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Here’s what we have for you today:

• The hidden joy of rack pulls

• 12-step process to a bigger chest

• The best CrossFit comeback stories

Exercises

Rack ‘em Up

There are plenty of ways to deadlift — conventionally, with a sumo stance, using a trap bar, with a snatch grip, standing on a weight plate, or even using a thick bar. Depending on your goals, some or all of these variations can have a place in your workout split. Regardless of your sport, if you want to get your body and mind ready to lift extremely heavy, the rack pull is a deadlift variation that you might want to put into your program.

Using a limited range of motion has always been popular for working on weak points in a lift, but the rack pull shines even more in its capacity to put tension on your upper back. Far from just being a useful accessory, the rack pull may exceed its full ROM cousins when it comes to creating raw strength. Uncover the secret to a bigger back by using this under-appreciated pull.

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Quick Hits

🎥 Preview This: Actor Jonathan Majors is moving on from the MCU and heading to the bodybuilding stage in the trailer for his latest movie, Magazine Dreams. Check it out.

📺 Peep This: Former WWE wrestler Eric Bugenhagen shows off his cartoonish strength by single-leg squatting eight (eight!) plates.

💴 Buy This: Coop, over at Garage Gym Reviews, decided to build an entire, bodybuild-focused, budget-friendly gym from equipment he found on Amazon. Watch the breakdown here, and see how you can adapt his strategy for your own iron paradise.

📕 Read This: Do you actually need a deload week? We break the whole thing down and highlight all the benefits you might be missing out on.

Gains

Pectacular

An impressive, full chest has been at the forefront of most lifters' minds ever since they got their first glimpse of Arnold hitting a side pose. If endless hours of straight bar bench pressing haven’t given you the hood of your dreams, it might be time to check into Pectoralis Anonymous and start this 12-step process to external growth.

Leading the class will be Dr. Mike Israetel, an expert in hypertrophy. You’re probably going to want to reach for a set of dumbbells for most of this rather than your beloved barbell, as Dr. Mike really wants you to focus on getting a deep stretch. He also prescribes more attention being paid to timing, adding in pauses and slow-tempo contractions to really let the muscles of your chest swell up. 

By the end of the workout, you should feel like you inflated the front of your body with an air compressor. The 13th step, not mentioned, is just to be careful you don’t accidentally run into any walls with your new protrusions.

CrossFit

Yes, Call It a Comeback

At the 2025 TYR Wodapalooza in Miami, we witnessed one of the most impressive injury comebacks in CrossFit competition history. 

After sitting out two seasons due to a wrist injury that required multiple surgeries, the UK’s Lucy Campbell, a 2022 CrossFit Games rookie, came out of nowhere to win the women’s division. Not only did she take the top spot, but she did so against a stacked field that included Arielle Loewen, Emily Rolfe, Brooke Wells, Alexis Raptis, and 2023 Games champion Laura Horvath. 

At one point, even coming back to competition at all seemed unlikely for Campbell. After her first operation, her surgeon told her, “There is literally nothing I can do for you.”

What makes Campbell’s comeback even more impressive comes down to three factors:

1. She sat out two full CrossFit Games seasons before coming back and winning one of arguably the top three biggest competitions of the year.

2. Campbell isn’t exactly a veteran in the sport. She only has one CrossFit Games to her name, where she placed 16th overall and had never finished on the podium at any major event before her injury. 

3. She wasn’t even able to perform movements like ring muscle-ups or barbell cleans until very recently, so the fact that she could even be competitive, let alone win, is worth noting.

Campbell’s comeback in Miami last month got us reminiscing about other noteworthy comebacks in CrossFit history. Here are the four we picked.

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