The Upper Body Workout I Followed For My 1 Year Transformation

[00:00] This is the upper body workout that I

[00:01] used for the last 365 days. And it

[00:04] transformed my physique. It took my back

[00:06] from looking like this to this and my

[00:09] chest and shoulders from looking like

[00:11] this to this. And even after 15 years of

[00:14] natural training, I still managed to

[00:16] gain 2.7 lbs of lean mass measured by

[00:19] DEXA. And I even added some extra peak

[00:21] to my biceps measured by ultrasound. And

[00:24] in this video, I'll show you the exact

[00:26] exercises and technique cues that made

[00:28] the biggest difference for me this year.

[00:30] Let's get into it. I think this was

[00:32] hands down the most effective exercise

[00:34] for growing my pecs this year. The

[00:36] incline barbell bench press. It mostly

[00:38] targets the chest and front delts with

[00:40] some bonus triceps and even side delt

[00:43] activation since the side delts help

[00:45] stabilize the bar from drifting forward

[00:47] or backward. I picked the incline

[00:48] barbell press over the incline dumbbell

[00:50] press because of the barbell's overload

[00:52] potential. I ran this program for a full

[00:54] year, and while dumbbells are great,

[00:56] once you get pretty strong, they become

[00:58] big, bulky, and awkward. But you can

[01:00] always add a little weight to the

[01:01] barbell. And while I am a fan of the

[01:02] Smith machine, I went with free weights

[01:04] here to get more out of the stabilizing

[01:05] muscles, especially those side delts.

[01:08] There's a growing trend of only doing

[01:10] the most stable machine-based version of

[01:12] lifts. But I think that's gone a bit too

[01:14] far. Even for pure hypertrophy, freee

[01:17] compound lifts still have a lot of

[01:19] value. And research backs this up. An

[01:21] incline barbell bench press clearly

[01:23] grows your chest. In fact, a 45 degree

[01:25] incline press will hit your upper pecs

[01:27] harder while still hitting your mid and

[01:29] lower pecs just as hard as a flat bench.

[01:32] The study from Chavez and colleagues

[01:33] found that the incline press grew the

[01:35] mid and lower pecs just as well as a

[01:38] flat bench, but the incline press had

[01:40] that added bonus of growing the upper

[01:42] pecs more. The incline press is also

[01:44] very timeefficient because it kills two

[01:46] birds with one stone. you really don't

[01:49] need both a flat press and a vertical

[01:50] press if you just meet in the middle

[01:52] with a 45°ree incline. Now, the main

[01:54] technique cue that I focused on this

[01:56] year was using a slightly narrower grip

[01:58] to increase the range of motion, and

[02:00] that'll hit a bit more triceps without

[02:02] losing chest tension. And of course, I

[02:03] took the last set to absolute failure

[02:06] every time. I never use a spotter to

[02:07] help me get the weight up. I wanted to

[02:09] give it my all this year and then just

[02:10] fail on my own accord for scientific

[02:12] consistency. Failing on a heavy compound

[02:14] lift can be a bit intimidating at first,

[02:16] even for experienced lifters. But

[02:18] there's really nothing to be scared of.

[02:19] Just press until you can't press

[02:21] anymore, and then dump the weight

[02:22] forward onto the safety bars. Now, the

[02:24] most common mistake I see here is

[02:26] bouncing the bar off your chest. Yes,

[02:28] you can lift more weight this way, but

[02:30] remember, progressive overload is when

[02:32] you add a little weight or a rep from

[02:34] week to week, and that only counts if

[02:37] your technique stays consistent. So,

[02:39] control the descent, do a slight pause

[02:41] on your chest, and then press the weight

[02:43] up and slightly back. Okay, next is

[02:45] where I slow things down a little bit

[02:46] more and put all the tension exactly

[02:48] where I want it, on the pecs. The seated

[02:51] cable fly will also stretch the pecs

[02:53] more than the heavy compound press that

[02:55] we did first. For these, set a bench

[02:57] pretty far out in front. Grab both

[02:59] handles, hold them tight to your chest,

[03:01] and walk out in front of the bench. As

[03:03] you sit down, you don't want to get

[03:04] pulled backward, so ease yourself into

[03:07] the seat. Then press the handles forward

[03:09] into the starting position. And from

[03:10] there, begin your first rep with a nice

[03:12] and controlled negative. Try to get as

[03:14] deep as your shoulders will comfortably

[03:16] allow. And then squeeze the weight

[03:17] forward using your pecs. Try to focus on

[03:20] bringing your elbows together, not just

[03:22] your hands. This will keep tension on

[03:24] your chest and prevent your triceps and

[03:25] front delts from taking over. From

[03:27] there, sweep the weight out and back in

[03:29] an arc, not just back. So, try to think

[03:32] about covering as much space as possible

[03:34] as you do the negative. Now, I picked

[03:36] these over a pec deck because I do find

[03:38] I can get a bit deeper here than most

[03:39] pec decks allow. And I do them seated

[03:41] over standing because if you're seated,

[03:43] you'll be a bit more stable, which means

[03:45] no tension coming from the weight stack

[03:46] is being lost to my ankles or my low

[03:48] back, which will have to do some

[03:50] stabilization when I'm standing.

[03:52] Remember, our goal here is pure pectoral

[03:54] isolation. Now, the most common mistake

[03:56] I see here is letting your elbows drop.

[03:58] This puts your pecs at a mechanical

[04:00] disadvantage and worsens the line of

[04:02] pull for the pec fibers. So, keep your

[04:04] elbows up and think about hugging a big

[04:06] tree as you fly forward. Then, sweep the

[04:08] weight out in a wide arc on the

[04:09] negative. And again, last set to

[04:11] failure. No exceptions. I think the

[04:13] biggest gains I made this year were in

[04:15] my back. And I owe a lot of that to one

[04:17] exercise, weighted pull-ups. I know I

[04:19] infamously put these in A tier instead

[04:21] of S tier last year, but after this

[04:23] 365day experiment, I'm officially

[04:26] promoting pull-ups to S tier. Pull-ups

[04:28] light up your entire back. Your lats

[04:30] handle the shoulder extension. Your mid

[04:32] traps and romboids will light up during

[04:34] scapular retraction. And your low back

[04:36] will engage for stabilization. Your

[04:38] biceps and brachiialis will take care of

[04:40] elbow flexion. And there's also going to

[04:41] be some muscle activation in your core

[04:43] since you aren't seated like in a lat

[04:45] pull down. Now, I went with a pull-up

[04:47] over a lat pull down mainly because I

[04:49] think they're harder and I didn't want

[04:51] to shy away from the more challenging

[04:52] exercises this year. I'm also focusing a

[04:55] lot on progressive overload for this

[04:57] experiment. And I find that with lat

[04:58] pull downs, once you get strong enough,

[05:00] it just becomes near impossible to avoid

[05:02] swinging back and forth. However, with

[05:04] pull-ups, you are more limited in how

[05:06] much you can swing and sway, especially

[05:08] once you get some weight strapped to

[05:09] you, and especially if you do a pause in

[05:11] the bottom of each rep. I'm not saying

[05:12] pull-ups are better than pull downs.

[05:14] They each have their strengths. But yes,

[05:16] I attribute most of my back growth this

[05:18] year to doing a lot of weighted

[05:20] pull-ups. Two simple technique cues.

[05:22] Think about getting your chest to the

[05:23] bar rather than just getting your chin

[05:25] over the bar. This will help you stay in

[05:27] control of the movement better. And

[05:28] then, this may sound obvious, but as you

[05:30] pull, you want to think about pulling

[05:32] with your back rather than with your

[05:34] arms. Your arms are just connectors. So,

[05:36] instead of pulling with your arms, think

[05:38] about driving your elbows down and in.

[05:41] This will activate your lats and prevent

[05:43] your biceps from taking over. I also use

[05:45] both liquid chalk and straps on these so

[05:48] my grip doesn't limit my back gains. And

[05:50] for the experiment, I use this grip in

[05:52] between a fully pronated wide grip and a

[05:54] neutral grip. I just find it a little

[05:56] more comfortable on my shoulders, but

[05:57] they all work. A very common mistake

[05:59] here is, oddly enough, when people worry

[06:01] too much about feeling their lats.

[06:04] Pull-ups aren't a feely exercise.

[06:06] They're not really supposed to feel

[06:08] amazing. They're supposed to get you

[06:09] jacked and strong. So, pull yourself up

[06:12] and then lower yourself back down under

[06:14] control. Increase the weight you're

[06:16] pulling over time. And if you do that,

[06:18] your lats are going to grow whether you

[06:19] feel them or not. So, when I started

[06:22] this experiment, I did 30 lb for six

[06:26] reps on day one. And now I just did 60

[06:29] lb for six reps. And that's just

[06:31] straight progressive overload. Pretty

[06:33] happy with that. And yes, that was my

[06:35] last set. So, taken to failure as

[06:37] always. If you can't do weighted

[06:38] pull-ups yet, no problem. Just start

[06:40] with assisted pull-ups. You can use a

[06:42] band or a machine and gradually reduce

[06:44] the assistance. Eccentric only pull-ups

[06:46] are also a great progression tool. Just

[06:48] use a box so you can start at the top of

[06:50] the range of motion and then lower

[06:51] yourself down slowly and repeat. My side

[06:54] delts also definitely improved

[06:55] throughout the course of this experiment

[06:56] and I attribute most of that to this

[06:58] exercise right here. High cable lateral

[07:01] raises. Just two or three sets of 8 to

[07:03] 10 reps, but I push those sets hard.

[07:05] When done right, these almost

[07:07] exclusively target the side delts, which

[07:09] are arguably the most important muscle

[07:11] fibers for creating that wide tapered

[07:13] X-frame look. And I use cables here

[07:16] because they provide consistent tension

[07:17] throughout the range of motion, unlike

[07:19] dumbbells where there's no tension at

[07:21] the bottom and peak tension only kicks

[07:22] in at the very top. Also, by setting the

[07:24] cable higher, you'll make the movement

[07:26] hardest when your delts are most

[07:28] stretched. Yeah, I do think the

[07:30] importance of the stretch was slightly

[07:31] exaggerated on social media for a while,

[07:34] but it's still true that with cables,

[07:36] peak tension always occurs when there's

[07:38] a 90° angle between your arm and the

[07:40] cable. And that happens early in the

[07:42] range of motion when the pulley is set

[07:44] high. Now, a study published just this

[07:46] past December compared cable lateral

[07:48] raises to dumbbell lateral raises. The

[07:50] study we've all been waiting for. At

[07:52] least I was. Each subject trained one

[07:54] arm with cables and the other arm with

[07:56] dumbbells twice a week, five sets per

[07:58] session, all sets to failure. After 8

[08:01] weeks of training, they found that both

[08:03] exercises grew the side delts about the

[08:05] same. So, if you don't have access to

[08:07] cables, the good news is dumbbells still

[08:10] get the job done. That said, this study

[08:12] didn't have their subjects perform cable

[08:14] lateral raises quite the way I do them.

[08:16] They stopped the range of motion

[08:17] directly at their side, which I'd argue

[08:19] means they were missing out on one of

[08:21] the main potential benefits of using a

[08:23] cable, which is that extra range of

[08:25] motion you get by sweeping the weight

[08:27] across your body. Still, based on this

[08:29] new data, I doubt cables versus

[08:30] dumbbells is a true game changer. What

[08:33] matters most is choosing a variation

[08:35] where you can feel your side delts

[08:36] working and pushing that variation hard

[08:39] with good form. I still use both cables

[08:41] on my upper body day and dumbbells on my

[08:43] push day. And of course, last set goes

[08:46] to failure. Now, by far the most common

[08:48] lateral raise mistake is shrugging the

[08:50] weight up. This will cause your upper

[08:52] traps to take over and rob your side

[08:54] delts of tension. Instead, focus on

[08:56] sweeping the weight out rather than

[08:58] lifting it up. If you're struggling to

[09:00] get a feel for this, stand up against a

[09:02] wall and push your arm out sideways

[09:04] against the back of your forearm. Apply

[09:06] pressure gradually against the wall and

[09:08] you should feel your side delts really

[09:10] turn on. That's the exact intention you

[09:12] should be using on your lateral raises.

[09:14] Think out, not up. This next exercise

[09:16] will activate every single muscle fiber

[09:18] in your entire back from your neck down

[09:20] to your hips. It's the deficit penlay

[09:23] row. And if you're not doing it, I

[09:24] genuinely think you're missing out. You

[09:26] get amazing mid trap engagement from the

[09:28] scapular retraction, high levels of

[09:30] upper and lower trap activation from

[09:32] scapular stabilization, solid lat

[09:34] activation from shoulder extension, and

[09:37] your spinal erectors will light up since

[09:38] they have to fire isometrically

[09:40] throughout the entire set to keep you

[09:42] locked in that horizontal position. By

[09:43] standing on a bumper plate, you'll

[09:45] increase the range of motion, giving

[09:46] your lats a deeper stretch at the bottom

[09:48] than a traditional floor level row. I

[09:51] also tweaked the execution for

[09:52] hypertrophy. Instead of the typical

[09:54] explosive up drop down style, I keep the

[09:57] explosive positive but slow down the

[09:59] 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