2:59 One arm row (fixed elbow and pronated grip ) 3:50 Lat pulldown (lkind of like a pullover) 6:15 Cable row (fixed elbow and pronated grip) *Lats* 6:56 Bent over rows (8-10 Reps is best for the most activation of the middle and upper traps) 8:00 When you straighten up it's a more of an upper traps exercise whilst dis-activating your lats 9:35 Isolating Mid traps (elbows high)
Will add literally no benefit to your training. Of the list important aspects of your training, EMG data would be on the same level as what shorts you are wearing…Unless you started training last week.
@@liamburns8554 truth. This guy is already jacked so I guess doing it the "wrong" way was just fine. Will these "discoveries" lead him to become further jacked? Doubt that.
@@ericswidler8743 he is also on roids.. and been training for 20 years. He is not a complete idiot. But I stand by what I said, EMG data is useful got a newbie. It tells if a muscle is activated. That is the be all and end all you can get from the data, no more no less. Flex you muscle with no weight, will get the same data
3:04 pronated 1 arm row, 3:52 fixed elbow pull over/down... 4:36 15% lean back V bar pulldown...9:26 bent over shrug to standing shrug.....dead lift till you cry and go home
@@dylanlawrenceholland3295 It means try not to flex at the elbow which brings the bicep into the movement. So on a close grip pulldown, DONT pull the weight down with your bicep, fix your elbow at 90 deg and pull the weight by sweeping your elbow back. This will shorten the movement considerably...but its not a stretching exercise...
For those wondering, I tried using the fixed elbow method on some of these exercises I’m doing now and I definitely feel it more in my back. My biceps are “turned off”. Also, I did way less weight due to the biceps not kicking in and helping. Was hard to see the lower numbers but I know I hit the back better, so that’s all that matters.
I’ve also found it helps to combine fixed elbow with eccentric movements. Holy shit does it get a good burn going. By rep 20 you’re just in pain… but good pain.
That's true but just keep in mind that just because the back has a higher % now vs bicep doesn't mean it wasn't working enough before before. Imagine back activation was at 100 and bicep was at 50 in the original row....that's a gap of 50. Now imagine you fix your elbow and now you have back activation of 110 but your bicep is now only at 10...that's a gap of 100. You are now working your lat at a much higher ratio vs bicep but overall it's only a little more lat activation at the sacrifice of a lot of bicep. Total body wise, you are losing out still.
@@pauljansen6650 back in the day (well about 10-15 years ago) we had a saying, "every day is arm day". My schoolmate's parents were both into fitness and taught us that smaller muscles heal very fast. I think they were right
@@pauljansen6650 Why are you assuming that we cannot feel how much force we are exherting just to make things fit your initial assumption about how training works ... instead of taking in the new information and using it !? You are so resistant to change that you are making shit up and the worst part is you now believe the shit you just made up and you will use that faulty assumption as a cornerstone for other things in your life you try to figure out where it will cause you failure.
@agnidas5816 Settle down little one. There's a big difference between general training and isolation training. One is targeted which is perfectly fine if that's what you want, but it doesn't change the FACT that you incorporate more muscles overall while still giving your main "focus" muscle/s a great work out when not doing specific isolation exercises. Not making anything fit any assumption. You are trying to sound smart, don't be so insecure. Maths and ratios aren't everyone's strong point, don't be so hard on yourself for not understanding what I was saying.
Love these videos, can't wait to watch the next one, I usually don't know whats the best to target my lower back so the next video will be really knowledgeable for me Thanks again Ryan
@@mikeoxmaul9870 i personally don't do dead lifts because there are generally a lot of things that can go wrong, a friend of mine, slipped his disc in his lower back, that shit scared him and me even though I wasn't the victim. So the alternative I use in my gym is one the lower back machines, I don't know what you call them but they are the one where you sit down and there is a pad near your back shoulder area which you push down while you are seated and the weight brings you back to the seated position.
This series of videos are blowing up the effectiveness of my workouts. Most mind blowing day was when I used the info in your shoulder video. Best delta’s day I have ever hard. Mind blowingly good.
I don't really understand why the metrics for an excercise are being measured by taking the percentage difference between the bicep and back, woudnt that mean that if for example an excercise miraculously got 200% on back and 150% on bicep it would be seen as worse than one that got 100% on back and 1% on bicep?
I’ve always worked back thinking my hands were just hooks, and concentrated on pulling from my elbows, if that makes any sense. Always great information. Thank you for your hard work and great humor.
I actually experiment with Versagrips to cut out the biceps as much as possible on these. Anecdotally it "feels" like it's targeting the back muscles more but who knows. It would be interesting to see Ryan do the exact same moves with and without straps to see the difference in activation.
I'VE FOLLOWED A LOT OF FITNESS GUYS ON HERE...BUT I GOTTA SAY, YOU'RE MY FAVORITE. THESE VIDEOS ARE SO INSIGHTFUL AND YOU BACK IT UP WITH COLD, HARD, EVIDENCE. THANKS FOR THAT AND PLEASE, KEEP'EM COMING!
This is cool. My only question is, hitting the biceps also doesn't necessarily mean it activates less of the lats? An exercise can and often should hit multiple muscles like the classic trio (bench, squat and deadlift). Personally I don't mind working a little extra on arms when doing back or chest, or getting better traps when doing delts etc.
5:52 Now that his biceps are fixed in place, he's doing some insane hip hinge movement; sure less biceps but now you've got your glute and erector jumping in like nobody's business. This whole "isolation" thing is a lil silly in my opinion, I like the idea of figuring out "this exercie does in fact target the lat" but how much more so than an other specific muscle is much less relevant
@@Hydiz Could't have said it better. I'm glad he's doing these experiments, defiantly inspires to tweak some exercises a little. In the end, we're all built a little different (snowflakes), and you learn to listen to your mind-muscle-connection over the years, or just feel where you got sore after a break.
@@Hydiz well said . I actually don’t mind my biceps getting worked when im doing back, after-all its a compound movement. As long as my bicep don’t take over the whole movement, then some involvement is ok. I learned that from my man Jon Meadows . May he RIP.
@@Hydiz would also say that you're compromising your gains if you're chasing more lat involvement in a movement by compromising load in order to do a weird form variation. Bicep involvement isn't as bad as this video makes out.
@@hefudgedafrog agree, just take in account leg elevations/flexions and squats, leg elevations burns your quads and dont involve almost any other leg muscle, squat does not burn it at the same pain, but idk, lifting heavy ass weights in squat have gave me more size, also, after leg flexions I recover inn1-2 days, after a good squat series? Minimum 3 days hahah
The info on the one-arm rows makes perfect sense. Back in the 90s Nautilus Plus gym had a lat pullover machine that followed pretty much the same biomechanics outlined here. The growth in my lats was amazing. I went form 0 pullups to 8 pullups with extra weight in one summer. Unfortunately, no gyms I've found have those machines anymore.
Sick 🔥 love learning this shit with a side of his humor 😂 keeps me focused and entertained lol but yeah watching these vids are definitely helping me with my mind to muscle connection now that I’m practicing proper technique for the most activation! And for that, I thank you and so does my sore/weak muscles thank you 😔🙏
Ryan! I did this for back and I’ve never felt so much activation of my lats. I looked like a moron in the gym but holy shit my man! That kicked my ass. Cannot wait for this new workout!!!!
Heyy dude. While performing these back exercises, did you retract your shoulder blades? And does retracting shoulder blades help in better activation of lats?
Loving this series. Many of the findings are things I started doing randomly (lucky I guess?) but it's great to have someone proving it out. Look forward to the next program that incorporates all of the findings.
For so many of these, I'm sitting here, shaking my head and saying, "I knew it!" A lifetime of being pumped full of bad advice and second guessing my own judgement is being unraveled with this series. Thanks!
You need to be up front about it ,to build trust about the other advice you give. You could even say you can have shit form and still make amazing gains if you gear up.
@@chopperdeath dude idk if you watched the video, but he’s literally scaling perfect form, with muscle activation, and every variation for the excercises. PEDS, SARMS, Tren, anything that he potentially could be taking has absolutely 0 relation to the fact he is literally going out of his own way to make sure his Fanbase truly has the least injury prone, and most fucking jacked physiques. But keep typing and don’t workout, let us get ahead of you
Those are some interesting views on different exercise techniques that you can take into the consideration, but remember that muscle activation does not equal hypertrophy! Really fun to watch!
The back exercise in the thumb is actually one the favorite exercise of old school bodybuilder Serge Nubret, he had an insane back even by todays standards, and he was in phenomenal shape in his 60s. just because something didnt work for you doesnt mean its bad, lifting weights is all abt learning your body's capabilities.
I've been doing your updated exercises now for 6 weeks for rehab after cancer. I've gained 21% of my muscle mass back after being out of the gym for 7 months. I'm lifting with a focus on each movement to target each muscle instead of moving weight and I'm as happy as a 14 year old finding his willy fun spot for the first time😁. Thank you for your videos
Thanks for doing this! I've been training all my life (turning 51 in a week!) and even went to university for that and yet, I'm learning so much from your videos! Keep up the good work!!!
Thoughts on finding the most stimulated forearm exercises? Might be hard to get the EMG nodes perfect but just a thought. This series is great and very helpful for optimizing time/gains etc. Keep it up!
Ryan I am so glad my algorithm brought you up one day. I’m a simple man, I see a jacked guy with a clickbait title thumbnail I watch it. I’ve learned so much more and really learned to push to muscle failure with your guidance. I always used to leave 1-3 reps left in the tank and wasn’t getting the results I wanted. Thanks for all the free advice!
Several years ago, I started being very rigid with the elbow angle. A lot of gym buddies laughed at me for looking "robotic" but they all started going robot when they saw how much better my back started growing. It was humbling at first because I had to drop the amount of weight a bit at first due to less activation of other muscles, but the results are there. P.S. love this series
Really can't thank you enough for all your trouble here; and it's clear from how enthused you are that this project has really been interesting and animating for you, too. Thanks for your hard work.
Completely isolating your lats is cute I guess but why would you do it if you could work biceps at the same time? As long as both muscles reach musclular failure at the same time or the lats give out first wouldn't that be preferable to get more bicep volume in as long as you dont have bicep recovery issues?
I think his point is for those seeking greatest hypertrophy and activation of a single muscle. So YES if you were doing back/biceps you now know which exercises to prioritize back first over biceps. In my opinion.
Hi Ryan, as a junior physiotherapist your videos really help me to target the right muscles in my line of work. Also in my own workouts. Keep up the good work. I even come to your videos for the 'science' instead of some outdated literature 😂
What is wrong with bicep activation during a back exercise? This rating says that an exercise that activates the lat 20% vs bicep 0% is somehow better than one that hits 90% lat vs 75% bicep. Compound exercises are good for a reason - you don’t need to turn every movement into an isolation lift.
Hello, Ryan! Have you ever thought doing a best exercise compilation? Like an ebook for selling? Kind of a list with the top exercises with the most activation for each muscular group? It would be amazin! Thank you for the experiments and the YT content.
Ryan you are about to help a lot of people save their time & gain way more muscle by maximizing what really works. I’m thankful to have found you channel
Do this test on the Meadows Row! It sounds like it would be a big winner. Pronated grip, single arm, bent over, fixed elbow, with a barbell so you can load up the weight, and the landmine attachment keeps it safe.
When working back, in addition to watching the overhead pulley (or where it would be, if the machine had one overhead) for the entire range of motion for Pulldowns, I apply the following mental imagery to help me hit the back and not the biceps: 1. Clamp your hands onto the handle, then, forget about your arm muscles, just focus on pulling your shoulders down and your elbows down and back (if pulling down) or pulling your shoulders back and your elbows back (if rowing or deadlifting). 2. For Pulldowns, imagine someone poured ice water down your back, starting between your shoulder blades, unbeknownst to you, and move your body accordingly. 3. Pull like you are trying to touch your elbows together behind your back. These tips make it so I barely feel any, if at all, action in my biceps on back days.
Loved you before you got the fancy new toy, now it is FANTASTIC !!!! Love the humor, but as someone who has been lifting 5 days a week for 35 years, the information you are dropping is a game changer in how i lift. Cant thank you enough for putting this together. I see your page is blowing up, as well it should. Good work man, good work.
The problem with locking your elbows into position, especially during rows, is that it becomes more similar to a Straight-Arm Lat Pulldown motion than a Row. By allowing the arms to flex on back exercises sure, you hit the biceps more, but you also allow upper back muscles to aid. If your goal is pure lat isolation then go ahead and lock them, but if you do, say, rows for back thickness, then keep flexing and stretching the elbows, and do other exercises for lats (like Straight-Arm Lat Pulldowns or Lateral Lat Pulldowns). Great vid Ryan!
As a bodybuilder, this is amazing. I ALWAYS get more out of the foxed positions and pull overs and the egotistical dorks at the gym are like telling me rows work better and I'm like?????? If my back is wider, thicker and better don't tell me what works better. GOOD MAN. Wish I had you a few years ago but glad we have you now. Appreciate your hard work.
One Arm "Tripod" Bent Over Row (no weight hand placed on a bench), one and half reps, NOW with a fixed pronated grip and elbow position... immediate change in the Lat activation! Thanks for sharing this tip.
New subscriber. Great content and style. Data-driven, but personality driven too. Know what’s funny? Well, two things: 1). Seems that the most effective for your lats is consistently motions that look like exercises considered terrible form for eons. As you said, lots of years doing it “wrong.” 2). Dorian Yeats, Mr. Olympia like a million times with lats like beef slabs from Rocky’s meat packing freezer, absolutely swore by the supinated grip on dead lifts and lat pulls. And for a long time, I felt the activation better with open grip than closed. I have been doing both lately. Oh and lastly, this data is interesting inasmuch as I am now over 40 and thus changed my workouts to full body and knowing what exercise hits both with specific numbers is actually quite helpful in doing the ones that share the load in some way rather than avoiding them. Thanks again!
Ryan, I love 2 things about this video 1 the absolute Great content and testing of techniques was fabulous! 2 - you didn’t have to use a bunch of 4 letter words to make your point! ADD like me- the quips are the way to go!! Thanks for all you do! You’re my kind of people! 👍
its amazing, dont stop it. its refreshing to get all this dope movements, and tbh i made some of them by instinct. its awesome to get the proof by some kind of sience.. MORE PLEASE
2:31 man I know the feeling. When you are on a roll, doing great work, changing the world, and things... just start falling apart and you start yeeting things 2:35
so you did this in your shoulder video too, and that's where you find the best muscle activation relative to other muscles. In this video you do back activation vs biceps activation and in your shoulder video you do shoulder activation vs trap activation. Could you also include the exercises you found to give the most back activation (or the most shoulder activation in the case of you shoulder video) overall? this would be helpful for people who don't mind training other body parts simultaneously and just want the most activation possible. thanks
You had me laughing so hard that I had to keep rewinding to actually listen to your teaching. Keep it up, love the videos and humour you add to the mix.
Well here is to hoping the next one is glutes. Particularily in comparison to hamstrings and quads. Really enjoying this series so you earned a new subscriber. One thing I wish this video addressed about the pullup is partial range of motion. I suspect the problem with biceps activation comes from the beginning part, where your lats are in such a terrible position they should hardly work at all. I can't technically measure it but just by using my mind muscle connection I can not do the start up of a pullup with just my lats but it's easy with my biceps. I also suspect the last part is more chest than lats.
Where TF was this man 5 years before when I started to train!! I am so injury prone 😭 I just found him 1 week ago and everything he says makes SENSE!!!
I’m starting your 30 Day Full Gym program today. On an unrelated topic, I’ve started to audio edit clips of your various quips (if these are all you - You really should do some open-mike comedy bits - You're a riot🤣). I sprinkle them in my comedy playlists.
I would not focus on isolating vs muscles that dont do the same movement pattern. Biceps does take a bit away of the back at some exercises but with most exercises it doesnt limit the use of your back, so it is just like a bonus activation. Its better to test the overall activation of a muscle in itself. Also why I liked the tricep one a lot that was a good comparison
Pullover variations for lats and supported rows for mid & lower traps, shrugs for upper traps and super sets of seated good mornings and rack pulls for low back.
2:59 One arm row (fixed elbow and pronated grip )
3:50 Lat pulldown (lkind of like a pullover)
6:15 Cable row (fixed elbow and pronated grip) *Lats*
6:56 Bent over rows (8-10 Reps is best for the most activation of the middle and upper traps)
8:00 When you straighten up it's a more of an upper traps exercise whilst dis-activating your lats
9:35 Isolating Mid traps (elbows high)
Isn't that a supenated 1 arm row? Not pronated?
@@silentgrind34 This is a pronated grip, he's right. Had to lookup on google to make sure.
Thanks man Ryan is always talking more than my wife..... except he has slightly bigger boobs.
You forgot 4:17 which is the most important part.
Dude your flair and comedy and just the no bullsh**t way is awesome. I could listen to you all day! Keep winning bro
Ghad, testing science and no ads. It's amazing
This has already revolutionized my lat workout. Never been this sore all through my lats only. Thank you
I love this series, appreciate how much time you're taking to experiment and showing us your results 👍🏻💪🏻
Will add literally no benefit to your training. Of the list important aspects of your training, EMG data would be on the same level as what shorts you are wearing…Unless you started training last week.
Watch Natural Hypertophy… Ryan is subpar
@@liamburns8554 truth. This guy is already jacked so I guess doing it the "wrong" way was just fine. Will these "discoveries" lead him to become further jacked? Doubt that.
@@conciise136 100%.. His jokes and flashy content sucks in newbies.. and keeps them that way
@@ericswidler8743 he is also on roids.. and been training for 20 years. He is not a complete idiot. But I stand by what I said, EMG data is useful got a newbie. It tells if a muscle is activated. That is the be all and end all you can get from the data, no more no less. Flex you muscle with no weight, will get the same data
3:04 pronated 1 arm row, 3:52 fixed elbow pull over/down... 4:36 15% lean back V bar pulldown...9:26 bent over shrug to standing shrug.....dead lift till you cry and go home
5:52 cable rows
Isn't that a supenated 1 arm row? Not pronated?
@@silentgrind34 🤓
ua-cam.com/video/bq-CYdjX5_A/v-deo.html
Never stop what you're doing. Thank you again for another amazing video!
These bots are flooding this channel istg
Fixed elbow is the KEY to back growth 4:35 and 5:50 do this on every back exercise you can and the difference is amazing!
please can you explain what you mean by fixed elbow position? i cant work out what this means in relation to the movement in the timestamp
@@dylanlawrenceholland3295 It means try not to flex at the elbow which brings the bicep into the movement. So on a close grip pulldown, DONT pull the weight down with your bicep, fix your elbow at 90 deg and pull the weight by sweeping your elbow back. This will shorten the movement considerably...but its not a stretching exercise...
@@manoo422 i get it now...thanks!
For those wondering, I tried using the fixed elbow method on some of these exercises I’m doing now and I definitely feel it more in my back. My biceps are “turned off”. Also, I did way less weight due to the biceps not kicking in and helping. Was hard to see the lower numbers but I know I hit the back better, so that’s all that matters.
I’ve also found it helps to combine fixed elbow with eccentric movements. Holy shit does it get a good burn going. By rep 20 you’re just in pain… but good pain.
That's true but just keep in mind that just because the back has a higher % now vs bicep doesn't mean it wasn't working enough before before.
Imagine back activation was at 100 and bicep was at 50 in the original row....that's a gap of 50.
Now imagine you fix your elbow and now you have back activation of 110 but your bicep is now only at 10...that's a gap of 100.
You are now working your lat at a much higher ratio vs bicep but overall it's only a little more lat activation at the sacrifice of a lot of bicep. Total body wise, you are losing out still.
@@pauljansen6650 back in the day (well about 10-15 years ago) we had a saying, "every day is arm day". My schoolmate's parents were both into fitness and taught us that smaller muscles heal very fast. I think they were right
@@pauljansen6650 Why are you assuming that we cannot feel how much force we are exherting just to make things fit your initial assumption about how training works ... instead of taking in the new information and using it !?
You are so resistant to change that you are making shit up and the worst part is you now believe the shit you just made up and you will use that faulty assumption as a cornerstone for other things in your life you try to figure out where it will cause you failure.
@agnidas5816 Settle down little one. There's a big difference between general training and isolation training. One is targeted which is perfectly fine if that's what you want, but it doesn't change the FACT that you incorporate more muscles overall while still giving your main "focus" muscle/s a great work out when not doing specific isolation exercises.
Not making anything fit any assumption. You are trying to sound smart, don't be so insecure. Maths and ratios aren't everyone's strong point, don't be so hard on yourself for not understanding what I was saying.
Mr. Humiston! It is an honor to call you my UA-cam big brother! Keep teaching! We appreciate the work you put in.
Love these videos, can't wait to watch the next one, I usually don't know whats the best to target my lower back so the next video will be really knowledgeable for me
Thanks again Ryan
If ur deadlifting or doing any stability needing exercise then just don’t worry about it, you could add like 1 exercise if you want but not necessary
@@mikeoxmaul9870 i personally don't do dead lifts because there are generally a lot of things that can go wrong, a friend of mine, slipped his disc in his lower back, that shit scared him and me even though I wasn't the victim. So the alternative I use in my gym is one the lower back machines, I don't know what you call them but they are the one where you sit down and there is a pad near your back shoulder area which you push down while you are seated and the weight brings you back to the seated position.
This series of videos are blowing up the effectiveness of my workouts. Most mind blowing day was when I used the info in your shoulder video. Best delta’s day I have ever hard. Mind blowingly good.
I don't really understand why the metrics for an excercise are being measured by taking the percentage difference between the bicep and back, woudnt that mean that if for example an excercise miraculously got 200% on back and 150% on bicep it would be seen as worse than one that got 100% on back and 1% on bicep?
Correct the 100% to 1% is better cuz you would clearly get more of a mind muscle connection to the back.
I really struggle to feel my back when in the gym. This should help!!!
Me too, pull up still fails because of arms first. Slowly getting better, but holding elbows in a fixed position on rows makes a lot of sense.
I’ve always worked back thinking my hands were just hooks, and concentrated on pulling from my elbows, if that makes any sense. Always great information. Thank you for your hard work and great humor.
Same here. Feels like zero biceps involvement.
I actually experiment with Versagrips to cut out the biceps as much as possible on these. Anecdotally it "feels" like it's targeting the back muscles more but who knows.
It would be interesting to see Ryan do the exact same moves with and without straps to see the difference in activation.
I went full out and got myself weight lifting hooks to remove forearm and bicep completely and it works wonders.
1 handed cable pull downs are great for the lats . And single handed bentover landmine rows.
@CAPTAIN BICEPS
I'VE FOLLOWED A LOT OF FITNESS GUYS ON HERE...BUT I GOTTA SAY, YOU'RE MY FAVORITE. THESE VIDEOS ARE SO INSIGHTFUL AND YOU BACK IT UP WITH COLD, HARD, EVIDENCE. THANKS FOR THAT AND PLEASE, KEEP'EM COMING!
This is cool. My only question is, hitting the biceps also doesn't necessarily mean it activates less of the lats?
An exercise can and often should hit multiple muscles like the classic trio (bench, squat and deadlift).
Personally I don't mind working a little extra on arms when doing back or chest, or getting better traps when doing delts etc.
5:52 Now that his biceps are fixed in place, he's doing some insane hip hinge movement; sure less biceps but now you've got your glute and erector jumping in like nobody's business.
This whole "isolation" thing is a lil silly in my opinion, I like the idea of figuring out "this exercie does in fact target the lat" but how much more so than an other specific muscle is much less relevant
@@Hydiz Could't have said it better. I'm glad he's doing these experiments, defiantly inspires to tweak some exercises a little. In the end, we're all built a little different (snowflakes), and you learn to listen to your mind-muscle-connection over the years, or just feel where you got sore after a break.
@@Hydiz well said . I actually don’t mind my biceps getting worked when im doing back, after-all its a compound movement. As long as my bicep don’t take over the whole movement, then some involvement is ok. I learned that from my man Jon Meadows . May he RIP.
@@Hydiz would also say that you're compromising your gains if you're chasing more lat involvement in a movement by compromising load in order to do a weird form variation. Bicep involvement isn't as bad as this video makes out.
@@hefudgedafrog agree, just take in account leg elevations/flexions and squats, leg elevations burns your quads and dont involve almost any other leg muscle, squat does not burn it at the same pain, but idk, lifting heavy ass weights in squat have gave me more size, also, after leg flexions I recover inn1-2 days, after a good squat series? Minimum 3 days hahah
The info on the one-arm rows makes perfect sense. Back in the 90s Nautilus Plus gym had a lat pullover machine that followed pretty much the same biomechanics outlined here. The growth in my lats was amazing. I went form 0 pullups to 8 pullups with extra weight in one summer. Unfortunately, no gyms I've found have those machines anymore.
Sick 🔥 love learning this shit with a side of his humor 😂 keeps me focused and entertained lol but yeah watching these vids are definitely helping me with my mind to muscle connection now that I’m practicing proper technique for the most activation! And for that, I thank you and so does my sore/weak muscles thank you 😔🙏
Lower abs deserve one of these!!!Best content in youtube on the matter by far!
Great work Ryan. I will be first in line when you sale a complete series for a full body workout based on the scientific information you gather.
Yes!
Mike mentzer swore up and down that undergrip pulldown was a superior bicep exercise to barbell curl
Yes it is., that’s why this guy says lean back to cut out doing so much biceps
We appreciate you taking the time to get down to science of all this! Really makes you rethink how you should be training. Keep these coming!
Ryan! I did this for back and I’ve never felt so much activation of my lats. I looked like a moron in the gym but holy shit my man! That kicked my ass. Cannot wait for this new workout!!!!
Heyy dude. While performing these back exercises, did you retract your shoulder blades? And does retracting shoulder blades help in better activation of lats?
ANGLES AND GRIP - You improved my workout substantially - Thank you.
Loving this series. Many of the findings are things I started doing randomly (lucky I guess?) but it's great to have someone proving it out. Look forward to the next program that incorporates all of the findings.
I literally love this guy so much, I hope he never stops posting this shit, it’s so needed and the jokes always make my day 100% better!
For so many of these, I'm sitting here, shaking my head and saying, "I knew it!" A lifetime of being pumped full of bad advice and second guessing my own judgement is being unraveled with this series. Thanks!
He works hard, but he does drugs. Does not count.
@@chopperdeathhe’s giving form advice. What does that have to do with PEDs?
You need to be up front about it ,to build trust about the other advice you give. You could even say you can have shit form and still make amazing gains if you gear up.
@@chopperdeath what?
@@chopperdeath dude idk if you watched the video, but he’s literally scaling perfect form, with muscle activation, and every variation for the excercises. PEDS, SARMS, Tren, anything that he potentially could be taking has absolutely 0 relation to the fact he is literally going out of his own way to make sure his Fanbase truly has the least injury prone, and most fucking jacked physiques. But keep typing and don’t workout, let us get ahead of you
It's crazy how much knowledge you pack into a single short video. Plus the jokes are actually funny which is a major bonus.
I’m sorry Noel, i have a new daddy now
Ryan can be your step daddy😂 😜
@@mrnik3237Lucas: “help step daddy I’m stuck” 😂 😂😂
facts🐺
Another roided monkey.
Those are some interesting views on different exercise techniques that you can take into the consideration, but remember that muscle activation does not equal hypertrophy! Really fun to watch!
The back exercise in the thumb is actually one the favorite exercise of old school bodybuilder Serge Nubret, he had an insane back even by todays standards, and he was in phenomenal shape in his 60s. just because something didnt work for you doesnt mean its bad, lifting weights is all abt learning your body's capabilities.
I was thinking the same. Its my favorite back exercise.
Thanks!
I've been doing your updated exercises now for 6 weeks for rehab after cancer. I've gained 21% of my muscle mass back after being out of the gym for 7 months. I'm lifting with a focus on each movement to target each muscle instead of moving weight and I'm as happy as a 14 year old finding his willy fun spot for the first time😁. Thank you for your videos
Is it possible that you arrange this series into its own playlist? Also, you should definitely present a full body workout with the best exercises!
Thanks for doing this! I've been training all my life (turning 51 in a week!) and even went to university for that and yet, I'm learning so much from your videos! Keep up the good work!!!
Thoughts on finding the most stimulated forearm exercises? Might be hard to get the EMG nodes perfect but just a thought.
This series is great and very helpful for optimizing time/gains etc. Keep it up!
the best forearm growth is in the bedroom. no emg's needed.
Ryan I am so glad my algorithm brought you up one day. I’m a simple man, I see a jacked guy with a clickbait title thumbnail I watch it. I’ve learned so much more and really learned to push to muscle failure with your guidance. I always used to leave 1-3 reps left in the tank and wasn’t getting the results I wanted. Thanks for all the free advice!
Several years ago, I started being very rigid with the elbow angle. A lot of gym buddies laughed at me for looking "robotic" but they all started going robot when they saw how much better my back started growing.
It was humbling at first because I had to drop the amount of weight a bit at first due to less activation of other muscles, but the results are there.
P.S. love this series
Really can't thank you enough for all your trouble here; and it's clear from how enthused you are that this project has really been interesting and animating for you, too. Thanks for your hard work.
Completely isolating your lats is cute I guess but why would you do it if you could work biceps at the same time? As long as both muscles reach musclular failure at the same time or the lats give out first wouldn't that be preferable to get more bicep volume in as long as you dont have bicep recovery issues?
I think his point is for those seeking greatest hypertrophy and activation of a single muscle. So YES if you were doing back/biceps you now know which exercises to prioritize back first over biceps. In my opinion.
I just started working out again after a 14 year hiatus and this channel is my go to for info and entertainment. Big thanks!
Hi Ryan, as a junior physiotherapist your videos really help me to target the right muscles in my line of work. Also in my own workouts. Keep up the good work. I even come to your videos for the 'science' instead of some outdated literature 😂
What is wrong with bicep activation during a back exercise? This rating says that an exercise that activates the lat 20% vs bicep 0% is somehow better than one that hits 90% lat vs 75% bicep. Compound exercises are good for a reason - you don’t need to turn every movement into an isolation lift.
A few days ago I made a guide on how to train back at home with no equipment, so how do u feel about those exercises?
Video production quality is insane! Appreciate the mixture of shots you get. No one’s making videos like you man!
Thanks for helping m3 with my gains Dad
Honestly every time you drop new info it makes me so much more excited to see the next new program
Hello, Ryan! Have you ever thought doing a best exercise compilation? Like an ebook for selling? Kind of a list with the top exercises with the most activation for each muscular group? It would be amazin! Thank you for the experiments and the YT content.
Ryan you are about to help a lot of people save their time & gain way more muscle by maximizing what really works. I’m thankful to have found you channel
Gym 2.0 was the best so far. Can't wait for the new program with all of these findings
Do this test on the Meadows Row! It sounds like it would be a big winner. Pronated grip, single arm, bent over, fixed elbow, with a barbell so you can load up the weight, and the landmine attachment keeps it safe.
I think this content is the most valuable on YT rn.
This is the best material on youtube. Thanks.
Yo this series is the best these little tweaks are what can make all the difference in your workouts.
I love this series it cuts all the bullshit and allows to focus on just the exercises that actually work.
i just love your content man. learning something new while pissing myself laughing is a whole new thing for me
can think of a 6x Mr.O. that developed a monster back via RG pulldowns..........
I love this guy, I can actually listen to him. And his humor is great!
When working back, in addition to watching the overhead pulley (or where it would be, if the machine had one overhead) for the entire range of motion for Pulldowns, I apply the following mental imagery to help me hit the back and not the biceps:
1. Clamp your hands onto the handle, then, forget about your arm muscles, just focus on pulling your shoulders down and your elbows down and back (if pulling down) or pulling your shoulders back and your elbows back (if rowing or deadlifting).
2. For Pulldowns, imagine someone poured ice water down your back, starting between your shoulder blades, unbeknownst to you, and move your body accordingly.
3. Pull like you are trying to touch your elbows together behind your back.
These tips make it so I barely feel any, if at all, action in my biceps on back days.
If the exercises involve too much biceps, just stop doing biceps isolations and do more of this exercises and get back and biceps together
Loved you before you got the fancy new toy, now it is FANTASTIC !!!! Love the humor, but as someone who has been lifting 5 days a week for 35 years, the information you are dropping is a game changer in how i lift. Cant thank you enough for putting this together. I see your page is blowing up, as well it should. Good work man, good work.
The problem with locking your elbows into position, especially during rows, is that it becomes more similar to a Straight-Arm Lat Pulldown motion than a Row. By allowing the arms to flex on back exercises sure, you hit the biceps more, but you also allow upper back muscles to aid. If your goal is pure lat isolation then go ahead and lock them, but if you do, say, rows for back thickness, then keep flexing and stretching the elbows, and do other exercises for lats (like Straight-Arm Lat Pulldowns or Lateral Lat Pulldowns). Great vid Ryan!
As a bodybuilder, this is amazing. I ALWAYS get more out of the foxed positions and pull overs and the egotistical dorks at the gym are like telling me rows work better and I'm like?????? If my back is wider, thicker and better don't tell me what works better. GOOD MAN. Wish I had you a few years ago but glad we have you now. Appreciate your hard work.
You remind me of days of my youth. I used to spend most of time in the gym.
I can’t wait for your next program to release (assuming you release one) with this new found information, it’s gonna be intense! 💪😎👊
One Arm "Tripod" Bent Over Row (no weight hand placed on a bench), one and half reps, NOW with a fixed pronated grip and elbow position... immediate change in the Lat activation!
Thanks for sharing this tip.
New subscriber. Great content and style. Data-driven, but personality driven too.
Know what’s funny? Well, two things: 1). Seems that the most effective for your lats is consistently motions that look like exercises considered terrible form for eons. As you said, lots of years doing it “wrong.”
2). Dorian Yeats, Mr. Olympia like a million times with lats like beef slabs from Rocky’s meat packing freezer, absolutely swore by the supinated grip on dead lifts and lat pulls. And for a long time, I felt the activation better with open grip than closed. I have been doing both lately.
Oh and lastly, this data is interesting inasmuch as I am now over 40 and thus changed my workouts to full body and knowing what exercise hits both with specific numbers is actually quite helpful in doing the ones that share the load in some way rather than avoiding them.
Thanks again!
Ryan, I love 2 things about this video 1 the absolute Great content and testing of techniques was fabulous!
2 - you didn’t have to use a bunch of 4 letter words to make your point! ADD like me- the quips are the way to go!! Thanks for all you do! You’re my kind of people! 👍
Keep engaging with these videos…your workout programs kick my ass but the videos make my day!!!
its amazing, dont stop it. its refreshing to get all this dope movements, and tbh i made some of them by instinct. its awesome to get the proof by some kind of sience.. MORE PLEASE
Amazing. I just love the science that went into this and appreciate all of it. Lift/pull smarter, not harder.
My favorite series by far. I’m going for a pro card in May and I’m implementing the advice from these videos in my workouts.
2:31 man I know the feeling. When you are on a roll, doing great work, changing the world, and things... just start falling apart and you start yeeting things 2:35
so you did this in your shoulder video too, and that's where you find the best muscle activation relative to other muscles. In this video you do back activation vs biceps activation and in your shoulder video you do shoulder activation vs trap activation. Could you also include the exercises you found to give the most back activation (or the most shoulder activation in the case of you shoulder video) overall? this would be helpful for people who don't mind training other body parts simultaneously and just want the most activation possible. thanks
Great to see the actual data behind the movements. Nice work.
You had me laughing so hard that I had to keep rewinding to actually listen to your teaching. Keep it up, love the videos and humour you add to the mix.
Love this series. Please keep doing them. Better yet, please create a workout program utilizing all the info from the entire series.
Tried the fixed elbow and wow great pump! Thank you for this information!! It’s not going to waste!!
Well here is to hoping the next one is glutes. Particularily in comparison to hamstrings and quads. Really enjoying this series so you earned a new subscriber.
One thing I wish this video addressed about the pullup is partial range of motion. I suspect the problem with biceps activation comes from the beginning part, where your lats are in such a terrible position they should hardly work at all. I can't technically measure it but just by using my mind muscle connection I can not do the start up of a pullup with just my lats but it's easy with my biceps. I also suspect the last part is more chest than lats.
Ive never felt so much tension in my lats. Thank for this
Heyy. Do you retract your shoulder blades during back exercises? Does that help in better engaging the lats?
I am so glad I have come these videos. I learned so much about how, I have been doing it wrong it’s amazing.
Your content has vastly improved my workouts and results. Thanks a bunch Ryan
I love the fact he measures the activation percentage. This video was such beast!
Where TF was this man 5 years before when I started to train!! I am so injury prone 😭 I just found him 1 week ago and everything he says makes SENSE!!!
The new program dropping for Valentine’s Day would make a really nice gift.
Solid video. Quick, informative, a little comedy.
This is the sweet spot.
crazy how good your videos are
all these videos change the game, can't wait for the new gym routine! keep it up homie
I love this series !
Absolutly the best
I’m starting your 30 Day Full Gym program today. On an unrelated topic, I’ve started to audio edit clips of your various quips (if these are all you - You really should do some open-mike comedy bits - You're a riot🤣). I sprinkle them in my comedy playlists.
This series is amazing.
I have been watching you for over 2 yrs , You are awesome . . Thanks you for the videos
You are the best I love your program.keep on going buddy.
Sweet. This is very insightful and I love the different variations tested here. Excellent info to take in
Excited to see the program you put out with all your new data!
big respect to this man to admit his mistakes
I would not focus on isolating vs muscles that dont do the same movement pattern. Biceps does take a bit away of the back at some exercises but with most exercises it doesnt limit the use of your back, so it is just like a bonus activation. Its better to test the overall activation of a muscle in itself.
Also why I liked the tricep one a lot that was a good comparison
Pullover variations for lats and supported rows for mid & lower traps, shrugs for upper traps and super sets of seated good mornings and rack pulls for low back.
You snap bro. Informative and not boring to watch and listen. 💯💯