Unique Sphinx Press to isolate and develop the tricep muscles for maximal strength and size. This is an advanced exercise and not recommended for beginners or people with elbow problems.

In this video, we are questioning several main dogmas of the fitness industry.

The first one is obviously the one that you should always have a flat back. Of course, a flat back will provide more support and safety in many exercises but the reality is that your back can be both arched or rounded and still provide a lot of stability.

In this case it's just a question of strength, stability and mindfulness. The average person has no idea what is happening in his back or body in general so any deviation from the standard form can be damaging.

Once you understand the mechanics and fundamentals of movement, a lot of the "rules" and dogmas can be broken and the body can be expressed in almost any way possible.

The most important things is understanding the body well and having kinesthetic awareness in every movement and position you do. Athlete 20XX and Movement 20XX Methods teach a lot of this.

The second thing is having the mastery of the basics - as long as the body is properly trained and there is enough preparation, the body can handle the task at hand. The important thing here is again having the mindfulness to know where your limits are.

The second dogma that is questioned in this video is the fact that you need external resistance to make an exercise harder.

This is simply not true and will often simplify and make your movement and body awareness worse. The typical gym goer is constantly adding weight to boost his or her ego thinking the weight is automatically going to make you stronger and bigger.

In some aspects this is true but this approach also comes with a lot of limitations and negatives.

The first problem is that you are causing wear and tear in your joints and tendons which will accumulate over the years. You might be OK for the first 6-24 months but eventually things start to break.

Once things break, they can take a long time to fix and this will have negative consequences in your mental space and physical progress.

Another problem with primarily adding weight to make the exercise harder is that this will make the exercise produce more simplistic results. You are actually training the body worse - your body mechanics and form are not refined (and can't be refined).

With heavy weights or external resistance, you are solely focusing on moving the body from the beginning to the end without realizing everything that matters is what happens between these two points.

It's likely you are not utilizing the proper rhythm or internal cadence because the resistance is ultimately determining all these things for you (and not in a good way). 

You have no idea of what is the time under tension of your sets or how well you are stabilizing the rest of your body and joints to properly stimulate the targeted muscles. Do you even feel the right muscles working?

In simplistic terms, you are not training the body as thoroughly, intensively and with the same amount of depth as you would with lighter resistance and a better understanding of your body.

The truth be told, in Athlete 20XX Method or our training in general, we are not actually using "heavy" or "light" weights at all. Because neither one does ultimately matter. 

We are using the "right" weight or resistance in all exercises - the weight and level of resistance that allows us to stimulate the muscles in the best possible way. 

We ultimately don't care about the weight. We don't care about the repetitions. Heck, we don't even care about the number of sets. What we care about is the stimulus that we can provide to the muscles to produce the results that we are seeking (intention).

By understanding the body and by mastering the basics, you can produce the results you want because you understand the parameters and variables that produce the specific kinds of results.

For example, how do you build muscle? You increase time under tension and improve your mind-muscle connection. This always means less resistance, not more. 

Yet, what is the typical gym goer doing? Their goal is to build muscle yet every tool and method they use is counter productive for this goal. 

In the end, the problem is the lack of understanding. 

Everyone knows how to lift. Everyone knows how to throw a punch. But do you really know how to lift? Do you really know how to fight?

Stay strong.

PS. The 10 Commandments has been reopened and is now available for FREE. We felt this information should be available for everyone. Enjoy.