Before she began competition in the 2022 Rogue Invitational, which will run in Austin, TX, from Oct. 27-30, 2022, Polish CrossFitter Gabriela Migała went to a unique place to refine and polish up her strength and conditioning. It might not have been that outside of the box for an athlete seeking every edge.
On Oct. 27, 2022, Migała posted a video to her YouTube channel that features her traveling to Hafthor Björnsson’s commercial gym, Thor’s Power Gym, in Kópavogur, Iceland. Her primary mission was to work on her deadlift and sandbag proficiency while being coached by two-time World’s Strongest Man (WSM) finalist Stefán Sölvi Pétursson.
From the moment she stepped out of her car — beaming while speculating if Björnsson is actually as big as his reputation says he is — Migała seemed eager to continue implementing some strongwoman-level training into her general routine. (Note: Björnsson was not in attendance.)
“I’m really happy to learn some new stuff from the best people,” Migała explains to the camera. “So it’s gonna be fun. It’s gonna be really helpful.”
Veering away from her usual CrossFit-centric routine apparently wasn’t easy for Migała. She describes herself as a person who appreciates consistency in her daily planning, making the initial slight transition a little challenging.
“Before I came to Iceland, that was one of my concerns,” Migała said of her reservations about trying a different training style. “I’m the type of person who likes to have everything scheduled. I like my routine. I don’t really like too many changes. Leaving my gym, and my equipment, and my everything was quite stressful. I wasn’t sure about this, especially so close to a competition [the 2022 Rogue Invitational].”
Ultimately, Migała appeared to be won over by the temporary variation after some time. She seemed to believe she acclimated well and that this sort of focus helped her become more versatile.
“It actually turned out to be a really good decision,” Migała says. “It’s really good training because I think, as an athlete, you should be able to adapt to everything and not really be used to doing the same stuff in the same safe space.”
As for her workout, Migała kept it quick, efficient, and effective when it came to the deadlift. That’s because her workout was not centered around pulling heavy weight. Pétursson had Migała refocus and rework her deadlift technique in a healthy manner for improved strength in the long run, and she seemed to appreciate the coaching.
“It’s so different; I think it’d be so much easier if you could start from zero rather than forgetting your old technique after doing it for so many years,” Migała said. “… But, yeah, practice makes perfect.”
Migała would follow the initial deadlift coaching by cruising through a field portion length of the gym while lifting and re-lifting an 80-kilogram (176.3-pound) sandbag. By the end of the workout, Migała shined with excitement about what she was able to accomplish.
“It was the best session from all of the sessions since we came to Iceland,” Migała expressed. “It’s been so beneficial to be able to train with Stefan [Sölvi Pétursson]. He showed a few more cues for [lifting] sandbags … so it’s very good.”
Migała is currently utilizing what she learned in training as a strongwoman at the 2022 Rogue Invitational. Chances are, it might help her round out an excellent performance in Austin.
Whether you call them boulder shoulders, capped delts, or the start of a classic v-taper, a set of muscular shoulders is one the most common aesthetic goals for many lifters.
Credit: Ihor Bulyhin / Shutterstock
That’s not to mention the overall performance boost you get from strengthening one of the most important joints in the upper body. Your shoulders are involved, to some degree, in almost all upper body movements. The versatile joint can perform a variety muscle actions in multiple directions.
To minimize your time and maximize your effort, your need to train the shoulders with a combination of exercises and motions. This means incorporating exercises designed for strength and power, high volume training, and isolation-focused work. Here is a rundown of the most effective exercises to attack your shoulders from all angles.
Best Shoulder Exercises
Machine Shoulder Press
In order to maximize muscle recruitment, you need to produce high levels of force. Being in a more stable and supported position allows you to direct that force into the exercise you’re trying to perform. This is why well-designed exercise machines can be invaluable.
Imagine trying to fire a cannon out of a canoe — it’s unlikely you’re going to hit your target. The machine shoulder press creates the most amount of total-body stability so you can take the muscles through a full range of motion with more focus. You can also safely take those muscles closer to failure without worrying about controlling free weights.
How to Do the Machine Shoulder Press
Adjust the seat height so that the handles are slightly below shoulder-height. This is going to make sure there is constant tension in the muscle throughout the whole range of motion. Take an overhand (palms facing away) grip. If you have limited shoulder mobility, use a neutral grip (palms facing each other).
Raise your feet with a box, step, or foot pegs if the machine includes them. Lifting your feet will elevate the knees so that you can more successfully keep your low back in contact with the bench for added support. A secure footing also makes you less likely to slide forward in the seat when the set becomes challenging.
Benefits of theMachine Shoulder Press
This exercise allows focus on recruiting the shoulder muscles without concern for balancing and stabilizing weights.
The seat’s back support can benefit lifters who have recurring lower back problems, by providing external torso stability.
The shoulder press machine allows muscular failure to be reached more safely than overhead barbell or dumbbell exercises.
High Incline Dumbbell Press
This is very similar to the machine shoulder press, but dumbbells allow you to take your shoulders through a longer range of motion. Your elbows can start the movement down by the sides of your body, move upward to the mid-point of the press, and moving together as your elbows lockout towards your body’s midline, stacking above your shoulders and underneath your wrists.
Dumbbells also offer the ability to rotate your hand position as you press, which can accommodate any wrist or elbow discomfort. This dumbbell press is an ideal alternative for lifters with joint problems.
How to Do theHigh Incline Dumbbell Press
Set an adjustable bench one notch below 90-degrees. This high angle allows the benefits of an overhead shoulder press while further reducing joint stress. The top part of the shoulder press is the joint’s most vulnerable position. By taking the bench down one notch from fully upright, you can still take the shoulders through a full range of movement but it’s safer because your upper back and shoulders have more room to move.
Begin with the dumbbells at shoulder-height, palms facing away from you. Press upward with control, bringing your thumbs toward each other as the weights pass above your head. Maintain control of the dumbbells and don’t allow them to bounce together at lockout. Pause briefly before returning to the starting position.
Benefits of theHigh Incline Dumbbell Press
The high incline dumbbell press combines the upper-body support benefits of a seated press with the joint-friendly adjustability of dumbbells.
This press variation works well as a type of “bridge” between shoulder training and chest training, due to the bench angle. A slightly lower angle would begin to emphasize the chest more than the shoulder muscles.
Seated Arnold Press
Success leaves clues and if this exercise was good enough for Arnold, then it’s good enough for you. This comprehensive movement incorporates full range of motion at the shoulders and elbows, plus coordinated movement at shoulder blades. This all combines to engage the serratus anterior, lateral and rear deltoids, trapezius, teres major and minor, plus some lats.
Sounds good to be able to hit all of those muscles in one go, right? Maybe. The problem is that you are spreading the effort, intensity, and force across so many muscles in varying amounts, so it might not be a top choice for building strength. But it’s a good pick when looking to accumulate more training volume to stimulate overall growth.
How to Do theSeated Arnold Press
Set an adjustable bench at an extremely high angle, one notch below fully upright. Elevate your feet to really lock into the seat. Start with the two dumbbells at shoulder-height in front of the body with your palms facing towards you. Start to press them up. Once your hands reach eye-level, start to rotate your arms out to the side as you continue pressing. A common mistake with this exercise is rotating your hands to early, which just makes the exercise a basic seated shoulder press.
Rotate consistently as you press upward. At the top of the press, your hands should be facing forward. If you have limited shoulder mobility, they may end up neutral (facing each other). Reverse the entire motion on the way down back to the starting position.
Benefits of theSeated Arnold Press
The Arnold press works the shoulders through a longer range of motion than a traditional shoulder press. This can create a greater stimulus for muscle growth.(1)
This exercise recruits more muscles throughout the shoulders and upper back, which creates greater stability, reduced risk of injury, and an increased growth stimulus.
Single-Arm Standing Dumbbell Press
Unilateral training can be very beneficial because we have something called the bilateral deficit, or BLD. While I do share the same initials, rest assured I did not come up with this concept. The bilateral deficit is essentially the body’s ability to more efficiently recruit individual limbs compared to working both limbs together.(2) For example, if you can shoulder press two 40-pound dumbbells simultaneously, you can likely press one 45 or 50-pound dumbbell for the same number of repetitions.
You can use the bilateral deficit to your advantage with the single-arm standing dumbbell press. This will not only allow you to use a relatively greater load, for increased strength and muscle gains, but the standing position can increase the range of motion and improve shoulder mobility.
How to Do the Single-Arm Standing Dumbbell Press
Stand behind a vertical bench, holding a dumbbell at shoulder-level in one hand with your free hand on top of the bench for support. Push into the bench to create stability as you press the weight to lockout above your head. Lower the weight under control. Perform all reps with one arm before switching sides.
Benefits of the Single-Arm Standing Dumbbell Press
The single-arm standing dumbbell press allows you to use relatively heavier weights than pressing two dumbbells together, which can lead to greater size and strength.
The added bench support provides stability and can help to reduce lower back strain.
This standing position incorporates core strength and total-body stability.
Dumbbell Z Press
This exercise has become relatively popular over the last few years. In part, possibly because it’s named after one of the greatest strongmen of all-time, Žydrūnas Savickas, also known as “Big Z.” While the Z press is often performed with a barbell, using a pair of dumbbells can further increase the core stability challenge.
The Z press requires, and can improve, mobility in your thoracic spine (upper back) and it creates tremendous core engagement because your upper body is entirely unsupported. This means you probably won’t be moving very heavy weights, but the exercise can be great for accumulating plenty of muscle-building volume.
How to Do the Dumbbell Z Press
Sit on the ground with your legs extended straight. If you lack hip mobility or if it’s too uncomfortable, sit on a very low box or step. Make sure you keep your shoulders stacked over your hips and your spine straight.
Bring two dumbbells to shoulder-level with your palms facing forward. Press both weights overhead to lockout, being sure to keep your upper body vertical as you stabilize the weights. Pause very briefly at lockout and lower the dumbbells to your shoulders.
Benefits of the Dumbbell Z Press
The Z press builds major core strength because you’re forced to support the weight as it moves.
The exercise reinforced strict pressing technique and eliminates the ability to swing the weights using your lower body. Leaning backward to cheat the movement also becomes much more apparent and easier to correct.
Dumbbell Cuban Press
Legend has it that this exercise was initially used by the Cuban Olympic weightlifting team to strengthen their shoulders. It was also popularized by the legendary late strength coach Charles Poliquin. The Cuban press trains the smaller internal stabilizer muscles of the shoulder and upper back, as well as the aesthetic outer shoulder muscles.
It walks the fine line between being a “prehab” movement focused on preserving and building shoulder health and being a strict muscle-building movement with a long time under tension.
How to Do the Dumbbell Cuban Press
Stand with two light dumbbells at your sides with your palms facing behind you. Lift your elbows up and out to the side with your hands hanging straight down. Once your elbows are in line with your shoulders, rotate your arms to point your hands toward the ceiling, with the weights around eye-level. Keep a roughly 90-degree angle at your elbows.
Finish by fully extending your arms and press to lockout. Reverse the process to lower the weights to the starting position. This exercise is a lot harder than it looks, so you won’t need much load or too many sets and reps. Starting with two sets of eight to 10 reps to learn the movement with very light weights.
Benefits of the Dumbbell Cuban Press
The dumbbell cuban press strengthens shoulder stabilizers, including the rotator cuff, during the rotation movement prior to pressing.
The exercise is typically performed slowly with an emphasis on technique, which increases the overall time under tension. This can contribute to greater muscle growth.
Behind-the-Neck Press
This exercise is performed with a barbell and, as the name suggests, the bar travels behind the neck instead of in front. This bar path makes it easier to stay in a stronger, safer position with your upper body stacked and in alignment. However, it does require good upper back mobility and it makes the initial part of the press significantly more challenging for both your shoulders and your triceps.
The biggest complaint (or fear) some lifters have is that the behind-neck position requires a good amount of shoulder mobility in order to successfully go through the full range of motion. If you don’t have the mobility to perform the movement, don’t worry. There are many other exercises you can do, this is just not one of them. But the behind-the-neck press has been a staple for weightlifters and bodybuilders for decades, so it’s not an exercise to steer away from if you can handle it.
How to Do the Behind-the-Neck Press
Set a barbell in a power rack at roughly shoulder-height. Grab the bar with your hands just outside shoulder-width and pull your elbows forward to sit directly below your wrists. Unrack the weight and take a small step backward. Brace your core, and keep your legs and torso stable as you press the weight up. Fully extend your arms at the top.
To lower the weight, focus on pulling your elbows towards the sides of your body to load the shoulders more than the triceps. Keep your elbows beneath your wrists throughout the exercise. Depending on your mobility, the bar might gently touch the base of your neck before you press back up again.
Benefits of the Behind-the-Neck Press
The behind-the-neck press helps to build functional mobility by training the shoulders, upper back muscles, and shoulder blades through a long range of motion.
The bar path and body position reinforces strict pressing technique which puts emphasis on muscle recruitment instead of momentum.
Military Press
To many experienced lifters, this exercise is the end-all-be-all shoulder movement. The classic standing barbell press is a hallmark of old school weightlifting, classic bodybuilding, and all-around power and athleticism.
With this more common variation of the shoulder press, the barbell moves in front of the body. This creates two distinct challenges. First, core stability — You need to be more active in pulling your ribs down and tucking your hips under to stay stacked. Second, core control — You are unable to press straight up because the bar begins underneath your chin, so you have to move the barbell in an arching motion around your head while maintaining a strong center.
How to Do the Military Press
Set the barbell in a power rack at roughly shoulder-height. Grab the bar with your hands just outside shoulder-width. Take a small step back with the bar resting across the fronts of your shoulders. Brace your abs and press up, staying as close to your face as possible without hitting your chin, nose, or forehead (obviously).
As you reach the lockout, “punch” your head between your arms. Your biceps should end up in-line with your ears. Maintain control of the bar by attempting to pull the bar apart as you’re pressing the weight above your head. This one small change can make a big difference in how the movement feels on your muscles and joints.
Benefits of the Military Press
The military press is often considered a gold standard movement, on par with the flat bench press, for assessing and building upper body strength.
This overhead press allows you to move potentially heavy weights, overloading the shoulders for greater strength and muscle gains.
Push Press
The push press has been wide-spread with the rise in popularity of things like CrossFit and HIIT-style group fitness workouts. In the push press, you are focusing on dip and drive — using your legs and hips to get the weight above your head.
Using your legs allows you to move a load that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to press with strict form for as many reps. At the top of the rep, you can really overload your shoulders and triceps as they control the weight back down with a slow eccentric contraction.
How to Do the Push Press
Hold a barbell in front of your shoulders, with a shoulder-width grip and your hands facing away from your body. Bend your knees slightly and drop your hips as if you were about to initiate a front squat. Quickly and powerfully extend your legs and drive your hips forward to get the weights moving off your body.
When the barbell is in motion, use your arms to guide it above your head to lockout. Think “legs drive, arms guide.” Don’t squat too deep before rising. You’ll only make it harder to get the weights above your head quickly. For maximum power output, be sure to get the weights moving using leg drive, not shoulder pressing strength.
Benefits of the Push Press
This can be a great exercise for building upper body strength due to the use of heavy weights and total-body coordination.
The strict eccentric portion of each repetition lets you accumulate significant volume and time under tension, which benefits muscle growth.
Machine Lateral Raise
The machine lateral raise is a great exercise for isolating and emphasizing the lateral, or side, part of the shoulder muscle. The lateral head of the shoulder primarily responsible for abducting the arm, or raising it away from the midline of the body.
Many very successful bodybuilders will prioritize lateral raise variations like this to help create a classic v-taper upper body. The machine lateral raise offers constant resistance compared to a dumbbell, which offers varying levels of resistance due to the changing pull of gravity throughout the range of motion.
How to Do the Machine Lateral Raise
Sit in the machine with your chest supported on the pad, if available. With most machines, you’ll perform this exercise with your elbows bent at roughly 90-degrees and the pads sitting on the outside of your upper arms.
Lift both arms until they’re parallel with the floor. Your elbows and upper arms should be in-line with your shoulders. Lower the pads with control. The bent arm position helps to focus the work on the shoulders and reduces the temptation to use your traps and upper back muscles.
Benefits of the Machine Lateral Raise
The machine provides a controlled setup which makes it safer to take sets up to, or beyond, muscular failure.
The machine lateral raise offers constant resistance throughout the entire range of motion, creating a longer time under tension and greater muscle-building stimulus.
Cable Lateral Raise
This version of the lateral raise is normally performed unilaterally (one arm at a time). The cable provides constant tension, so you are forced to work against the resistance throughout the whole range of motion.
The movement is also more strict because it is harder to use momentum to lift the weight due to the cable pulley. The cable setup also allows you to increase muscular stress in the lower portion of the repetition, compared to dumbbell lateral raises which have reduced resistance in the bottom of each rep.
How to Do the Cable Lateral Raise
Attach a single handle to a cable pulley set just below your knee. Stand sideways to the pulley with your non-working arm near the weight stack. Grab the handle with your palm facing the cable pulley. Begin with your arm slightly bent and your hand just below your belly button. Raise the handle sideways until your elbow is in line with your shoulder. Imagine reaching your hand out as far away from your body as you can. This should stop you from lifting your shoulders and engaging your traps.
Hold the top position for one second and initiate the eccentric portion as slowly. Pause briefly in the bottom position before starting the next rep to emphasize the stretched position.
Benefits of the Cable Lateral Raise
The cable lateral raise provides high-tension with relatively light weights. It can be humbling and much harder than you think, making it a joint-friendly way to train without needing to move heavy weights.
The unilateral movement allows you to concentrate on the working muscle, which can improve the mind-muscle connection and boost muscle growth.
Chest-Supported Lateral Raise
This version of the classic dumbbell lateral raise puts you in a more supported position with a greater opportunity use strict form and avoid momentum. This shifts more stress onto the side head of the shoulders.
The chest-supported lateral raise is perfect for high volume with slow repetitions. The bench support reduces lower back strain by removing your ability to swing your torso when lifting the weights.
How to Do the Chest-Supported Lateral Raise
Set an adjustable bench slightly below vertical. Straddle the bench with your chest supported on the back pad. Bring your arms slightly in front of you, holding a dumbbell in each hand with your palms facing each other.
Raise your arms up and out to the sides. Focus on feeling tension in your shoulders and not your traps or back. Pause briefly when your hands reach shoulder-height. You can further reduce momentum and increase muscle tension by taking two seconds to raise the weights and two seconds to lower them.
Benefits of the Chest-Supported Lateral Raise
The stabilized body position significantly reduces lower back strain, making it an ideal option for lifters with back issues.
The chest-supported lateral raise reinforces strict exercise performance by limiting the ability to swing your body and create momentum.
Machine Rear Delt Flye
The rear deltoid is the forgotten child of the shoulder family. It gets some secondary attention during many pulling movements like pull-ups, rows, and deadlifts, but this relatively small muscle head rarely gets the attention it deserves when it comes to direct shoulder training.
The rear deltoid is not only important for building a well-rounded, well-muscled shoulder. It also plays a key role in overall shoulder joint health. Strong posterior deltoids are associated with rotator cuff health and overall shoulder mobility.(3)
How to Do the Machine Rear Delt Flye
Adjust the seat height until the handles are in-line or slightly higher than your shoulders. If the handles are too low, you’ll get a lot of help from the muscles in the upper back and triceps which are both stronger than the rear deltoids.
Face into the seat, brace against the pad, and grab the handles with a thumbs-up grip. Keep your arms slightly bent as you pull back until your elbows are even with your shoulders. Focus on separating your hands as far away from your body as possible instead of pulling your shoulders together.
Benefits of the Machine Rear Delt Flye
The machine rear delt flye allows total-body support for focused work on the small target muscle.
This exercise is ideal for working the rear deltoids with a high volume of work without fatiguing surrounding muscles. Performing the exercise three to four times per week with two to three sets of 10-15 can be an effective way to emphasize the rear delts.
Single-Arm Cable Rear Delt flye
The cable rear delt flye allows you to take the muscle through a very long range of motion, across your entire body, with constant tension. The adjustable pulley makes it easier to set the height of the cable appropriately for your body compared to rear delt machines with fewer seat height options.
When performed correctly and with strict technique, this is an extremely effective high-tension, isolation exercise to zone in on the rear delt with minimal contribution from other body parts.
How to Do the Single-Arm Cable Rear Delt Flye
Set the cable pulley to just above shoulder-height. You can either hold the end of the cable without a handle attachment or, if it’s uncomfortable, grab a single rope handle. Set up perpendicular to the cable and grab the handle palm-down with your outside arm. Begin with your arm straight and your hand in line with your chin.
This is where the muscle will be at its most lengthened under load. Reach your arm away from your body, keeping your hand at chin-height to avoid recruiting muscles in the upper back. Don’t twist your upper body as your arm extends to the side. Pause briefly when your arm is extended directly to your side before returning to the starting position.
Benefits of the Single-Arm Cable Rear Delt Flye
The cable pulley provides constant tension for improved muscle growth.
The single-arm cable rear delt flye helps to improve the mind-muscle connection by limiting the muscles that can contribute to the movement.
The standing position recruits your core stabilizers, particularly your oblique muscles, more than many other shoulder movements.
Pike Push-Up
The full handstand push-up is a very advanced skill, but you can use a variation to successfully improve strength and shoulder mobility, with the latter being a major benefit.
By setting your feet on an elevated platform and “piking” your body into an L-shape, you build overhead pressing strength using only your bodyweight, while improving your leverage and reducing the overall load you need to press.
How to Do the Pike Push-Up
Place your hands on the floor and your knees on a 20 to 24-inch box or bench. Hinge at your hips to bring your upper body close to perpendicular to the ground. Bend your elbows to lower your head down toward the ground.
Keep your core engaged and maintain a stable position as you press up. Keep your hips stacked over your ribcage, and your shoulders over your hands. In the fully locked out position, drive your shoulders toward your ears to engage your serratus anterior (near your chest, ribs, and abs). This will open your upper back and shoulders for more range of motion.
Benefits of the Pike Push-Up
The pike push-up works well as a thorough upper body warm-up performing, performing several sets of three to five reps before any other pressing exercises.
The inverted position helps to build core strength while also improving hip and hamstring mobility and stability.
This is one of the few bodyweight exercises to emphasize the shoulders. The majority of push-up variations emphasize the chest or triceps.
The Shoulder Muscles
Because your shoulder muscles are comprised of three separate heads, each emphasized by different movements and functions, a well-designed shoulder workout recognizes and addresses their differences. This is the most efficient way to build maximum size and strength.
Anterior Deltoid
The anterior deltoid, or front delt, is located in the front section of the shoulder muscle. It, appropriately, is involved in raising the arm from your side, in front of your body, to an overhead position.
Because this is an extremely common movement, the anterior deltoid is stimulated and recruited during many common exercises including many variations of the chest press, all varieties of overhead pressing, and even many biceps curls. Specific isolation exercises targeting the anterior deltoid are not often a focus of shoulder workouts, to avoid overtraining the frequently used muscle.
Lateral Deltoid
The lateral, or side, delt is the most aesthetically important section of the shoulders because it’s responsible for most of the visible width of the muscle. When looking to dramatically change your physique, emphasizing the side deltoid using lateral raise variations is the most efficient approach, but the side delts are also heavily recruited during any overhead press movement.
Posterior Deltoid
The posterior, or rear, deltoid head is sometimes considered part of the “upper back” musculature, but it resides specifically on the shoulder itself. This muscle head attaches along the shoulder blade and is involved in moving the shoulder blades toward and away from your spine. The rear delts also play a major role in pulling your upper arm backward from an extended position.
Credit: Kzenon / Shutterstock
These two functions are similar to many back muscles, like the rhomboids, trapezius, and teres. While the rear delts contribute to many back exercises, they are often “overpowered” by relatively larger muscles, which is why rear delt flye variations are needed to prioritize the muscle.
How Often Should You Train The Shoulders?
Similar to other muscle groups, training a muscle more frequently seems to be better for strength, hypertrophy, and athletic performance.(4) Most people will do well training shoulders two times per week, as you’ll get a lot of extra work from many other upper body exercises like presses and rows.
If you were going to do a short-term specialization phase, you could train shoulders up to four or five times per week with a well-planned routine that manipulates volume and intensity to allow recovery and growth.
How to Progress Your Shoulder Training
Categorize exercises into movements that focus on strength, volume, or isolation (single-joint). Pick one exercise for each of those categories. Strength exercises are programmed with relatively heavy weights and low reps. Volume movements are more efficiently trained with moderately challenging weights in the eight to 15 rep range. Isolation exercises include flye and raise variations which involve only the shoulder joint, not the elbow (which is involved in pressing exercises).
The most common mistake when it comes to shoulder training is doing too much isolation work — too many flyes and raises with less pressing. This could be a symptom of using a chest, shoulder, and triceps workout in your training split, or having an upper body workout which makes the shoulders a relatively lower priority compared to the back and chest.
Credit: Rido / Shutterstock
However because your shoulders are involved in many movements indirectly, you can generally get away with relatively less direct volume as long as you achieve sufficient volume each week. Try to approach shoulder training with two main phases: Intensity and accumulation.
In an “intensity” phase, focus more on building strength and power. Pick either a strength movement, a volume movement, and an isolation movement or a strength and two isolation movements, and focus your shoulder training on this limited selection of movements.
In an “accumulation” phase, the focus is on performing more total volume so, appropriately, pick a volume exercise plus two isolation movements or three isolation exercises. Workouts will involve racking up the reps and piling on the muscle-building tension.
Alternating between those two phases, spending several weeks in each, can help you keep as much strength as possible during the accumulation phase while maintain work capacity and conditioning during the intensity phase, as muscle growth rolls in throughout both.
How to Warm-Up Your Shoulders
The design of the shoulder joint makes it versatile and crucial to a number of movements, but it can also be prone to injury if trained improperly. A simple and effective shoulder warm-up can mean the difference between results and nagging injuries, so take the time to get blood flowing before any session. Grab a resistance band and try this simple circuit.
Scapular Pull-Up: Hang from a pull-up bar with a shoulder-width, overhand grip. Keep your arms straight as you “reverse shrug” and drive your shoulders and shoulder blades toward the ground. Hold the top position briefly before reversing the motion to push your body away from the bar. Perform 10 repetitions before moving to the next exercise.
Yoga Push-Up: Get on the ground with your feet well-beyond shoulder-width and your hands in-line with your shoulders. Descend into a standard push-up. When your chest is slightly above the floor, press up while pushing your hips back at an upward angle. You should feel a stretch in your hamstrings as your torso and legs form an upside down “V” shape. Reverse the motion and perform for three to five reps.
Band Pull-Apart: Take a palms-down grip on a resistance band. Begin with your arms extended in front of your chest. Keep your arms nearly locked while pulling your hands in line with your shoulders. The band should touch your chest before returning to the starting position. Perform 10 to 15 repetitions before repeating the first exercise. Perform a total of three circuits.
The Path to Bolder, Boulder Shoulders
“Shoulder press and lateral raise” is often the default shoulder workout for beginners. While those are two fundamental exercises, complete shoulder development requires a better thought-out approach to training. By choosing specific exercises to emphasize power, strength, or particular muscle heads, you can take your shoulder development and strength to the next-level. Rethink your approach to shoulder training, incorporate the right movements, and you’ll be on the way to a stronger, wider set of delts.
References
Baroni, B. M., Pompermayer, M. G., Cini, A., Peruzzolo, A. S., Radaelli, R., Brusco, C. M., & Pinto, R. S. (2017). Full Range of Motion Induces Greater Muscle Damage Than Partial Range of Motion in Elbow Flexion Exercise With Free Weights. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 31(8), 2223–2230. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0000000000001562
Nazário-de-Rezende, Fernando et al. Déficit bilateral em exercício multiarticular para membros superiores. Revista Brasileira de Medicina do Esporte [online]. 2012, v. 18, n. 6 [Accessed 26 October 2022] , pp. 385-389. Available from: <https://doi.org/10.1590/S1517-86922012000600008>. Epub 14 Feb 2013. ISSN 1806-9940. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1517-86922012000600008.
Dyrna, F., Kumar, N. S., Obopilwe, E., Scheiderer, B., Comer, B., Nowak, M., Romeo, A. A., Mazzocca, A. D., & Beitzel, K. (2018). Relationship Between Deltoid and Rotator Cuff Muscles During Dynamic Shoulder Abduction: A Biomechanical Study of Rotator Cuff Tear Progression. The American journal of sports medicine, 46(8), 1919–1926. https://doi.org/10.1177/0363546518768276
Schoenfeld, B. J., Ogborn, D., & Krieger, J. W. (2016). Effects of Resistance Training Frequency on Measures of Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 46(11), 1689–1697. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-016-0543-8
Yangsu Ren is young compared to some of his peers, but he only started competitive powerlifting when he was 28 years old. With a new feat of strength, the athlete appears to be more than making up for any perceived past lost time.
On Oct. 26, 2022, Ren shared an Instagram clip of himself capturing a 390-kilogram (860-pound) deadlift from a sumo stance, with lifting straps, during a training session. (Note: He did not disclose his body weight for the lift.)
According to Open Powerlifting, the pull is 50.1 kilograms (110.5 pounds) more than his all-time competition best from the 2017 USA Powerlifting Raw National Championships. This deadlift is also 27.5 kilograms (60.6 pounds) more than Owen Hubbard’s current International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) World Record in the 83-kilogram weight class. Ren’s previous training best was a 410.5-kilogram pull (905 pounds) from December 2020, when he weighed 196 pounds.
On an official competitive level, Ren has not formally stepped onto a sanctioned lifting platform in roughly four years since October 2018. At the time of this writing, he’s staying true to that trend and hasn’t alluded to any upcoming contests. That hasn’t stopped the athlete from crushing it in the gym, per his Instagram feed — where it’s apparent he regularly makes it a point to share clips of himself completing massive deadlifts.
Other notable recent deadlift sessions include Ren capturing a 336-kilogram (740-pound) conventional deadlift for three reps in September 2022. With that said and those caveats in mind, here’s an overview of Ren’s all-time competition bests:
As for Ren’s competitive history, he enjoyed some peaks and valleys but showed plenty of flashes should he ever return to the stage. Here’s a rundown of some of his notable career results:
Yangsu Ren | Complete Career Results
2016 United States Powerlifting Association (USPA) Grinder Open (Raw/Open) — Second place
2017 USAPL CA State Games & USA Masters Games (Raw/Open) — First place
2017 USAPL Raw National Championships (Raw/Open) — Fifth place
2018 USAPL California State Games (Raw/Open) — First place
2018 USAPL Raw Nationals (Raw/Open) — Seventh place
While Ren hasn’t competed as a powerlifter in a little while, he’s still kept busy with other aspects of his life. According to his LinkedIn and social media, Ren has a Ph.D. in genetics from the University of Michigan and currently works with computational biology as a professional.
It seems this prolific deadlifting athlete knows how to rigidly study and maintain his unique power at the same.
As a former World’s Strongest Man (WSM) champion in 2017, there’s little doubt that Eddie Hall possesses the requisite strength and power needed to thrive as an American football player. The strongman legend recently decided to put some of his other skills to the test in a direct application.
On Oct. 23, 2022, Hall posted a video to his YouTube channel where he tried several drills featured in the National Football League’s (NFL) annual Scouting Combine that test the athletic aptitude of incoming rookie players. Going a little bit out of his comfort zone seemed fun for Hall to check up on his overall athletic talents in an unfamiliar environment.
To ensure he would conduct every drill appropriately, Hall had former long-time NFL veteran Jack Crawford and rugby/former NFL player Christian Scotland-Williamson on hand to help. The combine-style workout took place at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, UK. (Note: The stadium is one of the few venues in which the NFL sometimes plays regular season games, with another notable location being Wembley Stadium, also in London.)
After maintaining that he “can’t catch, can’t throw, and can’t run” but can probably “mow people down,” Hall padded himself in equipment and got to work.
The first drill saw Hall test his agility in the 20-yard shuttle to see how he changed direction. The drill has an athlete start in between a 10-yard margin. While pivoting, they run five yards to each side before a final 10-yard sprint. Hall notched a time of 5.15 seconds. For someone of his 300-plus-pound size, such a time compares well to NFL offensive linemen. For example, Houston Texans offensive guard and 2022 NFL draft selection Kenyon Green completed his official shuttle run in 5.12 seconds, per the NFL database.
Hall followed the shuttle run with the broad jump — where the athlete tests their forward-leaping ability. Hall managed to notch a distance of 6.5 feet (or 78 inches). This compared less favorably to NFL offensive linemen, as someone like the Los Angeles Chargers’ Zion Johnson broad-jumped 9.3 feet (or 112 inches) in March 2022’s edition of the actual Combine, according to Pro Football Reference. (Note: Hall completed his broad jump in shoulder pads and protective knee wear, potentially limiting his mobility. Whereas NFL athletes complete their tests in shorts and shirts.)
Hall finally tried his hand at the famed 40-yard dash to close this short mock NFL combine. A simple ask, all he had to do was run 40 yards in a straight line as fast as possible. He finished with a time of 5.73 seconds. Considering his lack of experience, that time might be solid. Though, again, mobility issues aside, that time doesn’t compare well with young professional offensive linemen, as someone like Johnson had a 40-yard dash of 5.18 seconds. In this drill, more than half a second is a significant difference.
With this Combine mock-up in the rearview mirror, Hall is preparing for his strongman comeback. After retirement in 2017, he will return as captain of Team UK at the 2022 Giants Live World Nation on Nov. 26, 2022, at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, England. Hall might have been a successful American football player in a different world.
In this reality, strongman is his calling, and it should be fascinating to see how he fares in what will likely be a highly-anticipated return.
After winning the 2022 New York Pro and Indy Pro shows, it might be fair to say Blessing Awodibu is one of the bigger up-and-coming names in bodybuilding. To help further cement his place at the upcoming 2022 Mr. Olympia — his debut in the sport’s flagship contest — he recently enlisted the help of a living legend.
On Oct. 24, 2022, Awodibu posted a video to his YouTube channel where he trained with seven-time Mr. Olympia champion (2011-2017) Phil Heath. The two have previously worked together in the gym and, in this instance, they focused on polishing up Awodibu’s arms.
With introductions out of the way, the pair immediately jumped into the workout fray. While Awodibu tackled his biceps on the preacher curl machine, he discussed Heath’s approach to arm training during the early parts of his career. It apparently came to a point where Heath was training his arms so well he had to slow down and let the other parts of his physique fall in line.
“I would have a full arm day, but then I would do chest and tris, then back and bis,” Heath said. “By the time I turned pro, my arms were overpowering everything.”
As Awodibu transitioned to an incline biceps curl machine, Heath gave him a tip to warm-up first for a measure of established control.
“I know how to do this, but after the contraction, the machine almost pulls me down when I lower it,” Heath explained to Awodibu. “I really have to control this one.”
Eventually, Heath had Awodibu do some “Heath Curls” — the bodybuilding legend’s variation of single-arm dumbbell curls where one does several reps on one side before alternating. This differs from traditional curls, with an athlete alternating every individual rep. A mix of concentration curls, rope pushdowns for the triceps, cable overhead extensions, and single-arm cable pushdowns would follow through the rest of the routine.
Here’s an overview of the workout:
*Blessing Awodibu Arm Workout with Phil Heath, October 2022
While Heath won’t be competing alongside Awodibu at the 2022 Mr. Olympia, that doesn’t mean he won’t have an important role. The bodybuilding great will be one of the lead commentators in the announcers’ booth, offering his experienced insights on the contest.
Meanwhile, Awodibu will try to make a name for himself amongst some of the sport’s active dynamos like Mamdouh “Big Ramy” Elssbiay and Nick Walker. If he’s taking cues from someone such as Heath, chances are Awodibu might flourish. The 2022 Mr. Olympia will take place on Dec. 16-18, 2022, in Las Vegas, NV.
Most lifters in the gym have performed the classic flat bench press to build chest size and upper body pressing strength. When it comes to variations of this time-honored exercise, most lifters adjust the angle to target the “upper chest” using an incline press or focus on the “lower pecs” with a decline bench.
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However, many people overlook a highly effective adjustment right at their fingertips, literally. By moving your hand position slightly inward, you turn the chest-building flat bench press into the triceps-building close-grip bench press.
This changes the training stimulus and emphasizes the tricep muscles, increases the movement’s range of motion, and still builds serious upper body pressing power. Here’s everything you need to know about getting started with this simple movement for size and strength.
How to Do the Close-Grip Bench Press
The close-grip bench press biases the triceps muscles with specific exercise performance and a longer range of motion. As its name implies, the close-grip bench press requires your hands to be closer than during a standard bench press. This increases the range of motion and puts your elbows through more elbow flexion and extension, which emphasizes your triceps over your chest.
Step 1 — Set Up on the Bench
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Lie down on a flat bench. Push your feet into the floor to slide yourself up the bench until your eye are under the barbell. Pull your shoulders down and back. Place your hands around the bar in a pronated (palm down) grip with your hands close to shoulder-width apart. (1)
The basic technique should almost identical to your standard flat bench press setup. The primary difference is that your hands should now be at least one fist-width (four to six inches) closer than the chest-focused exercise. This is essential for recruiting more triceps into the movement.
Form Tip: While a relatively close grip is necessary, taking an excessively close grip can be counterproductive, creating more joint strain and less muscular stress. Some old school lifters believe your thumbs should be able to touch during the close-grip bench press. This is inaccurate, impractical, and inefficient advice. Having your hands roughly in line with your shoulders will be effective for the majority of lifters.
Step 2 — Unrack the Bar
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Fill your belly and chest with a deep breath and lift the bar from the support pins. Maintain full body tension from your flat feet through your core to your shoulders.
With stiff arms, guide the bar forward until it is over your shoulders. Keep your shoulders pinched back to engage your upper back for support.
Form Tip: The bar should feel balanced when it settles into the ideal position. If you feel like you’re “fighting” an unstable weight above your body, it is either still too far above your face or too far toward your abs. Control the weight and reach a strong, stable position before lowering the weight.
Step 3 — Lower the Bar
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Lower the bar toward your torso, keeping your elbows stacked under your wrists. This position keeps your tricep under tension, avoids compensation from the deltoids (shoulders), and minimizes strain on your joints.
Keep your elbows close to your ribs. If they begin to flare out to the sides, tuck them back in toward your body. Bring the bar down as close to your body as your mobility allows, ideally reaching near your sternum and lower chest.
Form Tip: Don’t allow your wrists to bend back throughout the rep. Keep your knuckles facing the ceiling. This will keep your wrists in a more favorable, less stressful position. It also helps to keep your wrists stacked above your elbows, which is a more powerful pressing position than falling out of line.
Step 4 — Press to the Starting Position
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After reaching your maximum comfortable depth, press the bar up to its starting position. Keep your feet flat on the floor and feel total-body engagement. Maintain a neutral wrist position above your elbows.
The bar should end up balanced directly over your shoulders, in the same position it was in after being unracked.
Form Tip: Because the objective of the exercise is to challenge the triceps, actively squeeze your triceps in the locked out position before performing the next repetition.
Close-Grip Bench Press Mistakes to Avoid
There are multiple mistakes that can happen in the close-grip bench press because this free weight exercise has many variables that must be controlled by the lifter.
In contrast, certain machine exercises can lock you into pre-determined positions that do not offer as much positional choice. In other words, manipulating a barbell requires more focus and more muscular control than a similar machine movement. Here’s what to watch out for during this exercise.
Elbows Flaring Out
This is probably the most common mistake people make when doing any triceps exercise. Your elbows must track under your wrists to emphasize the lengthening of the muscle during the eccentric, or lowering phase, of the repetition.
Credit: Sarayut Sridee / Shutterstock
When your elbows flare out to the sides, your shoulders are more strongly contracted, which reduces the load on the triceps.
Avoid it: Use a slow tempo when bringing the bar down toward your chest. Take three seconds to lower the weight and focus controlling your elbow angle. Keep your elbows forward toward your feet rather than out to the side. Once you’ve practiced and feel comfortable, gradually increase the bar speed to a point in which you are able to control your elbow position throughout the entire movement.
Gripping Too Narrow or Too Wide
If your grip is too narrow, your elbows will likely flare out excessively, forcing your deltoids to contribute more to the movement. A too-narrow grip position can also contribute to internal rotation of the shoulder which, over time, may increase the risk of injury to the supraspinatus muscle of the shoulder joint.
Credit: David Herraez Calzada / Shutterstock
However, a grip that’s too wide can be just as counterproductive, by decreasing the demand on the triceps and increasing chest recruitment. A close-grip bench press without a close grip is a plain old bench press.
Avoid it: Research has shown that the optimal grip for a close-grip bench press is the the same as the distance between the acromion (outer edge) of your shoulder blades.(2) During the setup phase of the exercise, place your hands shoulder-distance apart with your wrists, elbows, and shoulders in a straight line. This will create a customized grip as everyone has a unique shoulder width, rather than telling every lifter in every gym to arbitrarily set their hands 18 inches apart, for example.
Inefficient Bar Path
It is important to remember that the bar path in the bench press is not a strictly vertical line. The bar begins over your shoulders and will travel down and slightly forward as it’s lowered, in a slight arc-like path.
Compared to the standard bench press, the close-grip bench press has an increased range of motion and will therefore have a different touch-point on the body and a different bar path than the standard bench press.
Credit: Hryshchyshen Serhii / Shutterstock
It is important to remember that the bar will touch lower on your chest in a close-grip bench than a standard bench press. If you attempt to use the same touch-point for both movements, it will lead to excessive elbow flare to compensate for the inefficient motion.
Avoid it: Aim for the bar to touch around the narrowing point of the bottom of your sternum — the xiphoid process. However, the exact spot will vary slightly from person to person based on their arm length, ribcage size, and overall body position.
How to Progress the Close-Grip Bench Press
As a basic barbell exercise, the close-grip bench press can be adapted to suit a wide range of lifters’ capabilities with progressively heavier weights. However, if individuals cannot yet manage a full range of motion with the barbell, there are a few options to help achieve the exercise.
Close-Grip Floor Press
The floor press variation reinforces the same close-grip setup and general bar path with a reduced range of motion. While one benefit of the close-grip bench press (performed on a flat bench) is a relatively long range of motion, this floor press variation eliminates the lower portion of the exercise. This reduces shoulder strain while maintaining muscular stress on the triceps.
The close-grip floor press allows you to become familiar with the grip width and hand position, and encourages proper form while staying tight and controlling the movement. Don’t allow your elbows to rest on the ground.
Paused Close-Grip Bench Press
By incorporating a deliberate, long pause at the bottom and top of each repetition, you reinforce proper mechanics throughout the movement. Pause in the bottom, stretched position of every rep for two seconds. It’s crucial that you maintain tension and do not relax with the bar resting on your chest. Your muscles should be tight and engaged for the duration.
Press normally and hold the locked out position for two seconds. Again, don’t treat the pause as an opportunity for rest. Grip the bar hard, flex your triceps, and engage your core before lowering the weight again.
Benefits of the Close-Grip Bench Press
The close-grip bench press has multiple benefits, from performance to aesthetics and even longevity in barbell training. Here’s why you should incorporate this useful movement.
Strength and Performance
For powerlifters or gym-goers looking to increase their max bench press, the close-grip bench press has specific benefits with direct carryover to your bench. If you struggle specifically at lockout, you likely need to improve your triceps strength.
The close-grip bench press primarily challenges the triceps, leading to greater pressing strength.(3) This simple exercise variation could be what is missing from your training routine to push through your sticking point and reach a new bench press PR.
Muscle-Building and Aesthetics
Filling out the sleeves of a shirt is never a bad idea. While triceps dips and pushdowns challenge the lateral head of the triceps in particular, the close-grip bench press significantly recruits the medial and lateral head, leading to more well-rounded muscular development.
This compound (multi-joint) movement also has an increased effect on muscle hypertrophy because it allows you to use relatively heavy weights, which can be useful for stimulating growth.(4)
Joint Health
If you consistently train using a limited range of motion for any muscle or exercise, you can develop strength in that range. However, this can also create a greater risk for strains and tears when those muscles are put through a greater range of motion with “fully lengthened” or “fully shortened” positions. (5)
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The close-grip bench press does challenge a greater range of motion than the standard grip due to the positioning of the hands on the bar. The shoulder joints are worked through a longer distance. This will stress the triceps in the lengthened ranges, making them more robust and relatively less prone to injury.
Muscles Worked by the Close-Grip Bench Press
The close-grip bench press is most commonly known for challenging the triceps muscles, however there are more muscles involved than you may think.
Pectorals Major and Minor
The pectoralis major and pectoralis minor are your chest muscles and, while they are not the major contributors to the close-grip bench press, they do play an important role in the movement. During both the concentric (lifting) and eccentric (lowering) phases, both the pec major and minor are recruited to lift the weight and push your arms upward.
Anterior Deltoid
Your shoulder is comprised of three separate heads — the front (anterior), side (lateral), and rear (posterior). Each helps to raise the arm in its respective direction from your body’s midline. The anterior deltoid, specifically, contributes to raising and lowering your upper arm during the close-grip bench press.
However, be aware that if your anterior deltoid is fatiguing before other muscles groups during the exercise, your elbows are likely flaring too much. Adjusting your grip and/or bar path should ensure maximum focus on your triceps.
Triceps Brachii
Your triceps make up the majority of your upper arm, relative to your biceps. The triceps muscle consists of three heads — the lateral, medial, and long head — and together their main action is to extend the arm from a bent elbow position to full to elbow extension. The triceps contraction is emphasized in the lockout of the exercise where the triceps are more strongly recruited.
How to Program the Close-Grip Bench Press
When programming the close-grip bench press, the main consideration needs to be your goal. The most effective approach will be determined by what you want to achieve with the movement and how it fits into your overall training plan.
Strength
To prioritize strength-building, reps need to be kept in a relatively lower range while working with higher percentages of your one-repetition max (1RM). Train with two to six sets of one to five reps, using 80 to 95% of 1RM.
The amount of sets can vary based on your experience, conditioning, and abilities. More is not always better if you can’t handle it. Regardless of your total training volume, focus on using a fast bar speed and fully locking out each repetition.
Hypertrophy
Using moderate to high sets with moderate to higher reps will provide a greater hypertrophy adaptation. For muscle growth to occur, the muscle needs stimulus, volume, and fatigue.(6) Work with three to six sets eight to 20 repetitions, using of 55-65% of 1RM.
The goal is to reach muscular fatigue at the end of each set. If you’re performing more triceps-focused exercises in the same workout, use fewer sets and reps. If the close-grip bench press is your primary triceps exercise, give it the higher end of the workload.
Close-Grip Bench Press Variations
Beyond the close-grip bench press itself, there are some variations you can implement for comparable benefits of hypertrophy and improving your pressing power.
Banded Close-Grip Bench Press
To increase pressing power and/or improve your lockout ability, adding resistance bands of various tension to the close-grip bench press will challenge upper range of motion. Resistance bands offer accommodating resistance — they get more challenging as they’re stretched farther and offer relatively less resistance before they’re maximally stretched.
The biomechanics of the bench press, the lockout position requires less energy and benefits from a leverage advantage. As your elbows become more extended, the weight feels “lighter.” Bands require you to apply maximum tension as resistance increases toward the top position, forcing a stronger contraction. As the bar travels upward, band tension increases at the lockout. This forces you to consciously produce more power and drive hard to achieve lockout.
Machine Press
This is an excellent variation for hypertrophy goals. Using any machine that mimics a similar set up as the close-grip bench gives you more options for hypertrophy. The design of machines allows lifters to efficiently incorporate a variety of high-intensity techniques for increased training stimulus.
Options such as such as drop sets, partial reps, or even forced reps with a training partner allow for greater variations in your workouts. This is also a safer option than training beyond muscular fatigue with the close-grip bench press.
Close-Grip Push-Up
This triceps-focused push-up variation is a nice complement to any training program, as a primary exercise or as a muscle-exhausting finishing movement. Since your hands are closer together, like the close-grip bench press, the range of motion is greater than a standard push-up, thus making it more challenging.
If you cannot perform a full range of motion rep from your toes, you opt for modified versions such as a close-grip inclined push-up (with your hands elevated on a bench) or a kneeling close-grip push up.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does the close-grip bench press hurt my shoulder?
There could be multiple factors at work, but most people’s shoulders hurt due to a lack of stability in the upper back. This requires a better focus on scapular retraction and depression — pulling your shoulder blades together and down.
During the exercise, make sure to squeeze your shoulder blades back toward your spine and “tuck” them down toward your back pockets. This stabilizes your entire shoulder girdle to support the load. If it’s done incorrectly, or not at all, your anterior deltoid is more strongly activated as your shoulder goes into protraction (reaching forward) and elevation (shrugging up to your ears).
A variety of upper back strengthening exercises and mobility drills can help, along with drilling proper pressing technique and cueing your upper back stabilizers before unracking the bar.
What alternative can I do if I don’t have a bench?
Any exercise that challenges your upper body pressing muscles in a supine position can be an effective alternative. If you don’t have a bench but can lie on the floor, this is a great alternative. A dumbbell or barbell floor press is a great exercise whenever a bench is unavailable. The focus on the upper half of the range of motion further emphasizes triceps recruitment.
Most commercial gyms have steps, boxes, and risers that can be used as modified bench. Ideally, you want the improvised bench to be the same height as a standard one. Place a yoga mat on top of the step or box to reduce the risk of your torso slipping off.
Get a Grip on Your Bench
The close-grip bench press can be performed either as an assistance exercise to boost your classic bench press or it can be approached as a main movement on its own to develop a stronger upper body. The added arm size is an incidental bonus. Apply this simple grip adjustment to a time-tested movement and you’ll soon welcome new levels of size and strength.
References
Lockie, Robert & Moreno, Matthew. (2017). The Close-Grip Bench Press. Strength and Conditioning Journal. 39. 1. 10.1519/SSC.0000000000000307.
Larsen, S., Gomo, O., & van den Tillaar, R. (2021). A Biomechanical Analysis of Wide, Medium, and Narrow Grip Width Effects on Kinematics, Horizontal Kinetics, and Muscle Activity on the Sticking Region in Recreationally Trained Males During 1-RM Bench Pressing. Frontiers in sports and active living, 2, 637066. https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2020.637066
Saeterbakken, A. H., Stien, N., Pedersen, H., Solstad, T., Cumming, K. T., & Andersen, V. (2021). The Effect of Grip Width on Muscle Strength and Electromyographic Activity in Bench Press among Novice- and Resistance-Trained Men. International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(12), 6444. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18126444
Brandão, Lucas & Painelli, Vitor & Lasevicius, Thiago & Silva-Batista, Carla & Brendon, Helderson & Schoenfeld, Brad & Aihara, Andre & Cardoso, Fabiano & Peres, Bergson & Teixeira, Emerson. (2020). Varying the Order of Combinations of Single- and Multi-Joint Exercises Differentially Affects Resistance Training Adaptations. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 34. 1. 10.1519/JSC.0000000000003550.
Valamatos, M. J., Tavares, F., Santos, R. M., Veloso, A. P., & Mil-Homens, P. (2018). Influence of full range of motion vs. equalized partial range of motion training on muscle architecture and mechanical properties. European journal of applied physiology, 118(9), 1969–1983. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-018-3932-x
Mangine, G. T., Hoffman, J. R., Gonzalez, A. M., Townsend, J. R., Wells, A. J., Jajtner, A. R., Beyer, K. S., Boone, C. H., Miramonti, A. A., Wang, R., LaMonica, M. B., Fukuda, D. H., Ratamess, N. A., & Stout, J. R. (2015). The effect of training volume and intensity on improvements in muscular strength and size in resistance-trained men. Physiological reports, 3(8), e12472. https://doi.org/10.14814/phy2.12472
Few exercises can be as daunting as the pull-up. Having the strength necessary to perform one single repetition is a challenge for many. Yet, it is a milestone everyone should strive for. It’s frustrating to struggle performing pull-ups, but it’s even worse to leave them out of your program entirely.
Credit: tsyhun / Shutterstock
This staple exercise should be the backbone of many pulling workouts for beginners and advanced lifters alike. You don’t even need a gym. Heck, you don’t really even a pull-up bar. A sturdy tree or swingset can be enough to deliver you massive back, shoulder, and arm gains. Mastering the pull-up will be a game changer in your fitness journey.
Benefits of the Pull-Up
The pull-up is a training staple for a reason. It delivers a myriad of benefits from mastering your own body to getting stronger to adding lean muscle. Let’s cover them all.
Functional Strength
Yes, functional training has been a trend in recent years. To specifically define what makes an exercise “functional” is a bit of headache, but there is a certain beauty and practicality in being able to move your own body around, just like with the push-up, running, or jumping. Mastering bodyweight movements and building coordination is a quality every human should strive for.
Credit: Microgen / Shutterstock
What is clear is that the pull-up can improve your overall strength and is transferable to many other activities and exercises, such as climbing, gymnastics, or even wrestling. Being stronger at the pull-up is being stronger at life, with improved grip strength and stronger back, arm, and core muscles.
Building Muscle
The pull-up shows up in so many resistance training plans because of its efficient ability to build size. It is one of the best, if not the best, muscle-builders for the back.(1) It is also a tremendous exercise for upper arm and forearm size. Moreover, it spares your lower back and legs from participating in the movement, which can be great if you’re injured or want to avoid excessive training volume in these body parts.
You can focus more on your pulling muscles, which improves your mind-muscle connection and provides quality volume to the target muscles. This will give you the best chance of building a well-developed back.(2)(3)
Better Grip
Grip strength can be easily overlooked, but is actually invaluable. Most exercises, even for the lower body, use your hands. The pull-up can improve your grip because you are required to lift your entire body and connect yourself to the bar.
This will directly be transferable to other pulling exercises and deadlift variations, but strong forearms and grip will also stabilize your wrists during pressing exercises such as the bench press, and can improve overall wrist, elbow, and shoulder joint health.(4) Grip strength is also linked to longevity and general health, which is a hefty bonus.(5)
How to Do the Pull-Up
The pull-up might be a bodyweight exercise, there is still technique involved if you want to master it and reap all its benefits.
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Set yourself in position by hanging from a bar with your arms completely extended using a slightly wider than shoulder-width grip and your hands pronated (palms facing away from you).
Pull your shoulder blades back, raise your chest, and engage your core to prevent yourself from swaying.
Pull yourself toward the bar by flexing your elbows and squeezing your back until your chin is over the bar. If you’re a taller lifter or have long limbs, you might need to stop sooner if your back and arms fully contract before that point.
Exhale and hold the contraction for one second while keeping your chest arched and your body tensed.
Lower slowly by extending your arms in a controlled fashion to prevent as much swaying as possible.
Once you’re at a dead-hang, you’ve completed a pull-up. Repeat for the desired amount of repetitions.
Pull-Up Variations
The task ahead is daunting, but the challenge of the pull-up is worthy and you shouldn’t be intimidated by it. If you struggle with the movement, there are some variations that will help you towards your first good rep.
Negative Pull-Up
With this variation, you’re only doing the eccentric (lowering) part of the lift. To perform it, simply stand on a box, grab the bar and jump into the top position. Then slowly lower yourself in four to five seconds.
This is an excellent variation if you struggle with pull-ups, want to build pull-up strength, or cannot perform one strict repetition. You’ll be able to do these because muscles are stronger during the eccentric part of a lift.(6) This way, you can accumulate pull-up volume and practice the lift as well as gain strength in the desired muscles, even if you can’t perform a full range of motion pull-up.
Band-Assisted Pull-Up
A resistance band will “lighten” your body weight so the exercise requires less strength. This is a better variation to get better at pull-ups than the machine assisted pull-up, because the band incorporates some components of total-body stability and coordination.
Loop a durable resistance band around the bar and let it hang down. Put your feet in it, keeping your legs straight and your body tense. Now start pulling. The feeling and overall technique is very close to the unassisted bodyweight pull-up, so it will have plenty of direct carryover.
Inverted Row
This goes by many different names — horizontal row, bodyweight row, Australian pull-up — but it’s a relatively easier version of the pull-up because now you’re pulling horizontally and you’re moving a lower percentage of your body weight. It’s a perfect variation to master before trying pull-ups, as it recruits and trains the same muscles.
Set yourself under a fixed bar and grab it using a pronated (palms down) grip. Flex your core and legs so that your body is tense and in a straight line. Now, pull your chest to the bar. The inverted row is efficient because you can easily scale it down or up.
If it’s too tough, set the bar higher which improves your leverage and decreases the body weight being pulled. If it’s not challenging enough, reduce the bar height, and eventually elevate your feet to make the lift even harder. When you feel confident enough, the pull-up will be awaiting you.
Pull-Up Form Tips
If you want to really nail down your pull-up game, pay attention to these form tips. Proper technique is essential to prevent injuries and progress faster.
Brace Your Whole Body
You might think of the pull-up as only a back and arms movement, but that’s not the case if you want maximum efficiency. Studies have shown that the abs, for instance, are heavily involved in the pull-up.(7) Why is that? Your core — composed of your abs, lower back, and some hip muscles — as well as your legs have to work extra hard to stabilize your body.
Credit: lunamarina / Shutterstock
During the pull-up, take a deep breath in and flex your abs as much as you can to prevent excessive swinging, which would otherwise alter the efficiency and mechanics of the lift. To recruit your core even more, straighten your legs and hold them together. If you still have trouble preventing swaying, take a few seconds between each rep to reset yourself and ensure picture perfect form.
Keep Your Chest Up
When the lift becomes difficult, it’s tempting to round your upper back and use the assistance of more muscles. The problem is that it internally rotates your shoulders (making them roll forward) and places the shoulder joint in a precarious position.
You have to keep your chest up and your back slightly arched if you want to avoid injuries and train the target muscles correctly. Keep in mind that it will always be better to do fewer repetitions with better form. Doing your pull correctly will ensure you use your lats as efficiently as possible.
Use a Full Range of Motion
If you’re doing half-reps, you’re not “really” doing pull-ups. Yes, pull-ups are a challenging exercise, but cutting the range of motion short is not a valid strategy to get better at them. By reducing the length of pull, you never work the hardest part of the movement and you reduce time under tension, resulting in poorer muscle gains and strength development.(8)
Sure, you really want to nail this exercise, but you’ll be better off practicing the alternatives with proper form, like negative pull-ups or band-assisted pull-ups, rather than performing half-repetitions and getting half results. Practice perfect technique, use the variations, and you’ll master the pull-up soon enough.
Programming the Pull-Up
The pull-up is a versatile exercise that can be suited to beginners and experienced lifters alike, for a variety of goals. All along your lifting journey, the pull-up is a valuable exercise no matter what your goal is. If you’re stronger, you can even add weight to your pull-ups to keep reaping the strength and size benefits of the exercise.
For Strength: Perform three to five sets of three to five reps.
For Muscle Growth: Do three to four sets of eight to 12 reps.
For Muscular Endurance and Conditioning: Perform two to three sets of 15 to 20 reps.
For Strength-Skill (Technique): Do eight to 12 sets of one to three reps using short rest periods and avoiding muscular failure.
Credit: Natalie magic / Shutterstock
Pull-ups, like many bodyweight exercises, are a skill dictated by your muscles as well as your nervous system. Remember that perfect technique should always be respected if you want to progress efficiently. Avoid reaching muscular failure while learning the lift. This will prevent excessive fatigue from negatively affecting your technique.
Don’t Pull the Plug on Pull-Ups
The pull-up is too valuable of an exercise to skip just because it’s challenging to learn. Set aside your anxiety, follow the advice laid out above, and start working towards your first pull-up. By the time you’re able to bang a few good reps, your fitness and physique will have drastically improved.
References
Hewit, Jennifer. (2018). A Comparison of Muscle Activation during the Pull-up and Three Alternative Pulling Exercises. Journal of Physical Fitness, Medicine & Treatment in Sports. 5. 10.19080/JPFMTS.2018.05.555669.
Calatayud J, Vinstrup J, Jakobsen MD, Sundstrup E, Brandt M, Jay K, Colado JC, Andersen LL. Importance of mind-muscle connection during progressive resistance training. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2016 Mar;116(3):527-33. doi: 10.1007/s00421-015-3305-7. Epub 2015 Dec 23. PMID: 26700744.
Schoenfeld BJ, Contreras B, Krieger J, Grgic J, Delcastillo K, Belliard R, Alto A. Resistance Training Volume Enhances Muscle Hypertrophy but Not Strength in Trained Men. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2019 Jan;51(1):94-103. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000001764. PMID: 30153194; PMCID: PMC6303131.
Coombes BK, Bisset L, Vicenzino B. Management of Lateral Elbow Tendinopathy: One Size Does Not Fit All. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 2015 Nov;45(11):938-49. doi: 10.2519/jospt.2015.5841. Epub 2015 Sep 17. PMID: 26381484.
Bohannon RW. Grip Strength: An Indispensable Biomarker For Older Adults. Clin Interv Aging. 2019;14:1681-1691 https://doi.org/10.2147/CIA.S194543
Hody S, Croisier JL, Bury T, Rogister B, Leprince P. Eccentric Muscle Contractions: Risks and Benefits. Front Physiol. 2019 May 3;10:536. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2019.00536. PMID: 31130877; PMCID: PMC6510035.
Hewit, Jennifer. (2018). A Comparison of Muscle Activation during the Pull-up and Three Alternative Pulling Exercises. Journal of Physical Fitness, Medicine & Treatment in Sports. 5. 10.19080/JPFMTS.2018.05.555669.
Burd NA, Andrews RJ, West DW, Little JP, Cochran AJ, Hector AJ, Cashaback JG, Gibala MJ, Potvin JR, Baker SK, Phillips SM. Muscle time under tension during resistance exercise stimulates differential muscle protein sub-fractional synthetic responses in men. J Physiol. 2012 Jan 15;590(2):351-62. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.2011.221200. Epub 2011 Nov 21. PMID: 22106173; PMCID: PMC3285070.
In the greater CrossFit pantheon, Rich Froning Jr.’s resume is largely unassailable. After an Individual career where he captured four Men’s CrossFit Games titles, Froning Jr. transitioned to a successful Teams career where he led six consecutive squads to championships. With all his accomplishments in mind, the living legend is ready for something new.
During an Oct. 25, 2022, episode of The Sevan Podcast, Froning Jr. announced that he plans to retire from the CrossFit Teams division. The 35-year-old noted that he enjoyed his run at the head of Team Mayhem Freedom — the most successful Team in CrossFit Games history — but is now planning for the future.
Froning Jr. might not be calling it quits forever. While he’s putting a bow on his major Individual and Teams career, the athlete noted he might compete in the CrossFit Masters division in the future. (Note: He isn’t the first long-time CrossFit competitor to announce plans to hang up his kettlebells in some fashion in October 2022.) For now, he seems to be settling into a calmer life, away from the sport and with his family.
The athlete offered more clarity on what might be in store for him in an Oct. 25 Instagram post.
“I’ve had an incredible career to this point as an Individual and on a Team,” Froning Jr. expressed. “From now on, whether I compete will be decided on a year-to-year basis depending on what season of life we’re in and how this old body feels.”
The competitor signed off with a word of thanks and appreciation for the greater CrossFit community.
“Thank you to our [CrossFit Mayhem] family and the rest of the [CrossFit] community for lifting us up during competition, you guys are the best fans in all of sports,” Froning Jr. wrote. “I’m sure I’ll see you all again on the floor sometime in the future, but until then … thank you!”
When accounting for his Individual (four) and Teams victories (six), Froning Jr. is comfortably the most decorated CrossFitter of all time. (Note: Only fellow CrossFit legend Mat Fraser has earned more Individual Men’s titles, with five.) Froning Jr. also possesses an impeccable record of consistency. Save for the 2020 CrossFit Games — where the Team competition was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic — the athlete finished, in some fashion, on every Games podium since 2010.
As he looks to a life without competitive CrossFit on his mind (for now), Froning Jr. leaves behind an indelible legacy. It’s the end of a memorable era for one of the sport’s most accomplished greats.
Kristy Hawkins is at a stage in her powerlifting career where the baseline expectation might be that she’ll lift something incredible whenever she gets a barbell in her hands. The athlete didn’t disappoint on this billing with her latest noteworthy feat of strength.
On Oct. 25, 2022, Hawkins posted an Instagram clip of herself capturing a 250-kilogram (551-pound) raw back squat for three reps during a training session. According to the caption of her post, the massive squat is a personal record (PR) for Hawkins. The athlete wore a lifting belt to help with the latest demonstration of her unique power.
As impressive as Hawkins’ squat achievement is at first glance, she was her harshest critic as the athlete didn’t seem pleased with the overall result. Especially on a lift that appeared to be smooth and go off without a hitch through all three reps. In her Instagram post, the powerlifter seemed to imply she may have been able to squat more on a better day.
Not happy with how squats felt and moved tonight but managed a PR.
Hawkins is no stranger to incredible milestones on her lifts. The athlete owns the World Record for the squat, deadlift, and total in the 75-kilogram weight class. Her top-ever competitive bench press of 155 kilograms (341.7 pounds) is also the second heaviest all-time, behind Allison Hind’s press of 163.3 kilograms (360 pounds) from the 2022 Revolution Powerlifting Syndicate (RPS) North American and New Jersey State Championships.
Here’s an overview of Hawkins’ all-time raw competition bests:
Kristy Hawkins (75KG) | All-Time Raw Competition Bests
Squat — 262.5 kilograms (578.7 pounds) | World Record
Deadlift — 278 kilograms (611.7 pounds) | World Record
Total — 685 kilograms (1,510.1 pounds) | World Record
At the time of this writing, Hawkins’ three-rep squat PR seems connected to preparation for an undisclosed powerlifting contest in December. A previous social media post saw the athlete alluding to a competition in the late fall, but she didn’t share what that contest was. At the same time, her social media is littered with recent clips of rep PRs on her squat and deadlift. (Notably, in mid-July 2022, Hawkins deadlifted over 22 pounds above her World Record figure.)
For Hawkins, she will likely excel wherever that stage is, considering the powerlifter has won 11 straight competitions dating back to mid-May 2015. To date, she has also never failed to qualify for the podium and has only failed to win outright on four occasions in a career that began in April 2014.
Hawkins’ records of success and achievement can probably speak for themselves. As one of powerlifting’s elite superstars, she very well might cap the 2022 calendar year by standing on top of yet another podium.
Hi hi! Happy Friday! How are ya? What’s going on this weekend? I feel like it’s our weekend of calm before the celebration avalanche begins. We have the PIlot’s birthday Monday, P’s birthday Wednesday, her party Friday, Trunk or Treat Saturday, a Halloween party on Sunday, and Monday is Halloween. We also have a promotion for the Pilot the following weekend, so I’m excited to just buckle up and enjoy the season because from now on, it’s wild around here, and I’m.ready.for.it. This weekend we’ll probably just hang out, visit a pumpkin patch, and celebrate the Pilot’s bday with the fam. I’d love to hear what you have going on and what your kids or pets are going to be for Halloween!
It’s time for the weekly Friday Faves party! This is where I share some of my favorite finds from the week and around the web. I always love to hear about your faves, too, so please shout out something you’re loving in the comments section.
Friday Faves
Random/life:
Seeing Six again. Friends, it’s UP THERE with my favorite musicals of all time. I saw it with Madre last week and was blown away, so we took Nani and Liv with us on Sunday night to see it again. (Heads up that some of the content is a bit more adult, so use your discretion. There’s only one song that I’m iffy about for the kids; the adult humor in the other songs just fly over their heads.)
The touring cast was insane… easily the best live vocal performances I’ve seen in a very long time. (Amina Faye was Jane Seymour. Give your ears a treat with her version of “Heart of Stone.”) Definitely check it out if a touring cast is coming near you!
Detox update. I’m officially on Day 5 of the functional medicine detox. It’s been quite a journey, and I’ve loved doing this with a community. (If you decide to do this on your own time, you can use FITNESSISTA20 for 20% off.) Day 1, I felt amazing and super energized. Day 2, I hit a little afternoon slump, and by Day 3, I felt like I was cruising along. The channa masala I made for lunch tasted like a dream. I feel like inflammation in my face is way down, and it’s been a much-needed little reset. I’ll share more details next week, plus all of the recipes I’ve been making! If you have any questions I can answer in my post, please let me know.
These journals for the girls! Julie from My Rainbow Journal asked if she could send some journals to the girls. They both love to write, and the timing was perfection since P just started her own journal a few weeks ago. When they opened the package, they were SO pumped and both started adding stickers, drawing, and answering prompts right away. It’s separated into topics and include so many values we emphasize as a family, including positive mindset, gratitude, and love for yourself and others. I didn’t snap a pic because by the time they were done writing, it was dark, but you can browse all of the amazing journals here.
Ordered these loafers on sale. I was looking for a pair of flats that would be cute with jeans, and feel like I’ll wear these all fall/winter with jeans and sweaters. Now I just need to find a pair of non-skinny jeans, maybe slightly cropped that I can wear with boots and these loafers? LMK if you have any you love!!
Améline by Phlur is my fave everyday scent, and my full-sized bottle has lasted forever. I decided to switch things up and order Missing Person because it’s so dang popular, and I LOVE it. It’s a little muskier, which is perfect for fall, but still floral and bright. Highly recommend their scents, especially if you’re looking for a safer fragrance option, and loooove their candles.
I dropped my favorite tarte palette and it exploded everywhere. 🙁 This is the replacement on the way; I’ll definitely report back. Perfect combo of glitzy wintery options, plus everyday neutrals.
