He would have to light his hair on fire, and the still image would need his eyes to be RED and a photo of his spine exploding from his back. Entertainment over education. Those who know, KNOW!
For me, I have piriformis issues, so my issue is the hip/glutes itself, but I will say, Dr. Stuart McGill is a great resource for building stability. But my one gripe is that I think his philosophy on a neutral spine for every movement is not optimal/practical because of how we move in the real world or in certain activities. I still think he is great at building stability in the back/hips/spine.
@@BrianCarroll1306 re-read big chunks of The Gift of Injury today and then did the heaviest pain free deadlifts I've done in probably five years. The deadlift setup info alone makes that book worth the price of admission.
After a few weeks of doing this it actually brought my max pull ups from 6 to 12. I can't believe it worked so well. Part of that is probably because I had only been seriously working for 2 months prior to trying this technique so I'm going to get fast gains in the beginning. but still, the results are impressive.
@@syproductions456 I was doing 15 sets of 1-2 reps (aiming for 2 each time) a day and I did it about 5 days a week. So like Monday Tuesday on, Wednesday off, Thursday Friday Saturday on, Sunday off.
Nice to see people finally realizing that Dr. McGill is "THE" guy. Brian thanks for posting these, I have been following Dr. McGill for years but am only getting onto UA-cam myself now...
I’ve been using neural drive training doing pull ups to help stiffen my thoracic spine. The changes to my cns are unbelievable in this stage of recovery from a disc injury in the t spine. I’m moving like I did when I was doing full time jkd with Jerry Poteet and Octavio Quintero.
What are your thoughts today on this style of training Brian? Did you see benefit? Was this for rehabbing an injury? Where do you see this style of training fitting into someone's routine (regularly included, periodic blocks, rehab only)? Interested to hear your thoughts.
Hello - this is about 4 questions in 1. I suggest checking out my whole body of work in both of these bookspowerrackstrength.myshopify.com/products/combo-10-20-life-second-edition-ultimate-back-fitness-performance
I feel so lucky i found this Scientist afew years ago!( i found some articles he wrote)....The Real deal......pure gold!...guys we are very lucky that we can find him in you tube...believe me .
I am not sure if anyone knows what Dr. McGill's recommendation would be but doing say 30 sets of 1 in this manner, is this something that should be done 1-2x/week or everyday? Does anyone know what he recommends?
I wonder if this McGill type of lifting works with all types of lifts? Bench, squats, etc? Just do 1 or 2 reps at 100% for many sets? Any info on other lifts? This is revolutionary!
Great video thanks for sharing? Can someone please explain the concept of 'centration' in this context. It's not the same as the scapular shrug sometimes advised when doing pull ups. Centration does however involve engaging rhomboids pre action. Also, I've noted how your head is facing upwards which likely primes the rest of the body and kinetic chain.
He means to focus all your attention to the back muscles by activating them during the pull up. Pretty much the correct term for having mind-muscle connection. He says afterwards “it’s all about getting the maximum neural drive from every part of the back”
Hello! I speak Spanish so I didn't quite understand one part about the series: the idea is to do 1 series of 1 or 2 repetitions at maximum with a rest of approximately 20 seconds and repeat the process again until reaching a total of 8 repetitions?
I can't cite sources, but essentially the "fat tongue" cue is to start relaxing the tongue, jaw, and face. Because you hold so much tension in these regions when you amped up, the difference is apparent immeadiately. Next time you finish a bench set, try and think "fat tongue, relax the face and jaw" while you are on the bench. It was used in weightlifting to bring down neural excitement between attempts.
Instead of grabbing the pull bar like grabbing a thick rod (no pun intended) i.e. 4 fingers on one side the thumb on the other like a circle. What you do is place all your fingers including the thumb on one side ( instead of a circle do a semi circle).
so you improve neural drive if you train like this. but how does that translate to doing repetitions, or a weighted max? as in training specificity. does it improve power only? doesn't seem like it trains hypertrophy.
Not an expert in this, but the point is not to train for hypertrophy. There will be hypertrophy because you are trying to activate every single muscle fiber for multiple singles, but the main point is to increase strength through increasing neural drive/CNS efficiency.
El Jake how does it benefit a strength athlete then? I kind of assume hypertrophy is the long term goal. So by getting stronger by using this, you can utilize your strength in repetition sets later? Where do you need max pull up strength?
It does not really work like that. Hypertrophy is really just a byproduct of volume when it comes to strength training. Though most strength athletes implement hypertrophy work as well. Kind of like working up to a heavy 3 rep vs 5 sets of 10 reps. Not all strength athletes want hypertrophy. For instance if someone wants to compete in a certain weight class hypertrophy would be detrimental to them staying in their weight class. This exercise is kind of like a box jump equivalent for pullups. The exercise's goal is not to make you huge, but to make your body very efficient at doing the movement with maximum amount of power. Because you get more efficient at it in this way you also become more efficient at doing it in a repetition fashion. Also, again mainly as a byproduct, it will develop hypertrophy and mainly in the fast twitch muscle fibers which are the biggest.
El Jake thanks for your awesome reply! should one use this exercise from time to time then to crank up the neural drive, like once or twice a month, while doing regular pullups otherwise? what are similar exercises for other muscle groups? guess heavy deadlifts box squats are some. how about heavy benching vs speed benching?
El Jake Plus, developing the efficiency (and functional hypertrophy, i.e. in the contractile units) will result in enhanced work capacity. This work capacity allows the trainee to perform more reps per set and sets per workout, thus resulting in hypertrophic gains.. when the rep scheme is tailored to that by the coach.
Would this also work with an exercise like strict hand stand push ups? Would it change the effectiveness if you start with arms extended or directly from the bottom position?
I do pull ups as part of my weight exercises... Is doing this. One rep good for muscle growth? I do about 4-6 reps with 1 minute rest, and do that for about 25/30 minutes... Am I doing something wrong...
Richard* Abstracts, fitness and my faith the general wisdom is that isometrics are safe for people with hypertension, which would include planks. The thing I'd point out is that the person who is exercising must learn to contract the core without using the valsalva maneuver, which from what I have read can momentarily increase blood pressure. Not 100% sure if Dr. McGill would agree or not but I hope this helps
How could I use this with my weighted chin up routine? My 1 rep max is 40kg weighted chin up. Should I do 30kg 10 sets of 1? How long should the rest be?
I just stumbled accross this video and I’m quite interested. I think that the main goal is to be as explosive as possible, which is achieved at lower weights or bodyweight only in this case. I recently read an article (Tøien, 2022) where they compared motor recruitment for various 1RM percentages during controlled concentrics vs explosive ones. They observed significantly increased motor recruitement for the concentrics that were performed as fast as possible. Interestingly, motor recruitment for fast concentrics kept increasing as the percentage of 1RM increased but after 50% 1RPM the increases were mininimal. Therefore, I assume similar motor recruitment for an explosive bodyweight pull up (or chin up) as an explosive weighted pull up. However, you can get more quality reps with just bodyweight as it is less taxing. By getting more reps I assume you get better nural addaptation. So I will be doing 20 singles of explosive bodyweight chin ups with 60-90s rest intevals once a week along with my current program
Assessing lumbar spine centroids from external appearance is notoriously difficult. Most important feature to control is flexion + rotation.books.google.co.uk/books?id=xeZOAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA52&lpg=PA52&dq=lumbar+spine+centroids&source=bl&ots=g3SQy5wVDo&sig=PIY56Bdx2-0HtnXbl8_lqqD4bAI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi1kcyis6zeAhVsL8AKHZp0Bx0Q6AEwDXoECAMQAQ#v=onepage&q=lumbar%20spine%20centroids&f=false
Because his lower back was complelty shattered and if he did correct his pelvic tilt it would just make him sentized to pain and he would loose that lumbar curve.
Man, why is this genius not more popular on youtube?! UA-cam should be loaded with his videos
He would have to light his hair on fire, and the still image would need his eyes to be RED and a photo of his spine exploding from his back. Entertainment over education. Those who know, KNOW!
People would rather be sold a lie than be told the truth.
Because the ones he does have are edited terribly.
@@BrodeyDoverosx they want the hollywood dream Even in tennis I teach
I'd argue the algoritm likes this guy!
Imagine how lucky you need to be to spend even a minute with Dr McGill let alone be rehabbed by him
Now there are lots of us available to help others because of his work.
He's the type of person I call a celebrity.
what a legend. he even talked about mewing. putting the tongue flat on the back of your palate
Yeah, you have to be able to book a mean wammer!
@@Cacophony314why
People like this are so important to society. Back pain , or just parts of the body that don’t function correctly are a nightmare .
Reading Dr McGill's book called "Back Mechanic" helped me almost entirely eliminate my 5 year old lower lumbar pain and sciatica..
I lift heavy things for work. Read the same book, back in action with maintenance in less than 3 weeks
For me, I have piriformis issues, so my issue is the hip/glutes itself, but I will say, Dr. Stuart McGill is a great resource for building stability. But my one gripe is that I think his philosophy on a neutral spine for every movement is not optimal/practical because of how we move in the real world or in certain activities. I still think he is great at building stability in the back/hips/spine.
I read it cover to cover. Herniated my lower lumbar and I run 15km with no pain.
The McGill Big 3 have eliminated nervy pain in my glutes, hips call and foot...HIGHLY RECOMMEND his book Back Mechanic.
Have you read gift of injury?
@@BrianCarroll1306 re-read big chunks of The Gift of Injury today and then did the heaviest pain free deadlifts I've done in probably five years. The deadlift setup info alone makes that book worth the price of admission.
Is that so? It’s a high ticket book, I should probably invest!
I have only now hearing about Dr. Mcgill. I am going to share with friends and my future children. Thank you
Thanks for sharing!
After a few weeks of doing this it actually brought my max pull ups from 6 to 12. I can't believe it worked so well. Part of that is probably because I had only been seriously working for 2 months prior to trying this technique so I'm going to get fast gains in the beginning. but still, the results are impressive.
How many times a week did you do this? Did you do 30 sets of 1 rep as he suggests in the video?
@@syproductions456 I was doing 15 sets of 1-2 reps (aiming for 2 each time) a day and I did it about 5 days a week. So like Monday Tuesday on, Wednesday off, Thursday Friday Saturday on, Sunday off.
@@Human53182how long breaks in between sets?
@ I wasn’t super strict about it since I was just doing pull-ups while at work, so I rested anywhere from 1 to 5 minutes in between sets
watched this video a good year ago
I do 1 or at most 2 reps fully rest do through out day or 5 to 6 sets
crazy results
Thanks for this information Doc
Glad it was helpful!
i'll try this from now and see how much i improve! Thanks for the tip🙂🙂
Happy to help!
These videos with the Dr and your slow rebuilding are awesome, keep posting these.
Nice to see people finally realizing that Dr. McGill is "THE" guy. Brian thanks for posting these, I have been following Dr. McGill for years but am only getting onto UA-cam myself now...
This should have millions of views
yes
Holy Crap! Look at his back.
That's not a back that's a wall 😂
I’ve been using neural drive training doing pull ups to help stiffen my thoracic spine. The changes to my cns are unbelievable in this stage of recovery from a disc injury in the t spine.
I’m moving like I did when I was doing full time jkd with Jerry Poteet and Octavio Quintero.
Love it
This Dr. Brings a beautiful new meaning to the term two pump chump.
Professor Dr
I am going to try this from today!!!
Hope you like it!
McGill talks...we listen.. humble genius!!!
Yes!
Golden video. thanks for posting.
Glad you enjoyed it
That’s one badass pull up
thats 1 explosive pullup for such a big guy
Thank you
Gratitude.
Welcome!
This is very fascinating and brilliant
def gonna try this
Do it
What are your thoughts today on this style of training Brian? Did you see benefit? Was this for rehabbing an injury? Where do you see this style of training fitting into someone's routine (regularly included, periodic blocks, rehab only)? Interested to hear your thoughts.
Hello - this is about 4 questions in 1. I suggest checking out my whole body of work in both of these bookspowerrackstrength.myshopify.com/products/combo-10-20-life-second-edition-ultimate-back-fitness-performance
Fuck yeah, definitely trying this
I feel so lucky i found this Scientist afew years ago!( i found some articles he wrote)....The Real deal......pure gold!...guys we are very lucky that we can find him in you tube...believe me .
Amazing old man
Thanks
Best pullup video
Thank you
I am not sure if anyone knows what Dr. McGill's recommendation would be but doing say 30 sets of 1 in this manner, is this something that should be done 1-2x/week or everyday? Does anyone know what he recommends?
I wonder if this McGill type of lifting works with all types of lifts? Bench, squats, etc? Just do 1 or 2 reps at 100% for many sets? Any info on other lifts? This is revolutionary!
With weights its just called heavy singles and has been known for a long time
08/01/2025 - my pull-ups count is 3 reps ……..i will update my new PR soon after using this technique
Get after it!
@ yesssirr 🙏🏻💪🏻
Brian your damn strong man
Great video thanks for sharing? Can someone please explain the concept of 'centration' in this context. It's not the same as the scapular shrug sometimes advised when doing pull ups. Centration does however involve engaging rhomboids pre action. Also, I've noted how your head is facing upwards which likely primes the rest of the body and kinetic chain.
He means to focus all your attention to the back muscles by activating them during the pull up. Pretty much the correct term for having mind-muscle connection. He says afterwards “it’s all about getting the maximum neural drive from every part of the back”
Extreme focus on the specific area
Hello Brian awesome pull-up video man
Amazing
Thanks
this dude reminds me of walter white
Haha yes!
99.9 Clean pull up
I wish Dr McGill would come live with me 3 days a week to assist me in my training lol
Haha would be nice
Hello! I speak Spanish so I didn't quite understand one part about the series: the idea is to do 1 series of 1 or 2 repetitions at maximum with a rest of approximately 20 seconds and repeat the process again until reaching a total of 8 repetitions?
Correct. However rest is up to you.
@@BrianCarroll1306 thank you so much 🙌
I want to learn more about the "fat tongue" cue. Anyone know it? Is it in his books?
I can't cite sources, but essentially the "fat tongue" cue is to start relaxing the tongue, jaw, and face. Because you hold so much tension in these regions when you amped up, the difference is apparent immeadiately. Next time you finish a bench set, try and think "fat tongue, relax the face and jaw" while you are on the bench. It was used in weightlifting to bring down neural excitement between attempts.
@Arien York the man. thank you.
This is fucking gold!
Can you explain the “lobster claw”?
Instead of grabbing the pull bar like grabbing a thick rod (no pun intended) i.e. 4 fingers on one side the thumb on the other like a circle. What you do is place all your fingers including the thumb on one side ( instead of a circle do a semi circle).
so you improve neural drive if you train like this. but how does that translate to doing repetitions, or a weighted max? as in training specificity. does it improve power only? doesn't seem like it trains hypertrophy.
Not an expert in this, but the point is not to train for hypertrophy. There will be hypertrophy because you are trying to activate every single muscle fiber for multiple singles, but the main point is to increase strength through increasing neural drive/CNS efficiency.
El Jake how does it benefit a strength athlete then? I kind of assume hypertrophy is the long term goal. So by getting stronger by using this, you can utilize your strength in repetition sets later? Where do you need max pull up strength?
It does not really work like that. Hypertrophy is really just a byproduct of volume when it comes to strength training. Though most strength athletes implement hypertrophy work as well. Kind of like working up to a heavy 3 rep vs 5 sets of 10 reps.
Not all strength athletes want hypertrophy. For instance if someone wants to compete in a certain weight class hypertrophy would be detrimental to them staying in their weight class.
This exercise is kind of like a box jump equivalent for pullups. The exercise's goal is not to make you huge, but to make your body very efficient at doing the movement with maximum amount of power.
Because you get more efficient at it in this way you also become more efficient at doing it in a repetition fashion.
Also, again mainly as a byproduct, it will develop hypertrophy and mainly in the fast twitch muscle fibers which are the biggest.
El Jake thanks for your awesome reply! should one use this exercise from time to time then to crank up the neural drive, like once or twice a month, while doing regular pullups otherwise? what are similar exercises for other muscle groups? guess heavy deadlifts box squats are some. how about heavy benching vs speed benching?
El Jake
Plus, developing the efficiency (and functional hypertrophy, i.e. in the contractile units) will result in enhanced work capacity. This work capacity allows the trainee to perform more reps per set and sets per workout, thus resulting in hypertrophic gains.. when the rep scheme is tailored to that by the coach.
Should i be doing this every day? Or just during my back days?
I wouldn’t suggest doing it everyday. I used them as a primer before deadlifting days.
Great!
McGill Mustache: "trust me bro."
What should be the break between reps?
20-30 is what Ive seen posted, someone watched the whole vid and posted
@@Npc1488-wc1kf Thank you.
5-15sec or so
Would this also work with an exercise like strict hand stand push ups? Would it change the effectiveness if you start with arms extended or directly from the bottom position?
Could work prob
I do pull ups as part of my weight exercises... Is doing this. One rep good for muscle growth? I do about 4-6 reps with 1 minute rest, and do that for about 25/30 minutes... Am I doing something wrong...
Do you do them every day? What’s the schedule like?
Typically used as a primer on deadlift day
What does he make him do with his tongue??? I’m confused
Can you apply this to other exercises?
Possibly
How many times per week did you do these? Thx!
Before each deadlift day as a primer. So once.
@@BrianCarroll1306thanks!
When doc says "centrate you shoulder blades", does he mean "retract your scapula"/"put your shoulders in your back pocket"?
+2natec The calm before the storm. Relaxing and then fire. So basically, yes.
Yes. Exactly. Retracting the scapula is how you stabilize the thoracic spine.
Is this safe to do with weighted pull ups too?
As long as you’ve built up to it.
How long between “sets”? How many days a week?
Depends on the goal - I have a lot more videos on this - search around
@@BrianCarroll1306that’s not an answer 🤷♂️😂. Say I’m trying to get stronger & increase my number of reps
Will you get better results if you do these pull-ups slower than the guy in this video?
No! you want to explode up with max power.....
Doing it slower would just translate to a regular pull up which would defeat the purpose of the technique he’s teaching
YES
The man is fat, but he's fast!
So do you do online coaching for back rehab or what?
www.powerrackstrength.com
I do
@@BrianCarroll1306 Ok, Cool. thank you. I'll go ahead and get those books and then get back to you
how much rest time in between pulls in optimal?
Depends - experiment then let me know
These are for going full intensity for a few reps to increase strength. For this you should rest atleast 1:30-2 min between each set like powerlifters
yeah mr. white! yeah science!
I'd fan girl over Dr.McGill 😂.
HA
Does this work with smaller guys I’m only 5’6 165lb
Absolutely! You can even add weight to them with a belt if you find it necessary
@@BrianCarroll1306 thanks for the feedback !!!
How do I implement this into my workout? Do I replace my normal pull ups with this? What about chin ups
do ur normal pull ups bro this technique is not gonna increase ur plateau. This is some kind of therapy for people who had back injury in the past.
@@sak1211 well it did for me brodie but you do you 😂😂😂
Not true
So he injured his back and now 1rep pull ups are helping him recover?
Dig a little bit deeper in the desc
Hi Sir
how can we regenerate a herniated disc?
Vibranium.
Bruce Lee said he’d fear the man who did 10000 singles more than a guy who did a set of 10000
No he didnt dumbass
Underrated 😂
Not exactly, he said he feared the man who practiced one kick 10,000 times versus the man who practiced 10,000 different techniques.
Yes okay but have you ever done a set of 10,000 weightless lateral raises?
Brutal.
You must be fun at parties@@Ronin_Noir
interestingly this probably ( sets of 3 baby its magic ) doubles the volume of people who can only do 6 pull ups
For sure!
Thoughts on the standard plank and people who have blood pressure issues...?
Richard* Abstracts, fitness and my faith the general wisdom is that isometrics are safe for people with hypertension, which would include planks. The thing I'd point out is that the person who is exercising must learn to contract the core without using the valsalva maneuver, which from what I have read can momentarily increase blood pressure. Not 100% sure if Dr. McGill would agree or not but I hope this helps
So don’t cross my legs when doing a pull up?
That’s wild because I saw a video with the same big dude saying you should cross your legs and keep your entire body rigid
How could I use this with my weighted chin up routine? My 1 rep max is 40kg weighted chin up. Should I do 30kg 10 sets of 1? How long should the rest be?
Or should I decrease the weight to do 30 sets?
Not sure
Did u try it bro? I'm also pretty interested.
I just stumbled accross this video and I’m quite interested. I think that the main goal is to be as explosive as possible, which is achieved at lower weights or bodyweight only in this case. I recently read an article (Tøien, 2022) where they compared motor recruitment for various 1RM percentages during controlled concentrics vs explosive ones. They observed significantly increased motor recruitement for the concentrics that were performed as fast as possible. Interestingly, motor recruitment for fast concentrics kept increasing as the percentage of 1RM increased but after 50% 1RPM the increases were mininimal. Therefore, I assume similar motor recruitment for an explosive bodyweight pull up (or chin up) as an explosive weighted pull up. However, you can get more quality reps with just bodyweight as it is less taxing. By getting more reps I assume you get better nural addaptation.
So I will be doing 20 singles of explosive bodyweight chin ups with 60-90s rest intevals once a week along with my current program
is he saying fat toad? 0:37
👍👍👍👍👍
Mike Mentzer 💪
Less the meth
Brian Carroll Burnett Richard Simmons
Nice barrel chest
Did he say "fat Tony"?
lol
Are you taking 300k or dinner with dr Mcgill
You tell me
Excessive lumbar lordosis?
yeah was wondering about that too
Assessing lumbar spine centroids from external appearance is notoriously difficult. Most important feature to control is flexion + rotation.books.google.co.uk/books?id=xeZOAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA52&lpg=PA52&dq=lumbar+spine+centroids&source=bl&ots=g3SQy5wVDo&sig=PIY56Bdx2-0HtnXbl8_lqqD4bAI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi1kcyis6zeAhVsL8AKHZp0Bx0Q6AEwDXoECAMQAQ#v=onepage&q=lumbar%20spine%20centroids&f=false
What works for one individual does not work for others. -Dr. McGill
Explain it like I’m 5
5lbs?
Did someone mention me?
Foundation training, andreas moritz books and yogalign might interest you as well as long as your mind is open
liam111liam
Thanks, I'm gonna check 'em out.
Yeah, they have amazing posterior chain exercises.
This isn’t buckethead either, wtf
The shenanigans on this one is strong . In other words , I smell B.S.
It’s not.
the lobster claw
I remind me of Walter White lol
30 x 1
This plainly looks weird, is there any science to it? and why is he not correcting the anterior pelvic tilt during the movement?
respeezy do you know who stuart mcgill is?
Because his lower back was complelty shattered and if he did correct his pelvic tilt it would just make him sentized to pain and he would loose that lumbar curve.
Overrated
Your mom isn’t
Posture looks awful
Till he gets on bar
@@jakehawes2290his back was injured at the point