[0:00] This is the upper body workout that I
[0:01] used for the last 365 days. And it
[0:04] transformed my physique. It took my back
[0:06] from looking like this to this and my
[0:09] chest and shoulders from looking like
[0:11] this to this. And even after 15 years of
[0:14] natural training, I still managed to
[0:16] gain 2.7 lbs of lean mass measured by
[0:19] DEXA. And I even added some extra peak
[0:21] to my biceps measured by ultrasound. And
[0:24] in this video, I'll show you the exact
[0:26] exercises and technique cues that made
[0:28] the biggest difference for me this year.
[0:30] Let's get into it. I think this was
[0:32] hands down the most effective exercise
[0:34] for growing my pecs this year. The
[0:36] incline barbell bench press. It mostly
[0:38] targets the chest and front delts with
[0:40] some bonus triceps and even side delt
[0:43] activation since the side delts help
[0:45] stabilize the bar from drifting forward
[0:47] or backward. I picked the incline
[0:48] barbell press over the incline dumbbell
[0:50] press because of the barbell's overload
[0:52] potential. I ran this program for a full
[0:54] year, and while dumbbells are great,
[0:56] once you get pretty strong, they become
[0:58] big, bulky, and awkward. But you can
[1:00] always add a little weight to the
[1:01] barbell. And while I am a fan of the
[1:02] Smith machine, I went with free weights
[1:04] here to get more out of the stabilizing
[1:05] muscles, especially those side delts.
[1:08] There's a growing trend of only doing
[1:10] the most stable machine-based version of
[1:12] lifts. But I think that's gone a bit too
[1:14] far. Even for pure hypertrophy, freee
[1:17] compound lifts still have a lot of
[1:19] value. And research backs this up. An
[1:21] incline barbell bench press clearly
[1:23] grows your chest. In fact, a 45 degree
[1:25] incline press will hit your upper pecs
[1:27] harder while still hitting your mid and
[1:29] lower pecs just as hard as a flat bench.
[1:32] The study from Chavez and colleagues
[1:33] found that the incline press grew the
[1:35] mid and lower pecs just as well as a
[1:38] flat bench, but the incline press had
[1:40] that added bonus of growing the upper
[1:42] pecs more. The incline press is also
[1:44] very timeefficient because it kills two
[1:46] birds with one stone. you really don't
[1:49] need both a flat press and a vertical
[1:50] press if you just meet in the middle
[1:52] with a 45°ree incline. Now, the main
[1:54] technique cue that I focused on this
[1:56] year was using a slightly narrower grip
[1:58] to increase the range of motion, and
[2:00] that'll hit a bit more triceps without
[2:02] losing chest tension. And of course, I
[2:03] took the last set to absolute failure
[2:06] every time. I never use a spotter to
[2:07] help me get the weight up. I wanted to
[2:09] give it my all this year and then just
[2:10] fail on my own accord for scientific
[2:12] consistency. Failing on a heavy compound
[2:14] lift can be a bit intimidating at first,
[2:16] even for experienced lifters. But
[2:18] there's really nothing to be scared of.
[2:19] Just press until you can't press
[2:21] anymore, and then dump the weight
[2:22] forward onto the safety bars. Now, the
[2:24] most common mistake I see here is
[2:26] bouncing the bar off your chest. Yes,
[2:28] you can lift more weight this way, but
[2:30] remember, progressive overload is when
[2:32] you add a little weight or a rep from
[2:34] week to week, and that only counts if
[2:37] your technique stays consistent. So,
[2:39] control the descent, do a slight pause
[2:41] on your chest, and then press the weight
[2:43] up and slightly back. Okay, next is
[2:45] where I slow things down a little bit
[2:46] more and put all the tension exactly
[2:48] where I want it, on the pecs. The seated
[2:51] cable fly will also stretch the pecs
[2:53] more than the heavy compound press that
[2:55] we did first. For these, set a bench
[2:57] pretty far out in front. Grab both
[2:59] handles, hold them tight to your chest,
[3:01] and walk out in front of the bench. As
[3:03] you sit down, you don't want to get
[3:04] pulled backward, so ease yourself into
[3:07] the seat. Then press the handles forward
[3:09] into the starting position. And from
[3:10] there, begin your first rep with a nice
[3:12] and controlled negative. Try to get as
[3:14] deep as your shoulders will comfortably
[3:16] allow. And then squeeze the weight
[3:17] forward using your pecs. Try to focus on
[3:20] bringing your elbows together, not just
[3:22] your hands. This will keep tension on
[3:24] your chest and prevent your triceps and
[3:25] front delts from taking over. From
[3:27] there, sweep the weight out and back in
[3:29] an arc, not just back. So, try to think
[3:32] about covering as much space as possible
[3:34] as you do the negative. Now, I picked
[3:36] these over a pec deck because I do find
[3:38] I can get a bit deeper here than most
[3:39] pec decks allow. And I do them seated
[3:41] over standing because if you're seated,
[3:43] you'll be a bit more stable, which means
[3:45] no tension coming from the weight stack
[3:46] is being lost to my ankles or my low
[3:48] back, which will have to do some
[3:50] stabilization when I'm standing.
[3:52] Remember, our goal here is pure pectoral
[3:54] isolation. Now, the most common mistake
[3:56] I see here is letting your elbows drop.
[3:58] This puts your pecs at a mechanical
[4:00] disadvantage and worsens the line of
[4:02] pull for the pec fibers. So, keep your
[4:04] elbows up and think about hugging a big
[4:06] tree as you fly forward. Then, sweep the
[4:08] weight out in a wide arc on the
[4:09] negative. And again, last set to
[4:11] failure. No exceptions. I think the
[4:13] biggest gains I made this year were in
[4:15] my back. And I owe a lot of that to one
[4:17] exercise, weighted pull-ups. I know I
[4:19] infamously put these in A tier instead
[4:21] of S tier last year, but after this
[4:23] 365day experiment, I'm officially
[4:26] promoting pull-ups to S tier. Pull-ups
[4:28] light up your entire back. Your lats
[4:30] handle the shoulder extension. Your mid
[4:32] traps and romboids will light up during
[4:34] scapular retraction. And your low back
[4:36] will engage for stabilization. Your
[4:38] biceps and brachiialis will take care of
[4:40] elbow flexion. And there's also going to
[4:41] be some muscle activation in your core
[4:43] since you aren't seated like in a lat
[4:45] pull down. Now, I went with a pull-up
[4:47] over a lat pull down mainly because I
[4:49] think they're harder and I didn't want
[4:51] to shy away from the more challenging
[4:52] exercises this year. I'm also focusing a
[4:55] lot on progressive overload for this
[4:57] experiment. And I find that with lat
[4:58] pull downs, once you get strong enough,
[5:00] it just becomes near impossible to avoid
[5:02] swinging back and forth. However, with
[5:04] pull-ups, you are more limited in how
[5:06] much you can swing and sway, especially
[5:08] once you get some weight strapped to
[5:09] you, and especially if you do a pause in
[5:11] the bottom of each rep. I'm not saying
[5:12] pull-ups are better than pull downs.
[5:14] They each have their strengths. But yes,
[5:16] I attribute most of my back growth this
[5:18] year to doing a lot of weighted
[5:20] pull-ups. Two simple technique cues.
[5:22] Think about getting your chest to the
[5:23] bar rather than just getting your chin
[5:25] over the bar. This will help you stay in
[5:27] control of the movement better. And
[5:28] then, this may sound obvious, but as you
[5:30] pull, you want to think about pulling
[5:32] with your back rather than with your
[5:34] arms. Your arms are just connectors. So,
[5:36] instead of pulling with your arms, think
[5:38] about driving your elbows down and in.
[5:41] This will activate your lats and prevent
[5:43] your biceps from taking over. I also use
[5:45] both liquid chalk and straps on these so
[5:48] my grip doesn't limit my back gains. And
[5:50] for the experiment, I use this grip in
[5:52] between a fully pronated wide grip and a
[5:54] neutral grip. I just find it a little
[5:56] more comfortable on my shoulders, but
[5:57] they all work. A very common mistake
[5:59] here is, oddly enough, when people worry
[6:01] too much about feeling their lats.
[6:04] Pull-ups aren't a feely exercise.
[6:06] They're not really supposed to feel
[6:08] amazing. They're supposed to get you
[6:09] jacked and strong. So, pull yourself up
[6:12] and then lower yourself back down under
[6:14] control. Increase the weight you're
[6:16] pulling over time. And if you do that,
[6:18] your lats are going to grow whether you
[6:19] feel them or not. So, when I started
[6:22] this experiment, I did 30 lb for six
[6:26] reps on day one. And now I just did 60
[6:29] lb for six reps. And that's just
[6:31] straight progressive overload. Pretty
[6:33] happy with that. And yes, that was my
[6:35] last set. So, taken to failure as
[6:37] always. If you can't do weighted
[6:38] pull-ups yet, no problem. Just start
[6:40] with assisted pull-ups. You can use a
[6:42] band or a machine and gradually reduce
[6:44] the assistance. Eccentric only pull-ups
[6:46] are also a great progression tool. Just
[6:48] use a box so you can start at the top of
[6:50] the range of motion and then lower
[6:51] yourself down slowly and repeat. My side
[6:54] delts also definitely improved
[6:55] throughout the course of this experiment
[6:56] and I attribute most of that to this
[6:58] exercise right here. High cable lateral
[7:01] raises. Just two or three sets of 8 to
[7:03] 10 reps, but I push those sets hard.
[7:05] When done right, these almost
[7:07] exclusively target the side delts, which
[7:09] are arguably the most important muscle
[7:11] fibers for creating that wide tapered
[7:13] X-frame look. And I use cables here
[7:16] because they provide consistent tension
[7:17] throughout the range of motion, unlike
[7:19] dumbbells where there's no tension at
[7:21] the bottom and peak tension only kicks
[7:22] in at the very top. Also, by setting the
[7:24] cable higher, you'll make the movement
[7:26] hardest when your delts are most
[7:28] stretched. Yeah, I do think the
[7:30] importance of the stretch was slightly
[7:31] exaggerated on social media for a while,
[7:34] but it's still true that with cables,
[7:36] peak tension always occurs when there's
[7:38] a 90° angle between your arm and the
[7:40] cable. And that happens early in the
[7:42] range of motion when the pulley is set
[7:44] high. Now, a study published just this
[7:46] past December compared cable lateral
[7:48] raises to dumbbell lateral raises. The
[7:50] study we've all been waiting for. At
[7:52] least I was. Each subject trained one
[7:54] arm with cables and the other arm with
[7:56] dumbbells twice a week, five sets per
[7:58] session, all sets to failure. After 8
[8:01] weeks of training, they found that both
[8:03] exercises grew the side delts about the
[8:05] same. So, if you don't have access to
[8:07] cables, the good news is dumbbells still
[8:10] get the job done. That said, this study
[8:12] didn't have their subjects perform cable
[8:14] lateral raises quite the way I do them.
[8:16] They stopped the range of motion
[8:17] directly at their side, which I'd argue
[8:19] means they were missing out on one of
[8:21] the main potential benefits of using a
[8:23] cable, which is that extra range of
[8:25] motion you get by sweeping the weight
[8:27] across your body. Still, based on this
[8:29] new data, I doubt cables versus
[8:30] dumbbells is a true game changer. What
[8:33] matters most is choosing a variation
[8:35] where you can feel your side delts
[8:36] working and pushing that variation hard
[8:39] with good form. I still use both cables
[8:41] on my upper body day and dumbbells on my
[8:43] push day. And of course, last set goes
[8:46] to failure. Now, by far the most common
[8:48] lateral raise mistake is shrugging the
[8:50] weight up. This will cause your upper
[8:52] traps to take over and rob your side
[8:54] delts of tension. Instead, focus on
[8:56] sweeping the weight out rather than
[8:58] lifting it up. If you're struggling to
[9:00] get a feel for this, stand up against a
[9:02] wall and push your arm out sideways
[9:04] against the back of your forearm. Apply
[9:06] pressure gradually against the wall and
[9:08] you should feel your side delts really
[9:10] turn on. That's the exact intention you
[9:12] should be using on your lateral raises.
[9:14] Think out, not up. This next exercise
[9:16] will activate every single muscle fiber
[9:18] in your entire back from your neck down
[9:20] to your hips. It's the deficit penlay
[9:23] row. And if you're not doing it, I
[9:24] genuinely think you're missing out. You
[9:26] get amazing mid trap engagement from the
[9:28] scapular retraction, high levels of
[9:30] upper and lower trap activation from
[9:32] scapular stabilization, solid lat
[9:34] activation from shoulder extension, and
[9:37] your spinal erectors will light up since
[9:38] they have to fire isometrically
[9:40] throughout the entire set to keep you
[9:42] locked in that horizontal position. By
[9:43] standing on a bumper plate, you'll
[9:45] increase the range of motion, giving
[9:46] your lats a deeper stretch at the bottom
[9:48] than a traditional floor level row. I
[9:51] also tweaked the execution for
[9:52] hypertrophy. Instead of the typical
[9:54] explosive up drop down style, I keep the
[9:57] explosive positive but slow down the
[9:59] negative to maintain eccentric tension
[10:01] and control. Then on the last set, I
[10:03] push beyond failure by using lengthen
[10:04] partials. Yes, I still do these on some
[10:07] exercises. So when I can't get that full
[10:09] squeeze at the top, I still grind out
[10:11] another three or four reps in the
[10:13] stretch position where the lats are the
[10:15] strongest. I know some of you are sick
[10:16] of lengthen partials, but this is a spot
[10:18] where they really make sense, especially
[10:20] given the lat strength curve. Now, the
[10:22] biggest mistake here is just not getting
[10:24] fully horizontal. Being more upright
[10:26] isn't necessarily wrong, but when your
[10:28] torso is parallel to the floor, gravity
[10:30] is pulling directly against your
[10:32] scapular retractors. This forces your
[10:34] mid traps and romboids to work much
[10:36] harder. The only way to make a
[10:37] traditional higher torso angle row hit
[10:39] the same is by compensating with more
[10:41] weight. But pound-for-pound, penlay rows
[10:44] are simply more challenging, so I didn't
[10:47] shy away from them this year. Also, make
[10:49] sure you use straps or at the very least
[10:51] chalk. If you're letting grip hold you
[10:53] back here, you're definitely leaving
[10:54] back gains on the table. Last set to
[10:56] failure. For triceps, I'm using what
[10:58] current research shows is likely the
[10:59] single most effective movement, not just
[11:02] for the long head, but for all three
[11:04] heads, the cable overhead triceps
[11:06] extension. This study compared overhead
[11:08] extensions to push downs and found that
[11:10] overhead extensions caused 50% more
[11:13] growth in the long head, 40% more growth
[11:15] in the lateral and medial heads, and 40%
[11:18] more growth in the triceps overall. It's
[11:20] a killer. If I only have time for one
[11:22] triceps exercise, this is the one. Now,
[11:24] the most common mistake here actually
[11:26] happens before the set even starts
[11:28] during the setup. Most people set the
[11:30] cable way too low, then waste a bunch of
[11:32] energy trying to spin and twist
[11:34] themselves into position. Instead, just
[11:37] move the cable up higher, squat
[11:38] underneath it, and use your legs to lift
[11:40] the weight up into place. Then, take a
[11:42] step or two forward, and you're ready to
[11:44] go. No wasted energy. Failure. All
[11:46] right, biceps. This part's super cool
[11:48] because a few new studies on biceps
[11:50] growth just dropped. And wouldn't you
[11:52] know it, there's even one comparing my
[11:54] personal favorite, the Beijian cable
[11:56] curl, to the classic preacher curl. The
[11:58] results? Well, there were
[12:00] non-significant trends favoring the
[12:02] Beijing curl, but nothing statistically
[12:04] significant. That could be because the
[12:07] study was underpowered. It only had 15
[12:09] subjects and it ran for just 10 weeks.
[12:11] Or it could mean that both exercises
[12:13] grow your biceps equally well.
[12:15] Regardless, on my upper body day, I've
[12:17] been doing Beijian curls because based
[12:19] on the totality of the evidence, I still
[12:21] suspect they have a slight edge,
[12:23] especially thanks to that deadly combo
[12:25] of long muscle length and high tension
[12:27] in that lengthen position. Failure. But
[12:30] to be sure, on my pull day, where I
[12:31] train biceps again, I do preacher curls
[12:34] and hammer curls. Failure. Failure. Now,
[12:36] if you want my full upper lower pushpull
[12:38] legs program, it's available now at
[12:40] jeffnnipper.com. I'll link it down below
[12:42] and I'll also put a discount code in the
[12:44] description box just for YouTube so you
[12:46] can save 25%. Also, thanks for all the
[12:48] love on the last video. My brother and I
[12:50] went through the comments and we were
[12:51] blown away by all the support and love.
[12:53] We both really, really appreciate it.
[12:55] We've also both started experiment
[12:57] number two, so make sure you subscribe
[12:59] so you don't miss what's coming next.
[13:00] All right, thanks for watching, guys.
[13:01] I'll see you all here in the next