robert landy

Most are familiar with doing rollouts using a basic ten dollar ab wheel, but rollouts can and should at times be done with a barbell. Using an empty bar allows you to work through slightly more range of motion than an ab wheel does. The bar sits a little lower to the ground which means your body can fall flatter. This will also place the points of contact (the bar and your knees, or feet if you're doing them standing) further apart. The further the distance between these contact points, the harder your abs must work to keep your lumbo-pelvic region positioned correctly. – Drew Murphy

With the scrape the rack triceps extension, I got a tremendous training effect. The key to making it work is to apply pressure against the rack at all times; this engages the long head of the triceps allowing you to stimulate this very important portion of the triceps that gives you more arm thickness and pressing strength. Continuing to apply pressure against the rack also allows you to get a loaded stretching effect when you focus on keeping the elbows pointing forward and up. That loaded stretch of the triceps is great to activate mTor, which is key for muscle growth. Try a superset of the scrape the rack triceps extensions and rope triceps pressdowns. This combo will give you the tricep pump of your life. – Christian Thibaudeau

This combination will fire up all the muscles in your upper back and rotator cuff. The Y portion will specifically work the lower traps. Before raising your arms, bring your shoulders down and then lift and pause at the top. – Akash Vaghela

Facing the sled, grab the straps and slightly hinge at the hips to establish a neutral spine. Inch away from the sled until your arms are extended in front of you with the straps taut. Drive your elbows back to perform a row. Keep your elbows tight to your side. Resist the urge to pull the sled further by engaging the triceps. Take a few steps back to reset for the next rep. – Drew Murphy

Un-racking the barbell with a stabilized false grip can be a bit tricky, and it’s no surprise that many training-related injuries actually happen as a result of poor setups, as opposed to the actual lifts. So consider using a quality spotter to help guide the bar out from the rack and back into the rack after the set. Practice the setup on all angles including slight and high angle presses and develop the skill of stability at the shoulders in a neutral position. If you've been pressing with a traditional grip, the false grip may force you to lower your weight at first, but as your skillset increases on this setup, your numbers will eventually surpass your previous bests. Sparing the joints and targeting more musculature bodes well for long term strength, power, and aesthetics. – Dr. John Rusin

Adding a pause just before the transition adds intensity to the ring muscle-up. – Drew Murphy

Try this is a small adjustment to your ab rollouts. Simply move one leg to the side. By doing so you remove half of your base, and now puts a lot of tension on the side that stays in the middle. This creates a ton of tension across the entire torso. – Michael Warren

This lift helps emphasize the contraction of the pecs (you get a much better squeeze when you both push up and against the pins) while reducing the involvement of the shoulders.

1. Start the bar off of safety pins. If you have the square ones (as seen in the video) you'll have to press it from the pins to the little edge that's slightly higher, this is where the bar is starting on the video. If you're using metal rods as safety pins, which is ideal, you can start from the pins themselves.

2. Once the bar is in the starting position (as close to the chest as possible), either on the edge of the pin or on the pin itself, then set up like you would in a regular bench press. Get your glutes and abs tight, squeeze both shoulder blades together, and engage the lats (which is easy if you press at about 25% against the pins).

3. Press the barbell both up and against the posts. I’d say that normally we apply about 25% of our max force pushing against the posts. If the weight is too light during a set you can compensate by applying more force against the posts. By doing this you'll turn an easy set into a hard and effective one. – Christian Thibaudeau

Doing rollouts with a landmine attachment is very unique because only one end of the bar will roll while the other end remains fixed in place. This makes the bar travel in an arc, and places a lot of stretch on your distal lats and obliques. – Drew Murphy

This is a great exercise to help you learn muscle-ups and get better at them. This one is good for feeling the movement and becoming familiar with the transition. Don't get carried away with your jump. Try to jump only enough to assist yourself up to the transition point. Still attempt to pull down on the rings. – Drew Murphy

The objective is to resist lateral flexion of the spine (side bending) and instead remain perfectly neutral while pressing the dumbbell overhead. To master this, many muscle groups will need to kick in, but expect to feel it through the obliques, upper back, and glutes. Besides being very challenging on the hips and midsection, this exercise is often more shoulder-friendly for those with overhead limitations. Its unilateral nature allows and encourages you to better focus on upwardly rotating and elevating the independently moving scapula. – Drew Murphy

Certain "vinyasas" or flow sequences from yoga can build a lot of core stability and teach you how to brace your core for heavy lifting. Take for example going from "downward facing dog" to a "forward fold." If done right, this movement can develop shoulder and core strength, as well as enhance kinesthetic awareness. Here's an example. – TJ Kuster

Slow tempos increase time under tension, improve your mind-muscle connection, and of course build superhuman strength. – Drew Murphy

Incorporating a few explosive and athletic barbell movements into your program will light up the fast twitch fibers of the traps. Instead of only relying on shrug variations to hit your traps, use this explosive exercise and other Olympic lifts as staples for their development. – Lee Boyce

Get the benefits of the barbell squat jump without the drawbacks: potential injury of the spine and knees. Instead of using a barbell, load up a trap bar with 20% of your 1 RM. –Jake Tuura

My all time favorite movement for full, thick, and functional traps is the farmers carry. It's like killing three birds with one stone – big traps, huge forearms, and the grip strength to carry heavy loads. You can hit farmers for heavy short runs, lighter distance runs, or somewhere in between. At the end of it all your traps will have no choice but to grow! – Chad Coy