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Do You Do This During Ab Workouts? 5 Mistakes You Might Be Making

Do You Do This During Ab Workouts? 5 Mistakes You Might Be Making

by | May 4, 2025 | Blog, Core, Exercises, Pain Relief, Workouts

Feel like your ab workouts aren’t paying off? This video’s your missing link.

Because harder moves don’t mean better results.

We can be doing all the “right” exercises—and still not see the payoff.

Why?

Because we’re compensating. Letting our hips or lower back take over instead of our abs doing the work.

And when that happens, we start to blame the moves—even the ones we should be doing.

We write them off because they cause pain. But it’s not the move. It’s how you’re doing it.

So let’s fix that. Let’s stop the aches and pains. Let’s make sure every rep actually builds the strong abs you’re working for.

Here are 5 common ab training mistakes—and how to fix them.

MISTAKE #1: Doing moves you haven’t earned.

Moves need to fit our current fitness level, needs and goals. When we do exercises we haven’t earned, we end up using the incorrect muscles to power the movements.

This is why we can end up feeling our lower back or hip flexors over our abs working during certain core movements.

Too often we then try to put a bandaid on the issue to power through.

Doing a harder move is better, right?

WRONG!

Regress to progress.

Modifying a move doesn’t mean making it easier on yourself – it means allowing yourself to optimize the exercise.

A prime example of this is putting your hands behind your lower back during leg lower exercises.

Placing your hands under your lower back might feel better in the moment, but it’s not teaching you to properly control the exercise and brace your abs.

Instead of putting your hands behind your lower back to cheat and do a move you haven’t earned, learn to properly brace by regressing to the pelvic tilt hold.

Then build back up.

Learn to truly engage your abs through that tuck of your pelvis toward your ribs. This will protect your lower back and allow you to use your abs to stabilize, even engage your glutes as well.

When you can control this hold, you can then begin to add back in movement, using a pelvic tilt with march.

Then a double knee tuck before building back to a single leg lower and finally the full double leg lower movement.

By building up the right way, you’ll actually work your abs and be amazed at how much stronger they get.

Don’t let ego in doing a harder move hold you back.

MISTAKE #2: Demonizing spinal flexion moves like crunches and sit ups.

Crunches and sit-ups often get written off and even demonized.

But these bodyweight basics work our abs through spinal flexion. Something that planks or big heavy lifts don’t do.

It’s our abs’ job to power that rounding of our spine so we want to include moves that train it.

The key is using these moves correctly so that we don’t rely just on our hip flexors or end up overusing our lower back.

Spinal flexion is about thinking of the curl or roll up of one vertebrae at a time.

Starting out, you may find crunches are easiest to control as they are a more isolated movement. You’re only having to really focus on your abs powering a smaller range of motion to flex your spine and lift through your shoulder blades.

Really focus on your abs curling your upper back off the ground as you press your lower back down into it.

The crunch can really help you focus on that ab activation and mind-body connection because it is so isolated.

Then you can start to move into sit ups, learning to control the full roll up.

Too often with sit ups we just, well, sit up, letting our feet flop around or using momentum, even swinging or arching back overhead when we lay down.

Instead slow things down and think about rounding forward as you reach toward your toes to roll up. Then slowly lowering one vertebra at a time back down

But don’t avoid training this movement pattern. It may not only be the key to getting the amazing strong and defined abs you want (with your diet dialed in of course) but may even help you avoid back pain in your other lifting exercises!

MISTAKE #3: Not focusing on the correct muscles working.

Often we are including many of the “right” core moves, we’re just trying to mimic what we think is proper form and not performing the full exercise or using the correct muscles to power the full movement.

It goes back to mistake #1…we’re trying to do an exercise we haven’t earned so we cheat.

We do leg lowers where we aren’t bracing our abs properly with the posterior pelvic tilt so we’re only really using our hip flexors to lift and lower.

Or we’re doing hanging ab moves and not actually curling our knees toward our elbows by rounding through our spine, we’re only bending and extending at our hips to tuck our knees up.

If you feel your hip flexors working during these reverse crunch or leg raise movements, your hip flexors are what are getting worked. Not your abs.

This perpetuates aches and pains and makes all of our hard work not pay off the way it should.

And even backfire. Because not only can this lead to hip flexor issues, but tight, overworked hip flexors can perpetuate our lower back pain.

Focus on that true spinal flexion. The posterior pelvic tilt is spinal flexion with that tuck of your pelvis toward your ribs.

That curling of your knees toward your elbows as you hang is spinal flexion.

Focus on that movement and regress to progress if you need so you can.

Try an incline ab variation or even lying reverse crunch with overhead hold. But train the proper movement and recruitment pattern.

Don’t just focus on doing the move, focus on what you feel working!

MISTAKE #4: Training to fatigue over using frequency to your advantage.

Have you ever just thought, “I just need to get through the moves!” then rushed through the exercises while tired knowing you were a bit sloppy?

Quality matters. Yet so often we focus on quantity.

We seek to be sore and tired.

Instead of trying to destroy your abs in a workout and do a ton of reps and sets, lower the volume and train them more frequently over the week.

And have a clear set routine you repeat each week, don’t randomly string things together.

While ab exercises can and should be done for higher reps, like 15-25 per set with generally lighter loads if any weight, you still don’t want to focus on just doing 100s of reps in a day.

Spread out that volume over the week. When you are fresher and less fatigued for the moves, you’ll perform a better quality of work.

You may find you are even able to do more advanced variations for all the reps than you could have had you stacked them all together.

And you put yourself at less risk for getting tired and then calling on other muscles to help you power through the moves.

Think about even just a couple of moves done for 2-3 sets 3-4 times a week even.

MISTAKE #5: Focusing on doing more over intensity.

A 2-minute plank where you’re zoning out? Not helpful.

Yet so often we focus on doing more over not only the quality but also the intensity of each rep.

When you’re doing an exercise, focus on really challenging yourself with the movement. Focus on what you feel working and engaging that muscle fully.

With bodyweight movements like the plank, use that mind-body connection to try to engage your abs, and entire core, harder to create shakeage.

Yes shakeage.

Focus on your back supporting your shoulders, bracing that core as if being punched in the gut with that slight posterior pelvic tilt. Flex your quads and drive back hard through your heels.

Don’t let yourself relax during the movement. Create that tension.

Because holding longer while cheating may make your ego feel good, but it isn’t making those abs work more.

We often end up compensating as well, which is why we feel our hips or back the next day even if we didn’t notice during.

It’s not about the clock — it’s about the tension.

You want to feel like you’re barely surviving a 15 second hold the more advanced you are over having ego in just going longer.

You want to use that more advanced ab move, even if you have to pause to complete all the reps.

Shorten the time. Maximize the effort and intensity.

Stop going through the motions with your workouts or letting ego lead to you trying to do moves you haven’t earned.

Regress to progress, focus on that quality of work and be intentional with every move you do!

This will lead to you building the strong abs you want, you can then reveal through proper nutrition!

For amazing workouts to help you build your leanest, strongest body ever, check out my Dynamic Strength program:

–> Dynamic Strength

How to Lose That LAST 5-10 lbs of Stubborn Fat

How to Lose That LAST 5-10 lbs of Stubborn Fat

by | Apr 20, 2025 | Blog, Diet, Workouts

“I’ve only got 5lbs to lose. That shouldn’t take that long. Maybe a month! It’s so little.”

EH! WRONG.

The cold hard truth about getting lean? The closer you get to your goal, the harder the process often gets.

And the slower results happen.

So what do we do when it feels like things aren’t happening fast enough?

We slash our calories lower. We try to train harder and longer. We do more.

But this exact desire to do more is what sabotages us.

Instead, when you have those last few pounds to lose you think shouldn’t take too long to get off?

Double or triple at least the time you’re giving yourself to lose them.

Or even step off the scale altogether if you really want to look lean.

Because while sure, you could lose those 5lbs in a month, heck you could probably deplete water weight and glycogen stores and lose them in a couple of weeks in some cases easily…

True fat loss, especially fat loss to finally see that lean muscle definition you want, is SLOW.

You can’t rush the process.

When you have less to lose, the more you try to implement practices to speed things up often the more you end up sending yourself into burnout, both mental and physical…

…sabotaging your metabolic health…
…losing but not looking leaner…
…And ultimately rebounding right back up to where you started and sometimes even higher only to be frustrated that nothing ever works.

The reality is, these overnight transformations are myths.

Because what we logically know but emotionally forget when looking at them is that we’re only seeing the tip of the iceberg.

We’re only seeing that last little bit of effort and results that was built off of potential years and decades of other training and dieting and lifestyle practices as well as genetics.

I bring this up because honestly…so often we don’t reach our goals not because we need a new tactic.

But because we just need to give results more TIME.

We need to do the hard thing of doubling down on what we’re doing. Doubling down on our commitment to consistency.

Over getting distracted by something new. Doing something more.

That’s what leads to us achieving a goal that is beyond what we’ve achieved before.

Or a goal we haven’t been at for a very very long time.

Years, decades aren’t reversed in weeks or months. We forget sometimes how long we’ve had the weight on.

We forget how many routines and habits we’ve built up.

And our body fights the weight loss process.

This exact fight is what will be used to our advantage when we finally reach the level we want and want to maintain it.

But in trying to lose that last little bit, this desire by our body to maintain balance makes everything slower.

It’s why every time we try to rush the process, we only sabotage ourselves.

That’s why I want to share these quick tips and reminders so that you go back to those basics. So that you stay focused on them and dial them back in when 1% deviations happen.

As unsexy as it is, as much as you want to find a magic pill or something that will make it happen faster…

You’re looking for some ah-ha moment…

The reality is often we need to be reminded more than we need to be taught.

We need to be reminded of those boring basic habits and mindsets we’re letting slide as we try to add on and do more to rush the process.

So reminder #1…manage your expectations.

If you tell yourself it will take triple the time to achieve your goal, you’ll more often be pleasantly surprised when results happen faster.

You’ll be motivated by the “quick” progress.

But if you tell yourself that results should happen tomorrow, when they don’t, you’ll be frustrated that things are happening too slowly and give up.

Our expectations can make or break our success.

And ultimately, you can’t control the rate at which results happen. All you can control is your daily habits!

So control those daily habits with reminder #2…Have a plan and roadmap laid out.

You want to reach your goal most efficiently?

You need a clear plan you follow.

You wouldn’t get in a car to drive to a destination you haven’t been without directions. You’d get lost and frustrated and waste a ton of time.

Heck, you may even turn back at some point and go home.

Yet so often this is how we approach our weight loss goals – with no directions.

We just jump in the car and drive.

Have a clear workout plan and nutritional strategy outlined. This also helps you have focused habits to be consistent with and track what is and isn’t working to adjust.

Reminder #3…Measure progress in multiple ways.

Have you ever thought, “How do I know if the program’s working?”

Success leaves clues.

They just aren’t always directly related to the exact goal outcome we want right away.

When we want to lose those last 5-10lbs, often if we’re focused on making true lifestyle and habit changes, the scale won’t be the first thing to change even.

But you may realize you’re sleeping better from eating better.

Your workouts feel stronger.

You’re improving your pull ups.

You don’t have an energy lull in the afternoon.

Your pants feel a little less snug.

We do get signs we’re doing things that are good for us and our goals. We just have to pause to notice them and not get so focused only on one outcome.

It’s why setting complementary targets or goals to help you track progress and repeat the habits you know you need can be key.

The more ways we measure success, the more ways we are successful.

And the more likely we are to realize that results ARE happening even when we feel like they aren’t!

Reminder #4 – Pride yourself on doing the boring stuff.

Yup. The daily boring habits we repeat are ultimately what add up. Tracking your macros consistently while even repeating some meals.

Waking up at the same time with the alarm that jolts us out of bed to hit the gym.

Because honestly, the two fundamentals to amazing results are doing your strength workouts and dialing in your macros consistently day in and day out.

Too often we don’t celebrate the DOING of these daily habits though.

Instead often we think “Do I really have to do this the rest of my life?”

It’s because we go ON a diet over ADJUSTING our diet.

We never really embrace the value in them.

Instead, we feel obligated to do them.

But you don’t have to do them – you’re choosing to do them.

So on those days you least want to do the habits you “should,” realize you GET to do them and celebrate your strength to keep going, perfecting those boring basics.

Which honestly hits on Reminder #5 – You won’t always want to do what you “should.”

I’ve said it myself…the popular line of “eat whatever you want and see results.”

And I really pushed that for awhile because for me it was a realization that getting results didn’t have to mean forcing myself into someone else’s clean eating mold.

But that sentiment has now gotten distorted and morphed into this belief that there won’t be discomfort in change.

That reaching a goal won’t have some sacrifices or make us do things we don’t want to do.

But the reality is your results are built off of doing the hard thing when you least want to do it.

That’s even what builds strength, confidence and you feeling truly your best when you do achieve your goal.

Because we value what we’ve fought for.

So if you’re resisting these reminders…

If you’re resisting going back to basics and just committing more time to doing what you’ve…well…been doing and following your laid out plan…

STOP.

Don’t do more. That’s your urge to avoid the hard. It seems easier to try to control things by adding. By chasing something new.

Just keep going.

Final reminder…often to lose those last few pounds, you don’t need more tactics…you need more time!

It can be hard to trust the process when it feels like nothing is working and we aren’t making progress. This is why having a coach can be key. It keeps us consistent past the point we want to quit.

To build your leanest, strongest body ever and learn to MAINTAIN your results long-term, check out my 1:1 Coaching…

–> Schedule Your Consultation

Add This To Your Shoulder Workout (AT HOME!)

Add This To Your Shoulder Workout (AT HOME!)

by | Apr 15, 2025 | Blog, Bodyweight, Exercises, Workouts

When training at home or when we travel without access to equipment, it can feel like there are some body parts that are hard to hit and exercises that are hard to replicate.

But we can get in a killer workout no matter what.

That’s why I wanted to share a great replacement exercise for the overhead press if you want to target your shoulders without any weights.

That move is the Pike Push Up.

However, this push up variation is much harder than we realize and you don’t want to…well…drop yourself on your head while doing it.

Please regress to progress and make sure you build up to this deceptively hard yet simple move.

To help you build up I’m going to share some form tips to implement this move correctly but also an amazing modification.

Because with the pike push up you can mimic that vertical press to work not only your shoulders but also your triceps and core!

The key is actually performing this push up variation though as the vertical press!

First, let’s break down the form on the full pike push up.

If you want to get the vertical pressing benefits of this push up variation, you’ve got to make sure you’re actually performing a vertical press.

It is easy to let this move become more of a horizontal push as you fatigue. But the more you start to let yourself drift into more of a traditional push up position, the less you’re going to emphasize your shoulders and triceps and the more your chest is going to begin to work.

You may find your pike push up turns more into a decline variation, which isn’t bad, it’s just not working the same muscles to the same extents!

To do the pike push up, you want to place your feet up on a bench or couch or stair. The higher the platform, the more challenging this move will be.

The platform allows you to shift more weight onto your arms for added resistance.

Walk your hands back so your butt is up in the air and your chest is facing back toward the wall behind you with your arms extended.

You want to try to create as straight a line as possible from your hands up to your butt.

As you begin to lower, you will shift forward just slightly as you lower your head toward the ground at about your fingertips.

Think about the similar movement of the overhead press but in reverse.

When your head is near the ground, that’s like the bar at about your chest.

Then as you extend your arms out to push back up in the pike, that’s like you pressing the bar overhead.

You want to think “vertical press” and push your butt up toward the ceiling.

You just don’t want to end up rocking so forward your hands are at your shoulders or chest. This isn’t that incline bench or decline push up.

You can even lower your head down to lightly touch the ground before pressing back up. Really focus on pushing that ground away with your entire hand.

As you get tired it is easy to not notice you start to push forward off your feet and move into less of that vertical position.

While you ARE pushing off your toes on the bench to load your weight vertically, you want to push your butt up toward the ceiling not rock back and forth.

If you notice as you fatigue your hands creeping out from the platform or your butt sinking, pause and reset or even modify.

This seems simple, but is much harder than it looks.

That’s why you may want to start first off the ground from a more downward dog position, doing the Downward Dog Pike Push Up.

With this variation your feet will be on the ground and you’ll set up almost as if you’re doing the downward dog.

But even off the ground you have room to modify more or less.

The more forward you walk your feet, the more challenging the move will get.

You want to even shift your weight a bit forward onto your hands if possible to make it harder.

You then want to maintain that nice straight line from your hands on the ground up your spine to your butt as you lower your head between your fingertips then press the ground away to extend your arms straight back out.

Just be conscious you don’t rock forward and drop your butt or you’ll end up turning this into more of a regular push up.

You want to focus on those triceps and shoulders and feel like you’re pushing your butt up into the air.

If you film yourself doing this, you want to still see an angled press with your arms in line with your body and spine as you extend out.

Visualizing that barbell or dumbbell press can help!

You can walk your feet closer to your hands and really push up onto your toes before then moving your feet to a low incline to progress.

If you’re struggling to control the more downward dog position though, do not walk your feet in toward your hands yet

Instead even consider putting your hands on an incline like a stair.

By raising your hands up, you reduce the resistance on your upper body, helping you practice that vertical press with a lighter weight.

Regress to progress and focus on the proper movement and feeling your shoulders and triceps working.

There is always a way to match our fitness level and even the equipment we have on hand to get in a great workout based on our needs and goals!

But try one of these pike push up variations, using what you need based on your abilities now.

Just like we change up tools and weights and reps to create progression with the overhead press, you can vary resistance through inclines and foot positions with the pike push up.

You can even change up the tempo you use to perform the pike push up, slowing down just parts of the exercise.

And then you can use it for interval work or different rep and set designs as needed.

When we don’t have access to equipment we can still challenge ourselves and build muscle and strength with fabulous workouts!

Want amazing workouts you can do anywhere?

–> Check Out Dynamic Strength

How To Build Muscle (Using Double Progression)

How To Build Muscle (Using Double Progression)

by | Mar 23, 2025 | Blog, Exercises, Workouts

Gaining muscle is a slow process.

While you’d think being a more experienced exerciser would have its advantages, gaining muscle faster isn’t one of them. It actually gets harder the longer we’ve been training.

That’s why it is key, no matter our fitness level, that we focus on the double progression technique to maximize our efficiency and see better muscle and strength gains faster.

Before I go over what double progression is and how to use it in your routine, I want to shed some light on how quickly we can actually expect to see muscle gains, especially based on how long we’ve been training.

And I will tell you, one of the BIGGEST things holding many back from truly seeing their hard work pay off in the gym IS the nutritional component which I’ll touch on a tip at the end.

But in terms of how fast you can see results…

Lyle McDonald’s research shows us that a more newbie lifter can gain up to 1lbs per month as a woman and up to 2lbs as a male.

With each year of training that goes down.

At just even 4 years of training experience, which many of us have been training for decades even, muscle gains are just even a few pounds per YEAR. Yes, not per month, per year! Women can see .1lbs per month and men .25lbs per month.

And this is often when our training is even more optimized for results. Which honestly…most of our training routines aren’t.

Not in a bad way, we just don’t push the progression as much as we could because we’re worn out from life.

We include too much cardio.

We miss days.

We get bored and want to try something new over staying consistent.

Heck we even try to do too much to try to rush results.

Or we simply don’t really fuel to promote our hard work in the gym.

But we’re human! This is going to happen!

That’s why I think it’s key we not only A. Remember to be patient but B. Also take ourselves back to basics and refocus on quality and intentionality with those basic systems over just trying to work harder and do more.

And that’s why I want to remind you of this key training technique – double progression.

So what is double progression and how can you use it?

Have you ever in your workouts had a rep range of 6-12 reps and picked a weight, gotten 12 reps and just stayed there for all the sets?

It felt “hard enough?”

You could have pushed harder.

Or have you ever just done the bare minimum in reps with weights and then tried to go up in weight the next week only to find you can’t keep going heavier week after week in your progression and are maxed out?

You’ve wasted another way to progress!

Trust me, I’ve been guilty of these both at times. Trying to push too hard with only changing loads. Or just going to the top of the rep range and stopping there.

I’ve even had times where I’m constantly changing weights and reps all at the same time.

But this all holds us back even when we FEEL like we’re working hard.

It’s also not a strategic, intentional build that allows us to truly push and optimize.

And this is where Double Progression can help.

Double progression helps you progress the same move in two different ways – by adjusting reps and by adjusting weight, but with one driving the other.

This method regulates how you increase both volume but also intensity of your training.

So…How it works….

It can be used with any rep range you have assigned (let’s say you’re doing 6-12 reps).

Once you hit the top of that range for a certain number of sets (usually 1-3), you’ll increase weight (generally not more than 5-10 pounds).

You want this increase to force you back down toward the bottom of that rep range (so more like 6-8 reps).

You’ll then keep this weight until you can again hit 12 reps for 1-3 rounds. At that time, you’ll move back to increasing weight.

With this double progression, you’re first working to increase reps, which is volume, before then progressing by increasing weight, or the intensity.

This is that double progression.

An example of this may be if you’re doing Goblet Squats for 6-12 reps and you decide if you can do one set of 12 you’ll increase. You have 3 working sets.

You do 12 reps with your weight for your first round. So you go up.

The next round, you can only do 8 reps with the heavier weight. So you stay there for the final round, performing another 8 reps.

Next week you start with that same weight but do 10 reps. You can stay there for all 3 rounds.

The following week you again are able to do 12 reps so you go up.

This push to get out more reps with a weight before increasing is what helps you optimally drive muscle growth, maintaining proper form while constantly pushing that progression.

But there may be some times we misjudge weights, going too light or too heavy.

There may be times that you find you go up in weight and can again hit the top end of that range. Don’t be afraid to go up again.

There may also be times that you miss the bottom of the rep range when increasing weights.

If this happens, you may find you drop down to a weight between what you had used and the weight you’re now using.

If you don’t have a weight between or feel like you can maintain proper form with just a quick pause between a few reps, you may pause for 15-20 seconds to complete the reps.

Just then stay at this weight for longer to progress that volume.

If you are doing 3 rounds and find you miss the rep range on the first round, you can then either use the short pause to keep the weight over the rounds or even lower weights for the final rounds, knowing the lighter weight will be harder simply because of going heavier to start.

The key is to focus on increasing the number of reps you can do first with a weight before you then add weight over always just trying to go heavier.

But part of what also pushes you with double progression is not just stopping at a rep number because it’s the top one listed. This pushes you to truly test out your limits, even working down in reps as you add weight!

Don’t be afraid to use this technique with any lift you include in your workout routine where you really want to make sure you’re maximizing your efforts, especially if you’ve felt stuck in your progression!

Now, the one very side note I wanted to mention with nutrition to optimize your muscle gains…

Eat to fuel that growth!

If you’re putting in this work to build muscle in the gym, you need to make sure your diet is working with you, not against you.

Too often I see clients, especially after a weight loss phase, not eating enough. Partly because they’ve trained their body to function in a deficit and the hunger cues even aren’t there.

Partly because they are afraid of gaining fat, which I totally get.

But building muscle requires us to have adequate fuel to not only truly be able to train hard but also to build more muscle, which requires more energy to be maintained.

This doesn’t mean go crazy with the surplus, but if you’ve been struggling to build, you need to assess whether your diet is truly in line with your goals.

Be conscious that with building muscle, especially the more advanced you are, the more precise you sometimes need to be in optimizing your diet to complement.

But if you want to build more strength and muscle, make sure you’re using this double progression technique in your training while fueling those gains!

Dial in your workouts to build muscle and strength and see that amazing definition…

–> Learn more about Dynamic Strength

10 Ways to Progress Your Workouts (Without Adding Weight)

10 Ways to Progress Your Workouts (Without Adding Weight)

by | Jan 26, 2025 | Blog, Exercises, Functional Fitness, Workouts

Weights are not the only way to progress your workouts and build strength and muscle.

And the more advanced an exerciser you are, the more you have to even turn to other forms of progression in our workouts to keep seeing results.

These tips are helpful too when training at home or traveling to help you create that challenge to build.

So whether you’re finding yourself stuck at the loads you’re currently using, don’t have heavier weights available or simply need to challenge yourself through the same but different, these 10 forms of progression will help.

#1: Combine Equipment.

Different forms of resistance work in different ways.

Combining two tools can not only help you add resistance when you don’t have a clearly heavier weight but also take advantage of the different ways tools challenge you.

Try combining a band with your dumbbell exercise.

This way you not only have the weight of the dumbbell, but the challenge of the band that increases as it is stretched and forces you to control and decelerate as it shortens.

You’ll be surprised by how even a light band exponentially increases the challenge.

You’ll even find this can emphasize or activate different muscles to a greater extent. Like on a single leg deadlift, you may be surprised by how much more you are able to engage that glute!

#2: Adjust The Range Of Motion.

Changing up the range of motion we are working through can help us challenge our body in different ways.

By shrinking the range of motion and doing more pulses with an exercise, we can spend more time under tension.

This can really isolate a muscle to work it to fatigue.

We can even work muscles under differing amounts of stretch to not only build muscle but address weaker links or areas in the movement.

And pulses can be combined with moves that work the same muscles through the full range of motion to take muscles closer to fatigue when we don’t have heavier weights.

We can also increase the range of motion for exercises to increase the difficulty of a move and load the muscle under greater stretch.

Loading a muscle through a greater stretch has been shown to not only improve muscle gains but also helps you really create stability and strength through a full range of motion so that you mobility work truly pays off!

#3: Create Instability.

When we think about making a move more unstable, we may go straight to adding in an unstable surface like doing a move on a balance board or bosu.

And while these are ways to create instability and force muscles to really activate more and work harder to stay balanced, instability can also be created through taking a bilateral, or two leg or arm movement and making it a unilateral or single leg or arm exercise.

Exercises can be included all along that continuum from two sided to one sided as well based on our exact needs and goals and even to use progression through the same but different.

For example, you could do a two legged deadlift variation, an 80/20 variation, a slider variation, a bench variation, a hand assisted variation and then a full single leg deadlift.

And even if you can do the full single leg, you may use these others to create more or less stability based on the loads you have. Even combining two forms of resistance as you vary the stability demands!

You’ll even notice how other tools besides just an unstable surface, like the sliders, can add instability.

So don’t be afraid to get creative even using things like the suspension trainer or bands to add a little stability challenge to moves!

#4: Adjust Load Placement.

Load placement, or how you hold the weights or resistance, can not only challenge different muscles to different extents, but can actually be another way to create instability as well.

An uneven or offset load, holding two different weights, or a weight on just one side, can really challenge your core especially to stabilize and work.

Where you hold the weight can help you progress moves to target different areas without necessarily going heavier too.

Consider the goblet position, holding a weight up at your chest to work your core more during a lunge over down at your sides.

Even load just one side to work those obliques and fight that rotation and lean.

And on lower body moves, like reverse lunges or step ups, holding the weight in the opposing hand can even help you focus on targeting those glutes more.

But varying where you are placing the weight can create a new challenge to help you build muscle and strength!

#5: Change Up The Tempo Of Moves.

This can mean pausing and holding in moves, it can mean slowing them down or even speeding them up based on your goal for the exercise.

But adjusting the pace at which you do moves can really have an impact on whether you’re even working to build power or strength.

And both improving your strength and your power can help you build muscle overall.

Don’t be afraid to even use different tempos throughout the move.

You may slow down the lower down in a pull up, but return to the top quickly. You may even add in pauses at different points in the move to work on weaker areas.

Slowing down the eccentric especially, or the part of the move where the prime mover muscle is lengthening, can not only lead to greater muscle gains but even allow you to do a move advanced variation of an exercise than you otherwise would be able to.

And this can help you further build strength. I love using it especially to build up moves like push ups or pull ups!

#6: Spend More Time Under Tension.

Tempos really have an impact on your time under tension, but I wanted to mention time under tension, and specifically more time under tension as its own form of progression for a reason…

Because you can also impact time under tension through range of motion and even workout design.

With time under tension, you are getting a muscle to spend more time working.

Slowing down the tempo of a move makes a muscle work for longer, but so can adjusting the range of motion, both increasing it but also shrinking it.

In moves like even the Get Up Lunge, you’re increasing the range of motion of a basic lunge to go all the way down to the ground, but you’re also shrinking it in that you’re not standing up at the top.

So your legs never completely get a break. They’re in that working range of motion the entire time. And this can create a great challenge without you adding heavier and heavier loads.

Even adjusting workout design to combine moves or use intervals of work, which I’ll go over more in tip 8 can have an impact!

But getting those muscles to work hard for longer can help you increase that challenge!

#7: Switch Up Postures and Positions.

Simply adjusting the posture or position you are doing an exercise from can dramatically change the challenge of it and even the extent to which you feel muscles working.

We don’t realize how much we can often use other muscles or even seek out mobility from other areas to assist.

So even changing up an overhead press from standing to seated may make us have to check our ego and even go lighter with weights.

Changes in our posture can even help us target different aspects of a muscle.

Like a glute bridge and curl is going to hit our hamstrings in a different way than a deadlift because we are working the muscles by moving at different joints.

So don’t be afraid to vary how you’re doing those same basic moves or even consider how to include different exercises to target the same muscles!

#8: Vary Your Workout Design.

We can often get very “married” to specific ways of programming.

I often see people wanting their body part splits over the weeks and workouts with one move done in isolation.

Or they need specific intervals or circuits.

But we need to realize that sometimes varying up our reps, sets, rest intervals and such can really impact how we’re challenging our bodies.

Especially when you don’t have heavier weights, consider timed intervals of work to help you push past failure and do those few extra reps.

Consider even back to back intervals working the same area but with one move that is compound and one that is isolation.

This combination of isolation and compound can even be key if you don’t use intervals but do count reps and sets.

While we may often do a superset when we have heavier weights to allow one area to rest as the other works, sometimes doing back to back moves for the same muscle group can help us work it closer to fatigue when we don’t have heavier weights to challenge ourselves.

Don’t be afraid too to use different rep ranges. If you can challenge yourself for 6 reps great, but if you then have another move that you need 15 or even 20 reps to feel add up, don’t be afraid to use both rep ranges even in the same series!

But realize that how you adjust exercise order and even use different rep and set designs can have a huge impact!

#9: Increase Training Density.

How we design our workouts can also have a huge impact on our training density. But I think it is key to note this as a form of progression on its own.

Because training density is the amount of work you can complete in a certain amount of time.

And often to try to do more volume of work (more reps and set), our workouts just get longer and longer.

But this doesn’t have to be the case.

While we don’t just want to cut out rest from our workouts and turn our strength training into cardio and we don’t want to just add more reps and sets when we don’t have weights to create more fatigue, we can use training density to our advantage to see results.

Because often when we are training with lighter loads, a greater volume of work is needed.

This is also why workout design is so important to consider. Doing even things like timed supersets, compound sets or circuits, or Density Training, can be key to helping you get in more work without increasing time.
Your goal is to use harder variations and basically move more weight but without increasing time and through this create progression.

So consider each week how you can do a harder variation or another rep but in the 10-15 minutes you’ve set for that series!

#10: Adjust Your Workout Schedule.

Many of us may have grown up seeing those body part split workout schedules where each day you work a different area.

But not only have studies shown that more frequently working an area, 2-3 times a week, can be beneficial, but the more you don’t have loads to challenge you, the more you do want to use volume of work, or even training density to your advantage.

And this isn’t just in a single workout, but even something to consider over an extended timeline of a week.

If you are training with limited tools or struggling to build an area, consider adjusting your workout weekly split.

Consider more full body workouts or even hemisphere, dividing routines into upper and lower workouts.

You can even do anterior/posterior splits focusing more on those frontside vs. backside muscles in routines.

But vary what you’re including in your workouts to create that progression, even down to using different tools, different moves, different tempos, all of these other forms of progression, over the week to see results!

Remember we can create a challenge and see better results through not just adding weights but using these other 10 forms of progression! Which will you include in your workouts for a new challenge?

Want amazing workouts you can do anywhere? Check out my Dynamic Strength program…

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The 3 Best Back Exercises (YOU CAN DO AT HOME)

The 3 Best Back Exercises (YOU CAN DO AT HOME)

by | Dec 29, 2024 | Blog, Exercises, Travel Workouts, Workouts

You can get in a killer workout without going to the gym. You can see amazing results training at home or when you travel.

So don’t try to use the fact that you can’t get to the gym as an excuse!

However, we need to recognize that there is often one muscle group overlooked and underworked in our bodyweight workouts, especially when we don’t have any equipment on hand.

And that muscle group is our BACKS.

We do push up variations for our chest, shoulders and triceps and even core.

We can lunge and squat and stair step ups and single leg deadlifts and glute bridges to work our legs, including our glutes, quads, hamstrings and even adductors.

We can do planks and crunches and sit ups to work our abs and core.

But our backs are often overlooked in our programming.

That’s why I wanted to share 3 of my favorite ways to target your back, and even your biceps, when training at home WITHOUT a pull up bar!

The first way requires your own bodyweight and a wall or floor…which thankfully all of us have on hand at any time.

So no matter what, we can all do forms of the Scapular Hold or Scapular Reps.

This move is honestly something I even include for my clients at the gym as well because of how amazing it is for back activation and scapular control.

And you can do it either as an isometric or hold to focus on what you feel working and engage as hard as possible or even for reps.

If you do it for reps, unlike traditional rows where your biceps can take over, the scapular wall or floor reps prevent your arms from assisting in that this move is actually a PRESS over a PULL for your back.

You’ll push off your elbows, pressing your chest out as you draw your shoulder blades toward your spine to row up and out.

Standing against a wall make sure you don’t walk out too far and end up shrugging.

And off the ground you can have your legs out straight or knees bent, but make sure you aren’t turning this move into a sit up.

The move needs to be powered by the back and pushing away through the elbows.

To do reps, you’ll lower back to the wall or floor each time. To do the isometric, you’ll simply hold in that pressed position.

But focus on feeling your back engage to press your chest out and open. And brace your abs as you flex your glutes and quads to keep your core engaged and that nice plank position, especially off the wall.

You will find too that the wall is a bit easier to control than the floor and the less you walk your feet away from the wall, the more modified the move is, making this easy to adapt to every fitness level!

And these aren’t the only back moves you can do with just your own bodyweight.

Plank Rows, scapular push ups and even scapular wings are all great options to really focus on that back engagement through targeting that shoulder blade movement toward your spine.

The Plank Rows and Scapular Push Ups have the added benefit of more core work too!

And if you do need to modify, they can be done off a couch edge or table and the scapular push ups can even be done single arm off the wall! This truly is an amazing move for ALL fitness levels!

The second home tool you can use to work your back is a doorway or stair rail to perform Doorway Rows, both single arm and two-arm!

With this move, your bodyweight will be your resistance. And you’ll feel not only your back and bicep but even your legs and core with this move.

It is a great way to work that full pulling movement. The key is not just pulling with your arms, but actually driving your elbows back.

You want to as feel your shoulder blades move toward your spine to engage you back to power the pull.

You can do this as both a single arm or two arm pull, but the single arm will often be more challenging.

You can also do this as an anti-rotational or rotational single arm row.

You can choose to fight any torso movement…

Or actually consciously include it, rotating toward the stair rail as you row in and opening up and toward the ground as you extend your arm out.

And to progress this move further, slow down the tempo of the pull, even pausing when you row in!

Just make sure you are truly feeling your back engage and not just pulling with your arm with this row!

The third tool I love to use when training at home is a towel.

Using a towel you can actually work your back in so many different ways – from rows to flies to even pull downs.

With using a towel, you can do self-resisted movements. This means you are creating tension through the towel to create resistance for the movement.

This can allow you to do single arm flies and rows, resisting the move by pulling with the other hand.

Or you can create tension by pulling out on the towel to do a bent over row or pulldown.

This pull out to create tension helps you better activate the muscles and you’ll feel them working as you perform the pull with a slow tempo. Just don’t let the towel lose tension!

Bonus, you can also get in that bicep isolation work, another muscle group that doesn’t get as much love at home, with a self resisted bicep curl.

And not only can towels be used to help perform a self-resisted movement, they can be used as sliders on the ground to help you work your back.

Side lying slides are great for your lats and a killer unilateral move that also hits your obliques.

Just make sure you’re really pulling the towel down to power the slide up with your lats over ONLY using your obliques.

And if slide lying slides are a bit too much to start, or you just want extra pull up type work, you can always use the towels to do lying w pulldowns too to work more on that vertical pull and scapular control and movement.

But no matter what, whether you have literally just your own bodyweight, a doorway, stair rail or hand towel, you can make sure you target this often overlooked area in your home workouts or when you travel!

There is always a way to get results training with what we have! Have fun being creative with tools you have around your home.

For amazing workouts you can do anywhere, check out my Dynamic Strength program!