Barbell Shrugged - The Bro Sesh: Hypertrophy and The Pump - 202

Episode Date: March 2, 2016

This week on Barbell Shrug, we talk about the benefits of a bro sesh. Hey, this is Rich Froning. You're listening to Barbell Shrugged. For the video version, go to barbellshrugged.com. Hey, I see you sitting there, lonely by your keyboard. If you want to, just whip your fingers out, put them on your keys. Type in http://www.barbellshrugged.com. While you're there, swing on over, sign up for the newsletter. We'll send you some cool free stuff.

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Okay. So, better host correct. Better fucking come correct with this intro. In three, two, one. Chug it, bro. Sorry, dude. You want to do it again? Lame.

I stole it from you. Welcome, everybody. I'm your host, Mike McGoldrick. Here today with Coach Kurt Mulliken, Alex Macklin, and Mike McElroy. What's happening? Guys, why are we here? We're here to clear some things up about the bro sesh. Bro. Why it's been bastardized in today's world of fitness.

People hate on the bro sesh. I know. I don't know why people hate on it so much, though. We want to talk a little bit about why it's a good thing. Why do they hate on it what do you what are some uh i mean i feel like i feel like people hate on the brocess because it's like well i don't know i just you know it has that stigma you're like you're just in the gym and it's all about looks and you know not about anything about like functional movement or whatever but you know it definitely it has its place and, and it's been around forever.

So it's like, you know, it's a good thing if you do it right. Well, let's face it. We all started CrossFit at some point. And we were like, yeah, why are you doing bicep curls? CrossFit went to the extreme of doing functional movements, like you said, and saying that these, you know, isolated joint movements are not as good. And so they kind of went to the extreme. We all of a sudden forgot all these other things that actually do, like you know, isolated joint movements are not as good. And so they kind of went to the extreme. We all of a sudden forgot all these other things that actually do, like you said,

have a place and help with, you know, health and longevity of our joints and everything like that. Well, not to mention it just gets you freaking strong. And you look good too, man. Like you just, I mean, you put on muscle. I mean, it's all hypertrophy, you know, based principles of training, you know. So you're just building muscle, which, you know, everybody know everybody everybody knows like you know big muscles are strong muscles so if you have bigger muscles you will get stronger yeah the other thing that crossfit kind of went to the extreme of is is measuring your fitness by strictly performance right and not body composition and if

we're all being honest there's everybody wants to look better everybody wants to look good with their shirt on come on you don't want to i don't you don't want to it's just performance of course i do yeah no i mean the bro sesh is how i started crossfitting i mean i think everybody came from that right i mean everybody yeah a lot of people did and that's i guess maybe that's why it's like well i don't want to go back to that yeah i think why i i mean i was well i was one of those who didn't like it for a while i thought it was bad because I was always competitive in any gym or exercise setting, and I got beat all the time by the buddies I used to live with, like lift with.

They were always stronger than me. Like CTP? Like CTP. It can do like 40 curls. I know. We did some curls yesterday, and I went to pick up – what was it, like a 50-pound dumbbell? 40?

Yeah. And you did – 20. 20 reps. Was it – yeah, you picked it like a 50 pound dumbbell 40 and you did uh 20 20 reps was it i was 20 yeah you just picked up a 40 pound dumbbell and did 20 reps i got 10 in and was like how'd you do this like you cheating what's up well yeah yesterday we did this thing called the gauntlet which is some like tricep like dumbbell extension when you're laying on the floor and you set up like what i think like 30 was it 30 25 down to 10 like five pounds each dumbbell down to 10 and you try to do you start with 30 you try to do like 20 reps of each at each weight and i'm sitting there doing like you know i got to like maybe i lost count but

like maybe like 18 on 30 and then i started to go to the rest and i'm like i'm doing like two and three and this this fool over here is like knocking out 20 at each weight. And I'm like, what the hell? It was pretty cool. But, I mean, that's the kind of stuff. It's like it can be fun and it can be – that's another thing I think is like, you know, bro says stuff. It's fun, you know.

There's a lot of variation. Like there's so much stuff you can do, and it just makes it interesting, like your training. Yeah, it's not only applied to just aesthetics too and we'll touch more on that but like it could be help for your sport that you're training for it can be very specific to that sport um i mean what i guess what exactly is a bro sesh like what are we defining it as is it is it just going in and focusing on get as much of a pump as possible is it working on getting a certain muscle group

stronger like what do you guys consider an actual bro sesh? Is it, do you have to have bros present? Can you bro, can you bro out alone? Can you bro with girls? I think you can. I think, I think we all probably have our own definition. Well, what's your definition? To me, it's something that you're doing just maybe a little bit outside of the ordinary, um, trying to improve a structure or size of, of a certain muscle group and with a buddy, you know, stuff that we're not always doing curls. We're not always doing bench press and stuff like that. But it's time that you take out of your regular training to improve

and have a little bit of fun. Yeah. Yeah, I think, I mean, I don't think necessarily you have to do it with, you know, a bro or or a friend or whatever. I think you do. You got to have somebody spotting you. You got to have Chad to high-five you. If you don't ask for a spot from at least one person, it's not a bro set.

I mean, what if you have a mirror? I mean, that's what mirrors are for. You just do it in front of the mirror or whatever. The mirror is spotting you. Yeah, the mirror is spotting you. Thanks, man. I mean, I think you could do it by yourself. But, you know, it's definitely way fun if you have if you have a friend but i mean i think i think

doing a bro sesh is more working on i i like to use it to work on weaknesses and imbalances like you know like i do a lot of weight lifting and you know weightlifters notoriously you know very imbalanced when it turns comes to like posterior chain like from like the glutes and the hams because everything we do is so quad dominant so like you know when you're when your glutes and hams and shit are weak then you know you open up yourself up for like back injuries and stuff so you know even doing things like RDLs and good mornings and things like that like I consider that being bro session because it's not you know snatch clean and jerk squat right you know yeah that's that's kind of what I think. Any kind of focused training to bring up a weakness to help balance out with the rest of your body

is, to me, considered what I consider kind of a bro sesh. So anytime where you're kind of isolating a certain area or muscle group to focus on bringing that strength up would be considered a bro sesh to me. Yeah, I like to use it as like a deload,ad honestly because sometimes when i'm like training for a crossfit competition or i feel really beat up or i'm injured maybe like it's a great time to go in and just get some isolated movements in it uh mentally it's kind of a break it's a break you just feel really good yeah it's not as taxing on the joints like everything about it just kind of feels really good so yeah that's that's what i really like to apply it yeah you get that pump man you feel like awesome stepping

out of the gym you're just like you feel like you can take on the world you feel like huge and inflated and shit i feel like i was still the yeah yeah well that's the thing like i still feel the need for there to be like a lot of neon and consumption, mass consumption of supplements. Like you have to, can you smile in a process? Do you have to be like, and like, like fuck all you.

I don't care. It's all good. It's all business. You gotta be all business. Even in your gym, you gotta be all business. So, I mean,

but it is, I think it's, I think it's a lot of fun. Uh, and yeah, the, the variation, like there's so much, there's so much you can do. Like there's so many exercises, so many variation. Like it's i think it's a lot of fun uh and yeah the the variation like there's so much there's so

much you can do like there's so many exercises so many variation like it's never it's never you can never get bored i think like if you if you know enough variation and like it it can mentally like you can have new chances to like get new prs and stuff like if you you know max out your or you you get a new pr on your incline bench press or whatever the hell, like, you know, like it's, it's a good way to like, oh man, I get stronger this week. So, yeah. Well, what are you exactly looking for in a bro sesh? Like, is it that, that specific muscle pump? Like, so if you hit that muscle pump in any training, is it, oh, it's a bro sesh.

Like, like what exactly goes up? You do a hundred pull-ups for time and you get a pump? Is it a bro sesh? I call it a bro sesh. Why not? No, I know what you mean, but like, yeah,, I think it's cool we all have our own definition. But I think the biggest thing that we could all agree on is having that pump is a wonderful thing. Arnold says it best.

I won't say it. It's like I'm coming all day. I'll say it. I'll say it. You watch freaking Pump and Iron, man. You got to watch that movie if you haven't watched that movie, man. That's a classic. That is a classic movie.

Yeah, yeah. If you lift, you have to watch that movie. I'm sorry. Believe it or not's a classic that is that is a classic movie yeah yeah if you live you have to watch that movie i'm sorry believe it or not i've never seen it oh my god i believe it okay we have to fix this right now third show it's on netflix we gotta fix this shit right now like that is that's probably like the best like there's so many quotes in that movie that you just gotta you gotta go for how many times have i said a movie quote in front of you you just didn't even you laughed for sympathy because you didn't even get it probably a bunch i didn't know it was a movie quote so i don't know yeah so so with that said like the pump exactly like scientifically what's going on right so why why how do we actually get that pump what is it we're looking for like can you just go do like a heavy back

squat and get a pump like is it reps like what i mean it typically typically what it is is this is just a lot of blood flows going into your muscles so like you know when you when you train your body is using using energy it needs needs fuel your heart is going to pump more blood to the muscles that are working so you know when you work a muscle especially with like you process, bodybuilding type rep schemes where you're doing like 8 to 12 reps at moderately heavy weight, you're going to start working that muscle like a lot. Yeah, you're producing a lot of toxins. But that's the point. That is the point. You're supposed to work that muscle, break it down so it will grow stronger.

It will grow bigger and grow stronger. What's the super word that we're looking for? Hypertrophy. Hypertrophy. You know what took me forever? I wish I had a little bell. It's the word of the day. It took me, I hate to admit this,

but it took me forever to figure out how to pronounce that word. I was like hypertrophy. I've heard it pronounced both ways. Yeah. I still do that. Yeah. So yeah, like the muscle that you're working gets a ton of toxins in there as well.

Like it's producing a lot of waste. So, again, your body needs more blood flushed to it to help try and get that out. You're producing nitrogen. It's going to help. It's going to decrease the size of your capillaries. Like it's going to allow even more blood in there. So that's why you get a lot of that pressure, that pain. So more blood just being flushed over and over the more work you do.

That's how you get the muscle to blow up. You just feel awesome. So does it mean, though, did you do anything special or extra because you have the pump? Or what did you achieve by getting the pump? Oh, that's a good question. So the more fatigue the muscle – You look good for the next 30 minutes. Yeah, it's a damn good time to take a selfie.

Define achievement. Define achievement. Like mechanically or do you mean mentally too? Because I feel great. Well, I think like Arnold said, he always chased the pump. He was always thinking about getting it while he was training. But I don't think there's any actual – No, that's not true because what he said,

if you remember what he was saying, is that if you don't stress the muscle, muscles have to have stress to grow. Yeah, absolutely. If you do not stress the muscle to the point where it wants to scream – But is there proof that the pump alone does anything for you? Well, that's just the after effect, basically. That's the after effect of putting the muscle through that gauntlet, if we're going to call it that.

Yeah, putting the muscle through that kind of stress so it will be coaxed to grow because it's not going to grow otherwise. I wouldn't say that the pump is necessarily doing the same damage now the pump is the after effect like you said because you could get on an airdyne and do a bunch of sprints and get a crazy big pump in your legs or 100 you're probably not going to grow any mass in your quads right um so with that said like hypertrophy training is like the most popular word you would hear to put on mass like what exactly is hypertrophy like what's a good definition how many reps would that be yeah it's it's i mean hypertrophy is growth of the muscle yeah so you know and then typically for that type

of training yeah you would do you know sets of 8 to 12 reps you know with a moderate heavy moderately heavy weight something that you can do 8 to 12 reps with, and by the end of it, you're struggling to get that 12th rep. Right, so what about loading on that? So a lot of people think, all right, 8 to 12, exactly how heavy do I go? Well, they have percentages for that, but if you think about it, if you're trying to do the most muscle damage,

if you go too heavy on a set of 8 to 12, you're not going to be able to repeat that with short rest for multiple sets, right? No. So if you did a set of 8 to 12, you rested a minute and then tried to come back and do that and you went too heavy, you're not going to be able to do it, right? It's more neurological. It's less metabolic, meaning like it's working the muscle less and more of the nervous system. So you got to keep that in mind too, that the load needs to be manageable, that you can repeat over

and over to get a good pump, to get a lot of muscle breakdown. Plus you have to have good technique too. Like I think, I think a lot of the stigma with, with, uh, these, this bro set type movement is just cause you see, you see people like, you know, making fun of people doing partial reps and, you know, doing all sorts of crazy stuff. And then you're like, what is this? Like just what are you doing? But you know, like technique is important to too like getting getting range of motion getting the range of motion right because if you if you don't do the proper range

of motion you're not going to train the muscle correctly and it's not going to grow the way you want it to grow yeah if you're looking at uh two other than just just the reps and sets you got to look at time and our attention so depend asking about what weight to use it depends on if you're doing maybe you're only doing five reps but you're going really slow on the way down really slow on the way up, which is going to be a different weight that you're going to use for a set of 15 at a fast rate. And it's going to feel different, too. The pump's going to feel different. Everything's going to feel different about it. I think we're going to get into that a little bit later as far as how to actually apply that to, you know, how that applies to your sport or what sport you're looking for, what you're trying to get better at.

Yeah. But different times of training calls for different styles of hypertrophy training, whether it's slow tempo or fast tempo. And basically 60 to 90 seconds or so of time under tension is really what we're looking for beyond reps and sets. Well, what about, so you mentioned range of motion. Like we're talking about, right now we're talking about what if you want to do it just to get the pump? Like what are the benefits of doing that? What are the disadvantages of that? So like what if you want to do it just to get the pump? Like what are the benefits of doing that?

What are the disadvantages of that? So like why would you want to do full range of motion on things if they say that you can get a better pump after just doing like partial reps? Like what's the difference? Well, I think one of the things you mentioned earlier is it feels better in our joints. And it's only going to feel better on our joints if we're going through that full range of motion. If we're always going through that partial range of motion long term, that's going to shorten our tendons and make our joints and stuff feel worse. So as long as we're, we have to be going through that full range of motion to keep the body

healthy and keep it long-term healthy. Yeah. Elbow can't even just be like this. Just, just can't even extend it. So not just for general health, but for longevity too. Like,

like you talked about earlier, like building a bigger base, right? So doing full range of motion exercises, make sure that you're doing the bro reps correctly. Yeah. Like it's going to like building a bigger base, right? So doing full range of motion exercises, making sure that you're doing the bro reps correctly. Yeah. Like it's going to help build a bigger base so you can just build strength more long term.

Yeah, and I think there's definitely a time and there's always a time and a place for everything. There's a time and a place for partial reps. I know a lot of, you know, especially like powerlifters, they train a lot with partial reps. Like there's a time and a place for that. But like if you're trying to go for uh you know muscle growth and you know strength and you know like you were mentioned like the joints like yeah i mean train for a range of motion go through the technique properly and

then you'll get the benefit of that bro session you know it's not just you're trying to chase a pump you want to get the you want to get the true benefit which is the muscle growth and yeah you know the strengthening of the muscle yeah i mean most of us most of us here and the people listening are going to be either probably weightlifters or crossfitters and you have to have really good range of motion for either one of those sports i mean if you're a weightlifter and you start getting less range of motion it's going to i don't care how strong you get it's going to make everything worse and same thing with crossfit i mean if you get worse range of motion it's going to affect you somewhere down the line so making sure that's a still a top priority is always

important yeah what about um specifically in crossfit what about females like where can they benefit from using more of these types of sessions that would help them in crossfit yeah i use it a lot with my females they they'll do kind of a normal kind of crossfit style session um and then they'll follow it up with some of this stuff specifically trying to get them stronger in the upper body because everybody yeah weakness is a huge problem and or not a problem but it's a separator in the crossfit field so if you have a female who's just as good a shape and just as strong as this one but this one's better upper body stuff they're going to surpass them because the crossfit prescription

is going to be the same upper body volume for guys and girls. And typically girls don't have that upper body background. So putting this in where they are doing tricep specific stuff and bicep specific stuff where they can handle, you know, higher volume ring depths and things like that is going to be a huge carryover. Yeah, our pull-up program has a lot of bicep curls in it. Just for variety too, but to get to focus more on isolating the biceps so it has a lot of stuff yeah we need a good name for a female bro sesh i just called it brunch earlier brunch i like that i feel like that that is we need to make a post and ask i want to hear what

the ladies yeah i wonder what yeah i wonder what what is the female version of the bro sesh do they get together and do it or do they just work out on their own Yeah, I wonder what is the female version of the bro sesh. I think it's the same. I think it's a different name. Would they get together and do it, or do they just work out on their own? Do they know about bro sesh? I don't know. Yeah, I mean, yeah, definitely. Or is it like when they get together and do glutes or abs, or is it different?

I don't know. But, yeah, like you were saying, that's a great point. With the upper body strength development, I mean, yeah, like you were saying, like, that's a great point, like, with the upper body strength development. I mean, yeah, I mean, if you can't get a pull-up, then, you know, doing accessory movements and assistance movements, like the bodybuilding-type movements, can probably help you, you know, build that upper body muscularity and strength that you need to get the pull-up. Yeah, and again, the longevity of it, if you have high-level female athletes and they're training for the sport and they're maybe in their off-season, or if we're always doing a ton of kipping pull-ups

and kipping handstand push-ups and all that stuff, it's going to be really taxing on the joint. But we can't just quit doing that in the off-season. We have to prepare their body long-term. So we can maybe do tri-sets where we're doing, like, close-grip bench press followed by tri-step extensions followed by a handstand hold, just wall facing static handstand hold which is going to give you that pump if you go back to back to back and it's also going to keep the joints healthier and safer and

it's also going to prepare you for when you do have to get into those high volume intensity sets like classic crossfit stuff you're going to be well prepared for that yeah i think i think the more advanced you get so like intermediate to advanced athletes, that's when you really need to start doing more accessory type, you know, process type movements because you're trying to maximize everything. You're trying to optimize everything. Like you've already got that low-hanging fruit.

You're not a newbie anymore. Like the effects of training are not going to be the same. You've got to do the extra work to to bring everything else up so you can keep making continued progress yeah i think that's interesting to note that we were just talking about girls and guys and the programs are both very different i mean you know i gained over 25 pounds just doing a lot of stuff like bent over rows uh yeah doing the muscle gain challenge yeah muscle gain challenge so you know we don't do curls and stuff in that for the most part, but there's a lot of bent over rows.

There's a lot of pressing and bench pressing, pulls and stuff like that. So I think guys early on can benefit greatly from those types of row sessions, whereas girls maybe earlier on need to focus more on the upper body limiting stuff. What about, so if you're a beginner, how intense do you want these sessions to be? So I'm talking, we're still in like the 8 to 12 rep range like are they going to failure

on each set or are they kind of sticking to a lower percentage are they backing off what's your experience in my experience we've always had beginners go to failure because for one it's not as taxing to them because they're just not that heavy yet like they're not going that strong and what do you mean by muscle so maybe explain by just not that heavy yet. Like they're not going that strong. And what do you mean by muscle? So maybe explain by muscle failure. They're not going that heavy. They're not that strong. I think some people may not know what that is. Can you talk a little bit about what?

I mean to where you're literally failing a rep. Right. So muscle failure. You cannot lift a rep anymore. You are actually failing. So it could be done with isometrics. It could be on your 12th rep. That's why we say 8 to 12 rep range.

It gives you that window to kind of fall in. So maybe the first three sets you got to 12 reps. set you only got to eight that's okay yeah but you need to go to failure for that maximal physical failure not mental failure don't pussy out and shit i asked you a question sorry go ahead goes into a little bit of uh why beginners can go to failure more often is because they don't have that neurological connection to be able to really push yeah it's a true failure whereas the more advanced you get the more able you're you're able to fire your muscles better so you can go deeper into that physical failure and it's more taxing so the beginners don't really know their true potential and they think they're at failure so you tell them go to failure and they're they're still getting you know a good workout with not

overly taxing their body and their joints yeah if you put a high percentage on the bar, or a moderately high percentage, and told a beginner, hey, do 12 reps, and you had me go do 12 reps, like, I'm going to be laying on the ground. Yeah, I'll be dead, man. Like a 10-rep max squat? Oh, shit.

And they'll get done and be like, I think that's all I got. I'm done, man. That's it. So it does. It doesn't necessarily get easier the more advanced you get. It's definitely going to get harder. So just keep that'm done, man. That's it. So it does. It doesn't necessarily get easier the more advanced you get. It's definitely going to get harder. So just keep that in mind too. Yeah. I think I like to do for my accessory work in bro sets, I think doing it just like, you know, four times a week,

you know, alternating. I usually do like four times a week, alternating upper body and lower body. You know, doing all upper body on one day and do all lower body on one day. And then just pick one or two exercises. It doesn't have to be like, you know, you're already training. Like this stuff should go on top of your training, not, you know, I mean, it can just be totally all your training if you want it to be. But, you know, if you're a weightlifter or, you know, prop power fitter, power lifter, power fitter, power fitter.

That sounds awesome or cross fitter you're already training you're already doing probably a lot of volume and you know high intensity so it's not supposed to like totally just wreck you like it's supposed to help you so you know i like to just do like one or two movements uh in you know three sets of eight to twelve that's it and you know the movements vary each time like you know uh you know, three sets of eight to 12, that's it. And, you know, the movements vary each time. Like, you know, I have basically a list of movements. And, you know, sometimes, you know, I get cherry picked, but I like to do what I like to do. But, you know, having those lists of movements or doing one or two, yeah.

Let me be me. I just want to be me. Yeah. At this point, you know, yeah, you know what you need to work on, so do it. So, you know, that's why I'm always doing my damn rear foot elevated split split squat to work on this weak ass of mine so you know but that's what i do so uh one or two one or two exercises that's it what about what about we talked tempo but we didn't really say why you need to do tempo so what exactly is it and why do you need more tempo well one of the things i was about to bring up was kind of coming back from an injury

or if you have an injury and how that applies. And tempo kind of goes hand in hand with that. Like if you have tendonitis in an area, maybe say you have tendonitis in your elbow, there's research that says doing slow eccentrics only or just a slow tempo on the way down, which eccentric is where the muscle is getting stretched as you're working it. So it's getting stretched through that range of motion as you're actually working the muscle, which is going to help with that inflammation in that tendon. So whether you have coming back from an injury or whether you just need to work on structure

or good movement patterns, that slowing down that tempo is going to control the movement, like I said, on the way down where the muscle is getting longer as you're working it and it's breaking down the muscle, which is going to help you get stronger and it's a more controlled environment so it's going to be safer long term and help you develop that movement pattern so if you're maybe your squat positions aren't great if you go really slow on the way down it forces you to concentrate on that perfect position yeah and I like it too because of the total time under tension when you add tempo to a movement so if you did a back squat set of 10 and you just did them at regular speed as fast as you can it might take what 20 seconds 25 seconds

right if you just kept constantly depends on what kind of shape you're in or or if you like pause at the top right so you're not under any tension when you're at the top i mean like i mean you are right but you know what i mean it's not the same as like right yeah you're not loaded yeah right versus if you put a set of 10 on a 4-0, 4-0 tempo, that's eight seconds down – or it's four seconds down, four seconds up. That's eight seconds of muscle tension times 10 reps. That's 80 seconds. That's a long time.

Versus a set of – versus 25 to 30 seconds on the other one, that's way more tension on the muscle. So you're going to be less than 50% on the 4-0, 4-0 versus – It's going to be way lighter, but it's going to blow that muscle up. Yeah, I definitely think on the injury prevention, you know, it's funny because I'm going to tell a little story, but back in high school I ran track. You ran?

I ran. I did run. There was a time where I ran, okay. On purpose? I did. It was on purpose. I ran track once. One time. I did the four on purpose I ran track once one time

I did the four and the eight man and so we had a track coach Coach Frost and he was all about first of all

he's all about bro sass that was his thing I like this guy but he he was like five seconds down five seconds up like every rep

had to be like super slow sounds like a great coach and if we if we were doing it too fast he'd be like that's too fucking fast that's exactly how he talked too and he used to be like super slow. Sounds like a great coach. And if we were doing it too fast, he'd be like, that's too fucking fast. That's exactly how he talked too.

And he used to be smoking cigarettes in the gym while we were training. It was funny. But yeah, but that was more for, he wasn't trying to get us like super jacked and big. I mean, he was,

but like it was more about injury prevention. Yeah, it was more about building a healthy, strong muscle so you don't get injured because we were doing so much running and volume. Like it's that, you know, you're going – it's very taxing on the body.

Yeah, it's very good for new athletes or young athletes. It's very good for that because, again, you develop that good movement pattern. Yeah. And of course, at the time, we were like, this is bullshit. We just want to bench press, like, you know, really fast. I mean, it's an old school thing. It is an old school thing. If you look up, like, old school German volume training or garanda's eight by eight stuff like that all those guys are

doing like four second eccentrics on like management squad and stuff yeah yeah everything i've learned about tempo and body comp training has been from poliquin those are all great resources um what if you don't have any equipment like you're traveling that's not i still want to get a bro sesh that's not an excuse i'm being creative with, what other exercises can you do, like, gymnastic-wise, isometrics. Can you still have a bro sesh with holds? Yes. Do what you got to do, right?

Yeah. So, I mean, you still get a pump doing actual static holds at in range. You got a pump yesterday doing 90-90 holds. I did. I did. I had, like, eight sets of just – What's a 90-90 hold? So, I'm hanging from a pull-up bar in a supinated grip,

and I had to hold 90 degrees here, 90 degrees degrees and i had to hold an l-sit it was 30 30 seconds on 30 seconds off and i had to do it ring i especially uh ring support holds for 30 seconds and it was eight sets of it was a lot of volume and i was blown up like blown up but you feel fine today right yeah not so as opposed to doing eight sets of 30 chest bar pull-ups and 30 ring dips. Yeah. Well, there was no eccentric loading. So, like, rarely am I sore from isometric holding and only contraction stuff. So it's the eccentric that gets you really sore typically.

Yeah. Yeah, any holds. I mean, you know, like the other day I was – or yesterday I was doing some hollow body holds. And those things will light you up. Like, they will light your core up. Like, you know, core training is great. I mean, if you're going to do a bro sesh, then if you're going to do anything, you need to work on some core stability stuff.

Abs are always like the cherry on top. Always got to put it at the end of the session. Well, yeah. And it's a blowout. It's like, I'm just going to do 300 of this one. And you get to 100. Yeah, yeah. That's good.

What about you? What's your kind of favorite go-to bro session type movements? I feel like we all have one, so we should talk about this. I will say that as far as like super bro-y stuff, relatively new to it. So I've been weightlifting for quite a while, and I've just really started getting after the whole – Just getting into those bro-ish. Yeah, yeah.

And, you know, it's been really refreshing because it gives me something different to do, maybe new metrics to chase. You're a baby bro. I'm a baby bro. You can tell by the size of these cannons. Yeah, bro. But, man, I have my favorite things to do. I love doing posterior chain work, but it's because I'm good at it.

But you are good at it. I know. So, honestly, like... But that's what it's about. Honestly, like, that's because i'm good at it but you're all good at it so so honestly like but that's what i'm saying like feeling the pump although i don't think there's like this this huge like physical benefit from just getting the pump like i feel so much better like just with that feeling when i leave the gym so like uh man i've been doing 21s i'm not gonna lie we've all done them you know the curls you do seven that seven. That's what this episode is dedicated to making you not feel bad about that. I think we should catch this episode out with a set of 21s, guys.

21s? Well, yeah. What's the 21s? Yeah, that's where you do like the curls. You're doing like the top half, seven, bottom half, seven, then full range of motion for seven. Oh, shit. And, man, it's brutal.

I've seen people do it at front squats, which is crazy brutal. But if you want a quad pump, yeah, yeah. You were just under tension for so long. So I think we should try something. So your favorite is the 21s. You've been rocking the 21s. Yeah, and I really suck at them, man. My biceps and triceps, they just feel really weak.

Every day is a new day. That was CDP quoting himself. Yeah, it's like a whole new CT Fletcher. Yeah, I sit the dumbbells down, and that Aladdin song comes on. It's like, whole new world. Get out of here. My favorite is lying tricep extensions. Yeah.

Not only do they get your arms bigger, but there's a huge carryover to the sport, and obviously that's kind of where my bias is. But I use those with females and males in the sport. I mean, finishing out the ring dip, finishing out lockout overhead, all that stuff is a huge carryover. So that's my favorite. Yeah, people, like, that's the thing. Like, this stuff is useful because, like, if your triceps are weak as shit, then your lockout is going to suck. Like, it is going to suck.

I think that was my problem. Yeah. Oh, your weak-ass lockout? Yeah. And it's like I almost don't even care what I'm doing in the process just because it's like this whole new feeling to me. I'm really enjoying it. Yeah.

It's a whole new world. I like doing – if I find like a regular Globo gym, I like going and doing – With the rope? The pull with the rope and then turn it out. Separate it out. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Just turn it out. The head of the tricep. like, oh, doing the, like, yeah, just the pull with the rope and then turn it out, separate it out. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, just turn it out. The head of the tricep.

Yep, yep, yep. That's all. And then you look at the mirror and you see yourself doing it, too. You're just like, oh, yeah. That's the thing, though. This is the stance. Do you even get in the stance? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You got to get in the stance. This is hips back, hips back. Does it do anything? I mean, who cares? It looks good. But I've always done it. It carry over to the hang position of a clean. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And when I give that cue to people in the gym, I'm like, it's like looks good. But I've always done it. It carryovers to the hang position of a clean. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And when I give that cue to people in the gym, I'm like, it's like you're trying to pee with a boner. It's that same like... Yeah, you gotta stick the butt out. Get it like right there. That's how you do it. You got the ropes. Yep, the ropes. Always the ropes. Always. Pee with a boner? Yeah.

What about you, Majee? Are we talking about like bro acceptable movements? Like would I do this in a global gym? What about you? Are we talking about bro acceptable movements? Would I do this in a global gym? What's your favorite? So overall, wall facing handstand hold because that was

what I did most recently. Okay. That absolutely brings up shoulders and triceps. So you're a cross bro. I'm a cross bro. That is awesome.

No, I'm a, what do you call it? Power fitter. Power fitter. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I feel like we should call it that now. Power fitter.

I don't know if it's how I'm built, but everything blows me up. I get a pump doing everything. Yeah. I'm pumping, yeah. I feel like we should call it that now, power fitter. I don't know if it's how I'm built, but everything blows me up. Like, I got to pump doing everything. Yeah. I'm pumping right now. You're just pumped. Yeah, yeah.

The carryover is crazy. Like, you know, like, just having a stronger – if you're only as strong as, you know, your weakest link. So, you know, if you – and, like like a lot of people do this like power lifters weightlifters like a lot of weightlifters do accessory bodybuilding type movements like you see the video of lu Xiaojun doing like his plate lateral raises with like you know 10 kilos and looking awesome looking awesome like look at the dude's back like look at his back okay yeah I think what the difference is is maybe you see that and you think he's probably doing it for something

yeah and it well yeah for some reason it gives you think, he's probably doing it for something. Well, yeah. For some reason it gives more merit when you're not doing it for looks only. Yeah. So, I mean, whatever. I'm not judging anyone. If you're doing it just for looks, that's awesome, whatever. But for some reason people act like you have to be doing it for a sport for it to actually be cool.

But that's not the case. Because there's a stigma of it being bad if you're doing it for looks, like you said. And I don't know why that is. Everybody has it. It's just in denial. That's why we all started Because there's the stigma of it being bad if you're doing it for looks, like you said. And I don't know why that is. Everybody has it. It's just in denial. That's why we all started working out in the first place. I mean, come on.

Like we said earlier, like who doesn't want to look good? Who works out just to say that? 100% solo performance. I mean, yes, performance is awesome. Yes, you want to perform. But, damn it, yeah, you want to look good too. There's nothing wrong with that. Yeah, and you brought up lateral raises and stuff like that we haven't talked about shoulder health and and especially

in the sport of crossfit and weightlifting like shoulder get beat up in this sport yeah so i mean accessory stuff for the shoulders is huge importance like i said that doesn't have to be external rotation which it can there's a place for that but it can be handstand holds and different static holds like that that there's a huge carryover to being safe yeah yeah yeah yeah so um i guess to recap like we brought up you know what exactly the bro sesh is in our definition i love this talk this talk was awesome i mean you know just this is so much fun talking about this type of stuff you know what what defines the bro sesh like does it have to be in a gym with mirrors can it be wherever no i mean it's up to you, really.

You know, your own personal definition. Be your own bro. Be your own bro. Again, I like touching on the health aspects of it or injury prevention. I think that's probably my favorite reason for it for most. And not just mechanically, but mentally, too, because it is such like a stress relief when you go in and you're like, man, I just get to get a pump today.

Yep. Don't worry about it. Yeah, you don't have to worry about what's on the bar. You don't have to worry about it. Just go in there and lift some shit and feel good when you leave. It's a lot less stressful. I know you're recapping. We didn't even talk about the benefits as far as fat loss goes.

Oh, yeah. Building for hypertrophy, and females using this to build for hypertrophy, and the benefits of increasing testosterone and IGF-11 and stuff and this having a fat loss carryover when i have strictly fat loss clients this is the kind of training that they're doing yeah um and it's something that gets overlooked and they think that they're because they're training like this they need to be doing more and more cardio yeah they have to hurt they have to be in pain to lose weight and you could totally do you could totally do this stuff and make it intense.

You can do circuit training where you don't take that much rest. You do supersets and all this stuff. It doesn't have to be like,

all right, do this, and then I'm going to sit there and go to the water fountain. It doesn't have to be like that. It can be high intensity.

Yeah, you can even ride it as a 30-minute AMRAP. If I ride it as a 30-minute AMRAP and give you eight rear-foot elevated split squats and pin lay rows and chin-over bar holds, you're not going to be moving that fast.

You're going to be doing German body count. Yeah, I mean, that's the premise and basis of what shredded and bikini are. It's a lot of movement with a lot of tempo with very short rest. And that's what CrossFit is too, you know, like pretty much. Yeah, so, I mean, it's a mix, mix but uh you know mainly geared towards fat loss for sure like we're we're getting as much muscle on you as possible because for one the more muscle you have you're gonna burn more calories at a rest all day long right so it's not a bad thing to build muscle if you want to lose weight it's okay yeah that post-exercise oxygen oxygen consumption somebody asked about that on

instagram what'd you call it That's what that is. EPOC. EPOC. EPOC. Yeah, I've never heard that term. Very cool. It's a term. I thought he misspelled it. I thought he wanted to spell epic.

But, yeah. You guys have anything else you want to add? No, man. Like I said, I love talking about this stuff. This is so – like, bro-cess is so beneficial and gets so much hate, but don't hate on the bro-fests. Bring back the bro-fests. Don't hate on it.

Set aside a time. Embrace it. We're having a bro-fest. Bro-fest, bro-fests, whatever, brunch, whatever you want to call it. Brunch. Do it. Do it. It's not something that you're going to see in your affiliates programming probably.

Mine didn't. Yeah. If you have a group a group setting and you're trying to do a crossfit workout you're probably gonna have a ton of bro sessions in there so get together with some bros after class and knock one out a couple times we were some lady bros we literally had it in our last mezzo at our gym we had one day a week we had it labeled bro session that's awesome that's awesome that's awesome did you actually go to you stayed in the gym you didn't go to like a?

No, no. It was like we did some strength work. We did a little conditioning and then we did a bro sesh. Take a trip to LA Fitness. Some of my clients I design, I've got like, you know, some structural stuff,

conditioning, and then the bottom it says pump sesh. Yeah, nice. And this is where they have some fun with it. Pump sesh. Very cool.

Very cool. Thanks, guys. Thanks for listening. We got to do this in a 21s now. Yep. Yeah. That was. Thanks, guys. Thanks for listening. We got to do this at a 21s now. Yep. Yeah. That was really fun.

Yeah. That was fun. That's going to be a good episode. Yeah. That's going to be a real one. A lot of good information. Sorry, I didn't mean to start recapping. No.