How To Overhead Press For Bigger Shoulders (5 Mistakes Youre Probably Making) Jeremy Ethier 2018-12-02 | Well-developed, rounded shoulders are one of many key features that dramatically improves and completes a powerful looking upper body. And in order to best grow this muscle and to answer the often asked question of “how to get bigger shoulders”, there’s no doubt that the standing overhead press should be a staple in your routine. However, despite the seemingly straightforward movement pattern of the barbell overhead press (also known as the “shoulder press” or “military press”), there’s a lot more that goes into it than simply lifting a bar overhead. In fact, proper overhead press form and shoulder press form in general is what’s going to enable you to get big shoulders most efficiently while minimizing your risk of injury as you do so. Therefore, in this video I’ll go through how to shoulder press properly by discussing the 5 most common overhead pressing technique mistakes people make.TIME STAMPS:Mistake 1 (Flaring Elbows): 0:51Mistake 2 (Curved Bar Path): 2:06Mistake 3 (Arched Back): 3:18Mistake 4 (Bent Wrists): 5:49Mistake 5 (Using Momentum): 6:32VIEW MY 4 SCIENCE-BASED PROGRAMS HERE:builtwithscience.com/bws-free-fitness-quiz/gender?utm_source=Youtube&utm_medium=Video&utm_content=Description%20box&utm_campaign=Overhead%20press%20for%20bigger%20shoulders%20Dec%202%2F2018LINK TO FOAM ROLLER (this is an affiliate link and I will get a portion of the sale, so thank you in advance!):http://amzn.to/2lz9nYi (the one I used in this video)http://amzn.to/2lB4duO (a better quality one)FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM & FACEBOOK:instagram.com/jeremyethierfacebook.com/JeremyethierfitSTUDIES:Scapular plane:ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19194023 ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10736394Kyphosis & lordosis makes press less effective:sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095254614000106Thoracic mobility:ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7787853MUSIC:soundcloud.com/lakeyinspired(Images of exercise illustrations property of and copyright WorkoutLabs LLC)
The ONLY 2 Exercises That Actually Grew My Chest Jeremy Ethier 2024-10-20 | Does your chest refuse to grow no matter how many exercises you try? I’ve been there. But over the last year, that changed. My chest has grown faster than ever. I’ve even got new stretch marks from the growth. And all it took was focusing on 2 key chest exercises (hitting the upper chest, mid chest, and lower chest) that actually fit my genetic structure. Do these best chest exercises, and I guarantee you’ll start experiencing the same chest growth I did in no time. So, what was my chest workout? Well, it didn’t include the bench press, and here’s why…Grab your FREE 6-week chest workout plan:builtwithscience.com/6-week-chest-workoutClick below for a step by step plan training plan that reveals all the best exercises you should do for each and every muscle group:quiz.builtwithscience.comClick below to subscribe for more videos:youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1Part of this has to do with the fact that the barbell locks your arms into a fixed position. So no matter what I tried with my form, I could never really get my chest to properly activate based on how my bones are structured. What did I do instead? First, I switched from a barbell to dumbbells. This gave me the freedom to adjust my pressing angles, which allowed me to better activate my chest. Second, I changed the bench angle to an incline for significantly more upper chest development without sacrificing mid chest growth. But “incline” doesn’t mean the same thing for everyone. If you have a steep sternum angle, a flat bench acts more like a decline press because your chest fibers are angled downwards. In this case, you’d have to use a relatively high incline of about 30 to 45 degrees. But if you’ve got a flat sternum angle, like me, it only takes a slight incline to unlock the upper chest. So for my body type, setting the incline just one or two notches up was the sweet spot to maximizing my chest activation.But there was one more key factor I was neglecting. The bottom stretch. So as much as it hurt my ego, I decided to let go of the big 95s and grab the smaller 65s instead, and they did way more for my chest than ego-lifting those 95s ever did. But, to continue forcing chest growth, once I nailed down my form and could really feel my chest working, I slowly started progressing the weight again. Now, since the first of the best chest exercises focused primarily on my upper chest, I now needed a second exercise to really target the mid and lower chest, especially the outer portion. For years, I relied on the pec deck machine. But while it’s great for isolating the chest, it’s hardest at the end of the movement, during the squeeze. But the latest research suggests that exercises challenging your muscles in the stretched position tend to deliver more growth, especially in the distal parts of the muscle, which in this case would be the outer chest. So, instead of the pec deck, I created my own seated cable fly. If you execute it properly, it not only challenges your chest in that deep stretch but it also maintains tension throughout the full range of motion, even at the end during the squeeze. But remember, just swapping the exercise isn’t enough. There’s three key tweaks I made to get the most growth out of it. First, I placed a half foam roller behind my back. This helps open up the chest to unlock that deeper stretch we’ve been talking about. Second, I adjusted the cable setup. I set the cables at shoulder height and scoot my butt forward on the bench. This aligned the tension directly with my mid and lower chest. Lastly, I had to stop my shoulders from taking over. I imagined a string attached to my sternum, pulling my chest up during the entire movement as I simply focused on squeezing my biceps into the sides of my chest. Then once the reps got tough, as soon as I felt my shoulders creeping forward, I knew my chest hit failure and I was just cheating my way to more reps, so I’d end it there.What if your gym’s packed and the pec deck is the only chest fly available? No problem. Here’s how to make it more effective: first, do as many full reps as you can to focus on the squeeze. But after you hit failure, shift your attention to the stretch by cranking out as many half-reps as possible in that stretched position. Some of you might be wondering—can you really build your entire chest with just these 2 chest exercises? Well, I’ve recently decided to push my chest training to the next level by experimenting with a much higher volume approach based on some new research. My goal is to turn my chest into a strong point by next year, and I’m tracking every step to find what works best. I’ll be sharing these updates on my channel, so if you want to stay ahead with the latest strategies, keep an eye out. But the short answer is yes. If you’re executing these 2 exercises with the right form but also doing enough volume and properly progressing them, you can see incredible chest growth.
Steroids vs Natural: 100 Day Transformation Jeremy Ethier 2024-10-06 | Steroids vs. natural. Does a natty really stand a chance? To find out, I’m running a 100-day natural vs steroids experiment. Brandon will undergo natural training using my science-backed strategies, while Todd will undergo enhanced training by hopping on steroids. We’ll track their progress to see who comes out on top. With steroid use on the rise, I want to prove you don’t need them for great results. Or … do you? Let’s find out. Click below for a step by step plan training plan that reveals all the best exercises you should do for each and every muscle group:quiz.builtwithscience.comClick below to subscribe for more videos:youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1AI Animation Credit:youtube.com/@neuralplay?si=rv5pWLLTbgsS54YLTo get the best starting point data possible in this steroids vs natural experiment, we’re using DEXA scans and ultrasounds across all major muscle groups. On Day 1 Todd is coming in at 183lbs and 19% body Fat. While Brandon weighs only 148 lbs but scores a lean 13.6% body fat. Compared to Todd, we have 2 major advantages in this natural vs steroids competition. First off, Brandon is lean, which means we can focus on gaining weight to maximize growth. Whereas Todd, an aspiring bodybuilder, will soon begin dieting down for his competition. Second, while Brandon isn’t a complete beginner, he’s not as serious of a lifter as Todd. In normal circumstances, this means Todd would build muscle about 3 times slower than Brandon. But we’re talking about steroids. These aren’t normal circumstances, and I’ll need to use every science-based tool I know to help Brandon supercharge his training. First, we’re choosing exercises that maximize this stretch across all his major muscle groups. Next, we’re getting him to actually train to failure. But while I was pushing Brandon with his workouts, Todd’s chemically enhanced body was already performing at a completely different level. So once steroids make their way into your muscle cells, they bind to a powerful androgen receptor. Once bound, they alter your muscle’s genetics to dramatically increase the rates of protein synthesis and recovery. So, although I’ve pushed Brandon’s natural training workout volume and intensity to his l limit, not only does every workout Todd do now lead to more muscle growth, he can also train longer and harder than Brandon yet still be able to recover from it. To make matters worse, Brandon also plays competitive tennis, which adds several hours of cardio on top of his workouts. Based on the research, as long as we get his nutrition down this shouldn’t impact his gains very much, but it was definitely starting to affect his motivation. So how much of a difference will this all make after 100 days? Based on prior research, beginner natural lifters can expect to put on about 3.7 lbs of muscle after 100 days of hard training. Those who undergo enhanced training, however, gain muscle about 3x faster, resulting in over 13 lbs of muscle gain within a similar time period.While Todd definitely had us beat the first month, he’s now spending the rest of his time dieting for his show. Which may slow down his muscle growth just enough for Brandon and I to close the gap. But only if we dial in Brandon’s nutrition. But this wasn’t easy. Brandon is extremely active, playing several hours of competitive tennis per week. So, even after eating 3,000 calories a day, Brandon was still struggling to put on weight. But after bumping up his nutrition even higher, we finally started to see progress on the scale. After bumping up his nutrition even higher, we were finally seeing progress on the scale. As for supplements, we’ve got a natural supplement we’ll be taking full advantage of - one that could give us as much as a 1-2lb boost in muscle throughout the 100 days. Creatine. I know 1-2 lb doesn’t sound like much, but considering natural lifters typically gain an average of 3.7 lbs of muscle in 100 days, even a 1 lb boost would be huge. So, what were the results of our steroids vs natural experiment? I’ve gotta admit, Todd’s transformation is an incredible feat, even with the help of steroids. And although Brandon built just one-third as much muscle as Todd, he still gained significantly more muscle than the average natural lifter (3.7 lbs) without spending every waking moment in the gym. As for the ultrasound results, while Todd did have us beat in most muscle groups, Brandon actually saw more growth in his delts, biceps, as well as one leg muscle (rectus femoris), likely due to the special exercises we incorporated. So while I respect Todd’s choice to hop on steroids, in my opinion unless you're as dedicated to competing as Todd, or need testosterone for health reasons, the risks simply aren’t worth it. Brandon is proof that with the right approach, we natty can still make incredible progress without putting our health at risk.
How I Got to 11.6% Body Fat in 60 Days (Just Copy Me) Jeremy Ethier 2024-09-22 | How to get lean? The process of getting lean and how to lose fat is actually very simple. It's not easy, but getting a lean body is 100% something anyone can do. If you follow my 3-part plan on how to get lean — from my fat loss diet and fat loss training training, as well as the crucial steps I took to prevent fat regain — I guarantee you’ll get lean fast and, more importantly, maintain your ‘shredded body’ for good.Click below for a step by step plan training plan that reveals all the best exercises you should do for each and every muscle group:quiz.builtwithscience.comClick below to subscribe for more videos:youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1AI Animation Credit:youtube.com/@neuralplay?si=rv5pWLLTbgsS54YLBut before we dive into the plan, there’s a key difference between 'leaning out' and 'getting a shredded body'. The reality is your body naturally resists getting too lean. It’s why dropping below even just to 12-15% body fat can start making you feel terrible and why most people who get that lean struggle to stay there. So if you are just starting out or don't have much dieting experience, aim for around 15-20%. And if you’re more experienced or have less fat to lose, aim for 12-15%. Those levels of leanness are still impressive and look fantastic, especially if you’ve built muscle along the way. A recent study found that a more aggressive approach early on in the diet led to better fat loss results. So, how exactly did I apply this to get lean? Well, typically, during a diet, I’d eat around 2,300 calories. This time, however, the very first week of my diet, I ate just 1,200 calories a day. Now I HIGHLY recommend against this. I did this for an article to see how much belly fat I could lose in just 1 week. But, for the next 4 weeks after that, I still went aggressive. Eating just 1,900 calories a day. Surprisingly, it was easier than expected. Until things started going downhill in the fifth week. But, because I had started with such a steep deficit in the beginning, I was able to increase my daily calories by 300 to continue slowly losing fat without ever feeling like my diet was becoming unsustainableHowever, regardless of whether you start out more aggressive or not when it comes to how to get lean, you’re going to have to eat fewer calories, and continue doing so for several weeks. Here’s exactly what I did to make my diet easy and enjoyable.Let’s start with the most important macronutrient. Protein. Eat enough protein every meal. As a simple guide, open your hand. The protein portion in each meal should be at least the size of your palm. But now, let’s talk about the big one when it comes to getting lean. Cutting calories. You don’t have to eliminate carbs or fats entirely. Instead, it’s about modifying how much of them you eat. Tip: here’s how I made weekends work for me: a science-backed strategy called planned hedonic deviation (a fancy term for "treat meal”). Every Saturday or Sunday, I’d boost my intake by 500 to 800 calories to enjoy a big meal guilt-free. Sure, it technically slowed my weekly progress by a day, but it made sticking to the diet way more doable.But, of course, it’s not enough to just focus on your diet. Combining it with a proper training plan can not only help you get a lean body faster, but also plays a crucial role in keeping the fat off long-term. For strength training, the hardest muscles to grow also tend to be at the highest risk of loss during a diet. To counteract this, keep the volume high for those muscles. But you shouldn’t completely neglect any muscle groups. A new study released just this year found that muscles that aren’t trained will likely be burned off for energy. But lifting weights doesn’t burn nearly as many calories as you might think. The fewer calories you burn every day, the more you’ll have to cut from your diet, which makes sticking to it and getting lean a lot harder. But focus less on “cardio workouts” and just set a daily step goal. While 10,000 steps a day is often the recommendation, even for me that’s tough to fit into my schedule. So I aim for a more achievable 8,000 steps per day as my minimum. So, I dropped about 1.5 lbs a week during the first 4 weeks with the more aggressive approach. Then, as expected, my progress slowed to about 0.5-1 lb per week in the last 4 weeks to get me down to 11.6% body fat. The plan definitely works. But it’s not just about getting lean, it’s also about how you can maintain your results. So, here are 3 mistakes to avoid. First, not accounting for your drop in metabolism. Second, not adjusting your lifestyle for the long haul. Third, not staying active post-weight-loss. That’s why, for me, those 8,000 steps a day didn’t just stop once I got lean. In fact, they became even more critical, especially with a slower metabolism. This is why setting a realistic step goal that you can stick to long-term is crucial.
The ONLY 2 Exercises That Built My Six Pack Abs Jeremy Ethier 2024-09-08 | There are over 500 different abs exercises out there, but only 2 that actually helped me build my six pack. Because to get well-defined abs, it’s not just about having low body fat. It also comes down to the ab workout and ab exercises you use to train them. Increasing the size of your abs can help them “poke through” more. But here’s the thing, most ab exercises you see online won’t help you actually build your six pack. So, in this video, I’ll share the secret to how to train abs — efficiently and effectively. Get my ab mat here:amzn.to/3zhYzYl Click below for a step by step plan training plan that reveals all the best exercises you should do for each and every muscle group:quiz.builtwithscience.comClick below to subscribe for more videos:youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1Planks and butterfly kicks are both great core-strengthening exercises, but they’ll do next to nothing for actually growing your abs. All they’re doing is stabilizing your core like they would during a compound movement. See, the main function of your abs is to bring your rib cage and pelvis together by rounding the spine. And so, this brings us to one of the most common myths I hear: “When performing ab exercises, you’ve gotta keep your back straight.” But if your back stays flat and all you do is swing your legs up and down into an L shape, your abs will contract to stabilize, but really, it’s going to be your hip flexors that do all the work. And it’s not just leg raises. This is a common problem with most ab exercises, at least, with how they’re typically done. But the thing is, it’s actually pretty easy to build your abs once you stop letting your hip flexors do all the work. And the nice part is, you can emphasize either your upper abs or lower abs more based on the type of exercise you do. So, to keep things simple, let me just share my 2 favorite ab exercises for both. Let’s start with the lower abs. A lot of new research suggests that muscle regions closest to the moving body part will grow the most. So, to target the lower abs, we just want an exercise where the bottom half of our body moves towards the top. Also, since muscles seem to grow best when challenged in their most “stretched” position, we’ll use reverse crunches. Bend your knees in towards your body and think about raising your hips up and crunching your knees towards your chest, to actually round your spine. Think “C” shape instead of “L” shape. Go as far up as you can then slowly control the way down. For beginners, bring your knees closer to your chest and try to just lift your tailbone off the bench without swinging your legs. Once you get stronger, try to get higher and higher and then gradually straighten your legs out more to simulate the effect of adding weight to the movement. If you want to make it even more effective, you’ll want to increase stretch in your abs at the bottom. For that, I’d highly recommend getting an ab mat and placing that between your lower back and the bench.Ok, now let’s focus on the upper abs for your six pack. Now we want an exercise where we’re now folding the upper body towards the lower body. The easiest way to hit the upper abs as a beginner is with crunches. But again, think about folding your chest down towards your pelvis into a C shape. Your spine should extend out to stretch your abs and then your abs should contract to fold your chest over your pelvis. Now, with crunches, just try to get your shoulder blades off the ground. Any higher than that and it’ll just be your hip flexors taking over. But if you want even better results from each rep, again, use an ab mat. You can also always use a stability ball, bosu ball, or - at the very least - a rolled up towel which - as you can see - still lengthens the abs a bit more.But once that becomes too easy, I’d recommend moving onto a rope cable crunch. Pay attention to your hip flexors. If your hips are swinging back to your heels every rep, you’re just using momentum and your hip flexors to move the weight. Again, focus on the spine. Lock your hips at 90 degrees, lock your arms next to your ears, and then contract your upper abs as you try to fold your chest down onto your abs. Once you feel comfortable with it, you can make them even more effective by turning around and pulling the rope away from the cable. Once you get it right, you should feel that your abs are most challenged at the very beginning, in their most stretched position. (Exactly what we’re going for with our ab exercises.)But when it comes to how to train the abs and get a six pack, here’s the key: train them like any other muscle. Hard with progressive overload, but also give them time to rest. I recommend doing 3 sets of each exercise for 6-12 reps. Once you can do 12 reps for all 3 sets, then bump up the difficulty or add a bit more weight. Start with training them once a week and if you're really serious, bump it up to twice a week.
The #1 Workout That BLEW UP My Back (3 Exercises) Jeremy Ethier 2024-08-25 | A defined, wide back is key to achieving that Greek God look. But with over 15 different back muscles, it’s not as simple to workout your back as other muscle groups. Most guys do their back workout and back exercises wrong without even realizing it. For years my back barely grew even with all the “best” back exercises. But recently, my back has blown up. It’s broader and thicker than it’s ever been in the past. And the crazy part is, all it took was 3 best back exercises that I guarantee will do the exact same for you if you nail down the proper form during your back training. Without further ado, here’s the best back workout.Click below for a step by step plan training plan that reveals all the best exercises you should do for each and every muscle group:quiz.builtwithscience.comClick below to subscribe for more videos:youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1Before we dive into the back exercises, here’s something crucial. It’s not just about doing the right exercises; it’s about doing them the right way. So, I'll show you how to perform each exercise to ensure you’re actually hitting the right parts of your back. And to take it even further, I’ll introduce some new scientific research that can help you get up to 2x the growth for every set you do.Let’s start with your lats in our back training. Unfortunately, despite being the largest muscle in your upper body, the lats are often one of the most underdeveloped muscles. Part of the reason for this is because they’re treated as just 1 big muscle. When they should really be split up into 2 main areas - the upper and lower lats. We’ll start with the lower lats with the lats-focused lat pulldown. Typically, when people do lat pulldowns in their back workout, they flare their elbows, which is great for the muscles around the shoulder blades but not as good for hitting the lats. To work the lats more, you want your elbows tight against your body as you pull. Focus on pulling from your elbows. Visualize them moving in a slight arc. Pull your shoulders down, away from the ears. Pull until your elbows are inline with your torso, then control the way up. At the top, fully extend your arms and let your shoulders rise up for a deep stretch. Because most of the gains seem to come from the top of the lat pulldown, when the muscle is stretched. Also, once you can’t do anymore full reps, keep going by doing as many half reps as you can in that top position. Alright, onto the upper lats with the cable row, one of the best back exercises. You ideally want a grip where your hands are shoulder-width apart with the palms facing in. Brace your core and lean forward slightly. Next, think about pulling the elbows back and down towards your hips. Once your elbow reaches your torso, control the weight back, fully extending your arms and letting your shoulder rise up to get as deep of a stretch in your lats as possible. An excellent alternative: dumbbell rows, but with 2 key adjustments. Instead of a flat bench, incline it slightly. Lean one arm on the bench, and then put your opposite back leg far out to the side. Next, brace your core, and think about driving your elbow down towards your hips in that same arcing motion as before. Keep the elbow tight to your sides. Keep your back flat, pull until the elbow reaches your torso, then control the weight back down. Lastly, whether you use cables or dumbbells, once you can’t do anymore full reps, just remember to keep going by doing as many half reps as you can in that stretched position. Ok, onto our final exercise in our best back workout, which will now focus on building your back thickness. We’re going back to the cable row, but this time modified to hit the mid and upper back muscles. We need a wide grip. So in this case, an overhand grip on the lat pulldown bar works perfectly. Instead of leaning forwards, learn back slightly. Brace your core and pull the bar back and up to your chest, letting your elbows flare out in an arrow shape. Squeeze your shoulder blades together at the end, and control the weight back down. But remember, most of the growth comes from the stretch, so open up your shoulder blades as wide as possible at the end of the rep. Now you can easily do this with dumbbells instead by using an incline bench as a chest support and doing the same rowing motion. A T-bar is also an excellent choice. After you can’t do anymore full reps, continue the set with half reps just like I explained earlier. But don’t stop there. Once you can’t do anymore half reps, rather than pulling with your arms, keep them straight with your shoulder blades opened up, then squeeze them together hard, almost as if you were doing a shrug. Open up your shoulder blades again and repeat this for as many reps as you can until the weight just won’t budge. It’s intense - but I guarantee your traps will grow really quickly from this.
What Muscles Do Girls ACTUALLY Care About? Jeremy Ethier 2024-08-11 | Today, we answer the most important question known to gym bros worldwide. What male muscles do women love most? And do muscles matter to girls? To find out, I’m asking girls at the beach to gather data, then running a full statistical analysis to determine the muscles men have that women love — and also finding out which muscle ranks the highest and which ones they just don't seem to care for along the way. At the end, I’ll also reveal the one unexpected personality trait that actually outperformed all the best male muscles.For a proven, science-backed program that takes care of all the guesswork for you:quiz.builtwithscience.comClick below to subscribe for more videos:youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1But to start things off, I want to first ask the guys what they believed to be the muscles men have that women love. Do we really understand what women want? After talking to the guys, our leading predictions were chest and shoulders.This means it’s finally time to start asking girls what they really thought were the most attractive muscles on a guy, but I’m gonna need some assistance. Max has one of the best-proportioned physiques I know and is going to be our Muscle Model for the day, just in case the girls need a visual reference before making their choice. But what Max doesn’t know is I'm secretly playing matchmaker! Max is as nice as he is buff, and he's single too. As we interview girls to find out what they think, let's see if we can find someone truly special for him.Turns out our first couple attempts didn’t go that great — even though Max is in amazing shape, he’s also incredibly shy. And while I was failing in my role as a wingman, we were at least getting some really valuable answers to the question of “What male muscles do women love most?” from the girls. In addition to having the girls pick their #1 muscle, I also had them rate each muscle on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the most attractive. After we get enough data, I’ll be using a scientific tool called ANOVA to determine which muscle is not just the most attractive, but if it actually reaches statistical significance. This way, we can confidently say if certain muscles are genuinely more attractive and which muscles are not. Early on, I was already finding one muscle group that was doing surprisingly worse than I expected. Abs. But before you guys ditch the diet and jump on a bulk for the rest of your life, I did notice something interesting with the data. Although abs score low on average, when I count how frequently girls pick them as the most attractive muscle, they’re actually in the top 3. This suggests that while, on average, girls don’t really seem to care much for six-pack abs, the ones who do find them attractive and score them as a 10. Which just goes to show that even if a muscle doesn’t score high on our study there is still someone out there who may be attracted to just that.With Max’s body and my skills as a wing Man I was finally able to set Max up with some potential first dates. But how much of his success was coming from his muscles? Do muscles matter to girls? Well, this goes back to our ancestral times. Back then, strong muscles showed that a man could protect and support his family. But it wasn't just about fighting ability; since building muscle needs protein-rich food, it meant these men were good hunters too. So today, even though most men get muscles at gyms rather than hunting, attraction to muscles should still be hard-wired into their DNA.While having some muscle was definitely seen as positive by almost every girl we spoke to, they were generally seen as far less important than most guys predicted. So, if you are hitting the gym, you're probably better off picking a goal that’s important to you rather than just trying to impress girls. I won’t say muscle doesn’t help, but in my experience, it typically leads to a lot more compliments from gym bros rather than the ladies. As for the results of our survey, we managed to collect over 50 responses from our interviews. But based on a statistics tool called G-power, it recommended we aim for at least 200 to make our results statistically valid. So after sending out a quick online survey, we had all the data we needed to determine the best male muscles.Calves came in dead last with only 3 first place votes out of 205 responses. As it turns out, not a lot of girls really love calves. Next were glutes, legs and abs. Now, while those muscles significantly outperform calves, their scores were much lower than the upper body muscles, chest, back, and shoulders. But there was only 1 muscle that reached statistical significance when compared to every other muscle. Arms. In fact, on average 1 of every 3 girls we surveyed picked arms as their number 1 muscle. But even though nice arms still won't guarantee the girl of your dreams, there was one personality trait that outperformed every muscle we surveyed. Humor.
How to Build Muscle 2x Faster (Genius Strategy) Jeremy Ethier 2024-08-04 | What’s the best way to build muscle? Can “bad form” help you build muscle fast? We all know that guy who says he can do 30 pull-ups, and then they’re just half reps. But what if he’s onto a secret about muscle growth? Today, I’ll show you why new research suggests using “bad form” can help you gain muscle almost twice as fast. And it’s actually pretty simple: it’s all about the stretch. Here’s everything to know about the fastest way to build muscle.Use the code STRETCH at checkout for 15% off on a proven, science-backed program that takes care of all the guesswork for you:quiz.builtwithscience.comClick below to subscribe for more videos:youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1Follow Dr. Milo Wolf:youtube.com/channel/UCru8Ef3TDFaJOOTfAZ52iFA“Taking your current training and focusing more on the stretch could take some of your lagging muscles to be a lot bigger and take some of your currently-pretty-good muscles and take them to the next level.” That’s Dr. Milo Wolf. The world’s leading expert on this new area of research and how to build muscle fast by using this technique. “There are about 10 to 12 studies, and in many of these studies, you see around double the muscle growth by focusing on the stretch versus missing out on the stretch.”But here’s the problem. Often, the stronger you get, the easier it is to neglect it. "It's because the body wants to avoid the most painful part of the exercise.” There’s also rushing out of the stretch position. So lowering the weight to get deeper and controlling that bottom position is definitely one way to improve the stretch and get more growth from your workouts. But there’s more. To get the best results so you gain muscle faster, you should alsochoose exercises that stretch your muscles the most. Example: switching from the barbell bench press to a dumbbell bench press or even something like a deficit push-up where there is no longer a restriction on when the ground touches your torso, so you can get as deep as you want. There’s a second way to use “the stretch” that’s less obvious but might be even more effective: pick exercises that are most challenging in the stretched position. Example: the preacher curls over the incline curls. Other exercises that do a great job of challenging your muscles in the stretch include dumbbell flyes, overhead extensions, reverse cable flyes, and behind-the-body lateral raise, with the cable set at wrist height.Unfortunately, there’s no really good back or calves exercise that challenges the “stretch” and we’ll talk about the “fix” for this in a minute. But basically, the best way to build muscle is to think about this anytime you try an exercise: “If the stretch position feels really easy like there's barely any weight there, that's not going to be the best movement for hypertrophy.""If, on the other hand, the stretch position feels very difficult, something like a dumbbell fly where it's really challenging in that stretch position, that is going to be a better exercise in all likelihood for hypertrophy.“What I really want to focus on now is the counterintuitive lesson you can take away from all this “stretch” research: how you can use “bad form” for faster muscle growth. Remember the pull-up guy? Well, he was actually onto the fastest way to build muscle. “If you're doing the wrong type of half reps, you are hurting your muscle building. However, we do have research on the opposite of that. Where you do half reps in the stretched position of a movement. And across around 5 studies now, 4 studies have found more muscle growth with half reps in the stretch position compared to a full range of motion."In other words, some reps that look “bad” might actually be good. Think about it. When you train certain muscles like the back or calves, where does it feel the hardest? It’s usually at the end of the movement when your muscles are fully contracted. But it’s really the beginning when the muscle is most stretched that’s most important for muscle growth. “We have research, for example, in the calves. When we compare it doing just the bottom half of the movement to doing a full range of motion in a study by Kassiano and colleagues, for example, we observed around twice the growth at both sites measured."For certain exercises, replacing full reps with half reps has the potential to double your muscle growth. But there’s another option that’s also been shown to be extremely effective. It’s quite simple. After you can’t do any more full range of motion reps, keep pushing past failure by doing as many half reps as you can in that stretched position. As for what exercises benefit the most from this, it’s any exercise that’s hardest in the contracted position. This includes pretty much all calves exercises, most back exercises (e.g., lat pulldowns and rows), chest flyes, reverse flyes, dumbbell lateral raises, and leg extensions.
How I Lost My Belly Fat in 1 Week (Using Science) Jeremy Ethier 2024-07-21 | How to lose belly fat in 1 week? Is losing stubborn belly fat 3 times faster even possible? For the next 7 days, I'll be following a science-backed fat loss plan designed to lose belly fat fast. I want to see how my body reacts and if this could be an easy way to achieve weight loss and shred down for the summer.Use code BELLYFAT for 10% off Built With Science protein:shop.builtwithscience.com/products/whey-protein-powderClick below for a step by step plan training plan that reveals all the best exercises you should do for each and every muscle group:quiz.builtwithscience.comClick below to subscribe for more videos:youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1Before covering how to lose belly fat in 1 week, let’s first get my baseline measurements. My initial DEXA scan came in at 15.6% body fat. I also used the ultrasound to measure the exact thickness of my upper belly fat, middle belly fat, and the most stubborn area, my lower belly fat. After seven days, we’ll come back and see just how much these measurements have changed. With this diet, I’m eating just 1,200 calories. It’s extreme, but sticking to it should lead to about 3 lbs of pure fat loss in just a week.Alberto Nunez, “the go-to man” to get you absolutely shredded in the natural bodybuilding community, terms it the protein-sparing modified diet. He shares that, on this diet, you’re eating nothing much other than protein. And given how extreme this weight loss diet is, Alberto recommends 1.5 to 1.75 g of protein per lb of body weight. For me, that translated to a bare minimum of 250 grams of protein on a budget of just 1200 calories per day. As for protein sources? It's going to be a lot of the leaner animal proteins. Here’s my daily meal plan to lose belly fat fast. Egg white omelet with celery for breakfast, a post workout Built With Science protein shake, two chicken breasts with light veggies for lunch, more chicken and veg for dinner, and more chicken breasts for desserts.So, when it comes to weight training, research has shown that it only takes about 1/3rd of the volume to MAINTAIN your existing muscle. This means, rather than doing 3 sets per exercise, I could do just 1 hard set and that should be enough to protect my muscles from being burned off without being too much for my body to recover from. Now, even though I’m not getting all the nutrition I need because of my strict calorie limit, I’m trying to use a few key supplements to fill in the gaps, including a multivitamin, Omega 3s, and some clutch recommendations I got from Alberto: caffeine and protein powder.3 days in, and I felt great. But Alberto cautioned that my body was probably going to start bugging me soon. True enough, I felt a rapid energy drop going into the second half of the week. As for my food cravings, the longer I went into the diet, the crazier those cravings became. So when your body experiences a serious drop in calories, it starts to do whatever it can to tell you to eat. Not only can your smell and tase become heightened, but your leptin levels can decrease dramatically. Meaning, not only was my stomach physically feeling empty but even the signals in my body meant to regulate my hunger were starting to go haywire.Feeling absolutely depleted, I headed back to the lab to get my day 7 results. But before I find out, I already know this isn’t a plan I will be repeating. Trying something so extreme had me feeling exhausted, unmotivated and like I was completely depleted. And when I did get to actually enjoy real food again I actually had to spend the next few days resisting the urge to eat everything in sight.Diets like this are exactly what cause so many people to yoyo diet and even develop eating disorders. To truly lose belly fat and keep it off, you need patience, consistency, and a sustainable diet that you can stick to for several weeks. Regardless of what the results show in the scans, do not try to copy what I did in this video. As for my results, my DEXA scan showed that my body fat dropped from 15.6% to 14.7%. It doesn’t sound like much but usually it would take me at least a few weeks of dieting to achieve that. But what’s interesting is the ultrasound.Although my upper and middle belly fat didn’t change much since I didn’t have too much to lose there, my lower belly fat, which is the most stubborn area, dropped by over 30%! In fact, the thickness of my lower belly fat dropped by half a cm! Which explains why I noticed my lower abs starting to pop out a little more. But despite the results, I wanted to get even leaner, so I decided to continue dieting for the next 6 weeks. This time, using a more sustainable approach. My plan is to head back to the lab for 1 more scan to see just how much more belly fat I was able to lose, and then make a video for you guys revealing everything I did to easily lose that fat. So keep an eye out.
The Only Fitness Supplements You ACTUALLY Need Jeremy Ethier 2024-07-07 | The supplements industry has exploded, reaching almost $400 billion dollars just last year. But how much of the bodybuilding supplements industry is a scam? Protein powder, creatine, multivitamins, athletics greens, BCAA's, fat burners, etc. What gym supplements actually work and what doesn't? Today I’m testing the most popular workout supplements, comparing their claims against real scientific data. I’ll show you what scams to avoid and which gym supplements research says you should use instead. Starting with one that may come as a surprise … creatine.Click below for a proven, step-by-step training and nutrition plan to get you in the best shape of your life:quiz.builtwithscience.comClick below to subscribe for more videos:youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1Americans alone consume well over 4 million kg of creatine yearly. But many companies have been taking advantage of this trend. Up to 30% of people naturally have high levels of creatine, which is why about 1 in 4 don’t see any performance benefits from it. But that’s only part of the story. Often, companies selling workout supplements use complex terms on their creatine products to impress or even confuse buyers, and make their products seem a lot better than they actually are. Then, they bump up the price, and people think it “must be better”. But many of these expensive creatine forms are less effective than creatine monohydrate. And a lot of times they aren’t tested for safety either! So, does this mean you should stop taking creatine? Not necessarily. But to avoid the gym supplements scams, you’ve gotta make sure you’re picking the right kind. For now, research has consistently shown that just plain old creatine monohydrate is not only the safest and most effective, it’s also the cheapest. Just try to get one that’s been third-party lab tested so you can be sure of what you’re actually consuming.BCAA supplements may be one of the oldest scams in bodybuilding. BCAAs only contain 3 amino acids: leucine, isoleucine, and valine. So, providing your body with too many BCAAs might actually block other amino acids from being used, potentially hurting muscle recovery and growth. But I know you might be wondering: if this research on BCAA’s is 10 years old, why do top brands still sell them as bodybuilding supplements? Well, that’s exactly why. Because they sell. That said, here’s a pro-tip: if you do want to supplement amino acids, EAAs, or essential amino acids, are a much better option. EAAs include 9 of the most important amino acids rather than 3. And they can be especially useful for vegetarians or those who like to work out fasted. But here’s how I see it. If you eat well and get enough protein, neither BCAAs or EAAs are very likely to help much. And that actually brings us to the last scam to watch out for, and the latest supplement craze taking over the internet.Green supplements are supposedly an easy way to get your fruits and veggies in without having to chop, blend, or cook anything. But there’s been little to no evidence supporting green powders’ supposed health benefits. They also make use of deceptive nutrition labeling practices, such as the use of unregulated terms like “superfoods” and stuffing the product with water-soluble nutrients, to make them sound better than they actually are. Some of you might now be thinking “green supplements are better because they’re sourced from whole foods”. While that is true, research has yet to show this makes any difference. Even if you “extract” the nutrients from whole foods, you still lose a lot of what makes them so good for you in the first place. Because of this, as of 2018 the Public Health of England declared that greens powders do not count towards your “5-servings-a-day.” of fruits and veggies. And that’s part of the problem. Because of how green powders are marketed, many people think they can rely on these supplements instead of eating real food. Whereas eating enough servings of fruits and vegetables a day has tons of strong evidence showing it improves health, body composition, gut health, digestion, longevity, and pretty much everything else you can think of.So while it’s possible a greens powder may provide a small benefit for those who eat very little fruits and vegetables, it’s not a replacement. And it’s definitely a lot more pricey than a simple multivitamin.
Best VS Worst Fat Loss Exercises (Ranked By Science) Jeremy Ethier 2024-06-23 | What are the best fat loss exercises? Worst exercises for fat loss? Today my friend Kevin and I are using the world’s most accurate calorie tracker to rank 50 different exercises. Cardio exercises, strength exercises, HIIT, low intensity cardio, and more! At the end, we’ll reveal the all-time highest calorie burner. We’ll also discover which exercises burn the most calories with minimal effort and which ones are high effort but don’t actually burn very many calories. Using these findings, I’ll create the perfect fat loss workout plan guaranteed to help you lose body fat.Link to complete ranking of exercises:builtwithscience.com/bws-fat-loss-exercisesClick below for a step-by-step training plan that reveals all the best exercises you should do for each and every muscle group:quiz.builtwithscience.comClick below to subscribe for more videos:youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1We started out with what all the data told me was the best of fat loss exercises, high intensity training, beginning first with 60 seconds of sprinting. Then burpees and mountain climbers. With three exercises down, Sprints had taken an early lead, with burpees a close second. But so far all three challenges had put us through the ringer. But what I’m hoping to find with this challenge are exercises for fat loss that can burn a high level of calories with a significantly lower perceived exertion. Fortunately we still had 47 exercises left to test. The data showed for each high intensity exercise we were absolutely burning through our calories even for just a 60 second workout, but so far every high calorie burning workout we tried also had an equally high perceived exertion. Which means we were gonna need to find a new approach for our fat loss plan: low-intensity training. First up, incline walking. Kevin was able to get through it without feeling like he was going to collapse, which meant the switch to low intensity fat loss exercises was definitely the right direction. But is low-intensity as effective as a fat loss workout? After speaking with Dr. Eric Helms, my takeaway was that high-intensity and low-intensity fat loss exercises are equally as effective so it depends on what you’re comfortable with and would be consistent with.We even moved into strength training to find out if this was a better calorie burning option than cardio. As Dr. Eric Helms puts it, weight training is great for maintaining muscle mass and ensuring that the weight you lose is primarily body fat, but it's not a great tool for fat loss itself. Don't lift weights for the sake of trying to burn as many calories as possible or to lose fat. Lift weights because it tells your body to keep and even build more muscle as you're losing fat, which ultimately is like most people's goal when they're trying to transform their body.Something Dr. Eric Helms said gave me a lightbulb moment: I think a far better way to think about this is how do I re-engineer my life such that I'm not trying, but I'm being more active? At this point, I realized just trying to build an optimized fat loss workout plan for Kevin wasn’t going to be enough.I needed to find a way to test how we burn calories in all areas of our life. That means testing every chore and activity you can do with your free time whether it’s vacuuming, reading, or folding the laundry and starting right off with standing. I was finally starting to build a clear picture of all the ways you can maximize calorie burn through the course of the day. For example, walking outside burned an impressive 6 calories per minute for Kevin. Although that’s almost 1/3rd of what he burned doing sprints, I’m pretty sure he’d much rather go for a 30 minute walk than suffer through 10 minutes of sprints.Anyways, now that I have all the data, it’s time to reveal the best fat loss exercises and create the ultimate fat loss routine. Kevin and I actually had the same top three best fat loss exercises. Sprinting, Boxing and the Devil’s Press. Low effort fat loss exercises that still burned a decent amount of calories: longboarding, basketball, incline walking, and plain old walking outside. And high effort fat loss exercises that didn’t end up burning very many calories: power walking.But jumping jacks, planks, crunches, and most strength exercises, also burned a surprisingly low amount of calories relative to their effort. But while it’s easy to assume the exercise that burns the most calories must be the best, my experience with Kevin has shown me it just isn’t that simple. Dr. Eric Helms sums it up:I think really what we will want to think about is energy expenditure over time that I will adhere to. Think of all of these different fat loss exercises and intensities as tools, and you want to have a robust tool belt. The whole variety in your tool belt is going to make it far more likely that you could adhere to exercise long-term and get the fat loss that you're after.
The PERFECT Mobility Routine to FIX YOUR SIT (3 Min/Day) Jeremy Ethier 2024-06-09 | Body feeling stiff and you've noticed you've developed poor posture? If you sit most of the day, then these are some of the things you'll experience. But you can fix that in just 3 minutes a day, with a mobility routine that consists of 3 simple mobility exercises that’ll work on the most problematic areas, including shoulder mobility and hip mobility. Grab your free PDF copy of the mobility workout:builtwithscience.com/3-minute-stretching-routine-pdfClick below for a step by step plan training plan that reveals all the best exercises you should do for each and every muscle group:quiz.builtwithscience.comClick below to subscribe for more videos:youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1Before getting into the mobility workout, let’s start by looking at a pretty crazy study. Researchers split participants into 3 different groups: a control group and 2 test groups. The control group sat and did nothing. With the test groups, the researchers used a neuromuscular electrical stimulator to send 17 electrical currents into their back muscles at regular intervals. One group received a low-level current, while the other group received a high-amplitude current that caused their back muscles to contract. What did they find? For the high-amplitude group (those whose muscles contracted from the current) the stiffness in their backs almost completely reversed. So, what does this mean for you and I? You simply need to start moving the joints and contracting the muscles you don’t use when you’re sitting all day. That said, I know how hard it can be to stick to a mobility routine consistently. That’s why my team and I have worked together to find the 3 mobility exercises that focus on the most problematic of areas.The first exercise is great for improving shoulder mobility and rounded shoulders. It’s called the wall clock. Stand sideways with your fingertips touching the wall and your thumb pointing down. Engage your core and, without arching your back, slowly draw your palm in a big semi-circle forward and up the wall. Then, complete the circle by moving your arm back and down the wall, letting your shoulder blade move back and down as your arm travels behind you. Reverse the circle to get back to the starting position and spend about 30 seconds on each side.Now, let’s focus on the back and neck with the cat cow. Start on your hands and knees, with your hands directly under the outer edges of your shoulders. Then, spin your elbows towards your thighs to engage your lats. Inhale, as you gently lift your tailbone towards the ceiling and reach your chest forward, through your biceps, to stretch your abs. Squeeze your shoulder blades together as you lift your chin and head up. Then, you’ll wanna go in the other direction. Exhale, and imagine there was a rope, pulling your mid-back up towards the ceiling, and rounding your spine. As you do this, push the floor away to open up your shoulder blades. Then, use your neck muscles tuck your chin by looking towards your knees. Do this for about 30 seconds, then for the next 30 seconds, some back to a neutral position and turn and look towards your left foot to stretch the muscles on the right side of your lower back and rib cage, then return to center. After, same on the other side. Turn and look at your right foot.Finally, the perfect 3-minute mobility routine wouldn’t be complete without a hip mobility focused exercise. Exercise 3 does exactly that. We’ll start at a Level 1 version and then build up to Level 3, which is the most effective variation.Level 1:Sit on the floor and bend one leg in front of your body at around a 90° angle and then do the same with the back one. Then, sit up and tall and try to position your shoulders square to the front of your shin. Keep your spine tall and exhale as you reach your chest forward, hingeing over your front leg until you feel a deep stretch on the outside of your front leg’s hip or glute area. Inhale, as you come back to the starting position and exhale, as you get into your next rep. For Level 1, do 30 seconds on each side, trying to get deeper into the stretch with each rep.Level 2:Maintain that same 90 degree leg position, but this time, as you lean forward, push your front shin down into the ground and lift your hips up to get your torso upright. Then, reverse this by lowering as slowly as you can, while leaning forward. Again, aim to do 30 seconds on each side.Level 3:In this case, you’ll repeat what we did in Level 2 but, instead of sticking to just one side at a time, for a deeper stretch in your groin and hip flexors, “windshield wiper” your knees directly over to the other side on the way down, and repeat this motion back and forth.To help you stay upright, reach your arms out in front of you and engage your core during the transition. Again you can use your hands for support here if you need it.
What Happens After Taking Steroids For 30 Days? Jeremy Ethier 2024-05-19 | This video is for educational purposes only.I’m a lifetime natty, but nowadays it seems like so many athletes, actors, and even social media influencers are hopping on PED's. It got me thinking, how serious are PED's side effects? Could I actually use them safely? I wanted to speak to people with first-hand experience. First, I reached out to a bodybuilding veteran to show me the ropes on testosterone.Click below for a step by step plan training plan that reveals all the best exercises you should do for each and every muscle group:quiz.builtwithscience.comClick below to subscribe for more videos:youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1Jaws is one of the world’s top bodybuilders, finishing in the Top 25 as a Mr. Olympia Competitor. Jaws won his first competition as a natural back in 2014. But when he started competing on stage against enhanced bodybuilders, the decision to take PED's was essentially “a must” if he wanted to keep advancing. Clement, a 26-year-old ex user, who had a similar experience. ”Yeah, the placebo kicked in right away. I thought I was the biggest dude in the world the next day, I swear.”Testosterone doesn’t just affect your muscles. It can also impact your mood, energy levels, confidence, libido… even your appetite. Jaws: “You’re just burning through everything you eat. Like, I would have a cheat meal every day and maintain six pack abs.” At this point, I’m thinking: More energy, more motivation, and looking better after cheat meals?! Where can I sign up? Then, they shared their experience of how taking PED's for the initial 30 days affected them in the gym. Clement: “As we progressed into the cycle, that's when I just threw weights that I didn't know I could throw.” Jaws: “Once the fourth week hit, all of a sudden, it was like I hit NOS when I was driving a car or something. My strength just skyrocketed.”As for actual muscle growth, natural lifters can gain anywhere from 20-40 lbs of muscle in their lifetime. But, for guys on gear, it goes up to a whopping 45-120 lbs. Tempting, but if I was about to throw my Natty card away for life, I needed to know more. Luckily for me, there was no better person than PED's coach and educator, John Jewett of J3 University.John: “A lot of the guys are worried about short-term side effects, right? You're going to worry about your hair or testis shrinkage or acne. But the true dangers that I would be worried about are the long-term effects of PED use, which are absolutely very much pertinent even in short-term use.” Talking to John, he explained that even if you’re careful to do everything right, there’s still a chance you won't see the results you’re hoping for. And the reality is the side effects can become life threatening. For example, organ enlargement and failure. I realized something important. For guys like Jaws, using PED's isn’t about looking good on the beach. Bodybuilding is his passion. And in his world, the line between a winning physique and long-term health issues is incredibly thin. It was inspiring for me to see what he, and many others in the sport, are willing to risk in pursuit of their dreams. But they’re not for everyone. As a natty, building more muscle sometimes feels painfully slow. But it still comes with its own set of rewards.So am I going to take the jump and start using PED's? No. For starters, my Filipino doctor mom would absolutely kill me if I did. And even though I could probably see more improvement from 30 or 90 days of taking PED's than I could in my next year or two of training as a natural, the progress would come with way too many risks that I’m not willing to take.Disclaimers: Jeremy Ethier is not a doctor or a medical professional. Always consult a physician before starting any exercise or diet program. Use of this information is strictly at your own risk. Jeremy Ethier will not assume any liability for direct or indirect losses or damages that may result from the use of information contained in this video including but not limited to economic loss, injury, illness or death.
How to Grow Your Biceps WIDTH (Nobody Does These!) Jeremy Ethier 2024-04-28 | Is it possible to get wider arms? Isn’t this just genetics? Can you really build wider biceps through your bicep workout? Well, once you understand the anatomy of the short head biceps and long head biceps, you'll see it's possible. And after strapping some electrodes to my arm, I found the best exercises you need to include in your biceps workout. Without further ado, here’s how to get wider biceps. Click below for a step by step plan training plan that reveals all the best exercises you should do for each and every muscle group:quiz.builtwithscience.comClick below to subscribe for more videos:youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1Before diving into how to get wider arms, let’s talk biceps anatomy. There are 2 heads of the biceps that when well developed, give it that full and wide look. The long head is the muscle on the outside of your arm - providing that outer-thickness. And the short head runs down the inside - giving you more of that inner-peak. Now whenever you do any bicep exercise, both heads are being used to some degree. But, if you know how to target one more than the other, you can not only create more effective, targeted bicep workouts but you can also prioritize the part of your biceps that may be lacking. To find out what exercises target each of the two bicep heads, I used the EMG machine and found that the long-head was activated 2x more than the short head when performing curls in what’s known as “the scapular plane”. To get in this position, all you’ve gotta do is stand up straight, and bend your elbows into a 90-degree angle. Then, while keeping your elbows at your sides, turn your wrists outward as much as you can. So, if you want to really target the outer part of your biceps in your bicep workout, I recommend performing cable curls in this position. Just stand a few steps in front of the cable machine and then a small side step towards your working arm; keep your arms in that scapular plane, with your elbow tucked into your side; and use the resistance from the cable to keep your arm locked into position as you curl. For even better results, you can move the cables up by about 2-3 notches to around wrist-height. But if you don’t have access to cables, you can always replicate this movement with dumbbells.The second part to getting wider biceps: the short head. While the long head is emphasized by external rotation, the short head is emphasized by internal rotation. And one of the best exercises that applies this arm position is a concentration curl. You just sit down, pick up a dumbbell, and then perform a curl while resting your elbow against your inner thigh. To really nail down the arm path of the short head, just think about it as if you’re doing the curl across your body and towards your opposite pec. The only potential downside with this exercise is that it’s most challenging near the top position of the curl when the biceps are almost fully contracted. Remember, we ideally want an exercise that’s hardest near the bottom. Luckily, you can easily accomplish this by using an incline bench or a preacher curl bench, but angling your body sideways against it, and curling the dumbbell across your body towards your neck. Wondering if there’s anything you can do with a bar during your bicep workout to target one head or the other? When I tested close grip curls with EMG, the long head had more activation relative to the short head because your arms are trying to externally rotate. The opposite happened with a wider grip. Because your arms are now trying to internally rotate, the emphasis shifts to the inner part of your biceps. But my personal recommendation is that you use these exercises with caution, as I’ve found they can place a lot of stress on your joints. So if you have dumbbells or cables handy, take advantage of those instead.Ok, now which exercise should you focus on, in your training? When it comes to how to get wider arms, my advice is to prioritize whichever head seems to be lagging the most. Now the easiest way to find out which head is lagging is literally just in the mirror, and see which side looks less developed. Or, just test out both exercises and see which one you find more challenging and gives you the better pump. Let me know what you guys notice with your biceps, but in my case, I noticed my long head was less developed, so I’ll now be spending more time on it to try and bring up some of the outer width. Practically, this just means that, if I'm doing 3 bicep exercises each week, I'll focus 2 around the long-head and 1 around the short-head.Of course, if you're still a beginner, I’d recommend you just focus on following a solid routine that builds your biceps big enough to the point where you’d be able to recognize if one head was less developed than the other. The easiest way to do this is just to follow a comprehensive program that nails all the basics and lays it all out for you.
Targeting Belly Fat Is POSSIBLE?! (New Study) Jeremy Ethier 2024-04-14 | Everyone wants to lose belly fat, right? The problem is, you can't choose where fat loss happens in your body every time you work out. Or at least, I didn’t think you could… Until I came across this new study, which suggests that targeting belly fat may not only be possible, but also much easier than we all thought. I’ll share exactly what researchers have found about belly fat loss and how you can apply it to your own training, so you burn that belly fat off. Click below for a step by step plan training plan that reveals all the best exercises you should do for each and every muscle group:quiz.builtwithscience.comClick below to subscribe for more videos:youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1Why is belly fat so “stubborn” in the first place? You see, to burn fat, your body first needs to “release it” from the ‘fat cell’ — a process known as ‘mobilization’. But how exactly do you mobilize it? Well, when you strength train, you don’t just strengthen your muscles; you also increase blood flow to the fat that surrounds the muscle you’re working. And this is one theory why belly fat can be so hard to get rid of: compared to the fat in other areas of your body, it tends to receive very little blood flow. Not to mention, we tend to train our abs less frequently than other muscles.So, this got researchers thinking: if you can boost blood flow to your abs, could you then specifically target and lose belly fat during exercise? After digging through endless research papers, I’ve come across all sorts of funny and, in some cases, just weird experiments researchers have tried to get to the bottom of this question. But none found a notable difference in fat loss. And because of this, most researchers, including Bill, were skeptical about the idea of spot reduction.Remember how I said you need to “mobilize” fat before it can be burned off? Well, there’s 2 parts to this process: first, mobilizing it and then burning it off. The issue with past studies is that while they may have mobilized belly fat, this doesn’t necessarily lead to fat loss (i.e., burning it off). But this is where a 2023 study comes into the picture. They wanted to test a routine that could do both. Basically, researchers divided 16 overweight men into two groups: 1) spot reduction focused group and 2) control group. Both followed a 4-day workout plan for 10 weeks. The control group did 45-minutes on the treadmill each session. Meanwhile, the spot reduction group had a shorter, 27-minute treadmill workout, followed by two ab exercises: torso rotations and machine crunches.After 10 weeks, both groups lost a relatively similar amount of body fat. But what was surprising was that the spot reduction group lost almost 2.5x more fat from around their belly compared to the control group. That’s quite a bit more belly fat loss.But of course this study doesn’t come without its limitations. E.g., although the workouts were tightly controlled, the nutrition wasn’t. Personally, I don’t think this is too big of a concern given that both groups lost a relatively similar amount of overall fat, but it is something that would’ve made this study a lot stronger. But hey, it’s not just this study. Other recent studies on spot reduction have also shown promising results.So how can you target belly fat? Quick disclaimer: if your goal is to burn belly fat, then you need to be in a caloric deficit to get the best results. What the studies do suggest is that, if you’re doing ab work, you should probably combine it with some form of cardio either shortly before or after to get the most bang for your buck. The other thing is that, if spot reduction does work, then it seems like some abs exercises are better than others. So if I was designing a routine to better target belly fat, I’d use direct, weighted abs exercises combined with low to moderate intensity cardio. Which could look something like this:4 sets of 8-15 reps of weighted crunches4 sets of 6-15 reps of hanging leg raises20-30 minutes of low to moderate cardio (for example, cycling, jogging, or the elliptical) done before or after the ab exercisesI’ll be honest though, I’m still not 100% convinced. And neither was Bill when I spoke to him. These latest studies have definitely opened my mind to spot reduction being possible, and it seems like future research could be promising. But it’s definitely not enough for me to go about planning spot-reduction into most people’s routines. That said, on my recovery days I have been using those 2 ab exercises and slapping on some cardio either before or after. Who knows, maybe this is spot-reducing my belly fat.But even if it’s not, I still highly recommend that you regularly train your abs, and with weight as well. After all, they’re just like any other muscle group; and growing them can help with definition. But remember, most of your results will still come from the basics, and losing belly fat heavily depends on your diet.
STOP Bulking to Build Muscle (Do This Instead) Jeremy Ethier 2024-03-31 | Can we build muscle without bulking? No, right? If you want to build muscle, you gotta bulk, right? I mean that’s what all the biggest guys in the gym seem to be doing. But bulking can actually be the WRONG way to build muscle for most people. Today I’ll share why that is and how you can build muscle without bulking up. Get ready for some of the best bulking tips you’ve ever seen.Click below for a step by step plan training plan that reveals all the best exercises you should do for each and every muscle group:quiz.builtwithscience.comClick below to subscribe for more videos:youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1It was long believed that the only way for your body to get enough energy for the costly process of muscle growth was by being in a calorie surplus, aka “bulking”. However, the downside is that you put on a lot of fat in the process. I recently spoke with Dr. Eric Helms, and asked him if he thought bulking is the best way to build muscle. He said it depends upon who you are. If you are relatively new to lifting and you are within what we would call normative ranges of body fat, potentially it is.When I started lifting, my first bulk worked extremely well. But after that, I noticed my bulks became less and less effective. This got me thinking: is overeating really the only way to build muscle? Could we turn the excess fat on our bodies into muscle instead? Turns out, research shows you don’t need to be in a calorie surplus to build muscle. Dr. Eric Helms agrees that body recomposition is attainable. However, a disclaimer: is body recomp as efficient as an intermediate or advanced lifter being in a small surplus? Probably not. But it is one way, another approach that might fit someone better if they're already higher in body fat than they would like to be.Now does all this research mean bulking is useless? What if you’re not worried about fat loss and simply want to maximize growth? Well, if you're starting at an already high body fat percentage, it's totally fine to go into a surplus and put on muscle, just be aware that it's going to come with more body fat gain. And if you’re already close to where you're comfortable with the way you look, you might want to consider taking an approach where you're eating at maintenance or you're trying to lean gain (build muscle without bulking up), or you might decide to cut first before then eventually bulking.Now, some crucial bulking tips. It’s mostly beginners that benefit from bulking because they have the highest sensitivity to muscle growth. Bulking becomes less effective over time. That said, another “population” that benefits from traditional bulking would be Sam Salek and professional bodybuilders who take performance-enhancing drugs. Theoretically, when you're using anabolics, your ceiling goes up. This brings us back to the reality that for a natural lifter past the beginner stage, muscle growth is very slow. If you try to rush it, you’ll just gain more fat rather than muscle. You need to scale your diet based on your experience level and how sensitive you are to muscle growth. This brings us to the next question: how many calories should you be eating to build muscle while minimizing fat? If you’re a beginner, eat a daily calorie surplus of around 400-500 calories. Once you start to notice that it seems like it's mostly just fat coming on, you want to cut that calorie surplus probably in half roughly, and then just focus on progress in the gym. Try to gain just 1% of your body weight per month by using a small surplus of just 200 to 300 calories. Then, once you get into the advanced stage and are near your genetic ceiling of muscle growth, that’s when you dial it back even further by using a very small surplus.That said, unless you’re super analytical or really dedicated to your fitness goals, I’ll admit tracking all this stuff can get overwhelming especially if you’re trying to nail down a really small surplus. If this sounds like you then don’t worry about tracking anything. Just focus on eating lots of protein, healthy whole foods, and use your strength and your body weight to determine if you’re eating the right amount. If after a month you step on the scale and you’ve gained 10 lbs, then you know you gotta dial it back. On the other hand, if you lost weight and haven’t been getting stronger in the gym, then that’s a sign you gotta eat a bit more. Alright. To summarize, can we build muscle without bulking? Yes. But should you? It depends on where you’re at. For those who aren’t crazy lean and want to lose fat while building muscle, then eat just enough calories to maintain your weight or at a small deficit to lose no more than half a pound a week. Just keep in mind this approach can become less effective as you get more experienced. On the other end, for those who are less interested in losing fat and want to maximize muscle growth, use the bulking and “gaintaining” guidelines I presented earlier.
How to Build Muscle Twice As Fast (ACTUALLY WORKS) Jeremy Ethier 2024-03-18 | Building muscle takes time. But what if you could press the “fast forward button” on muscle growth? Scientifically, there are only 4 strategies you can use to build muscle fast. Most people only take advantage of 1 or 2 of them. Or, they do them all, but incorrectly, which stops them in their quest to gain muscle fast. In today’s video, I’ll reveal what the 4 strategies are and how to properly use them to build muscle faster.Click below for a step-by-step training plan that reveals all the best exercises you should do for each and every muscle group:quiz.builtwithscience.comClick below to subscribe for more videos:youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1Improving your recovery is one of the easiest yet most overlooked ways to build muscle fast. And there are 3 main areas you should focus on. The first is your diet. Calorie-wise, the research is clear that eating enough to at least maintain your weight or even slowly gain about 1-3 lbs a month, is what’s ideal. To get a very rough idea of how many calories you’ll need daily, multiply your current body weight by anywhere between 16-18 depending on how active you are. Also, since the building block of your muscles is protein, you need to make sure you’re eating enough of it. As for how much to aim for, based on research, I personally take my body weight in lbs and multiply it by 0.8. That number is the minimum target I aim for every day. That said, as important as nutrition is, it’s not going to do much if you’re screwing this next thing up. Sleep. One study published back in 2010 found that dieters sleeping 5 hours lost 55% less fat and 60% more muscle compared to those getting 8 hours. But sleep quality seems to be just as important. A 2020 study had two groups do the same full body workout routine with the only difference being one of the groups also got lessons on how to sleep better. After 10 weeks, the sleep group gained muscle about 30% faster. So for me personally, even if this means sacrificing some of my workouts or cutting out my late night TV binges, I always prioritize getting at least 7-9 hours of quality, uninterrupted sleep per night. Finally, manage your stress levels.While you might be recovering well, you still need to work out to give your muscles a reason to grow. But instead of simply “working out more”, a much easier way to gain muscle fast is to work smarter. First, be mindful of how you perform reps. You should control the weight, taking around 2-8 seconds to perform each rep, and use a full range of motion, specifically during the stretch part of each exercise. For example, it’s fine not to go all the way up during a dumbbell press, but you should go as far down as you can to fully stretch your chest. The same applies to things like squats and bicep curls. On top of this, you can pick exercises that challenge your muscles more in their stretched position.The third way to force muscle growth is with brute force. By working harder. First, you can increase volume. Highlighting the effectiveness of this method to build muscle faster is a 2017 meta-analysis by Dr. Brad Schonefeld. He found there was about 30% faster growth when doing more than 10 weekly sets per muscle compared to doing only 5-9 weekly sets. So, for example, if you’re currently only doing about 10 sets or less for your chest per week, then consider slowly working your way up to 16 sets per week. However, this only seems to work up to a certain point. So, what I’d recommend is to start out with around 10 sets per muscle per week and see how your body responds. Then, if certain muscles aren’t growing as quickly, you can bump the number of sets up. You could also go closer to failure. Based on a recent meta-analysis, stopping your sets around five reps short of failure gets you about 75% of your maximum growth potential. But if you pushed past that, every additional rep you do would get you about 5% more growth. But now you might be wondering, what if I increase both my training volume and intensity? Surely that would lead to the most growth, right? Well, theoretically, yes. But it depends on how much you can recover from. So experiment with both options of increasing volume and/or increasing your intensity and see what works best for you to build muscle. Just don’t overdo it. Taking steroids is truly the quickest and most effective way of building muscle fast. For example, one study found individuals taking steroids and NOT exercising gained more muscle than those who were exercising but didn’t take any steroids. However, they come with plenty of health risks and side effects especially at higher doses. In my honest opinion, the risks don’t outweigh the benefits for most people. Building muscle naturally will be slower, but it’s extremely rewarding and you can drastically speed up the process by using the 3 methods we talked about earlier.
How to Make Gains During RAMADAN 2024 (Full Day Plan) Jeremy Ethier 2024-03-11 | Ramadan is officially here! Here’s some tips on how to approach your training and nutrition during this time. I’m not Muslim, but I tried this routine out for a day and it worked out quite well. 1 day was tough enough, mad respect to my Muslim followers sticking to the full 30 days! Good luck 👊 #ramadan
The #1 Diet to Lose Fat (FOR GOOD!) Jeremy Ethier 2024-03-03 | Why is it that only about 10% of us succeed at a fat loss diet? Well, most of what people learn about how to diet to lose fat is wrong, and just sets you up for failure. But after over 10 years of studying the science, working with top dietitians, and testing on thousands of clients, I want to share a game-changing weight loss diet that I guarantee will work for you. But pay attention, because every detail in this fat loss diet matters. Here’s the best diet for fat loss.Click below to create a step by step plan training and nutrition plan to get you in the best shape of your life:quiz.builtwithscience.comBuy our BWS Whey Isolate Protein Powder Here:shop.builtwithscience.com/products/whey-protein-powderCalculate your calorie intake needs here:builtwithscience.com/calorie-calculatorClick below to subscribe for more videos:youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1First, understand that any weight loss diet (keto, intermittent fasting, carnivore diet, etc.) all have 1 goal: to get you in a calorie deficit. But rather than cutting out foods for your fat loss diet, the first step in our diet is actually the opposite, eat more. But not just any food. I'm talking about protein. It's not only extremely filling, but high protein diets have been shown to lead to more fat loss during the diet and are also more effective at preventing fat re-gain after the diet is over.Continuing the theme of eating more, let's talk carbs. The keto diet is popular, where you completely cut out your carbs. But when you cut out carbs, almost all of that initial weight loss is from water loss, not fat. Cutting out carbs often leads to low energy because they’re your main source of energy. The research is clear, as long as you are in a calorie deficit and eating enough protein, you’ll lose fat regardless of if you’re eating a ton of carbs or none at all. That said, the calories from carbs can add up fast. A good strategy I personally use in my weight loss diet plan is saving most of my carbs for before and after my workout for when I need the most energy, and then add them into my other meals depending on if I have the room for it.There is 1 more food group we’ve yet to cover: fats. Fats are special because carbs and protein contain only 4 calories per gram. Fats, contain more than double this at 9 calories per gram. This is what makes them so easy to overeat. There's obvious fats like desserts, cupcakes, or oily fries. But the real problems are often the hidden fats that pack on the calories without us even noticing. But just like with carbs, you shouldn’t completely cut out your fats. You should have them in moderation or try to make calorie-saving swaps.Alright, so you need to include protein, carbs, and fat in your diet, but what should your meals actually look like? Follow the balanced plate concept. Fill ¼ of your plate with a protein source. Next, to keep you full, fill ½ of your plate with vegetables and/or fruits. Lastly, balance out the last ¼ of the plate with either carbs and/or fats. Now what’s just as important as how you balance your plate is how often you eat. Don’t skip your meals. Personally, I eat at least 3 or 4 main meals per day spaced out by around 3-4 hours from each other. Then I’ll add in 1-2 snacks or fruit between my meals when I find I’m the most hungry. So far we’ve talked a lot about food when it comes to how to diet but one of the first things people look for to shortcut their fat loss journey are adding supplements. Now while there are a few supplements that can help you fill in the gaps from your diet, such as Omega-3, zinc, and Vitamin D, there is one supplement that’s probably the single best fat loss tool you can invest in. The protein shake. Now what’s just as important as how you balance your plate is how often you eat. Don’t skip meals. And speaking about when you eat, did you know that WHERE you eat also matters? Eating in front of a TV is one of the strongest predictors of being overweight. A few other studies have shown that slowing down your meal by taking more bites before swallowing, using chopsticks or eating with smaller utensils, has a powerful effect on reducing hunger and potentially boosting fat loss. Finally, a few mindset tips: avoid all or nothing. Give yourself permission to have your favorite treats every now and then during your weight loss diet and don’t beat yourself up if you ever end up overeating for a day or two. And implement everything I’ve shared about the best fat loss diet at your own pace. You’ll make way more progress losing half a pound of fat every single week consistently rather than losing a lb or two on some weeks and then gaining it all back again on other weeks. Lastly, remember that your weight loss diet doesn’t have to be boring. Create a diet you actually enjoy because that’s what you’ll be more likely to stick to in the long run.
The #1 Workout That BLEW UP My Glutes (3 Exercises) Jeremy Ethier 2024-02-11 | Want stronger glutes? Today I’m sharing the #1 glute workout that grew my flat butt. Strong glutes can go a long way to preventing knee pain and lower back pain. But they also help complete a well developed physique. To grow them, you only really need 3 best glute exercises. I’ll show you guys the full detailed glutes workout at the end, but you need to do the glute exercises properly so pay attention.Click below for a step-by-step training plan that reveals all the best exercises you should do for each and every muscle group:quiz.builtwithscience.comClick below to subscribe for more videos:youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1What I personally do in my own glute workout is start with hip thrusts. This way, I can isolate the glutes really well so that in my next 2 exercises, I actually feel them working a lot more. But proper form is key. Position your feet such that at the very top position, your shins make a straight line right on top of your foot. Then drive your hips towards the ceiling. Brace your core hard and squeeze your glutes hard. Stick to doing just the top half of each rep with a 1-2 second pause at the top. An alternative exercise that’s way easier to set up: single-leg dumbbell hip thrusts. Keep your hips even by keeping your core braced, and focus on really squeezing the glute of your planted leg.Now as great as hip thrusts are, they shouldn’t be the only exercise you do in your glutes workout. To maximize growth, plenty of research suggests that it’s probably best to include an exercise that really stretches the glutes and challenges them the most at the bottom. So let’s now move on to one of the best glute exercises in our Built With Science programs that’s helped grow even the flattest of butts. Bulgarian Split Squats. To start, sit on a bench and extend your legs straight out. Where your feet end up is usually how far away your front foot should be planted from the bench. To double-check this, get into the bottom position. If your shin is bent forward, then your foot is positioned too close to the bench which will lead to more quads and less glutes. You want to adjust it such that your shin is straight up and down right over your foot. Once you’ve got the hang of it, here’s 1 more tip to get even more glute activation. On the way down, bend your torso forward. Keep your back straight and bend at your hips to fully stretch your glutes. Lastly, think about dropping backward on the way down and then driving your hips forward using your glute on the way up. Now if you’re still really struggling with this movement, a good alternative that’ll still help give you a bubble butt to start out with is a simple reverse lunge. Just remember to apply the same form tips we talked about with foot position and leaning over your torso.So far, we’ve activated the glutes, and we’ve worked them in a really deep stretch. But there’s 1 more exercise I’ve been throwing into the end of my workout that’s been making all the difference. Squats. Now I know what some of you might be thinking. “Squats?? At the end of the workout??” There’s a good reason for this. By moving squats to last, I don't need to go nearly as heavy, yet my glutes are still working just as hard, if not harder. However, this only works if you nail down your form. Now you can do these either with a barbell or even a dumbbell since you’re not going that heavy. But to really target the glutes, I’d recommend trying out a fairly wider stance, pointing your toes out. Take it slow on the way down. Sit your hips back, and lean your torso forward. Get low enough such that at the bottom your upper thigh is parallel with the ground. Then, use your glutes to drive your hips forward on the way up.So now let’s break down the full workout with the list of our glute exercises. For hip thrusts, I’d recommend doing at least 1 set to failure just to really get your glutes activated. I’ll personally do anywhere from 1-4 sets depending on how much booty I’m looking to gain, but always with relatively lighter weight for about 10-20 reps to really focus on that mind-to-muscle connection. For Bulgarian split squats, since you’re working one leg at a time it’ll feel like double the work. So here I’m usually just doing 2-3 sets per side with around 8-12 reps per set. And lastly, I’ll finish it off with 3 sets of light back squats but performed really slow and controlled for about 6-10 reps per set. And if you’re wondering why there’s a 4th exercise, it’s because to fully round out your leg development from this workout, I’d highly recommend adding in some kind of hamstring exercise like leg curls since none of the other exercises really work this area.
10 Years of Muscle Building Advice in 23 Minutes Jeremy Ethier 2024-01-21 | Want to learn how to build muscle most effectively? Good news: I’m bringing you exclusive insights from 7 of the world’s smartest hypertrophy scientists. Using their research on muscle growth, I’ll create a step-by-step blueprint that will serve as your ultimate muscle-building hack. Without further ado, here’s the best way to build muscle.DOWNLOAD THE UPPER LOWER WORKOUT ROUTINE:builtwithscience.com/upperlowerLINK TO CALORIE CALCULATOR:builtwithscience.com/calculatorMUSCLE BUILDING EXPERTS:Dr. Mike Israetel: instagram.com/drmikeisraetelDr. Brad Schoenfeld: instagram.com/bradschoenfeldphd Daniel Plotkin: instagram.com/danielplotkinJosh Pelland: instagram.com/josh.datadrivenstrengthDr. Milo Wolf: instagram.com/wolfcoach_Dr. Eric Helms: instagram.com/helms3dmjAlan Aragon: instagram.com/thealanaragonClick below for a step by step science-based fitness plan that takes care of all the guess work for you:quiz.builtwithscience.comClick below to subscribe for more videos:youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1So, when it comes to how to build muscle, the first piece of the puzzle is exercise selection. Dr. Mike Israetel provided his insight. He says the number of exercises to build muscle you should have in your plan for muscle growth is something like 2 to 4 per muscle. He also emphasizes that you shouldn’t change exercises every week. Instead, you should only switch things up if your exercise is hurting your joints, it's boring you, et cetera, and there are other good candidates around.Dr. Brad Schoenfeld then came in to explain volume and frequency. On the number of sets needed to optimize hypertrophy: it’s somewhere in the range of 10-20 sets per muscle group weekly. However, there may be a benefit to specialization cycles where high volumes can be beneficial for a given muscle group. Beginners should not be focusing on volume for hypertrophy. The first several months should just be focused on learning your movement patterns and very basic type routines. There does seem to be a modest hypertrophy benefit in training a muscle more than once a week when you exceed 8 to 10 sets per muscle or more per week. Brad recommends an upper lower split.As for how heavy you should lift and the rep range you should use to build muscle, Daniel Plotkin says that for most people, between 5 and 15 reps, which is usually a moderate load. Then, during each set, apply a progressive overload technique called double progression. This is where you focus on increasing your reps before adding more weight. For example, if you can do 8 reps with a certain amount of weight, aim to do more reps with that same weight the following week. Keep going until you get to 12 reps per set, which is when you should you consider adding a small amount of weight, continuing the process.And on whether training to failure is truly the best way to gain muscle, Josh says although training to failure may lead to more growth when you look at just 1 set in isolation, it also creates more fatigue. That’s why he recommends training 2 to 3 reps in reserve for all your sets except for the last set, where you'd just take it all the way to failure.Dr. Milo Wolf then shares a hypertrophy hack: lengthened partials, which seem to produce more, or at the very least, the same amount of hypertrophy than a full range of motion. He recommends instead of doing a full range of motion on a given exercise, try using about 50% or about half reps in that lengthened position.Now, it’s time to learn more about the other half of the how to build muscle equation, nutrition. Dr. Eric Helms explains calorie intake. Basically, you want to scale your calorie surplus and your rate of weight gain to your experience level. So if you're a beginner, gaining 2% of your body weight per month, which would roughly track with that 300 to 500 calorie surplus is a good idea. And then if you're an intermediate, probably something closer to 1% of your body weight per month is a decent target. That's probably gonna be between the 200 to 300 calorie surplus.And then if you are advanced, we're probably talking a 100 to 200 calorie surplus at most and gaining like 0.5 to 1% of their body weight per month.Finally, Alan Aragon explains protein intake. Here’s what he says: of first importance, get total daily protein straight, which is 0.7 to 1.0 g/lb bodyweight, that's the cake. For the icing on the cake, spread it out relatively evenly over a minimum of 3 protein doses over the course of the day. As for the best protein sources, Alan recommends getting a mix of protein sources throughout the day.TIMESTAMPS:0:00 - The 7 Scientists0:55 - Best Exercises6:04 - Best Workout Splits8:33 - How Heavy to Lift10:40 - How Hard to Train13:33 - New Growth Hack16:06 - Nutrition (CALORIES)18:56 - Nutrition (PROTEIN)22:19 - Full Workout Routine
If I Wanted to Get Shredded For Summer, Id Do This... Jeremy Ethier 2024-01-01 | If you want to actually get lean this year, the odds are stacked against you. More than 80% of people who try getting lean end up failing. But there are 3 simple, science-backed steps that have gotten me, and several others, leaner than they’ve ever been before. We'll cover a full fat loss meal plan, the best exercises for fat loss, how to lose stubborn belly fat, and more. Link to Calorie calculator:builtwithscience.com/calorie-calculatorFat loss meal plan:youtube.com/watch?v=LCyECbA3pUwClick below if you want a science-based, step-by-step plan that guides you every single week, just like we did with Jesse, Archie, and Tamara:quiz.builtwithscience.comClick below to subscribe for more videos:youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1Step 1 for how to get lean: your diet. First, you need to start forcing your body to burn fat for energy. This is done by creating a calorie deficit, where you're eating fewer calories than your body needs every day. You can do that by first fixing your food environment. Throw away your trigger foods and taking advantage of your laziness by placing your high-calorie snacks and treats in hard-to-reach places. This also applies to healthy snacks like nuts and granola. Also, when you do eat, try to shut everything down and just be present. Next, eat more protein. Eating enough protein “protects” your muscles from being burned off for energy during a diet. As for how much to eat, research typically shows the greatest benefit when protein is increased to about 0.8 g per lb of your body weight per day. In addition to protein, try to eat more of those highly filling, nutritious foods 80% of the time. Then 20% of the time, allow yourself to eat treats and more processed foods that, although won’t fill you up as much, will help you avoid an overly restrictive mindset. Finally, track your calories to ensure you’re indeed in a calorie deficit.Second step to getting lean: exercise. Combining diet with resistance training is more effective for fat loss than combining diet with just cardio. The reason lifting weights is great for fat loss is that it tells your body to prioritize burning more fat rather than muscle for energy. So, when it comes to how to get lean, you should use your diet to do the hard work of creating most of your calorie deficit, but also lift weights 3-5 times weekly to tell your body to keep your muscles and use fat for energy instead. But as great as lifting weights is, this doesn’t mean you hit the gym and sloth around the rest of the day. In fact, one of the reasons why people fail to get lean during a diet is because they subconsciously get lazier and reduce the number of steps they take as they get leaner and leaner. To avoid this, start tracking your daily steps. Try to build up to at least 7,000 steps per day and keep that consistent throughout your diet.So if you properly apply everything we went through so far, with the best exercises for fat loss (i.e., resistance training), for example, you should be able to lose about 1-2 lbs of fat per week. Repeat that for several weeks, and eventually, you’ll be at your goal body fat percentage. But we all know that’s much easier said than done. Step 3, staying consistent, is where most people fail. But there are 3 consistency hacks that I’ve found make people far more likely to stick it through and succeed. The first of my "how to get lean consistency hacks" is what I like to call the Power of 60%. Instead of aiming for perfection, just aim to hit your goals at least 60% of the time. Second, make use of diet breaks every 8-12 weeks of dieting. It’s a week or two where you increase your calorie intake to around 500 calories more than when you were dieting. While it’s not a free pass to eat whatever you want, it will give you more flexibility with your food choices and can help you recharge both mentally and physically before your next dieting phase on a fat loss meal plan. Finally, let's talk about how to lose belly fat. First off, don’t use your stubborn belly fat as a measure of progress. Usually, your body will start by losing fat around your chest, shoulders, arms, back, and even your face. Only once it’s lost enough fat from those areas will it make its way down to your upper stomach area and then finally your lower belly. Remember, you have a lot more fat to lose than you think. So until you get lean enough to notice your belly fat coming off, be proud of the fat loss progress you’ve made in your face, arms, chest, and shoulders. Don’t quit right before the going gets good!
The Worst Bench Press Mistakes Everyone Makes (Avoid These) Jeremy Ethier 2023-12-17 | Most people don't know how to bench press with the proper bench press form. For example, do you ever feel pinching or pain in your shoulder when you bench press? Or maybe it activates your shoulders and triceps more than the chest? Or maybe every time you start going heavy you end up hurting yourself. This isn’t because the bench press is a bad exercise, it’s just that most people do it wrong. There are 5 mistakes almost everyone makes with their bench press technique — be it on the barbell bench press or Smith machine bench press. Fix these bench press form mistakes, and I guarantee your shoulders will thank you, and you’ll start to feel your chest activating like never before. Here’s how to bench press for chest growth.Timestamps:0:00 - Fix 12:15 - Fix 23:43 - Fix 35:12 - Fix 46:28 - Fix 5Click below for a step by step plan training plan that reveals all the best exercises you should do for each and every muscle group:quiz.builtwithscience.comClick below to subscribe for more videos:youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1The first bench press form mistake has to do with your elbow angle. If you use too wide of an elbow angle, you’re going to have a very hard time bringing the bar all the way down to your chest and doing so can create a lot of strain on the shoulders. Whereas a tucked elbow angle will help you get deeper and better activate your chest since it usually aligns with the direction that most people's chest fibers run. To find the perfect elbow angle for you, focus on touching your lower chest or nipples with the bar when performing the barbell bench press, then your elbows should naturally end up in the right place. But what if you bench on the Smith Machine? For angled Smith machines: Face the same direction that the Smith machine path is angled so that the bar moves down and slightly forward on the way down. At the bottom position the bar should touch the level of your lower chest right around your sternum. For straight up and down Smith machines have the bar touch bit higher right around the level of your mid chest. Now in order to properly do the previous bench press technique tip, you need to fix your grip. Next time you’re on the bench, rest the bar on your lower chest. At this bottom position your wrist, forearms, and elbow should ideally be straight up and down stacked directly under the bar. However far away your hands need to be to accomplish that is your ideal grip width.There’s a common mistake you want to avoid on the way up the barbell bench press: letting your shoulders take over. To prevent that, start by creating a “proud chest” by sticking your chest up towards the ceiling. Then, use your back muscles to pull the bar down to your chest as if you were doing a row, squeezing your shoulder blades together and keeping your chest up and proud. Lightly touch the bar with your chest, and then on the way up, think about squeezing your biceps into the sides of your chest as if you were trying to touch your biceps together. You may have to lighten the weight to do this properly.How to bench press for chest growth? It’s about the setup. You want to create stability when you bench press. Use a wide stance with your feet planted under your knees. Push your knees out and lightly drive your feet forward to activate your quads and glutes. For the upper body, activate your lats by bringing your armpits down towards your hips. Then, after you unrack it, squeeze the bar hard and think about twisting your hands outwards as if you were trying to bend the bar into a U shape towards your feet. Take a deep breath into your stomach, and brace your core as if you coughed really hard. So the last fix may not be what you’re expecting. See, research shows free weights lead to similar growth as machines. So if you apply all the fixes I mentioned in this article yet you’re still having trouble with the bench press, then your body honestly just may not be well suited to bench press. Unless you’re a competitive powerlifter, you shouldn’t feel like you have to bench press. You can still make just as good of gains with chest machines or even dumbbells where your joints can move a lot more freely. Also, consider playing with the range of motion. You’d be surprised with how deep you actually have to go in order to mimic touching your chest during the bench press. So if going all the way down when benching if that’s what aggravates your shoulder or you just don’t have the mobility for that yet, stop an inch or two short. Regardless of what exercise you choose to do, you always need to make sure you’re using the proper form. Poor technique is the single biggest reason why many people end up hurting themselves in the gym or just don’t see very good results from their workouts.If you need help with fixing your form on other exercises, head to quiz.builtwithscience.com for a done-for-you routine that will take care of everything for you.
The #1 Workout That BLEW UP My Arms (4 Exercises) Jeremy Ethier 2023-12-03 | This is the #1 arm workout that blew up my arms. There's only 4 arm exercises, but it's the science behind them that makes them so effective. Before we dive into exercise 1, realize that I was not born with big arms. God blessed me with twigs. I spammed them with bicep curls and tricep pushdowns in every single arm workout for bigger arms, but it didn't get me very far. As soon as I trained smarter and used the correct arm exercises, my arm growth took off. I don’t want you to make the same mistakes I did, so today we’ll use the latest science to create the best arm workout with the best bicep exercises and tricep exercises to blow up your arms. There are only 4 exercises, but proper form is crucial, so pay attention if you want to get bigger arms.Click below for a step by step plan training plan that reveals all the best exercises you should do for each and every muscle group:quiz.builtwithscience.comClick below to subscribe for more videos:youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1Let’s start with the biceps in our arm workout. A new area of research suggests that for the most growth, you’d want a bicep workout that challenges the biceps the most closer to the bottom when the bicep is fully stretched. There have been similar findings in other muscles like the hamstrings, quads, and as you’ll see later on the triceps as well. This makes me relatively confident in selecting preacher curls as a “top tier” biceps exercise. To potentially get even more growth, try to start the curl with a neutral grip and then turn your wrists in so your palms face up at the top. But I’d only recommend doing it if you’re using an actual preacher curl bench. Second, given the importance of the stretch, your arm should be almost fully extended at the bottom. But this is usually a position that most people have never trained their biceps in. So start off with lighter weight for 10-20 reps, and then over time, you can go relatively heavier for around 8-12 reps.Alright, so there’s 1 more biceps curl we’ll want to do in the best arm workout to really blow up the arms. This one will help grow the biceps, brachioradialis, and brachialis. Standing hammer curls are the usual go-to for these muscles. But for an even greater benefit, we can perform these on a preacher curl to make it difficult at the beginning of the exercise, when the muscles are more stretched. Similar to the regular preacher curl, start off lighter for higher reps and work your way to 8-12 reps with a relatively heavier weight. But if these feel tough on your tendons, feel free to stick with lighter weights and higher reps or swap them for behind-the-body hammer cable curls in your arm workout, which will still challenge the muscles more when they’re stretched.Now, let's move onto the triceps workout to get bigger arms. There are 3 heads in the triceps: medial lateral, and long. The long head is the only head that crosses the shoulder joint. So you’ll need special tricep exercises to target it. Research shows that compared to doing just the bench press alone, adding the skullcrushers resulted in no additional growth in the lateral head and a bit of growth in the medial head, but considerably more growth in the long head. And similar to skullcrushers, overhead extensions place the long head in a greater stretch. I would be pretty confident in recommending some type of overhead extension as a top-tier triceps exercise to include in your arm workout — at least for the long head. Aim for about 10-15 reps on these using moderate weight. Now, let’s target the 2 other tricep heads. I’ve found a lot of success with a triceps exercise I first learned from biomechanics expert Coach Kassem. The arm position seems to both stretch and challenge the lateral head more when it’s stretched, which as we covered is probably beneficial for growth. To perform it, grab the cable with one hand, face away, and let the cable come over your opposite shoulder. Position your arm in front and across your body, and then simply extend your arm while keeping your elbow locked in place. Aim for about 10-15 reps per set. Don’t have access to cables? Another option is a bodyweight tricep exercise - close grip push-ups. Or, you can do a dumbbell triceps exercise - the JM press. However, for some people, these can be tough on the elbows, so I’d recommend sticking with lighter weights and aiming for about 15-20 controlled reps.So here are the 4 exercises you should do for bigger arms:Preacher Curl: 3-4 sets of 8-12 repsDumbbell Hammer Preacher Curl: 3-4 sets of 8-12 repsCable Overhead Extension, 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps,Lateral Head Cable Extension: 3-4 sets of 10-15 repsFor big arms, you can throw these arm exercises into a few of your workouts throughout the week or have a dedicated arm workout day where you do these all at once. Hope this helps. Good luck!
The #1 Workout That BLEW UP My Shoulders (3 Exercises) Jeremy Ethier 2023-11-19 | Wondering how to grow your shoulders? Today I want to share the #1 shoulder workout that absolutely blew up my delts. My Filipino genetics blessed me with a 1:1 shoulder-to-waist ratio and narrow clavicles that made me look frail and weak. But I refused to let my genetics define me. This past year, my shoulders are wider, broader, and fuller than they’ve ever been. I followed a simple, science-based shoulders workout that’s worked better than anything I’ve tried in the past. There are only 3 shoulder exercises (including the crowd fav, lateral raises) in this shoulders workout, but proper form is crucial, so pay attention.Click below for a step by step plan training plan that reveals all the best exercises you should do for each and every muscle group:quiz.builtwithscience.comClick below to subscribe for more videos:youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1First up in our shoulder workout, the side delts. This is the part of the shoulders that broadens your frame and is where I put most of my effort. Now in the past, in my delts workout, I’d always just do your typical dumbbell lateral raises. But there’s an exciting new area of research called long muscle length training that suggests muscles tend to grow better if they’re challenged in the stretched position. But the thing about dumbbell lateral raises is they’re easiest at the bottom when the delt is fully stretched and hardest at the top when the delt is fully contracted. The opposite of what we want. So I chose behind-the-body cable lateral raises for my delts workout to target my side delts instead. This is where I stand in front and to the side, so my side delt is now stretched behind me. Make sure the cable is 2-3 notches from the bottom so it challenges your delts the most when it’s stretched. A crucial progressive overload tip: I’d start around 10 reps per set, and only once I was able to do at least 15-20 reps per set with good form did I increase the weight. This way, I still made gains by increasing my reps, and then once I did make that jump in weight, I was ready for it.So the side delts create width, but the rear delts help balance out the shoulder and give it that 3D look. But it’s by far the most underdeveloped part of most people’s shoulders. We know that muscles are best grown if the arm path of the exercise matches the direction of the muscle’s fibers. In the case of the rear delts, they run at about a 45-degree angle. What I found to be the most successful of all the shoulder exercises with was using this 45-degree arm angle during the reverse cable fly, but with a few steps back from the cable to make it more difficult near the beginning of the exercise when the rear delts are more stretched. But you could apply this to the reverse pec deck as well. Move the seat up high and instead of sitting right up against the pad, scoot your butt back and lean your chest into the pad. This way, your arm angle will now line up better with rear delts. And if you don’t have access to cables or machines for your delts workout, you can do an incline dumbbell row with your arms kept at that 45-degree angle. In all of these exercises, though, to prevent your mid-back muscles from taking over, don’t squeeze your shoulder blades together. Push your arms forward to open up your shoulder blades, and keep them that way as you pull your elbows back.Lastly, we'll tackle the front delts in our shoulders workout. Now in the past, I’d always do standing barbell overhead presses. But they just really started beating up my joints, and it was always a struggle to stay balanced. So I switched this out for a more stable and smoother exercise on the joints, the seated dumbbell shoulder press. But not the way most people do it. Instead, you’ll want to try to bring the bench back about 1-2 notches, and as you can see, it’ll require far less shoulder mobility. Once you’re set-up, line up your arm with the front delt fibers by driving your elbows inwards slightly with your palms facing in. Then, press the weight over your shoulders and return back to this starting position after each rep. You now know how to grow your shoulders! Here are the 3 exercises with the reps, sets, alternatives, and how often to perform them. Seated dumbbell shoulder press3 sets x 6-10 reps, 1x/weekAlternative — machine shoulder pressBehind body cable lateral raise3-4 sets x 10-20 reps, 2-3x/weekAlternative — dumbbell lateral raise (with partials at end)Reverse cable fly3 sets x 10-15 reps, 1-2x/weekAlternative — reverse pec deck, incline dumbbell rear delt rowYou could do this as a workout on its own, but I’d recommend splitting these exercises up into 2-3 of your workouts throughout the week. Research is always evolving. I may end up being wrong about all of this in a few years' time, but I will do my best to keep you guys updated with the latest science. So far, though, the research is promising, and it seems like it’s working.
How to Get MORE Growth In Less Time (3 Gym Hacks) Jeremy Ethier 2023-11-05 | What’s the fastest way to build muscle? Can you work out half as much as you are right now, do just a few 30-minute workouts per week, and get the same or potentially even more gains? According to the latest science, you most definitely can build muscle fast. There are 3 time-saving strategies that have been shown to be most effective to help grow muscle fast. I’ll show you how to build muscle fast by applying them to your workouts, and at the end, I’ll also give you some done-for-you time-saving workout plans you can start using right away to build muscle fast and get more gains in less time.Download your free time-saving routines here:builtwithscience.com/fastworkoutsTake our quiz to find the best step-by-step fitness program for you and your body:quiz.builtwithscience.com"Long Length Training" Exercises YouTube Video:youtube.com/watch?v=xW79HPiyidkClick below to subscribe for more videos:youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1To save time in the gym and build muscle fast, you want to do the least number of sets that still get you a solid return in gains. Based on current research, it seems likely that 3 sets per muscle weekly are probably enough to maintain your gains and maybe even build a little muscle depending on how inexperienced you are. But 4-7 sets per muscle per week is likely the sweet spot to get the most gains with the least amount of time and effort.However, if you are going to go with this minimal volume, there are 3 things you need to start applying to your workouts to continue to build muscle or possibly get even more gains than you were before. First, you should be pushing at least 1-2 reps to failure and even going all the way to failure on exercises where it’s safe to do so every single set. Second, since you’re only doing a limited number of exercises, it’s crucial you pick the ones that are most likely to give the most gains. There’s a really exciting area of research called “long muscle length” training. Basically, it seems like some muscles may respond better to exercises that challenge them the most when they’re in a stretched position. And lastly, to really ensure you build muscle fast, you need to dial in your form.Now, what if you want to make my minimalist workout even more time efficient and take it from 30 minutes down to just 20 minutes? This is where the next 2 time-saving strategies come in handy. First, supersets. These can help you grow muscle fast by cutting your workout time in half. But the key is to use what’s known as antagonist supersets. how long it takes you to catch your breath between the two exercises seems to be important. Keep the transition time as short as possible, no longer than a minute. But that said, supersets will only work if you’re still pushing your muscles close to failure every set.But if there are any exercises you can’t end up super-setting or would just prefer not to and you'd still like to build muscle fast, this is where the next method can come in handy. Drop sets. It’s where you do your first set until you can’t do any more reps, decrease the weight, then immediately do as many reps as you can, and continue dropping the weight until you complete about 2 or 3 “drop sets” in total. Now, you may be thinking, “Won't this reduce the amount of weight and reps I can do?” Let’s say you’re doing a set of 10 reps to failure. The first few reps you do contribute very little to muscle growth. It’s only during the last few reps, when the muscles are being pushed to their absolute limit, that the most growth happens. So even though you’re lightening the weight during each drop set, they’re already exhausted from your previous set to the point that every additional rep it does is now far more effective for growth. This is the likely mechanism behind why research has found that drop sets could possibly be the fastest way to build muscle. Now as for what exercises to use this method with, keep in mind during every set you’re training to failure. So you need to use exercises where it’s safe to do so and also really quick to decrease the weight for each drop set.Now as for how many drop sets to do to build muscle fast, I’d say try to at least match the total number of sets, including your drop sets, with how many normal sets you’d usually do. Lastly, as for how much to lower the weight during each drop set, the study protocols usually decreased it by 20% at a time. That said, 1 thing we have yet to discuss when it comes to how to build muscle fast is nutrition. You can train far less than someone else but end up getting dramatically better results by simply focusing on your nutrition. If you need help with that, head over to our website at builtwithscience.com for a done-for-you fitness and nutrition plan customized towards you and your goals.
How Many Sets Do You Really Need to Build Muscle? Jeremy Ethier 2023-10-22 | How many sets per muscle group per week do you really need to build muscle? Some say just 1 set taken to all-out failure is best. Whereas others go high workout volume, doing 4-5 sets per exercise and taking over 3 hours to complete a workout. Who’s right? And more importantly, how many sets per muscle group per week should YOU do, especially as a natural? Well, the answer to optimal training volume might surprise you and is probably a lot less than you’re currently doing. Here’s how many sets per week you should be doing.GRAB THE FREE WORKOUT PLANS HERE:builtwithscience.com/freeworkoutsClick below for a fully customized, done-for-you training plan:quiz.builtwithscience.comClick below to subscribe for more videos:youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1The first major analysis investigating the relationship between how many sets per muscle group per week and resulting muscle growth was done in 2017. They compared: 1-5, 5-9, and 10+ sets per muscle per week. While it suggested that more was better, it didn’t let us know the upper limit. Fortunately, 6 years later, a similar analysis compared lower volumes of less than 12 sets, moderate volumes of 12-20 sets, and high volumes of 20 or more sets per muscle per week. Overall, this analysis suggests the sweet spot seems to be 10-20 sets per muscle per week. To find where within this range is best for you (i.e. exactly how many sets per muscle group per week you should do), there are 5 other factors you need to consider. The first of which is your individual response. Illustrating this is a 2016 study where they had 19 participants train one leg with 6-9 sets per week and their other leg with 15 sets per week. After 8 weeks, roughly a third of the participants had a leg that responded better from low volume, a third had a leg that responded better from high volume, and a third had a similar response in both legs. Suggesting that what one person can recover well and grow from may end up being too much for someone else. Factor 2 for your workout volume: exercise execution. In most studies, a “set” is defined as going to or very close to complete failure. But we know from past research that most people don’t push themselves hard enough to reach this point. Or, as soon as they get anywhere close to it, they start cheating and using momentum. So you may not need nearly as much volume as you think you do if you simply fixed these more important areas instead.Third factor that’ll decide your training volume, rest times. If you usually take longer rest periods between most of your sets, at least 2 minutes between sets, it’s likely that the lower end of the range would be best. Whereas the higher end of the range will likely be necessary if you mostly use shorter rest periods (less tha 2 minutes between sets).Fourth, how you count your sets. Generally, researchers still count muscles that are indirectly worked with an exercise as 1 full set for that muscle. For example, during the bench press, they’ll count that as 1 set for the chest and 1 set for the triceps. Now whether or not this should truly count as 1 set for the secondary muscles is up for debate, but it does affect how many sets per week you should do. I also think this discrepancy in how people count sets is why high-intensity training, where you do just 1 set (max 2 sets per exercise) CAN work, and HAS seemed to work for many people. Lastly, not everyone should be doing what’s “optimal”. Even though 10 or more weekly sets led to the most growth, 5-9 weekly sets still gave about 80% of the max growth. In fact, in some cases, even in trained individuals, just 3 sets per muscle week has been shown to build some muscle. So if you’re having trouble just being consistent in the first place, don’t chase the optimal guidelines.So first off, I’d recommend starting off at the low end of the 10-20 weekly set range, especially if you’re a beginner. Dial in your form, make sure you’re pushing hard enough, take longer rest periods. As you get more experienced, if you’re sleeping well, pushing hard with good form, and eating enough, yet you’re still not seeing gains, then chances are you might actually need more volume. In this case, add about 2 more weekly sets, especially on muscles that are lagging behind, and see how you progress. Otherwise, you might actually need to take a break or consider decreasing your volume. But remember, how many sets per muscle group per week is optimal is very individual. Experiment, listen to your body, and realize that you can still make incredible gains by just showing up and doing what you can, even if it’s less than what’s “optimal”.
The BEST Way to Use Cardio to Lose Fat (Based on Science) Jeremy Ethier 2023-10-01 | Do you need cardio for weight loss? And how much cardio should you actually do? Some say you don’t need any cardio for fat loss, whereas others say you gotta do a cardio workout every day. I was determined to find the truth. After reviewing the latest science, interviewing the smartest experts in the world, and speaking to some of the top natural bodybuilders in the industry, here’s what I found about using cardio to lose weight.Special thanks to our guests for their valuable insight:ALBERTO NUNEZ:instagram.com/nunez3dmj/?hl=en LEE LEM:youtube.com/@l_eel_em DR. ERIC HELMS:instagram.com/helms3dmjmassresearchreview.com Need more guidance? Click below to create a step by step science-based plan that shows you what to eat and what workouts to do to get you into the best shape of your life:quiz.builtwithscience.comClick below to subscribe for more videos:youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1Do you need cardio for weight loss? Cardio isn’t nearly as effective as most people think when it comes to losing weight and fat because of the constrained energy model. Most research has shown that people who start doing cardio without any changes to their diet tend to lose 20-50% of what they’d expect from the calories they’ve burned. What about doing more cardio to lose weight? Without changing your diet, you’ve probably got to do a whole lot of cardio for it to have a meaningful effect on fat loss. Which isn’t a very efficient or realistic approach for most people.The takeaway is that should think of cardio as a supplemental tool that you can stack on top of your diet to speed things up. But how much cardio, exactly, should you “stack on top”? I sought the opinions of Alberto Nunez, an extremely knowledgeable coach and lifetime drug-free pro bodybuilder who’s known for getting into insane levels of leanness, and Lee Lem, a natural bodybuilder just a few weeks out from his show. Surprisingly, both said that by using either a longer or more aggressive diet, they didn't really need cardio to lose weight or get into crazy shape.But including cardio had its benefits. Alberto and Lee say maintaining a high daily step count helped them burn more calories and make sure they don’t get lazier as they get leaner.But now I wanted to find out, on top of daily steps, how much actual “cardio” is required to get really lean? Here's Alberto's take: "Usually the smaller the athlete, the more cardio we will have to do. It helps so they can eat a little bit more, which is obviously gonna help with the mental component to some extent.” But he also emphasized it’s lifestyle-dependent: "I've had people do nothing. Nothing. And usually, this has to do with the occupation that if they don't move, they just get fired. So servers, personal trainers, labor-intensive jobs, things like that."But for most of his clients, "7,000 steps on average as our baseline you have that set. I'd say most people, per week, are going to require 4 to 5 days of cardio to lose weight, ranging anywhere between 30 to 45 minutes.” This seemed to line up with Lee’s protocol as well. On top of 10,000 steps a day and lifting weights 4 times a week, he’s also doing 5x 30 minutes of cardio to lose weight.But remember, this isn't just to get “six-pack abs lean”. We’re talking shredded. And they don’t do this much cardio right away. Whenever fat loss has stalled, and they’re not making progress, that’s typically when they decide whether or not they should add more cardio.Now as for how much cardio per week YOU should aim for? What I’d recommend is start with Alberto’s recommendation of walking 7,000 steps a day as a baseline. Once you’re consistent with that, try adding in 2 to 3 20-minute cardio workouts per week. And although Lee and Alberto recommend cycling or the elliptical, you have plenty of other options when it comes to the type of cardio to lose weight. The key is to choose things you actually enjoy and can recover well from.Now, from here, once your body adapts and you reach a stall in your progress using your current routine, you can choose to either eat a little bit less or add a little bit more cardio or steps to continue losing fat. You basically repeat this process for as long as it takes for you to reach your desired level of body fat.But the last thing you want to do is start doing a bunch of cardio to lose weight during your diet and then stop cold turkey as soon as it’s over. Dr. Eric Helms says keeping some level of activity (7,000 to 9,000 steps per day and strength training 2-3x weekly) seems to prevent fat regain. This is why for long-term success, when choosing the type of cardio to lose weight, it’s so important to choose activities you can actually stick to.
How Long It ACTUALLY Takes to Burn Off A Big Mac Jeremy Ethier 2023-09-17 | How difficult is it to burn off a big mac? And is it possible to out-exercise a bad diet full of junk food? To find out, my friends and I are eating our favorite meals from McDonald’s. Then we’ll attempt to burn calories off the meals and see who’s the fastest at burning calories. Take the quiz below for a step-by-step training and nutrition plan to transform your body:quiz.builtwithscience.comFollow Dr. Eric Helms:instagram.com/helms3dmjDr. Eric Helms MASS Research Review:massresearchreview.comLink to the Mask I'm using:pnoe.comClick below to subscribe for more videos:youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1Nicole: "I am very shocked that my 2 small burgers and my root beer is 900 calories. I'm going to do a leg day. That is my usual go-to, so I'm confident I can burn calories."Cam: "1,063 calories for some nuggets. Dude, I felt like I was eating a kids' meal! My approach to burning calories? I really like playing basketball, so I'm hoping that this takes some of the pain out of just mindlessly doing cardio."While Nicole and Cam are almost certain I’m gonna win, I have over 800 more calories to burn than they do, so a day before the challenge, I spoke with Dr. Eric Helms, who introduced me to the Compendium of Physical Activities.I combed through the list and chose the most energy-demanding exercises to guarantee my success. I kept what I learned to myself, which was unfortunate for Nicole since Eric said:"You really don't see great energy expenditure from resistance training. You wanna burn the most calories possible, cardio wins hands down."The first exercise of my master plan is vigorous uphill biking. After the first 20 minutes, I was gassed. And Eric had warned me of this:"It really does just come down to finding a way to not red line it to the point where your intensity goes down and you can maintain it."But I’m competitive. So I kept pushing through and after an hour of giving everything I had, I'd actually burned 1,002 calories!At the 60-minute mark, Cam had burned 595 calories, and Nicole 313.Now, this doesn’t mean lifting weights is pointless if you want to burn calories:"The resistance training tells your body to hold onto muscle mass. The cardio helps your energy expenditure to create the deficit to make sure that deficit comes from fat mass. A combination of energy deficit cardio and resistance training is probably the best way to go."I still had almost 1,000 calories left to burn, so I switched to axe chopping. But just 10 minutes in, my hands were blistering. But I couldn’t let this stop me from the win. I pushed harder and faster for the next 30 minutes. After, I still had 340 calories left to burn. Nicole: “After that first check-in, I brought Tahnee in. So it was almost like a boot camp.”Unfortunately, Nicole once again did exactly what Eric warned me not to do when trying to burn calories:"The average person doesn’t necessarily have the cardiovascular conditioning to make high-intensity training really effective. You're most of the time going to see higher energy expenditure just doing moderate-intensity training."Cam: “I figured I could do a little bit of jump rope."I still had 340 calories left to burn. I went with the basics, the stairmaster. I added 25 lbs to a backpack to speed things up. But the extra weight made it a lot harder than I expected. Out of pure exhaustion, I went against Eric’s advice and leaned my body onto the handles:"So you commonly see people on the StairMaster, they're just like fully on top of it, and they're basically only moving maybe 60% of their body mass. And, of course, that's gonna drop calories."So I lifted myself up and gave it my all for the final push. In the meantime ...Nicole: I went for a walk. Then I came back and found out I had another 180 calories to burn, so I jumped on the treadmill and tried to do some sprints there."Cam: "After the jump rope, I realized I was having a much better time playing basketball. So I opted to go back out into the heat and did some shooting and some dribbling drills."Before you get the wrong idea, and think that you should always burn off your Mcdonalds calories or can never eat fast food again, know this. The average male already burns around 2,000 calories doing absolutely nothing all day. But nowadays, it’s easier than ever to gain weight by eating more calories than your body needs, and while it is possible, it’s very difficult to reverse it through exercise alone. Don’t get me wrong. Exercise is amazing for you, and everyone needs it, but if you want to lose weight and get in shape, you’d be a fool not to prioritize your diet. So, who won in the end? Cam did. Watch the video for more deets.
The BEST Way to Use Protein to Build Muscle (Based on Science) Jeremy Ethier 2023-08-27 | To maximize protein’s muscle-building benefits, there’s a lot more that goes into it than just slamming a protein shake after every workout. Today we’ll discuss the latest science on the best protein sources, how much protein you really need and how your protein intake should change with age, and then how exactly to eat it (e.g., should you care about post-workout protein?) to maximize growth.Click below for a done-for-you science-based plan that’ll guide you every step of the way with both your nutrition and training:builtwithscience.com/bws-free-fitness-quizCHEAPEST meal plan to lose fat video:youtube.com/watch?v=PXub4lr-9J8Click below to subscribe for more videos:youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1Typically, protein sources with the highest digestibility and the highest essential amino acid content are most effective at building muscle. E.g., protein powder, meat, fish, and dairy products. Plant based protein doesn’t score very well, but more on that later. That said, there is some new research suggesting that digestibility and amino acid content may not be all we should consider. A study found that whole eggs led to better muscle growth than egg whites. Although it’s unclear what made whole eggs superior, it may be linked to their cholesterol content and possibly some additional nutrients. Now I’m not saying to eat a diet exclusively of eggs based on this preliminary evidence, but it just goes to show that there may be some unique muscle building properties within protein sources that we are not yet aware of, and I’ll keep you guys updated with any new research. And what about plant-based protein sources? Surprisingly, a 2021 study found that a vegan diet and a primarily animal-based diet led to similar increases in both muscle size and strength. And this same result was shown in a similar study published just this year. However, researchers highlighted the outcome was likely heavily dependent on two things: eating enough daily protein as well as properly spreading out that protein throughout the day. How much protein should you eat? A meta-analysis found that protein intakes above 0.73 g/lb of bodyweight per day failed to help build any additional muscle. For the average 180lb individual person this would come up to around 130 grams of protein per day. And remember, this is to maximize growth. Even if you’re below this, you’ll definitely still be able to build muscle so don’t get discouraged if you’re unable to hit that target. That said, in all of the studies analyzed, subjects were eating at either maintenance calories or in a surplus. But what about when you’re in a calorie deficit? There is some speculative evidence suggesting that the leaner you get, and/or the more aggressive your diet is, the higher your protein intake should be to prevent muscle loss. But again, it’s relatively unclear. So I’d recommend if you’re maintaining or eating in a surplus, to maximize growth aim for a minimum of 0.73g/lb of bodyweight per day. I generally wouldn’t go above 1.2 g/lb of bodyweight since at that point, those additional calories may be better used towards carbs to help fuel your performance and energy in the gym. Whereas when you’re in a deficit, there’s no harm in bumping up your minimum protein intake to 1g/lb a day especially if you’re relatively lean. However, these protein recommendations are based on your total body weight. To truly maximize the growth you get from that protein, then how exactly you eat that protein throughout the day also matters. Theoretically, if you space out your protein evenly throughout the day (e.g., via post-workout protein), you’ll be able to keep your muscle protein synthesis levels elevated and provide a consistent signal for your muscles to grow. A 2020 study provides support for this. But what about increasing this further to 4, 5 ,or even 6 protein meals per day? Would that provide an even greater benefit? Well, a study compared the effects of spreading daily protein intake evenly across either 3 or 6 meals per day. After 8 weeks, there were no significant differences in muscle growth or any other measurement recorded. So use 3 meals as a minimum, but feel free to eat more than this if it helps make hitting your daily protein target more manageable. Now, pretty much all the research I’ve covered so far was done with young adults. But as you age, it seems like your body becomes less and less sensitive to protein. So, although yet to be directly studied, it seems that above around 60 years old is when making sure every meal has at least 30-40 grams from a high quality source may be beneficial for growth. Just always keep in mind that above all, your daily protein intake is what’s most important.
The CHEAPEST Meal Plan to Lose Fat (HEALTHY & EASY) Jeremy Ethier 2023-08-13 | Looking for cheap meal prep on a budget? This is the world’s cheapest healthy meal plan for fat loss, coming up to just over $5/day. There are 4 cheap, healthy meals in total. Each contains a minimum of 20 grams of protein, with the whole fat loss meal plan containing around 2,000 calories and over 150 grams of protein. I’ll show you what to buy, where to buy it, and how to prep these easy, high protein meal plans for fat loss.Download the $5/day meal plan PDF here:builtwithscience.com/cheapmealplan/?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=Video&utm_campaign=How+to+Lose+Fat+for+%245%2FDay+%28World%E2%80%99s+Cheapest+Meal+Plan%29&utm_term=13%2F08%2F2023Calculate your calorie and protein needs:builtwithscience.com/calorie-calculatorLink to Ninja Creami:amazon.com/gp/search?ie=UTF8&tag=jeremyethie0e-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=e34ea49714bc8f60ef33839802cdc6ce&camp=1789&creative=9325&index=kitchen&keywords=Ninja%20CreamiClick below for a step by step nutrition & training plan to transform your body:builtwithscience.com/bws-free-fitness-quiz/gender/?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=Video&utm_campaign=How+to+Lose+Fat+for+%245%2FDay+%28World%E2%80%99s+Cheapest+Meal+Plan%29&utm_term=13%2F08%2F2023INGREDIENTS & CALORIES FOR EACH MEAL:BREAKFAST OATS (582 calories, 40g protein):⅔ cup (60g) oatspinch salt½ scoop (15g) protein powder¾ cup (150g) plain fat free greek yogurt½ cup (125 mL) water1 banana1 tbsp (15g) peanut butterFREEZER LUNCH BURRITO (497 calories, 41g protein):1 large white flour tortilla4oz (110g) chicken breast½ onion½ bell pepper⅓ cup (60g) canned pinto beans1oz (28g) cheddar cheeseSalt, pepper, garlic powder, soy sauce for seasoningEGG FRIED RICE (587 calories, 35g protein):3 whole eggs1.5 cups (~160g) cooked white rice (can use 1 pack of instant rice)1/2 cup green peas (frozen)2 carrots (diced)Salt, pepper, garlic powder, soy sauce for seasoningDESSERT SMOOTHIE (333 calories, 35g protein):1 scoop (30g) protein powder1 banana (frozen)1 tbsp (15g) peanut butter5-10 ice cubes3/4 cup (175mL) water First on our healthy meal plan: overnight protein oats. Use a mason jar or any container and first add in the oats, 0% plain Greek yogurt, and protein powder. Pop it in the fridge, and in the morning you can top it with a banana, a tablespoon of peanut butter and a pinch of salt.Lunchtime! Next up on our list of easy, high protein meals, freezer burritos. Dice up your chicken and cook in a pan with your pinto beans. Transfer that to a plate after it’s done then chop up your onions and green peppers and cook them in the same pan until soft. Once cooked, drain any liquid, mix in your chicken and beans, and let it all cool for about 5-10 minutes. Add one portion of the vegetables and one portion of the chicken and bean mix to the middle lower third of the tortilla. Top it with a serving of cheddar cheese. Roll her up then wrap her in aluminium foil or saran wrap, toss in the freezer, and then once you’re ready to eat, simply unwrap and heat it up in the microwave. Optional fat loss meal plan snack (recommended between lunch and dinner): 1 Apple, Orange, or KiwiAlright it’s dinner time, and it’s fried rice. In a pan scramble 3 whole eggs then set aside on a plate. Next, dice your carrots and cook them in a pan with your green peas and some garlic. Once the veggies are soft, add in your white rice. Next, add some soy sauce to your liking and then stir in your scrambled eggs, and you’re done with the third meal of your cheap meal prep! Bonus: we’re throwing in a dessert to help satisfy your sweet tooth in a healthy, budget-friendly way. In a blender simply add a frozen banana, 1 scoop of protein powder (chocolate usually works best), 1 tablespoon of peanut butter, 3/4 cup of water, and about 5-10 ice cubes depending on how thick you like your smoothies.Enjoy!Click below to subscribe for more videos:youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1
Beginner Takes CREATINE for 30 Days (RESULTS & SIDE EFFECTS) Jeremy Ethier 2023-07-30 | Creatine is a well known supplement for making you bigger, stronger, ad more athletic. But what does a creatine 30 days transformation look like? What happens from taking creatine before and after 30 days? What are the creatine benefits and how should you take creatine for the best results? What about creatine and hair loss? Well in today's video we're putting to test on a beginner - Raza. He'll be taking creatine for 30 days and we'll monitor his weight, muscle size, and strength to see just how much creatine helps, or hurts him. Click below for a step-by-step diet & training program to transform your body:builtwithscience.com/bws-free-fitness-quizSubscribe for more videos:youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1So when you first start taking creatine, it won’t work right away. You actually won’t experience any benefit until you reach what’s known as full saturation. This is the point when your muscles creatine stores are completely full. Typically, if you take one 5 gram scoop of creatine a day, this you can reach full saturation in about 3 weeks. But you can experience the benefits faster, in as little as a week, if you use what’s known as a loading protocol. This involves taking 20 grams of creatine every day for a week. However, for some individuals, ingesting this much creatine at once can cause stomach discomfort. To soothe Raza’s stomach pains, we spaced out his servings throughout the day and also fully dissolved each dose with water instead of dry scooping it. We also made sure he stopped taking it with his pre-workout or any caffeine.There is not only some evidence suggesting that taking caffeine with creatine may make it less effective, but it also seems to greatly increase the odds of stomach discomfort. Making these fixes seemed to do the trick. Alright so after the 7 days of loading, by now the creatine should be fully saturated in your muscles and is when it’ll start working. This is when you should scale back your dose to just 5 grams per day to simply maintain your elevated creatine stores. However, not everyone responds to creatine. In fact, it’s estimated that about 20-30% of people are non-responders. So once you do reach full saturation, there’s a few benefits and side effects you’ll want to look out for to tell if it’s working. So when creatine is initially taken into a muscle cell, it also draws water into that cell and often causes a slight spike in your bodyweight as a result. On average research seems to show around a 1-3 lb increase in bodyweight before it stabilizes. Although this may sound like a bad thing especially if you’re on a diet, this water retention can make your muscles look and feel a lot fuller and is a sign that the supplement is working.Throughout the challenge Raza was also concerned about creatine and hair loss. Why is hair loss a popular concern when it comes to creatine? Well this goes back to a study published back in 2010. Researchers took 20 rugby players and split them into a placebo group or a creatine group where they followed the loading phase for 7 days and then dropped down to maintenance afterwards. Throughout this period, researchers measured what’s known as DHT, a hormone known to contribute to male pattern baldness and hair loss in those who are genetically predisposed to it. So what happened? Well, the creatine group actually experienced a significant increase in their DHT levels by about 56% after the loading phase, which then reduced down to a 40% increase during the maintenance phase. What does this mean?Well first of all, the creatine group had lower than average DHT levels to begin with, and the increase they experienced was still within normal levels. Also, no other study has yet to replicate the results.So I honestly think it’s not a concern, but we will keep an eye on Raza’s head of hair and see if we notice any difference.But if you’re a responder to creatine, you should notice a slight strength boost across most of your exercises. In fact, a meta-analysis reviewing 22 creatine studies found that on average, trained lifters can expect roughly an 8% boost in strength and 14% boost in number of reps performed. Less experienced lifters like Raza however seem to reap larger benefits, with one study showing an average strength increase of 30% in untrained individuals.Now Raza’s been able to increase almost all his exercises by 5 lbs or so as well as do a couple more reps, which seems to align with the research.But in addition to the strength benefits, one study surveying 52 NCAA athletes found that 81% of them reported faster recovery from their training after taking creatine.95% of supplements are junk. But creatine is an exception. It’s natural, safe and as you saw with Raza, can make a noticeable difference if you’re a responder to it. But, just always keep in mind proper nutrition and hard training will do A LOT more than taking any supplement will.
The #1 Method to Lose Love Handles (FOR GOOD!) Jeremy Ethier 2023-07-16 | Love handles are one of the toughest areas to get rid of. Using the latest science, I’ll show you how to lose love handles (and keep them off) in 5 easy steps. But first, you need to understand how you developed that stubborn fat in the first place - from months and years of overeating. Our bodies prefer to store our excess calories as fat around the abdomen. This is especially true for men as well as women after menopause. Worse, usually, wherever the body stores fat first is where it will lose fat from last. This is what makes belly fat, lower back fat, and those love handles so easy to gain yet so tough to lose. But don’t worry. Love handles are just like any other fat. Use the right approach, and eventually, they will go away. And to lose love handles, we’ll start with the most important step, nutrition.LINKS:Calculate how many calories you need to eat to lose love handles:builtwithscience.com/calorie-calculator3-Day Full Body Workout Routine:builtwithscience.com/workout-a-pdfbuiltwithscience.com/workout-b-pdf4-Day Upper/Lower Workout Routine:builtwithscience.com/upper-workoutbuiltwithscience.com/free-lower-body-workout6-Day Workout Routine:builtwithscience.com/pushpulllegsworkoutpdfClick below done-for-you plan that’ll guide you step by step throughout the whole fat loss process:builtwithscience.com/bws-free-fitness-quizClick below to subscribe for more videos:youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1Alright step 1 - nutrition. So while a calorie deficit is needed, it's not actually going to cause much fat loss in your love handles right away. Your body will instead prioritize other areas of your body before stubborn areas like your love handles. This is why you must use a calorie deficit that isn’t too aggressive. For most, a good general target is to aim to lose about a lb of fat a week. But don’t be afraid to take it even slower than this if needed.So the next two steps cover what exercises you should be doing to lose love handles. First up is lifting weights. This won’t directly help get rid of your love handles, but it will help create the illusion of a smaller waist and less noticeable love handles. Second, lifting weights can help act as a safety guard to prevent fat regain in the future. 3-6 hard sets per muscle per week is likely all you need, with older individuals likely needing the top end of that range. Alright, step 3. Although you should primarily create a deficit through your diet, you should also aim to increase the calories you burn through exercise. Now, unless you have quite an active job or lifestyle, without any cardio, you’re going to have to eat quite a low amount of calories in order to lose fat. Plus, one unique benefit of cardio is that regardless of if you lose weight or not, it’ll help reduce your visceral fat — the deep dangerous belly fat. This is obviously great for your health but also might even make a small difference with losing love handles by reducing the overall size of your belly. What I’d recommend is just to start with walking. Track on average how many steps a day you’re currently taking, and aim to bump that up by 2,000 steps a day. Keep doing that until you reach 8,000 to 10,000 steps a day. In addition to that, you can also consider adding some low- to moderate-intensity cardio to your routine. But again, only what you enjoy and can stick to consistently. However, it’s likely you’ll reach a point where what used to work is no longer working (this is why stubborn fat is so "stubborn"). You’ve reached this point if you haven’t noticed any fat loss or much drop in your body weight for at least 2-3 weeks. When this happens, there's 2 things you can do. The first is to drop your calorie intake. Typically, a decrease of just 100 calories or so per day is all that’s needed. The second is to increase your activity and the average calories you burn every day. This can be as simple as bumping up your daily steps or adding another 20-30 minutes of low- to moderate-intensity cardio into your weekly routine.Now if you stay consistent with the previous “how to lose love handles” steps, I guarantee you’ll lose your love handles. But honestly, to completely lose your love handles, you have to get very lean. A level of leanness that for most people, including myself, is very difficult to sustain. Believe me, I know we all want to look like all the shredded guys on social media. But most of these guys have incredible genetics, often aren’t natural, and also don’t share with you just how difficult it is to maintain that shape and how low energy it can make you feel day to day. So don’t worry if you still have a little bit of love handles or lower belly fat. Embrace all the progress you’ve already made, take breaks and just maintain whenever you need to, and realize that the extra push to lose that little bit of stubborn fat just might not be worth the trade-off.
How to Lose Fat AND Gain Muscle At The Same Time (Step By Step) Jeremy Ethier 2023-07-02 | Lose fat, gain muscle. Known as “body recomposition”, many people believe this is impossible or reserved for a small percentage of people. But that’s not entirely true. Most people can definitely build muscle and lose fat at the same time. With the right nutrition and training plan, you can actually signal your body to use its existing fat stores as energy towards building muscle, and as a result, achieve body recomp. So, how do we do it? Well, there are 3 steps to a successful recomp, starting with nutrition.Click below for a step-by-step plan to build muscle and lose fat:builtwithscience.com/bws-free-fitness-quiz/gender/?utm_source=Youtube&utm_medium=Video&utm_campaign=Body+Recomposition+Calculator%3A+Build+Muscle+And+Lose+Fat&utm_term=02%2F07%2F2023Although you’ll want to be in a calorie deficit to stimulate fat loss, the calorie deficit you use shouldn’t be as aggressive as it would be during a typical dieting phase. As for what that sweet spot is, a 2021 meta-analysis suggests a deficit of between 300 to 500 calories. That said, the data is from subjects following standard fitness programs employed in research studies, which usually aren’t the most ideal programs for muscle building. So with the optimized training plan I’ll show you later, it’s very possible you’ll be able to build muscle even in a 500-calorie deficit and beyond. However, based on this data, if you want to maximize your odds of being able to recomp, it’s likely that a slight deficit of around 200-300 calories is best.Click below to use the body recomp calorie calculator:builtwithscience.com/calorie-calculatorNext, protein: eat too little protein, and your body will start to look for it elsewhere, such as your existing muscle mass. As for how much to eat to counteract this for successful body recomposition, I think it’s pretty safe to say that you will be pretty close to maximizing growth potential at about 0.8 g/lb BW. And if you really want to be on the safe side, bump it up to 1 g/lb BW. So the next step is to pair your nutrition plan with a training plan designed to force your muscles to grow. Research suggests that both lighter weights and heavier weights can work. But this does heavily depend on one factor: effort. You need to take each of your sets at least within 3 reps short of failure. And this brings me to an important point I want to make. There really isn’t a “special” body recomp training plan. It’s about doing the basics and doing them well. And to make sure you don’t sabotage all the work you put into your nutrition and training, try to get at least 7 hours of sleep per night. Alright now that we’ve covered how to lose fat and gain muscle, let’s discuss the most important part: who body recomposition is best suited for and whether or not it’s actually worth your time pursuing. So there are 3 main groups of people best suited for body recomp: beginners, those who’re de-trained, and those who’ve been just “going through the motions”. But even if you do fall into one of those groups, note that you cannot be too lean. I’d say around 15% body fat for males and at least 22% for females is a good minimum. But is trying to build muscle and lose fat at the same time worth your time? First off, if you're someone who’s pretty lean or has been training both hard and consistently for at least 6 months, then you’re probably going to have a harder time trying to recomp. Secondly, even if you are likely to recomp, you should also consider what your main goal is right now. I know you want both, but what’s truly more important to you right now — building muscle or losing fat? For example, while you might end up building a little muscle during a recomp, most research suggests that a surplus or “lean bulk” is likely superior. And if your main goal is to lose fat, then a slightly more aggressive deficit would definitely lead to more fat loss with the possibility that you’ll still be able to gain a bit of muscle. And perhaps just as important, we as humans like to see things go in the right direction. During a recomp, results can be slow, and your body weight doesn’t really help indicate whether things are going in the right direction. So you’ll have to rely on other metrics like small differences in progress photos, strength in the gym, how your clothes are fitting, and tracking your waist circumference over time. Without proper guidance, this can be a lot more difficult to navigate than a traditional bulk or cut where the scale and quicker body changes can lead the way. That said, I do think for some people it’s worth a shot. Just always remember that proper nutrition and hard, consistent training is what matters the most. Optimize that, and it’s very likely you’ll be able to recomp to some extent regardless of the exact approach you use. Click below to subscribe for more videos:youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1
Seans Eye Opening Transformation (Incredible Story) Jeremy Ethier 2023-06-18 | Every single month we pick 1 fitness transformation winner from our 2.0 Built With Science programs. Not just someone whose experienced a great body transformation, but someone who embodies the spirit of resilience and determination.Typically, the winner gets a one-on-one call with me, $1,000 cash, supplements, and more. But after hearing the story behind this month’s winner, Sean, I knew I had to do more.I felt a personal obligation to share his story with the world and to let him know in person just how damn proud I am of him. So I got in contact with his best friend who secretly helped me plan a surprise visit at his door. Sean's story will show you first-hand the power of simply focusing on yourself and overcoming all the BS excuses you tell yourself as to why “you can’t” do something.He'll also show you the power of focusing on your fitness. His 1 year fat loss transformation was incredible, but it was the momentum it created in his life that truly made all the difference. I'm beyond proud of him and I'm honored to be able to tell his story.Start your journey today and join our new 2.0 Built With Science programs here: builtwithscience.com/bws-free-fitness-quizEDITED BY:Braeden EthierSean's Instagram:instagram.com/sobrien305
The Top 5 Foods to Lose Belly Fat (NO BULLSH*T!) Jeremy Ethier 2023-06-04 | What to eat to lose belly fat? Lemon water, cayenne pepper, apple cider vinegar, chia seeds, and kombucha. These are the top 5 foods google said I should eat to lose belly fat. While this will lead to the most uncomfortable dump of your life, these won’t do anything for belly fat loss. Let’s cut through the BS and look at the real science behind the foods that can actually help you lose belly fat and with weight loss overall. There’s 5 of them worth talking about. Click below if you want someone to take care of all the guesswork for you and create a training and diet plan full of foods you actually enjoy: builtwithscience.com/bws-free-fitness-quiz/gender/?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=Video&utm_campaign=Foods+To+Lose+Belly+Fat+%7C+Built+With+Science&utm_term=04%2F06%2F2023Click to subscribe for more videos:youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1 Number 1: “low calorie density foods”. These contain a ton of weight and volume for relatively few calories. People who eat these foods consume fewer calories everyday but end up eating more actual food than those who don’t eat these foods. So what are the best low calorie density foods for belly fat loss? Basically, most fruits, vegetables, and low-fat foods classify as a low calorie density food. But that doesn’t mean you should completely restrict yourself from high calorie density foods. You just want to eat less of them and add more low to moderate calorie density foods into your diet. For example, during breakfast, instead of having high sugar granola, go for a whole grain cereal with fruit. Number 2. Depending on the type of food you eat, your body will burn a certain amount of calories just to digest that food. This is what’s known as the thermic effect of food and is part of what makes our next food, lean proteins, so effective for belly fat loss. The importance of having enough protein when losing fat goes far beyond this. It’s the most important food to help you maintain or even build more muscle as you lose fat. This will not only help you look better once you get lean enough to lose your belly fat, but it also seems to correlate well with preventing fat regain after your diet is over. But, it’s important you prioritize lean proteins that deliver significantly more protein for fewer calories. Egg whites, shrimp, protein powder, low-fat greek yogurt, extra lean ground beef, chicken breast, turkey, tofu, and white fish are all great examples. You can still have the fattier protein sources in moderation, but by eating mostly leaner proteins, you’ll not only consume fewer calories, but you can also potentially swap those saved “fat” calories for something else. Food number 3: omega-6 PUFA. You need about 20-30% of your calories to come from fats to support your general health and hormones. But the specific types of fat you eat matter when it comes to belly fat. To potentially avoid building up the dangerous fat in the belly and organs, try to moderate the amount of daily fats you get from saturated sources such as bacon, cheese, butter, cream, and fatty meats like pork and beef. Instead, try to have more of your fats come from foods rich in omega-6 PUFA’s such as nuts, seeds, and seed oils, as well as omega-3 PUFA’s which have been shown to have other health benefits and can be found in sources such as salmon, tuna and flaxseed. The 4th food on our list that’ll help you lose belly fat is a controversial one and was put to the test in a 2015 study, where researchers took 300 overweight individuals and had them start the same weight loss program. Only difference was one group was assigned to drink an additional 24oz of water everyday whereas the other group had to drink that same amount but with a non-nutritive sweetener. The sugar free group not only experienced significantly greater weight loss, but they were also better able to keep that weight off for good. Why? It's possible that in the water group, limiting access to sweet beverages may have promoted their desire to satisfy their cravings from other sources like candy and desserts. Number 5. So far I’ve given you a lot of great food options to lose fat. But let’s be honest, some of the foods I mentioned won’t appeal to you. Sure zucchini is a low calorie dense food and yes egg whites are a great lean protein source, but if you don’t enjoy those foods then don’t force yourself to eat them. The key to making your diet stick is to eat your favorite foods. Personally, I love wraps, burritos, and shawarmas so I make one every day. But I’ll incorporate what I taught you earlier about what to eat to lose belly fat by using a low calorie wrap or tortilla, adding plenty of veggies, using a lean protein source, and adding fats or calorie dense condiments in moderation. So pick a handful of your favorite foods from each of the categories we went through, add a couple of your favorite treats to have every now and then, and that’s pretty much your diet. It’s as simple as that.
PERFECT 5 Minute Posture Routine (FIX YOUR SIT!) Jeremy Ethier 2023-05-27 | Here’s the perfect 5 minute posture routine. “Bad posture” isn’t something to be too worried about, but lack of movement throughout the day is. Start doing this at least 1-2 times a day while making an effort to just move more and I guarantee your body will instantly feel better and your posture will quickly improve.
How I Built Muscle FAST (5 Science-Based Tips) Jeremy Ethier 2023-05-21 | Is it possible to build muscle fast? It took me years to gain some size and eventually my gains stopped altogether. However, in my recent lean bulk, I implemented a handful of new research-backed muscle growth techniques and managed to gain a lean 20 lbs in 16 months. By far my best bulking transformation and my fastest muscle gains since the early days. So, if you’re interested in learning how to gain muscle fast and how to bulk up fast, check out the 5 things I did to build muscle.Click below to calculate how many calories to eat for a lean bulk:builtwithscience.com/calculatorClick below for a step by step fitness plan to build muscle as efficiently as possible:builtwithscience.com/bws-free-fitness-quiz/gender/?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=Video&utm_campaign=How+I+Built+Muscle+FAST+%28Using+New+Research%29&utm_term=21%2F05%2F2023Click below to subscribe for more videos:youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1Number 1: my training. There’s a really exciting new area of research called “stretch-mediated hypertrophy”. Some muscles seem to grow faster from exercises that challenge them the most when they’re in a stretched position. So, to take advantage of this and build muscle fast, there’s two things I did. First, in my weekly routine, I made sure I was doing at least one exercise that really challenged each muscle in a stretched position. Second, I emphasized the stretch by lightening the weight and trying to go as deep as I could with good form. For some exercises like presses and squats I also added a half second pause at the bottom. Next, to maximize muscle growth, you need to get at least within 3 reps of failure. Now even though I was aware of this, I’ll be honest after I built up a decent amount of muscle I just got comfortable. It wasn’t until I started pushing myself close enough to TRUE failure that I started really seeing my growth take off. This won’t be comfortable and it never gets easier. But there are a few things I did that helped. First, I changed my mindset toward the pain. I simply view it as a sensation and I now link that feeling of pain with growth. Second, I always take at least a few seconds to just close my eyes and mentally prepare myself for the next set. It’s so easy to let your mind get distracted when you’re working out and start scrolling through social media. But to push to the levels required to truly force your muscles to grow, you need to get locked in and that happens before you’ve even started your set.Next, recovery. Your workouts are what provide the stimulus for your muscles to grow, but the actual growth happens when they’re resting and recovering. For years I would always train at least 5, 6, and sometimes even 7 days a week. When I was younger I could do this no problem. But overtime it became too much. I stopped looking forward to my workouts, had low energy, and my muscles just didn’t recover very well. So I cut down my workouts to just 5 per week and recently cut it down even more to just 4 slightly longer workouts per week with the occasional accessory day. Almost instantly after making this switch I felt MUCH better day to day and a lot more energized going into my workouts. And I definitely noticed my muscles recovered and grew a lot better as a result. Don’t get me wrong you still need to train hard and you still need to do enough weekly volume to grow; at least 8-10 sets per muscle weekly. But more isn’t always better.Now, all that training wouldn’t have done much to build muscle if I didn’t modify my bulking diet. To maximize growth, you probably need to be eating in a calorie surplus in your bulking meal plan. But just like with workout volume, more calories isn’t always better. So what I did was a “lean bulk”. This is when you purposefully overfeed your body with just a bit more than it needs, typically around 10-15% above your maintenance calories. However, even with a lean bulk, you probably will still gain some fat. In the past I’d always go back to dieting whenever I saw a bit of fat gain and so I never really progressed. This time I decided to stick through it and I’m telling you it paid off tremendously. So shift your mindset and think of it as a long term investment. So tip number 5 when it comes to how to gain muscle fast was probably the hardest thing to implement. You see, fat loss is a relatively fast process. You can easily lose 1-2 lbs of pure fat per week. But in comparison, once you’re past the beginner stage of training, it can take several months to gain even just 1 lb of muscle. I mean I gained 20 lbs but not all of that was muscle and it took me almost a year and a half to do. But don’t let this discourage you. The small gains you make week to week will overtime amount to big noticeable changes. So be patient and trust the process.TIMESTAMPS:0:00 - Lean Bulk Transformation0:17 - Training2:55 - Effort4:54 - Recovery6:21 - Diet8:09 - Time
What Happens To Body After 30 Days Cold Showers (Science Explained) Jeremy Ethier 2023-05-07 | What would happen if you took cold showers for 30 days? Today we’ll dive into the science, and I’ll reveal the results I got from doing the 30 day cold shower therapy protocol I’ll share later on. Even if you’re thinking you’ll never take cold showers, trust me, after learning of the benefits of cold showers in this video, you might just reconsider. But what are the specific benefits you can expect? How to take a cold shower? How cold does the water need to be? Can it help with fat loss or building muscle? You’ll start experiencing the benefits of cold showers right from day 1. Exposing your body to cold seems to release 3 key hormones; norepinephrine, epinephrine, and dopamine. Together these stimulate your “fight or flight” response. These hormones stay elevated for an extended period afterwards. Anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours depending on how cold the water was and how long you were in it. The benefit of this is improved mood, energy, and focus. But to experience these benefits, there are a few things you need to know. First, the temperature of the water for your cold showers needs to be cold enough. Research suggests at least 60 degrees Fahrenheit or colder. To tell if it’s cold enough without a thermometer, it should trigger what’s known as the “initial inspiratory gasp”. But you also need to stay in the cold for long enough. The subjects in the study I mentioned earlier sat in cold water for an hour. I did find several studies showing benefits with shorter durations of even just 20 seconds of cold exposure. But in most cases, they used an ice bath instead of a shower. This doesn’t mean a 30 second cold shower won’t do anything though. Even if your hormonal increase isn’t significant by research standards, you will likely still feel a benefit and an increased mood. But over time, your body adapts to the cold and the hormonal response seems to die down. Once you notice this, here’s how to take a cold shower to continue feeling a benefit: try making the water colder or staying in it for longer.Next, let's talk about fat loss. A 2021 study found that cold water immersion increased well trained athletes’ estimated daily calorie burn from 2,000 calories per day all the way up to 3,000 calories! However, there are two catches. First, subjects were immersed in the cold for over 3 hours. The average shower length is 8 minutes, and the amount of time you’d spend showering in the cold would be only a fraction of that. Second, the researchers assumed the subjects would continue burning calories at the same rate as when they were in the cold. Even if you crunch the data while being super optimistic, it likely wouldn’t end up anywhere close to enough to make a meaningful effect for fat loss. For now, a far more effective and proven way to lose fatis to use a well-designed nutrition and training plan like the ones we offer at Built With Science:Click below for a well-designed nutrition and training plan that’ll help you lose fat:builtwithscience.com/bws-free-fitness-quiz/gender/?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=Video&utm_campaign=Cold+Therapy%3A+What+Are+The+Benefits%3F&utm_term=08%2F05%2F2023Click below to subscribe for more videos:youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1Now what about muscle recovery and growth? Well, Ice baths have been shown to reduce muscle soreness, fatigue, and inflammation after a training session. This is great for athletes who need to recover quickly between events. But if you're looking to build muscle and strength, this may actually be a problem since it reduces inflammation, which is part of your muscles’ recovery process to grow bigger and stronger. Three studies have now shown that post-training cold water immersion significantly decreases muscle growth. So, if you want to maximize growth and strength, either do it before the workout, at least 4- 6 hours after your workout, or on a separate day altogether. Now, the studies I mentioned all used ice baths where subjects stayed immersed for anywhere between 10-20 minutes. So they were pretty intense protocols. Based on that, I would speculate that a quick cold shower after a workout wouldn’t have any negative effects on muscle growth. But on that note, it also probably wouldn’t do anything meaningful for your recovery.There’s one more benefit you should know about. Forcing yourself to mentally withstand a stressor like the cold activates an area of your brain that suppresses impulsivity. This can help you remain calm and not overreact whenever stressors come up in your life. But this also helps build tremendous resilience and grit that can positively transfer into other areas of your life. I’d recommend start with cold showers, work your way up to 30 seconds to a minute, and then overtime try to stay in it for longer or if possible make the water even colder. And to further intensify the benefits, consider investing in a cold tub for some of those recovery benefits.
How to ACTUALLY Lose Belly Fat (Based on Science) Jeremy Ethier 2023-04-23 | How to lose belly fat? Belly fat is really easy to gain yet often the hardest area to lose. There are 2 types: the annoying belly fat we all know that covers your abs, and a more dangerous type of belly fat stored deep within your organs known as visceral fat. To find out how to get rid of both types of stubborn belly fat (most effectively), I reached out to 5 of the world’s most qualified fat loss scientists and came up with 5 easy steps anyone can easily start doing today to lose belly fat. Includes belly fat workout and nutrition tips.Click below for a calorie calculator that shows you exactly how many calories you should eat:builtwithscience.com/calorie-calculatorClick below for a step by step plan training plan that transforms your body as efficiently as possible:builtwithscience.com/quiz-pricing/genderLayne Nortoninstagram.com/biolaynebiolayne.comAlan Aragoninstagram.com/thealanaragonalanaragon.comEric Trexlerinstagram.com/trexlerfitnessmacrofactorapp.comBill Campbellinstagram.com/billcampbellphdbillcampbellphd.comLaurin Conlininstagram.com/laurinconlinFor the first and most important step, I spoke to Layne Norton. Scientific researcher, champion powerlifter, and honestly just a really smart dude who calls out BS when he sees it. Here's what he said about belly fat. There is research showing that exercise can reduce visceral fat without actually causing weight loss. So it is a good idea to exercise in general, but specific exercises are not going to target preferentially belly fat. The real key to losing belly fat is just getting into a caloric deficit consistently and doing it for long enough.How do you create a calorie deficit? Diet. And that’s where our next expert Alan Aragon comes in. Alan suggests to come up with a list of your 20 favorite foods by picking 3 across 6 food groups —high protein, fat, fibrous vegetables, starch, milk, and fruits — and making up the difference with 2 YOLO foods. Alan emphasized the importance of eating enough protein when dieting. Ending off, Alan shared an interesting finding: that when calories are matched, hypercaloric diets high in saturated fats may cause greater gains in visceral and ectopic fat than those high in polyunsaturated fats.Now, let's talk about the right type of “belly fat workout” to do to help you avoid regaining belly fat as soon as your diet is over. To explain this is Eric Trexler, pro natural bodybuilder and published scientist with a PhD in Human Movement Science. Eric maintains that there are some major benefits of resistance training (reduce muscle mass loss, which helps with better muscle definition and appetite regulation) if you're trying to lose belly fat and really just trying to lose fat in general. Also, Eric reminds us that cardio can be a really helpful thing in keeping your expenditure higher when that non-exercise activity starts to go down over time. Everything that gets you moving — i.e., including NEAT — counts. Even with nutrition and nailed down, there’s an overlooked variable when it comes to how to lose belly fat. What is it? Sleep, as explained by Exercise Science professor Bill Campbell. Bill shared about a recent study that suggests that there may be a link to sleep restriction leading to overeating, which causes a gain in body fat that is preferentially stored in the belly region. So I would suggest that you get about seven hours per night. Note that sleep matters regardless of whether you’re in a calorie deficit or not. More specifically, one study suggests that lack of sleep alone may in fact lead to more muscle loss and less fat loss during a diet.So you now know how to get rid of your stubborn belly fat. But there’s one more thing you need. Laurin Conlin, a master coach, exercise scientist, and IFBB Bikini Pro will help explain what it is. First, it's important to recognize that unless genetically you have little body fat on your abs and core area, you will probably need to get leaner than you'd think to lose belly fat. Second, take multiple measures of progress. You can use scale, weight, and measurements as quantitative feedback, but we also wanna look at qualitative feedback such as how your clothes are fitting, how you're looking, and how much better you're feeling. And lastly, be patient and recognize that you're usually quitting right before it gets good. It doesn't matter how perfect your program is, unless you remain consistent, you are short-changing yourself and your results.Click below to subscribe for more videos:youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1Timestamps:0:00 - The 2 types of belly fat 0:32 - The key to losing belly fat (Layne Norton)1:42 - Nutrition plan (Alan Aragon)6:38 - Exercise plan (Eric Trexler)9:40 - How sleep affects belly fat (Bill Campbell)13:04 - Why most people fail (Laurin Conlin)
The PERFECT Bench Press (5 Steps) Jeremy Ethier 2023-04-09 | Here's how to bench press with proper bench form. Try out this bench press form for a safer, stronger bench press! #shortsfeed #shortsyoutube #shortsvideo #shorts
How to Get a Rounder Butt FAST (ft. Bret Contreras) Jeremy Ethier 2023-04-02 | Want to grow rounder, stronger glutes? You need to use the right glute exercises and the right glute workout. Today Bret Contreras and I will help you build a 12 week glute workout plan and glutes workout routine — packed with only the best glute exercises out there — designed to get you rounder glutes (translation: big butt) as fast as possible. There's 5 steps to this. Download the free 12-week glute workout routine below: builtwithscience.com/gluteplan Click below for a step by step training plan that reveals all the best exercises you should do for each and every muscle group: builtwithscience.com/quiz-pricing/gender Check out Bret’s Instagram and website below: instagram.com/bretcontreras1 bretcontreras.com Click below to subscribe for more videos: youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1 The first step is to figure out how often to train your glutes and with how much volume. Here’s what Bret suggests: three times per week, achieved with a lower upper, lower, upper lower workout split. Bret recommends 36 sets per week. He explained, “According to the published research, we should only be doing 20 or you know, you shouldn't be doing 36 sets, but I'm telling you, the glutes can handle it.” That said, you can’t just do 36 sets of really exhausting exercises like squats or deadlifts. The key is to split up the 36 sets a week: 12 sets from vertical hip extension exercises, 12 sets from horizontal hip extension exercises, and 12 sets from abduction exercises. As for the best glute exercises to use for each category, let’s start with vertical hip extension. The first exercise is the back squat. Use whatever stance width and foot angle is most comfortable for you, and try to descend as low as possible without too much butt wink. Next up: dumbbell Bulgarian split squats. You’ll want to lean your torso forward and descend diagonally at a slight angle backwards on the way down. Another great exercise is the smith machine reverse lunge. Finally, the Romanian deadlift. Keep your shins vertical, sit back as far as possible, and let your knees bend. Come down to just below your knee caps then use your glutes to thrust your hips forward. For this category, a lower rep range of about 6-12 reps per set usually works best. To get the upper glutes more involved so you get a rounder butt, you’ll want to do some of the exercises from the horizontal hip extension category. One of my favorite exercises for this category is hip thrusts. Keep your mid back on a bench or pad, push up through your heels to drive your hips as high as possible. If your shins are not vertical, move your feet further in or out. Hold that position for 3 seconds before coming back down. I also like exercises that work the glutes one at a time, so the single leg hip thrust is a great option especially if you don’t have access to weights. Lastly, dumbbell glute dominant 45 degree hyper. Here you’ll need a back extension machine. Set it up so the pad is just under your hips. To better target the glutes, flare your feet out to 45 degrees and round your upper back. Keep your upper back rounded and raise your body up by pushing your hips into the pad using your glutes. If you don’t have access to this one, you can do the reverse hip extension exercise. For this category, a moderate rep range of about 8-20 reps per set usually works best. Last but not least in our glutes workout routine, hip abduction exercises. First, seated hip abduction machine. I like to recommend leaning forward and holding onto the support. Drive your knees out as far as you can then control the weight back until your knees almost touch together. If you don’t have a machine, you can replace these with bands or the next exercise, the side lying hip raise. Get into a side plank position with your hips and knees bent at a 90 degree angle. Drive up through the grounded knee while driving your hips forward and separating your knees as much as you can. Let the hips move back on the way down. Last but not least, if you have cables make sure you include the cable standing hip abduction. Stand sideways to a cable machine and use a strap to attach the foot of your far leg to the cable. Hold onto the column with your opposite arm, take a few steps sideways until there’s tension in the cable, and then move your working leg in front of your planted leg with your foot slightly turned in. From here, swing the leg outward as far as you can to your side without rotating your foot outward. Now for this category, a higher rep range of about 12-30 reps per set is what I’ve found works best. Step 5 to building a big butt: build your workouts. Thankfully, Bret and I have also created a free 12 week glute workout routine that will guide you week by week: builtwithscience.com/gluteplan . Big thanks to Bret for his help with this video. The man truly is a master at his craft!
How to Get JACKED During Ramadan (Full Day Plan) Jeremy Ethier 2023-03-30 | How should you eat and workout during ramadan? Here's some tips and a Ramadan workout plan and Ramadan food ideas. I tried it out for a day ad it's no joke, but these tips definitely helped. Mad respect to all those doing it! Good luck!
GROW Your Glutes: Top 3 Exercises Jeremy Ethier 2023-03-28 | I used an EMG machine to find out what glute exercises best target the lower glutes, upper glutes, and glute medius. Here are the results and here is a sample glute workout you can get started with right away. #shortsfeed #shortsyoutube #shortsvideo #shorts
PERFECT Posture Routine To Unlock Your Sh*t (10 Min/Day) Jeremy Ethier 2023-03-19 | Forward head posture, forward rounded shoulders, and anterior pelvic tilt - sound familiar? Today I'll cover how to fix your posture in 5 minutes with my new and improved posture exercises and full posture routine. But let's talk about how you got here in the first place. Most people sit on average for 6-8 hours a day. And when they do, they slouch. This isn’t necessarily bad. The problem is, most people stay locked in this hunched over posture. Over time the body tightens certain muscles and weakens others to become more efficient at keeping this hunched over posture. Luckily, there are 5 simple yet extremely posture correction exercises (including anterior pelvic tilt correction exercises!) we can use. These are all covered in the video, with a full posture routine at the end.Click below for a science-based program that shows you exactly how to work out week after week to transform your body while improving your posture: builtwithscience.com/bws-free-fitness-quiz/gender/?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=Video&utm_campaign=The+PERFECT+5-%20Minute+Daily+Posture+Correction+Routine+%20%28For+2023%29&utm_term=19%2F03%2F2023Download the posture routine below:builtwithscience.com/posturefix Here's the resistance band I use and recommend:shop.builtwithscience.com/collections/resistance-bands/products/all-in-one-bandClick below to subscribe for more videos:youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1 The first exercise in our posture workout routine will help open up your tight chest and shoulder muscles. Start with your hands inside the band with your palms facing away from the sides of your thighs. Keep your arms straight and move your arms in a circle up and behind your body. Let your shoulder blades and traps shrug up slightly on the way up, and then let your shoulder blades come down and back as your arms travel behind your body. Deepen the stretch by looping the band around your palms to shorten it. Next on our list of posture correction exercises: we need to unlock your tight mid and upper back. Start on all fours with your hands under your shoulders and knees under your hips. Take a big exhale as you reach your left arm under and across your body as far as you can. You can allow your right arm to bend slightly as you do this. You should feel a deep stretch in your mid and upper back, and maybe even your lats. From here, bring your left hand back behind your neck and follow your elbow with your eyes as you reach it up towards the ceiling only as far as you can. Hold the top briefly, then come back down and try to reach a bit further than last time. To achieve good posture for the long term, you need to pair the above two exercises with one that strengthens your weakened back and shoulder muscles to help pull you upright. Lay on your stomach with your forehead on the floor and hands behind your head. Pull your elbows back, imagine squeezing your shoulder blades together. Then, move your arms straight out to make a capital Y shape with your palms facing the floor. Keep your arms elevated and begin to slowly move them in a big circle around your body. As your arms come below a “T” shape, start to internally rotate your arms so your palms face the ceiling. Once your hands are close to your legs, bend your elbows and place the back of your hands on your low back, laying one hand on top of the other. Then, reverse the circle by moving your arms back into the Y shape, and then to the starting position with your hands on the back of your head. Next up, the lower body. The main muscle you need to strengthen to improve your posture is the glutes. But it’s important to first loosen up your hip flexors to help with glute activation. Start on all fours and set your right knee close to a wall, bench, couch, or chair. Use your hands to help put your back foot up on the wall or bench. The closer your knee is to the wall or bench, the more stretch you’ll create in your quads. Once you’ve set your foot, straighten your hips in front of you and step your left foot forward so your shin is vertical. Brace your core and hold the stretch. Now let’s strengthen your glutes with the second of the anterior pelvic tilt correction exercises. Lay on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Engage your core to flatten your lower back against the floor. Without arching your back, squeeze your butt muscles hard, and then lift your hips up while keeping your glutes contracted. At the top, keep your core engaged and tilt your hips back by squeezing your glutes hard. Hold this for 5 seconds then come down for another rep. Overtime, you can progress to working one leg at a time.Here is the full routine:Over-and-backs: 1 minuteQuadruped Back Rotations: 30 seconds each sideProne Arm Circles: 1 minuteCouch Stretch: 30 seconds each sideGlute Bridge (with 5 second hold at top): 1 minute *do as many slow & controlled reps as possible within the time allotted
How I Grew Wider Shoulders FAST (5 Science-Based Tips) Jeremy Ethier 2023-03-05 | Wider shoulders are one of the most important parts of a well developed physique. But most people struggle with how to get wide shoulders - myself included. A few months ago I challenged myself to see just how much I could grow my shoulders if I used the right shoulder exercises (such as lateral raises) and the right training plan. I'll be honest, my shoulders have never looked better. Here's exactly what I did. Click below for a step by step plan training plan that reveals all the best exercises you should do for each and every muscle group: builtwithscience.com/bws-free-fitness-quiz/gender/?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=Video&utm_campaign=How+I+Grew+Wider+Shoulders+FAST+%285+Science-Based+Tips%29&utm_term=05%2F03%2F2023 Click below to watch my video about "muscle stretch" and how to apply it to your training: youtube.com/watch?v=xW79HPiyidk Click below to subscribe for more videos: youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1 The first tweak has to do with exercise selection. While the front delts and rear delts are helpful to build overall shoulder mass, the key to getting wider, broader shoulders from the front and back view is to grow the side delts. And what came out on top when we tested 17 shoulder exercises to see which ones best activated the 3 different regions of the shoulder in a past video? Lateral raises. But I didn’t just do your typical lateral raise. You see, there’s been a lot of new research on “muscle stretch” and how it can help you build muscle faster. The problem with your typical dumbbell lateral raise is they’re hardest at the top when the shoulder is fully contracted. The opposite of what we’re looking for. So my “secret” weapon was the behind the body cable lateral raises. I stand in front and slightly to the side so my delt is fully stretched and challenged the most when in this position. Next up, training volume. Generally, research suggests it takes muscles around 36-48 hours to fully recover. This would mean if you wanted to maximize growth, you could train the same muscle up to a max of about 3 or 4 times a week. So what did I do to get wider shoulders? While I definitely could have bumped it up to 3 times a week, twice a week fit my workout routine better and still worked incredibly well because of the other tweaks you’ll learn about. As for actual volume? On one day, I’d do 4 sets of the dumbbell lateral raise either standing or on a bench, and then a few days later I’d train them with another 4 sets but using the cable lateral raise mentioned earlier. The next tip to get bigger shoulders has to do with weight. The further away a weight is from the joint that is moving it, the heavier it will feel. This is what makes even a really lightweight feel extremely heavy during lateral raises. For me personally as soon as I try to go above 35 lb dumbbells I start to cheat way too much. To avoid this, I took advantage of the fact that research suggests you can use a light weight and do up to 30 reps with it before it becomes too light and less effective for growth. To apply this, I’d stick with the same weight and only once I could do at least 15-20 reps with good, controlled form on all of my sets would I then jump up by 5 lbs and repeat the process. But guys, it’s crucial you don’t rush this process. Next tip on how to get wider shoulders: intensity. Honestly, this is the tweak I think made the biggest difference. A study shows that for the side delts to reach full muscle activation during lateral raises, subjects had to push to at least within around 3-5 reps short of complete failure. And to maximize growth, plenty of research suggests each of your sets need to be taken to at least within 3 reps of complete failure. Problem is, I guarantee that during your lateral raises many of you are stopping well short of this. Trust me, even if you think you’re done and even when your shoulders are burning, you’ve still got more. The last piece of advice, while not strictly related to your shoulder workout training, is the most important. It has to do with my diet. A recent meta-analysis suggests that a calorie surplus is likely necessary to maximize growth. For those following me on Instagram (instagram.com/jeremyethier ), you know I’ve been bulking for almost a year now. I’m not gonna lie, it’s been mentally tough seeing more fat gain over the months. But I’ve noticed a big difference in my muscle size. And, once I diet to lose the excess fat, I guarantee that my shoulder gains will become even more noticeable. So if you truly want to make noticeable new muscle gains, make sure you’re eating enough. But guys don’t forget to grow your front delts and rear delts as well. These are key to balance out your shoulders and give them that 3D look!
The PERFECT Squat (5 Steps) Jeremy Ethier 2023-03-04 | Here's how to squat properly in 5 simple steps. Try out this squat form for a safer, stronger squat! #shortsyoutube #shortsfeed #shorts
How to PROPERLY Bench Press for Growth (5 Easy Steps) Jeremy Ethier 2023-02-19 | With proper bench press form, the bench is the GOAT of upper body exercises. Learn how to bench press properly and you’ll see massive gains in your chest, shoulders, and arms. But get your bench press technique wrong, and even if it doesn’t happen right away, you risk seriously injuring your shoulders and elbows to the point where you may never be able to barbell bench press again. But don’t worry, perfect bench form is actually quite simple. Learn how to bench press for chest growth in 5 steps. The most important part to getting your bench press form right is with step 1, setup. To find the perfect grip width for you, lay down on the bench with your arms straight in front of you. Pull your elbows back until they make a 90 degree angle. Then, bring your elbows in towards your sides until your thumbs line up with your nipples. The distance between your hands is your ideal grip distance on the bar. Then, for a smooth unracking, position your body such that your eyes are directly under the barbell. And when you grab the bar, for the most secure grip, I’d recommend keeping your thumb around the bar. Finally, walk your feet back under your knees and plant them firmly into the ground. Step 2: create whole body tension. Before you even consider unracking the bar, you need to activate various muscles that will help unlock your bench press strength and keep you stable as you lift. Use your quads to push your feet down into the ground and use your glutes to drive your knees out. Then, activate your lats by bringing your armpits down to your hips. You can imagine there was a band attached to the bar pulling it back as you try to pull it forward. Next, we want to create an arch in your upper back by thinking about opening up and extending your chest. Once you’ve set your arch, straighten your wrists by pointing your knuckles to the ceiling. Then, through your nose take a deep 360 breath into your abdomen, and brace your core. Now, step 3: unracking. This is where most people lose all their tension and mess up their bench press technique before they’ve even started it. To avoid this, maintain your arch and stay tight, then push the bar up to get it off the rack. From there you want to use your lats to “pull” the bar into the starting position right above your shoulders. Then, re-engage your lats by thinking about bending the bar in half. Step 4: descent. The most common mistake people make here with the barbell bench press has to do with the bar path. During a proper bench press the bar should not travel straight up and down. Instead, you’ll want to bring it down and slightly forwards. To do so, focus on pulling the bar down towards your lower chest, right around the level of your nipples. As you do this, avoid tucking your elbows too close into the body and also avoid the more common mistake of flaring them out to the sides. Instead, to maximize chest activation and minimize shoulder discomfort, keep them tucked at about a 45 to 70 degree angle away from your body. Now as for how deep to go, ideally, you want to touch your chest with the bar. But if your shoulders roll forward at the bottom (which can cause discomfort and potential injury), stop an inch or two above your chest or wherever is most comfortable. But once you do reach the bottom position, your forearms should not be bent inward or outward. If they are, try narrowing or widening your grip to get your elbows stacked directly under your wrists. Step 5: ascent. Most people lose out on chest gains by letting the bar bounce off their chest. Instead, force your chest to work even harder by pausing here for half a second. But do NOT completely relax and let the bar simply sit on top of you. Keep the tension in your legs and upper back and feel your chest working to keep the bar stable. After the slight pause, use your quads to push your feet forward against the ground as if you were doing a leg extension, and then drive the bar up off your chest. Drive the bar back up towards your head so that from the side view, the bar travels in a slight arc. As you get to the top, keep your chest up by maintaining the arch in your upper back and squeeze your biceps into your armpits until your arms fully straighten over your shoulders. Exhale through pursed lips as you come to the top, take another deep breath in your stomach, brace, and then control the weight back down for another rep. And ... congrats! You now know how to bench press for chest growth.Found this useful? Click below for a step by step plan training plan that shows you how to properly train to maximize growth and minimize injury:builtwithscience.com/bws-free-fitness-quiz/gender/? utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=Video&utm_campaign=How+to+PR OPERLY+Bench+Press+for+Chest+Growth+%285+Steps %29&utm_term=19%2F02%2F2023 Click below to subscribe for more videos: youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1
The PERFECT Deadlift (5 Steps) Jeremy Ethier 2023-02-11 | Here's how to deadlift properly with perfect deadlift form. Follow these 5 easy steps and and I guarantee your deadlifts will feel far better and stronger than they ever have before. #shortsfeed #shortsvideo #shortsyoutube
STOP Doing Dumbbell Press Like This (Most Common Mistake) Jeremy Ethier 2023-02-08 | The dumbbell press is a great chest exercise to grow your chest, but only if done correctly. This is by far the most common mistake people make with their dumbbell press form. Fix this and you'll get better chest gains with less risk of hurting your shoulders. #shortsvideo #shortsfeed #shortsyoutube #shorts
How to PROPERLY Squat for Growth (4 Easy Steps) Jeremy Ethier 2023-02-05 | The squat is the KING...of poorly performed exercises. Get your barbell squat technique wrong and instead of growing nice quads and glutes, you’ll feel aches and pains in your knees, hips, back, and even shoulders. But if you want to learn how to squat properly or how to do a squat, follow these 4 easy steps and I guarantee you’ll get your back squat form perfect. Step 1: Setup. Your anatomy will determine what your perfect squat form looks like. Let’s start with your foot stance. Hold a light weight at your chest, set your feet hip width apart, and squat down. See how that feels and note how low you could get. Widen it by an inch or two and compare. Keep going till you find what feels best and enables you to squat the lowest. As for your foot angle, most people’s joints will feel better with their toes pointed out slightly, so don’t force yourself to keep them straight. And the wider the stance you use, the more your toes will have to turn out. Next, it’s time to grab the bar. Set your feet under the bar, half squat to get under it, and then place the bar on your upper back. Right onto the meat of your traps. Next, grip the bar with your hands as narrow as possible without pain in your wrists, shoulders, or elbows. Then, walk it out by extending your legs to lift it out of the rack and then taking three careful steps back. Lastly, to keep you balanced as you squat, spread your weight evenly over your foot by making sure each foot has three solid points of contact with the ground - your big toe, your pinky toe, and your heel. Step 2: Create whole body tension. You need to first activate several key muscles that will protect your back and keep you strong as you perform your squats. Start with the lower body. Screw your feet into the ground as if you were trying to touch your heels together. Then, level your pelvis with the floor by tilting it back as if it was a bowl of water and you were trying to prevent it from spilling. Lock this in by squeezing your inner thighs, glutes, and quads. For the upper body, pull your elbows forward under the bar and pull the bar down into your meaty upper traps. This helps activate your lats and keeps your upper back stable. Finally, take a deep 360 breath into your waist then brace your core. Step 3: Descent. Pull yourself down into the squat using your hamstrings. Let your butt drop down between your heels and push your knees out in the same direction as your toes. Keep your upper back tight by pulling the bar down and continue lowering as deep as you comfortably can. Squat down to at least somewhere close to parallel. But if towards the bottom of your squat your upper body falls forward, or your heels come off the ground, or your lower back rounds excessively into “butt wink”, these are all signs you’re not yet ready to go that deep. There are 2 reasons for this. The most common reason is limited ankle mobility. In this case, try elevating your heels onto weight plates and see if that helps with your squat technique. The other reason is a weak core and glutes. In this case, you can try out a more stable exercise like smith machine squats before progressing to the barbell. But once you can get deep enough, you may notice your knees end up over your toes. As long as your knees don’t cave in or out and instead push out in the same direction as your toes, letting your knees go over your toes is perfectly fine. But, once you reach the bottom position, to maximize growth DO NOT let gravity drop you into that last inch or two. Research suggests this is the most important part of the movement for growth. So force your muscles to work by controlling the weight down and pausing for half a second at the bottom before moving onto the final step...... but if you've found this tutorial useful so far, then consider joining one of our step by step programs that take care of all the guess for you. We show you what exercises to do, and how to do them based on your body. You can take the quiz below to find the best program for you and your body:builtwithscience.com/quiz-pricing/gender?%20utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=Video&utm_campaign=The+Barbell%20+Squat%3A+How+To+Do+It+PROPERLY+For+Growth+%20%284+Easy+Steps%29&utm_term=05%2F02%2F2023 The final step of learning how to squat properly (step 4): ascent. We want the chest and hips to rise at the same rate. To do this, drive up out of the bottom by pushing the floor away and thinking about driving your traps up against the bar. Continue pushing down against the floor and getting tall until your legs are fully extended. But as you come to the top, avoid letting out a big exhale. Instead, maximize the pressure in your abdomen to protect your back by keeping your lips held tighter together as you breathe out, to gradually let air out. Then, take another deep 360 breath in, brace, and repeat another rep. Click below to subscribe for more videos: youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1
