[@RenaissancePeriodization] Natural Exercise Scientist’s Optimized Upper Body Workout

Link: https://youtu.be/HrJf4tdasK4

Short Summary

This YouTube video features Dr. Eric Helms demonstrating an upper body workout focused on maximizing muscle growth through targeted techniques like lengthen partials and drop sets. He emphasizes efficient training using antagonistic paired sets and choosing exercises that stimulate multiple muscle groups, especially when gym time or equipment is limited, and advocates for reaching failure to ensure adequate muscle stimulation.

Key Quotes

Here are five direct quotes that represent valuable insights, interesting data points, surprising statements, or strong opinions from the provided transcript:

1. "Back work generally is a lot harder in the shortened position. It's much harder to lock out a cable row or a lat pull down than it is in the initial phase. So to make sure that we get the most out of it, we're going to be doing actually that kind of past failure training." (Insight into back training and maximizing effectiveness.)

2. "The only way that you're controlling that eccentric is to recruit a huge fraction maybe all of your faster twitch motor units which are more likely to grow. So that one eccentric a after the set has essentially gone almost to failure as far as that half rep the amount of growth you're stimulating is probably competitive maybe a little better than every other part of every other rep of that exercise. Why abandon the worst part of the rap?" (Insight on the importance of the eccentric portion of the lift.)

3. "These studies have all shown greater growth more distally in the brachiialis region from doing preacher curls and greater growth in the biceps in doing an incline curl." (Data point on muscle-specific hypertrophy based on curl variations.)

4. "And the long head gets almost no activity when you're doing pressing exercises because it's barticular. Meaning that it is not actually going to be very active when I'm doing that incline press. The reason being is that I'm also moving through shoulder flexion. So if the tricep, the long head specifically was active during shoulder flexion, it would be opposing shoulder flexion since it's a shoulder extensor. So the incline press is getting two heads of my tricep but not the long head. And the pullover is getting the long head." (Detailed explanation on how specific exercises target different parts of the tricep)

5. "A good workout compared to a shitty workout is much better than an optimal workout compared to no workout at all. 100%. And I think a lot of the times people they will overevaluate the marginal benefits you get from things like say prime equipment or a slightly better resistance profile. And you can use some of these techniques where you end up reaching failure in that lengthen position even on a movement that is generally maybe not that great. Uh and I think you can get if not all of that made back up uh the vast majority of it." (Perspective shift, practicality, and making the most of what you have)

Detailed Summary

Okay, here's a detailed summary of the YouTube video transcript, broken down into bullet points:

Key Topics:

• Upper Body Workout with Dr. Eric Helms: Focuses on hypertrophy (muscle growth) through specific exercise selection and techniques.
• Time Efficiency: Emphasis on maximizing muscle stimulus with minimal equipment and during busy gym times.
• Lengthened Position Focus: Highlighting the importance of emphasizing the stretched position of muscles during exercises for optimal growth.
• Antagonist Paired Sets: Demonstrating the benefits of pairing exercises that work opposing muscle groups for time efficiency.
• Individualization: Recommending to adjust angles based on individual comfort and anatomical differences.

Workout Routine Breakdown:

• Single Arm Cable Lat Pulldown:

  • Sitting sideways for greater lat stretch.
  • Over-thumb grip to emphasize pulling with the elbow (lat focus, less bicep).
  • Finishing with lengthened partials (past failure training) to maximize lat engagement, especially in the stretched position.
  • Rationale: Back work is often harder in the shortened position, so lengthening techniques increase the stimulus.

• Incline Dumbbell Press:

  • Focus: Primarily chest (pecs), potentially upper pecs.
  • Angle: Approximately 45 degrees; adjust based on rib cage structure and shoulder comfort.
  • Technique: Controlled descent, slight angle to align with pec fibers, full range of motion (dumbbells touching).
  • "Riding the Eccentric": Controlled lowering of the last rep to recruit more fast-twitch muscle fibers for greater growth stimulus.
  • Rationale: Pressing is hardest in the lengthened position, so traditional training to failure is sufficient.

• Dumbbell Pullover:

  • Targets: Chest (pecs), lats, teres major, and triceps (long head).
  • Execution: Slight incline, feet elevated to maintain core tightness and prevent lower back arching.
  • Emphasis on relaxing into the stretch at the bottom of the movement.
  • Technique: Keeping lumbar touching the incline bench.
  • Spotting: Bend elbows to shorten the lever arm if failing.
  • Rationale: Trains multiple muscle groups efficiently and can be combined with pressing exercises. It helps to expand the rib cage.

• Incline Curl:

  • Rationale: Greater growth in the biceps compared to the brachiialis region due to shoulder extension stretch.
  • Technique: Full extension at the bottom (unless uncomfortable), curling up, keep elbows back.
  • Consider including other curl variations (preacher curl, cable curl) for more balanced elbow flexor development.
  • Rationale: preacher curls help growth distally in the brachiialis.

• Triceps Training Considerations:

  • No direct tricep isolation exercise in this workout.
  • Pullover: Isolates shoulder extension, specifically training the long head of the triceps, which gets little activity in pressing exercises.
  • Incline press trains two heads of the triceps but not the long head.
  • Combined, the incline press and pullover provide a good tricep stimulus.

• Cable Lateral Raise (Behind-the-Back):

  • Targets: Middle deltoid.
  • Technique: Cable setup to emphasize load in the lengthened position (at roughly a 90 degree angle).
  • Rationale: Research shows similar hypertrophy between dumbbell and cable lateral raises. Cable allows for greater stretch.
  • Rationale: If you need to save time, go ahead and grab the dumbbells and do standard lateral raises.

Training Principles and Insights:

• Importance of Failure: Emphasizes training close to or at failure for muscle growth. The last rep matters most and controls the eccentric.
• Mind Muscle Connection: Focus on feeling the target muscle work during the exercises.
• Underutilized movements: Dumbbell pullover.
• Drop Sets: Used for lateral raises. Good to use an intermediary weight.
• Time Efficiency Techniques:
  • Antagonist Paired Sets: Incline press/pullover/incline curl circuit.
  • Using minimal equipment (bench, dumbbells, cable machine) for full upper body workout.
• Contextual Interpretation of Research: Don't take studies at face value, consider concepts and integrate findings.
• Practical Considerations:
  • Adjust workout based on gym availability and personal limitations (time, equipment).
  • A "good" workout is better than "no" workout, even if it's not perfectly optimal.

Resources Mentioned:

• 3dmusclejourney.com: Dr. Helms' coaching website.
• 3DMJ Vault: Online courses on bodybuilding and related topics.
• RP Hypertrophy app comes with dozens of pre-made programs.