#TryThis Banded Dumbbell Press

Now everyone has an opinion on resistance bands and accommodating resistance, if they are good or not we will leave that discussion for another day. I want to talk about a movement I have been utilizing in my training recently for a number of reasons ill speak about further down.


Banded Dumbbell Press

Now I am sure you are wondering how is this possible? so i have taken a video of the setup in order to give you a better idea.






Pretty simple really, just be careful to get the bands in the right place on your back because if they are too low or high then they will effect the press and possibly make it uneven.


Benefits of Banded Dumbbell Press

Banded Dumbbell press was something I came up with because I was unable to progress any further on my current setup of dumbbell's (only go up to 60kg) a lot of people specially with home gym's have loadable dumbbell's normally the spinlock variation and what you will quickly find is that they only go up to a certain weight even with the thinner 5kg plates. If you do have extra long dumbbell's you maybe able to go up to 40-50kg but you will then find the dumbbells are too long to perform the movement correctly. With a couple of different resistance bands you are able to do the exercise correctly and be able to load the exercise more than normally possible.

The main benefit of using bands on this exercise in terms of muscle development is in the triceps, think of this as a way to overload them as you press upwards the weights get heavier, it also requires you to press faster because normally when you press dumbbell's and it starts getting heavy the weights slow down but now the weight is trying to be pulled back down throughout the entire range of motion , the further the band stretches the more expontential the effect

Using Dumbbells also has the benefit of improving your stabilizing muscles because of the nature of dumbbell's being free to move in any direction. Even with the band's which you may feel hold the dumbbell's more in line you will find it more difficult than a regular bench and not be able to do the same weight.


Con's to Banded Dumbbell Press

Typically because of the setup to get into the best position will require you to have two people to hand you the dumbbell's although this is not entirely a bad thing as it will allow you to get into the same position you would for your normal competition bench press and focus more on pressing the weight.

Less weight in the hand will be achieved because of the overload of the band's so don't expect to be adding these to your top dumbbell bench press.


How to Implement Banded Dumbbell Press

I have found it best to be more the end of a pressing session as somewhat a finisher, where you finish off your triceps and work the smaller stabilizer muscles. I have found the best result from using a weight that you can be explosive with and to stop the set when the weight starts to slow down before you end up grinding the reps too much, this allows you to maintain form and focus on force generation throughout the movement. Be careful to not use a band that is too strong as you want to overload your tricep's but don't want to have the majority of the exercise as band tension. Using heavy weight dumbbell's is fine but I would not recommend going below 5 repetition's. Make sure that each repetition is controlled do not try and bounce at the bottom either a very slight touch and go or a complete pause then explode up throughout the movement to lockout.


Try it out and let us know what you think in the comments below.

#TryThis Snatch Grip Block Pulls

A snatch grip block pull is a variation on the traditional deadlift. Snatch grip deadlifts can be done from the floor, but require large amounts of mobility in order to do them correctly. Snatch grip block pulls on the over hand although seem a similar movement they are very different.

When doing a snatch grip deadlift off the floor you generate a lot of your power from leg drive mainly in the quads and then into the hamstrings, finally locking out with glutes and considerably more upperback than a traditional deadlift. In the block pull variation hardly any leg's are used, instead it becomes a lot more hip hinge dominant with the glutes and the upper back being the main movers while the lower back also plays a role.

These are great for improving the upperback and are a great variation to the traditional deadlift. Straps are advised as with the extra wide grip you are likely to lose grip before your strength fails. I recommend trying them off 4-6inch blocks in the higher rep ranges.  Start by putting your grip just outside the rings on the bar, when you get used to the movement you can keep bringing your hands out till your at the ends of the bar (if you are around 6ft this will normally be possible). Remember to keep your abs braced as hard as you can as these put you quite far over the bar and they will try and round you over.

Give them a try, let us know what you think in the comments section below!

#TryThis Hyper Deadlift

This exercise first came to my attention when i saw Pete Rubish and if it works for him then i thought it must have a benefit. 

I wouldn't recommend doing a 1 rep max on this exercise like Pete Rubish but then i wouldn't recommend training like Pete Rubish, he is an animal! I recommend keeping the exercise in the 8-12 rep range and treat it more for hypertrophy.

A Hyper Deadlift is where you set up a 45 Degree Back extension with a bar in a deadlift position. Grip the bar and pull up like a normal hyper extension, make sure you to keep your arms straight like a normal deadlift. Do not hyper extend at the top you only want to go up to where your back becomes straight. Hold this position then lower the weight down, touch the floor and repeat. Make sure to squeeze your glutes throughout the movement to get the most Benefit.

I feel this has a huge advantage over doing hyper extensions by holding plates on your chest because it is a lot easier to load this exercise, you cannot pull the weight in towards yourself like when you are holding plates and i feel that the movement targets your hamstrings, glutes and lower back better, also a small amount of upperback where your lats are isometrically contracting making sure the weight do not drift.

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Try this exercise for yourself and let us know in the comment's what you think to it. 

#TryThis Rolling Tricep Extension

The Rolling Tricep Extension originally popularized by westside barbell is a great assistance exercise to really hit the triceps hard with good carry over to the bench press. This movement is less stressful on the elbow than skullcrushers it is a combination between a dumbbell bench press and a dumbbell extension.

There are two ways to do rolling tricep extensions:

1:

In this video i am doing Rolling Tricep extensions for the first time, the way i am doing them is to take the dumbbells in a neutral grip, bring the dumbbells down by the side of the head stretching the tricep's as much as possible, then moving the dumbbells from this position to full extension in an explosive manner. This way of doing rolling tricep extensions is more comparable to an extension.

2.

In this video the same movement is performed although slightly different, this time the dumbbells are brought into the eccentric part of a dumbbell bench press and then pressed to lockout, this allows a heavier weight to be used as it is a combination of an extension and a press. 

Both are a great way to finish of the triceps on a pressing or bench day, give either way a try and let us know what you think in the comments below.

New Category: #TryThis

A new category is up! #TryThis this is a place to show new exercises that you can add to your tool box!

 Z-Press

Z-press is a lift supposedly invented by 4 times World's Strongest Man Žydrūnas Savickas.

 You will require a power rack. Set the pins to just below your shoulder height, sit down on the floor legs out infront of you, unrack the bar using the same grip as you would in a strict press and simply press the weight above your head without falling backwards! 

This move is incredibly hard because it requires huge amounts of core stabilization and shoulder stability even more than when stood up and it makes you unable to lean backwards unlike in the strict press while pressing making the movement a lot stricter than normal. Because you are relying on stabilizing the weight so much in the core and shoulders the power that can be put through the bar is limited so the weight you will do on the exercise will be considerably less than what you can strict press normally stood up, this exercise can be exceptionally humbling and make "light" weights feel heavy.

The twist on this exercise is Z-Press but from pins. It is the same as a standard Z-Press except rather than unracking the weight onto your shoulders you do each repetition directly off of the safety pins. This makes each rep from a dead stop, which means you gain no advantage from stretch reflect and no stored tension or energy in the muscles from the previous repetition, this makes starting each rep even harder as you have to exert explosive power to get the bar moving from a dead stop while fighting to stabilize in the shoulders and core. 

Try it out, see what you think and leave a comment below.