mass

Consuming food is easy, while consuming nutrients takes dedication.

Because most underweight males are at their weight due to lifestyle choices, we should focus on certain quick fixes to help gain some success and confidence. First I will discuss a few quick fixes, then I will relate the reasons why it is fundamental to create new eating habits.

Quick Fix# 1: Breakfast 

This is simple and it should be happening at least 6 out of every 7 days. Sure I can speak for days as to how breakfast enhances human metabolic processes… but you just need to do it.

  • Smoothies (berries / milk / protein)
  • Oatmeal (milk / whey / almond butter or peanut butter / or coconut oil)
  • Shake (fresh juices, vegetables, fruits, powders)
  • Eggs + vegetables
  • Many possibilities

Quick Fix# 2: Allow yourself a minimum of 20 minutes for breakfast

Okay, so the first two MOST IMPORTANT THINGS YOU CAN DO are both related to breakfast. That should give you a glimpse as to how extremely valuable this time is for your body.

You cannot rush through breakfast and expect to have healthy digestion and consumption.

Go to bed 20 minutes earlier the night before if you must.

Quick Fix# 3: Eat Big Carbs before / after workout

To gain muscle mass, you want to increase the energy storage within the muscle. Carbohydrates, particularly glucose or food that readily converts into glucose are the muscles preferred sources of energy.

This guy understands the benefits of healthy carbs.

This guy understands the benefits of healthy carbs.

As muscles adapt to training stimuli, the overall amount of glycogen stored within the muscle will be increased.

Let me put it this way: The more lean, athletic muscle you possess, the more carb-based energy will be stored within the muscles. This is one reason that gives the muscles a larger physical size/appearance. It also means you have the potential to be more powerful than most other people.

Quick Fix# 4: Consume Protein before / after workout

Protein contains bonds of amino acids which are essential for the body. Powerful body-strengthening mechanisms are activated by protein.

After your workout, your muscles will be increased sensitivity to uptaking carbohydrates and glucose. When the muscles uptake glucose more readily, it has a carryover effect of uptaking protein as well. In other words, carbs help attract muscle building amino acids into the actual muscle tissue.

Quick Fix# 5: Take Omega-3 Fatty Acid supplement 

Some people eat Wild Alaskan Salmon three times per week — and they might not need an Omega-3 supplement. However, most people, especially skinny guys NEED the nutrients and will utilize Omega-3’s to support anabolic processes.

You will cripple your progress unless you consume adequate omega-3s.

You will cripple your progress unless you consume adequate omega-3s.

A lot of people talk about the health benefits of Omega-3 fatty acids — I know all about them. If you want to know more, google that. Let’s talk about the MUSCLE BUILDING and ANABOLIC properties that omega-3’s possess.

  • Improved insulin sensitivity (translates to –> more protein/glucose IN your muscles)
  • Joint lubrication (translates to –> less achy joints, quicker recovery time from exercise)
  • Supports Inflammatory process (translates to –> inflammation is regulated to improve adaptation to exercise)
  • Brain health (translates to –> you learn skills /exercise form quicker and can progress faster)

Gaining Lean Mass requires Lifestyle Alteration

Regardless of genes, your lifestyle is the reason for why your body looks the way it does. In order to enhance the muscularity of the body, you must also enhance the internal health.

I take a strong holistic approach towards gaining weight in a healthy way. You must pay attention to the bio-feedback and signals from your body in order to truly achieve a state of wellness.

A few things to consider during your journey:

  • The role of gut health / bacteria in nearly all realms of human health condition
  • Sleep and other cycles
  • Hormones, how to optimize male / human hormones to exist in a muscle building state
  • Stressors — your ability to adapt to everyday stress
  • Coping strategies. Example… health = exercise. Unhealthy = smoking / drinking.
  • Antioxidants and intracellular optimalization

Muscle mass must be earned, every day. every week. and every month. 

The best things in life don’t come for free. The requirements to achieve greatness will always come with sacrifice and character building opportunities.

You can choose to make excuses… or you can force mental adaptation (lifestyle change).

Some perspective…

Exercise: 3-4 hours per week

For the other 164 hours of the week, you need to be owning up to habits which promote healthy metabolic functioning. And in your case, that means forcing physical adaptation through recovery methods (sleep, nutrition, unstress, and soft tissue work).

Stay tuned for the next post for an Exercise Routine to help the skinny guy. 

Nutrition, Immunity, and Digestion Physical Fitness by Dre
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Why Bodyweight Training is Essential for Fitness

Bodyweight exercise has existed before any other kind.

Whether humans were running along the fertile ground near rivers or performing feats of strength as ritual, the ability to have control over one’s body is more human than any other training.

These guys didn’t wake up one day and do a handstand… no — they trained for it.

Rediscover the benefits of bodyweight exercise

  • Exercise in a natural range of motion
  • Metabolic boosts, calorie burning
  • Improved recovery capacity and less stress on the central nervous system
  • Typically supports joint health and muscles which stabilize the joint
  • Lean muscle tone

Why don’t more people do bodyweight training?

Even though there are many subcultures of fitness which are entirely dedicated to bodyweight training, the truth is that most people have a failure to appreciate the difficulty of bodyweight exercises.

The Planche is a static hold requiring tension throughout the entire body. This is an advanced position requiring many months of progression and exercises as well as a lean physique with low body fat.

The result, however, is an incredibly fit individual. This is just an example of how bodyweight exercises can increase in difficulty by changing the levers of the exercise. What was once a push up position now supports the entire body in the air.

The cons of bodyweight exercise

Gaining the strength, skill, coordination to perform advanced variations is difficult enough. Moreover, most people simply don’t have the physique (at this point in time) to be able to perform advanced exercises.

So most people are forced to begin with simple variations on bodyweight exercises and they feel very humbled by how much trouble they have. Instead of doing bodyweight exercises, many gym-goers go off and use implements such as dumbbells and machines. People with large body mass or people with significant excess body fat will have difficulty performing bodyweight exercises.

“Older” guys can do it too. Jack Lalane showing his fingertip push up skills.

On the flip side, people with very LOW body mass (skinny people) may have more trouble building muscle mass from bodyweight exercises alone because their bodies are not forced to move as much weight. For example, if a 130 pound guy does 20 chin ups, versus a 200 pound guy who does 15 chin ups — who do you think will have bigger arms and back as a result of chin up practice? Most likely the larger guy.

Embrace the challenge

This man realized the benefits of bodyweight training in association with weighted implement training.

The more I learn about the human body, the more I realize that bodyweight exercises should be foundational and not supplemental. The joint health benefits alone are significant enough, and then you should also remember the coordination and functional benefits as well.

Physical Fitness by Dre