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I’m thinking of setting up a home gym. I hate the atmosphere at the gyms in my area and hate having to talk to people because it ruins my workouts. If you had to set up a home gym from scratch what equipment would you recommend getting?

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With the lying cable cuff lateral raises. I want to buy them but cant find them online. Can someone help me out?

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Lately more research and articles(not from you) coming out saying that caffeine and/or energy drinks is bad for you and so on. I would love to hear your opinion on that subject. I usually take one tab of mental trigger and maybe 2 cups of black coffee every day.

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Hi joe! Did an upper/lower split last year with progressive overload style, low volume, higher frequency and high intensity. Did

Lower
Upper
Rest
Lower
Rest
Upper

Rest and REPEAT… Did Biceps with legs after my workout and felt like I could not put the effort into my biceps sets that I wanted to, because of heavy compounds work for legs earlier in the session had me tanked. Then moved onto a Legs, Push, Rest, Pull, Rest, Repeat. Did good progress with both. But Arms is something that is lacking/lagging for me, so I consider adding an arm day. Thought on this split?

Lower, Upper, Rest, Lower, Arms, Rest, Upper, Rest, Repeat, for improving my arms. And following Mentzer, Arthur jones style with progressive overload, lower volume, high intensity, higher frequency. Thanks!

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I started lifting about a month ago, so I am still working on my form. One day while I was doing conventional deadlifts as part of your program for leg day, my boyfriend noticed that I was not bending my knees enough (essentially I was using RDL form for conventional). After taking his advice, I noticed that I can’t lift as much (which makes sense since people can sometimes lift more with improper form) but when I bend my knees more to keep my shoulders above my hips instead of parallel it feels more like a squat and it hurts my left glute. I’m not sure if the pain is a workout pain or a pain pain but I’ve never felt it before and it’s not like the pain I would feel when doing exercises like hip thrusts, bridges, etc. I was wondering what cues I should think about to help with this/what might be causing this feeling?

P. S. I noticed you changed the diet plan. I like how it is more in depth and tailors toward if people want to maintain/go high-carb/go high-fat. The only thing is that as a college student, it will be difficult for me to eat so many meals per day, and I wish there was an option to pick the number of meals like before.

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When doing a compound movement, do you focus on contracting every muscle at once, or do you focus on the ‘primary’ target muscle only, or something in between?

For example on a Dumbbell overhead press, I’m really only focusing on contracting my front delts and my elbow path and try to essentially not use my triceps at all. But should I also be focusing on contracting my triceps to some extent too?

Same concept for use of glutes on a quad-dominant hack squat? If I’m aiming for maximum quad development, Should I just be focussed on ‘doing a leg extension’ with my quads in a hack, or should my focus be on contracting my glutes too (which may allow me to put more weight on the machine and therefore increase overall intensity?)

Or should this change depending on training phase/goal? I.e during your Recovery phase I think you deliberately use pecs + front delts + triceps on a dip exercise as part of goal to reduce overall volume.

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How do you feel about fast carbs (sugars) during the day, other than post-workout?

CPrep (in between sets of leg curls and squats)

A1 seated leg curls – 2 sets, 6-10 reps, 2 minutes rest before top set

B1 heel elevated front squat (or safety bar squat) – 1 set, 5-8 reps, 3 minutes rest before top set

C1 lying leg curl – 5-8 reps
C2 reverse band hacks – 8-12 reps
2 sets, 3 minutes rest between rounds

D1 prowler/sled pushed – 2 sets, each set 60-90 seconds***, 2 minutes between sets
***should be nearing muscular failure on the last steps

*All Sets listed are working sets. Always take as many warmup sets as needed.

CPrep

A1 barbell military press – 2 sets, 6-12 reps, 2 minutes rest before working sets

B1 lying cuff lateral – 2 sets, 10-20 reps, 2 minutes rest before working sets

C1 reverse pec dec – 2 sets, 6-12 reps, 2 minutes rest before working sets***

***C2 incline ez bar front raise – 20 reps
C3 machine shoulder press – 20 reps
C4 banded face pull – 20 reps
1-3 sets

****all sets listed are working sets. Always take as many warmup sets as needed.

01. Fingers
02. Wrists
03. Elbows
04. GH (straight arm)
05. GH (bent 45 degrees)
06. Scapula circles
07. Windmill reaches
08. Protraction/retraction-ex/in rotation
09. Neck circles
10. Cat/cow
11. Kneeling oblique
12. TVA/bracing breathing
13. Bracing/glute bridge
14. Hip in/ex
15. Knee bend flex
16. Knee straight flex
17. Prone knee flex/extend
18. Ankle circles
19. Ankle pronation/supination
20. Toe points/toes to nose
21. Toe spread
22. Toe flex extend
23. Pinky toe
24. Big toe

CPrep

A1 low incline DB press – 1 sets, 6-8 reps, 3 minutes rest before working set

B1 high incline reverse band smith – 2 sets, 6-12 reps, 2 minutes rest before working sets

C1 foam roller cable fly – 2 sets, 6-12 reps, 2 minutes rest before working sets***

*(triple set done right after 2nd/last working set of cable flys)
D1 DB floor flys – 10-12 reps
D2 DB floor press – 10-15+ reps
D3 smith bottom to top pushups – 4-5 drops, reps to failure at each
1-3 rounds, 2 minutes rest between rounds

E1 reverse pec dec – 1 sets, 6-20 reps*** 2 minutes rest before working set
***20+ reps drop set off of working set

**all sets listed are working sets. Take as many warmup sets as needed.

CPREP

A1 Deadlifts – 1 set, 5-8 reps, 3 minutes rest before working set

B1 single arm pull down – 2 sets, 6-12 reps, 2 minutes rest before working sets

C1 chest supported row – 2 sets, 6-20*** reps, 2 minutes rest before working sets
***second working set is 20+ reps

*all sets listed are working sets. Always take as many warmup sets as needed.

A1 “lat grip” t-bar row – 2 sets, 6-10 reps, 2 minutes rest before top sets

B1 hammer strength pull down – 2 sets, 6-10 reps, 2 minutes rest before top sets

C1 machine row – 2 sets, 8-12 reps, 90 seconds rest before top sets

D1 “upper back grip” t-bar row – 2 sets, 6-10 reps, 2 minutes rest before top sets

**all sets listed are working sets. Always take as many warmups as needed.

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Introduction

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I am new here just a bit confused about which program should I start and how to chose the right one for me? is there like a history saved of the workouts to chose from or I can only follow the program builder or ask for a new one? How do you guys start? Please guide me a little, thank you!

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I am still pretty new to the accomodating resistance model could you state the main benefits and their explanation?

In my ignorant way of thinking increasing the resistance at muscle length which are generally weaker (short and long) seems counterintuitive because it could potentially limit the output at the optimal length.

In a perfect world would the perfect exercise be the heaviest at the point of maximal force production? Or should the perfect exercise not change its resistance curve throughout the movement?

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First of all thank you so much for all the great content you consistently put out
I’ve taken a lot of your advice board with my training and within the last few months I think I have been able to take my execution and intensity to a solid spot for all of my choice exercises and body parts

So currently I have been doing 2-3 exercise per body part 2-3 times a “week” (9 day split) for 2 working sets a piece, with some extended sets where I see appropriate

I’ve progressed very nicely, taking my working loads past previous bests but with much better execution this time and have consequently seen better results in my physique

So at this point, do you think using volume in terms of total hard set count would be a viable tool for another variable to push overload?

For example across a 6 week “blast”
Week 1 10 sets
Add 1-2 sets each week if still recovering
Week 6 20 sets

Recovery phase & repeat

I don’t really like going over 3 sets on the same exercise so volume would be spread over 4-5 exercises for 1-2 sets

Still balls out intensity, best execution as possible and aiming to push working set loads up, but utilising volume as another tool to create an overload stimulus

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on your programming I understand working to a top set then having “back off sets”, but if it were programmed like 5 x 8 – 10, do you have clients (or yourself) maintain the same load throughout all working sets?

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Drop sets/special techniques impact on sleep & recovery: I feel that whenever doing drop sets/rest-pauses or other special techniques it has a huge impact on my sleep and recovery. In the next morning I feel groggy and it doesn’t feel better until late afternoon (and at least three meals). I would like to use your programs, train HIT style with as few sets as possible and still get an adequate stimulus for muscle growth. Some kind of special techniques seem to be an important part of your programming.

Do you get this asked a lot and how have you usually solved this? Have already put a big emphasis on post workout meal (lots of carbs etc), proper nervous system stimuli and so on. Big question for me to solve!

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You posted on IG that you’ve been doing ~20g/day citrulline as an experiment. How has that been going, and is that 20g of pure l-citrulline, 20g of citrulline malate, or enough citrulline malate to equate 20g of citrulline? Also, how have you been spacing that citrulline throughout the day.

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I hear you talk a lot about certain carbs intra make you sh*t your brains out… found the same issue with myself… does this diarrhea post w.o cause a decrease in the nutrient uptake from your intra shake? i.e are the eaa, electrolytes, etc mixed with the carbs going to be not absorbed?

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Hey joe, was wondering if you could go in depth on your opinion of “periodization” or load undulation, as it refers to bodybuilding/ and or general weight loss. Not sure if you will cover this in trainers corner, but asking for not only my own endeavors, but as a coach looking to provide the best results to clients. Thanks joe.

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Can you take to many supps for inflammation? i.e Curcumin in the AM & fish oil before bed, when training mid day… is this counter productive to Hypertrophy?

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So just read your bulk diet here on the site where you recommend 6g of Vitamin C under the ”Daily/health”. Could you explain what the reasoning of 6g of Vitamin C per day is? From what I have heard that would be excessive, because of the risk of Vitamin C inhibiting muscle growth. Through interfering with cellular signaling after exercise such as MAPKs. And therefor healthy individuals who exercise for strength and muscle growth should avoid high dosages of Vitamin C or other antioxidants, especially around training (1-3 hours pre and post). If this is true regarding potentially interfering with growth and strength, would this not occur if spaced away from training lets say 3 hours pre and post?

Just wondered if you could shed som light upon this subject, something that I have been thinking about. Seeing different opinions on this, thanks!!

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Joe thanks for everything you do. I’m sorry if you’ve already answered this before, but can you please recommend good accommodating resistance bands to use on a smith machine and is there a good video in particular where you show how to set them up? Thanks.

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When rowing for upper back thickness (i.e. chest supported row, t bar row, etc.), do you initiate the movement by retracting and depressing the scapula and then performing the row? Or, do you focus on opening and closing the shoulder blades throughout the whole movement?

There seems to be a lot of confusion out there with a lot of ”trainers” saying you should stabilize the scapula before any rowing movement. Thanks.

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Any suggestions how to train the wrist-ROM? I noticed that my left hand does not supinate as far as and easy as the right one.

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My question today is about asymmetry due to structural issues/variances vs motor control/neural issues. I had to have a posterior labral reconstruction of my left shoulder and despite rehab I am missing approx 15-20 degrees of external rotation while in ABduction at the shoulder. I am noticing growth and soreness differences from side to side since starting the program builder. My left side (side that was operated on) tends to fatigue quicker but remains sore for a longer period of time than the right. Also, when I do get sore, my pecs are sore in different places, left side more to the main belly of the pec, while on the rt more clavicular. In your opinion is this secondary to my missing rotation or more neural in that I can’t seem to access those fibers? Now for my legs, again, no injury involved here, but my left is growing faster than my right. While I “feel” that both legs are working the same, again, left side is sore for a longer period of time and tends to grow faster. So again in your opinion, would this be more of a neural thing than a mechanical and do you think it can be fixed?

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my gym does not have any Hack squat machine. Any thoughts on the Smith machine feet in front?

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Do you have a preference between a 45 degree linear leg press and a pendulum style leg press? if so, why?

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what are your thoughts on physical contact with the working muscle during a set? Eg. Putting your fingers on your client’s medial delts during a lateral raise. Do you think think that providing this sensation aids in their ability to recruit (and potentially isolate) the muscle?

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Joe, question on incline curls with dumbbells. I like to drop the seat back one, maybe two notches, so just a slight incline. My form is as so, retracted and depressed scapula, triceps pushed into my sides, and forearms are pointing outwards at maybe around 45 degrees. I am able to get a strong contraction and feeling this way and it feels comfortable. Is this alignment OK or should I aim to keep my forearms and elbow pit pointed straight forward? In that position of shoulder internal rotation, it just doesn’t feel as good to me.

A1 CPrep

MT sets

B1 Incline DB press – 2 sets, 6-12 reps, 2 minutes rest between top sets

C1 reverse band incline smith – 2 sets, 6-12 reps, 2 minutes rest between top sets

D1 foam roller fly – 3 sets, 10-12 reps, 1 minute rest between top sets

All sets listed are working sets. Always take as many warmup sets as needed.

MUSIC: Destroy by Rob Bailey
ALBUM: Primal

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I love your instagram content and your metabolic finishers (28s skull crusher… smith machine etc). Can you possibly put these in a category on the app?

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Suggestions for patients with rheumatoid arthritis, what kind of exercises to be prescribed?

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Any suggestions for solid trainers and/or gyms in the Boston area?

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When focusing on isolating lats, I’m making sure my intent is to drive my upper arm down. At times I will start to feel the long head of my tricep activate hard, almost to the point where I fail because of the tension is so great. Any ideas why and what the solutions may be? Thanks!

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Thoughts on intermittent fasting and your training style ? Beneficial? Or absurd

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sir if make video form educational proposes we love to listing you , my question is how choices excrise for different body part , what time to you chg your excrise or holl year doing same choice excrise

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once you get to where you can stack the weight stack on a machine, is it better to figure how to attach extra plates or dumbbells to the stack or handles, or use bands. Or if both can be beneficial, how do you know which way is best at the time?

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Does the meal timing from the diet calc should take in consideration my training time? I mean shouldn’t I be eating more carbs peri-workout or I just keep the same it says?

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on a video you talked about when doing DB Shoulder Press one should just focus on moving the weight “up” and not “up and together” because when driving the DBs together at the top there will be less tension on the delt.
How does this principle work when doing incline DB press for chest? Is there a benefit of trying to bring the DBs together at the top ? Or is it even ineffecient to do so? From a personal and a science standpoint?

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2 questions joe currently Doing legs push pull quads but I want bigger forearms what day would be best to do farmers walks and second push day is flat bench but wanna focus on upper chest can I swap this for incline bench as mid chest has decent development

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Do you do 1-1 online training?

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What are your thoughts on intensification techniques such as rest-Pause or Clusters ? Specifically when training by yourself, when you don’t have the option of forced reps, to allow more reps while still using heavy-ish loads

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I started lifting in October of 2018, I was REALLY skinny and eating very low protein weighing 70kg at 185cm. I went overboard and bulked up to 88kg with 18% body fat being very consistent with my diet and training, but clearly gained too much of unwanted fat as I did too much carbs. Now I am trying to cut down the fat, I started cutting four months ago and got to 79kg with 16% body fat. I find myself looking flat and fat in my waist has gone down but it still looks to soft. I want to get down to 10% body fat so I do my next bulk properly, but I am afraid of loosing more weight and end up skinny fat. I am very disciplined with my diet and training, what would u recommend doing? Really appreciate the help!

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This question may be a little vague but what are your thoughts and insights on the “post show rebound” and how do you recommend maximizing it after a contest or cut?

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1. I’m trying to mimic a hack squat with the angled smith machine, since I changed gyms and they don’t have a hack squat. This is my set up, feet really out front and I lean back into the bar, with the angle going down to my feet instead of back to my hips. I really feel these well in my quads, similar to the hack machine I used at my old gym. The only issue I have is with my feet. In this position, the feet/ankle are at a greater than 90 degree angle since they are flat on the ground. Would a wedge or something similar under my toes be beneficial to get my ankle more at 90 degrees? Or do you believe it may be too awkward and unsafe?

2. I have been trying to find a way to get more braced when doing leg extensions by placing a wide grip bar under the seat and gripping it with a death grip to keep my body pulled down into the seat. I bought the seat belt you suggested (which I use for seated curls and it is GOLD!). Could I strap this over my quads so I didn’t have to rely on my grip so much with the bar under the pad? Also, is it weird that I have a better feel doing extensions when my hips are off the pad a little or would you recommend keeping the hips lock down in this case?

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Do you cycle off any of the supplements that you use? Including vitamins/minerals?

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What exercises would you recommend in place of the seated hamstring curl for the shortened range? I recently switched gyms and instead of having the machine that has a bar over the thighs, the machine at the new gym is hard to keep braced in.

If I can describe it any way is it has a pad that you place against the back of your calf (like a normal machine) and another pad that is placed against just below the front of the knee, locking your lower leg. The only bracing I can do is to hold myself down by the handles on either side of the seat.

Would a seatbelt be a good solution and stay on this machine or should I look into other exercises?

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I know you’re not an advocate for gear, but I was wondering if the amount of work in the different programs is enough for a drug enhanced individual as well? I mean the recovery is way better while on, so I would’ve guess the volume should be higher as well to get as much out of the crap you are doing to your body.

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Joe I’m working on getting stronger on my squat. I’m issue is when I train in the lower rep ranges the front of my hip gets a really tight pinch and it hurts to do squats. I understand is a huge shot in the dark without seeing my squat but I’m in need of guidance. Any suggestions?

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Is there any validity to doing decline bench or “lower pec” focused exercises? How about inner pec? Should flat and incline presses be sufficient?