When it comes to building some good old fashioned solid muscle, sometime the tried and tested methods really are the best, and if there’s anyone who likes to put his workouts to the test, it’s Jeff Nippard. With a constant and ever confusing influx of gadgets and new-fangled devices taking up our gym space, the bodybuilder, powerlifter, and sports scientists has taken to Instagram to highlight some simple moves that will lead to gains. “There are four underrated muscle building exercises that most people skip,” explained the coach. “But you should definitely include if you can.”
Jeff Nippard’s 4 Essential Muscle Building Exercises
Deficit Pushups
“A lot of people think of pushups as a beginner exercise, but as long as you use a deficit you’ll get an amazing pec stimulus,” said the Canadian. “To make them harder, I’ll pause for 3 seconds at the bottom.”
Overhand Lat Pulldown
“A lot of ‘optimal lifters’ will skip this one in favor of the one-arm kneeling lat pulldown,” suggested Nippard. “But, despite the fact that people call it more ‘science based,’ there actually isn’t a single study on (one-arm kneeling lat pulldowns). Sure, it’s great for isolating the lats, but the standard lat pulldown is better for overloading more of the back as a whole.”
45° Preacher Curl
Using a bench, Nippard explains that it “locks your elbow in, which prevents cheating, and because of the dumbbells resistance path, it applies high tension in the stretch.” For efficiency, the coach says, “Just don’t do them with a vertical arm, because you’ll have zero tension at the bottom.”
Smith Machine Squats
“Smith machine squats are great, because there’s less skill involved (than with traditional barbell squats),” says Nippard. “So, you don’t need to overthink your form or worry about falling over. You can just hammer your quads and get close to failure.”
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with shaking up your workouts and tying the latest trends and technologies, but never neglect these tried and tested methods for adding slabs of solid muscle!
For more commonsense advice from Jeff Nippard follow him on Instagram!