Sadly, many collagen powders are tainted with lead and other heavy metals, and some may even have non-collagen ingredients in them, called fillers. You should definitely stick to lead-free, filler-free collagen if you want to be as healthy as possible. The following collagen powders are tested for lead and other heavy metals, and they also are tested for pesticides as well.
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission for purchases made through these links. As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. I also may earn commission from Great Lakes Wellness for purchases made through these links.
Collagen and lead contamination
You want to make sure there’s no lead or anything else bad in your collagen, so you should insist on lab testing from the brand you choose. Many of the top collagen brands have been tested for heavy metals like lead and arsenic. We’ve recommended only brands with good results on these tests. Here are their heavy metals results, plus their pesticide results:
Puori Collagen
No heavy metals detected (lead, arsenic, mercury, cadmium)
Lead and fillers could both be problems in collagen powder. Make sure to read the side of the label and don’t get anything that advertises extra junk that isn’t collagen. Fillers are a big issue in the protein powder industry, so you should be careful of your collagen brand. You don’t want any unnecessary fillers. The brands we recommend have done a great job being transparent and ethical about delivering a good quality collagen product, so we are pretty confident they won’t lie to us about using fillers either.
Pesticide residue in collagen powder
Collagen powder has a pesticide problem. The collagen is made from cows, usually, and the cows were given feed that is covered in pesticide residue. Then that pesticide gets into your collagen powder. No good! Fortunately, organic, grass-fed cows don’t really have this problem. In addition to being better for your health, it’s also much nicer to the cow. And we have proof that certain collagen powders don’t have pesticides in them, since they are independently lab tested to be free of pesticides. We have recommended collagen powders that have made their pesticide and lead tests both visible, ideally with independent certification.
The bottom line
Tons of people use collagen powder to help their skin, their joints, and their digestive systems. It would be a shame if they were ingesting lead and fillers in their collagen powder all this time. So make sure to get a collagen powder that you can trust to be free of these things!
Unfortunately a lot of protein powders are contaminated with pesticide residue, especially glyphosate. The following are the best protein powders without glyphosate, proven by lab results and independently certified in some cases.
Our favorite is Puori as it is certified to be free of all 200+ pesticides that they tested for, including atrazine which is a really bad one.
Clean protein powder means no pesticides, heavy metals, or additives
We’re pretty careful about what we put into our bodies. Nothing unnatural! So we aren’t stopping at pesticides. We have more requirements for our recommendations. We are only recommending protein powder that has been tested to have zero or minimal heavy metals in it. We also are avoiding unnatural additives (like dyes or artificial flavoring).
The dangers of pesticides in your protein powder
Sadly, pesticides get into all sorts of food products. Protein powders are pretty commonly contaminated with glyphosate and other pesticides, since they are frequently either pea protein, which gets sprayed a lot usually, or they are cow-based products and factory-farmed cows are usually exposed to a great deal of pesticide too. (And by the way, the factory farm system is also cruel to the cows, so that’s another reason we’re against factory farms.)
We look for companies that post lab results showing what’s in their protein powder. We want them to test for pesticides, metals, and other bad stuff. The best is when these lab results are independently certified. Two organizations that are doing great work independently certifying foods to be pesticide-free are the Clean Label Project and the Detox Project. We got a lot of our information on pesticide-free protein powder from them.
We only recommend collagen that’s free of pesticides, chemicals, and heavy metals. From that list, we’ve identified the ones which also have no zinc. Here they are:
Our favorite is Puori, since it has been tested to have zero heavy metals in it.
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission for purchases made through these links. As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. I also may earn commission from Great Lakes Wellness for purchases made through these links.
Keep the heavy metals in the factory, not in the collagen
One problem that collagen powders are prone to is heavy metal contamination. It seems to be the norm, according to independent testing, to find some amount of heavy metals in collagen. Lead, cadmium, arsenic, and mercury were the ones tested, and they were found in many collagen brands. However Puori has none, and the other brands on our list only have minor contamination, which is a lot better than the norm. And of course none of these collagen brands have any zinc in them.
Keep the pesticides out too
Collagen is a major risk for pesticide consumption, most likely. Pesticide in a cow’s diet gets stored in the parts that your collagen powder is made from. Industrial agriculture cows have something like 100 micrograms of glyphosate (a very nasty pesticide) per kilogram of their collagen. (Source) If you want to avoid eating that, you should stick to collagen powders that are independently certified to be glyphosate-free.
All the lab results for these collagen powders
Here are the results showing that these collagen powders have no glyphosate and minimal heavy metals in them. The ingredients list on the side of each product shows that the collagen has no zinc in it either.
Puori – CP1 Pure Collagen Peptides Powder
Free of BPA
Zero heavy metals
Over 200 pesticides tested, and all were found to be absent.
The Clean Label Project has the lab results for all this here.
Finding collagen without zinc is pretty easy. All you have to do is look on the side of the can. The products here all have no zinc. But it’s very important for your health to not consume chemicals and metals on a daily basis. That’s why these collagen products are not only zinc-free, they also are free of nasty chemicals like glyphosate and harmful metals like lead. We hope this article helped you!
Each of these products is certified free of glyphosate, the most common pesticide used in the USA, and a highly dangerous chemical. Disturbingly high levels of glyphosate are found in many collagen powders, but not in these ones we recommend! This article contains detailed info and lab testing results showing no glyphosate in the collagen products we selected.
If you just want our recommendation for the absolute best collagen without pesticides though, we advise Puori collagen which has no glyphosate, atrazine, or any other pesticide from a list of over 200.
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission for purchases made through these links. As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. I also may earn commission from Great Lakes Wellness for purchases made through these links.
The dangers of pesticides in collagen
Pesticides are a menace. They contaminate all kinds of food, and collagen is no exception. In fact, collagen probably is one of the more dangerous sources of glyphosate exposure, because the pesticides in a cow’s feed are known to accumulate in the parts of the cow that become your collagen powder. There are 2.2 micrograms of glyphosate in 20 grams of factory farmed collagen (Calculations from data in this study). That’s why we needed to find pesticide free collagen!
The lab results
The first collagen powder we’ll look at is Puori brand. This collagen has no lead or other heavy metals, as well as being free of glyphosate. It also has no BPA in it (a nasty plastic-manufacturing chemical that damages your hormones). You can enjoy collagen’s well known effects on skin, joints, hair, and health without the slightest worry of getting poisoned by pesticide, mercury, or other nasty chemicals.
Puori is certified by the Clean Label Project, and transparent with their excellent lab results.
Lab Results
No glyphosate, atrazine, or other pesticides detected. (Tested for 200+ pesticides, as listed here)
No heavy metals detected (lead, arsenic, mercury, cadmium)
No BPA or BPS detected
All these lab results can be seen here at the independent Clean Label Project, updated frequently.
No collagen powder was as good as Puori in our opinion. This brand is really admirable for insisting on ZERO contamination by any unnatural, weird chemical or harmful heavy metal. But there are some other collagen brands that were very, very good too! (By the way, none of these collagen products have any additive ingredients in them.)
Perfection? Almost!
The next contender was the collagen from Perfect Supplements. This collagen is also free of glyphosate and very nearly free from heavy metals. You can get great results for your skin, digestion, and health with this collagen powder, with barely any exposure to the nasty stuff. We are big fans of Perfect Supplements for openly and truthfully sharing their great lab results.
No phtalates detected. Tested by another website here.
On to the next product
Another good collagen powder is available from Great Lakes. It is almost as good as the brand above, but testing found just a little bit more arsenic. It’s still far better than the typical collagen product and you can definitely use this collagen powder with an easy mind. Most importantly, Great Lakes collagen has no glyphosate in it.
No lead, cadmium, or mercury. 0.6 micrograms of arsenic, a fairly minor amount. (source of the data)
Another great collagen product
Sports Research makes the final collagen powder on our list. We want to make it clear that this is a very good product too! The Sports Research collagen powder has no glyphosate, no additives, and only a trace amount of heavy metals. It’s much better than most of the other products out there.
No mercury or cadmium, but 0.5 micrograms arsenic, and 0.12 micrograms lead. (source) Again, these are pretty minor compared to the competition.
Other ways to avoid pesticides
Making sure you get collagen without pesticides in it isn’t the only thing you can do to minimize pesticide exposure. We believe that it’s also just about essential to have a good water filter that removes pesticides. You don’t want to be drinking glyphosate water! You should also make sure to eat organic, pesticide-free food whenever you can. If you are tight on funds and can only eat organic in certain areas, make it grains, legumes, rice, and similar foods. These are often the most contaminated with glyphosate. More info on which foods are tested to be glyphosate free can be found in this excellent report.
Your protein powder could be making your acne problem worse. There are a few simple solutions for protein acne that don’t involve throwing out all your protein powder or starting horrible acne treatments like accutane. Below we have listed several brands that we thought were pretty good, and compared them on qualities relevant for acne-prone skin. Get the brand with the least additives and contaminants that fits your diet constraints. For more detailed information, continue reading after the chart.
Our recommendations are on the principle that eating no toxins will mean no acne. Some people also think that food sensitivities are to blame, and you should eat pea protein and not whey if you have acne prone skin.
The Problem
We think that the biggest reason people get acne from their protein powder is this: Major protein companies are using shockingly low quality ingredients in their factories. Unfortunately, over the last few years it’s becoming clear that many manufacturers are in the business of cutting costs by slashing the purity of their ingredients. This not only affects the amount of actual protein in the powder (that’s right, it’s very possible that you are getting cheated out of protein. Check this list of powders to see if you’re wasting money on counterfeit protein) but this unethical behavior also affects your health in general, and that includes skin health too. If you’re putting something in your body, it should be as pure and close to nature as possible, not some lead-filled sludge! The more natural a product, the less impurities and chemicals it contains. Unnatural ingredients like this probably increase your acne.
You are going to pay more for a premium product, but it’s probably worth it. When it comes to your health, get the best. Just browse around for protein powders and see what you can find. Two good things to search for are “GMO-free” and “grass-fed” and you’ll often find a pure, natural product.
Whey Too Much Lactose
Ingesting impure, unnatural ingredients isn’t the only culprit for those with acne-prone skin though. A pretty large number of people find themselves still suffering with acne, even when they cut out all the low quality, unhealthy, factory processed food from their lives. For these people, it could be that whey protein itself is causing their acne. There’s two big reasons for this, according to a popular theory online. Number one: Whey is a dairy product, and dairy is a big no-no for a lot of people with acne due to the lactose content. Some people can digest lactose perfectly well, other people really can’t, and this inability to fully digest the lactose shows up as acne. The other reason that acne prone people should avoid whey protein, according to advice on the internet, is related to hormones, IGF-1 in particular. In addition to containing lactose, whey is also well-known for increasing IGF-1 production in your body. IGF-1 is a naturally occurring hormone, a form of insulin which causes muscle growth among other things. This could be why whey is so good for bodybuilding and strength training. Unfortunately, this is also claimed to be the downside to whey for victims of acne. Recent studies have found that the IGF-1 which whey protein increases is also linked to acne. (See below) This negative of IGF-1 doesn’t bite everyone, but if you’re one of the unlucky ones, then watch out! For still unknown reasons, it appears that women are more likely to suffer from this annoying effect of IGF-1.
You don’t have to live with acne to get strong.
If the lactose content in whey protein is causing your acne, you don’t actually have to stop taking whey protein. All you need to do is use whey isolate instead of whey concentrate. These are both types of whey protein, but whey isolate has no lactose in it. Whey concentrate, the more common (and cheaper) form of whey protein, is chock-full of lactose. Whey isolate protein powder can be harder to find in stores, but it’s pretty easy to find online.
You’ve Got Options
Unfortunately, for some people, whey isolate just isn’t enough. If you find that you are one of these people and whey itself is causing your acne, then you could try a different sort of protein. Fortunately, there are actually a ton of different sources used to make protein powder. Whey protein powder is by far the most popular, but this is only because it’s cheapest to produce. There are plenty of other types of protein powder that work just as well as whey. For acne though, we recommend you avoid any protein powder made with corn, wheat, or gluten. Just check the ingredients list for these three. Even if you don’t have a definite problem with these ingredients, it’s better to stay on the safe side here. A lot of people find that their immune systems can’t handle these common allergens very well. It sounds silly, but it could happen!
Bro, This Shake is Egg-cellent
Egg protein is frequently recommended as an alternative to whey protein. It’s your best bet if you are very sensitive and break out easily, but still want an animal protein source. While it’s not unheard of to have an egg allergy (which could manifest as acne), it’s a lot more common to be allergic to whey. We think that you could experiment with your protein powder. You could keep going down the line, choosing more and more hypoallergenic protein sources. Each time you change to a different protein powder, use it for a few weeks and see if effects your acne.
Hormones and Acne
It would be best to avoid soy protein if you get acne, since the phytoestrogen content of this protein source could potentially alter your natural hormone levels. Unstable, spiking hormones wreak havoc on those of us who get acne, as any teenager can tell you! However, if you still have your heart set on soy protein, you should choose soy isolate to minimize the potential damage to your skin. Soy isolate has the least phytoestrogen content of all soy proteins. You should know that there are a lot of other plant-based protein options available these days however.
Planting Your Flag Against Acne
If you still find yourself having acne trouble from protein powder, even after eliminating whey, soy, gluten, corn, wheat, and egg, then you could select a plant-based protein source such as pea protein, hemp protein, or rice protein. According to people’s accounts, it is rare to have any sort of allergic reaction, including acne, from these protein powders. Just make sure to avoid soy.
Of all these powders, the one most often recommended by severely acne-prone people is pea protein powder. Pea protein is virtually guaranteed to not give you acne, since it is almost completely hypoallergenic. This is why most people with bad protein related acne typically recommend pea protein powder as the best to avoid breakouts. However, one thing is very important. Many, if not most pea protein powders could be badly contaminated with lead and pesticides. (Source: The Detox Project) That’s why you have to get pea protein that’s certified to be free of these toxins if you want to keep your health up and avoid acne.
Clear Skin and a High Protein Diet – Yes It IS Possible!
Finding a protein powder that won’t cause you to get acne can be a seriously frustrating issue to face, especially if you are a teenager or someone just getting into fitness, but it really doesn’t have to be. All you need to do is avoid all unnatural additives and contaminants, identify the true source of your protein acne, and then choose a type of protein powder that doesn’t contain your banned ingredient! We hope that this guide will help you do just that. Keep in mind as well that you are not alone here. Getting acne from protein powder is actually quite a common problem in the last few years. There are quite a few manufacturers out there producing lower quality protein with impure ingredients and for those of us prone to acne, this can spell disaster for our sensitive immune systems. You may have to spend a little more than you did in the past to get a high quality product for yourself, but we think you’ll agree that it’s worth it. Clear skin and a healthy body always are!
Health and beauty.
For more information about the link between IGF-1 and acne, take a look at this study.
The wrong protein powder and a sensitive stomach just don’t mix. If you’re on a high protein diet but suffer from stomach problems after consuming protein, you’ll need to switch to a protein source your body handles well. That probably means no more whey protein. The best protein powders for sensitive stomachs are dairy-free, gluten-free, additive-free, and use only high quality, pure ingredients. The following protein powders meet all of these requirements. Below the list, we’ve provided detailed information about each category. We also dive into the science behind protein digestion and include some tips for improving your ability to digest protein – that means less bloating and gas, and more nutrients being used by your body.
Sacha inchi seed (HIgh in PUFA fat though. And due to being an unusual seed, sensitive stomachs may struggle?)
None
Yes
How lactose-intolerant people can prevent gas from protein shakes
Let’s look at the main reasons people have stomach distress from protein powder. One of the most common causes is lactose intolerance. Whey protein, the most popular form of protein powder, is a dairy product and therefore it contains large amounts of lactose. Unfortunately, many people (actually the majority of the earth’s population) just cannot digest lactose very well. Lactose intolerant people get symptoms such as bloating, cramping, gas, and nausea after consuming lactose. Sound familiar? Some individuals even get acne from lactose. Even if you can handle small amounts of lactose, chances are you will not do very well with big doses of it every day, like you’re getting from your protein shake.
Peas are actually a great dairy and wheat-free protein source!
Whey protein allergy symptoms
Even if you aren’t lactose intolerant, you may be suffering from a whey allergy. Some people have such a bad allergic reaction to whey that they actually get a rash. Your allergy may not be this bad, but if your stomach feels upset after a whey protein shake, you should consider the possibility you’re allergic to whey. Here are some common symptoms of a whey protein allergy:
Bloating and gas within an hour of consuming whey
Stomachache and even diarrhea after consuming whey
Stuffed up nose (in conjunction with the other symptoms)
Excessive mucous in the throat after consuming whey
Sometimes coughing and sneezing will occur if the reaction passes to the lungs
Skin rash, for some people.
Gluten-free protein powder
People with gluten allergies have to avoid protein powders with wheat ingredients, which most cheap protein powders contain. You may not realize that you are gluten-sensitive, but it could be the cause of your upset stomach from protein powder.
Stomachache and bloating after consuming gluten
Diarrhea or constipation
For some people, headaches and brain fog can also occur
Sometimes a skin rash as well
High quality protein powders made from pure ingredients only will typically be gluten-free. Cheaper brands often use filler ingredients, and often contain some amount of wheat – and therefore gluten.
Pure, natural, and additive-free: These are the keys
If you aren’t lactose or gluten-intolerant but still have trouble digesting protein powder, you’re probably allergic to the highly-processed filler ingredients that are typically mixed into cheap protein powders. Unethical companies “spike” their protein powders with low quality, factory ingredients designed to trick lab tests to show a higher percentage of protein than the powder really contains. (You can read more detailed information about this at Jim Stoppani’s site here and you can see the results of a detailed lab test for protein spiking here.) Since your body isn’t really designed to digest these artificial ingredients, some of the protein powder goes undigested in your body, which causes gas, bloating, or worse. You can avoid this by using pure protein powders with no added ingredients besides the protein source.
Artificial flavoring and digestive problems
One of the biggest culprits for sensitive stomachs are artificial flavors composed of sugar alcohols. Sugar alcohols are a type of chemical used as an artificial sweetener in many protein powders. They actually contain neither sugar nor alcohol, contrary to what you would expect. Nonetheless, they are not very good for you, and some people have a very bad reaction to them taking the form of stomach pain and nausea. Sugar alcohols are considered more healthy than regular sugar since they do not fully digest and therefore do not increase your blood sugar as high as sugar does. Unfortunately, this also means that they can cause great digestive distress since they are not fully absorbed by the small intestine and cannot be completely removed by the body without a lot of trouble. Your best bet is to just buy unsweetened protein powder and add something natural to it like cocoa for the taste.
Hypoallergenic protein powders are free from all ingredients that can cause allergic reactions, which is why we always recommend them to anyone with digestive symptoms after drinking protein supplements. Generally, the purer and higher quality the protein source, the better for those of us with gastrointestinal issues.
Probiotics: Essential for digestion
If you are confident that your stomach problems with protein powder aren’t stemming from a food allergy or intolerance, then it’s possible that you are suffering from IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome). One idea for managing your IBS and still getting an adequate protein intake is to consume probiotics alongside the protein. There are colonies of beneficial bacteria in your gut, which are essential for digesting protein properly. Scientific studies have found that IBS sufferers have less of these beneficial bacteria than a healthy person. (Source: Probiotic Therapy for Irritable Bowel Syndrome.) Probiotics are a source of these beneficial bacteria – adding them to your protein powder can be just the ticket for smoother, pain-free digestion. Although you can buy probiotic supplements, by far the best source of probiotics is unpasteurized sauerkraut or kimchi.
Digest the best, discard the rest
For some people, large doses of protein are simply too much to digest properly. In order to fully digest protein, your body creates stomach acid, primarily out of hydrochloric acid. There needs to be enough of this stomach acid in order to use a digestive enzyme called Pepsin. Pepsin is what your digestive system uses to turn the complex chemical structure of protein into simple building blocks that can be fully absorbed by your body. You can use the Heidelberg Test to diagnose if this digestion process is working properly. If you are having issues you could try adding probiotics to your food as mentioned earlier. You could also try a protein powder with digestive enzymes included, which gives the stomach the necessary ability to digest the amino acids in the protein.
Combining foods for better digestion
Combining your protein powder with a whole food source can also help you digest it better. Foods high in fat tend to digest slower, making them the best choice if you go this route. Some people like to add peanut butter to protein powder, for example.
Mix it up!
Finally, if you are mixing your protein powder with milk, the source of your stomach issues might not be the protein powder at all. It might actually be the lactose content of the milk that you are reacting to, especially if you are lactose-intolerant. Try goat’s milk instead; it contains a significantly lower amount of lactose than cow milk. Strange as it sounds, lots of people have been finding that replacing cow milk with goat’s milk actually helps their digestion a lot!
Every day, millions of people pack gyms all across the world trying to build up their bodies. Depressingly, most of them look exactly the same year after year, completely failing to build any muscle despite thousands of wasted hours. Does this mean that building muscle is a mysterious process, only possible for a few rare genetic freaks? Not at all! Gaining muscle is simple, as long as you follow a few simple rules.
Before you can understand the first rule of muscle, you need to know a few things about the muscles themselves. All your muscles are made up of thousands of long fibers that contract to move your body. These fibers are slightly torn when you lift heavy weights. Your body doesn’t like having weakened, torn muscles, so it immediately goes to work rebuilding these fibers to be capable of handling that weight without being torn again. The result is a slightly bigger and stronger muscle. What most gym-goers don’t realize is that the cycle of tearing and rebuilding can be performed over and over again, until your muscles are as big as they can get.
After the muscle has rebuilt itself, the weight you lifted in your first workout will no longer overload the fibers. To continue making muscle gains, you must use slightly more weight in your next workout. If you keep using the same amount of weight, your muscles will have no reason to grow. You should progressively increase the overload to your muscle fibers every time you work out. While other forms of exercise, such as calisthenics or running, can also cause muscle fibers to tear, lifting weights is the most efficient way to constantly increase muscular overload. You can always add another 5 pounds of weight in your next workout and cause the growth process to occur again; it’s less simple with other forms of exercise.
For the rebuilding process to occur, the body must have the nutrients it needs to make new muscle fibers. For body tissue to grow, it needs more food to provide energy, so you need to eat significantly more than you are used to. Because muscles are primarily made up of protein, most of this extra food should be high in protein, such as meat, milk, or peanut butter. If you tear your muscle fibers with heavy weights and then fail to give your body the nutrition it needs, you will start to lose the muscle you already have.
Most muscle regeneration occurs during sleep. If you don’t get enough sleep, you will have less muscle growth. When you start lifting heavier weights, you will probably find you need more sleep. This is your body telling you it needs time to build the muscles you want.
There are three rules for building muscle. First, progressively increase muscle fiber overload by lifting slightly more weight in every workout. Second, eat much more than you are eating right now, preferably healthy, high-protein food for best results. Finally, get enough sleep to give your body time to build muscle. As long as your workout program and diet respect the three rules, you will build muscle.
Squeeze the bar as hard as you can from the moment you unrack the bar until you finish the lift. This causes all your muscles to contract harder through the irradiation principle.
Powerlifters advise squeezing your shoulder blades together. This shortens the range of motion allowing you to lift more. They say it’s safer for your shoulders, but others say the opposite. Some people also believe it increases the activation of the pecs.
Take a big breath of air into your chest before you unrack the bar. This will keep you stable on the bench.
Make sure the bar is at the base of your hand, right above your wrist. If the bar is high up in your hand, you will lose strength. Don’t let your hand flop backwards and never use a thumbless grip. It’s dangerous and you won’t lift as much.
Twist your hands against the bar like you’re trying to snap it in half. Your hands won’t actually move, but this will still cause stabilizing muscles in your shoulders to contract, giving your more strength.
Do more warmup sets, but don’t do as many reps in the sets. A good warmup should never fatigue you; it should amp you up to lift big weights! For example, if your max bench is 275, a good warmup would look like this: 45 x 10, 95 x 10, 135 x 6, 165 x 3, 195 x 3, 225 x 2, 245 x 1, 265 x 1, 285 x 1 (10 lb more than your max!)
Squeeze your abs and glutes while you lift, this allows force to transfer through your body better.
Dig your feet into the floor and drive with them like you’re doing a leg extension against the floor. Believe it or not, this can add quite a bit to your bench press.
Imagine that your are pushing yourself down into the bench, instead of pushing the bar up off your chest. This tricks your brain and often makes the bench press feel way stronger.
Lower the bar down to your nipples or slightly below. Lowering the bar high up on your chest is bad for your shoulders and is much weaker.
This is a regular pushup except you push yourself up so explosively that your hands actually leave the ground at the end of the rep. You should get more powerful every set.
You are now ready to bench with maximum performance.
Close Grip Bench Press – Sets of 5 reps, starting with 45 and adding 20 lb each set, until you get to a weight where you can’t get all 5 reps, even when you strain as hard as possible. Make sure you have a spotter!
Grab the bar with your hands just touching the smooth center portion of the bar. Lower the bar all the way down to your chest. This exercise will help you with your weak point at the top of the bench press.
Flat Dumbbell Press – 4 sets of 6-10 reps, Pick a weight where you can just barely get all 10 reps. Try your hardest to get at least 8 reps every set.
Dumbbell Tate Press – 4 sets of 8-12 reps, Pick a weight where you can just barely get all 12 reps. Try your hardest to get at least 10 reps every set.
This exercise is going to help you especially, so focus hard on it!
Dumbbell Front Raise – 4 sets of 10-15 reps, Pick a weight where you can just barely get all 15 reps. Try your hardest to get at least 12 reps every set.
Thursday
Speed Bench Press – After warming up, do 8 sets of 3 reps starting with 45. Add 5-10 lb each set.
Lift as FAST as you can, but only if you can use perfect technique. This is not a time to get sloppy, in fact you should use this time to practice great bench technique! Remember, FAST and perfect.
Dumbbell Row – 4 sets of 6-10 reps, Pick a weight where you can just barely get all 10 reps. Try your hardest to get at least 8 reps every set.
Lat Pulldown – 4 sets of 8-12 reps, Pick a weight where you can just barely get all 12 reps. Try your hardest to get at least 10 reps every set.
Hammer Curl – 4 sets of 10-15 reps, Pick a weight where you can just barely get all 15 reps. Try your hardest to get at least 12 reps every set.
This exercise is actually key to getting a big bench, especially for people like you who have trouble locking out their bench press reps. Hammer curls train the brachialis muscle in addition to the biceps, this often over-looked muscle is key to driving force through the elbow joint into the bar.
Face pull – 4 sets of 20 reps, Pick a fairly light weight and pump out the reps. This is critical for keeping your shoulders in balance. We’re putting a lot of stress on our shoulders with the bench press, so it’s important to keep the shoulders strong and injury-free. A healthy, balanced shoulder is a strong shoulder, so don’t skip the face pulls!
Note: This workout is for intermediate lifters who have maxed out their beginner gains from a basic linear progression program. Beginners would get better results from a program such as Starting Strength or the Greyskull Linear Progression.
If you’re on the lookout for something new to throw in your workout to kickstart weight loss, look no further than strongman. Strongman training is fun and extremely effective. You can do it practically anywhere and get great results in a surprisingly short period of time. Strongman is exceptionally good for fat loss for a whole bunch of different reasons. In this article, I’ll explain why Strongman works so well and then give you some brutal and effective strongman routines that you can try for yourself either at the gym or at home.
Strongman is Perfect for Fat Loss
Strongman training is made up of intense, heavy interval training. Believe it or not, anaerobic training like this is actually better for burning fat than aerobic endurance training because it forces the body to burn fat as fuel instead of muscle. Anaerobic training also releases growth hormone (HGH) which is a huge part of the body’s fat storage system. Aerobic training, in contrast, burns through the carbohydrates in your bloodstream and then immediately starts eating into your muscle. Aerobic training increases production of cortisol, a stress hormone that leads to fast muscle loss.
Anaerobic interval training works so much better than aerobic training because it forces the metabolism to adapt—in order to sustain the level of intensity needed, your body must burn fat. It also keeps the metabolism raging for 24 hours or more after your workout, which has been shown to have a dramatic effect on fat loss, especially from the belly region. (See Is Aerobic or Anaerobic Training Best for Getting Rid of Belly Fat? by Charles Poliquin)
This means that strongman trainers are burning more fat during their workouts and they actually continue to burn fat for over 24 hours after their workouts are finished! Strongman training increases Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) meaning that you keep on burning fat long after your workout is finished. A 2006 study showed that anaerobic workouts like strongman training produce higher EPOC values than long distance aerobic training because the muscles are forced by the intensity of the effort needed to restore nutrients expended by the cells; in other words they used a ton of energy. This is terrific for fat loss since it means your metabolism is getting jacked up like crazy. Lose fat while eating more, who doesn’t want that!
Another aspect of strongman training that accelerates fat loss is the use of uneven and oddly shaped objects. Typical strongman equipment like sleds, ropes, stones, sand bags, not only makes training exciting, but also makes it harder for you develop a perfectly efficient technique while you lift. While great technical efficiency is great for performance, a less efficient athlete is actually working much harder than an efficient one. This is bad for competition, but terrific for fat loss because of all the calories being burned by this inefficient movement. Efficiency is developed when your Central Nervous System “learns” which muscles should be activated and which ones should be relaxed for the best coordination of effort. However, when the balance point of the odd object you’re lifting is constantly moving around, your nervous system can never quite figure out how to adapt. The efficiency process becomes much harder and you will have to use every muscle in your body just to hold onto the weight. The more muscles you use, the more energy is expended and the more energy expended, the greater the fat loss results.
Get Motivated, Stay Motivated
One of the biggest challenges for fat loss is the motivation required. Strongman trainers are constantly motivated for their workouts because of the challenge and uniqueness of the movements. Every week they train something new and exciting. Not only does this sort of training increase your lean muscle mass, it also develops real-world strength and even helps improve poor posture and joint instability. Strongman training definitely improves mental toughness, as anyone can tell you who has done a heavy sled workout, flipped a tire for high reps, or loaded heavy atlas stones.
No matter what workout you do, it won’t work unless your diet is on target. If you eat junk all the time, you won’t lose fat. In our opinion, the two most important dietary elements to lose fat are:
Calorie Deficit
Avoiding seed oils in junk food
Calorie deficit is easy. Just setup a diet where you are eating something like 500 calories less than you would need to maintain your weight. You can use this helpful calculator for that.
Avoiding seed oils is very important. Seed oils are the junk processed vegetable oils that most low quality food is made with, like soybean oil, canola oil, and peanut oil. These will slow your metabolism and promote obesity. This is too big a topic to go into here, but you can read a full guide to avoiding seed oils and eating natural fat sources instead here.
If you eat clean foods instead of seed oil containing greasy junk, and you keep your calories to where they should be, you will definitely lose fat. The strongman workouts will just be the cherry on top! Good Luck!
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