TWO Workouts

Chest dips are fun! But with the dips we are facing the same issues as with the pullup. You are lifting about 93% of your bodyweight which makes it too hard for beginners. You will need sufficient tricep and chest strength to be able to perform these. Normal dip progressions have you do band assisted dips, negatives or tricep bench dips. These work but they all have their downsides. Negatives are not generally good because of the increased injury risk. I would not recommend negatives for beginners since they have not been able to learn the movement pattern. Doing the movement pattern in both directions with good form and lighter load is always a safer option. Tricep bench dip is not a very good option since the positioning of the hands is behind the body and might cause shoulder pain for some. Also it does not develop the chest strength required for the chest dip. And last not everyone has a selection of bands they can attach to their dip setup. Dips are fun. But try not to fall! How t...

Ah, the calves. The most ignored and underrated muscle group among mortal men. And I must confess that I'm one of them. But not to a degree where I don't do any work for the calves. I just work them with maintenance volume by doing one session of heavy work and one session of light work weekly. There are few problems with calves. They don't directly affect your physique unless you wear shorts all the time. Also from a training perspective the calves get very little training effect from compound lifting for the lower body such as squats. Sure the calves contribute for balance and stabilization but don't get any significant training stimulus from lower body training. That's why calves need to be trained separately with isolation exercises which is time consuming and not fun. Direct arm training is fun! Calves should be treated like any other muscle group that does not get direct training stimulus. So around 8-12sets per week and up to 16-20sets if you really want to g...

Strong hamstrings will help to balance your lower body. If your legs are quad dominant and your hamstrings are weak you are likely to face some issues such as knee pain and hamstring strains at some point in your life. Two most common bodyweight hamstring exercises recommended are the hamstring bridge and if you are strong enough the nordics hamstring curl. Both are great options but they have their limitations. With the regular hamstring bridges you don't get much range of motion and you are missing the full flexion of the hamstring muscles. People are instructed to lay on their back while doing these which reduces the range of motion and reduces the load on the hamstrings. The nordic hamstring curl is an advanced exercise that you rarely see anyone do with perfect form. Mostly you see negatives, modified nordic curls or assisted curls with bands. Not everyone has a place to do these since they require a special setup: a pullup bar placed on the floor level, loaded barbell, straps...

Having a strong lower back is your insurance againsts life. In our daily lives we need to lift heavy objects from the ground and carry them from point A to B. I have a big family so carrying the groceries from the car to the kitchen resembles a farmers walk these days. Also from time to time we need to be able to lift that heavy couch to clean the floor or move that washing machine since you dropped the keys behind it. If you are unprepared for these tasks you will eventually face difficulties. I'm talking about lower back pain, disc bulges and strains. Since most of us don't have equipment for deadlift or access to a back extension machine we have to rely on other exercises to train the back extensors. For this purpose I would like to introduce you to the following back extension exercises and progression to strengthen the lower back.  Note that most of the exercises include other muscle groups such as the glutes and hamstrings. The spinal erectors work alongside with these mu...