The Leonidas Strong Tee with Barbell Apparel is finally here! Thanks to your support, I have this badass design that we can all rock together. It's Berserk style with a Spartan helmet, spears, warrior colors, and of course features a premium athletic fit. I'm so happy with how it turned out. Get yours now before they sell out! barbellapparel.com/products/leonidas-strong-tee barbellapparel.com/en-ca/products/leonidas-strong-tee
38" long arms, two torn rotator cuffs, one torn labium, one severe shoulder dislocation, multiple shoulder separations, one dislocated elbow, and one, not sure how to put this, I detached my hand from my arm. I can still bench over 300, the barbell is plenty stable for ANYONE. And no, I did not snap myself up in the gym, I was an athlete and then a soldier. Also, I'm 5 weeks into using the AD press as a primary, and it's becoming one of my favorite exercises. It took some time to get past my ego, I am very weak in that movement pattern...for now. Thanks for preaching the good word, Alex.
I thought you were gonna finish all of that with why you can't use a barbell. Honestly I was still gonna shake my head and think, "yeah whatever bro. Keep telling yourself why you can't". Then you finished it up like a mfn beast! Props to you
I used to lament my future in bodybuilding because of a shoulder injury from rugby. Thankfully I’ve exiled that pussyfoot excuse making logic from my brain and have been training 5 times a week hard and pain free for well over a year. Hearing stories from people like you confirm how lucky I am and inspire me to never give up training!
It's a nice complimentary video to the one you did a while back! th-cam.com/video/HaDsD_Fd3mw/w-d-xo.html And thanks a lot brother, very pleased with the design and support. You're next.
@@AlexLeonidasyeah I figured the messages were similarly inspired! I'm just glad to see a channel with a much larger outreach preaching the good word.
I realized the point about dumbbell size and range of motion a while ago. The majority of dumbbell exercises change as the weight increases due to physical obstruction. On the other hand, on the barbell bench press, the range of motion is the same regardless of whether you're lifting 50 pounds or 500 pounds.
Exactly!!! Strong lifters like you know what's up, and I love that you emphasized barbell ROM being the same whether novice or elite. Those who parrot the opposite obviously never lifted heavy dumbbells.
I, on the other hand, am too weak for dumbbells. I can't get them up to the starting position for horizontal pressing, lol. Could do floor press with them I guess.
I enjoy using both and especially a cambered swiss bar. But once you get strong enough, really heavy dumbbells are a pain to get into position and expensive to progress, especially with a home gym. DBs for lighter isolations are my favorite application of them.
What 796????? Thats absolutely unreal to me. Also gotta say I've always hated using dumbells. Maybe that's weird to people but it's just always felt more natural to use barbells over dumbells to me. Also the overloading capacity is so freaking high
Great video Alex. I’ve never been a fan of DBs mostly due to lack of stability and the hassle of getting them into position at the set up, particularly when they get heavy. Just get under the barbell and experience those sweet gains
I think barbells provide a happy medium between being stable ENOUGH to handle a lot of load and providing a little instability so you learn how to stabilise your body.
Omg...you underhand bench 3 plates for reps with unbelievable ease. I just want to cry when I see how bloody easy you make it look! Great vids love your content!
This might be my Favorit video of yours, Straight Up facts I looked like i don‘t even lift, 3 Years into my Lifting Journey, before i incorporated a more Oldschool Approach-emphasising Barbell Work. 1 Year Later and my Gains Exploded I didn‘t focus on BB Bench for the Majority of my Journey - Which may be the cause of my lacking Chest and Brute Force Pushing Strength (The rest caught up tho)
I just pulled 315 lbs for 8 conventional raw (only a 9mm single prong shiek belt and chalk), a +4 rep personal record after not even doing deadlifts for almost a year (i did rdls and safety squat bar good mornings near religiously though) and currently being 40 lbs lighter than when i performed my previous personal record… I owe my gains to your advice and the advice of other noble natties such as Geoffrey Verity Schofield, Natural Hypertrophy, Bald Omni-Man, Basement Bodybuilding, and Steve Shaw
Fr. I lost 10lbs in 4 months and I went from failing a 315 ATG Lowbar squat. To getting an ATG hybrid bar 315 pretty easily. Religiously did platz squats, highbar, Bulgarians, and low feet positon leg press. Those guys have made me progress sm. Fuck the minimalists and dogma.
@@RoseAesthetics I would have done more conventional deadlifts but I didn’t have time (and my gym didn’t have a double bar jack at the time) so I took a bet that if I added 35 lbs to my high bar squat and 75 lbs to my rdl my deadlift would explode and low n behold… Keep in mind I added this weight to both movements during a fat loss phase so I converted fat to muscle using the advice of noble natties
@@RoseAesthetics So now when I am up to 180-190 lbs on my current bulk I will very likely be hitting 405 lbs conventional possibly even for reps with just occasional touch up work (we are talking like 1 or 2 sets per week at most after heavy squats)
@@RoseAesthetics I do rdls and good mornings with good form as well (so the gains were not neurological) like sometimes I accidentally tap the floor with the barbell on rdls
I weigh 165 lbs at 5’9” btw so I am pretty sure that makes me an intermediate deadlifter now in terms of pound for pound strength (sorry i am just super excited)
Man I love barbell training. I haven't done a medium grip bench in all too long. I think not since my latest PR of 236 in late March of this year. Only close-grip and dumbbell ever since. Missing it, but I know this building up my of tris will make me super strong in the pressing movements once I do them again.
Another potential advantage with barbells over machines is a lack of friction. On the vast majority of machines, the friction makes the concentric harder and the eccentric easier, the opposite of what you want for hypertrophy training. Meanwhile barbells provide just as much tension in both parts of the lift. Of course, on a well oiled machine the effect is gonna be neglible. But do most gyms actually keep the machines properly maintained?
Hey Alex, could you tell us more about the benefits of underhand grip on barbell bench? I’ve been noticing it being used as B roll recently. Would love to hear your rationale. Keep up the great content boss!
Alex usually tests out new movements like these for months on end before making videos about them to actually test-run and see how worthwhile it is. I'm sure he has a video in the works once there is enough footage and experience to talk about it.
Bar is king, at the moment I'm not using barbell for Bench Press due to a severe muscle imbalance in my chest (it visibly kicks to one side) so for the next mesocycle of my training only using DB to address it
Not disagreeing with you (not even close) but for chest pressing I just cannot do them with a barbell without shoulder pain whereas dumbbells I can press heavy and deep with no issues. I really wish I could as Micro loading and set up is a pain with dumbbells Shoulder press and rows give me a barbell every time. Great video Alex
Hi Alex...do you think the more range you can achieve with a dumbbell makes up for lack of stability? Obviously you can elicit more of a stretch with them as opposed to a Barbell, or do you think the higher weight you can use with a Barbell shadows this?
The disadvantages of dumbbells should really be used in a rotation, or occasional supplementation. One it helps with coordination/mind-muscle connection; two it helps with hypertrophy as it is likely a different movement pattern. And third, well its sometimes a great ego boost to pickup a giant handle of iron. I too see less value for leg and pulling exercises, with maybe some exception for seal or bench rows. The one place I think dumbbell do excel IMO, is the French Press; the ergonomics and ability to do a slight forward tilt at the top. Said ergonomics also allow a better tricep stretch in the bottom, and, maybe less shoulder pain for some, but I have high shoulder ROM so the EZ curl feels not much different. Finally, I think incline dumbbell curls are great, and really good for tendon strength. But, for strength AND hypertrophy straight bar is king IMO. P.S. I switched to a home gym 3 months and made substantial strength gains. Now that could be availability or convenience or just vibe and pace. But that said, I think some could benefit from a home weight room(or basement) vs going out to the gym. Personally its great to be able to crank whatever music, work out in my boxers, grab some ice water, hit my vape, or maybe crack a beer. No annoyance or judgement, and walk up stairs to the shower in my own home.
Working out with your own equipment is underrated, you use a consistent setup at the time that works best for without waiting or having people wait on you
I’d like to bring up a (paraphrased) Dr Mike quote about this If a guy can manage to make good progress on barbells, he’ll probably be able to use everything else to much better results. If you can activate everything and find ways to work it around an unbending bar, once you’re able to let everything move the way it “wants” it’ll most likely work even better than the inverse
Unrelated, but you think you'll ever go back to doing Zercher Squats? I've been doing them recently and honestly love the core, upper back and hip/glute stimulus I get from them, plus it feels kinda badass holding a squat weight with the crease of my elbows despite the bruising.
Thats the only squats I do , cause I don’t have a rack yet, but zercher is best for upper back I believe 😂, I get so much compliments of my upper back , I only do weighted pull ups , weighted deficit push ups and zercher squats…..even tho sometimes I get annoyed doing zercher off the floor, but I know for a fact that zercher is making me feel like a unit, even tho I’m only doing 315 on zercher , my goal is 405 I got a long way to go 😂
@@SugarFreeKool-aid.TheWorstKind I zercher squatted 225 last week (I took it out of the rack, so didn't have to deal with the floor) and had bruises on the top of my forearms for 3 days lol I hope over time that eventually stops happening. No idea how there's people doing zerchers with 400lbs+.
Hey man, could you please answer my question on your "how do I keep getting bigger?" video about adapting your novice routine for my 67-year-old mother? Or hell, any of my other half-dozen questions I've posted in the last year or two, in general.
I've been doing nearly exclusively dumbbell work (save for belt squats, and spenby chest expander for back) for about 2 months now to nurse my battered and bruised nervous system back into health after I lifted heavy all the time during a 96 day 1100 dietary deficit cut. My squat PR is 309, and on day 80-something, I squatted 300. I like the dumbbell training and I feel I am making good gains, but I don't see it as BETTER than barbell. I will use the bar more. For now, it's fun and interesting to get all this stimulus with relatively light weights. I've definitely improved my stabilisers, and I needed that. Did a set of 18 with 75 lb dumbbells on the chest-supported db rows the other day. While I don't feel like I worked out to the fullest without barbell training, it's all I can handle right now, and I am still making good gains. Thankfully my goal at the moment is just hypertrophy anyway. I've a 43.5" chest and 14-14.5" upper arms (yeah, it's ridiculous). Considering a shorter cut once my CNS feels better so that I can get properly lean (11-12%) for the first time and not have to worry about cutting again for a long time. Just cruising on that 200-300 daily surplus hypertrophy ship.
I've only started weight training again in the past 4 months (crazy muscle memory phase, very fun) after 2 years without training. I've come to this conclusion independently on my own that stability is key when lifting (pressing and also rowing). The point about dumbbell vs barbell strength is also interesting because I once had a friend who could flat press 40kg dumbells for 10 reps but he couldn't do 90 kg on a barbell for more than 5 reps. It certainly seems true to me that a lot of people use dumbells as a way of hiding their bad flat barbell press, especially in my gym no one ever uses the flat bench and many flail around with bad form anyway despite talking about its technically a better movement. The only exception to this for me seems to be inclince dumbell press, other than that I've realised barbell is king for rows, overhead pressing, flat pressing. Not to mention the use of barbells in deadlifts, RDLs, back squat, front squat ext. The only comment I would make in defence of dumbbells and legs is that one legged movements being unstable is good because you're training the (underrated) glute medius which is responsible for stabilisation of the hips. I also really liked the points on modifying strength curves, I realised this recently with the close rip swiss bar. Barbells are truly king tho, feel like I'm unironically growing and emotional attachment to them lmao. This is one of your best videos, very technical yet clear.
bb bench and db bench are different movements, there are many who experience the contrary effect, those that can BB bench 225lbs for reps, but can't put up 90lbs on the dumbbells, but they WOULD ... if they trained in that movement for a month or two, the disparity would not be as large
The barbell bench press, weighted dips and dumbbell bench are all tools that must be strategically utilised for chest, shoulder and tricep hypertrophy. There is no king.. You'll get fantastic gains from all three
Hey alex so would you agree that machines and barbell are all you need to maximise muscle growth and there's not necessarily a need for dumbells? For the matter of achieving and maxing out genetic limits? For example barbell of any variation is all you need for chest and shoulder development?
When you get strong, dumbbells just get too big and clumsy to get into position. Small gyms may not even have heavy enough dumbbells to work with. Dumbbells have their place(correcting imbalances and different angles) but 9 out of 10 times they decrease ROM. On top of that different bars exist: EZ-bars, Cambered bars, etc.
Hey Alex, now that you're back on the bulk I see you back in the home gym a lot more with barbells. Were you in the commercial gym during your cut and using more machines for injury prevention reasons?
Been a big fan of barbells; as a 6" man with +4 ape index, machines don't generally work well for me. Love the channel, and love the different lifts you spotlight 🙏🏿
I'm 5"8 with 6"2 wing span +12.7cm/+5" on the ape index Didn't get my dad's(6")and brothers(6"2.5')height genetics But surely got their wingspans and hand/shoe sizes(US 13) I have weird proportions and I bench narrow AF for shits and giggles 😂
Wy you use that grip ? Wats the point upper chest? Dumbell chest press is exelent and i cant train with out them nice slow negatives and also it helps you with strenght inbalances. Bench is king but i need my incline dumbell press my incline dumbell flyes and my incline close grip dumbell press for inner chest. Im home trained
I found out in most of 10 years of lifting, that stability works takes a small place in training, better in high rep ranges, and when done in low rep ranges with high loads it becomes stupid and not good to progress at all. I was doing every week seated shoulder presses with dumbbells for years, and then I got stuck in the zone of 75 lbs each for 6-7 reps at max (with a 330 lbs paused bench 1rm), I got good shoulders but stuck there and never progressed, than I put more emphasis on seated inclined barbell presses and got stronger every damn week, with my shoulder muscles bigger than ever, not feeling that instability limiting me on pushing the load and really tiring my target muscles. I do more unstable work with isolation exercises or similar, with light loads just to get that stabilizers working and conditioned, but for long term progress, never again pushing heavy dumbbells in my life, they are also dangerous when you are really tired after a 2-3 hours full body session.
Hey Alex, I noticed you're grip width alternates quite a bit (excluding when you do CG bench specifically). I myself like to bench closer and heard from Mentzer that this recruits more pec fibres and I find it safer on the pec tendon. Do you have any thoughts on this?
I could do all my lifting with a single barbell. My sport is kickboxing, but I still hit deadlifts, shoulder press, squats and cleans. Couldn’t get any more basic then that but it works for me!
Well, I'm not maxed out on the dumbbells, but I get your point. I think I need like 5 more reps on the biggest dumbbells we have here so I can dedicate more on the barbell. Do you think this is the time to change or stick with dumbbells till I get at least 12 reps? I still do barbell as well, I just do more dumbbells, because tbh I like them, but considering growth, I will soon max them out.
My favourite bit about the optimal lot is they trash barbells because they’re unstable, less range of motion, can’t converge etc; then choose dumbbell presses (less stable), half rep them and don’t converge anyway (even though it’s kinda pointless to begin with on a dumbbell press) 😂. Everything has its place, but definitely believe if you had to pick barbells will always be king. Plenty of huge physiques have been built using them, drugs or not
It's not the stability. It's the set up and size that makes dumbbells inefficient. I would prefer dumbbells IF I had two people holding and giving me the heavy dumbbells on hand before I started pressing and IF the metal that they were made from was so condensed that the heaviest dumbbell could be as small as an aerobic pink one. Unfortunately, this is not so.
13:22 Now I've finally seen someone doing Squats the same way that I have to do them, fully resting the bar on the rack at the bottom of every rep, my Patellar Tendon is always on the verge of tendonitis and just won't put up with rebounding out of the bottom.
Thanks for this video Alex, I'm looking forward to your dumbell video. I've found 90lb powerblock dumbells to be the best, space-efficient, time-efficient piece of home gym equiptment. But I just bulked up to 180 and now I'm repping out the max dumbell weight for bench. Been eying the 125 or 175lb set. But you're totally right about the lower body struggles, I've come up against the same thing. Split squats and sissy squats are the only thing for a decent stimulus. Calf raises are a pain where grip goes out early, so I've had to settle for drop sets. Luckily I have really good leg genetics and a huge ass, but I'm looking forward to the renissance of lower body gains when I have room for a fully equipt home gym.
That’s it bro I’m ditching dumbbells for everything but incline and isolation exercises. I’always preferred the barbell. In a real life situation you’ll push and pull things with both arms more often than not after all.
Alex, what are your thoughts on 5/3/1, then doing a ton of accessories after? Linear progression isn’t cutting anymore, and I’m entering the intermediate phase.
Alex how do I bring up my lagging back? I am 15 years old and I have a 100kg total weighted pull up 1RM. I do 6 sets of HARD pullups every workout (I rotate grips and variations ofc) and i also do 2 sets of rear delts. I am really arm dominant too. Some help would be extremely appreciated! Love your content brother your a legend, God bless you ☦
I would suggest reducing volume slightly in exchange for higher intensity and more recovery time. Here’s an odd tip to help with arm dominance. Take a set of curls to complete failure to exhaust your elbow flexors before your rows, then you force your back to do most of the work. It’s very humbling and as an arm dominant lifter myself I was shocked by the weakness of my back when I first got this idea
I know you are not a doctor but i am desperate for help. Idk if antibiotics have anything to do with this but i was on them to treat acne for 1. 5 months and i hopped off 2 weeks ago. Since i started taking them that very same week i started feeling weaker and losing strength,since then every workout i regress either in reps or weight. i struggle to do pull ups and push ups thats how serious it has become. my diet has not changed and its pretty clean i sleep a lot drink plenty of water and have not changed anything with my training. My split is push pull shoulders legs rest repeat 4-6 working sets each muscle. its really annoying and demotivating since i am still a begginer and there are not really a lot of reasons to hit this big of a plateau. Not only that but this summer was supposed to be just full on grind on my weighted calisthenics and i have only become weaker basically havent proggresed at all in 2 months pls help i am actually desperate at this point. what can i do?
Youre probably right. Tbh tho, i haven't done barbell bench in a decade, i just dont care lol and do most upper hody with rings. My vanity leans towards appearance rather than how much i can lift these days. I dont mind the extra effort wasted on stability, priorities maybe change with age lol. Ill still be that " jacked" grampa...I actually have the mindset of train with less is more but with very high effort.
Right now there is a trend for shitting on barbells because they are suboptimal. I was on the bandwagon too as a naive beginner. However, in my 2 years of lifting I have had a few minor injuries getting dumbells into position while doing incline db presses and shoulder db presses. I replaced them with a smith machine, and havent had a problem with my shoulders since the switch. Incline smith machine pressing has become my favourite chest exercise, and my upper chest has been growing steadily, when before it was pretty much non existent.
Absolutely outstanding video. Really great work. Thanks! 🙏 Barbells are truly awesome! They allow for gradual progressive overload. They provide perfect amount of stability to get great hypertrophic benefits as well as instability to train the stabilizers. They also allow you to do various exercises so you can basically train your full body making them essential for home gyms. You can use relatively heavier weight on them quite safely to overload muscles and they’re very convenient. 🙏💪👍
Crazy, for the past year I've been using Smith a lot and almost abandoned dumbells. I tell other guys in the gym "I feel it in my chest more, I don't know why, but I think it's something to do with stability." Nice confirmation I was on the right track.
I really like Joe Bennett’s, The Hypertrophy Coach, loading of split squats, with a leg roller and an SSB on the back, so you can hold on with both hands. Maximally stable. Although John Meadows style (may be rest in peace), holding onto the rack with one DB, is still very effective. Also works well in the Smith machine.
Honestly the only reason I still use dumbbells is for the deeper stretch than barbells, but if I could get my hands on a cambered bar? I would ditch dumbells for pressing movements no doubt 🙏
I agree on your point regarding stability! Barbells only feel awkward when you first start using them, but are fine when you take a little time learn the lifts.
This video is so great as I just started my barbell training (trained weighted dips chin ups push ups on/off for years) I got 215 pounds of plates collected so far cool to see your story :)
The only compound exercise i've switched out for dumbbells is bench press. OHP, deadlift variations, tricep extension, and some curling are done with barbells for me.
I think switching out rdls for dumbbells could be useful if your gym has big enough dumbbells but the barbell romanian deadlift has improved my regular conventional deadlift than the conventional deadlift itself so i am hesitant to swap any lower body exercises right now when what i am doing is effective
@@iangraham-white5717 RDL's are the no.1 exercise that improve my deadlift too. What would be the benefit of using dumbbells for RDL's as opposed to a barbell?
Barbells and dumbbells, cables and levers, are all just tools. I've had to use adjustable dumbbells (up to 100 each) for the last couple of years, I still made more progress than friends in gyms because I focused on effort, consistency and overload. Working up to solid, deep split squats or single leg RDLs for 200 lbs with dumbbells will still build trunks for legs. They're still struggling to lift 225 in their bench, while I'm over here repping my 100s for 5-8 reps already. Guess who looks better on the beach?
100% bro!! These are the things that truly matter and I agree about pushing the db numbers hard. I too had great legs from high rep lunges with 100lbs each hand.
So for example if one wants OHP specialization, you could do standing barbell and ad press in combination with different loads and rep ranges and just call it a day? Also how would barbells work for arms?
That's exactly right! Standing and seated, mixing in pins, bands/chains, back support and without, straight bar and swiss. Same application for arms, though I would be careful with the elbows and alignment. Might be worth using cables, rings, or expander/band stuff as well.
Regarding hypertrophy, I hear people say the stretch is crazy important. Would you recommend dumbbell bench as an accessory to barbell bench for that stretch?
Dumbell bench is a great movement. Many people find it easier on the shoulders than barbell bench, and it allows you to get more out of less weight. It is a great accessory to barbell bench for 2 reasons: better ROM at the bottom, and increased freedom is healthy for the shoulders and scapula. In fact, it can be a great idea to replace barbell benching with dumbell for 4 or 8 weeks for a change in stimulus and healthier shoulders, before coming back to the barbell.
Controversial take Alex, but the instability of dumbbells requires you to provide the stability yourself. This can result in huge strength gains. I notice that dumbbell presses, both flat and overhead, translate very well to the barbell variants.
Awesome. Do you still recommend rack pulls and the yoke formula for acquiring a massive yoke? And has your traps maintained or gotten smaller since you stopped doing them?
No hate at all, but Im kinda confused, because 2 years ago you released a video claiming that db bench was slightly better than bb for hypertrophy, so on the first few minutes of this video you are kinda mocking on yourself. Also at the end of this video you claim to not have done any db press since late 2019, yet you released a video reccomending them on 2021. Thats kinda odd. So which one is it?
Regarding the converging effect. And I addressed that already here th-cam.com/video/sOrPdOTJQ6s/w-d-xo.html&t Also, I didn't do them, it was just an informative segment with one time b-roll. Doesn't change the actual training which was documented throughout that time.
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Alex the type of guy to take a spaceship to Jupiter to get more out of less weight
Nice fake plates you got their. How did you even get this many subs on this crap channel lmao 🤦♂️
38" long arms, two torn rotator cuffs, one torn labium, one severe shoulder dislocation, multiple shoulder separations, one dislocated elbow, and one, not sure how to put this, I detached my hand from my arm. I can still bench over 300, the barbell is plenty stable for ANYONE. And no, I did not snap myself up in the gym, I was an athlete and then a soldier. Also, I'm 5 weeks into using the AD press as a primary, and it's becoming one of my favorite exercises. It took some time to get past my ego, I am very weak in that movement pattern...for now. Thanks for preaching the good word, Alex.
PREACH NICK, YOU ROCK!!
I thought you were gonna finish all of that with why you can't use a barbell. Honestly I was still gonna shake my head and think, "yeah whatever bro. Keep telling yourself why you can't". Then you finished it up like a mfn beast! Props to you
@stephen8996 Thanks. I rarely flat bench with a barbell, but I check in every once in awhile to make sure I'm retaining my strength as I expect.
Holy shit, respect for getting all that stuff behind you to still move some DAMN WEIGHT
I used to lament my future in bodybuilding because of a shoulder injury from rugby. Thankfully I’ve exiled that pussyfoot excuse making logic from my brain and have been training 5 times a week hard and pain free for well over a year. Hearing stories from people like you confirm how lucky I am and inspire me to never give up training!
This is the message that needs to be spread! Shirt looks cool by the way man, congrats.
It's a nice complimentary video to the one you did a while back! th-cam.com/video/HaDsD_Fd3mw/w-d-xo.html
And thanks a lot brother, very pleased with the design and support. You're next.
@@AlexLeonidasyeah I figured the messages were similarly inspired! I'm just glad to see a channel with a much larger outreach preaching the good word.
I realized the point about dumbbell size and range of motion a while ago. The majority of dumbbell exercises change as the weight increases due to physical obstruction. On the other hand, on the barbell bench press, the range of motion is the same regardless of whether you're lifting 50 pounds or 500 pounds.
Exactly!!! Strong lifters like you know what's up, and I love that you emphasized barbell ROM being the same whether novice or elite. Those who parrot the opposite obviously never lifted heavy dumbbells.
I, on the other hand, am too weak for dumbbells. I can't get them up to the starting position for horizontal pressing, lol.
Could do floor press with them I guess.
I enjoy using both and especially a cambered swiss bar. But once you get strong enough, really heavy dumbbells are a pain to get into position and expensive to progress, especially with a home gym. DBs for lighter isolations are my favorite application of them.
THIS!!! I've concluded the exact same thing brother.
At some point you can only stabilize dumbbells so far. Even though weight wise you could definitely handle them.
What 796????? Thats absolutely unreal to me. Also gotta say I've always hated using dumbells. Maybe that's weird to people but it's just always felt more natural to use barbells over dumbells to me. Also the overloading capacity is so freaking high
Great video Alex. I’ve never been a fan of DBs mostly due to lack of stability and the hassle of getting them into position at the set up, particularly when they get heavy. Just get under the barbell and experience those sweet gains
I think barbells provide a happy medium between being stable ENOUGH to handle a lot of load and providing a little instability so you learn how to stabilise your body.
Absolutely, really is the perfect amounts of both
Jimmy Bookworms will ALWAYS lose at the end of the day
TELL EM PARIS!
Omg...you underhand bench 3 plates for reps with unbelievable ease. I just want to cry when I see how bloody easy you make it look! Great vids love your content!
This might be my Favorit video of yours,
Straight Up facts
I looked like i don‘t even lift, 3 Years into my Lifting Journey, before i incorporated a more Oldschool Approach-emphasising Barbell Work.
1 Year Later and my Gains Exploded
I didn‘t focus on BB Bench for the Majority of my Journey - Which may be the cause of my lacking Chest and Brute Force Pushing Strength
(The rest caught up tho)
I love that bench variation you’re doing with the talon grip
Love that you recognized it :)
I just pulled 315 lbs for 8 conventional raw (only a 9mm single prong shiek belt and chalk), a +4 rep personal record after not even doing deadlifts for almost a year (i did rdls and safety squat bar good mornings near religiously though) and currently being 40 lbs lighter than when i performed my previous personal record… I owe my gains to your advice and the advice of other noble natties such as Geoffrey Verity Schofield, Natural Hypertrophy, Bald Omni-Man, Basement Bodybuilding, and Steve Shaw
Fr. I lost 10lbs in 4 months and I went from failing a 315 ATG Lowbar squat. To getting an ATG hybrid bar 315 pretty easily. Religiously did platz squats, highbar, Bulgarians, and low feet positon leg press. Those guys have made me progress sm. Fuck the minimalists and dogma.
@@RoseAesthetics I would have done more conventional deadlifts but I didn’t have time (and my gym didn’t have a double bar jack at the time) so I took a bet that if I added 35 lbs to my high bar squat and 75 lbs to my rdl my deadlift would explode and low n behold… Keep in mind I added this weight to both movements during a fat loss phase so I converted fat to muscle using the advice of noble natties
@@RoseAesthetics So now when I am up to 180-190 lbs on my current bulk I will very likely be hitting 405 lbs conventional possibly even for reps with just occasional touch up work (we are talking like 1 or 2 sets per week at most after heavy squats)
@@RoseAesthetics I do rdls and good mornings with good form as well (so the gains were not neurological) like sometimes I accidentally tap the floor with the barbell on rdls
I weigh 165 lbs at 5’9” btw so I am pretty sure that makes me an intermediate deadlifter now in terms of pound for pound strength (sorry i am just super excited)
dude said "waaaaaaaay back in 2021".....i'm deceased
Man I love barbell training. I haven't done a medium grip bench in all too long. I think not since my latest PR of 236 in late March of this year. Only close-grip and dumbbell ever since. Missing it, but I know this building up my of tris will make me super strong in the pressing movements once I do them again.
This thumbnail bro! A face of a true maximal effort! Great video man❤
Im so pleased i listedn to you and Jeff and stuck with the barbell. I see the results all these years later.
Probably one of, if not the best, video you ever made. I entirely agree with this segment!
Another potential advantage with barbells over machines is a lack of friction. On the vast majority of machines, the friction makes the concentric harder and the eccentric easier, the opposite of what you want for hypertrophy training. Meanwhile barbells provide just as much tension in both parts of the lift. Of course, on a well oiled machine the effect is gonna be neglible. But do most gyms actually keep the machines properly maintained?
Hey Alex, could you tell us more about the benefits of underhand grip on barbell bench? I’ve been noticing it being used as B roll recently. Would love to hear your rationale. Keep up the great content boss!
Alex usually tests out new movements like these for months on end before making videos about them to actually test-run and see how worthwhile it is. I'm sure he has a video in the works once there is enough footage and experience to talk about it.
@@CrowandRaven You already know! In the meantime, see th-cam.com/video/g00oBWWzeNs/w-d-xo.html&t
There are none it’s silly.
@@analogcrunch4716easier the shoulders, better for the triceps and possible upper chest activation
@@analogcrunch4716it's supposedly hits the upper chest more
Hey Alex, do you ever train your grip in specialized ways? Such as crush grip, pinch grip, pronation, rise, cup, etc?
I see you with that blessing of might icon!
Old heads know Alex played a paladin back in the day 🙏🏻
Oh yessssssssssss!
Hi Alex! What Power rack you have there?
Please reply brother!!!
Hey brother it's the 3x3 four post Hydra Rack by bells of steel!
www.bellsofsteel.us/influencer-page-alex-leonidas/
Hey alex, for AD pressing in a smith machine, should used an angled smith or non angled?
Bar is king, at the moment I'm not using barbell for Bench Press due to a severe muscle imbalance in my chest (it visibly kicks to one side) so for the next mesocycle of my training only using DB to address it
Not disagreeing with you (not even close) but for chest pressing I just cannot do them with a barbell without shoulder pain whereas dumbbells I can press heavy and deep with no issues. I really wish I could as Micro loading and set up is a pain with dumbbells Shoulder press and rows give me a barbell every time. Great video Alex
Hi Alex...do you think the more range you can achieve with a dumbbell makes up for lack of stability? Obviously you can elicit more of a stretch with them as opposed to a Barbell, or do you think the higher weight you can use with a Barbell shadows this?
It's cool to see your triceps firing when you're grinding out those last reps on the OHP.
The disadvantages of dumbbells should really be used in a rotation, or occasional supplementation. One it helps with coordination/mind-muscle connection; two it helps with hypertrophy as it is likely a different movement pattern. And third, well its sometimes a great ego boost to pickup a giant handle of iron.
I too see less value for leg and pulling exercises, with maybe some exception for seal or bench rows.
The one place I think dumbbell do excel IMO, is the French Press; the ergonomics and ability to do a slight forward tilt at the top. Said ergonomics also allow a better tricep stretch in the bottom, and, maybe less shoulder pain for some, but I have high shoulder ROM so the EZ curl feels not much different.
Finally, I think incline dumbbell curls are great, and really good for tendon strength. But, for strength AND hypertrophy straight bar is king IMO.
P.S. I switched to a home gym 3 months and made substantial strength gains. Now that could be availability or convenience or just vibe and pace. But that said, I think some could benefit from a home weight room(or basement) vs going out to the gym. Personally its great to be able to crank whatever music, work out in my boxers, grab some ice water, hit my vape, or maybe crack a beer. No annoyance or judgement, and walk up stairs to the shower in my own home.
Ngl I fell in love with the bench again after watching Alex. There’s really nothing like it
Working out with your own equipment is underrated, you use a consistent setup at the time that works best for without waiting or having people wait on you
That's the best part! Screw waiting for others.
I’d like to bring up a (paraphrased) Dr Mike quote about this
If a guy can manage to make good progress on barbells, he’ll probably be able to use everything else to much better results.
If you can activate everything and find ways to work it around an unbending bar, once you’re able to let everything move the way it “wants” it’ll most likely work even better than the inverse
That's a damn good way to phrase it.
I hate dumbbell pressing. Haven't done it in years. Barbell is king.
Unrelated, but you think you'll ever go back to doing Zercher Squats? I've been doing them recently and honestly love the core, upper back and hip/glute stimulus I get from them, plus it feels kinda badass holding a squat weight with the crease of my elbows despite the bruising.
Thats the only squats I do , cause I don’t have a rack yet, but zercher is best for upper back I believe 😂, I get so much compliments of my upper back , I only do weighted pull ups , weighted deficit push ups and zercher squats…..even tho sometimes I get annoyed doing zercher off the floor, but I know for a fact that zercher is making me feel like a unit, even tho I’m only doing 315 on zercher , my goal is 405 I got a long way to go 😂
@@SugarFreeKool-aid.TheWorstKind I zercher squatted 225 last week (I took it out of the rack, so didn't have to deal with the floor) and had bruises on the top of my forearms for 3 days lol I hope over time that eventually stops happening. No idea how there's people doing zerchers with 400lbs+.
@@Phsoco you will get used to it , my forearm got used to it like in 1 month
Best chest exceesizes
Imo
1a bench press
1b weighted dips
3 dumbell press
4 Machine press
5 cable press
Hey man, could you please answer my question on your "how do I keep getting bigger?" video about adapting your novice routine for my 67-year-old mother? Or hell, any of my other half-dozen questions I've posted in the last year or two, in general.
I've been doing nearly exclusively dumbbell work (save for belt squats, and spenby chest expander for back) for about 2 months now to nurse my battered and bruised nervous system back into health after I lifted heavy all the time during a 96 day 1100 dietary deficit cut. My squat PR is 309, and on day 80-something, I squatted 300. I like the dumbbell training and I feel I am making good gains, but I don't see it as BETTER than barbell. I will use the bar more. For now, it's fun and interesting to get all this stimulus with relatively light weights. I've definitely improved my stabilisers, and I needed that.
Did a set of 18 with 75 lb dumbbells on the chest-supported db rows the other day. While I don't feel like I worked out to the fullest without barbell training, it's all I can handle right now, and I am still making good gains. Thankfully my goal at the moment is just hypertrophy anyway. I've a 43.5" chest and 14-14.5" upper arms (yeah, it's ridiculous). Considering a shorter cut once my CNS feels better so that I can get properly lean (11-12%) for the first time and not have to worry about cutting again for a long time. Just cruising on that 200-300 daily surplus hypertrophy ship.
I've only started weight training again in the past 4 months (crazy muscle memory phase, very fun) after 2 years without training. I've come to this conclusion independently on my own that stability is key when lifting (pressing and also rowing). The point about dumbbell vs barbell strength is also interesting because I once had a friend who could flat press 40kg dumbells for 10 reps but he couldn't do 90 kg on a barbell for more than 5 reps. It certainly seems true to me that a lot of people use dumbells as a way of hiding their bad flat barbell press, especially in my gym no one ever uses the flat bench and many flail around with bad form anyway despite talking about its technically a better movement. The only exception to this for me seems to be inclince dumbell press, other than that I've realised barbell is king for rows, overhead pressing, flat pressing. Not to mention the use of barbells in deadlifts, RDLs, back squat, front squat ext. The only comment I would make in defence of dumbbells and legs is that one legged movements being unstable is good because you're training the (underrated) glute medius which is responsible for stabilisation of the hips. I also really liked the points on modifying strength curves, I realised this recently with the close rip swiss bar. Barbells are truly king tho, feel like I'm unironically growing and emotional attachment to them lmao. This is one of your best videos, very technical yet clear.
His ROM wasn’t what he thought it was on the dumbbells, my opinion.
bb bench and db bench are different movements, there are many who experience the contrary effect, those that can BB bench 225lbs for reps, but can't put up 90lbs on the dumbbells, but they WOULD ... if they trained in that movement for a month or two, the disparity would not be as large
Hey Alex which is more better/easier to learn front split squats or zercher split squats?
The barbell bench press, weighted dips and dumbbell bench are all tools that must be strategically utilised for chest, shoulder and tricep hypertrophy. There is no king.. You'll get fantastic gains from all three
yeah that kicking up motion is for the birds. I don't use DBs for anything above a 15 deg incline for that reason.
Hey alex so would you agree that machines and barbell are all you need to maximise muscle growth and there's not necessarily a need for dumbells? For the matter of achieving and maxing out genetic limits? For example barbell of any variation is all you need for chest and shoulder development?
Great video Alex! Not sure if I agree with the bench press being the least technical of the big 3 though. Would say deadlift is less technical
When you get strong, dumbbells just get too big and clumsy to get into position. Small gyms may not even have heavy enough dumbbells to work with. Dumbbells have their place(correcting imbalances and different angles) but 9 out of 10 times they decrease ROM. On top of that different bars exist: EZ-bars, Cambered bars, etc.
Exactly, they actually reduce ROM after a certain point
Alex reached that level like anime character who so advanced he just trolls everyone else.
Love this 😂😂😂😂
Hey Alex, now that you're back on the bulk I see you back in the home gym a lot more with barbells.
Were you in the commercial gym during your cut and using more machines for injury prevention reasons?
Been a big fan of barbells; as a 6" man with +4 ape index, machines don't generally work well for me. Love the channel, and love the different lifts you spotlight 🙏🏿
Much brother!!! No excuses even as a tall beast with a +4 ape index 💯
I'm 5"8 with 6"2 wing span
+12.7cm/+5" on the ape index
Didn't get my dad's(6")and brothers(6"2.5')height genetics
But surely got their wingspans and hand/shoe sizes(US 13)
I have weird proportions
and I bench narrow AF for shits and giggles
😂
Your channel sounds like someone doing slam poetry about lifting philosophy
So cool to put it that way!!
Wy you use that grip ? Wats the point upper chest?
Dumbell chest press is exelent and i cant train with out them nice slow negatives and also it helps you with strenght inbalances.
Bench is king but i need my incline dumbell press my incline dumbell flyes and my incline close grip dumbell press for inner chest.
Im home trained
I found out in most of 10 years of lifting, that stability works takes a small place in training, better in high rep ranges, and when done in low rep ranges with high loads it becomes stupid and not good to progress at all.
I was doing every week seated shoulder presses with dumbbells for years, and then I got stuck in the zone of 75 lbs each for 6-7 reps at max (with a 330 lbs paused bench 1rm), I got good shoulders but stuck there and never progressed, than I put more emphasis on seated inclined barbell presses and got stronger every damn week, with my shoulder muscles bigger than ever, not feeling that instability limiting me on pushing the load and really tiring my target muscles.
I do more unstable work with isolation exercises or similar, with light loads just to get that stabilizers working and conditioned, but for long term progress, never again pushing heavy dumbbells in my life, they are also dangerous when you are really tired after a 2-3 hours full body session.
Hell Yea man!
I just did my W-D’s and Incline’s! I did a couple sets of curls at the end.
Alex, your thoughts on Single arm DB OHP while seated, without back support?
Hey Alex, I noticed you're grip width alternates quite a bit (excluding when you do CG bench specifically). I myself like to bench closer and heard from Mentzer that this recruits more pec fibres and I find it safer on the pec tendon. Do you have any thoughts on this?
I could do all my lifting with a single barbell. My sport is kickboxing, but I still hit deadlifts, shoulder press, squats and cleans. Couldn’t get any more basic then that but it works for me!
Well, I'm not maxed out on the dumbbells, but I get your point. I think I need like 5 more reps on the biggest dumbbells we have here so I can dedicate more on the barbell. Do you think this is the time to change or stick with dumbbells till I get at least 12 reps? I still do barbell as well, I just do more dumbbells, because tbh I like them, but considering growth, I will soon max them out.
My favourite bit about the optimal lot is they trash barbells because they’re unstable, less range of motion, can’t converge etc; then choose dumbbell presses (less stable), half rep them and don’t converge anyway (even though it’s kinda pointless to begin with on a dumbbell press) 😂. Everything has its place, but definitely believe if you had to pick barbells will always be king. Plenty of huge physiques have been built using them, drugs or not
THIS!!!!! The contradictions are painfully obvious.
Great video, thanks Alex
14:57 my third leg exercise😂. My third leg gets enough stimulus outside the gym bro
It's not the stability.
It's the set up and size that makes dumbbells inefficient.
I would prefer dumbbells IF I had two people holding and giving me the heavy dumbbells on hand before I started pressing and IF the metal that they were made from was so condensed that the heaviest dumbbell could be as small as an aerobic pink one.
Unfortunately, this is not so.
13:22
Now I've finally seen someone doing Squats the same way that I have to do them, fully resting the bar on the rack at the bottom of every rep, my Patellar Tendon is always on the verge of tendonitis and just won't put up with rebounding out of the bottom.
Are lying leg curls a good alternative to reverse hypers (from a rejuvenation and RDL substitute standpoint for example)?
cant wait for the bodyweight plan
Thanks for this video Alex, I'm looking forward to your dumbell video. I've found 90lb powerblock dumbells to be the best, space-efficient, time-efficient piece of home gym equiptment. But I just bulked up to 180 and now I'm repping out the max dumbell weight for bench. Been eying the 125 or 175lb set.
But you're totally right about the lower body struggles, I've come up against the same thing. Split squats and sissy squats are the only thing for a decent stimulus. Calf raises are a pain where grip goes out early, so I've had to settle for drop sets. Luckily I have really good leg genetics and a huge ass, but I'm looking forward to the renissance of lower body gains when I have room for a fully equipt home gym.
PowerBlocks are awesome I have the 90lb set as well.
I'm used to using dumbbells, although I tried barbell bench press recently but strained the pinky side of my wrist. Any tips? I'm an amateur.
Maybe your grip was too wide or your wrist was bent? I would wear wraps in the future.
That’s it bro I’m ditching dumbbells for everything but incline and isolation exercises. I’always preferred the barbell. In a real life situation you’ll push and pull things with both arms more often than not after all.
Hey man, currently running your NE program and loving it! Can I ask your opinion on the best GPP workout I should do on the mini workout days?
The best would be any calisthenics street workout or Iron Wolf type burpee sessions. I used to do the Bas Rutten 30 Minute Boxing Rounds.
Alex, what are your thoughts on 5/3/1, then doing a ton of accessories after? Linear progression isn’t cutting anymore, and I’m entering the intermediate phase.
It'll work but I don't entertain 5/3/1 programming. Conjugate or my bodybuilding HIT-ish system is better.
There is one HUGE benefit dumbells have that you didn't mention, injury prevention. Being able to move independently prevents muscle imbalances.
Just curious, which bench angle do you recommended for doing seated overhead pressing...75? 85?
60-75, I like it highest but not 100% vertical. One slot under.
Alex how do I bring up my lagging back? I am 15 years old and I have a 100kg total weighted pull up 1RM. I do 6 sets of HARD pullups every workout (I rotate grips and variations ofc) and i also do 2 sets of rear delts. I am really arm dominant too. Some help would be extremely appreciated! Love your content brother your a legend, God bless you ☦
I would suggest reducing volume slightly in exchange for higher intensity and more recovery time. Here’s an odd tip to help with arm dominance. Take a set of curls to complete failure to exhaust your elbow flexors before your rows, then you force your back to do most of the work. It’s very humbling and as an arm dominant lifter myself I was shocked by the weakness of my back when I first got this idea
maybe include horizontal rowing, it sounds like you just do vertical pulls
I know you are not a doctor but i am desperate for help. Idk if antibiotics have anything to do with this but i was on them to treat acne for 1. 5 months and i hopped off 2 weeks ago. Since i started taking them that very same week i started feeling weaker and losing strength,since then every workout i regress either in reps or weight. i struggle to do pull ups and push ups thats how serious it has become. my diet has not changed and its pretty clean i sleep a lot drink plenty of water and have not changed anything with my training. My split is push pull shoulders legs rest repeat 4-6 working sets each muscle. its really annoying and demotivating since i am still a begginer and there are not really a lot of reasons to hit this big of a plateau. Not only that but this summer was supposed to be just full on grind on my weighted calisthenics and i have only become weaker basically havent proggresed at all in 2 months pls help i am actually desperate at this point. what can i do?
Youre probably right. Tbh tho, i haven't done barbell bench in a decade, i just dont care lol and do most upper hody with rings. My vanity leans towards appearance rather than how much i can lift these days. I dont mind the extra effort wasted on stability, priorities maybe change with age lol. Ill still be that " jacked" grampa...I actually have the mindset of train with less is more but with very high effort.
I agree do whatever you love and push yourself
hey man do you still think that 0.8 grams protein per body pound is enough???,
It's all you need!
Right now there is a trend for shitting on barbells because they are suboptimal. I was on the bandwagon too as a naive beginner.
However, in my 2 years of lifting I have had a few minor injuries getting dumbells into position while doing incline db presses and shoulder db presses. I replaced them with a smith machine, and havent had a problem with my shoulders since the switch. Incline smith machine pressing has become my favourite chest exercise, and my upper chest has been growing steadily, when before it was pretty much non existent.
Absolutely outstanding video. Really great work. Thanks! 🙏
Barbells are truly awesome! They allow for gradual progressive overload. They provide perfect amount of stability to get great hypertrophic benefits as well as instability to train the stabilizers. They also allow you to do various exercises so you can basically train your full body making them essential for home gyms. You can use relatively heavier weight on them quite safely to overload muscles and they’re very convenient. 🙏💪👍
Crazy, for the past year I've been using Smith a lot and almost abandoned dumbells.
I tell other guys in the gym "I feel it in my chest more, I don't know why, but I think it's something to do with stability."
Nice confirmation I was on the right track.
I really like Joe Bennett’s, The Hypertrophy Coach, loading of split squats, with a leg roller and an SSB on the back, so you can hold on with both hands. Maximally stable. Although John Meadows style (may be rest in peace), holding onto the rack with one DB, is still very effective.
Also works well in the Smith machine.
Lifting maths :
(Straight bar + Weighted calisthenics + Dumbells for arms) x few years = Jacked AF
THIS IS THE WAY!!!!!
😂😂 1:19 best impersonation. Hilarious 🏋️♂️
Honestly the only reason I still use dumbbells is for the deeper stretch than barbells, but if I could get my hands on a cambered bar? I would ditch dumbells for pressing movements no doubt 🙏
I’ve been using a lot of barbell movements lately and it’s the best thing I’ve ever done for my physique and MMC
I agree on your point regarding stability! Barbells only feel awkward when you first start using them, but are fine when you take a little time learn the lifts.
This video is so great as I just started my barbell training (trained weighted dips chin ups push ups on/off for years) I got 215 pounds of plates collected so far cool to see your story :)
Bro put on blessing of might
Blessing of might! Couldn't have picked a better icon
The only compound exercise i've switched out for dumbbells is bench press. OHP, deadlift variations, tricep extension, and some curling are done with barbells for me.
I think switching out rdls for dumbbells could be useful if your gym has big enough dumbbells but the barbell romanian deadlift has improved my regular conventional deadlift than the conventional deadlift itself so i am hesitant to swap any lower body exercises right now when what i am doing is effective
@@iangraham-white5717 RDL's are the no.1 exercise that improve my deadlift too. What would be the benefit of using dumbbells for RDL's as opposed to a barbell?
@@jayceorourke5672 you can keep the dumbbells closer and halfway inward to the body as a variation… greater rom before touching ground
@@jayceorourke5672you can get the dumbells closer to your shins and some people have a better MMC with em
For some reason barbells have always felt more comfortable on my joints. Especially for shoulder presses
Bro you need to make a barbell only program for home gyms
Just barbell and weights and a half rack/power rack
Do you have any new programs coming in the future?
Absolutely! Elite bench program, bodybuilding program, calisthenics, etc.
Very excited for those! Any idea yet when you will release?
Barbells and dumbbells, cables and levers, are all just tools. I've had to use adjustable dumbbells (up to 100 each) for the last couple of years, I still made more progress than friends in gyms because I focused on effort, consistency and overload.
Working up to solid, deep split squats or single leg RDLs for 200 lbs with dumbbells will still build trunks for legs. They're still struggling to lift 225 in their bench, while I'm over here repping my 100s for 5-8 reps already. Guess who looks better on the beach?
100% bro!! These are the things that truly matter and I agree about pushing the db numbers hard. I too had great legs from high rep lunges with 100lbs each hand.
sup mr alex 👊
train hard, everyone!
So for example if one wants OHP specialization, you could do standing barbell and ad press in combination with different loads and rep ranges and just call it a day? Also how would barbells work for arms?
That's exactly right! Standing and seated, mixing in pins, bands/chains, back support and without, straight bar and swiss.
Same application for arms, though I would be careful with the elbows and alignment. Might be worth using cables, rings, or expander/band stuff as well.
Regarding hypertrophy, I hear people say the stretch is crazy important. Would you recommend dumbbell bench as an accessory to barbell bench for that stretch?
Dumbell bench is a great movement. Many people find it easier on the shoulders than barbell bench, and it allows you to get more out of less weight. It is a great accessory to barbell bench for 2 reasons: better ROM at the bottom, and increased freedom is healthy for the shoulders and scapula. In fact, it can be a great idea to replace barbell benching with dumbell for 4 or 8 weeks for a change in stimulus and healthier shoulders, before coming back to the barbell.
Controversial take Alex, but the instability of dumbbells requires you to provide the stability yourself. This can result in huge strength gains. I notice that dumbbell presses, both flat and overhead, translate very well to the barbell variants.
Hey Alex, do you still rack pull/build your yoke?
At the moment, no. Lower body training, wide grip pullups, all rows, and chest expander work is taking care of that.
Awesome. Do you still recommend rack pulls and the yoke formula for acquiring a massive yoke? And has your traps maintained or gotten smaller since you stopped doing them?
0:45 WHAT kind of machines? I can't understand what you said.
1:18 im laughing my ass off 😂
No hate at all, but Im kinda confused, because 2 years ago you released a video claiming that db bench was slightly better than bb for hypertrophy, so on the first few minutes of this video you are kinda mocking on yourself. Also at the end of this video you claim to not have done any db press since late 2019, yet you released a video reccomending them on 2021. Thats kinda odd. So which one is it?
Regarding the converging effect. And I addressed that already here th-cam.com/video/sOrPdOTJQ6s/w-d-xo.html&t
Also, I didn't do them, it was just an informative segment with one time b-roll. Doesn't change the actual training which was documented throughout that time.
@@kapoioBCS bruh
This is a nutty thumbnail😂😂💚
Do you notice weakness on your left side?
Your left hand seems to lag on your presses and on your hip hinges the left is higher while the right tips.