[0:00] Most people do the same few exercises
[0:02] over and over again, and there's nothing
[0:04] wrong with that, but it can make your
[0:05] workouts feel stale. So, today, I'm
[0:08] going to share seven exercises that
[0:10] you've probably never heard of. They
[0:11] aren't gimmicky optimal tricks, either.
[0:13] These are time-t tested movements with
[0:15] scientific support that I personally do
[0:17] every week, and I think you should, too.
[0:19] We'll start with a few that are a bit
[0:20] more common, and then as we go, they'll
[0:22] get more and more obscure. So, I'd say
[0:24] most of you probably have done exercise
[0:25] one at some point, but I'd bet less than
[0:28] 1% of you have ever even seen exercise
[0:30] 7. I think they're all worth doing. Just
[0:32] remember that training hard and training
[0:34] consistently matters more than the exact
[0:36] exercises you pick. Okay, the first
[0:38] exercise is a simple way to improve your
[0:40] shoulder health, grow your forearms,
[0:42] increase core strength, decompress your
[0:44] spine, and improve muscular endurance.
[0:47] It's a dead hang. And if you've never
[0:48] tested your max dead hang time, try it
[0:50] out next time you go to the gym. I
[0:52] actually just tested my own max time
[0:54] after coaching my friend Meged in a Mr.
[0:56] Beast challenge where he'd win $1,000
[0:59] for every second he could deadhang.
[1:02] Every second you can hang, I will give
[1:04] you $8,000.
[1:05] Get out of here.
[1:05] He started with a max dead hang time of
[1:07] just 6 seconds. And we got him up to 60
[1:11] seconds in just 30 days. Meaning he won
[1:14] 60 grand for that challenge. And I just
[1:17] tested it myself and my max time was
[1:22] okay. 2 minutes and 45 seconds. Is that
[1:25] right? Cuz it really didn't feel that
[1:27] long.
[1:27] Now, for some context, this is what a
[1:29] beginner intermediate advanced elite
[1:32] and world class dead hang time looks
[1:34] like. This is the dead hang world
[1:37] record. So, I'm advanced, not quite
[1:39] elite. Dead hangs can open up the
[1:41] shoulder joint, allowing the tendons and
[1:43] muscles of the rotator cuff to move more
[1:45] freely, which can help with shoulder
[1:47] pain. And if your back is feeling stiff
[1:48] from sitting all day, you'll get some
[1:50] spinal decompression, too. The
[1:52] scientific evidence on this is a bit
[1:53] more mixed, but I personally get a lot
[1:55] of relief from it, especially in the
[1:57] days following heavy squats or
[1:58] deadlifts. First, chalk your hands and
[2:01] buy some cheap liquid chalk if your gym
[2:02] doesn't have any. Trust me, this will
[2:04] make a huge difference. Use a bench if
[2:06] you can't reach the bar and grip it just
[2:07] outside shoulder width. This will seem
[2:09] counterintuitive, but try to take a
[2:11] looser grip initially so your forearms
[2:13] don't fatigue too quickly. Once you
[2:15] start to slip, start gripping harder.
[2:17] This is kind of like pacing yourself in
[2:18] a race. Now, if you're doing these for
[2:20] max time, brace your core, but don't
[2:23] flex so hard that you tire yourself out.
[2:25] If you're doing them for spinal
[2:26] decompression, start with a braced core
[2:29] and then gradually let your hips sink
[2:31] down and stretch out. Your legs should
[2:33] hang straight down. And I find keeping
[2:35] my feet together and pointing my toes
[2:37] down helps keep me from swinging. From
[2:39] there, just focus on keeping a
[2:40] consistent breathing rhythm. Don't try
[2:42] to hold your breath. Try it out and see
[2:44] how long you can hang. If you can't
[2:45] deadh hang with body weight yet, use a
[2:47] band for assistance by looping it around
[2:49] the bar and stepping into it. Or you can
[2:51] use an assisted pull-up machine. If you
[2:53] can beat my time of 2 minutes and 45
[2:55] seconds, post it on Instagram and use
[2:57] the hashtag Jeffnipper deadhang. I'll
[3:00] take a look at all of them and I'll
[3:01] repost some of you. Next exercise takes
[3:03] a standard dumbbell curl and makes it
[3:05] just a little more effective. At least
[3:06] in theory. I call it the Zapman hammer
[3:09] curl, named after 1800 strongman George
[3:11] Zapman. I just modified it a bit. Here's
[3:14] the idea. With a regular curl, maybe you
[3:16] can lift 20 lb on the way up, but you
[3:18] could easily control 40 lb on the way
[3:20] back down. That's because you're about
[3:22] 40 or 50% stronger on the negative than
[3:25] you are on the positive. So, with a
[3:27] standard dumbbell curl, you're always
[3:29] overloading the positive more than the
[3:30] negative. The negative never gets fully
[3:33] challenged, but since the negative is
[3:35] crucial for muscle growth, I think it
[3:36] makes a lot of sense to overload it to
[3:38] its full potential. One way to do that
[3:40] is to roll the weight up on your own and
[3:42] then have a partner apply extra
[3:44] resistance on the negative. But that
[3:46] feels awkward. So instead, what you can
[3:48] do is use simple biomechanics to make
[3:50] the weight effectively heavier on the
[3:52] negative. Here's what you do. Curl the
[3:54] weight up with a hammer grip and then
[3:56] lower the weight back down with a palms
[3:58] up supernated grip. By using a hammer
[4:01] grip on the positive, your brachiialis
[4:03] and brachioraiialis can come in and help
[4:05] out. And then when you switch to the
[4:06] supenated grip on the negative, your
[4:08] biceps are forced to take the load. For
[4:10] technique, grip the dumbbell in the
[4:12] middle of the handle. So don't let your
[4:14] thumb rest up against the head of the
[4:15] dumbbell and curl the weight up,
[4:17] stopping just before your arm is
[4:18] vertical. Then rotate your palms up and
[4:21] lower the weight back down under
[4:23] control, sweeping the weight out in a
[4:25] wide arc. Once you reach the bottom,
[4:27] rotate your palms back into the hammer
[4:29] grip. curl the weight back up again and
[4:31] repeat. I usually do these for eight to
[4:33] 10 reps. And while I don't think this
[4:35] technique will put inches on your arms
[4:37] compared to standard dumbbell curls, I
[4:39] do think it's an effective variation
[4:40] that makes a lot of biomechanical sense.
[4:42] Now, if you prefer old school dumbbell
[4:44] curls, they'll still work great. Just
[4:46] slow down the negative to even out the
[4:48] strength curve. Okay, so far we've only
[4:50] hit dead hangs and Zapman hammer curls.
[4:52] The next five are definitely more
[4:54] obscure. Okay, this next exercise I've
[4:56] been doing every week all year, and I
[4:58] absolutely love it for the side delts.
[5:00] It takes a standard dumbbell lateral
[5:02] raise and makes it feel a lot better, at
[5:04] least for me. It's the incline dumbbell
[5:06] Y raise. Now, I've covered the tension
[5:08] profile of the standard dumbbell lateral
[5:10] raise before, but here's a quick
[5:11] refresher. Because gravity pulls
[5:13] straight down, there's zero tension on
[5:15] your delts at the bottom, and peak
[5:17] tension doesn't hit until the very top.
[5:20] Now, that's not necessarily a problem.
[5:22] In fact, new research shows that
[5:24] dumbbell laterals can still grow your
[5:26] side delts just fine as long as you
[5:28] train them hard. But I still don't like
[5:30] having such a lopsided tension profile.
[5:32] I find it harder to connect with my side
[5:34] delts when I'm only getting enough
[5:35] tension in such a small aspect of the
[5:37] range of motion. So that's where the
[5:39] incline dumbbell yra comes in. Set up a
[5:41] bench at a roughly 20 to 30° incline. It
[5:44] should feel like you're leaning pretty
[5:45] far back. Brace your upper back against
[5:47] the bench and lift your chest up. With
[5:49] the dumbbells at your sides, lift them
[5:51] up and out in a Y. Think about squeezing
[5:54] your side delt fibers together to move
[5:56] the weight up and then feel them stretch
[5:58] apart on the way down. Once you get to
[6:00] the point where the dumbbells are back
[6:02] at your sides, start your next rep. So,
[6:04] don't let the dumbbells swing all the
[6:06] way back until they're hanging
[6:07] vertically because again, you'll lose
[6:09] that tension. So, stop once you get to
[6:11] your sides, just like you would when
[6:12] standing. And by lifting the dumbbells
[6:14] up and out in a Y, you'll hit the fibers
[6:17] in between the front and side heads,
[6:19] which adds a lot of shape to your
[6:21] shoulders, especially from the front.
[6:23] And while lifting straight out to the
[6:24] side is generally safe, a lot of people
[6:26] do find that their shoulders feel more
[6:28] comfortable when they lift in the
[6:29] scapular plane about 30° to the front.
[6:32] So, give them a shot the next time you
[6:33] hit shoulders. I think you'll love the
[6:35] feel of them. Okay, now we're getting a
[6:36] little bit more obscure. So, I don't
[6:38] think I've seen many people do this one
[6:39] outside of my audience. It's the
[6:41] sideways facing one arm rear delt fly on
[6:44] the PC deck machine. First, I should
[6:46] explain why it is that I like them so
[6:47] much. It's really because this is the
[6:50] only way to get a full range of motion
[6:52] for your rear delts on this machine.
[6:54] When you do them the traditional way,
[6:56] what you're really doing are half reps
[6:58] in a shortened position. The muscle
[6:59] never gets lengthened at all. It'd be
[7:01] like doing bicep curls in the top half
[7:03] only. Nobody would consider that
[7:05] optimal. Yet, that's exactly how most
[7:07] people treat the reverse pec deck. The
[7:08] rear delts don't get anywhere close to a
[7:10] stretch position until you reach across
[7:12] your body. So that's why I do them this
[7:14] way. The technique is pretty simple,
[7:16] too. Instead of sitting down and facing
[7:18] the pad as normal, you turn sideways and
[7:20] sweep your arm out across your body. A
[7:22] cue I picked up from Dr. Mike is to
[7:24] think about there being a big pile of
[7:25] money on the ground. And however much
[7:27] area you can cover is how much money you
[7:29] get to keep. This will help you sweep
[7:31] the weight out with your rear delts
[7:33] rather than yanking the weight back with
[7:35] your back and biceps. Obviously, you
[7:36] don't need to go all the way around.
[7:38] Now, if you don't have a pec deck
[7:39] machine, you can still get the job done
[7:41] with cables. Just make sure that you
[7:42] still reach your arms across your body
[7:44] for the full rear delt stretch. And if
[7:46] you only have dumbbells, all you need to
[7:48] do is lie down on a bench, stretch the
[7:50] dumbbell across your body, and lift it
[7:52] back up. It's not that I think this
[7:53] super deep stretch is going to suddenly
[7:54] double your gains, but I do think that
[7:56] if you're completely missing the
[7:58] stretched aspect on all your rear delt
[8:00] work, you probably are leaving some
[8:01] gains on the table. So, try these out.
[8:03] Let me know what you think. All right,
[8:05] let's go even deeper. The next few
[8:06] exercises on here do get a little wild,
[8:08] but like I said, I do all seven of them,
[8:10] and I think they're all super
[8:12] underrated. Okay, next one is a pretty
[8:14] uncommon ab exercise that I've been
[8:16] doing every week on my cut so far.
[8:18] Dragon flags. It is a classic, though,
[8:20] and it was actually Bruce Lee's go-to
[8:22] move for building up his incredible core
[8:24] strength. They'll hit your lower abs the
[8:26] hardest since you're lifting your legs
[8:27] up, but your entire six-pack has to
[8:30] contract isometrically to keep your
[8:32] spine extended. Actually, the first time
[8:34] I did these, my upper abs were so sore,
[8:37] I was still sore, I think five or 6 days
[8:40] after I hit them, so don't say I didn't
[8:42] warn you. On top of that, your obliques
[8:44] come in for stability, and your serrus
[8:46] muscles anchor your back and shoulders
[8:48] in place. You also get some lat
[8:49] activation here, and man, it just lights
[8:52] your entire core up. For the technique,
[8:54] grab onto the top of a bench and with
[8:56] straight hips and straight knees, lift
[8:58] your entire body, including your glutes,
[9:01] up off the bench until your legs are at
[9:03] a roughly 60 to 80° angle. Then, while
[9:07] keeping your hips straight, lower your
[9:09] legs back down under control. And repeat
[9:12] that for 4 to eight reps or however many
[9:14] you can get. Now, fair warning, this one
[9:18] is a lot harder than it looks. So, if
[9:20] you're new to it, I'd start with lying
[9:22] leg raises. Just lie flat on your back
[9:24] and lift your legs up while bracing your
[9:26] core. Once you can do that for eight to
[9:28] 10 reps, move on to a bent knee dragon
[9:31] flag. This is quite a lot easier than
[9:34] the full dragon flag. Bending your knees
[9:36] shortens the lever arm, which makes it a
[9:37] lot easier on your abs. Once you hit
[9:39] eight to 10 reps of those, you should be
[9:41] ready to ease into full-blown dragon
[9:43] flags. I've been doing these more than
[9:45] hanging leg raises lately because with
[9:47] hanging leg raises, you don't have
[9:49] anything to stabilize your torso, and so
[9:51] it's tricky to avoid swinging back and
[9:53] forth. That instability then limits the
[9:56] tension that you can direct into your
[9:57] abs. A Roman chair fixes most of this,
[10:00] but your back, arms, and shoulders still
[10:01] have to hold your body weight up. A
[10:03] dragon flag solves those issues. But
[10:05] honestly, when it comes to abs, the most
[10:07] important thing is your diet. You'll
[10:09] need to get down to around 10 to 12%
[10:10] body fat as a male and around 20% as a
[10:13] female. So, before we get to exercise
[10:14] six and seven, let me quickly show you
[10:16] how to get from 20% to 10% like I did
[10:19] this year using my smart nutrition app,
[10:21] MacroFactor. All you need to do is
[10:23] download a free trial on the App Store
[10:25] or Google Play, and then the app will
[10:26] take you through a quick series of
[10:28] questions to learn about you, your
[10:30] goals, and your nutritional preferences.
[10:32] Then, our metabolic rate equations will
[10:34] use that info from your questionnaire to
[10:36] get a picture of your specific
[10:38] metabolism right away and set up a
[10:40] nutrition plan specifically for you.
[10:42] From there, all you need to do is log
[10:44] your weight and track what you eat. And
[10:46] then each week going forward, the app
[10:47] will do a full check-in with you just
[10:49] like a coach would. So, it'll update
[10:51] your nutrition based on any changes to
[10:53] your metabolism every week. Then, it'll
[10:55] tell you exactly how much weight you've
[10:57] lost and how much weight you have left
[10:58] to lose to get to your goal body fat.
[11:00] I've been using the app to run my own
[11:01] cut all year, and if you're ready to
[11:02] start yourself, I'll put a link to a
[11:04] free trial in the description box below,
[11:05] or you can scan this QR code on screen.
[11:08] Just make sure you use code Jeff when
[11:09] you download, and that'll get you 2
[11:10] weeks for free. Okay, this next one is
[11:12] one of the most underrated backbuilders
[11:14] out there and most people have probably
[11:16] never heard of it. It's called the
[11:17] Keelso shrug and it's amazing for back
[11:20] thickness because it completely isolates
[11:22] your mid traps and romboids without
[11:24] fatiguing your lower back or involving
[11:26] your biceps. Now, despite the name, it
[11:29] really is more like a row than a shrug.
[11:31] With a standard row, you bend your
[11:33] elbows and squeeze your back together at
[11:35] the same time. But with the keelso
[11:37] shrug, your elbows stay locked and you
[11:40] completely isolate the back squeeze.
[11:42] That's what makes it so effective. When
[11:43] you think about it, during a row, all of
[11:46] this motion at your arms isn't doing
[11:48] anything for your back. This part is all
[11:50] biceps. Research shows that while rows
[11:52] do grow your biceps to some extent,
[11:55] curls grow them about twice as well. And
[11:57] since your biceps are obviously much
[11:59] smaller than your back, they will
[12:01] eventually limit the amount of tension
[12:03] that your back gets on a row. That's why
[12:05] after you hit failure on a normal row,
[12:07] you could probably crank out another
[12:09] four or five keels shrugs. That should
[12:11] tell you that your biceps may have hit
[12:13] failure, your rear delts may have hit
[12:14] failure, but your midback probably
[12:17] didn't. So, for the kelso technique,
[12:19] load up a chest supported T- bar row
[12:21] machine. Brace your chest against the
[12:23] pad and take a fairly wide grip around
[12:25] 1.5 times shoulder width. Unrackck the
[12:27] weight and with completely locked arms,
[12:30] squeeze your shoulder blades together as
[12:32] hard as you can. Pause for about 1
[12:34] second at the top and then let your
[12:36] shoulder blades peel apart on the
[12:38] negative. If you're doing it right, the
[12:40] weight should only move about four or
[12:42] five inches. This may not feel like
[12:44] enough at first, but that's because
[12:45] you're used to doing rows where most of
[12:47] the range of motion is coming from the
[12:49] biceps and the lats, but when you
[12:52] actually isolate the midback, this is
[12:54] what the full range of motion looks
[12:55] like. Now, of course, I still think rows
[12:57] are a fantastic overall back developer,
[13:00] but if I'm trying to isolate midback
[13:02] thickness, specifically, Kelso shrugs
[13:05] are one of my main go-tos. And by the
[13:07] way, if you don't have a T- bar row
[13:08] machine, you can do the same basic thing
[13:10] by bracing against an incline bench and
[13:12] using dumbbells. All right, let's finish
[13:14] with the least known exercise on my
[13:15] list. This is the seated cable deadlift.
[13:18] I think this is an awesome glute and
[13:19] hamstring exercise, and I have no idea
[13:21] why more people don't do it. I know it
[13:23] looks gimmicky, but hear me out.
[13:25] Obviously, barbell deadlifts are great
[13:27] for building total body strength, and I
[13:29] personally do barbell Romanian deadlifts
[13:31] every single week. But sometimes you
[13:32] need an exercise that activates your
[13:34] glutes and hams without the same fatigue
[13:36] demand that comes with a heavy barbell
[13:38] lift. That's where the seated cable
[13:40] deadlift comes in. Because your hips are
[13:42] fixed with your glutes planted on the
[13:44] bench, you're a lot more stable and you
[13:46] won't fry your back, core, and quads
[13:48] nearly as much. And if you do them
[13:50] right, you'll get a glute pump like
[13:52] you've never felt before. Okay, for
[13:54] technique on these, take a grip just
[13:56] outside shoulder width and plant your
[13:58] feet on the platform with your toes
[14:00] pointed slightly out to engage the
[14:01] glutes while keeping a tall chest. Squat
[14:04] the weight up and then extend your hips
[14:06] to a full body lockout position. This is
[14:08] where your glutes should stay planted
[14:10] throughout the set. From there, begin
[14:12] your first rep by unlocking your hips
[14:14] and knees, lowering the bar while
[14:16] keeping it in as tight to your body as
[14:17] feels comfortable. You can actually go
[14:19] quite a bit lower here, though, since
[14:20] there aren't any plates to limit your
[14:22] range of motion. So go as low as you can
[14:24] without allowing your lower back to
[14:25] round. For me, that's right around my
[14:27] ankles. From there, squeeze your glutes
[14:30] hard to extend your hips. Keep your
[14:32] shoulders back and your chest up as you
[14:34] complete the lockout. Remember, this
[14:36] isn't a row. It's a deadlift, so you
[14:38] shouldn't be yanking with your arms. Use
[14:40] your glutes to move the weight. I find a
[14:42] big glute squeeze at the very top of
[14:43] each rep can help you feel your glutes
[14:45] working better. You could also do these
[14:46] as Romanian deadlifts by keeping a
[14:48] straighter knee for more hamstrings
[14:50] emphasis. Doing them single leg works
[14:52] great, too, because you don't need to
[14:53] worry about keeping your balance like
[14:54] you do with free weights. This way, if
[14:56] you have any left to right imbalances,
[14:58] you can even things out by starting with
[15:00] your weaker side, going two or close to
[15:02] failure, and then matching the reps with
[15:04] a stronger side after. Now, I don't
[15:06] think these are better than barbell
[15:08] deadlifts, but I do think they're easier
[15:10] to recover from. And honestly, because
[15:13] I'm more stable here, I'm able to
[15:14] connect with my glutes and hamstrings a
[15:16] lot better. So, try them out for
[15:18] yourself and let me know what you think.
[15:19] And if you haven't already, download a
[15:21] free trial of MacroFactor. It's the
[15:23] smart nutrition app that I've developed
[15:24] over the last several years, and it's
[15:26] the app that I use myself to run my own
[15:28] cut. We built in a ton of features to
[15:29] save you time, like barcode scanning,
[15:31] multifood plate logging, and even a new
[15:33] AI photo feature that estimates your
[15:35] macros just from a picture. And if the
[15:37] amounts ever aren't perfect, you can
[15:38] quickly adjust them, which is still way
[15:40] faster than logging every ingredient
[15:42] manually, one at a time. We've got over
[15:44] 350,000 users, an amazing, supportive
[15:47] online community to help you reach your
[15:48] goals, and great app reviews all over
[15:50] the internet. So, if you're looking to
[15:52] take your nutrition to the next level,
[15:53] download the app. Like I said, it's a
[15:55] free trial. I'll put a link to that in
[15:56] the description box down below. And
[15:58] that's it for this one, guys. Thanks so
[15:59] much for watching. Don't forget to leave
[16:00] me a thumbs up if you enjoyed the video.
[16:02] Subscribe if you haven't already, and
[16:03] I'll see you all here in the next