I originally wrote an article for Experience Life Magazine about several popular exercises and their equally effective alternatives. Today's podcast covers those exercises and recommendations.
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SUMMARY KEYWORDS
barbell, alternatives, deadlift, people, position, pull, popular, exercise, squat, version, flex, arm, dumbbell, diet, mobility, bit, powerlifting, bar, grip, lift
Hey there, what's going on? It's Dr. Mike T. Nelson here with another version of the flex diet podcast. And today, I've got a very shorter episode. This was originally done for experience Life magazine. So you'll see it published in there. But it was a really great question that I wanted to do here also about some popular exercises, and what are some alternatives that you can do? So if you don't like, are you not able to back squat? What are some other alternatives that unless your power lifter can get you the same results, and usually with less pain and make your life easier, too. So this is brought to you by the flex diet certification, which we'll be opening again very soon, actually opens on April 19 2021. Depending on when you're listening to this, you need to be on the newsletter list for a very cool fast action bonus. So go to flex diet. com, there'll be a way to get on the waitlist and the upper right hand corner, click on that button. And that will put you on to the exclusive free newsletter. So you get all the insider tracks and a lot more free content. That's actually where a vast majority of my content goes out right now is through the newsletter. So go to flux diet.com Fl dxdt.com. So coming up here, the audio unfortunately, is not the best in the world. But I think it'll be good enough that you can still listen to it. As I kind of detail what other exercises may be more beneficial for you. Again, if you're competing in powerlifting, then you would need to squat bench and deadlift. If you're not, then you have a lot more options if your goal is to add some muscle hypertrophy performance and just overall feel better. So check out this audio version here. Thank you so much. So here's a question from experience life of focusing on common lifts and why they're so popular. And then what are two to three alternatives for each one. So the first one is a barbell back squat. Why is this so popular? I think it's probably and I'll answer this for most of them just from powerlifting. So obviously powerlifting is a barbell back squat, bench press and deadlift. You could even argue maybe a barbell back squat isn't super popular. If you go to most mainstream gyms. I don't personally use the barbell back squat a lot unless I have people competing in powerlifting meets, then obviously, it's going to be useful there. I do use more of the alternatives to that. Lately, I've been doing a lot more with the front squat, the front squat with a bar can be a little bit trickier. So what you can do for the hand position, I like people to use straps, but not how they would think. Take a strap, put it around the bar, and then hold on to the other part of it, you do not want to wrap your hands into the strap on a front squat because you want to get out of it. But what you can do then is when you have your elbows high up front, you can hold on to the strap. And for some people who have limited mobility, I would rather them do that than do the cross arm. If you can use a clean grip for your fingertips or just on the bar that works well. Again, with the front squat. The key is that it's gonna feel like the bar is trying to strangle you. And if you feel it on your shoulders, your clavicle on the front and it's pressed against your neck, you're probably in a pretty good spot. Easier alternatives is the goblet squat made popular by coach Stan john, where you're holding a kettlebell or even a dumbbell and kind of a goblet position in front of you, you're squatting down. My other favorite is zurcher squat. And you can do this out of a rack. So you're going to place the barbell in the crux of your elbows. So it's still going to be held out front. You're going to get a lot of load that through the core because it's pulling you anteriorly out in front again. Another trick is you can use fat grips or a towel or if you have access to a two inch axle bar, not just distributes the loads a little bit on the elbows and the front part of your forearm and that'll make it less painful. The original zurcher squat was Done from the floor. So if you really want a great mobility challenge in strength, he would deadlift it, kind of set it on your quads, bring your arms underneath, and then get it in the crook of your elbows, and then stand up. Again, I view that as a pretty advanced version with that. So those would be the two or three alternatives to the back squat would be a front squat, goblet squat, or zurcher squat. Next up is a conventional barbell deadlift. Why is this so popular? Again, I would say probably powerlifting, or maybe even CrossFit, CrossFit, obviously, they're gonna do a lot of deadlift, deadlift variations. And I think, you know, for a lot of people, you can put more plates on it, you can lift a heavier load, which again, has its pros and its cons. The big downside I find with a deadlift is that some people just don't have the right mobility. And when you're doing a barbell deadlifts, by definition, the bar is going to be in front of you. So some people just are not in a good position, even with the 45 pound plates, to get the mobility they need to do it. So what are some other alternatives I like, if it's someone who has the mobility to do it, they can get into the position, but I'm a little worried about how they're going to execute it. Mainly, I'm worried they're going to round their back, their hips are going to pop up really fast. For that, I will put fat grips on there or use an axle, something to increase the bar diameter to around two inches, normal bar diameter is one inch, this is actually going to make it limited by their grip strength, they're going to be double overhand, so both palms down. And I like that because it's going to force them to use a lighter load and work on technique. And if they tried to go heavier, their grip is going to be the failure point. And it's much less likely they're going to injure their back or pull something. Other versions I do like is an RDL Romanian deadlift. In short, with that the tip I use is take the the barbell out, keep your shins relatively vertical, and then instead of going down, you're going to think about pushing your hips back and allow that to drop the barbell. Most people are probably going to go to their knees or just a little bit below their knees. The other one I really like is a trap bar deadlift. We can argue all day if that's really a deadlift or not. But I like that because it's easier to teach. Most people have better mobility in that position, easier for them to keep their spine nice and straight. Bonus alternative is a Jefferson deadlift or a straddle deadlift, we're actually stepping over the bar. Next step is a bench press. Why is it so popular? Probably again, powerlifting. Mostly at least for guys. It's an ego lift, you'll find out you lift, the first question they ask is How much do you bench. I think it's a better alternatives with this. I like using dumbbells on a 30 degree incline. I just think that it's a better position, the 30 degree incline is going to limit the weight a little bit. But I just like the position the biomechanics of that better push ups are one that I think people forget about. Doing a really good push up is going to help your fitness a long way. Put your feet against a wall and push your heels into the wall. Try to lengthen your spine like a tall spine, I got the cue from Dr. Eric Roberts the health and then do a push up because he wants you to stay in that lengthened straight position. That's what I like with that. Another one is you can do your feet up with a barbell and a rack. And you'll start at the bottom. So by doing this, you're forcing your low back into the bench, your thoracic area, your chest has to be flat. And if you don't have the mobility, then to get your arms in that position. Just start with the pins a little bit higher like a pin press. And over time, you can lower that starting position. Also, because you're starting at the bottom of the lift, you're starting with what's called a concentric own name. Most people get into issues where they take off heavier Barbell Bench Press and that they can handle the spotter does a bent over row to hand it to them. And the essential like the low rain is really fast and you run the risk of having some damage. If you have to start at the bottom. If you go too heavy and you're safely in a rack. Worst thing that happens is you can't complete the lift and also gives me an idea of the mobility in your shoulders. Because we are now not only Allowing you to compensate by just shoving your, basically the bottom of your ribs up closer to it. Next step is an overhead press. I don't really know if this one's really that popular, maybe from CrossFit that you'll see people doing it. better alternatives. My favorite is a vertical flat seated one arm press with a dumbbell or kettlebell. So sit flat on the floor, your legs can be out of 45 degrees or in front of you, and use a kettlebell or dumbbell in one arm and press overhead. What I like about this is you'll feel it mostly through your core, it's a little bit less of a max overhead lift. The nice part is that you can't really compensate because if you lean back too far, you're just gonna fall over. So that's probably my favorite to go to another version, if you can use like a neutral grip bar. That's good. Most people when they think about an overhead press with a dumbbell, they're thinking about moving their arm all the way out to the side. And I like in more of a 45 degree plane out in front. So just allowing them to move a little bit more into that 45 degree plane eliminates a lot of shoulder issues with that last version I would go with that is what I call a plate press. You have a flat plate, put it on your hand, almost like a pizza or waiters press, and then press overhead. But this one will obviously start pretty light. And be careful that the plate doesn't slide and hit you in the head. But I like that because you can't really compensate as much through grip and most people need their wrist to be a little bit more back in that back position. And a way to do it waited through their pull up. Why is this so popular? For a lot of female clients for relative strength, I think it's a really good marker even for guys, I thought a fair female clients were their first goal was to hit on assisted pull up versions you can try. I like the inverted row, it's a just a really good progression that I find transfers quite well to a pull up. Another one is a hanging scaps rugs. So a hang from a pull up bar. I like using a monkey grip where my thumb is on top with other fingers. And you're going to leave your arms straight. And you're going to use your scapula your shoulder blades and shrug up and then back down. Last step to it's doing a pull up most people I see are not doing it, I would say the best way you want to have your neck relatively neutral the entire time. If you can't do a complete pull up, see if you can keep your head neutral and come just to the lineup with a top of your head. And then over time, can you line up to the top of your say eyes, man can you come do your nose, your lips and then your chin. So that is a another progression I like because you're just kind of sort of doing partial reps there but in a better position. bicep curl, why is it so popular? Everybody likes working arms. So I think that's probably the reason I do like a standing strict barbell curl. Most people are kind of throwing the weight around. You can even do this with rotating your pelvis back a little bit to start or kind of quote unquote flat neutral ish and back or posterior tilt your pelvis. And then nice tall spine again, and then just curl from there. If you really want to make it hard, put your back up against a wall. And that'll make sure that you can't really cheat. Another one I like is a version that's called a drag curl from Vince to Ronda, you're going to have the barbell touching your torso the entire time, you're really going to pull your elbows back. And the barbell is going to touch your torso the entire time as you curl it up. If you want to make that harder version, I got my buddy Adam glass, you can do ISO stops. So you'll come maybe a third of the way up, pull the barbell against your torso, hold there for one or two seconds, and then come up maybe another third of the way, barbell still touching your torso, keep pulling back and then do another third. So those are the other versions I like for that last one you can play around with there's a plate curl, you can take a plate, put it in your open hand, put your thumb around the top started really, really light. And then you're going to curl that way. So if you look at it, it's a wrist and open fingers and thumb on the top. This is a really good hand and wrist strengthening exercise. So those would be some of the versions and alternatives to try out. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for listening to the flex diet podcast really appreciate it. Hopefully you enjoyed those different alternative versions that you can do to some kind of classic, more popular exercises. So expanding your exercise vocabulary is is always good. And if you want to learn just kind of the basic concepts of exercise, I do cover that briefly in the flex diet certification. Most of the certification is focused on nutrition and recovery. But we do have an entire module in there that talks about the basics of exercise programming, because exercise and nutrition go hand in hand. So one of the key concepts I talked about in the certification is the concept of macro matching. When you want to match your macro nutrients, do the exercises that you're doing. The other concept is a macro mismatching. So when you may want to purposely mismatch your macronutrients. The main examples would be when it may be advantageous to actually do higher intensity exercise that normally uses carbohydrates. When you may want to do that on a low carbohydrate environment, this could be from your diet. This could be from lower liver glycogen, or purposely lowering muscle glycogen and doing some high intensity exercise. Now again, like all things, there's pros and cons to money would want to do this and why you would want to do it. So those concepts we'll cover in the flex diet certification. That opens again on Monday, April 19, it'll be open for one week. If you're listening to this, you can go to flex diet comm once it is open, most likely will have a redirect on that page. And then if you want to get on the newsletter, to have all the insider information, go to flex that comm normally there'll be a little button there when it's not open, that you can get on to the waitlist that'll put you on to the newsletter right away. So thank you so much again for listening to this. Really appreciate it. Talk to you all soon.