ATHLEAN-X™

ATHLEAN-X™

By Jeff Cavaliere MSPT, CSCS
Download on the App Store

ATHLEAN-X™ episodes

  • The Biceps Workout “Master Tip” (FASTER GAINS!)

    If you want to build bigger biceps from your biceps workout then you are going to need to unleash the master tip. In this video, I’m showing you the one tip that applies to every biceps exercise that you can do right away and more importantly feel right away. No more guessing whether or not the advice you have been given is actually working to help you build your biceps. With the master tip, you will know it right away and will start seeing faster gains from using it. So the one best tip that you can do when training your biceps is to bend your wrists back slightly on every rep of every exercise. The reason for this is twofold. First, the slightly extended position of your wrist creates a more stable and stronger wrist. When lifting heavy weights, as you would on a barbell curl, the stronger wrist will give you more leverage to do this more safely. Whenever you go to grasp something and hold on tight, you grab it with your wrist bent back slightly into extension. This is an automatic reaction and is done because your body knows that this is a stronger position to grab from. Yet, when we curl we are often told to never bend back the wrist and instead curl from a strictly neutral wrist position. Here is the problem with that. When you curl from a weaker more neutral wrist you are begging for the wrist flexors to kick in as the weight gets heavier and fatigue sets in. When this happens, your forearm flexors attempt to “curl” the bar up for you and take the biceps off the hook. The problem with this compensation is that these relatively weak muscles are ill equipped to handle these loads and the force is transmitted to the tendinous attachment on the inside of the elbow. This is where people will often suffer the medial elbow pain or golfers elbow from doing biceps exercises. Instead, you want to try and take the forearm flexors out of the action by getting the wrist into slight extension. Now we aren’t talking a lot of extension, but rather just 20 to 30 degrees. The key is that you are not actively trying to cheat the bar up with the use of your forearms. Beyond the injury prevention benefits of the move however are the more popular aesthetic benefits. Doing this will greatly speed up the rate at which you see biceps growth and gains. The reason is simple. Your biceps will now be doing far more of the work than they had before because they are going to have to do more of the lifting. More work being done by the actual muscles you are trying to build, and you are in business. For some of the exercises shown here like the barbell curl, spider curls, dumbbell supinating curl, chin ups and lip busters, you will see that the position of the wrist varies during different parts of the exercise. In general, as you lift you want to allow the wrist to bend back so you can keep the focus of the contraction on the biceps. You will feel if you are doing this correctly right away because the contraction of your biceps will be better than at any other time. If you are looking for a program that puts the details into how you do exercises (because they matter) then head to http://athleanx.com and get the ATHLEAN-X Training Systems. Take advantage of the same pro coaching that top professional athletes are using under Jeff’s tutelage to experience the same next level gains. For more videos on how to build massive biceps and get huge biceps be sure to subscribe to our channel here on youtube at http://youtube.com/user/jdcav24

    6 min
  • How to Get a Bigger Chest (LIGHT WEIGHTS!!)

    If you want to build a bigger chest you are going to have to lift lighter weights. Wait, what was that? That’s right. While heavy lifting is an important part of the equation when it comes to building a bigger chest it must be complimented with some lighter training or you will not see the best chest gains that you are capable of. In this video, I show you why it is important to lift light weights in order to build your pecs. More importantly, I will show you exactly how to make sure you are getting this right every single time you do it. To start, it is important to stress why this is so crucial to your chest growth. First of all, any heavy bench press is usually done with the goal of simply moving the bar or the dumbbells away from your chest. The use of the triceps and shoulders to achieve this is common and the amount of work that is actually done by the chest is greatly limited. Throw in the fact that the exercise itself limits the actions of the chest because of the tendency to push the weights straight up and avoid the all important horizontal adduction of the shoulder that allows the chest to contribute more. This can all be fixed however and it can be done with lighter weights than usual. At the bottom of the press, you want to first be sure that you are putting the pecs in a position to be the primary mover in the bench press. You can do this two ways. First you want to posturally put your chest in the right position by moving your shoulders down and back. If you peek to the side you can see that the chest will become more prominent and the shoulders should settle back a bit. The chest should literally be more forward than the shoulders if you are positioned properly. Now, before you press you want to quickly squeeze your armpits tight to create a pre-activation of the pecs. This minor horizontal adduction of the shoulder is enough to make the chest tighten up and become the active driver of the movement from here on out. Even with just this one simple change alone you will instantly feel much more work being done by the chest and the lighter weights you are using will be enough to challenge you. But that is not enough. You also want to now focus on what is moving during the press. The mistake is to think about the hands or the dumbbells. It is easy to do this however because that is after all what you are pressing. Do not do this. Instead, focus on the elbows during the descent and the biceps during the press. Yes, you heard me right. The elbows should travel outward as you lower the dumbbells and the biceps should attempt to be squeezed together during the press. If you can get the biceps close then you are getting the upper arm close. This is horizontal adduction at its best and it is critical to a completely contracted chest. If you have to spin the dumbbells at the top to allow the arms to get even closer than that is ok too. The key is not to be fooled by the dumbbells. You may think that they are close to each other at the top of the movement but if you still have a decent bend in the elbow then the arms may not be adducted nearly as much as they can be and the chest is not contracted as hard is possible. With just these couple of tips you are going to see how shifting the majority of the load to the pecs (for maybe the first time ever) will require far less weight than you think to overload them. Mix in some of these lighter sets with your traditional heavier pressing and you will get far better results than had you just lifted heavy. It is never about what exercise you are doing but how you are doing it when it comes to getting maximal muscle gai

    7 min
  • The Official Deadlift Checklist (AVOID MISTAKES!)

    The deadlift is one of the simplest exercises that is also one of the most often misperformed. In this video, I’m going to show you how to deadlift and make sure you get it right every rep by using a simple 7 step checklist. You’ll learn how and where to place your hands, feet and body in relation to the bar as well as how to lift the damn thing off the ground with the heaviest weights you can handle. Before ever deadlifting at all, it is a good idea to use a little bit of preparation. I show you a body prep and a movement prep to help grease the groove in both. The body prep is one that you can use quickly just to feel more loose prior to executing the deadlift. Place your feet wide against the inside of the plates and work to increase the mobility of your hips by addressing hamstring, pelvic and adductor tightnesses. The movement itself can be made much easier to visualize how to perform by going through a simple flow prior to lifting. Place your hands on your thighs and let them move down as you do nothing but hip hinge. Once the hands are at the level of the knees, stop hinging and simply let your knees bend to get your hands down to the bar. On the way up, you will be reversing the movement. Push only through your feet until your hands are at the level of your knees, at which point you will drive your hips forward to complete the lift. Once you feel loose and the movement is grooved, it is time to attack the deadlift with actual weight in your hands. Here you want to first be sure that your body is set up properly as it relates to the bar. Your feet should be hip width apart and the ties of your shoelaces should be visible beyond the bar when you look down at your feet. The hands should be just outside of your legs, with enough room to make sure that you aren’t scraping your arms against the outside of your legs on the way up and that you aren’t inadvertently bending your elbows when you press your knees outward on the ascent which can jeopardize the health of your biceps. Your grip can either be a double overhand, mixed grip or hook grip. The double overhand provides the least amount of stability but the most amount of muscle balance because of the uniformity of the hands and arms. The mixed grip can lead to imbalances between the muscles in the shoulder girdle if you don’t make sure to switch up between sets. The hook grip is definitely the most stabile but it is also the most uncomfortable and takes a lot of getting used to if you haven’t tried it before. The beginning of the lift must be thought of as a leg exercise to protect the integrity of your lower back. Push through your feet while keeping your hips down during the first part of the movement. Do this until the hands are at the level of the knee. At this point, the hips should fire forward as you drag the bar up your shins and now onto your thighs. Keep pulling your arms down to your sides which will help to keep the bar close and will engage the lats to ensure stability of the shoulder girdle throughout the lift. Reverse the movement back to the ground by first hinging at the hips until the bar is at the level of the knees and then simply bending the knees to get the bar back to the ground. When you want to learn how to do the deadlift it is important to have a few keys that you rely on and cue off of when performing it. I hope that these are very easy to both perform and visualize, making this the most helpful deadlifting tutorial that you have watched. For more coaching from me in a complete workout program, head to http://athleanx.com and pick the program best suited to your goals by using the pr

    16 min
  • When to Change Your Workout (DON’T MESS THIS UP!)

    Pick your program here - http://athleanx.com/x/my-workouts Subscribe to this channel here - http://bit.ly/2b0coMW Knowing when to change your workout and when not to is one of the most important things you can get right when it comes to your training. Change too often and you could sacrifice your ability to build the necessary foundation required for building a muscular physique. Change too infrequently and you will not be providing enough stimulus for your body to change. In this video, I’m going to help you to determine whether it is time to change your workout or not. One of the most helpful things to identify is your training experience. If you are a beginner, all of your workout changes should likely come in the form of how you are performing the exercises you do and not what exercises you do. For instance, your motor patterns are still going to be a work in progress and simply moving from exercise to exercise will not allow you to get better at any one movement and eventually load it maximally. Here instead, you want to focus on adding more weight to the limited exercises that you can perform and start experimenting with altered rep tempos, training frequency and most of all driving as much tension into the working muscle as you can. Most beginners are just not good enough at making the actual muscle that they are trying to develop do most of the work. Your goal will be to do just that using a fewer number of key exercises. That said, as you become more advanced you will find that you likely are unable to keep adding weight to the exercises and increasing your strength on them. Here, a new exercise that hits the target muscle group is just what the doctor ordered. Increasing your exercise variety is not just an effective way to combat training boredom but it becomes a crucial part of making sure your gains keep coming. The best part here is that when you do come back to your old standby exercises, they in effect become “new” again and you can start to see gains from doing them once again. What must be combatted here however is selecting exercises based on your like or dislike of them. I call this phenomenon “exerphobia”. The reason we pick exercises we like and repeat them is likely because our bodies have become very efficient at doing them. The reason we like them is that they feel good and we can lift a good amount of weight on them. That doesn’t mean that they are the best for us however. Knowing the creating change in the body is something that needs to be forced, you want to choose exercises you are less efficient at by this point to ensure that the gains keep coming. Finally, when it comes to fat loss training you definitely want to mix up your exercises and modes of training very frequently. If you think about the way your body reacts metabolically to exercise, it becomes better and more efficient at something the more you do it. Less work is required to perform the exercise over time. With less work comes less caloric burn. The very exercises you were doing to burn fat before are now no longer as effective. For that reason, you should frequently change your fat burning workouts to keep your fat loss coming. If you are looking for a complete training program that will help you to know exactly when the best time to change your workouts is for best results, head to http://athleanx.com and use the program selector tool. This will help you to get the best workout program that is most aligned with your current training goals. For more videos on when to change your workout and the best workouts for fat loss or muscle building, be sure to subscribe to our channel here on youtube at http://youtube.com/user/jdcav24

    10 min
  • The 8 Best Supersets (YOU’RE NOT DOING!!)

    Supersets are a workout technique that allow you to train multiple muscle groups (or the same muscle group) with more than one exercise without resting in between sets. This allows you to either speed up the pace of your workout, intensify the effects of your training, or both. In this video, I’m going to show you the 8 best supersets that you are not doing and tell you the specific exercises that will give you the best results if you start using them. Again, to be clear, a superset is not a drop set technically. A drop set will use the same exercise but progressively lighter weight with each successive consecutive set. What you want to do is make sure that you are picking two different exercises and pairing them together without resting at all between them. The most common way to perform supersets is with opposing muscle groups, such as the biceps and triceps. My favorite opposing muscle group superset is one that you perform for your arms and it consists of the db incline tricep extension supersetted with bicep spider curls. This gives you the advantage of getting the stretch on the long head of the triceps and then immediately perform a bicep exercise that puts the peak tension in the contracted position of the biceps. This is something that we don’t often do in our workouts let alone the same set combination. Next, you can incorporate muscle groups that tend to like to work together such as the lats and upper back muscles. Here, I like the combo of the straight arm pushdown with the cable face pulls. The lats not only benefit from the straight arm pushdowns but this helps you to perfect your form on the deadlift which is an exercise that requires strength in this position. The face pull is an incredible builder of the upper back muscles and overlooked rear delts. The UCV raise and Cavaliere Crossover combination is an example of a superset that targets the same muscle group. This one is better than the old classic bench press into pushups combo since neither of those exercises allows you to train the chest into adduction like both of the exercises in this superset allow you to. Beyond the pairing of muscles based on function, you can create supersets that rely on purpose. For example, if you want to pre-exhaust a certain muscle group so that you can use lighter than normal weights on an exercise that you normally exclusively train heavy you can do that if you pair them together as part of a superset. The shoulder “L” raise into db presses is a perfect way to do this. Grab a pair of 25 pound dumbbells and rep out to failure on this front delt and middle delt combo and immediately finish out your set by pressing those same “light” dumbbells overhead. Finally, you have options for open chain into closed chain exercises, loading and de-loading exercises and even strength or power potentiation combos. All of these are incredibly effective, especially if performed at the right time and for the right purpose in your training cycle. All of the ones shown here are part of my 8 favorite and should be something you try in your workouts. If you are looking for a training plan that shows you exactly when to perform these and all your exercises for the best results, head to http://athleanx.com and pick the program best suited to your current goals. Use the program selector tool if you are unsure what program is the best for getting you training like an athlete. For more videos on how to build muscle with supersets and the best way to lift heavy weights and light weights for more mass, be sure to subscribe to our channel here on youtube at http://youtube.com/user/jdcav24

    12 min
  • You Can’t Build Muscle Over 35 Without TRT!

    A recent video I did sparked someone to comment that you cannot look good, build muscle or be athletic over the age of 35 unless you are on TRT. For those who are not sure what that is, TRT is testosterone replacement therapy. Some would have you believe that seeing any kind of progress after a certain age is dependent on you resorting to synthetic means and shortcuts. That is simply not true. In this video, I’m going to tell you the real problem with making statements like this. Honestly, they have no impact on me personally, even when those statements expand into accusations that I achieve my look by using the same things. I can tell you that as a one hundred percent natural lifter my entire life, there is nothing more encouraging and rewarding than someone believing you use drugs to look the way you do. It is mind blowing actually, especially considering that fact that I used to train at home exclusively or pick odd hours to train at a gym so that I would not have to run into too many people since I already felt self conscious about my body and my strength. No, the real harm in these kind of statements, especially those made with such conviction, is that they do two incredibly bad things. First, they lower the bar on what is possible. Are you kidding me? No gains after the age of 35? Really? I bet you can think of 5 guys right away that look better after the age of 40 than they did in their 20’s and they have resorted to nothing but hard work, a commitment to training and most importantly, eating well. The second big thing is this “loser” and “quitter” mentality serves to discourage those on the fence from starting to dedicate themselves from improving their level of fitness. Think about it. If you are not committed to training and you are online looking for videos on how to get started and you run across that comment, you’re going to possibly be defeated before you even begin. You may think, it’s not in the cards for me either. He’s right. There is no hope for me since I’m not going to be able to take things like TRT so I can’t look good. What happens is this. The quitter, angry about his inability to commit (and refusing to look himself in the mirror and admit that his efforts have been anything but truly committed and stellar) wishes to drag others into his misery and disappointment. Nobody likes to fail alone. Always remember that. If they can find a way to discourage or disparage the achievements of others it somehow makes them feel better about themselves and their inability to achieve. I have to say, in almost every one of these instances, if I were to actually watch a workout performed by this type of individual it would not be anywhere near the level of effort needed to make change. If I were to analyze their nutrition for even a single day, it wouldn’t take me more than 4 seconds to identify exactly why they don’t have the level of body fat they are desiring. Unfortunately, you won’t get this information. The person who leaves these type of comments hides behind their own insecurities and never shares the real truth about why they have failed. But this is not you. You watch this channel because you want the best, most scientific, no nonsense advice on how to train like an athlete, eat like an athlete and look like an athlete 365 days a year without resorting to dangerous drugs or gimmicks. You want to be natural, train natural, and live healthy for many years to come. Well, for you I can tell you that you are in the right place. Every single thing I show you on this channel is doable and obtainable if you put in just one thing, effort. My look is one hu

    11 min
  • The TRUTH About Body Transformations!

    Body transformations are one of the most popular type of workout video being watched every day. The reason for this is that we often try and find inspiration through the accomplishments of others. When you see someone that is your same age, has the same training experience, shares some of the same challenges that you do when it comes to sticking to a workout plan and they get results…you instantly feel more confident in your own ability to do the same. In this video, I break down the common thread behind all body transformations. Before you rush to judgment and are quick to point to performance enhancers for the results that you see, understand that they are not nor never will be a prerequisite for change. You can make an incredible body transformation without anything but hard work and a dedication to nutrition but you will share something in common with that person that took dangerous shortcuts. You both will have had a moment when you looked at yourself in the mirror and determined that you had enough of looking at the person looking back. Something in your head will tell you that there is something far more important at the end of your transformation that exceeds whatever is standing in your way at the moment. Maybe you have a problem drinking? You can’t seem to get your drinking under control and every time you go out socially you undo all of the hard work you put in during the week in the gym simply because you do not know when to say when at the bar. Perhaps you have an inability to stick to a healthy eating plan. The temptation of indulgent foods is too much for you to resist when you are in their presence. You know that eating them will not help you to get ripped and lean but you simply cannot say no. Maybe your career demands that you take your body to another level in order to compete with those that are performing at the highest level. In the case of WWE superstar Jinder Mahal, this was likely his motivation. This is a wrestler that was fired by the company after spending years of being the guy who was booked to lose to the other wrestlers. He realized that he wasn’t dedicated enough to preparing himself to be the best. Now whether or not his path took a more dangerous turn than I would ever advise you as a viewer of my channel, you have to understand that the moment he made this decision it was his drive and commitment to finishing what he started that has seen him through and all the way back to the top of the WWE. We all have obstacles that stand in our way. Most of the time, our body transformations are stopped by the most powerful obstacle of them all, our heads. If you can wrap your own mind around the reason why you haven’t been able to get to what you want and then make the commitment to change that as of today, you are much further along towards reaching your goal than you would ever imagine. The start is what stops most people. Body transformations occur one day at a time. If you can start then the most amazing thing starts happening. You start seeing changes. The first time you see abs or the first time someone gives you a compliment, it completely energizes your pursuit. Suddenly it becomes even easier than ever to say no to whatever the temptations that were almost impossible to ignore up to now. So what you need to do is look yourself in the mirror and honestly ask yourself what is keeping you from the transformation you know you are capable of. Set your sights square on overcoming this one obstacle and let nothing get in the way. Prepare to be inspired by your own self achievement and then sit back and watch as the entire transformation becomes easie

    11 min
  • The 10 “Commandments” of Shoulder Training (THOU SHALT NOT!!)

    If you want to build bigger shoulders there are definitely some things that you are going to have to do, and other mistakes you will have to avoid in your shoulder training. In this video, I’m going to give you the 10 “commandments” of shoulder training to help you not only build more muscle in your shoulder workouts but avoid injury to this precious joint along the way. The shoulder is probably the most important joint in the body when it comes to upper body function. Without a healthy shoulder joint, you will find it difficult to perform virtually any upper body workout or exercise. Beyond that, from an aesthetic standpoint, there is nothing that caps a complete physique more than a pair of well developed delts. If you are going to build your delts to their maximum capacity you are going to want to make sure you obey the first commandment of shoulder training and that is to not skip the rear delt exercises. I don’t know what it is about the rear delts but they just don’t seem to get the same attention that the middle and front deltoids do. Make sure you are incorporating not only enough exercises for this muscle group but be sure that they are the right exercises if you want to get them bigger. Beyond that, you can add additional volume for your rear delts by making some slight tweaks to the way you perform exercises on your back day. The behind the neck press is one of those shoulder exercises that simply needs to be avoided. I say that knowing that there are far healthier ways to press heavy weights overhead without placing your shoulder joint in a compromised and unnatural position. The landmine press, jammer press, arnold press and even good old fashioned barbell press can all be performed with the elbow in front of the body to dramatically improve the safety of the shoulder exercise without compromising the gains you will see from doing it. In an effort to build bigger shoulders, we tend to focus a lot on not just pressing but in using heavy weights all the time. This is a big shoulder workout mistake. The deltoid muscle is a relatively small muscle group that responds well to targeted tension with lighter weights. If you never felt just how this can work, just perform a side lateral dumbbell raise with half the weight you normally use in one and a half rep style. You’ll be a believer instantly. Often times, the shoulders and the exercises for your shoulders do not incorporate a position of lengthened tension. This prevents this muscle group from experiencing the same eccentric muscle damage that other muscles that can be stretched during the exercise can. That is, unless we make some modifications for doing that. Watch how the side lateral and front raise can be done with cables to add that extra stretch for the delts to not miss out on this anymore. The shoulder muscles are commonly injured, and the solution we come up with is to avoid training them all together to allow them to heal. We still soldier on with our chest, back and arm workouts however. This is a mistake. The old use it or lose it phenomenon is in place here and you need to realize that there are many options for continuing to train even when the shoulder is a bit irritated. Instead, the focus should be on minimizing the other exercises you are doing like the bench press and pullup that could be aggravating your shoulders more than any direct training. Finally, the upright row will always be a bad option when it comes to building bigger shoulders more safely. Avoid this movement and instead make the switch to the dumbbell high pull. You will find that not only is your shoulder development not compromised

    15 min
  • Bodyweight Chest Workout (SORE IN 6 MINUTES!!)

    Some think that bodyweight chest workouts are not intense enough to build muscle at home without equipment, they would be wrong. In this 6 minute bodyweight chest workout, you will use nothing but your own body to push your chest to the limit and force new growth using an intense metabolic training effect. You see, high reps does not mean no muscle. If you build up metabolites through your training and push through the burn you can do some serious damage to your muscles and spark new growth even without the heavy weights. This chest workout will do just that to your pecs, that is, if you can last the entire 6 minutes. In this one, I’m including beginner, intermediate and advanced versions to allow you to train your chest regardless what level you are at right now. It involves just two bodyweight chest exercises, dips and pushups. What matters most however is how you perform these movements so that you can keep repping out long after you fatigue on one version of the exercise. We start with the decline pushup. To perform this chest exercise you simply need to elevate your feet onto something higher than the ground behind you. This can be a bench if you are going to do this in the gym or, more likely, a couch or chair in your living room if you are going to be trying this out at home. Either way, you are going to attempt to complete the entire first minute of the workout doing reps of decline pushups. Beginners get to perform them from their knees. Intermediates perform them in standard fashion on their toes. Advanced will do this first chest exercise with a twist to increase the level of difficulty and challenge your pecs even more. If for some reason you are unable to complete the entire one minute of this exercise you will not want to stop. Instead, drop down to the floor and perform the remainder of your time from that position. If you ever had to drop again, you may do so by finishing in the incline position. Likely however, you will not have to drop two times within the first sixty second time period. As soon as you are done, stand up and get in position to do your second and final exercise, the dip. This exercise once again can be performed on a kitchen counter or even the back of a couch if you are going to be doing this at home. There are no excuses for not doing this bodyweight chest workout. The way you do these makes a huge difference however. Do a triple pulse in the top one third of the rep and then drop down into a slow eccentric lowering. Step back up to the top and repeat. Beginners will perform 20 seconds of this and rest the remainder of the second minute. Intermediate will perform 30 seconds and Advanced will perform 40 seconds. Immediately go back to the floor for the third minute of this chest workout, except this time you are going to be performing flat ground pushups for the minute. Here again, beginners can do them from their knees, intermediate from their toes and advanced in twisting pushup fashion. See if you can make it through the entire third minute but drop to the incline version of the pushup if you need to in order to finish out your reps. Back to the dips in the same style for the fourth minute. Finally, finish with the incline pushup done the same way depending on the level of ability you are performing this bodyweight chest workout at. Wrap up your entire workout with one final round of dips and see if you can make it all the way to the end. After you have finished this workout for your chest you will likely be convinced that time is not the measurement of an effective chest workout. How intense you make it will always be the main consideration

    7 min
  • The Best Workout Songs Ever… (BRO-TUNES!)

    Workout songs can help to power you through a difficult set and get you to a brand new PR, or can they? In this video, I’m going to look into whether or not the “bro-science” of listening to music during your workouts is actually helping you or hurting your gains in the long run. I will tell you this, not all music is created equal. Listening to the wrong workout songs can absolutely destroy your ability to get much out of your workouts and you would be better of with nothing but the sounds of silence. To start, it helps to look at what the “bros” do. Often times, the biggest bros in the gym are the ones with the loudest tunes blaring from their headphones. Even if you had no intention of working out to Five Finger Deathpunch, you are going to have to since their music is blasting so loud that you can hear it all the way over at the squat rack when you’re sitting in front of the dumbbells half way across the gym. But does it help? It actually does, but only if it is the right music you are listening to. Studies were conducted that had subjects listen to no music, their favorite music or music that they did not like. When their favorite workout songs played, they had a measurable increase in their output with strength and power increasing by up to 15 percent. When they played music they did not like however, the results were far worse. In fact, their strength and most importantly their focus was far less than it would have been had no music been playing at all. So the choice of music is obviously important. Beyond that however is the fact that too much of a good thing can be a bad thing when it comes to listening to workout music. If your playlist consists of just your favorite songs that get you absolutely fired up and ready to knock down the walls of the gym, you can burn out faster than you intend to. The rate of perceived exertion is noticeably less when you listen to your faovirte workout tunes. This means, the effort you feel that you had to produce is not as high as it actually was. Your body is smarter than you however. You may have tricked it to get through that set with less difficulty but you will feel more exhausted the second that set concludes. This makes subsequent sets at the same intensity level become even more challenging. So the best thing you can do is shuffle your workout songs to include some that get you up to an all time high with some songs that are a little bit of a step back from there to let your brain chill a bit. Even more however, if you use the cadence of the song you can find that you can increase your power output by not letting your rep speed diminish at it normally would as you fatigue. This is a very under rated and important element of training. Keep the dumbbells moving at the speed of the music for your entire set and you will find more powerful results from your training. The bottom line is, workout songs are very individualistic. What works for you may not work for someone else, however when the music is right…all of it will work more than no music at all. The bro scientists are right in this case. Find your favorite songs and figure out a way to get them blasting through your earbuds in your next workout. Let the gains begin. If you want a program that puts nothing but the latest in workout science into one step by step plan, head to http://athleanx.com and get the ATHLEAN-X Training System. See how avoiding what the bros do and sticking to what real science says can get you your fastest gains ever. Start training like an athlete today. For more videos on the best workout songs and songs that get you motivated to train, be sure

    8 min

About ATHLEAN-X™

From the publisher's feed

Pro athlete physical therapist and strength coach Jeff Cavaliere shows you workouts, exercises and nutrition plans to get you looking and moving like a professional athlete.