Push-ups are better than bench presses because more core strength is involved; however, how do you throw 375lbs on you back and do a push-up? Its just not feasible or time efficient.
Charlie,
any suggestions to substitute for the back lat pull-downs? we’ve got a Nautilus machine in the gym, but allows only front pulls to be done correctly… silly, i know, but that’s the case; i’ve tried elastic bands and things like that and although you can increase resistance, it still doesn’t feel like a good back pull-down…
thanks!
Use pull-ups for te back work and the machine for the front. If a body-weight pull up is too much, get someone to hold your feet during the set to reduce the weight as needed (of course you can add additional load with a plate).
Don’t Lat pulldowns behind the neck lead to rotator cuff and other shoulder problems! :eek:
Don’yt go too high (read my answer above)
When doing Weighted LatPullups make sure you don’t start and the end range of motion (i.e.don’t start from the hanging position). You put yourself at extreme risk of having an injury if you start your first rep from the hanging position. Instead stand on a bench or two benches side by side and make sure that your at least half way up before starting the exercise. LatPullups put you through a bigger ROM than any other Lat exercise that’s why you have to be careful.
Try good mornings.
Its more of a hamstring and lower back exercise but still heck, it’ll do a number on you.
“you put yourself at extreme risk of having an injury if you start your first rep from the haning position.”
Where does this come from? I this proven?
Just my personal experience doing wtd lat pullups and wtd bicep chinups. I can do 80lbs wtd bicep chinups but injured myself doing 30lbs I believe. Its just a common fact that the more ROM an exercise is the more risk that is inherently involved!
IT WOULD BE LIKE SAYING FULL SQUAT AND PARALLEL SQUAT ARE AT THE SAME RISK FACTOR AND WE ALL KNOW THAT THE FULL SQUAT HAS A GREATER RISK FACTOR BUT ALSO A GREATER REWARD FACTOR.
What kind of grip are you using on the two exercises,and which widths?
The normal grips one would use doing lat pullups and chinups!
Pronated,supinated,hand spacing…?I’m just asking for more details,to better understand the exercises you’re talking about!
Here’s a pic of a lat pull up, my hands are a little wider than this guys bc I am a little bigger than him,
http://www.ast-ss.com/jeffwillet/journal01/week6/images/Pull_Up_3-9.jpg
I do the lat pulls in front of my neck and not behind!
For Chin ups I would use the (reading from left to right) third kid’s grip in this diagram,
http://www.math.duke.edu/~blake/troop412/photos/raven02/Chin%20Ups.jpg
But for the reasons I mentioned before I will not do these exercises anymore. There are still ok for your average Joe Blow but not for serious strength athletes or athletes in general.
Besides the Bicep musculature is not used in an active role but a passive one in sprinting. I believe this is where Adam Archuleta’s training may be flawed. But then again the biceps maybe used in an isometric role when he tackles somebody? I just don’t see the wisdom in doing bicep exercises except for muscle symmetry and even then I don’t see elite sprinters working to much on there triceps and biceps. Focus on the Bench, Squat, Deadlift, and Clean. For multi-lateral development, beginners and intermediate athletes working the biceps and triceps are fine bc there are building a foundation for all other multijoint movement exercises as well as muscle symmetry.
Ok,now I think to have a better idea of the picture .
Full ROM exercise are in my opinion and experience not only more rewarding stimulus wise,but also generally safer - when technique is in place and the modalities in which they are proposed suit the individual athlete’s capacity-because they ineherently allow less weight to be moved.
I did have quite “a bit” experience with all variations of chins and pull-ups both myself as with guys I’ve trained. we stacks of them including one arm chins,towels and all sort of non-symetric pull-ups/chin-ups.
in my opinion You can do weighted chins or variation of these (meaning alternate them every now and then) MOST of the time.
However, do them ONLY ONCE/week. Adjust loading parameters to your goals.
on other day/s in your microcycle do some other BODY-WEIGHT vertical pull-ups/chins with differnet rep/set parameters (suitable to your season).
Just as you always do some heavy/heavy-ish squats, cleans/snatches and bench, ALWAYS do chins & rows
start with Pullups-Chins from every variation you can think of…v grip, sup, pro, staggered. Then move to pulldowns to focus on the back muscles. keep it heavy (<5 reps) and pause at the contraction point for 3-5 sec. This is in one workout i mean.