Best to attach your ego to RESULTS, not weight OR technique! For more info about getting the MOST out of your training, check out my books below. Enjoy your new knowledge gainz. Book 1: SWEAT (beginners/intermediates) www.verityfit.com/product-page/sweat Book 2: Ring Training For Hypertrophy (ring enthusiasts) www.verityfit.com/product-page/ring-training-for-hypertrophy Book 3: Resurrecting Your Gains (beginners/intermediates) www.verityfit.com/product-page/resurrecting-your-gains-finding-your-muscle-growth-formula Can check the site for full tables of contents for each book. Appreciate the support!
Excellent topic. Good technique ≠ strict technique. It’s all about how much of a beating you can give to that muscle. And a lot of lifts do require some “cheat” to actually have GOOD technique as ironic as it is. Power shrugs are a perfect example. A strict “perfect” looking shrug with excellent mind muscle connection is inferior in most cases to a power shrug, but the power shrug is the technique that allows you to target the muscle best. A lot of it comes down to tension curves imo. Edit: perfect title too. How the turns have tabled…
@NDP Fitness Yeah, but that's in the hips right? And is a recurrent injury from his running days, not because of lifting (although agravated by it if he is not careful)
Been following you since the Quora days man. You, Bald Omni Man, NH, Alphadestiny are all carrying the natty fitness space rn with your informative content. Not only do you guys have an abundance of documented gains, but you don’t gatekeep & shine lights on smaller more underground channels. Truly is a great time to be a natty lifter. Big respect.
While I tend to be a bit of a stickler for good form & safety first, you’re right about using a somewhat balanced approach within your comfort level. Cheat reps can be great towards the end of some working sets, & while I feel it’s important to learn proper form first, having 100% perfect form shouldn’t become a limiting factor for progressing the intensity & challenging yourself. I’d just be especially cautious of compromising form in any way on some bigger compound movements like squats & deadlifts like you mentioned. 💪
Could not have summarized my thoughts better. That's a great summary. To add the way I think about it when I do cheat or use partials it's on purpose and actually good form because I've already went to failure with good form in a fuller range of motion.
@@hernandez9350 Yep, also agreed. When I'm doing something like dumbell rows, partially cheating and hiking it up for the last reps when I can't do anymore of the movement perfectly let's me squeeze that little bit more out of the lats that I wouldn't have otherwise.
I'd say err on the side of being too strict, rather than too loose on form. You won't get hurt being strict and as you move into your 40's and 50's you'll definitely want to err on strict rather than loose. Just got to failure on most sets and you'll be fine.
Those gymbrahs that randomly come up to you and change the lift entirely because they see that you're young are super frustrating. One time I was doing one arm db rows for my lats and someone came to correct my form and it made it rear delt focused and another time someone made my squats go from quad focus to posterior chain.
I'm not going to lie, i was a SQU fella back in the day, until i saw Enriki saying pretty much what you've said here. AAAAAAND i'm bigger and stronger now, with no fear to take on the weights because i'm not doing with a "100%" form. So, imho, the "Only add weight when your form is exceptional" advice* is extremely detrimental to someone who wants do advance on their lifting career. Unfortunately, that's incredibly disseminated to everyone via some professionals, who aren't really looking for you to get advanced, but to stay under their wing, paying for their advices. But, if that's what you want, little or no progress at all, then seek out the perfect form in every single lift. You do you.
I recall Omni man made a video recently on triceps, saying how …yes the current “meta” is double rope pushsdowns for that sick MMC on triceps and really getting it involved with more range… but a simple straight bar pushdown with your palms over the bar simply generates more force and allows you to push down more weight. That was like a lightbulb going off in my head. So now I balance things out and focus on how I can progress best for me
I discovered this on my own as I was getting frustrated that my grip was wearing out first when using the rope. I hooked on my bent bar instead and found I needed to add plates to the cable very quickly.
Holy crap man. You've gotten huge this year. I took six months off and I just got back into it and you look great! Congrats and thanks for the info and motivation!
I’ve always done one main exercise where I just throw around some heavy weight with decent form then a secondary exercise where I really focus on the squeeze and contraction and it’s been great for me
I agree with the over prioritizing of technique, i see so many guys who go to do dumbell curls and they use 8kg weights, when in reality going up in weight and cheat the last 4 reps with 18kg would work alot better, atleast cheating hammer curls made my biceps and forearms get alot stronger and bigger as soon as i began prioritizing load over looking like a robot grandma going real slow and mechanical looking with ALOT of time under tension, but they forgot that they are missing out on much greater tension.
I've been this type of form obsessed ego lifter and I've been stuck at intermediate levels for a long time, especially with my back exercises like pull ups etc. I needed to hear this, time to start going up in weight/reps more. Tnx for the video. Also, you're looking huge af in the clips in this video wtf holy shit.
I'm happy to say that since I got serious about the gym I've been working out with an excellent personal trainer, and I've learnt to not ego lift and also not just focus on technique. I've been seeing great results =) with some falls along the way, but always trying my best
Another thunderous shot across the bow in the UA-cam Fitness Technique Wars! I would love to see a debate/discussion between Geoff and Mike Israetel on technique, failure, etc. That'd be a banger.
Finally someone talking about this. I don’t know why but the ultra slow reps seen in stuff like UA-cam shorts/ mind muscle connection talk, has always bugged me. Bro you don’t have to do a 10 second eccentric, 3 second pause, and then you 10 second concentric on a bicep curl to grow your arms lol
I've actually found success from slowing it down to a 2 seconds up 2 seconds down tempo. Difference is that I go to failure. If you don't, then slower rep training can actually be worse than that same level of effort on regular rep speed training because at least there you're getting some high motor recruitment from the fast concentric
@@Xerxez22 man I love dr mike and the full rom team. But I’ve just never loved the excessively slow and controlled reps. I’ve been enjoying pauses on bench and squats though
I learned this over time with my back. Had absolutely shit gains until i got the mindmuscle connection and then learned to lessen the form and saw the plateau end
A friend started working recently and I go with him sometimes. He has this problem and won't listen to me. He even tells me I'm doing it wrong when I finish a set with partials or when I refuse to do a twenty second eccentric. And I put way more effort in than he does and move a lot more weight. I'm just gonna stick to one day a week with him because he's gonna drive me crazy.
For me, I always wanna make sure I'm feeling the target muscle working. I've gotten comments from ppl to use less weight on things like chest supported rows but that's just how I do it to feel my upper back more.
Everybody, just lift with good form. Changing the speed/tempo of the lift is one way to make gains. Changing the weight of the lift is another. Adding sets is another one. Shortening the range of motion to get extra reps under tension is another one! Adding pauses as well! If you're working on form and the stability of a lift, go slow and keep it low, work up from there. If you're working on strength endurance, use moderate weight and add calisthenics supersets. Want to get stronger? Lift heavier, lose a safe bit of form, but rest more, maybe even pause between reps for 5-10 seconds. Want to be explosive? Compounds done fast followed by a drop set with speed will achieve that. Hypertrophy? Add volume; do more reps, even if you have to cheat and shorten the movement by the last few reps, just keep the muscle under working tension for longer while lifting closer to your max. Sleep and diet will definitely help.
It’s definitely a balance, the goal should be to have just good enough form to make sure the target muscle is been sufficiently hit enough in a safe enough manner while pushing yourself to do more than last time. Some body english and some form breakdown on the last few reps is fine and totally normal. Just don’t go all extreme and start flapping around all over the place trying to get the weight up, have other muscles completely overtake the target muscle you are trying to hit or put your lower back into vulnerable positions.
This is especially true as the weight gets heavier and you have to position your body differently and use body english just to fight gravity so you can do the movement
I think prefer a "strict-ish" approach to technique. Reasonable weight, with enough of a challenge. I generally try to keep the body english to a low level, but on the last couple reps of a set I might apply some extra 'help', if needed. Usually enough ROM so I get a good stretch and contraction. Very controlled eccentric. Basically, apply some balance / reason to lifting. Just paying attention to how my body responds helps a ton (my joints really appreciate some common sense!). 💪
this is how i am, on things that aren't the big 3 (cause breakdown in technique on those just makes the set worse always it seems) ill do most of my reps good form, especially at the beginning, and then once it gets really difficult ill cheat a little. like on incline curls ill keep my arms perfectly straight for the first 5 or 6 reps and the last 2 or 3 ill let them drift forward a little just to get those few extra reps in over the next few sets. pullups ill keep my legs straight at first but as the set gets harder ill curl my legs a little more as I go up to get that little bit of momentum on the way up.
It's the "squat university syndrome". "This 405 lb. ATG pause squat is more impressive than this 550 lb. hip-crease-to-knee squat" kinda stuff. ...Not a precise quotation, but that kind of mindset. There's a huge Dunning-Krueger mentality in the lifting community, because it's chock full of intermediates who think they know everything! 😂 Looking like a technique handbook diagram when lifting is not optimal for muscle growth on all exercises.
I like this take. Discount Kyriakos = bad, but so does using the pink dumbbells just so that your technique is 100% "perfect". what use is that? I dunno how long you've been doing it, but it's the first time I've seen one of your vids with sponsored content and I'm all for it. you earned it!
I guess the key issue is stress. Since I suffer from ptsd all my training is based on this, and I recon there is a level, where perfecting the form further is actually more stressful than giving it all, even if there is a risk of injury. On the big compounds I am a fan of following an ultra slow progression like having three different rep ranges, adding one rep or maximum two per session. And adding wheight just once a month. I also recon this factor from nutrition. Trying to count everything makes food such a boring thing and then I won't have the energy to focus on cooking a nice meal.
What I do sometimes on cable rows is that whenever I can't get a full rom I still keep going until I can't move the weight. But when it comes to tracking progress I only count the reps that I got full rom on.
I’ve trained ultra strict for a while and I recently had the same thought. Using body English isn’t always a bad thing. So now I’ll still do strict reps but I’ll use body English almost as a mechanical drop set if that makes sense. I’ll get as many reps as I can w momentum and end the set
the dude in the beginning got thrown out the gym he lives in greece... doesn't surprise me... he used to take all the plates in the gym, who does something like that, it ain't even right...
I tend to give myself some room on heavy sets, say for bent over rows. But then I like to drop the weight down and bang out some volume with strict form for the last set or two.
This is ironically common in powerlifting forums which cracks me all the way up as powerlifting is extremely objective. You lift the most weight within the rule set. Whoever lifts more wins, technique be damned. And people try and shit on others for their lack of technical prowess while getting out totalled by said person by a couple hundred pounds. "You need to tuck your elbows and get a tighter setup bro" as bro benches 100lbs more than the critic.
Like you said, I believe beginners should learn strict form so that they have a solid foundation that doesn't get them injured as they progress. As you get stronger, your muscles will be able to handle suboptimal form without increased injury risk. Some exercises have a greater injury risk then others, and after beginner gains, there's a point of diminishing returns where the benefits from high weight and strict form intersect. Productive lifting about finding the right balance between weight and form depending on your muscle development and the exercise.
Doing partials on my rows after I exhaust full ROM has had some great results for my back, which is a lagging area for me. Cheat rows really hit my lats hard as well.
Having this problem with my diet. "Gotta eat healthy" but also gotta fill 4000 calories a day. I kind of miss prior to YT when I didn't care about all this advice and it just worked.
I think the biggest way people screw this up is by wanting big general rules like "form is most important." or "forget technique, add weight!" Instead, know what applies to the specific lift you're doing. If you're doing something like RDLs, you can legit lose the point of the exercise if you add too much weight. Better to stay on the lighter side and really make sure youre getting a good stretch, than add too much and turn it into a partial conventional On something like decline bench, it doesn't matter so much if the reps get ugly as long as the weight gets from point a to point b. And for fir traps, yeah just egolift, pile on as much as possible. There's no one rule that covers all situations.
If your technique starts out with 100% perfection, but then dies down to 70%, it’s ok. So long as I get a powerful concentric and FEEL the eccentric (it doesn’t have to be unnecessarily slow), I’m good.
I find this to be the case with a lot of advice from the RP guys, although they do specify do what works for you personally, some of their recommendations like a 2-3 second eccentric on curls or rows and using ultra light weight seems to be more applicable to enhanced guys rather than natties. It probably still grows good muscle but just feels very impractical long term, I don't want to think about my tempo and form for every set, sometimes i just wanna unga bunga lift it
Yeah, Mike telling the people training in their videos to stop the set of pulldowns the moment when they can't touch their clavicle with the bar by an inch, and then calling that "failure" is absurd
I have noticed that I grow the least the closer I get to the extremes (in this case, either only doing textbook form, or cheating to my heart's content, but it applies to many other things.)
The swing motion that Coleman was using was the earned gift, that most of us still not deserve. For me to be able to do stuff like that in a way that works is something else. It's not wrong for me.
Big brain shit with the hyperfocusing on technique being ego lifting. I like dual progression, I feel like it keeps me honest with progression. Once you get to the top of the rep range you know you can increase the weight, then just keep increasing until you are at the bottom of the rep range. Maybe that will change after a while and my gains become slower but for now it's good, keeps things moving forward, weight on the bar, without trying to progress before I'm ready or being too scared to progress.
Good technique is foundational. Perfect technique often comes at the detriment of something else. I definitely agree with this video, awesome work as always Geoff.
Great video! I’ve been using stop skip loading, sloppy technique and cheating intelligently the past year and made the most progress in my fitness career thanks to your advices 💪👍
It's just a balance. You want to practice good form and technique for safety, and to maximize the effectiveness of the work you're putting in. If my technique is fully broken before 6 reps I lighten the load, so I can handle full reps a bit more before breaking down to cheated reps. I personally shoot for an average of 3 sets/10 reps. If I hit it too easily/consistently with all of my effort, I go heavier until I'm back around the 8/6/6 range. Those are ranges that feel good to me, and I can base my efforts and goals around, and it also helps assess the weight I need to use.
The way I do it is very simple, I need to be able to perform the reps at the start of the set with near perfect form. If I need to hump the barbell up on my first curl weights to heavy. But if I can pump out 3-4 more reps at the end using a lil momentum I will, I just wont count those reps in my log. I only progressively overload my clean reps.
I actually started experimenting with this a few months ago, found it was getting too difficult to progress with heavier weight but still maintain good form. So I increased weight more than I would normally have and let the form get a little messy, over time I found I cheated less and was able to increase the weight even more. This was on movements like DB lateral raises, landmine rows, shrugs, those that are pretty low risk of injury.
I do something similar to slope step loading but it’s a little different. Often I’ll move the weight and once I feel I’ve moved the weight too quickly over a period of time I’ll lower the weight and try to do the old weights I use to with a better rom of and gradually lift more then switch my workout
For me, it is simple things in the technique we can fix are the ones that is worth. Like simple ones, like go slow on the eccentric which will hold the tension on the muscle for more time. Or keeping your elbows a little closer to the lats on way down in lat pull down to activate more lat muscles on lat pull down (this is something I found helpful, but not sure it is actually helpful) If it is not simple for me to do like some technique might be harder for me due to my physical structure, I wont do it, I would rather do more volume or weight in a flawed technique rather than struggling with technique and wasting time. And I am definitely not gonna count the seconds up and down, I could hardly count and keep the number of reps in my mind.
I took the 10lb dumbbells for a 200 rep ride with some curls in celebration of this new found form of ego lifting. It felt like I finally sucked off android 18. My form was Perfect.
Best to attach your ego to RESULTS, not weight OR technique!
For more info about getting the MOST out of your training, check out my books below. Enjoy your new knowledge gainz.
Book 1: SWEAT (beginners/intermediates)
www.verityfit.com/product-page/sweat
Book 2: Ring Training For Hypertrophy (ring enthusiasts)
www.verityfit.com/product-page/ring-training-for-hypertrophy
Book 3: Resurrecting Your Gains (beginners/intermediates)
www.verityfit.com/product-page/resurrecting-your-gains-finding-your-muscle-growth-formula
Can check the site for full tables of contents for each book. Appreciate the support!
Yes. This occurs way too often on certain back exercises. Shrugs as well.
If you lift strictly on shrugs you are absolutely wasting your time, might as well not do them
Shrugs is where ego lifting is the best thing possible.
Agree had zero back until I put just a bit of oomph on my rows
Excellent topic. Good technique ≠ strict technique. It’s all about how much of a beating you can give to that muscle. And a lot of lifts do require some “cheat” to actually have GOOD technique as ironic as it is.
Power shrugs are a perfect example. A strict “perfect” looking shrug with excellent mind muscle connection is inferior in most cases to a power shrug, but the power shrug is the technique that allows you to target the muscle best.
A lot of it comes down to tension curves imo.
Edit: perfect title too. How the turns have tabled…
Yep that's a great example! Evens out the strength curve a bit, overloads the eccentric, AND better stretch.
Geoffrey, The King of the Cat's Back Deadlift will never fall into this category of ego lifter
@@elitestrengthcoach9024 Cat back? Really? I am yet to see him get his lower back injured.
@@IvanDraco01ql
@NDP Fitness Yeah, but that's in the hips right? And is a recurrent injury from his running days, not because of lifting (although agravated by it if he is not careful)
Send this video to Renaissance Periodization
Been following you since the Quora days man.
You, Bald Omni Man, NH, Alphadestiny are all carrying the natty fitness space rn with your informative content.
Not only do you guys have an abundance of documented gains, but you don’t gatekeep & shine lights on smaller more underground channels.
Truly is a great time to be a natty lifter.
Big respect.
I follow Alex but could u send me the full name of "NH"
@@travellingmerchant2915 natural hypertrophy bro
Basement Bodybuilding is great. Less anime horse$hit, more weightlifting information.
A lesson in extremes being bad - pretty much in every case!
Pretty much everything in life is best done in a balanced way, and that’s mostly true in the gym as well in my experience. 💪
@@FitLabb the older I get, the more apparent this idea becomes!
Moderation! It's an unsung hero.
Well said!
centrist propaganda
While I tend to be a bit of a stickler for good form & safety first, you’re right about using a somewhat balanced approach within your comfort level. Cheat reps can be great towards the end of some working sets, & while I feel it’s important to learn proper form first, having 100% perfect form shouldn’t become a limiting factor for progressing the intensity & challenging yourself. I’d just be especially cautious of compromising form in any way on some bigger compound movements like squats & deadlifts like you mentioned. 💪
Could not have summarized my thoughts better. That's a great summary. To add the way I think about it when I do cheat or use partials it's on purpose and actually good form because I've already went to failure with good form in a fuller range of motion.
@@hernandez9350 Yep, also agreed. When I'm doing something like dumbell rows, partially cheating and hiking it up for the last reps when I can't do anymore of the movement perfectly let's me squeeze that little bit more out of the lats that I wouldn't have otherwise.
Commenting a second time just to say wtf are those triceps man every video of yours I’m surprised and impressed all over again
it's too early in my day to be hit with the "lifetime intermediate" line
I bet most people have been on both sides of the spectrum including me. Finding balance can be hard at times, but very worth it.
I'd say err on the side of being too strict, rather than too loose on form. You won't get hurt being strict and as you move into your 40's and 50's you'll definitely want to err on strict rather than loose. Just got to failure on most sets and you'll be fine.
glad to see this
somebody had to say it
dyel technique divas exist
You and alex leonidas are changing the game
Rare footage of "The Geoff" doing shrugs! Great video man!
Those gymbrahs that randomly come up to you and change the lift entirely because they see that you're young are super frustrating. One time I was doing one arm db rows for my lats and someone came to correct my form and it made it rear delt focused and another time someone made my squats go from quad focus to posterior chain.
I agree, I started doing this when I realized the most impressive physiques pushed past failure with slight momentum or cheating.
I'm not going to lie, i was a SQU fella back in the day, until i saw Enriki saying pretty much what you've said here. AAAAAAND i'm bigger and stronger now, with no fear to take on the weights because i'm not doing with a "100%" form.
So, imho, the "Only add weight when your form is exceptional" advice* is extremely detrimental to someone who wants do advance on their lifting career. Unfortunately, that's incredibly disseminated to everyone via some professionals, who aren't really looking for you to get advanced, but to stay under their wing, paying for their advices. But, if that's what you want, little or no progress at all, then seek out the perfect form in every single lift. You do you.
Geoff is a literal fckn unit
You are getting peeled 💪
I recall Omni man made a video recently on triceps, saying how …yes the current “meta” is double rope pushsdowns for that sick MMC on triceps and really getting it involved with more range… but a simple straight bar pushdown with your palms over the bar simply generates more force and allows you to push down more weight. That was like a lightbulb going off in my head.
So now I balance things out and focus on how I can progress best for me
Yep I'll still use both long and short rope pushdowns...one is stricter and more squeeze based, other is heavier and more overall overload.
I discovered this on my own as I was getting frustrated that my grip was wearing out first when using the rope. I hooked on my bent bar instead and found I needed to add plates to the cable very quickly.
Holy crap man. You've gotten huge this year. I took six months off and I just got back into it and you look great! Congrats and thanks for the info and motivation!
Well not really, he's been cutting down since January from what I'm aware
He isn't any bigger, certainly smaller just gotten a lot leaner
Love the vid, I just found funny that the rowing footage looked like u were imitating jeremy ethier
I probably am in the 3rd rhat needed to hear this.
I’ve always done one main exercise where I just throw around some heavy weight with decent form then a secondary exercise where I really focus on the squeeze and contraction and it’s been great for me
when it comes to triceps i use alot of momentem and body weight to finish my later reps into a set and i see great connection and muscle growth
I agree with the over prioritizing of technique, i see so many guys who go to do dumbell curls and they use 8kg weights, when in reality going up in weight and cheat the last 4 reps with 18kg would work alot better, atleast cheating hammer curls made my biceps and forearms get alot stronger and bigger as soon as i began prioritizing load over looking like a robot grandma going real slow and mechanical looking with ALOT of time under tension, but they forgot that they are missing out on much greater tension.
I've been this type of form obsessed ego lifter and I've been stuck at intermediate levels for a long time, especially with my back exercises like pull ups etc. I needed to hear this, time to start going up in weight/reps more. Tnx for the video. Also, you're looking huge af in the clips in this video wtf holy shit.
Using a bit of momentum can add a lot of extra gains, especially with upper back work
Perfect perspective. I just couldn’t put this issue into words. It is just another form of Ego lifting
I'm happy to say that since I got serious about the gym I've been working out with an excellent personal trainer, and I've learnt to not ego lift and also not just focus on technique. I've been seeing great results =) with some falls along the way, but always trying my best
Another thunderous shot across the bow in the UA-cam Fitness Technique Wars! I would love to see a debate/discussion between Geoff and Mike Israetel on technique, failure, etc. That'd be a banger.
Finally someone talking about this. I don’t know why but the ultra slow reps seen in stuff like UA-cam shorts/ mind muscle connection talk, has always bugged me. Bro you don’t have to do a 10 second eccentric, 3 second pause, and then you 10 second concentric on a bicep curl to grow your arms lol
I found that stuff to be almost entirely useless. It's extremely rare I'll bother counting tempo. Haven't in a very long time.
“Dr.” Mike wants to know your location.
😂
I've actually found success from slowing it down to a 2 seconds up 2 seconds down tempo. Difference is that I go to failure. If you don't, then slower rep training can actually be worse than that same level of effort on regular rep speed training because at least there you're getting some high motor recruitment from the fast concentric
@@Xerxez22 man I love dr mike and the full rom team. But I’ve just never loved the excessively slow and controlled reps. I’ve been enjoying pauses on bench and squats though
I learned this over time with my back. Had absolutely shit gains until i got the mindmuscle connection and then learned to lessen the form and saw the plateau end
A friend started working recently and I go with him sometimes. He has this problem and won't listen to me. He even tells me I'm doing it wrong when I finish a set with partials or when I refuse to do a twenty second eccentric. And I put way more effort in than he does and move a lot more weight. I'm just gonna stick to one day a week with him because he's gonna drive me crazy.
You are a wealth of knowledge my man. Thank you.
I definitely used to be ego attached to technique, over time I've loosened up quite a bit, but I still see it in myself
That was a good twist, ngl.
For me, I always wanna make sure I'm feeling the target muscle working. I've gotten comments from ppl to use less weight on things like chest supported rows but that's just how I do it to feel my upper back more.
Everybody, just lift with good form.
Changing the speed/tempo of the lift is one way to make gains.
Changing the weight of the lift is another.
Adding sets is another one.
Shortening the range of motion to get extra reps under tension is another one!
Adding pauses as well!
If you're working on form and the stability of a lift, go slow and keep it low, work up from there.
If you're working on strength endurance, use moderate weight and add calisthenics supersets.
Want to get stronger? Lift heavier, lose a safe bit of form, but rest more, maybe even pause between reps for 5-10 seconds.
Want to be explosive? Compounds done fast followed by a drop set with speed will achieve that.
Hypertrophy? Add volume; do more reps, even if you have to cheat and shorten the movement by the last few reps, just keep the muscle under working tension for longer while lifting closer to your max.
Sleep and diet will definitely help.
It’s definitely a balance, the goal should be to have just good enough form to make sure the target muscle is been sufficiently hit enough in a safe enough manner while pushing yourself to do more than last time. Some body english and some form breakdown on the last few reps is fine and totally normal. Just don’t go all extreme and start flapping around all over the place trying to get the weight up, have other muscles completely overtake the target muscle you are trying to hit or put your lower back into vulnerable positions.
This is especially true as the weight gets heavier and you have to position your body differently and use body english just to fight gravity so you can do the movement
I think prefer a "strict-ish" approach to technique. Reasonable weight, with enough of a challenge. I generally try to keep the body english to a low level, but on the last couple reps of a set I might apply some extra 'help', if needed. Usually enough ROM so I get a good stretch and contraction. Very controlled eccentric. Basically, apply some balance / reason to lifting. Just paying attention to how my body responds helps a ton (my joints really appreciate some common sense!). 💪
this is how i am, on things that aren't the big 3 (cause breakdown in technique on those just makes the set worse always it seems) ill do most of my reps good form, especially at the beginning, and then once it gets really difficult ill cheat a little. like on incline curls ill keep my arms perfectly straight for the first 5 or 6 reps and the last 2 or 3 ill let them drift forward a little just to get those few extra reps in over the next few sets. pullups ill keep my legs straight at first but as the set gets harder ill curl my legs a little more as I go up to get that little bit of momentum on the way up.
8:51 that's not a tricep, that's the quads in the area where the tricep i supposed to be lmao
Love Paris’ perspective on this too, the importance of just moving the weight
Excellent observation!!! Wonderful play ♟️
Great observation GVS!
"Technego lifting" is a thing too!
It's the "squat university syndrome".
"This 405 lb. ATG pause squat is more impressive than this 550 lb. hip-crease-to-knee squat" kinda stuff.
...Not a precise quotation, but that kind of mindset.
There's a huge Dunning-Krueger mentality in the lifting community, because it's chock full of intermediates who think they know everything! 😂
Looking like a technique handbook diagram when lifting is not optimal for muscle growth on all exercises.
I like this take. Discount Kyriakos = bad, but so does using the pink dumbbells just so that your technique is 100% "perfect". what use is that?
I dunno how long you've been doing it, but it's the first time I've seen one of your vids with sponsored content and I'm all for it. you earned it!
Geoff you’re looking absolutely fucking jacked brother keep up the grind brother
The pendulum has officially swung!
I had been logging my workouts on a spreadsheet my phone, until I got boost camp. Really good app and easy to use
I guess the key issue is stress.
Since I suffer from ptsd all my training is based on this, and I recon there is a level, where perfecting the form further is actually more stressful than giving it all, even if there is a risk of injury.
On the big compounds I am a fan of following an ultra slow progression like having three different rep ranges, adding one rep or maximum two per session. And adding wheight just once a month.
I also recon this factor from nutrition. Trying to count everything makes food such a boring thing and then I won't have the energy to focus on cooking a nice meal.
What I do sometimes on cable rows is that whenever I can't get a full rom I still keep going until I can't move the weight. But when it comes to tracking progress I only count the reps that I got full rom on.
I’ve trained ultra strict for a while and I recently had the same thought. Using body English isn’t always a bad thing. So now I’ll still do strict reps but I’ll use body English almost as a mechanical drop set if that makes sense. I’ll get as many reps as I can w momentum and end the set
Your acting skills while lifting baby weights are phenomenal!
the dude in the beginning got thrown out the gym he lives in greece... doesn't surprise me... he used to take all the plates in the gym, who does something like that, it ain't even right...
1:12 the pinkie got me, ur humor just does it for me lmao
2:18 Lol, where is this fragment from ? Him saying he's training lower back made me laught
It's yet another lumbar training day bro, we are about to beat the shit out of it!
I tend to give myself some room on heavy sets, say for bent over rows. But then I like to drop the weight down and bang out some volume with strict form for the last set or two.
I always get a better pumped when I allow my body to go with the momentum when doing later raises instead of being completely stiff
This is ironically common in powerlifting forums which cracks me all the way up as powerlifting is extremely objective. You lift the most weight within the rule set. Whoever lifts more wins, technique be damned. And people try and shit on others for their lack of technical prowess while getting out totalled by said person by a couple hundred pounds.
"You need to tuck your elbows and get a tighter setup bro" as bro benches 100lbs more than the critic.
Like you said, I believe beginners should learn strict form so that they have a solid foundation that doesn't get them injured as they progress. As you get stronger, your muscles will be able to handle suboptimal form without increased injury risk. Some exercises have a greater injury risk then others, and after beginner gains, there's a point of diminishing returns where the benefits from high weight and strict form intersect. Productive lifting about finding the right balance between weight and form depending on your muscle development and the exercise.
Doing partials on my rows after I exhaust full ROM has had some great results for my back, which is a lagging area for me. Cheat rows really hit my lats hard as well.
Having this problem with my diet. "Gotta eat healthy" but also gotta fill 4000 calories a day. I kind of miss prior to YT when I didn't care about all this advice and it just worked.
good advice Geoffrey, I needed to hear this.
I think the biggest way people screw this up is by wanting big general rules like "form is most important." or "forget technique, add weight!" Instead, know what applies to the specific lift you're doing. If you're doing something like RDLs, you can legit lose the point of the exercise if you add too much weight. Better to stay on the lighter side and really make sure youre getting a good stretch, than add too much and turn it into a partial conventional On something like decline bench, it doesn't matter so much if the reps get ugly as long as the weight gets from point a to point b. And for fir traps, yeah just egolift, pile on as much as possible. There's no one rule that covers all situations.
Lol nice touch with the Maslow's
If a lift gets you results in a safe manner, it's good technique by definition really.
Great video. This is a message I needed to hear, balance in all things.
Would you ever make a video on what workout you would do as a beginner with the knowledge you have today?
Probably what I would do wouldn't be typical so I'm not sure how useful of a vid that would be.
If your technique starts out with 100% perfection, but then dies down to 70%, it’s ok. So long as I get a powerful concentric and FEEL the eccentric (it doesn’t have to be unnecessarily slow), I’m good.
The “We have Kyriakos at home” at the start was killing me 😂😂😂😂
Dude..."I'm gonna make sure your injured." Really!?!?!? 🤦🏾♂️ LMFAO😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 ROTF! Well done sir!🙌🏾
4:06 You must've been so excited to find that machine. Like a kid in Toys R Us
god this is so true. i can never get my friends to move beyond 135 pounds after weeks of deadlifting.
13:49 Really tisming my flism with that question.
I see a lot of Ego lifting in commercial gyms.They are either lifting to much wait or not enough weight wrapped up in the technique ,quarter reps ect.
I find this to be the case with a lot of advice from the RP guys, although they do specify do what works for you personally, some of their recommendations like a 2-3 second eccentric on curls or rows and using ultra light weight seems to be more applicable to enhanced guys rather than natties. It probably still grows good muscle but just feels very impractical long term, I don't want to think about my tempo and form for every set, sometimes i just wanna unga bunga lift it
Most of those tren monsters just sniff the gym and get a back pump
Yeah, Mike telling the people training in their videos to stop the set of pulldowns the moment when they can't touch their clavicle with the bar by an inch, and then calling that "failure" is absurd
I have noticed that I grow the least the closer I get to the extremes (in this case, either only doing textbook form, or cheating to my heart's content, but it applies to many other things.)
This man is fuckin' genius of this generation's bodybuilding, after Mike Mentzer the Nobel Prize in Bodybuilding should go to this man. GOAT.
The swing motion that Coleman was using was the earned gift, that most of us still not deserve. For me to be able to do stuff like that in a way that works is something else. It's not wrong for me.
Using Coleman clips is so dumb to me. Yeah, let's train like the Uber genetically gifted PED abuser that can barely walk nowadays...
I think "bad technique" is really only bad if it's dangerous or if it shifts the focus too much to other muscles.
I just log my partial reps or rest pause reps as added to my full reps, i.e.: 225 X (9 + 3). Nine full reps, plus 3 partials. Not hard at all.
Another intelligent and super useful video! 👏
love the content!
Actual footage of Ronnie Coleman fucking up his back so bad he can't walk
Dude, looking very ripped and beastly at 1:15. 💪🏽💪🏽
Big brain shit with the hyperfocusing on technique being ego lifting.
I like dual progression, I feel like it keeps me honest with progression. Once you get to the top of the rep range you know you can increase the weight, then just keep increasing until you are at the bottom of the rep range.
Maybe that will change after a while and my gains become slower but for now it's good, keeps things moving forward, weight on the bar, without trying to progress before I'm ready or being too scared to progress.
Good technique is foundational. Perfect technique often comes at the detriment of something else. I definitely agree with this video, awesome work as always Geoff.
Great video! I’ve been using stop skip loading, sloppy technique and cheating intelligently the past year and made the most progress in my fitness career thanks to your advices 💪👍
Great video
It's just a balance. You want to practice good form and technique for safety, and to maximize the effectiveness of the work you're putting in. If my technique is fully broken before 6 reps I lighten the load, so I can handle full reps a bit more before breaking down to cheated reps. I personally shoot for an average of 3 sets/10 reps. If I hit it too easily/consistently with all of my effort, I go heavier until I'm back around the 8/6/6 range. Those are ranges that feel good to me, and I can base my efforts and goals around, and it also helps assess the weight I need to use.
The way I do it is very simple, I need to be able to perform the reps at the start of the set with near perfect form. If I need to hump the barbell up on my first curl weights to heavy. But if I can pump out 3-4 more reps at the end using a lil momentum I will, I just wont count those reps in my log. I only progressively overload my clean reps.
So I should bring a protractor to the gym?
That raised pinky while rowing 😂😂
I actually started experimenting with this a few months ago, found it was getting too difficult to progress with heavier weight but still maintain good form. So I increased weight more than I would normally have and let the form get a little messy, over time I found I cheated less and was able to increase the weight even more. This was on movements like DB lateral raises, landmine rows, shrugs, those that are pretty low risk of injury.
I do something similar to slope step loading but it’s a little different. Often I’ll move the weight and once I feel I’ve moved the weight too quickly over a period of time I’ll lower the weight and try to do the old weights I use to with a better rom of and gradually lift more then switch my workout
For me, it is simple things in the technique we can fix are the ones that is worth. Like simple ones, like go slow on the eccentric which will hold the tension on the muscle for more time. Or keeping your elbows a little closer to the lats on way down in lat pull down to activate more lat muscles on lat pull down (this is something I found helpful, but not sure it is actually helpful)
If it is not simple for me to do like some technique might be harder for me due to my physical structure, I wont do it, I would rather do more volume or weight in a flawed technique rather than struggling with technique and wasting time.
And I am definitely not gonna count the seconds up and down, I could hardly count and keep the number of reps in my mind.
I took the 10lb dumbbells for a 200 rep ride with some curls in celebration of this new found form of ego lifting. It felt like I finally sucked off android 18. My form was Perfect.
Facts! Good technique simply allows you to get more out of less weight, but it doesn't get you jacked. Progressive overload does 💪
Good stuff !