 Question is from jm55987, is a robot or what? Long-time long-time listener. What are some of the best supplemental exercises for increasing the big four lifts? Okay, so the big four lifts are squats bench press overhead press and deadlift and the reason why they're called the big four is Because those four exercises in terms of just bang for your buck results are the best muscle strength Stability functional performance all that stuff. They're just some of the best exercises So you should be doing them and you should be getting good at them And so a lot of people are interested in getting stronger and better at those four lifts because they're just so Effective I'm gonna start with the squat and then I think we can go around with all the different exercises But for me one of the single best exercises I ever did that gave me positive effects on my barbell squats Or box squats weighted box squats. I remember the first time I did them I think it added something like 30 pounds to my barbell squat So a barbell a box squat basically is like a barbell squat But you have a bench or a box behind you and you slowly lower sit down on the box Don't totally sit back and relax But you do sit on it keep everything tight pause for a second or two and then stand back up that made a huge Difference I'm glad I'm glad you went this stretch because I'm gonna go a different direction Nothing made a bigger difference for me than a Bulgarian split squat Bulgarian split squat Man, I watched not only my strength go up, but then also my stability at the bottom of the squat that was Game changer for me and I and honestly I avoided it for a really long time because Bulgarian split squats were hard for me They were hard. I did a ego crush. Yeah, it was it was it was I was Embarrassed because I remember I doing them inside of a public gym and having a chick right next to me Yeah, using heavy work needs to destroy me on. Yes. Yeah, I was so weak in that area and shame on me, right? I should know better. It's what we talk about on the show and That so I decided okay I'm gonna really put some energy and effort towards getting good at my Bulgarian split squat and holy shit man Not only did I see massive straight gains in that when I got up to the point where I was holding on to 80-pound dumbbells and doing that boy. Did I see huge strength and stability carries over carryovers into my squat? Yeah And I was gonna say that too. So now I'm trying to rack my brain anything else. Oh, you don't have to change bro I think those two are what yeah I mean that was the the most powerful one in terms of like an accessory exercise besides if I go the mobility route So I mean for me it was really like working on my foot strength and my ankles And so yeah, I was thinking like a toe squat or something like that was really helpful for me now for deadlifts one of the things that got me Stronger like measurably with my deadlifts I'll give you two because one of them is actually one of the exercises that we're talking about When my squat would go up my deadlift would go up So squats actually contribute to a better deadlift quite a bit But because that's one of the exercises in the big four I'll give you something else that I used to do The first time I used bands or chains with my deadlifts I noticed huge gains in the weights that I could deadlift with and the first time I used it was later in life This was not something that was popular When I first started working out nobody did that except for elite power lifters Olympic lifters And so the first time I did it I attached bands to the barbell Anchored them with something on the floor either the cage or something else Did my deadlifts of course bands increase resistance as they stretch out so the weight is heavier where I'm stronger lighter where I'm weaker and I mean it was like overnight like I did that and the next time I deadlifted broke through a plateau Yeah, I had a similar experience but with like a deficit deadlift So I just stacked just started with this like a plate So not very high just maybe an inch or two and then kind of worked my way up to like a small box But really like my sticking point was you know like very much from from the get-go And so like that really helped me to get even further You know down and deep and really grind my way up and gain access to that strength there at the bottom So we just recently did an episode where we answered a question related to This exercise and said that we don't think it belongs in the you know top four or five Exercises as far as the overall functional or best movements But here's a place where I I think it has tremendous value and that's the hip thrust I I think getting really good at a hip thrust and really strong at a hip thrust You'll see some tremendous carryover especially into the deadlift Because a lot of times where that's where people struggle With increasing their deadlift is to get the glutes activated for me Which is the biggest strongest part of your lower body So getting it to fire properly right out the gate is Will help you rip that bar up off the ground So there here's a place where I see tremendous value in the hip thrust now for bench press For a long time a bench press when I was growing up. It's not like this any It's not as much like this anymore, but gosh For the first 15 years of my lifting career bench press was the measure of strength It was like, you know the question guys would ask each other when they found out they worked out was how much do you bet you bitch And because you're a guy and you want to you know be strong and you want to be cool And so you're just like I want to get a better bench became the most important exercise I was obsessed with it. Oh, yeah, it's the most important exercise So I got super obsessed with the bench press with the barbell bench press which meant I neglected dumbbell Chest press neglected them for a long time because who care nobody asked you how much you could dumbbell chest press Nobody cares then, you know one day I Decided I was just gonna get good at dumbbell chest presses I don't remember why I think I watched a movie where somebody was using dumbbell chest press They looked really developed so I'm just gonna do that for a while went back to the barbell and I was stronger I had a huge carryover and it's a very similar movement But because it's dumbbells the range of motion is a little different the stability is a little different Huge carryover to the bench press. So if you want more of a bench get good at your dumbbell chest press I would actually say for me it was dips and really like Deep dips so if I if I could get down to where I could Get a little bit past like, you know 90 degrees like neutral sort of range there and really open it up So I got my chest to stretch at its its fullest and then you know Yeah, I would even stop at the bottom for a couple seconds and then, you know Try to regain access and then you know dig my way out of that You know that really helped with with, you know, like lifting heavy weights and in and getting that lockout stronger for sure I'm gonna piggyback off of what Sal said Dumbbells for I used to go back and forth like I'd run, you know a block a training block of four or six weeks of All barbell stuff for a while then I'd switch to dumbbell and always I saw great results kind of doing that all the time One thing I'll add to that was Incline dumbbell press did did a lot for my flat bench Yeah, and I think a lot of that is just because I'm Probably like a lot of people who neglect incline press because we're not good at it And you know when you look at all the research around building and developing your chest flat bench, you know wins It when you look at it So you go why waste my time doing so much incline bench when I get the biggest bang for my buck by doing flat bench But the reality of it is the the novelty piece, right? I'm and I'm neglecting that the upper portion of my chest So when I decided to start really focusing on incline presses in general both barbell and dumbbell The carryover that it had to the development of my chest the strength of my chest was tremendous So, you know and piggybacking off what Sal said with the dumbbells Yeah, I would say that and then it makes sure you include a lot of incline press in there A good goal like a goal that I gave myself that when I really noticed the difference was can I catch my incline press up to my flat bench and when I was getting up to those numbers and rivaling what I was doing on flat bench was when I was feeling really strong now the last exercise is the overhead press and For me for the overhead press something that I noticed and this was later on this was Relatively recently I'd say over the last maybe five or six years overhead heavy overhead carries Just carrying you know doing a like almost like a farmer's walk, but I'm not holding dumbbells at my sides or kettlebells at my side I'm holding them straight up above my head Keeping everything straight tense and strong and then walking for 30 yards or 40 yards Wow, what a difference that that gave me on my overhead press that lock out that power That I could generate in the stability that I got from that was was crazy. Yeah, I think for me and I've been a big advocate of Rotational strength and the reason being is I mean I hit points where I was bench pressing overhead Pressing to to where I was like getting good numbers But then I would always hit this wall and then I would It would start to decline and I would either like get some kind of twinge you get some kind of like, you know minor injury And then try and ramp myself back up again But I was doing no rotational work at all and once I started to just even do mobility drills with rotation But then start to load that and so I found ways to do that with a mace bell or with Indian club or even You know doing rotational work, you know with cables or you know the landmine or things like that have made a massive Impact on the stability of my shoulder, which then you know totally translated to me pressing weight over my head It just felt more secure and like I had it Z-Press Z-Press it was a game changer. You haven't said Z-Press in a while. It's been a while We had a ticker going yeah, it's I mean it was you know, you know, why one you talk about Moments in our career and like you Sal. This was later for me. I have only been like the last five years Yeah, I've only been doing the Z-Press for about five years and you know what and to me like to for me to add something into my routine or my repertoire of Exercises that makes a significant impact enough that I can feel or notice a difference That's a big fucking deal for as long as we've been lifting. Oh, yeah, that's a big deal and Z-Press was one of those things and it's kind of similar because of what the thing that you notice with the overhead carries I think that's just the Requirement of strength and stability that you need in order to do that very similar to the Z-Press like when you I can't Cheat it through the legs at all or even the low back because I'll tip over And so it really forces me one to take the shoulder through full range of motion by dropping it all the way down To my chest and then fully locking out and then being able to stabilize at the top or else I'll tip over So building up my strength on the Z-Press really carried over into My overhead press where I have a little bit more leverage. I can use a little more English So getting good at the Z-Press made a tremendous difference on my overhead press