Jeff Nippard - Fundamental Series 04 - What Are The Best Exercises for Muscle and Strength

11:02PM Sep 25, 2021

Speakers:

Jeff Nippard

Keywords:

exercises

muscle

deadlift

compound movements

activating

beginner

movement

rear delts

tend

squat

press

weight

hit

variation

biceps

bit

shoulder

isolation movements

triceps

covered

All right, what is going on everyone, welcome to the next installment of the fundamentals series, I want to do a super quick review on this one, because I know we just did one in the last video. But very quickly, we've got our ladder over here, I'm just going to go through what we've covered, your program has to be safe and enjoyable. In order for it to be sustainable over time, you have to be willing to put in the effort, otherwise, the rest of this stuff isn't gonna work much for you, you have to apply progressive overload, and you have to be doing something extra, every time you're in the gym, or at least every week, you should try to do something a little bit more. You want to prioritize your goals, meaning whatever your weak points are, you want to train them earlier in the workout or earlier in the week when you're fresh. And also, then we get into the acute training variables. So we've covered three of those. For volume, we said that roughly 10 to 20 sets per week is probably a good spot. For most beginner early intermediate frequency, you want to be hitting every body part at least twice per week, ideally, not just once per week. And then in the last video, we covered intensity and load. So basically, how heavy should you be training.

And we said that most of your reps, most of your sets should come in the six to 15 rep zone. And there's nothing necessarily magical about that zone. But it is a little bit more practical, since you don't run into the same injury risk and volume issues that you tend to see below six reps. And you don't run into the same fatigue and recovery issues, as you tend to see above 15 reps. So that brings us to the topic of this video, which is going to be exercise selection. So are there certain exercises that you should be prioritizing? Are there certain exercises that are better than others? So first, as a general principle, I think that especially as a beginner, you want to be prioritizing exercises that use they use large muscle masses, so that use a large amount of muscle mass. Generally speaking, these are going to be the compound movements over here. However, I don't think that they should make up all of your routine, we're not quite that minimalistic. But from an efficiency perspective, and a general strength perspective and athletic perspective, I think that these exercises that use large amounts of muscle masses are better. And so these compound movements are basically multi joint movements. So they involve more than one joint. So just for example, let's just take the benchpress, you'd be using muscles that act at the elbow joint, so namely your triceps as you extend the elbows, and then you're also going to be using muscles that act on the shoulder joint as your pecs and also your deltoids. And so it's a multi joint movement using a large degree of musculature compared with an isolation movement, which tends to use only one joint or it's only activating muscles that act on one joint. And so example of that would be like say, a bicep curl, where you're activating the bicep and the elbow joint is really the only joint where the action is happening. Okay, so before we get into those, first of all, I want to address machines versus free weights. I actually think that people come down a little bit too hard on one side or the other of this, I think that both machine based exercises and free weight exercises can have their place in our training program for beginners, intermediate, and advanced trainees. And there are advantages and disadvantages to each. The obvious advantage of free weights are that they tend to be more transferable, I think, to other exercises. Um, so from a general strength in general athleticism perspective, these exercises tend to have more strength carryover to the more say, isolation movements, or at least I would argue that and also free weight exercises tend to involve the stabilizing muscles more. So just for example, comparing a machine shoulder press to a free weight dumbbell shoulder press, you tend to see more stabilization involved in the dumbbell press, which is a free weight movement, because the rotator cuff kind of has to be more stable, since you're not locked into that machine. And also you tend to get more of the side delts involved, because that helps to sort of stabilize the arm and prevent it from going forwards or backwards. So the advantage of free weights you get, let's do it appear more transfer strength transfer to other exercises, and you have a better training of the stabilizer muscles. potential downside of using free weights is that they can be a little bit more difficult to learn for a beginner and which can be frustrating. So this is obviously an advantage of machines that they tend to be a little bit easier to do. For a beginner who's new to the gym. They may not want to learn the standing overhead military press right away. It might be easier and more enjoyable for them to use a machine shoulder press and there's nothing necessary. Rarely wrong with that either. And both of these can be effective at stimulating the muscles. And I think that using them in concert with one another is perfectly acceptable. Also, I think it's worth mentioning that when you're trying to learn these movements, especially the free weight movements might not be a bad idea to consult a personal trainer or recruit one of your friends who knows how to lift and kind of have them monitor and give you feedback on your technique. Because I do think that online coaching and YouTube videos really come up short in this department. And it's kind of difficult to give people feedback through the internet. So I think that having someone have a look at your technique, as is pretty important, especially as a beginner. Um, with that out of the way, I'm just going to go through my list of my favorite compound movements for all the big muscles over here. And then I'm also going to go through my favorite isolation movements for some of the smaller muscles are the muscles that require more isolation. So we're just going to split these down the middle, and we're going to start with the legs. So for the legs. Number one, I've got the squat listed here as number one, just as a kind of a side, if I had to pick only one exercise for the legs, I would actually probably be the hex bar deadlift, which is a really random movement. Not a lot of people do it. But I do really like it because unlike the squat, it hits the hamstrings very well, you're dead lifting, so you get more of the upper body musculature involved as well. And then you also hit the quads to a great degree more than the normal deadlift, because you have to get down a little bit further. And the bar is kind of more centered here in the midplane. And it also obviously gets the glutes involved. So if I had to pick only one exercise, probably overall for the lower body, you'd probably be the hex bar deadlift, but I usually don't recommend it just because it is kind of random, and I don't really do it myself. But in any case, I would say the squat in other than the hex bar deadlift would definitely be my number one, there is downsides to it, which is why you want to combine exercises, but it's great for activating the quads, and it's also pretty darn good at activating the glutes as well.

Other than the squat, you'd also want a deadlift variation. Um, so this is going to get the hamstrings. Not a lot of people realize that the squat is actually a pretty bad hamstring exercise. But the deadlift isn't quite so bad, and the deadlift is also going to hit the glutes as well. And I say deadlift variation here, because if we're speaking strictly from hypertrophic muscle building perspective, I would say that I'd probably go with a straight leg deadlift, or a Romanian deadlift, over here, rather than a deadlift from the floor, just because I think that that's going to get the hamstrings a little bit more involved. And it's going to be a little bit less taxing, you have a little bit more of a essentra, component, etc. Slightly more advanced topics, but I do really like the Romanian deadlift over here. So with that, you basically just want to set your hips back, keep only a slight bend in your knees, and lower the weight until it's just below your knees, and then stand back up basically. And compare that with, say, the conventional deadlift or the sumo deadlift, which I'd recommend one of those two, from a pure strength building perspective, you're going to have the plate set on the floor, and you're basically just going to, there's a lot more to it mechanically, but bend down and pick the weight up.

For people who maybe only want to go grow their boots, which I know is a goal of a lot of women, the hip thrust is probably your best option here, because the squat is going to hit the quads more than the glutes, and the hip thrust is really going to target the glutes more than these without also growing the thighs. So I just wanted to include that on there since it is very, very effective at activating the glutes. Okay, so um, next is the back. And for the back, you basically just want to include one horizontal pole and one vertical pole. And the reason I put the horizontal pole first is because this is going to hit the hole back. So it's going to hit the traps and rhomboids of the mid back, it's also going to hit the lats which create that sort of V taper and wider shoulder appearance up top. So I put this one first because it hits both. So that would be basically any kind of row. So barbell rows, dumbbell rows, cable rows, they're all good. And then you also want to include a vertical pole, which is going to hit the watts more so that would be like a lat pulldown. And I go into a lot of detail about the different grip variations and the different slight exercise tweaks on those in my science explained series, but I see that it's slightly more of an advanced thing. As a beginner, you just want to execute these movements through full range of motion, use a grip that feels comfortable to you. And just focus and focus on having two planes of motion of pulling for your back and you should be covered up next is the chest. So here you basically just want to include a horizontal press. That's pretty simple. So you can use dumbbells barbell machine, doesn't really matter too much. From my perspective, the main thing you want to do Besides just progressively getting stronger with it, and choose one that you can do safely, comfortably and consistently, essentially, also, we can include a fly here. But if you think about it, a pressing motion and a fly motion is almost the exact same movement, there's a slightly different rotation at the shoulder. But there are going to be training the same basic movement pattern. And of course, you can go heavier with the horizontal press. So for the sake of efficiency, I tend to prefer this one, especially for beginners. But if you do have a lagging chest might not be a bad idea to include some kind of fly as a sort of optional accessory movement for your chest. And I would classify the fly as a isolation movement. By the way, I just put it over here to keep it under chest and keep it simple. Um, so last for the compound movements, we're going to want to hit the shoulders primarily through a vertical press. For those I do tend to prefer dumbbells just because activation patterns tend to be higher across the holdout. And in particular, the dumbbell press, as I mentioned earlier, tends to show more activation of the side delt, so kind of gives you that extreme sort of catch shoulder look better, at least in theory, at least it activates it more. And so the main thing is that you want to be doing some kind of press in the vertical plane, if that's the machine press, and that's easier for you, that's perfectly acceptable. But my number one option would probably be the dumbbell shoulder press for those. Okay, so I'm next I'm going to cover the isolation movements. So first, we've got the rear delts, the rear delts will be targeted to a pretty large degree with a horizontal pole. So I wouldn't say that isolation work is required for the rear delts. However, I would see the rear delts as more of a secondary contributor to a row, not a prime mover. And so anytime you're doing a row, the rear delts will be assisting, but they won't be kind of the main thing firing. And for that reason, I tend to prefer isolation exercises for the rear delts. And then my number one for that is the reverse pec deck. But also the bent over reverse fly with cables or with dumbbells, as also going to get the rear delts firing just fine. For the biceps, the biceps will be very active in the horizontal pole and also the vertical pole. However, again, similar to the rear delts, and they're going to be kind of assistance muscles, and they're not going to be the prime movers. So I think that if you really want your biceps to respond most optimally, I think it's a good idea to include some kind of curl. And I won't overcomplicate this here, like I said earlier, I go into a lot of detail on those in my science explained videos. But for here, we're just going to say pick a curl that is comfortable for you, one that you can do safely and when that you enjoy, the triceps again, are going to be very active in your horizontal pressing in your vertical pressing. However, they won't be maximally activated, I don't think unless you isolate them. So you can do that through a press down where your arms are down at your sides doing a press down with the bar the rope. And then you can also do an extension of overhead. There are slightly different activation patterns across the two heads of the triceps between these. So in practice, I like to include both of these. So maybe I'm one day you do a press down with the arms down on the other day, an extension with the arm up overhead. But I think that that is kind of splitting hairs. As long as you have some kind of tricep isolation movement in your program, you should have your bases covered. For the hamstrings. This is really interesting. Not a lot of people realize that one of the four muscles of the hamstrings so that biceps Morris shorthead actually doesn't even cross the hip joint. So doing just deadlift variations won't hit this muscle at all. So it simply won't be activated. And really, in order to activate it, you have to do some kind of leg curl. It is a smaller muscle. So I wouldn't say that it's required. But to really kind of maximize the hamstrings as a whole, I do recommend that you not only have some deadlift variation of it, that you also have some kind of leg curl or glute ham raised or something where you're basically bringing your foot up towards your butt and curling your leg up. So the calves just like to include some kind of standing calf raise with the most important thing being that you have a pause at the bottom to sort of dissipate that elastic energy and that momentum that a lot of people use. So at the bottom of every rep you want to do at least like a one or maybe two second pause if you really have lagging calves and I would recommend also throwing in some kind of seated calf raise variation just because the soleus muscle which is actually the bigger of the two calf muscles more involved. However, the standing calf raise will hit both the soleus and the gastrocnemius. So you should have your bases covered with a simple standing calf raise. But like I said, if they're stubborn throw in a seated variation. Also the donkey calf raise is a really good one. So if you haven't have it at your gym, I recommend trying that one out for a bit of variety perhaps. And then finally, when it comes to the ABS there's a common misconception that squats and dead deadlifts are really good at exercises, but they're simply not. So I think that to really develop the six pack, you want to be doing some kind of crunch where you're bringing your upper torso down towards the midline. And you also want to include some kind of leg raise, where you're bringing your lower torso up toward the midline. And that'll talk target both the upper abs and the lower abs. And you want to do this crunch with some kind of resistance. So, cable weighted cable crunch, or plate loaded crunch, something that gets some tension on the six pack. And then as for the surrounding course of the obliques, and the TBA, am a fan of plank exercises. So

you time yourself and hold the plank and try to increase the time we tweak. And also some anti rotation movements like pal off presses are great for targeting and kind of the the sides of the the core as a whole. However, I think that also the squats and deadlifts and all these compound movements in general will activate this a little bit more. However, if you want that six pack, you really do need to isolate. So I think that that's going to conclude the exercise selection section. Oh, there's one thing I forgot to mention over here. And that is how do you or do you feel the exercise working. So this is something that I actually do emphasize, I think that if you're doing an exercise, and you say you just really don't feel it working in the target muscle, let's just take for example the back and you're doing wide grip pull ups, and you just think I really just don't feel that in my lats at all. But then you switch to say a close grip pull down and you can really feel your lats firing, I think that that's an indication that you should probably go with the close grip pull down, over the pull up. So I think that how an exercise actually feels in the target muscle is a good indication that it's working. However, it's not the only thing that you should pay attention to, especially as a beginner, I think that for some of these movements maybe shouldn't focus like in particular, let's say the squat deadlift, and some of these compound exercises, I think that you should focus on really mastering the technique. Before you start worrying about mind muscle connection and how the exercise feels in the target muscle. You really just want to focus on using your body as a whole and executing the movement. And the biomechanics themselves will kind of take care of activation. However, for some of these more isolation based movements, particularly like say, the rear delts the hamstrings, it probably is a good idea to really think about using that target muscle so other muscles don't start to sort of take over. So with that out of the way, I would say that, that's about all I had to say about exercise selection. Hopefully you guys found this one to be informative. If you did, please leave me a thumbs up. If you're new to the series. Don't forget to check out the previous episodes where we cover all this more important stuff over here, or I should say at least as important and if you happen to be new, don't forget to subscribe and I'll see you guys all here in the next video, where we're going to talk about rest periods, tempo and periodization