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Welcome to The BarBend Newsletter! Here’s what we’ve got for you today:

• One change for immediate improvement on the deadlift

• The best muscle-growing technique when you pass 40

• Glute development showdown: hip thrusts vs. squats

Lifting Technique

One Giant Step for Humans Deadlifting

Some people prefer to include the deadlift on back day, others on leg day, and a third group opts for pulls on a strongman event day.

Strangely, nobody tends to put their deadlift on “core day.” Odd, because the one thing most people can do to improve their pull is to focus more on static core power, says smart/strong guy Mitchell Hooper.

Hooper, a former World’s Strongest Man champion, is taking a serious dig at breaking fellow strongman Hafthor Björnsson’s deadlift world record this year, and he’s sharing his tips with anyone willing to listen.

As Hooper explains, creating stability in the lift is important whether you’re trying to put a third plate on the bar for the first time or you want to lift over 1,000 pounds. Learn about this elite strongman’s favorite assistance lifts and the other techniques he uses to ensure he maintains a solid core during his lifting.

A Message From Hydrow

The 20-Minute Full Body Workout You've Been Missing

Your day is packed between meetings, shuttling kids, trying to prep clean meals, while hopefully squeezing in quality time with friends and family.

Somewhere in there, you've got 20 minutes.

With Hydrow, that's all you need for a full-body workout. And yes, it's cardio—but it’s also strength training, meditation, and adventure in one sleek machine.

But you're not just on a rower, by yourself, slogging through 500-meter intervals.

Hydrow brings immersive, group workouts into your own home led by Olympians and professional athletes. So you're not in your basement alone - you're rowing on a Scandinavian fjord or knocking out a 10-minute core circuit in County Wicklow, Ireland.

Find out why 90% of Hydrow users are still into it one year later. Save up to $1150 for a limited time and use code "BarBend" for an additional $50 off.

Get rowing 🚣

Muscle Building

And the Beat Goes On After 40

Tackling muscle growth after you pass the arbitrary age of 40 sometimes seems like a futile effort. The fact is, there is no reason you can’t continue to build muscle once you pass over this horizon, but it may help to have access to some new tricks for your old dog self.

Blood flow restriction (BFR) might be the thing that keeps you getting swole enough to stretch out those burgeoning wrinkles.

It’s not a new idea, nor is it exclusive to lifters over 40, but BFR offers significant advantages to the slightly more well-seasoned of us. Battering your body with heavy weights might be less practical than when you were young and supple, but with this technique, you might not need to use those heavier, less joint-friendly loads at all. 

Check it out and see if this method of training is the perfect way to pump you up in your peak earning years.

Exercise Selection

Build-a-Butt Workshop

Ever since big butts came back into fashion (long may their kingdom prosper), glute training has been under a microscope. Entire fitness careers have been made on the back of building up America’s backsides, both for sporting glory and general late-night bar usage.

What are the two most used exercises for developing this intensely popular muscle group? Why, the venerable squat, and always provocative-looking hip thrust, of course. 

Today, BarBend takes time to answer the question: Which of these two exercises is the absolute champion when it comes to growing your glutes?

Even if the squat were to technically lose this toss-up, you should still be squatting for all the other benefits the lift provides you. Funnily enough, one of those upsides is that squatting actually makes your hip thrust even better. A rising tide lifts all ships, and collusion is more powerful than competition, so understand how you can use one, or possibly both, of these great exercises to develop the posterior of a Greek statue.

Sound Off!

Aged Gains

Quick Hits

🏋️ Cross This: The cable crossover looks great featured in a magazine photo shoot or social media video, and it’s also one of the best ways to leave the gym with a pumped-up anterior. Elbow your way to some free real estate on the gym floor and expand your chest’s horizons by introducing it to the cable crossover.

⬇️ Skip This: CrossFit’s woes continued recently with the Last Chance Qualifier turning in some of the lowest registration numbers the group has ever known. Why don’t athletes want a shot at earning a CrossFit Games spot? We asked, they answered.

🛷 Analyse This: Poised to snag former CrossFitters looking for a new competitive outlet, HYROX is facing its own internal drama. In an effort to legitimize the sport, the company made an effort to standardize its equipment by introducing new turf for the recent World Championships. The results were less than stellar.

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