TheNeuroStrengthCoach

Start by adjusting the Smith Machine to the appropriate height for your height. Stand facing the Smith Machine, with your feet shoulder-width apart. Grasp the barbell with an overhand grip, hands shoulder-width apart. Keep your back straight, and your core engaged. Begin the exercise by lifting your shoulders towards your ears, shrugging your shoulders as high as possible. Hold the contraction for a moment before slowly lowering the barbell back to the starting position. Repeat for the desired number of reps.

Using a smith machine, a barbell in a power rack, the power rack uprights, or even T-pins placed through the sides of the power rack, position a ~6” plyo box, or stacked bumper plates below the bar path with room to stand. Use a weight vest if you have one, if not stand on the elevated platform with both feet. Using just a few fingers for assistance (or whole hand if needed), take a step back performing a reverse lunge until your rear knee reaches the ground. Use slight assistance with the arms to push off and return back to the standing position. You may just need the hands for stability and not for assistance. Trainer Tip: These can be done very heavy as well with the use of a hands free barbell such as an Safety Squat Bar or a Marrs Bar. You can also hold a dumbbell or medicine ball with one arm and use just one arm to spot you if you desire heavy weight.

Take a lighter dumbbell and lean away from some sort of stable upright so that your body can be on a slight angle as shown in the video. With both arms straight, lift the dumbbell using your shoulder muscles until it is a few degrees above parallel, maybe to your ear or head height. Lower the weight under control until it touches your body and repeat for repetitions. You can either look straight ahead in the mirror or watch your work by following the dumbbell with your eyes.

Take two dumbbells and pick them up and put them into the front racked position with the heads of the dumbbells resting on your shoulders. They should be in a neutral grip position with your palms facing each other. Squat down until you reach depth or until your elbows touch your thighs. Squat back up and use that momentum to help shoulder press one of the weights into the overhead position making sure to maintain the neutral grip. Lowe the weight back to the shoulder and then squat back down repeating this process but alternating your shoulder press each rep.

Loop a long-loop or pullup band through itself over a pullup bar or some sort of beam that is in a horizontal overhead position. Place a bench or box about a foot and a half away from the origin of the band. Hold onto both sides of the band making sure to take as much slack as you need in order to assist you when performing these. Pick one leg and step your whole foot on the bench. Lean forward slightly trying to load the elevated foot as much as possible before pushing through the working leg until you are standing up on top of the bench. The whole point of the band is to give you just enough assistance where you can do these without using the straight leg for help. Perform the desired reps before switching sides. If you need more assistance, feel free to use two bands (one for each arm) or a thicker band and lower bench/box alternative.

A hack deadlift is a behind the back deadlift that recruits lots of leg drive, quad use, and upper back. Start by standing in front of the bar with feet about hip width apart. Grab the bar with a double overhand grip (pronated) with hands directly below the shoulders (shoulder width apart). Wiggle your hips down pulling on the bar with your arms in an alternating fashion to get as tight as possible with the chest up and butt down. Take the “slack” out of the bar by trying to drive your feet through the ground and pulling the bar up before driving through the legs to stand up with the bar. As soon as the bar is at about calf height, shift the knees forward over the toes to avoid pulling the bar into your hamstrings. Continue driving through the legs until your upper back straightens out and your whole body is straight up and down. You may have a slight forward lean at the top as you now have a new center of mass which is slightly behind you. Lower the weight under control making sure to avoid lowering the bar into the back of your ankles. Trainer Tip: If you are using very heavy weight make sure to brace your core hard for each repetition resetting your breath for each rep. If you are wearing a weight belt, try to expand the entire belt and not just the front when you are bracing.

Start standing with two dumbbells by your side with the palms facing you (neutral grip). Simultaneously bring the weight towards your shoulders by flexing your biceps and turning your hands out so your palms face forward (supinated). Squeeze your biceps as hard as you can at the top and imagine you are bringing your pinky fingers towards the front of your shoulders. Lower the weight under control straightening out the arms and pronating your wrists to return your hands back to the neutral position down by your sides. This is a safer way to bicep curl as it avoids a potential bicep tear when doing these with heavy weight due to the neutral nature at the bottom.

Start standing with two dumbbells by your side with the palms facing you (neutral grip). Simultaneously bring one dumbbell towards your shoulders by flexing your biceps and turning your hands out so your palms face forward (supinated). Squeeze your bicep as hard as you can at the top and imagine you are bringing your pinky fingers towards the front of your shoulders. Lower the weight under control straightening out the arms and pronating your wrists to return your hand back to the neutral position down by your sides. This is a safer way to bicep curl as it avoids a potential bicep tear when doing these with heavy weight due to the neutral nature at the bottom. Alternate for repetitions.

Using a stretched out resistance band with some lateral tension on it or a stiff PVC pipe (both are great options), place the object behind your body with the arms slightly wider than shoulder width. While maintaining a perfectly straight standing posture, drive the PVC/band towards the ceiling to stretch out the front of the shoulders while squeezing the upper back muscles and back of the shoulders. Keep your abs in tight and drive upwards for the allotted time. Trainer Tip: The closer your hands are together, the harder it will be and less ROM you will have. Feel free to use a couple different widths when training and progressively work towards a more narrow grip.

Using a stretched out resistance band with some lateral tension on it, place the band in front of your body with the arms out wide. While maintaining a perfectly straight standing posture raise your arms to overhead position and internally rotate the shoulders to bring the band behind your body and back down towards your waist. Take your time with these trying to move both shoulders simultaneously. Trainer Tips: Work what you got! You might not be able to pass through the band completely so work the range you have and focus on building it over time. If this is too easy for you bring your hands closer together until it becomes more difficult. Also you are not ACTUALLY dislocating the shoulders so don’t get scared by the name.

Laying on your side grab the top leg with your hands and manually cross it over your bottom thigh until the foot is flat. If you don’t have the range for this just make sure the foot is over the thigh to your best abilities. Using the inner thigh and groin muscles lift the base leg off the ground keeping the foot parallel with the floor. If you can’t lift the leg off the ground yet still try for the allotted repetitions. You may gain the ability by the 2nd set or so, sometimes its just a matter of waking these muscles up.

Laying on your side grab the top leg with your hands and manually cross it over your bottom thigh until the foot is flat. If you don’t have the range for this just make sure the foot is over the thigh to your best abilities. Place a weight plate on your foot of the outstretched leg that you CANNOT lift off using your inner thigh muscles. Using the inner thigh and groin muscles drive the base leg into the weight plate for the alotted time. These are Progressive Angular Isometric Contractions and will strengthen the adductors isometrically without any movement. As you warmup you may get stronger and stronger and need to add more weight to keep the leg from coming up off the ground.

Laying on your side grab the top leg with your hands and manually cross it over your bottom thigh until the foot is flat. If you don’t have the range for this just make sure the foot is over the thigh to your best abilities. Place a weight plate on your foot/ankle, or use ankle weights. Using the inner thigh and groin muscles lift the base leg off the ground keeping the foot parallel with the floor and the weight stable. If you can’t lift the weight off the ground use less weight or deload to bodyweight only.

Using a training barbell, a Bella Bar, or a standard 45lb Barbell, place the barbell behind your body with the arms slightly wider than shoulder width. Hold it with a pronated grip (palms facing behind you). Push your hips forward slightly for some momentum and then simultaneously bend over and throw your arms up behind you to get the shoulders at maximum extension. You can have straight legs for these or a slight bend in the knees. Actively drive the barbell forward to assist gravity with the shoulder stretch. Hold for the allotted time and repeat for reps. Trainer Tips: This is a “dangerous” exercise as in it isn’t for beginners but it can be worked up using a PVC pipe, bands, or a training barbell which is usually around 16lbs. Build this up over time and don’t rush greatness.

Using a stretched out resistance band with some lateral tension on it or a stiff PVC pipe (both are great options), place the object behind your body with the arms slightly wider than shoulder width. Hold it with a supinated grip (palms facing in front of you). Push your hips forward slightly for some momentum and then simultaneously bend over and throw your arms up behind you to get the shoulders at maximum extension. You can have straight legs for these or a slight bend in the knees. Actively drive the band or PVC pipe forward to assist gravity with the shoulder stretch. Hold for the allotted time and repeat for reps.

Perform pushups on your pointer and middle finger knuckles as those are in-line with the forearm bones and are the proper knuckles to use when punching. These will help with hand and finger strength as well as wrist stability when throwing punches. Keep your abs tight, legs flexed and keep the middle knuckle directly blow the shoulders.

Grab a barbell with hands slightly wider than shoulder width and lean back on either a wall, plyo boxes, a GHD machine, or a Reverse hyper as shown in the video. This will help to kill momentum and to act as a rest for the barbell at the bottom to avoid hyperextension of the elbows. Curl the bar by flexing the biceps and bringing the pinky fingers towards the front of the shoulders. Curl until the biceps are maximally flexed and lower under control until the arms are locked out with the bar resting on your thighs.

Load up a barbell with plates and use a squat sponge or folded yoga mat to protect your hips from the bar. With your legs straight roll the barbell towards you climbing onto your blocks until it reaches your hip crease. Bend your knees until your feet are flat. “Climb” your upper back onto the bench so your upper back is supporting your weight and NOT your elbows. Grab the bar at a comfortable with and with slight forward pressure on the barbell, push through the heels, tuck the chin, and squeeze your glutes until the weight is lifted off the ground and your hips are fully extended with the abs tight. Your shoulders, hips and knees should be in a straight line at the top. Lower the weight under control until the weight is rested on the blocks. Repeat for repetitions. Trainer Tips: As the weights get heavy (~350lbs +), you may need more than just the squat sponge. You can add a folded yoga mat between your hips and the squat sponge.

Start in a Romanian Deadlift position with your mid-foot under the bar, hips high, knees slightly bent, and your back parallel with the floor. Grab the bar with wrists shoulder width apart and deadlift the bar a few inches off the ground while you pull the bar to your body until it makes contact right below your chest. Contrary to traditional row we will purposefully let the bar down in front of us so that it stresses the lumbar spine more. Upper back rounding is okay, but maintain back and leg position as the reps continue. Trainer Tips: A good way to distinguish this from a traditional row is that the bar path will be parallel with your THIGHS (which are slanted), as opposed to being parallel with your shins (which are vertical).

Using a stretched out resistance band with some lateral tension on it or a stiff PVC pipe (both are great options), place the object behind your body with the arms slightly wider than shoulder width. Hold it with a pronated grip (palms facing behind you). Push your hips forward slightly for some momentum and then simultaneously bend over and throw your arms up behind you to get the shoulders at maximum extension. You can have straight legs for these or a slight bend in the knees. Actively drive the band or PVC pipe forward to assist gravity with the shoulder stretch. Hold for the allotted time and repeat for reps.

This is a modified deadlift where the rear leg is stepped up onto a bench the entire time. These are extremely difficult and will require tons of lower back strength and stabilization. Position yourself a few feet in front of a bench. Place the toes of one leg on the bench behind you. Position the bar over the toe box/ mid foot depending on your anatomy to ensure your shoulders are on top of your wrist when in a hip hinge. This will ensure a vertical bar path. Use mostly the leg that is in contact with the ground to initiate leg drive, extending the hips and low back to stand up straight. Lower the weight under control and repeat for reps.

Load the bar with plates so that it is off the ground at about shin height. Use bumper plates if you need the standard height but aren’t lifting that heavy yet. You may find it easier to deadlift the weight with both legs on the ground FIRST before switching to single leg. When lowering the weight, try to keep the rear thigh in line with the spine and hinge at the hips to stretch the glutes and the hamstrings. If you are having trouble with lower back or glute mobility feel free to bend the floating knee at a 90° bend. This may help keep the thigh in line with the spine so it doesn’t sag.

Start standing with two dumbbells in hand with the palms facing in front of you. Start by extending the shoulders and bringing the dumbbells behind you while keeping your torso tight and your wrist in a false grip (curled/flexed wrist). Squeeze your upper back for a second before using scooping motion to bring the dumbbells to nose height in front of you. They will be narrower at the top, then lower them under control and bring them out slightly to go outside the hip and to return to the extended shoulder position (behind the back). Repeat for reps. Trainer Tips: Use a light weight here to make sure you can maintain the false grip the entire time. These should be built up slowly over time.

Start standing with two dumbbells by your side with your palms facing your body. Using just the arms, curl the weight by bending your elbows until the weight either touches the front of your shoulders or the bicep is maximally flexed. You may feel these in the outer arm as well as the shoulders. Try to keep the body sway to a minimum and perform this variation strict.