Tonight while I was at the Arizona Grand fitness center working out I saw a guy doing your typical sit ups and crappy ab exercises that were more than likely doing him more harm than good.

Right at that moment I decided to whip out my Iphone (I am like Batman with that thing) and record my Core workout for that night.

So here are 3 QUALITY core exercises that will help your training.

Stir The Pot

Suitcase Carry

Side Plank With Rotation

I hurt my back many years ago doing heavy deadlifting and ever since then I have been super cautious about anything to do with my lower back. It is not something you want to mess up, trust me.

A lot of the time I see people doing Stiff Leg Deadlifts & Kettlebell swings improperly.  Sometimes they can’t “feel” it in their hamstrings, other times they have the bar travel too far away from their legs which can put undue pressure (loading) on the Spine which can be bad news.

It is really important to practice “Hip Hinging” in order to really stretch and activate your hamstrings properly.  It’s something that took me a while to get personally but once I did it made a huge difference with my training.

As well while training my clients at Heavyweights Training Center I make it a point to always be working on the Hip Hinge.  It may not be the most exciting thing you can do with your training, but trust me when I say it will help your training big time.

Check out this video where I demonstrate The Hip Hinge.

If you want another blog post on training with lower back pain click HERE.

Give it a try, leave me any questions or comments.

This is a story of me and a nasty Bicep Tear and my recovery so far.

It happened about 3 years ago.  It’s a great story, but not if you have a weak stomach.

I can still remember the the sound of my Bicep Tear perfectly.

It sounded like someone taking a pair of jeans and ripping them, you could hear it all throughout the gym.  The only problem was I wasn’t wearing jeans and that RIIIIPPP sound was the sound of my Left Bicep Tendon tearing off the bone on my left arm.

I thought I was ok, at the time I was grappling and I said to my the guy I was rolling with that I think I just Fu*ked my arm, I still had movement, I didn’t have pain as such but I had numbness, but I was in complete denial and shock as my whole left bicep had gotten about 3 inches shorter.

Bicep Tear means off to emergency I go.

At emergency they were pretty good to me.  Funny enough the local doctor that was treating me tore his left bicep as well lifting weights, he was about 135lbs soaking wet and said he tore it doing preacher curls in the gym.

Then comes the inevitable question from him “Did you ever use Steroids?  They increase tendon tears you know”.  My reply was something along the lines of “Yes I do know that Steroids do that, did you use them when you tore your bicep doing preacher curls?”

His reply of course was “No”, which was the exact reply I gave him.

Left Tendon In My Hand snapped as well...surgery #3

Silly doctors.

Anyways moving forward, next step was my orthopedic surgeon.  He was a great guy (I have been to see him 3 times since), but he made it very clear to me that I would never grapple again, my martial arts and weight lifting more than likely was over, and I would never be competitive with anything again.

I was devastated.

I did everything I could to improve recovery on my bicep tear, I ate super clean, took lots of supplements to help (Cissus, Glucosamine, BCAA’s, Glutamine,  every joint product I could use I took).

I hit the gym regularly, training the other side of my body, and hitting cardio and legs frequently, I was determined.  I had 1 arm push ups mastered (I think at my best I did 30 of them, no joke).

My recovery was awesome and my MINDSET was unstoppable.

Well just this last week I did everything that my Orthopedic Doctor said I wouldn’t do, and I am damn proud (and maybe a little stupid but hey that’s me).

Right Bicep Tear While Sparing

Here is me getting some personal best lifts after 2 bicep tears and 1 bicep surgery (Tore my right bicep boxing sparing, but only outer head rupture, no tendon, so no surgery).

Anyways here is me hitting Chin Ups with 50 lbs at The Arnold Classic, Doing Chins with 70 lbs at my gym Heavyweights Training Center & doing a Rope Climb from a dead stop only using my arms, and also doing clap fat grip chin ups.

Moral of the story, NEVER EVER EVER GIVE UP on anything you want to do.

And thank you to the amazing doctor that has the ability to fix something like that.  Incredible the professionals we have access to.

Please share your stories of overcoming, whether it’s an illness, injury, or anything at all. I would love to hear from you.

If you have had any injuries like a Bicep Tear share them below.

It would be very difficult to find a more beneficial exercise than Deadlifts!

Besides being a fantastic lower and upper body movement, deadlifts also helps to improve grip strength, and strength of the posterior chain.  It can be done for higher reps (very taxing on the musculature), or very low rep (very taxing on the CNS).

There are two main ways to do the deadlifts, conventional and sumo.

Both having distinct advantages and disadvantages, so both should be attempted to ascertain which would be best suited for your body type.  In a typical gym setting, conventional deadlifts are far more common, so we will start with those.

A conventional deadlift is performed with a relatively narrow stance (around shoulder width, or somewhere slightly wider or narrower), which places the torso in a ‘bent over’ position.

Because of the trunk position, it requires more work from the lower back to extend the body as the load is lifted. Also, when pulling conventional, you must not allow the bar to drift forward and away from the body as you pull the bar upwards. This style of pulling can be problematic for people with very long femurs (the ‘thigh’ bone), as the knees can interfere with the bar’s path on the way up, or down.

The path of the bar is much longer in this lift, which can be excellent from a hypertrophy standpoint (the greater the distance you are moving a weight, the greater the amount of ‘work’ you are performing), but sometimes is not the best if your goal is to move as much weight as possible, which is why you see a lot of powerlifters opting for the sumo style of deadlift (although interestingly enough, quite often the best deadlifters do pull conventional).

The sumo style of deadlift involves a much wider stance, with the toes pointed outwards, and a much more upright trunk position. Because of this, it uses different muscles, and changes the bar path. It relies much more on the quads, inner hamstrings, and upper traps to move the weight. It requires a lot more strength and flexibility in the hips, which is why some people experience issues around the hips, and groin when they switch to sumo style. With the upright torso position, and the legs out of the way of the bar, the bar is able to travel tighter to the body as it moves upwards, and has less of a tendency to drift forward.

Because the torso is in a much more erect position, it does not involve the lower back nearly as much as the conventional style, and can be very beneficial for people with lower back issues.  Also, because your stance is so much wider, your body is much closer to the ground, therefore requiring the bar to travel a smaller distance to lockout. Since the bar does not have to travel as far, less work is being completed, and oftentimes, more weight can be lifted. This is not always the case, though, as some people’s hips are not strong enough to get heavy weight moving.

Because both styles of deadlifts have distinct advantages and disadvantages, and because each relies of different muscle groups to lift the weight, I suggest trying both and, if there is no pain or biomechanical issues, performing both styles regularly and getting comfortable with each. Even if you feel stronger with one, there are many advantages to doing the other as well, and reaping the benefits of improving your weaknesses.

Deadlifts are a fantastic exercise I hope this helps you with them.

If you like these videos and want to improve your bench & chest size my
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In case you missed it I am giving away FREE my 10 Unique Exercises To Build A Bigger Bench DVD videos.

Here they are!

Some unique exercises that give you a bigger bnech, stronger thicker chest, and also make lifting fun (Cuz doing the same ol shit gets boring after a while!)

Part I – Click Here

By the way I LOVE #6, try it!

Happy Benchin!

#6. Isometric Bar Press

#7. Partial Lock Outs

#8. California Press

#9. Bent Over Bar Row

#10. Vertical Row

As I staid in my email I sent out on Friday that I would be giving away FREE my “10 Unique Exercises To A Bigger Bench Press”, well as promised here it is FREE!

Here is part one Exercises 1-5.  I will release 6 to 10 on Monday for you.

Why am I doing this?  Simple, I want to help you as much as possible and I want to show the type of quality information I plan on providing with my blog & e-mails.

I have learned a LOT over the last 15 years and it is my goal to help as many people as possible get STRONG, MUSCULAR & LEAN!

So here ya go!  I would love some comments down below!  Thanks!

#1. Standing Push Press

#2. Diagonal Bar Press

#3. Rotator Cuff Training

#4. Cuban Press

#5. Glute Bridge

Here ya go! My $39.99 Bench Press Training FREE to you!  Hope you enjoy it!

Please hit “Like” and please leave some comments down below!!  THANKS!

I wish I had this years ago when I was competing and I LOVE using it!

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Newfoundland Boy Frank McGrath

I hope you enjoyed my bench press video tips.  If you need a refresher here are the links for the first 2 videos

Video Tip 1 – Bench Pres Grip

Video Tip 2 – Foot Placement

In this tip I want to explain to you 2 things.

1. Bar Placement On The Chest

2 Bar Path aka Bar Trajectory

I hope this video sheds some light on something as simple as a Bench Press and shows you that although it is a basic lift, there is a lot to doing it correctly.  All these little tips and tricks add up to improve your bench press and give you better strength and injury prevention.

As always Leave Me Some Feedback!

If you want more videos like this let me know ok.

I hope you enjoyed Bench Press Video Tip #1 Bench Press Grip.

In this second Bench Press Tip I want to show you the importance of foot and lower body positioning.  This is crucial!

Once you get this down strength will really go up, and fast!

Benching maybe an “UpperBody” exercise, but remember its better to always use your FULL Body to act as a unit, and not isolate, especially when it comes to Strength Exercises.

Also don’t forget to leave me FEEDBACK!! Please..It means a lot to me to know that you enjoy these videos ok!

If you like this video I suggest you get my Book & DVD Series

www.BuildABiggerBenchPress.com

So I am stuck in Newark NJ on my way home to Newfoundland after a amazing Marketing conference with my Idol Frank Kern.  Don’t worry it’s not that exciting for most people, but for me it was like meeting Arnold!

Last week I flimed a bunch of workout videos as feedback from most of my readers so far have been that they love the videos.  So I plan to put my shiny bald head on video more, all to keep you happier .

This is a video I filmed on Bench Press Grip. It’s something that is very neglected and overlooked but really important to having a big bench press and something that can make an improvement in your numbers immediately.

If you give me enough feedback and replies I will post up 2 more like this. Each one building on the other, but I need to hear from you first so give me some feedback.

If you like this video I suggest you get my Book & DVD Series

www.BuildABiggerBenchPress.com