ATHLEAN-X™

If you are like most, you have tried using diets to lose weight in the past. You may have even resorted to dangerous diet practices in order to lose weight fast. In this video, I’m going to show you the most dangerous diet in the world and help you to start looking towards nutrition plans that are much more conducive to long term health.Each day, the most important decision you can make is the foods that you put in your body. As you likely have seen, when you put the wrong things in you can make yourself feel pretty ill pretty quickly. Imagine how powerful this gets when you extrapolate that out to days, weeks, months and years. If you want to be healthy and strong you need to start appreciating that power of diet and the nutrition you fuel your body with.That said, many will resort to diets like Keto, Atkins, South Beach, IIFYM, Paleo and more as a way to get them to lose weight and body fat fast. The truth is, every one of these will likely work for allowing you to see results and perhaps even quickly. The problem comes in once you find out that the method of weight loss is not something that you can sustain for a lifetime. At this point, you likely will fall off the wagon and regain the weight only to be placed in a position once again of having to do it all over again.This is not healthy. In fact, it is downright dangerous to your long term health. With each successive failure of a diet you are becoming more and more convinced that you do not have the will power to stick to a diet plan and that dieting isn’t for you. You either quit trying to lose weight all together or you get more desperate in your attempt to do so and less patient to let the process take place at a natural pace.It is here that the situation becomes even worse. Why is it that people who are trying to lose weight think that they are going to instantly turn around everything that is wrong with their nutrition and suddenly start having the discipline to follow a restrictive diet. In the example of a ketogenic diet, you are going to have to get yourself to eat less than 10 percent of your daily caloric intake from carbohydrates. This is usually on the heels of coming off of an eating style that has you eating at least 60 or 70 percent of your calories from carbs.There needs to be some sort of an on-ramp to the diet if you are going to find success with it. That said, it has nothing to do with whether or not you can actually follow this for the long term. Just because a diet is capable of allowing you to lose weight with it in the next few weeks it doesn’t mean that you will be able to follow it forever. To me, the only acceptable way to judge the effectiveness of a diet plan is by its longevity with the person using it.If you are looking for a diet plan that takes eating and nutrition and makes it a lifestyle, head to http://athleanx.com and get the ATHLEAN-X Factor Meal Plan. This is not a one size fits all diet strategy, but it is one that is not based on deprivation or food elimination. You will be able to eat everything in moderation and start looking and feeling like an athlete within just weeks of starting it.For more videos on diet and nutrition and the best way to eat to lose weight fast and the right way, be sure to subscribe to our channel here on youtube at http://youtube.com/user/jdcav24

If you want to get bigger triceps in just under a month, then you are going to want to watch this video. Here I cover some advanced tricep training techniques that you will be able to apply immediately to your tricep workouts in the next 28 days. The key to their effectiveness is that they will work no matter what your experience level is and regardless of what particular split you are following in your workouts right now.The science behind the efficacy of these is that the three tricep exercises selected are three of the bigger compound movements of the upper body; the dip, lying barbell extension and the close grip bench press. The fact that other muscles are participating in the performance of these movements allows you to load up the weights most aggressively here and go for maximum size gains in the shortest time possible.Beyond that however, these three exercises actually place the triceps under the most amount of tension in the contracted position, stretch position and midrange respectively. This is important when you want to be sure that a muscle is being worked maximally and that you are doing everything in your power to force muscle growth in a short period of time.You will see however that we are not just performing these exercises together as you may have in the past many times. No, here we are adding three extremely effective tips that is going to take the gains that you see from these tricep exercises to the next level. We start with the lying barbell extensions. This is a particularly effective exercise for the triceps because it places the long head of the triceps muscle on stretch better than most due to the position of the barbell being brought overhead. Anatomically, this places a greater stretch on the muscle and then allows for a stronger contraction by virtue of an improved stretch reflex. The tip is to not just stop at the point that your elbows are bent maximally but to then drop the elbows down towards the floor more as well. This will further lengthen the triceps and lead to that max contraction on every rep.Moving onto the close grip bench press. Here I find that people do not effectively place their elbows and hands in the position that best allows them to generate force and strength in their press. The easiest way to determine this is to do the push test that I show you here. This will help you to determine quickly and accurately what position your arms should be in if you want to get maximum gains from this reliable compound triceps workout staple.Finally, when it comes to the dip you don’t only want to have your body positioned upright to place the stress mostly on the triceps rather than the chest and shoulders but you want to concentrate on what the hands are doing as well. If you squeeze too hard with the hands you will lose some of the force through the forearms and limit that amount of extension strength you can get through the triceps. Try to open the hands and push through the palm and you will feel the difference immediately.So if you are looking to build bigger triceps in 28 days then you need to get started. They are not going to grow on their own after all. Start doing the work and implement these triceps workout tips and you will start seeing and feeling the difference fast. For more step by step workouts that hit more than just your triceps, head to http://athleanx.com and get the ATHLEAN-X Training System.For more videos on how to get big arms and the best tricep exercises for mass, be sure to subscribe to our channel here on youtube at http://youtube.com/user/jdcav24

There are dumb exercises and then there are really dumb exercises. In this video, I’ll be showing you a kettlebell exercise that takes the cake for being the worst exercise you can do especially if you care about the health of your wrists, shoulders, elbows and forearms. Everyone’s favorite tool “Jesse” is back to show you exactly how to perform this disastrous exercise for maximal damage.It is important to point out that in winning the title of worst exercise, the use of the kettelebell was not exclusionary. This one gets grouped into all exercises whether they use a kettelebell or not, that shows you how useless it really is. It does underscore the importance of learning the right way to perform an exercise however.You see, the kettlebell clean is actually a great exercise for the upper body and is a very athletic and explosive exercise option. The kettlebell can be used to naturally perform the movement if you understand how to properly manipulate it in your hand instead of flipping it around like you are performing in the circus.In order to properly execute the kettlebell clean you want to try and keep the bell as close to your body as possible. Think of it as if you are zipping up a jacket when bringing the KB from it’s beginning hang position to the top. If you improperly perform the exercise you will wind up putting a tremendous amount of torque on the elbow which can either tear an ulnar collateral ligament or at the very least cause tendonitis in the elbow.In addition, the force of the bell hitting your forearm on the way down is enough to cause damage to this area and certainly enough to discourage anyone from using any sort of heavier weight to perform the movement. Bottom line is, this is a great exercise often demonstrated poorly by those masking as fitness professionals. If only body type tests were certification exams to be qualified to teach others how to be healthy, strong and fit.That said, there is a very teachable moment here that comes from the performance of this horrible exercise. That is, the much more common way that people succumb to elbow tendonitis in a much more insidious way from their training. This has to do with the pain that people often feel at the inside of their elbows when trying to curl, row, or do pullups. It all has to do with where in the hands the bar is being placed when gripping it for each exercise.If you grip the bar too far down in the fingertips you will find that this will quickly lead to overload stress on the inner elbow where the common attachment is for the flexors of the forearm and fingers. Instead, you want to get the bar down into your hand more by first placing the thumbs on the bar and getting it to rest deep in the crook of your palm before wrapping the rest of your fingers around. This one change will dramatically decrease the pain you ever get and fix this once and for all.If you are looking for a real science based workout program that doesn’t just rely on pubmed studies to sound official but is based on real world application in the gym in less “controlled” funded environments, be sure to head to http://athleanx.com and get the ATHLEAN-X Training System. Start training like an athlete and start building muscle faster and more safely than ever before.For more videos on the worst exercises and the biggest exercise mistakes to avoid, be sure to subscribe to our channel here on youtube at http://youtube.com/user/jdcav24

If you could eat just one additional thing each day for better muscle gains, this would be it. In this video, I’m going to show you how eating just a little bit of ginger every single day can help you to combat delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), speed up your recovery and boost your ability to stay in the gym more consistently. While it may seem a little gross at first, I can assure you that it tastes really good and is diverse enough to be able to be included in many ways into your diet.The first thing you want to do when adding ginger to your diet is determine the right kind and form to add. You do not want to simply drink ginger ale, like mom always told you when you have an upset stomach. Not only are the levels of ginger too minuscule to assist with muscle recovery but all of the sugar you get with the soda is something that is clearly unwanted. The same can be said of candied ginger. People will often eat the sugar coated or crystalized form of ginger thinking that they are doing something healthy. Once again, here the benefits of this are minimized and the downsides are amplified. This is another case of good intentions with bad execution.Instead, you want to either eat the raw ginger root, or the more palatable pickled ginger form that you find commonly when eating at a Japanese restaurant. The picked form is simply sliced ginger root that is soaked in a vinegar brine. It is very low in calories, moderately low in sodium but packed with many benefits that will carry over to your workout. The best part is, it only takes just a little pinch each day to see the improvements.As for muscle recovery, studies have shown that adding just two grams a day of ginger to your diet can decrease delayed onset muscle soreness. The effects are pronounced the further out from training that you go. In other words, while most DOMS is worst 48 hours after the training session, adding ginger would help to suppress those aches much more significantly. The potential impact of this is huge. Imagine, not having to decrease your training intensity in the name of more volume since DOMS would no longer be impairing your ability to train a muscle again just days later.Instead, one could train hard and incorporate eccentric lengthening techniques and stresses that are known to be capable of promoting muscle growth and then repeat the sessions just days later without the repercussions of soreness. The alternative is to decrease training intensity or eliminate eccentric training all together so allow you to repeat your training without soreness impairing your performance.It is so simple to incorporate ginger into your diet every single day. Add just a pinch of pickled ginger to your egg whites in the morning (trust me, it actually tastes good), to a shake or even to your grilled chicken later in the day. Once you see and feel the benefits of including it, you will likely find a way to stomach the taste in order to make sure you’re getting it in.For a complete day by day meal plan on how to eat to be ripped year round, head to http://athleanx.com and get the ATHLEAN-X Training System. Get the exact meal by meal breakdown of my exact meal plan and what I eat to stay lean 365 days a year with no fluctuations or deprivation.For more videos on what to eat to build muscle and the best foods for gaining muscle and losing fat, be sure to subscribe to our channel here on youtube at http://youtube.com/user/jdcav24

The depth of your squat is one of the most important aspects of your leg training that you can get right. Not doing so will have you facing the repercussions on your body, particularly as you continue to attempt to add weight to the bar. In this video, I’m going to show you the best way to determine how low you should squat and more importantly, what to do to fix whatever is holding back your depth so you can start getting down as low as you should.It starts with an evaluation of the joints of the knees, hips and lower back. I can tell you this, while you may have heard the advice that squatting ass to grass is never a bad thing for your knees I can tell you that is blatantly bad information. If you have a meniscal tear, full depth squatting is one of the absolute worst things you can do for your knees.That said, if your knees are healthy or you simply have tendon related issues that are holding back your squat depth then learning how to squat differently will help to offset those stresses and get you back to full depth in no time. Regarding the hips and lower back however, you need to focus on another obvious point of feedback as to how low you should go. I’m talking about the butt wink.For those not familiar with the butt wink, it is the rapid transition at the bottom of the squat from a neutral or anteriorly rotated pelvis to a posteriorly rotated position. The amount of ballistic stress this places on the L4-L5 and L5-S1 vertebrae is dangerous, and is likely to lead to a disc pathology down the road. That said, you will want to intervene and correct the cause of this prior to continued loading so you can avoid the repercussions and learn to benefit from full squatting (the right way) sooner rather than later.The potential causes of this are as follows (time stamps included to help you more easily navigate to the issues that are affecting you and the things you will need to do to fix your problem).Hip Capsular Mobility (5:04)Hip Anatomy Restriction (6:42)Pelvic Muscle Tightnesses (9:25)Ankle Mobility or Flexibility Deficits (11:39)Decreased Pelvic Stability (13:49)Be sure to not perform the standard test that many recommend for ruling out the first three. That test, as shown in this video, is critically flawed and not taking into account the proper angle of the torso and the actual amount of hip flexion that is occurring during a squat. If you do the test the right way and get your torso closer to the floor you will learn whether or not you still might be dealing with one of the first three main causes and can drill down from there as I show you, to determine the root cause.If you are able to perform this revised test without losing your ability to maintain a non-posteriorly rotated pelvis then you can skip ahead to the ankle mobility and pelvic stability portion of the video. If you do have one of the first three issues, you will have to watch the remainder of the potential causes since it is not uncommon to still have additional factors that are playing into your butt wink and making your low squats unsafe.The key is identifying what is wrong with your squat form and then being willing to fix it over time. It didn’t take you a day to develop the issues that are likely preventing you from squatting ass to grass without butt wink. It won’t take you a day to fix it. If you are committed to improving your squatting form however, you will see significant changes that are going to fortify your body in the squat and prevent you from getting injured doing this critical leg exerise in the future.If you are looking for a program

If your triceps are not as big as you would like them, then you are going to want to watch this video. Here I am going to show you how the development of the long head of the triceps is key to the overall growth of the tricep muscle. The long head accounts for almost two thirds of the overall size of the triceps and needs to be made sure that it is getting adequately targeted in your workouts.One of the problems that comes in is that many of the compound movements done for the triceps like the bench press or even the close grip bench are not sufficiently targeting the long head. This is because when in the finished contraction, your arms are out in front of the body and the elbows are not behind the torso.In order to maximally contract the triceps long head you will need to have your elbows behind your body into extension. This can be achieved with another compound move like the dip, however many times people will complain that they feel this exercise more in their chest and shoulders than they do in the back of their arms. This actually has more to do with the position of the body in space during the exercise. Lean too far forward and you will feel it in your chest and delts. Maintain a more upright posture and you will more effectively hit the triceps. In any event, here I wanted to give you two more tricep exercise options that could help you to get better growth in this area of your arms. The first of these is called the drag pushdown. Similar to the drag curl being done for the long head of the biceps, this variation of a popular tricep exercise is going to hit the head of the triceps on the back and inside portion of your arms the best. It does this by forcing you to keep your elbows tight to your sides and back behind your body throughout the movement. The key is to keep the hands close to your body at all times and literally let them ride up the front of your torso throughout the movement. Note that you will likely have to decrease the weight that you are using to perform this tricep exercise. This is due to something called active insufficiency. When you shorten a muscle across one of the two joints that it crosses you decrease the ability of that muscle to produce force when shortened over the other.While this leads to lighter weights being used it should not stop you from doing the exercise since this combination of shortening allows for the most contraction you can experience for a given muscle (in this case the long head of the triceps).Next we have the barbell lift aways. This exercise can be performed with a single barbell stripped of all plates. Again, you will not be able to use very heavy weights here at all, but the contraction that you will feel by performing this is incredible. Hold the bar back behind your knees with your hands spaced just outside of your shoulders. Lift it up behind you making sure to keep the elbows straight and pause at the top for an added triceps contraction.These two tricep exercises are a great addition to any program, but will work especially well if you are having trouble developing this thick inner portion of the back of the arm. If you are looking for a complete program that builds your arms and helps you to get triceps that fill your shirt sleeves, head to http://athleanx.com and get the ATHLEAN-X Training System. Start training like an athlete and watch how much more quickly the results come.For more science based videos on how to build bigger arms and the best exercises for triceps, be sure to subscribe to our channel here on youtube at http://youtube.com/user/jdcav24

Many of you have been asking what happened to my eye and why there appeared to be noticeable swelling over many of my recent videos. Here, I’m going to show you why being slow to act has put me in an unenviable position. No, despite popular belief, Jesse was not responsible for the damage. While he is in fact to blame for many of the things that happen here this was not one of them. So, about three months ago I noticed some swelling on the lower lid of my right eye. My wife, always one to be vigilant about getting to the doctor sooner rather than later, advised me to go get it checked out. After procrastinating for over a month I finally decided to go to see a dermatologist. Now, keep in mind that my father is a physician and he suggested I see an ophthalmologist rather than a dermatologist but that’s another story.In that appointment, the doctor diagnosed the swelling as a chalazion and prescribed antibiotic drops and an oral antibiotic to be taken daily for 14 days. Given the fact that I’m very stubborn when it comes to taking any type of pill I hesitated and figured if I just left it alone it would get better on its own. So no medications were taken and of course it not only didn’t get better but it got worse.Fast forward another couple of months, yes I said couple of months. Nothing was improving and it was getting more and more noticeable in the videos I was making for our ATHLEAN-X Fitness Channel. The viewers were saying, Jeff what is going on with your eye and please don’t die on us, your videos are far too helpful for that. After not being able to ignore this any longer I decided to go see an eye doctor and get it drained once and for all. That is, until I found out that I had waited so long that it was no longer something that could be drained but had to be cut out because it had formed into a fibrotic lesion. Needless to say, as you can see in the representative footage of a chalazion surgery, it wasn’t fun nor painless at this point.The result is that I was left with a nasty black and blue and an eye that will never likely go back to looking like it was from before the thing ever appeared. This is what happens when you procrastinate. If you have contemplated getting started on a fitness or workout program and just keep waiting until the perfect time, stop. There will never be a perfect time that fits exactly into your schedule the way you would like it to. You just have to start and make the time to get it done.On the other hand, I can’t tell you how many times people will write in to detail an injury or pain they are suffering from and ask for advice on how to continue with their training. They do this all while putting off actually getting it examined in person by a qualified professional and allowing the situation to get worse while waiting for an answer in some forum or social media platform. Stop doing this. Find out what is going on and cut the problem off before it gets worse.Hoping my valuable lesson can be helpful to inspiring you to avoid doing the same thing. I hope you found this no B.S. approach and advice helpful. If you are looking for a complete program that is also not filled with any pseudo science or bro advice but rather real world science that works to get you bigger, stronger and faster, then head to http://athleanx.com and get the ATHLEAN-X Training System.For more videos on how to build more muscle and the best way to lose weight without fads or diets be sure to subscribe to our channel here on youtube at http://youtube.com/user/jdcav24

Beginner workouts are incredibly important since they set the foundation for all gains to come. In this video, I’m going to go over the biggest beginner workout mistakes that people make that undercut their ability to see the best results that they can get in the long run. I will cover everything from the importance of the bench press, squat and deadlift while remembering not to rely solely on them or attempt to lift too much weight at the expense of good form.To start, full range of motion on exercises is incredibly important for anyone lifting weights. This holds true whether you are a beginner or even more advanced. The use of full range of motion helps to strengthen the kinetic chain while improving coordination. Many beginners lack joint coordination or awareness in space and instead will use shortened range of motions in order to trick themselves into thinking they are doing more than they are.The compound lifts are key exercises for promoting the opportunity for full range of motion. Because they utilize multiple muscle groups and joints they allow you to load up the highest amounts of weights that you can on any exercise. That tends to create some fear of these exercises for beginners however. The sense of danger on these exercises is certainly higher than on a concentration curl but that doesn’t mean they should be avoided.Instead, using weight that you can command and building a true strength base on top of that is the answer. If you start using weights that you can handle and continue to increase your strength on these lifts over time, you won’t fear the movement. As you see results come from performing these exercises you will become less self conscious of those around you and your fears of using weights that you feel are too light in comparison to what others are using.Remember, we all start somewhere. Even the strongest guy in the gym started out using the bar. Keep adding weights only when you can perform the lift in good form. Too many so called experts think that it is a badge of honor to have a “strong” lift when it is nothing more than an average lift wrapped around a whole lot of bad form and compensation. Do not copy this. You may even wind up looking as bad as they do if you follow that advice.From here you want to make sure that you do not approach your training and workout sessions lazily. What this means is that instead of just grabbing a bar, squeeze it for all its worth. The strength that is elicited by simply doing that will surprise you. Do not just move the bar from point A to point B, execute the movement and exercise with your highest intensity. You will need a great deal of grip strength as a beginner to take advantage of this but you can build that by not avoiding forearm work and remembering to rack all of your own dumbbells and plates.If you are looking for a workout program for beginners that will help you to build muscle fast, head to http://athleanx.com and get the ATHLEAN-X Training System. Start training like an athlete and building a solid foundation of muscle, strength and athleticism and you will be amazed at how much faster you see results long term.For more beginner workout videos, tips and techniques for novice to advanced lifters be sure to subscribe to our channel here on youtube at http://youtube.com/user/jdcav24

If you are looking to improve your squat, then this is a must watch video for you. When it comes to a well executed squat, bar path cannot be overlooked. The fastest and most efficient path from point A to point B is a straight line. The more efficient you are with a movement, the more weight you will be able to move and therefore the more gains you will see from your training. When I’m correcting an athletes bar path in the squat there are a few things I look at. How is the bar descending and then how is it ascending as the athlete comes out of the bottom of the squat. A common flaw is to pitch the head forward. A common cause for this particular fault is quad weakness. In the case of quad weakness the body attempts to recruit the stronger muscles of the posterior chain. This is easily diagnosed by asking the athlete to perform a pause squat. Often the ability to properly hold a squat in the bottom position under control will reveal that it is not the quads as to do a paused squat properly requires significant quad strength. Some other causes for improper bar path are poor set up, lack of mobility; especially dorsiflexion in the ankle. Inefficient bar path could also indicate a weakness in the upper back specifically in the scapular retractors. If an athlete has a strong upper back, it’s possible that they lack the muscular endurance to maintain it. They can stay tight in the set up but somewhere during the lift they get lax and lose the requisite upper back rigidity causing them to lurch forward. The last cause that we’ll cover in this video is habitual patterning. This is often caused by a previous injury that the athlete has sustained. As a response to an injury the body will sometimes develop inefficient movement patterning to accommodate the injury. Once the injury heals the patterning has become so ingrained in the athletes movement that they continue to demonstrate it.Whatever the reason is for your crooked bar path you need to address it. There’s no point slapping more weight on the bar and fooling yourself into thinking that you’re getting stronger. All you are doing is putting the problem off until it refuses to be ignored. That usually comes in the form of an injury and when you’re talking about the king of all exercises, the squat, there’s often hundreds of pounds of weight involved. Not a good idea.If you want to get stronger and move better not just with the squat but on every lift you do then you have to start focusing on doing the things that help you to improve at every opportunity. Athletes take every element of their training seriously and leave no room for error. If you are looking to train like an athlete and get more out of every workout you do, head to http://athleanx.com and get the ATHLEAN-X Training System.For more videos on how to fix your squat as well as the best form for increasing your squat, be sure to subscribe to our channel here on youtube at http://youtube.com/user/jdcav24

Many people do chest workouts and exercises in an attempt to target a specific area of their chest. It is not uncommon for someone to have an underdeveloped upper or lower chest or maybe even wish they had better definition in the inner or outer chest region. In this video, I’m going to break out the muscle markers and some science to help you once and for all to determine whether it is even possible to have an impact on the shape of your pecs and whether targeted chest training works at all.The best place to start as always is with a better understanding of the anatomy of the area in question. When it comes to the pecs we are talking about the pectoralis major muscle. While we may point to four or five specific areas on the chest we really only have two heads (perhaps three) of the pec as defined anatomically. These are the clavicular head or upper chest and the sternal head or lower chest. Some have defined a subsection of the sternal head as the abdominal head, which is the area of the chest that forms the lower most border of the pec.There are two separate nerve innervations of the upper and lower chest. This is important since it outlines the framework for the possibility of a separate control of each area - but ONLY in the lab not in the gym. The reason for this is simple. Any action of the upper arm that you would perform in order to complete a chest exercise is not going to be able to be accomplished without both nerves firing, therefore both heads of the pec contracting.That said, it is important to understand that the differences don’t stop there. Within each head there lies muscle fibers that are oriented at slightly different angles as you make your way from the top to the bottom of the muscle belly. This gives us a chance to better stress certain areas of the chest (never isolate - as isolation of one from the other is never possible!) but influence based on the direction of the fibers.If you do what I always tell you to do, and that is follow the fibers, then you will see that there are certain movements that can be done with cables, bands or even dumbbells that will allow you to better influence one area of the pec than another. This happens by simply putting those fibers in a better line of pull over others and making their recruitment more favorable.Now when it comes to the inner and outer chest we have to get a little deeper into the science. It needs to be said that there are no separate nerves that innervate these areas of the chest. That said, there is the existence of non spanning muscle fibers and the force transmitting capabilities of fascia that surrounds the entire pec muscle that does at least bring in a new element to a once thought impossible concept of influencing these areas.The muscle fibers that don’t span from tendon to tendon will attach on one side or the other and terminate shortly thereafter into the muscle belly. With no attachment on the other end it would seem impossible for these to contribute to contraction strength and development but that is not the case, thanks to the fascia. When muscles contract, a great deal of their force is transmitted and amplified through the fascia which can in fact recruit the contribution of these non-spanning fibers. So what does this mean? Simply to not short change your reps and perhaps now more than ever, make sure you are using a full range of motion to maximally contract the chest for best chest development.When you put the science behind your training you will be amazed at how much more you can get from it. If you are looking for a complete program that does this for you step by step, head to http://