What's up, guys?
Jeff Cavaliere, ATHLEANX.com.
The Master Tip series returns today and this time we're hitting the back.
The one tip that's going to allow you to get much more out of every, single back exercise
you do, and of course, it has a few other criteria it has to meet, too.
In order to be called a "Master Tip" it must not just work on all the other exercises,
but it should not require that you have any added experience, or equipment in order to
be able to pull it off.
It must not take a lot of time for you to implement.
I'm talking, you should be able to go do this the very next time you train your back.
Finally, the damn thing has to work.
If I'm going to call it a "Master Tip" it has to be a great tip.
So with all that said, before I show you how to implement it, and all the different exercises,
I want to tell you what it is we're trying to accomplish.
When we know that when we're training our back we want to make sure that we get full
contraction of our lats.
We can't have our elbows stop here.
We know that the elbows have to cross midline and go behind our body.
If we don’t do that we're not getting the most out of the exercises we're doing.
But there's a way we can actually cheat that.
There's a way we could actually make sure that's happening by not even focusing on what
the elbows are doing.
We can focus on something that's a lot easier to see, and control, and that is right here.
Our sternum.
So now, when we pull back, no matter what the exercise is – I'll start here, with
a row – when we pull back we don’t just want to get the elbows moving in this direction.
We want to get the sternum moving in that direction.
Actively moving in that direction.
Consciously moving our chest in that direction.
So I like to call this the Superman Tip.
If we were to take our chest right here, to reveal the "S" we wouldn't just go like this.
If we just went like this we could be in bad posture, and Superman doesn’t look like
this.
He looks like this.
Up, extended, and out.
And when we get our elbows going here – and you can feel the difference.
Just take your hands, put them right here in front of you, and as you rip open the shirt,
let the elbows travel back behind your body, and let your chest travel out.
In this case, toward you guys.
So like this.
When you can get that feeling, now you've got to go apply it to all the lat exercises
you're doing, and you'll feel an instant difference.
So let's start here with a lat pulldown.
I'm not just pulling the bar down, toward my chest in this bad posture.
What I'm doing is, I'm actively – on every, single rep – as the elbows come down, and
back I'm sticking the chest up, and out.
You can see me doing that every, single time.
There's a much better contraction taking place.
I could do it on pullups, too.
Don’t just think about trying to pull your hands down, toward you as your body is lifted.
Think about trying to attack the bar with your chest.
Push your chest up, toward the bar actively.
See if you can close that gap down as your elbows are traveling back, behind your body.
The next thing is on a row.
I don’t care if you're doing a one-armed row like I'm doing here.
Don’t just pull the arm.
I've said this before: that just becomes a bicep exercise.
As you're letting the elbow travel back, behind your body actively stick your chest out, down
toward the floor, in this case.
You could do it on a barbell row, too.
As you're pulling the elbows back you're actively pushing the chest out.
Then finally, even if you're doing something like a straight-arm push down.
It works here, too.
Tilt your torso slightly forward to allow for the elbows to get – not just to the
body, but behind the body.
And you'll find that this becomes even easier if, at the same time, you're actively sticking
your chest out, toward that bar as you pull it down.
So as you see, guys, we all could do the same exercises.
There's not a lot of variety when it comes to back training, but it's how you do the
exercises that matters.
That's what makes the difference between those that see the best results from the exercises,
and those that don’t.
I take a lot of time and effort to make sure when you do any of my programs, making sure
you're getting the most out of everything you do.
If you're looking for one of those programs click the link below this video.
Use the program selector.
It will help you to find the program that's best aligned with the goals that you have
set for yourself, right now.
But it only takes a couple minutes for you to do that, and it's well worth the time.
In the meantime, if you've found this video helpful, if you like the Master Tip series,
leave your comments and thumbs up below.
Let me know what you want me to cover here in a future video and I'll do my best to do
that for you in the days and weeks ahead.
All right, guys.
See you soon.