Latest news with #Israetel
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Coach Begs Lifters to Stop Doing These 5 Popular, Ineffective Bodybuilding Exercises
If exercises like planks and tricep kickbacks are programmed into your weekly workouts, it's time to replace them for more effective muscle-building moves. Exercise scientist Mike Israetel revealed five of the worst—yet extremely common—exercises and offered better alternatives for each: planks, Supermans, rack pulls, tricep kickbacks, and single-arm dumbbell presses. Planks are the go-to ab exercise for many, but according to Israetel, it's just smoke and mirrors—giving you the illusion that you're doing something, while you're actually not doing much at all. Aside from an isometric contraction from your abs, planks don't harness a lot of muscle growth, he says. Instead of planks, swap in ab rollouts. They train your core through a full range of motion, giving you the highest tension at the bottom and almost zero at the top, which matches the force exposure needed for maximum hypertrophy. Though it's not an isometric movement, Supermans don't allow you to get much range of motion. Israetel suggests trading out Supermans for flexion rows (skip to 5:25 in his video below if you're not familiar), especially if you were using Supermans to target your back and posture. Israetel admits rack pulls can have a place in advanced powerlifting programs, but for most lifters, snatch-grip deficit deadlifts are a far better choice. "Typically muscles get bigger and stronger best when you train them through a big range of motion and challenging positions, and the rack pull literally obviates both of those conditions," he says. Tricep kickbacks load the muscle in its weakest, most shortened position and offer almost no tension when the triceps are lengthened, Israetel explains. It's a backwards setup for growth. Swap them for dumbbell skullcrushers instead. They let you hit peak tension at the bottom stretch, while the top is the easiest—flipping the force curve compared to tricep kickbacks. Last on the list is single-arm dumbbell presses, where one arm works while the other is stuck holding—either overhead or at shoulder level. If you're holding one dumbbell fully extended while pressing with the other, you're just wasting energy on something that doesn't lead to any real adaptation in that straightened arm, Israetel explains. By the time you switch sides, the arm that was holding is already fatigued, which means you'll likely lift less weight or do fewer reps. He says you're better off doing dumbbell presses with both arms, or training single-arm variations using a machine.
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Exercise Scientist: This Is the Most Effective Shoulder Move for Huge Delts
Building big shoulders is the secret to looking jacked in a shirt—and even better without one. But to achieve that wide, powerful look, you've got to put in the work on your delts. In a recent YouTube video, Mike Israetel shared five delt-building exercises that'll help you get there. Israetel is an exercise scientist and co-founder of Renaissance Periodization, known for his expertise in muscle growth. He's coached athletes at all levels and regularly shares training advice, including detailed breakdowns of the S-tier exercises for different muscle groups. Spoiler alert: The video is dominated by lateral raise variations, including incline laterals, machine laterals, crossbody laterals, and freemotion laterals. Israetel also suggests front raises as solid delt builders. A 2020 study confirmed that lateral raises are top-tier for building bigger shoulders. Among 13 resistance-trained men, researchers found that lateral raises activated the medial delts more than any other exercise, outperforming the shoulder press and leaving the bench press and dumbbell fly far behind. You can't go wrong with any lateral raise variation, but Israetel makes a strong case for seated incline laterals. By going seated, you reduce systemic fatigue and minimize the need for stabilization, making the movement more focused and efficient than a standing variation. The angle of your incline plays a key role in targeting different parts of the delts. A higher incline emphasizes the side delts, while a lower incline shifts more focus to the front delts—though it still activates the side delts Keeping the incline anywhere between 45 to 90 degrees is fine—what matters most is that you're feeling the tension in your side delts. Israetel has a few cues to help. Think about lifting your pinkies up higher and pointing your thumbs down to angle more into your side delts. Keep the control all the way up and down, coming slightly above parallel and pausing briefly at the top. If you're adding incline laterals to your next shoulder day, Israetel recommends using Myorep sets or incorporating partials as you near failure to milk a little more effort out of your muscles.
Yahoo
09-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Exercise Scientist: Stop Doing 'Arm Day.' Here's a Better Way to Grow Your Arms
Forget arm day. According to Mike Israetel, it may be time to retire the classic bicep and tricep workout. His argument? There are smarter ways to build your arms without dedicating a whole session to them. Israetel is an exercise scientist and co-founder of Renaissance Periodization, known for his evidence-based approach to training. With years of experience coaching—and a Ph.D.—he's a respected authority on maximizing hypertrophy and performance. Everyone has their own workout splits to reach their goals, but according to Israetel, there are more effective ways to build big arms than dedicating a full day just to them. For one, getting a bicep pump during arm day actually impedes your range of motion for the triceps. "Biceps and triceps just don't heal at the same rates," he says. "Your triceps are roughly double the size of your biceps, so the triceps typically take longer to heal." If you're determined to keep arm days for the pump they provide, the key is ensuring you don't disrupt the recovery of those larger muscle groups—and Israetel offers a couple of workout split suggestions. One option is to follow this five-day split: Chest and triceps Back and biceps Legs Shoulders and arms Rest day The other six-day split option involves organizing muscle groups based on their recovery times and ensuring they don't interfere with each other: Chest, triceps, and side delts Legs and biceps Rest day Back, biceps, and side delts Chest, triceps, legs, and biceps Rest day Ultimately, keeping an arm day in your program is fine, as long as it follows sufficient recovery from chest and back training, you've taken a rest day, or trained another muscle group before doing arms.
