Hey Mitch, I'm a bit of a beginner to lifting (just using it to prevent endurance athlete injuries), if you do another video like this, would you mind doing a sample of these exercises and the correction exercise? I don't know enough of these by name and would love to see a quick sample of them. Thank you!
You say that one arm barbell curls are not a benefit. I perform sets of 10 of full range motion one arm curls @ 44Kgs (I do use my back, so my form is crappy. However I care more about lowering the weight slowly, than how I raise it). I have never seen a top level arm wrestler (who tend to train with partial range of motion) with bicep scars. I have never torn a bicep. Perhaps strong men tear theirs because they don't do one arm curls?
Thanks Mitch, it's great to learn from you across the pacific ocean. idk why some of these fitinfluencers all think all I want is hypertrophy, I so want strength alot too. FYI I think if you are looking for arm wrestling training or simply improving the strength of your arms, which is definitely very practical in real life, then bicep curls are important. But thought you'd say something about stupid curl exercises, like incline curls. Also I'll stick with my no-strap deadlifts! But I will definitely stop doing db bench presses.
Hopefully in person someday instead of a list review video. This is the collaboration the world needs. The could meet at Jujimufu's Gym Home on neutral ground lol
Total body strength list (don't and do) 8. Dumbbell bench press < barbell bench press 7. Bamboo bar < stiff bar or axle bar 6. Bicep curl < underhand barbell rows 5. Deadlift without wrist straps < use straps 4. Loaded Spanish squat < close stance leg press 3. Unsupported Nordic curls < safety squat good morning 2. Partial squats < full pin squat 1. Shrugs < rack pull
I am 55+ and have been into fitness since I was 9 years old. I am a former athlete (football player, wrestler, and have dabbled in powerlifting). I can no longer bench over 400 pounds as I did in my prime. I incorporate dumbbell bench presses and light bench presses (heavy bench press destroyed my shoulders). I do reverse shrugs with my total body workouts. I simply do not use straps or wraps, because I don't believe in trying to lift anything if I need straps or wraps.
I almost quit doing strength training because I've always found barbell bench awkward no matter how I do it. I gave dumbbell press a go instead and loved it, feels natural and I've never felt stronger for pressing!
I discovered the same thing. With a barbell, my shoulder joints hurt. With dumbbells (and wrists rotated halfway between pronated and neutral grip), they don't.
The "Big Biceps" you're talking about are those of Enhanced Lifters, and not Natural Athletes. No natural athlete has "Too big muscles". We're fine doing Bicep curls.
I personally disagree with the bicep curls and shrugs. Call me a bro, but those two movement patterns are just so useful for me in my daily life. Carrying things and I need that extra 3 inches of lift to get up stairs or onto a chair is invaluable. Bicep strength for squeezing things to my chest, picking up odd shaped objects over head, it can’t be overstated. For something so easy, safe, and of little to no consequence to include, I couldn’t imagine not including them.
You don’t have any kind of license to disagree with Mitchell Hooper. I hope you’re not actually dumb enough to think that he is wrong and you are right.
Overall I agree, except for bicep curl. Powerlifters and strongman have a tendency to injure their biceps, generally because most of them don't directly train them. Light to moderate weight on bicep training ensures the tendons have a better capacity to cope with the demands of heavy compound movements, especially if they are trained for the full range of motion. For example, stones rely on a certain degree of biceps motor units firing to enable an effective hold on the stone. If you don't train them accordingly then the potential of injury is greatly increased. It's like not directly training hamstrings to make deadlifts more effective. Just my opinion.
{bamboo bar} I agree, but unfortunately I have to use camber bar arms for overhead press to lift at home. I know I could be lifting more, but my ceiling height does not allow it. {bicep curls} Every single Strongman and Powerlifter I've met that blew a bicep off did not do curls in training. Purely anecdotal based on decades of meatheadedness (totally a word), but adding a light-ish set or two to get a pump to finish training is good insurance. I agree it is not a strength movement, but it's not a waste of time.
@@stan5936I’ve never met a farmer with a weak grip. Heck I’ve worked on farms and almost all of them had better grip than me. Granted I’ve fractured my wrist’s 9 times.
Dumbbells are an excellent way of increasing range of motion, building power off the chest and helps balance unilateral strength imbalances. An absolute must for building a big bench. You yourself noted Eddie Hall as one of the most statically strong athletes recently, and he employed his long, wobbly bar, to great effect with his bench, squats and deadlift’s - crediting it with massive returns because of the need to overcome it’s inherent instability - Brian Shaw found out as much when he tried it. He too remarked, I can really see the carryover. I’ve used similar exercises to overcome injuries, and have to work stabiliser’s just to keep lifting and mobile. I realise your talking in general term’s but these are proven methods of getting results and working through plateau’s. As always, great stuff buddy 💪🏻👌🏼
99% Of gym/fitness social media is all about aesthetics and body building, there is so much pencil neckery in the gym these days. 100% support the strength content
I think the point of working out is for longevity and for your health it's good that you can get fit you can get stronger but. When you're 60 70. There's too many people out there that can barely move at that age. I just look at it as when I work out I do it for my mental health my mental Clarity and for longevity so when I am 70 I'm not like a lot of 70 year old struggling to get out of bed because I'm weak I'm currently 40 years old 5 ft 3/138 lb I can deadlift 245 I can squat 190 bench press 190 and leg press around 275. Is that impressive for somebody 5 ft 3 138lb? And I also believe a lot of bodybuilders have horrible cardio and their Mobility sucks
Yes impressive enough given a 40yr man will have other life responsibility too..the point the guy made is that 99% ppl just don't do compound lifts at all so they arent strong. They can become aesthetic with a low calorie bodybuilding diet but their strength will never improve @@treverpitts
@@leonwong95 I would try Smith machine but I hate to setup the right angle. Most of the time the Smith machine is used by someone there so I stay with db😅
i disagree with dumbell benchpress. I often hand shoulder problems due to barbell bench presses. With dumbell benchpress i can rotate the dumbell and can avoid shoulder problems, because the range of motion is not fixed, like with a barbell. And i doubt that i get less strenght with dumbell bench presses. Maybe i need some extra strenght to stabilize the barbell.
Might be true. But it is still possible to rotate the shoulders in either direction when setting up for barbell bench. I developed nerve pain after only a year of lifting and fixed it by externally rotating my shoulders throughout the movement.
The answer is a dumbbell bench press is not inherently inferior to a barbell bench press for many purposes, but you may need the correct multigrip and/or camber style bar for you. A barbell bench press should be better for strength development but not if you lack a sufficient spotting setup, or feel discomfort enough to limit intensity and frequency to develop the press, or maybe do not have a rack consistently available. "Useless" is a strong word when we are talking about all things being equal then a barbell bench press will be better for strength development. I happen to prefer a dumbbell overhead press unilaterally because you can solve the instability issues and increase weight (depending on your own bilateral deficits).
Exactly. Dumbbel is anyway better. Than barbell press. And even less riskier. It's a chest exercise. Both target same muscle but bar limits range of motion because. Also mitch saying stability aren't important is also something I disagree. Stability also requires strength. In a whole benchpress is overrated for strength but saying barbell is better is just incorrect.
Strength athletes judged on the squat, don't high bar. All that are physically capable low bar. Plus you can squat more. You don't get extra points for high bar. Same as you don't get extra points for no belt. But hey, if you like shrugs, do shrugs, who cares what The Strongest Man on Earth thinks?
It really isn't. He is talking about using DB Bench Press specifically as a strength building exercise which is absolutely true. A simple bench press builds much more raw static strength than a DB Bench Press because you take out the instability of the movement which hinders your performance and strength output
@@statlifter For _who?_ I saw a guy do a 400 lb bench press , 1 solid rep. Same guy dying with 120lb d.b. bench press for reps. So, was he weak or strong? D.B. do NOT equate to b.b. weight due to balance issues, which makes it great for bodybuilding. D.B. perhaps for guys benching 500+ maybe, but MOST people are going to really benefit from it. Decades of use as proof.
@@statlifter db press as my second movement has added more weight to my bench than anything else, i lose strength when i dont do db press. but i think mitch was talking about as a primary movement? which id agree, as a primary movement db is not better than barbell.
@@lloyd011721 The kind of strength Michell is talking about is not the kind of strength most people think of. He would definitely agree that db bench pressing will make you 'stronger', but training for the World's Strongest Man Contest, is not something you'll see those people doing. I'd still like to see Mitchell handling 200 lb d.b. bench presses like Ronnie Coleman did. Nobody will ever convince me that ain't strong!
I would disagree with you on is the shrug. Granted, I'm not training to be a strong man. I'm 59 years old and I've had a right shoulder impingement (I hate that word) for many years now. I found that when I do shrugs with my 55 pound kettle bells it actually helped strengthen the rotator cuff and the upper back muscles to support the shoulder movement. I do a front to back rotation 360° pulling back on the scapula. Over the years it has almost eliminated the inflammation and pain in the shoulder.
The only time I'm doing curls is for the recovery aspect to help the tendons get healthier and stay more resilient. He is correct about big biceps being essentially useless where as the strengths of the tendons is much much more important
been deadlifting without straps since i started. i'm not terribly strong but i worked up to a 425 deadlift and still have never needed straps. I've found much more value in incorporating a few grip-specific sets into your week to be able to do back exercises, especially deadlifts, raw. Plus, outside of strongman you generally can't compete with straps.
Not saying I disagree with you, but I just watched a video with Jen Thompson and her husband talking about how they feel like bicep curls are actually really important for protecting your biceps on deadlift.
@@Workingclass36 the lies people tell themselves to avoid doing farmer's carries will never not perplex me. Massively underrated, efficient, transferable movement
Interesting video but With over/ under grip my grip isn't the limiting factor in deadlifts at all. Also I've heard so many people recommend bicep training as biceps are crucial in many lifts and events. Think carrying and pulling in general.
Anyone who wrestles or grapples in a scrambling style benefits from biceps strength. Pulling motions that are very similar to curls are common. Chin-ups and dumbbell hammer curls seem directly applicable for building strong underhooks, leg rides and various chokes.
Yes, training stability muscles with light weights initially and then gradually increasing the weight is a sound approach. Here’s why this method works well: ### Benefits of Starting with Light Weights 1. **Focus on Form**: Lighter weights allow you to concentrate on proper technique and body alignment, which is crucial for effective stability training. 2. **Muscle Activation**: Lighter weights help activate and strengthen stabilizing muscles without overwhelming them, making it easier to develop a solid foundation. 3. **Injury Prevention**: Starting light reduces the risk of injury, especially if you're new to strength training or have any pre-existing conditions. 4. **Building Endurance**: Light weights can improve muscular endurance, which is beneficial for stability muscles that are often engaged during prolonged activities. ### Gradual Progression 1. **Increase Weight Slowly**: Once you feel comfortable and confident with your form, gradually increase the weight. A good rule of thumb is to increase by about 5-10% at a time. 2. **Monitor Your Body**: Pay attention to how your body responds. If you feel any discomfort or strain, consider reducing the weight or focusing on form. 3. **Vary Your Training**: Incorporate different stability exercises to challenge your muscles in various ways, ensuring balanced development. ### Example Progression Plan 1. **Months 1-2**: Focus on bodyweight exercises and light weights (e.g., resistance bands or 1-5 lb weights) to build foundational strength. 2. **Months 3-4**: Gradually introduce moderate weights (e.g., 5-10 lb weights) while maintaining proper form and technique. 3. **Months 5 and Beyond**: Continue to increase the weight as your strength improves, integrating more complex movements and variations. ### Conclusion Starting with light weights and gradually increasing the load is an effective strategy for training stability muscles. This approach helps you build strength safely and prepares your body for more challenging workouts in the future. Always listen to your body and adjust your training as needed. 👍👌🙏
I wish you could personally train me. I've been doing a program the last 7 weeks. I've gained 4lbs of muscle. I have lost a lot of weight but with that and other health issues my muscles atrophied a lot and I'm having to build muscle. I'm learning more in this program I'm in but there so much to learn.
@@kerrykelly9591 well it’s the only way for them to feel adequate in the face of other’s achievements, to say they only got there because of steroids like they’re a miracle drug
Thanks for being such a great ambassador of your sport! I can attest for dumbbells not doing much to help straight-bar strength. Dumbbell strict overhead pressing can be a fun challenge, but when you're training alone, it gets seriously difficult to clean more than 100 or 125 pounds per hand for the vast vast majority of lifters. Even the strongest elite men are challenged by cleaning 150 per hand. I remember Big Z at Fortissimus back in 2008 -- he didn't want to risk injury by trying to clean those globe 150 bells. For someone training alone at home, a strongman log for strict presses will be a great variant to standard barbell pressing, and you can clean a LOT more with a log than a muscle clean if you train without stands.
Dumbell bench press is not at all more dangerous than barbell, actually the opposite. Barbell fixes you in a position more than dumbell and anything that you can less tailor to your body with technique the more dangerous it is. Dumbbells if you know what your doing you can adjust everything from elbows, hands, width etc and as you go, if you have a pain or tightness, you can make adjustments as needed with the dumbbells to not further aggravate those things more than with a bar
You are correct, but for elite guys like Hooper, he would have to use 200#+ db’s. Which is dangerous. For 99% of the population, you have a good point.
It's nice to see an exercise list that is focused purely on strength, since these kind of lists tend to be dominated by bodybuilding content. To play devil's advocate though - is the multitude of bicep tears in strongman not an argument for doing bicep-focused work? I've definitely heard someone involved in strongman say they do bicep stuff precisely to help avoid bicep tears. That's the main reason I started putting a few sets of curls in my routine after years of saying "they get enough work from back exercises."
Yep. Strongmen tear biceps because of steroids and lack of proper conditioning to the biceps, also transferring too much load to the biceps can cause it any time.
This could actually be the only time I've disagreed with Mitch on a few things. I train as a powerlifter, so its pointless me training with straps when i need to be able to get a max deadlift without straps as we arent allowed to use them, so improving my grip is key to the weight i can hold. Also he specifically said about stabilizing muscles when talking about db bench press. Whilst i agree, i prefer a bar, the stabilizers are actually important. I partially tore my supraspinatus and unless i warm up my stabilisers first, my bench press actually suffers in terms of weight and is more painful. So i always warm up my rotators first by laying on my front and doing rear raises with a very light weight. I also do a kneeling single arm upside down kettlebell overhead press to train the stability in my crap shoulder, which also helps with overhead press. In fairness to Mitch, these are things that are me specific, if i was a strongman, sure i would use straps, if my shoulder wasn't crapped up i wouldnt need to do stabilisation drills. I guess strength is not a one size fits all.
Very much agreed. Of instance, I need to do some stabilizing muscle work before heavier sets. Mostly because I sit so much. I can understand someone like Mitch doesn't see the point, being so active and well rounded athlete. But some of us office workers gotta offset the negative things we accumulate.
Also, shrugs help me remove tension from my neck, again from the sitting. This improves my mobility and that helps me do the bigger movements. Certainly not one size fits all.
I have an intense hatred of bicep curls and fully agree with replacing them with barbell rows. I'm convinced that the bicep curl exists as an exercise only because biceps are easily visible when wearing jeans and a T-shirt. So many people show up at the gym and slam their biceps and abs and ignore all of the important lifts for long term health and strength.
I understand the stance on bicep curls to a degree, its not very often you lift or move objects in that configuration. Think about how your hands and elbows are positioned when say lifting a large box or a barbell from the ground to your shoulders. Thats why i like to do hammer curls and reverse curls over standard ones. Add them as a mini circuit at the end of a workout.
I am studying NASM CPT to become a certified personal trainer. I think that 90 % of what they teach is inappropriate and sometimes stupid. I'm so glad to have watched your video. We share the same opinions regarding strength training.
I agree with the whole list, except the bicep curls. I think those are vital to strength. I agree that they dont need to be huge and can get in the way when they are, however they do need to be strengthened. Exactly to you point about strongmen popping the biceps tendon. If more curls were done, it would strengthen the tendon and help (not stop it though) from popping. I am watching a good friend of mine go through it and the pain that he i dealing with makes me hurt. I currently do striaght bar curls and ez bar reverse curls to help those tendons from being hurt.
disagree. if you have weak posterior chain or ankle mobility the lowbar squat is the true god. i would say for most people lowbar squat / box squat to 315/405 and then go high bar
Most of us do bicep curls and shrugs for aesthetics. Not many of us are going to have issues with biceps being too big (which is why we're curling). I personally could never front squat anyway. I have a horrible time back squatting not because of biceps but becausee of chest shoulder tightness and a bit of elbow tendonitis. I have to stretch into place under the bar for 5 minutes.
I respectfully disagree with dumbbell assertion. I find that barbell bench put unnecessary strain on the rist and shoulders given its suspended and fixed rom. The convenience though of the barbell cannot be overstated, however personally I have a bad shoulder and found that dumbbells have completely transformed the health and strength of both my pressing motion and shoulders
people who don't train strongman should deadlift without straps because they don't really train grip otherwise. Also deadlifting without straps prevents people from using too much weight and poor form. mixed grip deadlifting also creates further range of motion and can really make you feel the weight in your shoulders and upper body more so than with straps.
"Can you lift that pick-up truck off that child?"" No I have never trained partial deadlifts or squats or bench-press to increase end range of motion strength: to condition my body to handle greater weight & kinetic reaction forces; to prime my central nervous system for the main lift!" Everything has a place & you should realise this even for strength & people are more likely to have to lift something heavy a few cm to save a life then 1,000 kg 50cm to save a life or win a competition. Even for competitions such training has its place as I GAVE an example within the right stage of undulating periodisation baby bro! Peace & Love!!!
I did NOT expect dumbbell bench press to be in there.. That is like my go to for chest day! Great stretch at the bottom and no risk of being chocked to death at failure. I do not dare doing regular bench press from an extremely scary experience earlier in life, lol..
Great video. Keep in mind this is for "buidling strength." For other training purposes some of these exercises still have value--bodybuilding, possible rehab. But for pure strength he has great points. My only question, is are underhand barbell rows safer on the biceps compared to curls?
I honestly think some of his recent videos are purposefully controversial. Bamboo bars aren’t for building a bigger bench or squat, it’s to fire a lot of those stabilizing muscles for athletes. He also mentioned things that hang from the bar, that’s perfect for overloading through a certain range of motion. Possible rage bait statements to get people to comment and interact with his videos? Either way keep pumping out the content!
(Power) Shrugs are actually very important for olympic weightlifting, so I disagree on your choice of shrugs as pointless. The same goes for weighted spanish squats. The logic of “it’s dangerous to go heavy” sounds like the people who say deadlifting is bad
Four of my training staples are Anderson Squats, Close Grip Palms Up Pulldowns, Yates Rack Rows with a regular grip, and Incline Hammer Strength Presses.
Mitch, I take your input very seriously in these areas. Being world's strongest man obviously gives you credit, but your educational background in physical training puts you ahead of even your peers. You're literally the most qualified person in the world to have an opinion in these areas.
I have noticed while dumbbell bench is not the best for strength it seems to make me more stable on bench and i get injuried less if i do dumbbells once in a while
I actually use dumbbells in my training. Not for the strength aspects, but for the hypertrophic benefits. Theyre incredibly good at building muscle. And you can overload them to aid in strength nut i do agree you cant load them so much to help build overall strength
completely disagree on deadlift. i have never lost a deadlift at all in my life due to grip. im @3 times body weight deadlift. never use straps. its for weenies
I'm not sure about the first two. IMO there's something to the instability training in dumbbells and a bamboo bar that adds to stability and more effective use of strength in some lifts. Eddie Hall used to used dumbbells a lot and a whippy bar and he had one of the strongest, most stable and consistent over-head presses in history. His 216kg axle strict press is just insane. By using more instable methods of training you can also build stability without over-exerting. You can train for the amount of instability in a 216kg axle without always having to press 216kg and the impact that would make. So when it comes to maxing out you've already felt what it might feel like trying to stabilise such a weight.
I’ve found the bamboo bar helpful when I’ve dealt with shoulder problems. It allowed me to train the bench press movement and strengthen the rotator cuff before returning to the regular bench press.
Generally good advice,... for a certain segment of people wanting a certain type of strength........ but if anyone has torn a bicep(like me), you will immediately notice how useful that bicep is in life. Torquing a screwdriver, picking up bags of groceries.... all results in my right bicep cramping up....when I'm de trained. Once I start training curls again, no more cramping up torquing & hauling in the groceries! 💪
I personally believe the gym is a great place to train agility. Doesn't mean I disagree with you or anyone else. And i still love your videos. Any exercise anywhere is great for anyone.
You put the kibosh on your very first one. Dumbbell Bench. I love DB much more than Barbell. If you suffer elbow pain from barbell BP the Dumbbell bench won’t aggravate it at all. Also I train alone so going to failure with dumbbells is easier & safer for me and you can bail out easier. I’m 68 yrs old doing 85’s right now and they are still progressing. I just look at dumbbells as pure strength movements, not how much I arch my back or bounce my chest, leg drive, etc.. I just like DBBP and when you like a lift you tend to stick with it until it goes stale😂JMHO
