As I mentioned, my daughter and future son-in-law have been working out for a few years, and they love quizzing me on the workout process…
They also enjoy tell me I’m wrong because Mongo at the gym does it a different way, and “he’s huge.”
Well…steroids, lots of sets to make up for training inefficiencies, and excellent bodybuilding genetics…
Lebron James bounces a basketball a lot, and he’s tall. So if you want to grow tall, bounce a ball.
This conversation revolved around pulldowns, which I’ve told them aren’t so great.
“But we get good soreness in our lats from them.”
“Well, as with rows for midback, you do get decent stretch on the lats with pulldowns. If you want to do them, add pulldowns after the ideal exercise, cable pull-ins or one-arm side lat pulls (in the new ebook).”
“Can we just do wide-grip pulldowns instead of those weirdo exercises? With a wide grip, you’re pulling in toward your spine, and you don’t take your arms straight up overhead to hurt the shoulder joint, right?”
“You could do those, but they’re not as efficient. The resistance is coming from directly overhead, so the line of force isn’t ideal. That puts wide-grip pulldowns a notch or two below the other two lat moves.”
“So we could do wide-grip pulldowns as an add-on lat exercise for stretch?”
“Actually, if you’re looking for lat stretch without irritating your shoulder joints, I suggest undergrip pulldowns or undergrip chins, torso angled back slightly. That way your arms will be more in front of your body for good lat stretch and less chance of shoulder-joint impingement.”
“Do you do undergrip pulldowns, Dad?”
“I’ll do them with separate cable handles or I’ll do two-arm dumbbell pullovers on a flat bench, my palms facing each other—and I don’t let my hands go lower than my face at the bottom. Even with those, I have to be very mindful to not go too low.”
“Those aren’t ‘ideal’ exercises, so why do them at all? Is muscle stretch really that important?”
“In my experience, and many scientists agree, stretch work has unique mass-building qualities. A researcher who used to write for Iron Man when I was there, Jose Antonio, Ph.D., did a study with a bird using only stretch against resistance on its wing. He produced a 300 percent increase in muscle mass. And that’s without any full-range work—only stretch.”
“Whoa. That’s a good muscle increase. But isn’t stretch work with weights dangerous?”
“It can be. You just have to keep your form strict and don’t overstretch. For example, on undergrip pulldowns, don’t allow your torso to go vertical—you don’t want your arms next to your head. And don’t jerk the weight or disengage your shoulders, unless you like the sympathy when you wear a sling.”
“So you’re saying we need to listen to you now or pay the price later, huh?”
“I sense some sarcasm there, but I’ll let it slide. Look, I know you think you’re both invincible at this age, but let me put it this way: I know a number of bodybuilders personally, and more than half of them have had to have shoulder surgery. Luckily, I’ve avoided the severe damage that puts a Tesla in the driveway of orthopedic surgeons.”
[Switching to Arnold voice] “Hear me now, or believe me later.”
New: Get the ideal exercise for each muscle, the best add-on moves for ultimate mass, complete 35-minute workouts, exercise start/finish photos, and details on building muscle fast and efficiently in Old Man, Young Muscle.
And you still get The Muscle-On, Belly-Gone “Diet” ebook FREE for a limited time when you add Old Man, Young Muscle to your mass-building library. Go HERE.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
Steve Holman
Former Editor in Chief, Iron Man Magazine
www.X-Rep.com
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