ATHLEAN-X™

Build muscle with just your bodyweight (no equipment at all) here! http://athleanx.com/x/bodyweight-only-workout-plan With so many bodyweight exercises to choose from, picking the 8 best was certainly a challenge. That said, in this video I show you the 8 best bodyweight exercises you can do and how you can cover all the major muscles in your body with them. Most bodyweight workout routines are nothing more than glorified aerobics that cost you lean muscle while doing them. This doesn’t have to be the case. If you choose the right exercises and follow the proper progressions and regressions, bodyweight training can be just as effective at building muscle as any other workout. The 8 bodyweight exercises that were chosen are as follows: 1. Pullups - The pullup is one of the best back exercises you can do, even if you have access to a gym. Should you want a challenging alternative, I show you how to mix up your grip and perform the Commando Pullup for an even more intense back exercise with the added benefit of working your forearms and biceps. 2. Chin Up Knee Up - This exercise hits the biceps and abs equally hard as it breaks down the chinup into two parts. If you’re looking to get more out of your bodyweight exercises you have to put more in them. This is a perfect combination movement that helps you to kill two muscles with one move. 3. Slick Floor Bridge Curls - This posterior chain exercise hammers your glutes and hamstrings and happens to be one of the most intense bodyweight leg exercises you can do for this area. In fact, this exercise is as challenging as most weighted glute/ham exercises you’d have at your disposal if you were training in a gym. 4. Levitation Squats - Time to hit your quads with this awesome lower body no equipment exercise. By positioning your leg behind your body you make it easier to perform this single leg killer without having your balance be your limiting factor (as it may be during the pistol squat). Be sure to keep your back foot raised off the ground to keep the work on the front leg only. 5. Divebomber Pushups - You knew there would have to be a pushup variation in this list of 8 best bodyweight exercises in order to hit your chest. That said, this dive-bomber version hits your chest, shoulders and triceps equally hard at different points in the range of motion. Add the one and a half rep style for an even more advanced challenge. 6. Mule Kicks - This is a perfect bodyweight conditioning exercise that also puts an overload on your shoulders. Think of it as a closed chain plyometric bodyweight shoulder exercise that crushes your stamina at the same time. Sound fun? 7. Kickthrough Burpees - On this channel, we train like athletes. There may be no more athletic version of the burpee than this one, and that is why I love it. This is yet another bodyweight only movement that will challenge your upper body, lower body and core while pelting away at your ability to breathe. 8. Front Lever - Finally, the challenging front lever exercise lands the last spot on the 8 best bodyweight exercise list. Don’t worry if you can’t do it yet, you will. Just work your way up to it using a resistance band if needed. Want to become a bodyweight workout beast? Then look no further than the number one muscle building bodyweight workout plan ATHLEAN XERO. Without using a single piece of equipment, start building ripped, athletic muscle in just 6 weeks. You can find the program at http://athleanx.com along with our other workout programs. For more bodyweight exercises and workouts without equipment, be sure to subscribe to our channel here on youtube at http://youtube.com/user/jdcav24

It's time to get Bigger, Wider Shoulders - http://athleanx.com/x/biggerwidershoulders Did you know that bigger, wider shoulders is one of the muscle groups listed at the top of the list when Men's Health Magazine polled women to see what turned them on the most in guys? Shocked me. I thought abs, and arms would easily top those...but they didn't. The reason why is because a set of powerful explosive shoulders frames your entire physique and lets people know that you're in shape and strong without having to say a word. All that said, the problem that most guys face when trying to get big shoulders is that they feel as if the only way to get them is by doing countless reps of heavy military presses. This isn't the only way. In fact, using one of the most popular shoulder exercises but also one of the most incorrectly performed, you can start adding size to your shoulders in as little as 14 days! The ability to get bigger shoulders and add muscle mass to your shoulders in 14 days comes from the principle of muscle overload. By incorporating the cheat side lateral exercise you can add significant weight to the exercise and as a result, size to your shoulders much more quickly. The trick is to not swing the weight up, but make sure that you muscle it up. From the top of the movement, you want to be sure that you slowly lower the weight down, concentrating on the eccentric part of the exercise to ensure that the deltoid is getting the brunt of the work. Continue to perform as many reps as you can until failure and incorporate this technique into your shoulder workout each time you perform it. You actually can see a difference in your shoulder size after even just one of these workouts. Not from actual shoulder muscle growth but more from the lingering pump that you will experience (not very common when doing shoulder workouts!) by training the muscles the right way. For more techniques to help you add not just more size to your shoulders but to every other muscle in your body, be sure to head over to http://athleanx.com and get the 90 day ATHLEAN-X Training System. You will see how making changes to familiar shoulder exercises can lead to all new results that you see from your shoulder training and workouts. For more videos on how to train like an athlete and build bigger shoulders like Dwight Howard, be sure to head over to http://youtube.com/user/jdcav24

Build your body with science here - http://athleanx.com/x/athlete Subscribe to this channel here - http://bit.ly/2b0coMW If you are the type that does not get sore from your bicep workout, then you need to see this. The sore in 6 minutes series continues with the biceps workout edition. With just one bicep exercise, I’m going to show you how to train your arms hard enough to elicit post workout muscle soreness regardless of how difficult it is for you to do it right now. The biceps exercise used in this workout is the incline variable curl. Choose a dumbbell that represents your 10 rep max on incline bicep curls and perform 5 reps. The key is to lower the dumbbell to a count of 3 seconds and raise it to a count of 1 second. This equals 4 seconds per rep. With each 5 reps completed you should be taking up 20 seconds of time. As soon as you are finished with the incline curl for five reps you sit up and perform 5 seated dumbbell curls using the same tempo and focus on the eccentric contraction. Finally, without resting, lean forward on the bench and perform a leaning drag curl to focus the effort on the contracted range of the bicep curl. Finish with five reps once again. Now, with little to no rest, put down the dumbbells and pick up the next set which should be five pounds less than the ones you were just using. Repeat the entire sequence for the second minute of the workout. Continue dropping five pounds on the dumbbell weight and performing the same three variations of the incline curl until you have completed five minutes of work. Now comes the icing on the cake. Go back to the original dumbbell weight that you were curling with and pick them up once again. This time you are going to be performing eccentric only repetitions. You can do this by sitting up at the end of the bench and hammer curling the weights to your thighs. From here, act as if you are getting ready to lift the dumbbells up to your chest to begin a set of bench press. This means, use your knees to hike the weights up into position. Instead of pressing them from here however you are going to let them drop down as you lean back into the incline bicep curl position. Continue performing these reps for the entire final minute if you are able to. If biceps workout soreness is something that you don’t normally feel, I can guarantee you that this is not going to be a problem after this workout. Now, this is just one way to elicit soreness in your biceps during a workout. There are others that can be done equally effectively and, as you know, it is not a requirement for results depending on what the goal of your training is at the moment. If you are looking for a workout program that puts the science back in strength to help you to build not just big biceps but an entirely muscular and athletic body, be sure to head to http://athleanx.com and get the ATHLEAN-X Training System. Start training smarter and the way your body was designed to train and you will be shocked at how much more quickly your muscles will respond. For more bicep workouts and exercises for your biceps to get them bigger, be sure to subscribe to our channel here on youtube at http://youtube.com/user/jdcav24

Get abs like an athlete with ATHLEAN-X here... http://athleanx.com/x/abs-like-an-athlete-now Home ab workouts are one of the best ways to assist in getting six pack abs. Of course, it starts with a solid nutrition plan to shed the fat that may be overlying the abs. From there however, you need to have an ab workout that is convenient enough to be done anywhere without requiring equipment. This home ab workout is one that can be done with absolutely no equipment and at any ability level. How is that? Because this ab workout uses x-tinction programming. With x-tinction programming you can make any ab exercise challenging regardless of your ab strength. The workout shown in this home abs workout are as follows: - Two down One Ups for 45 seconds with extinction at 45 seconds - Figure 8’s for 60 seconds with extinction at 60 seconds - 21 Crunch for 12 reps with extinction at 12 reps REST 30 SECONDS AND CONTINUE - Scissor V Ups for 45 seconds with extinction at 45 seconds - Hip Touch Planks x 15 each side with extinction at 15 each side - Russian V Tuck Twists x 16 reps each side with extinction at 8 reps This particular home ab workout follows the A-X six pack progression. This takes you through all of your home ab exercises in a specific sequence. You want to perform your lower ab exercises when your strength is freshest since these movements are generally the most challenging. Perform this ab workout circuit following the instructions provided in the video and start using it 5-6 times per week for best results. As noted already, you have to be sure your nutrition is in check if you want to see the results of your new six pack stomach. For a complete step by step meal plan to help you get ripped, six pack abs head to http://athleanx.com and get the ATHLEAN-X Training System. Get daily ab workouts that change all the time so you never do the same one twice. For more ab workouts and killer ab exercise videos, be sure to subscribe to our channel here on youtube at http://youtube.com/user/jdcav24

Increase your pullups and build an athletic body here http://athleanx.com/x/more-pullups-and-a-ripped-body Pullups are one of the best bodyweight exercises that you can do to build a bigger back at home or at the gym. The problem is, the exercise can be very difficult to do many reps even for the most seasoned lifters. In this video, I show you the real reason why you can’t do pullups and it actually doesn’t have to do with your biceps not helping as much as they do on the chinup. The pullup is an exercise that works your back but happens to require a heavy involvement from the arms to do so. Most back exercises are similar in this regard. That said, when attempting to lift your own bodyweight against gravity, it becomes increasingly challenging. You may find however that by simply flipping your hands underhand that you can do way more chinups than you could of the overhand pullup variation. There is a good reason for this. In the pullup, your forearms (specifically your brachioradialis muscle) is required to contribute much more than it is in the chinup. This muscle, if not trained enough, can become your weak link in performing more reps of the pullup exercise. The brachioradialis is most active when the forearm is pronated when the elbow is flexed. If you think of the position of the arm during a pullup you will quickly realize that this is the exact position that you are in. In order to get better at doing pullups you will undoubtedly have to have more strength in your brachioradialis muscle. The best way to do this is with hammer curls, zottman curls, or reverse forearm curls. Each of these flex the elbow with the elbow in either a pronated or neutral position. If you are just starting out and don’t have good strength to do any of these variations however, you can curl the dumbbells up with a supinated grip to maximize the biceps and then rotate to a pronated position and lower (as in the zottman curl). Slowly build up your strength in these forearm exercises and you will find that your pullups will improve. Even if you can’t do one pullup right now, you can start to increase the number that you can do by working on this little worked arm and forearm muscle. The best way to do this is by including movements into your normal biceps or arms workout so you don’t have to do added days or volume. For a complete workout program that tells you exactly how to train like an athlete and overlook nothing in your training, be sure to head to http://athleanx.com and get the ATHLEAN-X Training System. Start doing more pullups and build ripped athletic muscle in just 90 days. For more videos on how to increase your pullups and chinups as well as how to get a bigger back be sure to subscribe to our channel here on youtube at http://youtube.com/user/jdcav24

Burn fat faster than ever - http://athleanx.com/inferno Subscribe to this channel here - http://bit.ly/2b0coMW The best fat burning workout is one in which you aren’t simply doing low intensity cardio, but are incorporating weight training as well. The simple fact is, long term fat loss is going to depend on your ability to build as much lean muscle tissue as possible. Metabolically, this muscle tissue is going to increase your resting caloric burn much more than the body fat that exists at this moment. In this video, I show you a simple dumbbell complex that can be done with a barbell if you have access to a full gym or a more advanced home gym. The bottom line is, this sequence of four dumbbell exercises will get your heart rate soaring and your muscles working in very short order. Perform just 6 rounds this with little to no rest between exercises in the complex and a max of 90 seconds after each round. Your goal is to perform your complex training workouts at least once a week if not more. The key to successful complexes however is to not back load the complexes with exercises that are using relatively heavy weights or that demand high levels of technical skill. Most trainers that program complexes make these mistakes and also don’t take into account the accumulating fatigue. In order to combat the fatigue to maintain good form and the integrity of the exercise, you will want to perform this complex with a descending rep sequence. In other words, you will start off by performing 6 reps in the first round, 5 reps in the second round, 4 reps in the third, and so on and so forth until all rounds are done and you are doing just 1rep of each exercise in the last. Determine the weight you are going to use by choosing your 12RM for your dumbbell overhead shoulder press. Keep the same weight for all of the other exercises in this complex. Again, this is done so that while the weight may be on the light side for the exercises you are performing, it will not jeopardize your body or risk injury when performing them in a fatigued state. The key above all else is to not rest between movements. Simply transition from one exercise in the complex to the next and try not to rest the dumbbells at all when moving from one to the next. While the first round might not feel like much of a struggle, the subsequent rounds will quickly add up and make you feel as if your fat burning has just kicked into third gear! For a complete fat burning workout program that comes with step by step workouts and meal plans for losing fat, be sure to head to http://athleanx.com and get the Inferno Max Shred system. Start seeing fast fat loss in just weeks with our 90 day fat shredding training routine. For more videos on how to lose fat fast and the best workouts for burning fat, be sure to subscribe to our channel here on youtube at http://youtube.com/user/jdcav24

Over 25 pushup variations included in our bodyweight program here… http://athleanx.com/x/zero-equipment-needed The pushup is definitely one of the best (and only) options for building a big chest when training at home. That said, most of us don’t do this bodyweight exercise as effectively as we can be, which is costing us a chance to build the biggest chest or pecs that we can. In this video, I show you the best way to do pushups for a bigger chest by making just one small but important change to the way you do them. To begin, it is important to understand what the function of the chest muscles are in the first place. We are all familiar with their ability to push our arms away from our body as in a bench press. That said, given the orientation of the fibers of the chest, it is actually more important for the pecs to pull your arm across your chest into what is called horizontal adduction. This motion occurs most visibly in exercises like cable crossovers and even dumbbell flyes. That said, especially for athletes, flyes present a risk/reward ratio that isn’t necessarily optimal or even necessary if performed with the arms too far out in an attempt to maximize chest stretch. Even Arnold himself tore his pecs twice during the pec fly while chasing that elusive extra stretch he felt the exercise was providing him. That said, the portion of the horizontal adduction that we should be chasing the most is the end contraction. This comes when are hands are positioned in front of our chests and at or crossing over midline if possible. Now when it comes to pushups, you can immediately see that because our hands are fixed into the ground that it is impossible to actually move them closer together as we complete each rep. That doesn’t mean that we can’t simulate the movement however to engage the chest in a much stronger contraction. As I show you here, you want to be sure that when you come up to the top of each push up, you attempt to pull the hands closer to each other (though they won’t move since they are pressed into the ground) and then turn your forearms away from you. This second part can be accomplished by trying to envision your biceps turning towards the front as you come up. Both of these moves act to fire up the pec muscles even more and get a much stronger contraction on each pushup than you would otherwise get. Simply counting reps when doing push ups is not what is important if you are trying to build muscle at home with this chest exercise. You want to focus on increasing the number of quality reps you perform. The quality means everything. Get a stronger contraction on your pecs and you will be rewarded with better development and chest growth when working out at home (or wherever you decide to incorporate these tips). For a complete bodyweight only workout program that you can do without the need for any equipment at all, be sure to head to http://athleanx.com/xero and get the ATHLEAN XERO program. This muscle building bodyweight only workout is the fastest way to deliver muscle growth when training without equipment or access to a gym. For more videos on how to build a bigger chest, the best chest stretches, and lots of creative pushup variations be sure to subscribe to our channel here on youtube at http://youtube.com/user/jdcav24

Train like an athlete...workout like Bruce Lee here! http://athleanx.com/x/train-like-bruce-lee Perhaps nobody symbolizes the word athlete more than Bruce Lee. With his legendary workout routines and feats of strength, Bruce Lee has become an inspirational workout icon and someone we all can learn how to workout from. In this video, I'm going to cover the 5 main principles of Bruce Lee's workout and diet routine as well as show you some of his favorite exercises. The first principle of Bruce Lee workouts was using muscle tension to your advantage. With total body tension, Lee was able to create more core and abs stability which allowed him to be more powerful from head to toe. Perhaps his most amazing display of this was his fingertip pushups (shown in this video). Next, the iso tension principle was one he incorporated after completing a set of an exercise. For example, following his finger tip pushups, Bruce Lee would attempt to contract all of the muscles involved in that exercise in order to extend the time under tension and develop mind muscle control. The ideal time to use this is for 10 seconds after completing a set, and it's exactly where he included this in his weightlifting routine. Third, Lee believed that you should never attempt to lift a weight that you couldn't actually lift with your own muscles. Momentum is not the fastest way to building more ripped muscle. He proved this with his barbell curl and launch exercise where he was able to show off his strength and control in his workout routine. Next, we can't talk about a Bruce Lee workout without mentioning his ab workout. Known for his dragon flag exercise, Bruce Lee used this demanding core exercise to carve out ripped six pack abs. If you want your own set of Bruce Lee six pack abs though, you're going to have to start training your core more often...daily. I'll show you how to build up to the dragon flag even if you aren't able to hold one right now. Finally, no Bruce Lee workout video is complete without addressing what he felt was one of the most important workout principles...recovery. He believed that you grew away from the gym and not in it. With attention to a good diet, proper sleep, protein supplementation and rest days...Bruce Lee was able to accelerate his muscle growth and stay ripped year round. If you want to start training like the ultimate athlete, then you should head to http://athleanx.com/x/train-like-bruce-lee and get the workout program being used by today's top professional athletes (and guys that want to look and move like them) For more ab exercises and workout routines like Bruce Lee's, be sure to subscribe to our youtube channel at http://youtube.com/user/jdcav24

Get more chest shredding exercises in the complete program http://athleanx.com/x/complete-chest-builder Guys always seek out chest exercises that allow them to target specific areas of their chest like the upper or inner pecs. Some would argue that it's not possible to zero in on these areas of the chest or pectoralis muscle. I would agree that you cannot isolate a particularly area, but saying it's impossible to influence one area over another is simply not true. In this video, I show you how to influence growth in the upper and inner pecs using a single dumbbell. This chest exercise is one that you can easily do at home since you don't need a lot of space or equipment to do it. To perform this upper and inner chest exercise called the crossover shrug, simply grab a dumbbell and stand with it hanging in front of you. Begin by twisting your hand in, so your thumb points towards you, this will internally rotate your shoulder. From here, simultaneously lift the dumbbell up and across your chest as you shrug your shoulder. You should feel an intense squeeze in your pecs as you do this. Slowly lower the dumbbell and repeat for 10-12 reps, making sure to hold the contraction of the pectorals on every rep. Again, you should see and feel the contribution of the different areas of the chest muscle as you perform this move. The key to understanding what makes an effective chest exercise is how much of a complete contraction you can achieve by doing it. Wide grip bench presses for example do not involve enough horizontal adduction at the shoulder to make it the best exercise for building your chest (let alone your upper or inner chest). For a complete workout program that will show you how to develop a complete, ripped muscular chest, be sure to head to http://athleanx.com/x/complete-chest-builder and get the ATHLEAN-X Training System. I show you how top pro athletes build a massive chest by training like an athlete and ignoring the typical gym advice that simply isn't true. For a sample of this type of complete chest workout, be sure to check out this video listed on youtube - http://youtu.be/qhMBm8r1nWY For other chest exercise tips and videos as well as nutrition and supplementation videos, be sure to subscribe to our channel here on youtube at http://youtube.com/user/jdcav24

Daily complete workouts for more than just a big back here http://athleanx.com/x/build-the-complete-physique-here A complete back workout needs a few elements in order to be called this. First of all, if you want to build a complete back you need to focus on building lat width or v-taper, lat thickness or density, and the often overlooked lower back endurance and strength. Many people tend to overlook the last component of this as it is not as impressive as the first two. That said, if you are one of them, you are likely holding back the kind of lats size and strength that you could be seeing from your hard back workouts. Let me explain. The strength of your lumbar paraspinals is crucial if you want to develop a complete back. Your lats and rhomboids rely on the stability that your lower back muscles can provide you for the big lifts. Think about the deadlift, row, or the barbell dead row (as seen in this video) and realize just how important the stability of the lower back is to helping you lift a lot of weight on those moves not to mention stay healthy when performing them. If your lower back is weak you will either break form and get injured or you won’t be able to create the stabile platform that your lats and upper back need to exert their strength. That said, in this back workout video, I show you a complete back workout routine that you can do to start building a seriously bigger, wider back. I start by targeting the mid back with heavy lat pulldowns and barbell dead rows. These two exercises aim to increase the thickness and width of the v-taper in the lats. I perform 3-4 sets of each with a weight that allows me to get 8-10 solid but heavy reps in good form. Before moving onto the next zone however I finish up this one with a combination exercise that targets the all important low back muscle endurance. I do this with the static hyperextension with dumbbell Y lift. Next I move onto the often times weaker upper back muscles. Here I hit them with the hi-boy rows and perpendicular landmine rows. These two exercises allow me to alter my bar path to allow my elbows to travel higher up on my chest. This allows me to work the upper back much more efficiently and overload once again with the same rep and loading scheme as before. Once again I finish with a new version of the static hyperextension exercise. This time I row a pair of dumbbells for 12-15 reps while trying to keep the tension and strength in my lower back. I finish with the angle of death back exercise. This complete back exercise is the perfect ending for the complete back workout. As you can see, it hits every part of my back and the rest of my posterior chain. I try to do as many reps as I can until failure. If you want to start looking much more athletic, with ripped muscles from head to toe, you need to start training like an athlete. This means working muscles together that prefer to work together and having a plan every time you hit the gym. The ATHLEAN-X Training system available at http://athleanx.com does exactly that. If you want to start building 100% ripped athletic muscle in the next 90 days, I invite you to get the program and let me coach you through every workout. For more back workouts to build wider lats, thicker mid back or just overall back and lat strength, be sure to subscribe to our channel here on youtube at http://youtube.com/user/jdcav24