Tip of the Week : Lifting Without a Spotter

Each week we publish a number of tips and techniques via X (Formerly `Twitter`), the blog; and the newsletter. Wherever you are, there’s always a way to improve what you’re doing.

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I love the home gym – it’s definitely the perfect place to focus, and to really get to work. Particularly when you’re training solo. That said, there are a few things to keep in mind when lifting by yourself. In the Setting Up the Home Gym Gymchat, Andrew noted his own guidelines for Lifting Without a Spotter. Good stuff.
From Gymchat 167 – Setting Up the Home Gym :

My personal general rules for lifting without a spotter: Don’t do:

• 1. Anything I haven’t done before.
• 2. Anything that could get me killed.
• 3. Anything that I am not 100% sure that I will get all the reps.
• 4. Anything that I cannot do with good form.

Do:

• 1. Anything that doesn’t violate the “don’t do” and will get me stronger!

Love it.

Unlock Your Hips, Unlock Your Squat

I get a lot of questions regarding the impact of ‘unlocking your hips‘ on heavy squatting. Rick Kaselj goes into it in plenty of detail in the ‘Unlock Your Hip Flexors‘ program; and I’ve also posted a brief video below which demonstrates/explains some of the exercises.
Both (working with Ryan, and Rick’s program) are highly recommended. And as always, we love hearing your feedback – if you sample any of the above exercises or the ‘Unlock Your Hip Flexors‘ program, we’d love to hear about it.

Exercise Of The Week : Barbell Triceps Kickback (Triceps Raise)

This is a version of the triceps kickback that I first performed a couple of years ago, and subsequently managed to overlook. Whilst reading Bruce Lee’s The Art of Expressing the Human Body recently I noticed the same exercise (pp116-117) described by Lee as :

From a standing position, with the barbell held behind you so that it touches the back of your thighs, keep your arms stiff and raise the barbell upward, at the same time inclining the torso forward until it reaches a position parallel to the floor. Raise the bar just as far as it will go, and then give a little extra lift at the end to fully contract the inner [medial] head of the triceps.

I like this exercise for a few reasons.

• It doesn’t encourage cheating – unlike its dumbbell cousin.
• Leaning forward helps to ensure a good range of motion.
• Whilst it certainly hits the medial head, this is far from an isolation exercise – you’ll feel it in your shoulders (particularly posterior delts) in no small measure. NB: if you’ve already got less-than-perfectly-healthy shoulders, think twice before trying this.

Definitely worth keeping in the arsenal.

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Incidentally, if you’d like to get in touch regarding this or any other aspect of strength, you can contact me here. Look forward to hearing from you.

Fitness Reading/Listening For The Week : ‘Mike Mentzer’s High Intensity Training [HIT]’ (by Mick Southerland)

It’ll come as no surprise that we discuss a lot of fitness-related books, courses & podcasts; on this site as well as the various networks noted in the sidebar. Mick Southerland’s ‘Mike Mentzer’s High Intensity Training [HIT]’ is a wonderful collation of Mike Mentzer’s training approaches – both in the gym and in the kitchen. Enjoy. Incidentally, I’m always looking to add to the ‘books to read‘ list. If you’ve come across something which you’d love everyone else to check out, drop me a line. There’s also a list of our all-time fitness suggestions over there. Dive on in.