| | | | FEATURE ARTICLE The Horizontal Shrug by Bret Contreras
This is the most overlooked back exercise for hypertrophy. Everyone does tons of chins, pulldowns, and rows for the lats. Most people train squats, deadlifts, good mornings, back extensions, and bentover rows for the erectors. A majority of lifters shrug for the upper traps and perform rear delt raises and reverse pec deck for the rear delts.
While it's true that the mid traps and rhomboids get a lot of stimulation from deadlifts and rows, when you start performing horizontal shrugs on the regular, you'll likely realize that you've got untapped potential when it comes to full upper back mass.
How to Do It | | | Lie face down on an incline bench positioned at a 30-45 degree angle while holding onto dumbbells. Protract the scapulae and get a good stretch at the bottom of the lift, then retract and hold the squeeze at the top for a one-second count on each rep.
I'll even round the upper back (thoracic flexion) slightly at the bottom of the lift to accompany the spreading of the scapulae and then extend the T-spine at the top to accompany the adduction of the scapulae. Try this and see if you prefer it. Do 3 sets of 10 reps. Typical loads are 60-100 pound dumbbells. | |  | by Dr John Rusin If cardio is causing you to lose gains, you're doing it wrong. Here's how to build your glutes, hamstrings and quads with conditioning work. |  | by Dan John Can you pull two reps of at least 315 pounds every minute? If not you're either weak or out of shape. Check out the test. | | | Lift heavy stuff until it's not heavy anymore. – T Nation (Facebook) | | | What training frequency is best? It's actually not a question of how often you can train. The real question is, how much training can you recover from? – Mike Robertson | | | If you're not training for a competition, you should never put yourself in a position that leaves you vulnerable to getting hurt. It's just not sensible. And even if you are training for competition, if all you're doing is racking up injuries coming up to it, you should pull out. It's supposed to be fun, not break you. – Tom Morrison | | | | | | |
