Hey there,
Here are 3 things I’ve learned and/or expanded on this week.
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My Favourite Back Exercises
The back is one of my favourite muscle groups to train. It’s a more complex system of muscles that requires a little more thought for optimizing growth. You have specific muscles that will make your back look thicker like the traps, erectors, and rhomboids. You also have specific muscles that will make your back look wider like the lats and teres major.
For a well rounded back you should consider equally distributing your back volume among exercises that train width and exercise that train thickness. If you feel like you’re lacking in either thickness or in width, you can bias more of your training volume and exercise selection to one or the other.
Here is a short list of some of my favourite back exercises currently. This is by no means an exhaustive list or one which I claim optimizes back growth entirely. By the way, there’s almost no research on back hypertrophy so be cautious when you see people making very certain and absolute claims about optimal back training.
For width:
- Lat Pulldown
- Pullups
- Dumbbell Pullover
For thickness:
- Chest Supported Rows
- SIngle Arm Seated Cable Row
- Deficit Barbell Rows
There are some key back training tips and tricks that hold true regardless of the specific exercises you choose. One is to stretch the muscle as much as possible under load. This means reaching all the way up on a lat pulldown or all the way forward on a cable row. Another is to try lengthened partials where you only perform the most stretched half of the movement. This might mean pulling to the chin or nose on a lat pulldown or pulling just above the knees on a barbell bent over row. Last, many of these back exercises are prime opportunities to perform myo reps, rest-pause sets, or myo-rep match sets. See RP Strength for more amazing information on myo-rep match sets.
Oh and also, for the love of god, use straps or grips.
Stop Marrying Your Beliefs and Opinions
We all have our opinions and beliefs about things. Sometimes we have really, really strong opinions and beliefs. Sometimes even about things that we don’t know much about.
When you marry your beliefs and opinions you can run into a lot of problems with decision making, emotional management, relationships with others, and your ability to improve and grow. When your beliefs and opinions are more fluid and can be changed based on good evidence or experiences, a lot of these problems can be reversed.
You’ll be better at making decisions because your beliefs and opinions will change as you gather more evidence and experience. You’ll be able to base your decisions on logic rather than emotion. Your ability to regulate and manage your emotions will also be improved. You’ll have a greater capacity and willingness to learn from different perspectives which will, in turn, improve your relationships with others. If you get stuck in your beliefs and opinions, you’ll also get stuck in your ability to grow and improve.
Stay open to change and separate your identity from your beliefs and opinions. You are not your beliefs and opinions. You are you, and your beliefs and opinions are just along for the ride. Try to challenge your beliefs and opinions often and avoid the confirmation bias, which we all find ourselves running into from time to time.
How Much Protein, Really?
1 GRAM PER POUND OF BODYWEIGHT, DUH! Just kidding, it’s actually a much more nuanced conversation than that.
1 gram per pound of body weight can work very well for a lot of people. If you’re like me, relatively lean and sitting around 160lbs, it’s actually a simple and practical number to aim for. It will almost certainly guarantee you’re getting the most gains you can from your protein intake.
But do you NEED that much protein? The answer is probably not.
My go to for this topic would be Menno Henselmans and he wrote a whole article about the science of protein intake for bodybuilders. You can read the article HERE
It seems that as low as 0.64 grams per pound of body weight is sufficient to maximize muscle growth with hard training.
If you’re eating 1 gram per pound, that’s okay no big deal. It’s an easy number to aim for. If you’re on the heavier side or just really struggling to hit that number, the good news is that you don’t have to!
Dare I say a lot of people in the circle of bodybuilding and hypertrophy training can even decrease their protein intake to make room for other macronutrients. It may result in a better balanced diet that fits their food preferences.
Peace friend,
Jamie
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