00:00 all right what's going on fellas I just
00:02 got halfway into making a video uh about
00:05 like effective lower limb training both
00:08 for bodybuilding and strength Athletics
00:11 um you know talking about like three
00:12 different categories of exercise when it
00:14 comes to like you know elastic tendon
00:16 quality slforce absorption power
00:18 exercises uh strength and hypertrophy
00:21 exercises and endurance exercises all
00:22 about the lower limb and the anatomy of
00:24 the lower limb and I got about halfway
00:26 in and I was like wait a minute I was
00:27 like mids sentence and I was like this
00:29 is Bor Bing as nobody is going to
00:31 like this what am I doing so I stopped
00:34 the camera I was like I should do
00:36 something else I should make a video
00:37 that people are going to enjoy now I
00:40 definitely I've got to align that my my
00:42 goal is to walk this line in like a cool
00:45 guy manner right of on one hand I want
00:48 to make videos that I myself think are
00:50 interesting um you know things that are
00:52 like I I think this obsession with like
00:55 no no I want highle Training Concepts
00:57 well a lot of us need to be reminded of
00:59 midle Training Concepts now I get the I
01:01 get that once you've been doing this for
01:02 a while there's not a lot of appeal to
01:04 watching like very very lowlevel uh
01:07 training info not that there's anything
01:08 wrong with making it there's a lot more
01:09 beginners out there than intermediates
01:11 but I get not really wanting to watch it
01:13 you're like yeah I get it but I do I do
01:15 find myself watching like intermediate
01:17 to Advanced like aimed content often
01:20 because I think all of us need to be
01:22 reminded of a lot of fundamentals a lot
01:24 of the time because a good percentage of
01:26 the time the reason I'm not getting
01:27 better or the reason you're not getting
01:28 better is not because we don't have this
01:30 highlevel concept that we need to find
01:32 it's that we're up something
01:34 that's more of an intermediate level
01:35 concept and habitually reminding myself
01:37 of those things with people that talk
01:39 about them in cool ways where hey
01:40 there's some nuance and I noticed he
01:42 phrased it that way and that leads to
01:43 this higher level training concept so um
01:46 I want to make stuff I would think is
01:47 interesting and it doesn't need to be
01:49 unbelievably complex for me to think
01:50 it's interesting but I also don't want
01:53 to fall down that trap of playing the
01:55 YouTube game a little bit too hardcore
01:57 right like I don't want to see myself in
01:59 a thumb th nail like making this face I
02:02 don't want to make the same videos over
02:03 and over with like Mass Appeal I don't
02:05 want to Pander to larger audiences I
02:08 don't want to make videos that I think
02:09 suck just because they get more views so
02:12 I need to kind of walk that line of like
02:14 something that I think is like
02:15 intellectually at least kind of engaging
02:17 and like talking about training with you
02:20 guys my boys that also just are nerds
02:22 that like training actually we're not
02:23 nerds we're jocks sorry my fellow
02:26 intellectual jocks that enjoy training
02:29 uh I don't know I like I want to make
02:31 those videos but I also think having
02:32 some entertainment appeal is good and
02:34 who knows maybe I'll make a dollar off
02:35 of YouTube sooner or later if uh if I'm
02:38 making things that are kind of
02:39 entertaining as well as informative so I
02:42 actually had an idea I was looking back
02:43 and uh I saw that you guys really liked
02:45 that video where I broke out the
02:46 Whiteboard it was like my favorite
02:48 bodybuilding and strength training
02:49 exercises for each muscle group just
02:51 like hey what are the things I find
02:53 myself throwing out there at my clients
02:54 or throwing out there for myself uh when
02:56 I want to tackle a certain muscle
02:58 whether we're trying to train it for
02:59 bodybuilding purposes pure hypertony
03:00 purposes or we want more General
03:02 strength qualities or specific strength
03:04 qualities right what are some of those
03:05 exercises that are like my first things
03:07 to throw out there what are my favorites
03:09 um and that kind of led me to an idea I
03:12 could do something similar I'm not
03:13 breaking out the Whiteboard because I'm
03:14 in a little bit of a time crunch today
03:16 got a lot of coaching to get done I got
03:17 to go pick up Max from the airport got
03:18 to run to the grocery store so it's a
03:20 little quicker of a video but we're
03:22 going to go through a kind of similar
03:23 thing where I'm going to give you some
03:24 of my favorite exercises that I think
03:27 are chronically underuse now in thinking
03:30 about this I did realize the uh the
03:31 hangup there is underused by who right
03:34 if you're in certain circles uh on
03:37 Instagram some of these exercises you're
03:38 like everybody does those if you're at a
03:40 certain kind of gym right like my gym is
03:43 kind of a physical therapy clinic that
03:45 is aimed a little bit towards like using
03:47 strength Sports to get people
03:49 rehabilitated teaching people to squat
03:50 so there's going to be exercise
03:51 selection that's very very popular at my
03:53 gym that are not popular at other gyms
03:55 so to me I'm like everybody does sled
03:57 drags everybody's dragging the sleds
03:59 around everybody that's in that gym uh
04:01 that got introduced to the gym through
04:03 physical therapy at some point was
04:04 probably doing a sled push or a pull
04:06 it's more something that the the guys
04:08 there really like using so that's a
04:10 little tricky like what circle of the
04:11 internet are we talking are we talking
04:12 like YouTube right because YouTube has a
04:15 weird obsession with like zerchers but I
04:17 think in the broader Fitness World you
04:19 could absolutely say that's an
04:20 underutilized lift but just to kind of
04:22 keep it candid I'm just trying to Rattle
04:23 off stuff and like if you think it's not
04:26 underutilized that's fine uh sure you
04:29 can tell me in the comments uh I I
04:31 sometimes read them I've been trying not
04:32 to but every now and then I take a peek
04:35 um I would say the first one that came
04:36 to mind is the ab wheel I just don't see
04:39 people using the ab wheel very often and
04:41 uh it is probably my favorite exercise
04:44 for the midsection um I would say on
04:47 paper you would like have a decent
04:48 argument to make that like hey that's
04:50 great for strength it's kind of an
04:52 isometric ab exercise very difficult uh
04:54 that can scale easier it can scale
04:56 harder that's awesome um and you're kind
04:59 of resisting extension against a
05:01 variable resistance curve so it's very
05:02 hard at the bottom easy at the top hard
05:04 at the bottom lets you practice bracing
05:06 tons and tons of good reasons this is
05:08 awesome for strength athletes uh but
05:10 there's not much effective range of
05:11 motion usually if we're looking for a
05:13 good hypertrophy exercise we hypertrophy
05:15 or rectus abdominis we want something
05:16 with a range of motion maybe using an
05:19 abmat and doing a crunch uh hanging leg
05:21 raises things where we have a little bit
05:22 larger active range of motion are
05:24 usually things we're going to lean
05:25 towards from a bodybuilding context but
05:27 anecdotally uh I think that
05:30 the ab whe has built a reasonable amount
05:32 of midsection uh development for me like
05:35 pure musculature so I would say that
05:37 something it's underused I think it's a
05:39 very very very helpful tool whether your
05:41 goal is getting jacked getting strong or
05:43 some combination of the two probably one
05:45 of my favorite exercises for the
05:47 midsection so a second one we're going
05:49 to stay with the midsection because
05:50 that's just kind of where my brain is
05:52 I'm fixing like I can't get away from it
05:54 in my head when I'm like brainstorming
05:55 more ideas I've come up with a bunch of
05:57 like core exercises I think are
05:58 underutilized the second one I never see
06:01 people other than me doing this and
06:02 that's weighted side planks I think a
06:04 lot of people know side planks are
06:05 awesome we can challenge our obliques we
06:07 can challenge our ql uh having that good
06:09 like lateral stability that ability to
06:11 resist lateral flexion tends to make
06:13 people's low backs feel real healthy if
06:15 they get stronger at it and they're like
06:16 oh side planks are awesome well usually
06:18 if an exercise is awesome we should
06:20 probably at least try scaling it to get
06:22 harder and see if it continues to be
06:24 even more awesome Sometimes some
06:25 exercises we kind of want to leave them
06:27 alone like once we get that low hanging
06:28 benefit we leave them in there so that
06:30 way that quality doesn't drain but we're
06:32 not trying to progress them but at some
06:34 point I was like maybe maybe I should
06:36 try to progress these right you could do
06:37 a suitcase carry also an awesome
06:39 exercise but it's more commonly used a
06:40 more popular exercise I very rarely see
06:43 people do just hyped up hiked up right
06:44 on the hip a dumbbell weighted side
06:46 planks for time uh and these have made
06:48 my midsection way stronger under squats
06:51 under deadlifts under yolks I feel
06:53 sturdy and my back feels awesome uh I
06:55 very very think very much think these
06:57 are a good exercise that I really don't
06:59 see people using but I might give a
07:01 shout if you're someone who knows yeah
07:03 my midsection is a little flimsy um just
07:05 doing like my heavy compounds does not
07:07 seem to be adequately training it I want
07:09 to do a little bit of work on top of
07:10 that so I'm just thinking like kind of
07:11 across the body all right we kind of we
07:13 kind of cheated just did Two for the
07:15 midsection but we're done with that now
07:17 and I was like okay let's kind of work
07:18 other large segments of the body what is
07:20 like an underutilized posterior chain
07:23 exercise right uh the bulk of my
07:25 posterior chain training is going to
07:27 come from knee flexion whether that be
07:28 glute ham r is nordics or hamstring
07:31 curls none of which I think are really
07:32 underutilized per se uh and heavy hip
07:35 hinging in like rdls maybe good mornings
07:39 um and then also just getting some
07:40 volume in on the back extension it's
07:42 like okay well all of those seem to be
07:43 pretty popular exercises that are done a
07:45 good bit I don't think any of those are
07:47 like underutilized or whatever the hell
07:49 I'm going to title this video right TI
07:51 title pending um so what what could I
07:54 say for the posterior chain that I think
07:55 is underutilized right it's like yeah
07:57 you could you could say maybe people
07:58 should be doing even more back
08:00 extensions but it's not like it's not a
08:01 popular exercise I see people at the gym
08:03 doing back extensions regularly um now
08:05 you guys have heard me say right like
08:07 the the back extension is like the uh
08:09 the curl of the strength athlete it's
08:12 always a good idea to do some right
08:13 finish up legs do some curls right
08:15 finish up uh finished up shoulders do
08:17 some curls why not right I view them
08:19 that way for for strength athletes it's
08:21 always a good idea to get in a little
08:22 bit of heavy hip hinging or light hip
08:24 hinging whether it's active recovery
08:25 work capacity Centric hypertrophy
08:27 Centric back extensions are awesome and
08:29 I probably wish more people did them but
08:31 I would feel kind of cheesy saying that
08:33 they're underutilized especially on
08:34 YouTube here where they've gotten a lot
08:36 of a lot of love um I know Alec oniri
08:39 has been a big vocal advocate of them I
08:41 know Paris has been a big vocal advocate
08:42 of them so I don't think I'd be doing
08:44 you guys uh much of a favor saying like
08:46 hey this little known exercise called
08:48 back extensions do them but I did think
08:50 of one although definitely Paris and Al
08:53 on do have mentioned in the past so they
08:55 beat me to it but I do think kettle bell
08:57 swings are an underutilized exercise for
09:00 kind of posterior chain development um
09:03 maybe not the best pure hypertrophy tool
09:05 but for strength athletes I think
09:06 they're awesome they reinforce an
09:07 explosive hip hinge they develop the
09:09 glutes well in my opinion even kind of
09:11 in the absence of a proper negative I
09:13 think they're a very good exercise you
09:15 can handle High volumes of them you can
09:16 build work capacity you can build
09:18 conditioning um I think they're really
09:20 good I really think they're slept on as
09:21 like a deadlift and squat uh auxiliary
09:23 motion to throw at the end of your lower
09:25 days underutilized exercise uh in the
09:29 spirit of canceling that one we're going
09:30 to skip the lower limbs as much as
09:32 that's been like kind of my my uh my
09:34 obsession for the last little week is
09:36 just kind of thinking about the finer
09:37 mechanics of lower limb training um but
09:40 I was thinking like squat pattern work
09:41 or quads what do I think is
09:43 underutilized right and it's like thanks
09:44 to Sam suck uh squats and leg
09:48 extensions are certainly not underused
09:50 in the gym nowadays uh thanks to knees
09:52 over toes guys sled drags have gotten
09:54 quite popular both of which I think are
09:56 awesome tools for developing the quads
09:59 squatting is the most popular it's ever
10:00 been you can't get a squat rack anymore
10:02 like when I first started training you
10:04 could walk in and the squat rack was
10:05 always empty if there wasn't someone
10:07 doing shoulder presses in it so uh
10:09 that's gaining popularity there's a
10:11 whole war going on uh about front squats
10:13 right now that I have absolutely no
10:15 interest in uh in weighing in on so I
10:18 was like what could we say what could we
10:20 say for the squads kind of that quad
10:21 like that quad work that squat pattern
10:24 um work and again they're very popular I
10:28 think even more people should do them um
10:31 but like my copout answer would be like
10:32 a unilateral squat pattern movement
10:34 because again I think they are really
10:36 really good developmental tools but
10:38 Bulgarian SP squats have become very
10:40 popular walk and lunges have become very
10:41 popular it's kind of like the back
10:43 extensions where it's like I think even
10:45 I should see people doing them even more
10:47 but it's not like I don't see a lot of
10:48 people doing them so I decided on one in
10:50 one quarter reps on squat pattern
10:52 machines right where you uh you go down
10:55 you come halfway up come back down back
10:58 up all under a controlled Cadence on
11:00 things like hack squats leg presses
11:03 Smith machine hack squats um pendulum
11:07 squats if you're lucky enough for your
11:08 gym to have one of those I think those
11:10 are really good especially if we're
11:12 doing them with a controlled Cadence I
11:14 really really really like using one in
11:16 one half reps uh to kind of develop that
11:19 pattern in the body that ability to
11:20 drive out of the hole uh without kind of
11:22 dumping into the back staying in the
11:24 legs I think that's an underutilized
11:26 exercise that a lot of people would
11:27 benefit from just trying to gradually
11:29 beat the books on some one and one half
11:31 hacks if their regular hack squats start
11:33 to get stale and Plateau out all
11:36 right got kind of got that lower body
11:38 checked off got to do something for the
11:40 upper body I'm trying to decide because
11:42 it's like there's a bunch of like kind
11:43 of Niche exercises that I'm like I could
11:46 throw those in there um I would say
11:48 their popularity has fallen by the
11:50 wayside uh but like a Smith machine JM
11:53 press I don't see people using very
11:54 often but I think it's a phenomenal tool
11:56 for developing strength in the triceps
11:58 but I'm kind of thinking like probably
12:00 need an upper body push and an upper
12:01 body pull for this kind of list to be at
12:03 least remotely well-rounded it's like
12:05 pull-ups are popular pull Downs are
12:07 popular we kind of check those vertical
12:08 pull boxes like you know barbell rowing
12:13 it's pretty popular dumbbell rowing like
12:15 I again dumbbell rowing might be an
12:16 example of an exercise um much the same
12:19 as the unilateral squat pattern work in
12:21 the back extensions where I I wish I saw
12:22 people doing it more um I think that
12:24 that like it's a good way to work some
12:27 horizontal pulling which is always good
12:29 it makes you stronger at a hell hell of
12:30 a lot of things and also build that kind
12:32 of rotation anti-rotation core work into
12:35 your program without having to do a
12:37 separate exercise um and again I think
12:39 that once people get past the initial
12:41 difficulty of them they build a ton of
12:42 work capacity and their backs tend to
12:44 feel a little bit more healthy because
12:46 again they get stronger in that
12:47 rotational plane um they feel a little
12:49 bit more sturdy with weights but I can't
12:51 really say that's an under underdone
12:54 exercise because I do see people doing
12:56 them pretty frequently um
13:00 let me think all right we're just G to
13:03 Rattle some off to uh to end this I'll
13:05 probably just put like six in the title
13:07 but the sixth one is just me saying a
13:09 bunch of um I feel like y raises
13:13 really good exercise pretty solid
13:15 developer for the lateral delt kind of
13:17 all heads of the delt to some degree
13:19 while also developing your upper back
13:21 kind of your lower trap all of these
13:23 things that are great for a good
13:24 overhead position all of these things
13:25 that are good for uh honestly just being
13:28 strong in general en having good
13:29 shoulder Health keeping those muscles
13:31 that help move the scal kind of rotate
13:33 it up um keeping all those things strong
13:36 while also being a decent bodybuilding
13:38 exercise so like y raises um I like Po
13:42 raises a lot my clients seem to disagree
13:44 with me about that maybe those are
13:47 underutilized uh we talked about folding
13:49 presses back when uh Westside was like
13:52 one of the biggest influences in like
13:53 American strength training there was
13:55 this big obsession with every way we
13:57 could think of of training the triceps
13:58 because in a suited bench uh the the
14:01 pecs are being supplemented by the suit
14:03 uh and where we have the least
14:05 assistance is going to be kind of that
14:06 locking out tricep portion so a ton of
14:09 mental resources were like poured into
14:11 like how can we develop the triceps to
14:13 the craziest degree possible so they had
14:15 a lot of really cool good ideas like all
14:17 of these different like chained tricep
14:19 extension banded tricep extensions dead
14:21 stop to the floor uh and I think the
14:23 idea of a folding press was something
14:25 that was very popular back around 2010
14:28 that's Fallen by the wayside but it is a
14:30 very good skill I like the Smith machine
14:32 for Jam presses CU that way it takes a
14:33 little bit of the skill out of it and so
14:35 we're always coming to the same point on
14:37 our collar bone on our neck a little bit
14:38 above depending on what we're doing and
14:40 depending on who we're copying how we do
14:42 them um we just want that consistent
14:44 point and that way we can push a little
14:45 bit closer to failure without kind of
14:46 having to play that game of oh did I
14:48 start changing my motor pattern too much
14:50 though having the skill of just grabbing
14:52 a barbell and doing some JM presses is
14:54 really good and it served me quite well
14:56 I think those are pretty uh pretty
14:58 underrated for the biceps I don't
15:01 know I couldn't tell you um I've
15:03 been liking doing like pull-ups and
15:05 chin-ups with a paws at the top I found
15:06 that has like a kind of a fun training
15:08 effect but I don't really think that
15:10 could make the list officially um I
15:13 guess the uh the last one I would put in
15:16 there is any kind of sprinting probably
15:19 Tempo Sprints not allout Sprints um but
15:22 as I've been doing in my training where
15:23 I carry the yolk down Sprint back it's
15:26 been really eye openening how many
15:27 people in engage in exercise regularly
15:30 but have really largely lost their
15:32 ability to Sprint safely because they
15:33 never do it right you're going to build
15:35 up the specific kind of tolerances to
15:38 what you're doing in sprinting by graded
15:40 exposure to it but the number of
15:42 strength athletes if they if you tell
15:44 them even with a warm out to warm up to
15:46 do a Sprint they're going to have like a
15:48 small hamstring tear and uh I think the
15:51 loss of that human function is a bit of
15:53 a shame you know is it going to make
15:55 your hamstrings bigger no it's probably
15:57 not is it going to make your deadlift go
15:58 up no it's probably not but I think
16:00 preserving the ability to do it and
16:02 being at least decent at it to me it's
16:05 kind of necessary like I consider myself
16:07 like a physically robust guy the idea
16:09 that I couldn't you know Sprint down to
16:11 the end of the block without blowing out
16:13 my hamstring that does not make me feel
16:15 like a physically robust guy so um
16:18 that's something I do think is
16:19 underchallenged and I think for strength
16:21 athletes Hill Sprints are kind of the
16:23 way to go if you have access right
16:25 there's going to be lesser impact um all
16:27 around I think it's be a little bit
16:29 easier to acclimate to rapidly um
16:32 compared to like sprints on a flat or
16:34 sprints on a decline I think Hill
16:36 Sprints are probably the move
