1. You have shoulder pain and want to do something about it. 
2. Your shoulders don’t hurt, and you want to keep it that way.

Either way, you’ve come to the right place if you want to end your shoulder discomfort and be able to move freely and perform exercises without pain.

I’ve spent my life working with a mix of rehab patients and strength athletes, which means my job requires me to become an expert in pain management and prevention.

Because let’s be honest: no one likes shoulder pain, and — even worse — no one likes doing a bunch of exercises that don’t seem to solve the problem. 

Shoulder pain has two different variations: you might experience acute pain (“Ouch! I did something and now my shoulder hurts.”), which makes it feel like your shoulder is only an issue when you perform certain moves. Or, you could have chronic pain, which is a constant discomfort or an achy soreness. 

Many people who perform a bunch of rotator cuff exercises to protect their shoulders are misusing their time.

In either situation, there are many commonalities that lead to both types of shoulder pain. There are many shoulder movements that can have a massive impact on whether you’re able to perform an exercise without causing damage or irritation.

The mechanics of your shoulder are complex, which means exercise technique matters a lot. But as you’ll soon see, there’s one factor that’s most important to healing and keeping your shoulders healthy. 

Exercise or Execution: Why Your Shoulders Really Hurt

Let’s begin with a simple disclaimer. I’ve spent my life helping people rehab and live pain-free, and no matter who I work with, it’s clear that no Internet article can diagnose and fix your problems.

If you’re here for a little achiness or prevention, then this will help. But, if you’re experiencing severe pain that hurts all day — or you’re recovering from a major injury or surgery — then you should get checked by a medical professional to see what’s going on and first consult with your doctor or physical therapist. 

With that out of the way, let’s make sense of your shoulder pain.

Shoulder pain is common among people who lift weights. It’s not just amateurs or weekend warriors getting hurt. It also applies to Powerlifters, CrossFitters, Bodybuilders, and even the Highland Games guys. And studies of highly-trained Olympic lifters show that they also struggle with shoulder pain.

The exercises that tend to cause the most trouble are pressing movements like the bench press or standing overhead press (also known as the military press).

Here’s the thing about those exercises: the movement itself usually isn’t the problem. In fact, the movement is quite simple—you just push the weight in a straight line. It’s pretty hard to mess that up.

So, if the movement isn’t the issue, then what is? It’s the position you’re in when you go to perform the exercise. Let’s take the overhead press and start with a simple example of why this causes problems.

The Shoulder Question You Didn’t Consider

An easy way to understand your shoulder pain is to think about running. If you rarely (or never) run and then are asked to sprint multiple times, what is likely to happen? Maybe you pull a muscle, feel a strain, or suffer some other injury that occurs from going from one extreme (no use) to another (high-intensity reps).

The same is true for overhead movements. Most people go through their days without bringing their arms over their heads at all. Instead, they spend the day in various hunched positions: looking at phones, staring at laptops, slouching in desk chairs.  

Over time, you lose the ability to extend your mid and upper back (this is known as your thoracic spine). To “extend” your upper back here would look like a “head up, shoulders back” position. Its opposite is the shoulders-rounded-forward hunchback that is your existence.

The thoracic spine directly impacts what your shoulders can (and can’t) do. If you’re unable to extend your thoracic spine, that in turn limits how your shoulder blades can move. The more your upper back starts to look like Quasimodo, the more difficult it is to get your shoulders into the proper position to press a weight overhead.

In other words: you struggle with the movement because your shoulder blades don’t know how to move correctly. I’m going to get technical for a moment to explain exactly why this is such a pain in the ass…or in your case, your shoulders.

Just know this: if you can’t move your shoulder overhead correctly, all the other small structures around your shoulder blade are working overtime, and like most things in life that get overworked, they quickly become pissed off and that’s why you have shoulder pain or get injured.

Why Your Shoulders Lack Mobility

Nerd alert: If you want to skip the detailed reason why your shoulders are not moving correctly, simply skip the next 4 paragraphs.

In order to lift your arm 180 degrees overhead, the scapula, or the triangular bone on the backside of your shoulder that kinda looks like a wing, must rotate about 60 degrees.

You get into trouble when you can’t get this movement to occur. If your thoracic spine is rolled forward, it limits your ability to move your scapula (AKA the shoulder blade).

As a result, in order to get your arm overhead, you’d have to move the entire shoulder joint—which requires a lot of its structures to move through a bigger range of motion than they can manage properly.

This also limits the ability of the upper arm bone (humerus) to make solid contact with the socket of the shoulder (glenoid fossa) to help bear the load of the weight being moved. As a result, the soft tissues of your rotator cuff and joint capsule have to pull double duty.

[Nerd alert over]

Think of your shoulder blade rotation like hip mobility on a deadlift. If you can’t move your hips back far enough so you can grab the weight, something else has to move in order for you to get down and grab the bar. This is why so many people hurt their back on deadlifts.

That “something else” usually winds up being your lower back. And, if your back is doing the work of your hips, you’re going to get hurt.

The same goes for shoulder movement. If soft tissues and joint capsules are doing the work that the bigger muscles like your deltoids were intended to do, you may get away with it for a while. But, you’re eventually going to have a problem.

Why Rotator Cuff Exercises Are Misused (The Fire Hydrant Rule)

Using the explanation above, this is why many people who perform rotator cuff exercises to protect their shoulders are misusing their time.

No amount of band rotations (those exercises where you bend your elbow 90 degrees, grab a resistance tube, and then rotate the forearm to pull the tube away from the body) will improve your thoracic spine mobility.

Sure, doing those moves will help your rotator cuff be strong and powerful. But, it’s the equivalent of grabbing a bigger bucket to catch water from a fire hydrant instead of just turning off the hydrant itself.

If you address the things that are really causing poor shoulder mechanics, you can stop the problems at their source.

Why Bench Press Causes Shoulder Pain

The bench press can cause similar issues for the shoulder, but for a slightly different reason.

In order to set up properly for the bench press, you have to pull your shoulder blades together and down in order to create a strong and stable base of support.

Here’s what you should do before every bench press set. (The first 15 seconds of this video are the most important):

There are just two problems:

1. Not everyone realizes that pulling the shoulders together and back is part of the setup. (And if that’s you, now you know. Go forth and conquer.)
2. Some do know this but don’t have enough thoracic mobility to pull their shoulder blades back and tight.

In either case, without the proper setup, the front of your shoulders wind up paying the price.

If your shoulders aren’t pulled back and locked in, when you lower the weight toward your chest, your upper arm bone has to move around within the shoulder capsule to allow the bar to get down.

This can result in the arm moving forward—a motion called anterior glide. And anterior glide puts a lot of pressure on the tissues meant to keep the joint together, like the biceps tendon and rotator cuff muscles, causing them to be irritated or even damaged.

How to Fix Your Shoulder Pain 

Here’s the good news: Many of the problems with the overhead press and the bench press are rooted in issues with your thoracic mobility and shoulder blade movement. This means fixing those issues will help you feel better during both of those exercises (and plenty of others, too).

Instead of loading up on 15 different variations of rotator cuff exercises, let’s address both of these common movement problems—thoracic and scapula issues—at their source. Then, you can set the stage for more appropriate shoulder pressing movements with less discomfort.

Shoulder Pain Solution #1: Breathe (But, do it correctly)

The first thing you should do to correct your thoracic positioning is to spend just a few minutes doing a little breathing drill, which my friend Tony Gentilcore is going to demonstrate for you here:

https://youtu.be/EtpB8dM4cEM

You’re probably thinking, “Breathing? What?” But stay with me.

Your breathing holds a big influence over the position of your torso. Not breathing correctly tends to limit thoracic motion, which as we discussed earlier has a direct effect on shoulder motion. So, when you perform these drills:

• Breathe deep, with long slow inhales and forceful exhales.
• Go slow and focus on getting more movement versus just doing the reps. Quality should always come before quantity.

Shoulder Pain Solution #2: Foam Roll Like a Pro

Next up you’re going to bring in the foam roller to work on the tissues in your thoracic spine directly. Pay close attention to how we’re going to use it.

Those are called T-Spine Extensions. Let’s talk about what the movement is not:

• It is not you rolling around a whole bunch. In fact, watch that video again. Notice that the roller doesn’t move at all.
• It is not you trying to get a bunch of movement by flaring your ribcage out. You want to keep your abs engaged throughout this drill so that the movement is coming entirely from your upper back.
• It is not your goal to touch the ground with the back of your head. You’re not trying to be Gumby here.

What you are trying to do is get a little more up-and-back movement out of your thoracic spine. That’s all. The motion will be subtle and may be difficult to feel at first.

But work at it, and you’ll soon feel a little more freedom in your upper back and shoulders. That’s what you’re going for here.

Advanced Exercises To Relieve Shoulder Pain

You’d go a long way toward having better shoulder mechanics just by adding the moves shown in those two videos to your warm-up. But, if you want to go further, you can jump into the deep end of the pool with this clip from The Complete Shoulder & Hip Blueprint:

In this video, you’ll find more awesomely impactful breathing drills—including one that works the smaller muscles in the thoracic spine, so much that a guy actually starts shaking.

The clip starts out with those. And, if you’re the type of person who secretly loves band rotator cuff exercises, be pumped: Later in the clip, you will find band exercises, except these will have a lot more impact on improving your shoulder movement and position overall:

• Beginning at 7:08, you’ll find the “Band W,” which activates the muscles around your shoulder blade and the lower part of your trapezius.
• At 8:56 you’ll see Tony demonstrate two more band exercises—the Windshield Wiper and the Wall Walk—that will light up the muscles in and around your back, especially your serratus, or the muscles on the sides of your ribs up by your armpits. Bonus: A strong serratus helps give you a “V” shaped torso.
• Lastly, when you reach the 12:12 mark you’ll get a move that lets you correct some of these issues in one shoulder at a time—a helpful way to correct imbalances.

These movements can act as a warm-up for your workout, fillers between sets of presses to help keep the motion gliding along nicely, or as the workout itself if you’ve been experiencing pain and want to improve your mechanics.

But again, if your shoulders always hurt, you should speak with a qualified therapist. There may be something more specific you could be doing, and you’ll want to make sure these aren’t going to do any harm. (The moves are very safe, but it’s worth checking.)

Here’s one more thing to keep in mind whenever you perform a shoulder exercise: Use your abs.

If you have limited movement from your thoracic spine, a common mistake is to just lean back with your lower back and avoid doing anything with your upper back.

This is both risky and counterproductive since you’re simultaneously putting extra pressure on your lumbar spine while also decreasing tension on the muscles you’re trying to work in the first place. By bracing your abs, you can help limit this and be sure that you’re getting movement in the places you actually want to move.

READ MORE: 

How to Fix Your Posture

6 Exercise Upgrades for Better Results

Foods That Fight Inflammation

Dean Somerset is a kinesiologist, strength coach, author and public speaker who specializes in injury and medical dysfunction management through exercise program design. The seriously in-depth “The Complete Shoulder & Hip Blueprint,” which Somerset and Gentilcore teamed up to create, is available online. Born Fitness is not an affiliate and has no financial stake or interest in the product, other than our general want for Dean and Tony to succeed in life since they’re good guys who offer great info.     

The post The End of Shoulder Pain appeared first on Born Fitness.

Some things never change. Sundays will always be better with football, repeat episodes of Seinfeld will still be funny, and the bench press will always be an exercise that most guys want to improve the most.

Maybe it’s because pressing strength is slower to increase than the other big exercises like rows, squats and deadlifts. Or maybe it’s an expression of some sort of evolutionary gym trait. Whatever the reason, the bench is so popular that it’s become cliché to ask, “What’s your bench?”

While many guys spend Monday (and Wednesday and sometimes Friday) pressing away, hoping to get stronger, it’s often the non-bench exercises that make the biggest difference in your strength gains.

That’s right: it’s what you do when you’re not benching that might make the biggest difference in your bench max.

So if you really want to see better results—and have a more impressive number to brag about—start emphasizing these techniques. They may seem unrelated, but they could be the key to your next big bench breakthrough.

Build Your Back

The bench press has two main components: lowering the weight to your chest (eccentric phase), and pressing the weight back to the starting position (concentric phase).

When you lower the weight, your chest is not the center of support. The muscles in your back are really the base for this part of the movement. That’s why during the down stroke you want to squeeze your shoulder blades together and keep them locked and tight to create as much tension as possible. More important, it’s why you want to build a bigger, stronger back.

Your body responds best to balance, so it’s important to work your antagonist muscles (in this case, your back) to make strength gains.

A bigger back provides more stability when you lower and press the weight. The more stability and support you have, the more you can bench.

While many back exercises will improve your overall strength, it’s important to train in the same plane as the bench press, meaning horizontal movements. More specifically, bent-over rows with dumbbells and barbells, and chest-supported rows offer the most bench-boosting bang for your back.

Stretch (Yes, Stretch)

This will come as the biggest surprise to some, but performing a few stretches can, in fact, boost your bench. Forget all the arguments about whether static stretching is good or bad. This is more about fixing weak links in your pressing motion.

Your muscles need to be able to move through a full range of motion for optimal growth. If your muscles are inflexible and get locked up, it will limit your bench. The two areas that hold most people back are the back and hips.

If you want to increase your bench max, not only should you add thickness to your back, you also need to stretch your lats.

Tight lats can mean that your shoulders won’t work right. And if your shoulders aren’t working, your bench is at risk. Here are two movements that can help your back mobility.

Pec Stretch

• Loop a resistance band around a stable object over your head and grab both ends with one hand.
• Your arm should be at about a 45-degree angle.
• Step out and away from the band so there is tension with a straight arm. 
• Push your chest up and out and slowly turn your body away from your hand.
• You should feel a stretch across your pec and into your front deltoid (front of your shoulder). 
• Hold the stretch for about 30 seconds. Repeat on the other side.

Lat Stretch

• Use the same band setup as the Pec Stretch, but this time face the band.
• Grab it with one hand, step back away from the band, and with a straight arm and neutral spine, pull your hips away and lower your chest toward the floor.
• You should feel a stretch from your triceps through your armpit to your lats.
• Hold for 30 seconds each arm.

Perhaps more surprising is how your hips can limit your upper body. Creating full-body tension is essential for a good bench press, and as you might guess, the term “full body” includes your hips and core.

You want your feet locked down and pressed forcefully into the ground to create more force and stability. If you’re one of those people who places his feet on top of the bench or up in the air, you’re blowing the lift.

If you feel discomfort or a lack of tension in your body when your feet are on the ground, the issue might be your hip mobility. Tight hip flexors prevent hyperextension, which is part of properbench press technique. Use this hip flexor stretch to help fix the problem.

Hip Flexor Stretch

• Kneel down on your left knee with your right foot on the floor and your right knee bent 90 degrees.
• Reach up with your right hand as high as you can.
• Bend your torso to your right.
• Rotate your torso to the right as you reach with your right hand as far behind you as you can.
• Hold this position for 30 seconds.
• Kneel on your right knee, switch arms and repeat.

Add to Your Arms

In addition to a powerful chest, guys love arms that fill out their shirt sleeves, which should make this last area of focus an easy sell.

You need strong triceps to press more weight. The muscles in the back of your arms are doing most of the work in the latter phase of a bench press rep, when you’re trying to “lock it out.”

That’s why any good bench prep routine should include heavy extensions, dips and close-grip presses on an incline press.

But if you really want to fry your triceps in a way that will improve your bench, try the “JM Press,” named after JM Blakely, a man who has pressed more than 700 pounds.

The JM Press

• Position yourself on a flat bench and grab a barbell with a narrow grip.
• Lower the bar in a straight line down toward the upper part up your chest, just below your neck.
• Rock the weight back by pushing your elbows up and above your chest. The weight should be in front of your face as if you were doing a lying triceps extension (a.k.a Skullcrusher).
• DO NOT go too heavy with this lift.
• Perform a Triceps Extension back to the starting position and repeat.

The movement might feel a little awkward at first. Think of it as a close-grip bench press/triceps extension hybrid, and you’ll start seeing improvement from your triceps and, eventually, in your bench performance.

A version of this article originally appeared on stack.com.

READ MORE: 

The Tension Weightlifting Technique: How to Make Every Exercise More Effective

How Low Should You Squat, Really?

3 Rules for Building Bigger Arms

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post Why You Can’t Bench Press More Weight appeared first on Born Fitness.

A) Get injured

B) Become frustrated and quit

C) Can’t figure out how to make their workout plans “feel” better.

Back pain, knee pain, and other injuries sidetrack most people from their normal workout routine and make it seemingly impossible to achieve their fitness goals.

Enter Eric Cressey. During the last 10 years, Eric has repeatedly proven himself as not only one of the smartest coaches in the industry but also someone that understands how to train people for success while minimizing the likelihood of injury. Why just avoid activity when you can still find ways to train pain-free?

If you’ve ever struggled with shoulder pain, squats, deadlifts, the bench press, or any other common exercise problem, these six movements can be substituted into any workout to make you feel better–and help you see better results, too. -AB

6 Exercises That Make You Feel Great

By Eric Cressey

Exercise #1: Back-to-Wall Shoulder Flexion

The Benefit: Helps you determine if you’re ready for overhead movements like snatches and overhead squats.

This is a drill that just about every one of our new clients has in their initial warm-ups. It’s absolutely essential to be able to get the arms overhead without compensation in the lower back or neck, and this drill both assesses and trains that quality. If you can’t pass this with flying colors, you really aren’t ready for overhead pressing or a host of other exercises that require great overhead shoulder function.

How to do it: Work it in for one set of eight reps in your pre-training warm-ups.

Exercise #2: Walking Spiderman w/Hip Lift & Overhead Reach

The benefit: It prepares your body for any type of activity by blending all of the necessary components of a warmup into one movement.

This is a great catch-all mobility drill that I like to include an “integrate everything” strategy at the end of a warm-up. You train multiple hip mobility qualities and open up your thoracic spine (upper back) on the reaching component of the movement.

How to do it: Make it a staple of your warm-up with five reps per side.

Exercise #3: Wide-Stance Anti-Rotation Chop w/Rope

The Benefit: You won’t find a better core stability exercise than this.

You have to work hard to resist both rotation and extension (arching) of your lower back, and you also build some hip and upper back mobility in the process. What’s not to love?

How to do it: Work this in later in your training sessions for 2-3 sets of 8-10 reps per side. You can also experiment with doing this from the high or low cable setting to work in some variety.

Exercise #4 Anterior-Loaded Barbell Bulgarian Split Squats

The Benefit: It’s the perfect exercise to help add new muscle mass while keying in on some of the most common weaknesses for most people.

This movement is awesome but be warned: it really sucks to perform. But, as a general rule of thumb, everyone needs a little “suck” in their training programs if they want to make progress. This exercise trains a lot of athletic qualities that can hide as reasons why you don’t become stronger – single-leg strength, core stability, upper body mobility – while still giving you enough loading to put some mass on your lower body.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBCo_NgO8rk

How to do it: Work this in for sets of 4-8 reps. You can do this early in the session in place of squatting for variety, or if you’re unable to squat because of injuries or mobility restrictions. You can also try it out for higher reps as a first assistance exercise after you squat or deadlift.

Exercise #5: Anderson Front Squats from Pins

The benefit: Squats are still “king,” but if you always do them the same way they can eventually become stale.

One way to shake things up is to squat with a pause at the bottom, whether that’s with a free squat, box squat, or squat from pins, like this:

This can be a great strategy for breaking through a strength plateau if you’re struggling to be fast out of the hole.

How to do it: You won’t move as big a weight as you would if you were doing normal reps without a pause at the bottom, but you can expect great returns on your “training investment” if you do some paused squats for a few weeks, and then return to regular squatting. Just make sure to keep the reps low (below 3 per set).

Exercise #6: Half-Kneeling 1-Arm Landmine Press

The Benefit: This is an awesome upper body exercise to use to “cancel out” some of your bench pressing.

This can be done half-kneeling, tall kneeling, standing, or split-stance, but the coaching cues are largely the same. You see, you want exercises that both keep the shoulder blades stationary (bench press) and those that allow the shoulder blades to rotate freely (push-ups, landmine presses) in your training programs.

How to do it: This is also an excellent drill for those who aren’t quite ready for overhead pressing, but want to get a similar training effect a bit more safely. We’ll usually do these for sets of 4-10 reps, as you can use it as a pure strength exercise or more of an assistance drill.

READ MORE: 

The Mystery of Squat Form: How Low Should You Go, Really?

How Often Should I Change Reps?

How to Defy Genetics and Build Muscle at Any Age

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post 6 Exercise Upgrades For Better Results appeared first on Born Fitness.

If every workout were created equal, then all plans would deliver the same results and consist of the exact same movements. While most training plans do boil down to some commonalities, there’s a reason why so many of the best bodies in the world are built with very different strategies.

Part of it has to do with understanding the science of strength, muscle, and fat loss.

The other side? Making sense of what you see in the mirror, and how it impacts what exercises are best for your body.

Whether you want to admit it or not, your genetics greatly influence what you should be doing in the gym. Notice I didn’t say how much you could accomplish. This isn’t about excuses of small arms, beer bellies, and chicken legs.

No, this is about leveraging a basic understanding of biomechanics and movement to build more muscle and become more of a badass.

Put away the science books because here’s the quickest anatomy lesson you’ll ever receive with the best payoff: a better looking body.

Create a Better Workout

Instead of blindly doing the most popular exercises, make sure these movements are right for you. The most popular exercises–bench press, deadlifts, squats, and rows–should be a part of any program. But sometimes, the traditional version of the lift can cause problems or injuries. Part of the solution is fixing the weaknesses that make it harder for you to perform the movements correctly.

The other approach? Making slight modifications so you can still train at the highest level without putting your body into a difficult position, especially if you’re doing the corrective work to fix your body.

Use the tips below to determine if you might be susceptible, and then train in a way that fits your body.

The Exercise: Barbell Bench Press

Who Struggles: Guys with long arms or shoulder issues.

The Fix: Yes, the barbell bench press is an awesome ego lift and a popular way to start Monday. But it’s also a big reason why so many guys walk around with bum shoulders. And in the case of taller guys with longer arms, it’s enhanced because the shoulder joint is more vulnerable for rotator cuff problems.

Instead, substitute with floor presses (which minimize the distance traveled), neutral grip incline dumbbell presses, and weighted dips and pushups.

The Exercise: Barbell Back Squats

Who Struggles: Tall dudes

The Fix: The king of exercises is also the king of lower back pain for tall guys. Sensing a theme here? Does that mean to avoid squats completely? Of course not. But mimicking the movement without always placing a heavy load on your back will reduce the likelihood of injury.

Instead, focus on single leg movements like Bulgarian split squats and heavy dumbbell step-ups. And then mix in landmine front squats, an innovative option from Ben Bruno. Place a barbell in a landmine (or corner of a room), load one side with plates, and perform like a front squat. You keep the same pattern, but save a world of stress on your knees and back.

The Exercise: Deadlifts

Who Struggles: Short arms, poor ankle and hamstring flexibility

The Fix: Deadlifts are an incredibly effective exercise…if you can work your way into proper starting position. Short arms, long legs, or poor flexibility can cause you to round your lower back when you try to pull the bar from the floor.

To reduce the difference, you can pull sumo style or place on bar on a rack (or risers) about 6 to 8 inches from the floor. Still having issues? Glute barbell hip raises to add lots of extra weight and strengthen your backside muscles.

The Exercise: Rows and Pullups

Who Struggles: Men and women with “baby mitts”

The Fix: You know what they say, the smaller the hands the smaller the pulling weight. Grip strength might be one of the most underrated aspects for all lifts. The greater the grip, the bigger the lift. But when you have small hands life in the gym becomes much harder.

While you shouldn’t stop doing pulling exercises, you should be strategic about how to increase your strength. Farmer’s walks and suitcase carries will be the best to way build your grip strength in a way with minimized risk. Just hold the weight as long as you can, and increase the load as a way to build your strength.

READ MORE:

How Often Should I Change Reps? 

The Tension Weightlifting Technique: How to Make Every Exercise More Effective

The 4-Step Biceps Builder

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post How to Personalize Your Workout appeared first on Born Fitness.