The Weekly Dose

THE WEEKLY DOSE [VIEW IN BROWSER] [The Weekly Dose] LATEST ARTICLES [Bodybuilder Biceps] [Bodybuilder Biceps, Powerlifter Triceps] by Adam Bentley Powerlifters have the strongest triceps. Bodybuilders have the biggest biceps. Here's how to combine their training methods to build arms that are as strong as they look. [One-Arm Bench Press] [Tip: Do the One-Arm Bench Press With Iso-Hold] by Ben Bruno Adding an isometric hold to this classic exercise will demolish your pecs and build core strength. Here's how to do it. [Natural?] [Tip: Natural? Train MORE Often.] by Christian Thibaudeau Here's why natural lifters actually need more frequent workouts for optimal gains. [5 Things You're Deficient In] [5 Things You're Deficient In] by TC Luoma If you're running low on any of these things, you could be wrecking your health, gaining fat easier, and even limiting muscle gains. Check the list. [Russian Fighter] [Tip: Do the Russian Fighter Pull-Up Program] by Dan John This simple plan involves "sneaking up" on reps in the pull-up. It just takes a few minutes per day. Check it out. [Push, Pull, Bend] [Tip: Train Your Abs Directly] by Christian Thibaudeau No, the big compound lifts aren't enough for real core strength. Here's why. [Dump the Slump] [Dump the Slump] by Maryann Berry Fix your rounded back to feel, move, and look better. Here are three exercises that'll help. [Band-Resisted Rollouts] [Tip: Try Band-Resisted Rollouts for Abs] by Ben Bruno As if the ab wheel wasn't hard enough, Coach Bruno ramps it up a notch. Check this out. [Lose More Fat] [Tip: Lose More Fat, Stop Training Fasted] by Christian Thibaudeau Turns out, fasted cardio leads to less fat loss, not more, and it puts you at risk of muscle loss. Here's why. [5 Best Warm-Ups] [The 5 Best Warm-Ups for Big Lifts] by Paul Carter Prime your body to lift heavier, lift harder, and do it all safely. Here's how strong lifters get it done. [Do the Plate Squat] [Tip: Do the Plate Squat] by Joel Seedman, PhD Fix your valgus knee collapse and you'll improve glute recruitment and squat heavier. This drill will help. Check it out. [Volume Deload] [Tip: Do a Volume Deload for Strength Gains] by Christian Thibaudeau To stay strong, you need to keep in touch with the heavy weights, even during a deload. Here's how to do it right. [8 Mistakes Men Make] [8 Mistakes Men Make With Diets] by Chris Shugart Avoid these nutrition mistakes and never develop dad-bod. Are you making any of them? Check out the list. [Prisoner Extensions] [Tip: Do Prisoner Extensions for Hams & Glutes] by Bret Contreras Build your posterior chain and boost your deadlift with this exercise. Check it out. [Make PB&J Protein Parfait] [Tip: Make PB&J Protein Parfait] by Dani Shugart Tempted to splurge? Kill your cravings with a double dose of protein. Get the easy recipe here. [Dumbbell Snatch] [Tip: Do the Dumbbell Snatch] by Eric Bach Increase power and boost athleticism with this explosive exercise that can be done in any gym. [Fat Burning Challenge] [Tip: Take the 9 Minute Fat Burning Challenge] by Chad Waterbury Scorch fat with the swing & clap finisher. Here's how. [Use Intro Weeks] [Tip: Don't Use Deload Weeks. Use Intro Weeks.] by Christian Thibaudeau Stop wasting 25 percent of your strength training workouts. Here's a better way to deload and boost recovery. [Optimize Your Warm-Up] [Tip: Optimize Your Warm-Up] by Charles Staley Here are 5 ways to improve your warm-up to get better results from heavy training sessions. [Serious Athletes] FEATURE ARTICLE [Do the Floor Press] by Christian Thibaudeau [Do the Floor Press] The floor press – a bench press without the bench – has become a staple exercise with many high-level powerlifters, but anyone who wants to get stronger and build muscle can benefit from it. It's a very effective movement to build pure pressing strength, along with muscle mass in the chest, shoulders, triceps. To understand why it's effective, it's important to understand force production when you lift a weight. 3 Factors That Contribute to Force Production 1. The actual contraction of the muscle. 2. The elasticity of the muscle tissue and the tendons. A muscle is elastic by nature. Like a rubber band, it will forcefully return to its normal length after it's been stretched. This pre-stretch contributes to force production when you lift and the muscles return to their original length. 3. The myotatic stretch reflex. A muscle has receptors called muscle spindles. Their role is to protect the muscle against tears. When that muscle becomes stretched, the spindles activate the stretch reflex, which shortens the muscle to prevent it from being torn. This contributor to force production works in concert with the elasticity of the muscle. Pressing from the floor reduces the contribution of elasticity and the stretch reflex. If you pause with your upper arms on the floor for a second or two at the start of each rep, you can reduce the contribution of the stretch reflex by as much as 90 percent. That's why most of us will be weaker pressing from the floor than we are when we press from a bench, even though the range of motion is shorter. But by inhibiting the stretch reflex, you rely almost entirely on the actual contraction of the muscles during a floor press. The result is a more forceful contraction, and lots of gains in size and strength. In that sense, it's the upper-body equivalent of a deadlift. TRENDING [Five Exercises] [Five Exercises You Should Stop Doing... Forever!] by Clay Hyght, DC Five popular exercises that may be doing you more harm than good. Check out the list. [The 4 Dumbest Ab Exercises] [The 4 Dumbest Ab Exercises] by Dr John Rusin Those popular ab exercises you see in many workout programs are ineffective and injurious. Luckily, there are smarter alternatives. [Velocity Diet] POWERFUL WORDS The best part of doing cardio is when you go deadlift instead. – [T Nation (Twitter)] You can become much bigger and stronger than you are today. What we're missing genetically can be made up with mental strength. It takes no talent to give effort and be disciplined. It takes no talent to be consistent. It takes no talent to be better today than you were yesterday. – [Jim Wendler] If you're an athlete, stop worrying about becoming slow because of building "too much" muscle. You'll only become slower if you get fatter. – [Christian Thibaudeau] [Dear treadmill people:] [Training: You do it, it sucks] [Habit and routine] [The gym isn't an escape] Copyright © 2016 T NATION LLC, All rights reserved. [Unsubscribe From List]