#AskKenneth 80: The Three Most Hated Exercises

After Olympiclifting competition, I'm focusing on bodybuilding competition. I change my program from Intensification to Accumulation. It means I am going to a lot of high volumes, high frequency and low-intensity training with different exercises. I will change different variations of the exercises, for example, Deadlift, I will do clean grip deadlift, sumo deadlift and snatch grip deadlift. Even small change can stimulate muscle growth.

"Shock the muscle."

Recently, I started to do hypertrophy training program with unusual exercises; they are Snatch Grip Deadlift, Bulgarian Squat, and Low Bar Back Squat. They actually killed me.

➡️ Snatch Grip Deadlift

I am sure that I didn't add heavy snatch deadlift into my program when I was preparing for the Olifts competition. Snatch grip is much harder than the conventional deadlift, and the grip position with heavy weight is not comfortable too. It challenges your grip strength. Last two weeks, I lifted 5 reps x 200kg with the clean grip and sumo, but I lifted 175kg with snatch grip this morning. It's about 85%. It's so effective that I felt my lower back and glutes more than the other two lifts.

Target muscle groups:

Glutes

Hamstrings

Erector spine

Lats

Rear delts

Traps

Abs

Get Comfortable With Being Uncomfortable

➡️ Bulgarian Squat

Bulgarian Squat and Split Squat are entirely different exercises.

Bulgarian Squat, I put my non-working leg (rear leg) on the bench;

Split Squat; I put my both legs on the floor.

I always put Split Squat with dumbbells or barbell into my training program as an accessory. However, I have entirely different feeling from Bulgarian Squat. It is a killer. It killed my legs after doing snatch grip deadlift this morning.

Keys of Bulgarian Squat:

1. Keep your balance and make sure your knee (working leg) pointing forward.

2. Slow eccentric with the full range of motion. I lower down myself until my quads are parallel to the floor.

3. Feel your quads, hamstrings, and glutes at the bottom of range then drive yourself up.

4. Keep chest up, slightly leaning forward is accepted, but do not round your back.

5. Proper form is more important than how heavy do you lift.

➡️ Low Bar Back Squat

Every strength agrees that squat is the king of the lower body exercises. There are many different variations of squatting style. For example, Low-bar Back Squat is one of the exercises of Powerlifting. It is focusing on posterior chain (lower back, glutes & hamstrings) more than quads. And the bar position is little bit lower than high-bar squat (2 inches lower). It's not comfortable at all. In spite of bar position, the stance also is slightly wider than hip width.

The movement is a little bit different from high-bar squat. I shift my hip backward first then lower down myself. However, I bend my knees first when I'm doing high-bar squat.

On Monday, I did Front Squat 5 x 5 followed by Low-Bar Back Squat 4 x 12. Seriously, I haven't done low bar for 3 years. I remember I lifted 200kg with low bar.

"The last three or four reps is what makes the muscle grow. This area of pain divides the champion from someone else who is not a champion. That's what most people lack, having the guts to go on and just say they'll go through the pain no matter what happens." - Arnold

I am quads dominant, and my posterior chain is my weak link. Therefore, the posterior chain is my priority to train. In the coming months, the three most hated exercises will be my friends.