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There's a strong correlation between the ability to perform eyes-closed lunges, body mechanics, motor control, and injury prevention. Eventually you should be capable of doing at least 50% of your bodyweight during eyes-closed lunges. A 200 pound lifter would use 50-pound dumbbells or a 100-pound barbell. These should be done barefooted or while wearing minimalist shoes and pausing at the bottom, 1-3 inches from the floor. – Dr. Joel Seedman

The chest-supported row supports the chest and spine to reduce the postural loading on this region. In traditional exercises like the bentover barbell row, the biggest limiting factor is usually spinal posture and static positional hold, not the muscles hitting failure. When this happens, you won't get a good training effect and your orthopedic health will be put at risk. To take this exercise to the next level, load it heavy and move the dumbbells with constant tension – no pauses or loss of contraction during any of the range of motion. Constant time under tension creates a huge muscular and hormonal response that leads to growth and strength gains. Fight the urge to cheat and stay strict to reap the benefits! – Dr. John Rusin

Add accommodating resistance to curls.The chest pad works as your built-in counterbalance against gravity, so you're forced to stay strict. Get a band and angle it so that it provides maximum resistance at the top of the movement when the bicep is completely shortened. – Paul Carter

Add chains so that the tension remains as your hands rise. Chains also make this move more elbow-friendly. Normally, triceps extensions are hard on the joints. But don't lower the bar to your forehead. When you do there's a tremendous amount of stress placed directly onto the elbow joint. Remember, tension is distributed throughout many areas (ligaments, tendons, bones), not just the muscle. When you lower the bar directly to the forehead, rather than behind the head, the elbows hog a lot of that tension and stress. So correct your form before you do any variation of skull crusher.

When you add chains to skullies, the weight will deload onto the floor during the concentric, which also means less stress on the elbows even when the movement is being performed in a more joint-friendly manner, where there's more shoulder flexion involved. So if you had to drop these due to elbow irritation, then start back up again with this variation in order to avoid that issue. – Paul Carter

All the drills you may do to "fire your glutes" or "wake up your rotator cuff" will not be nearly as effective if you didn't activate the computer – your central nervous system – first. Specific activation makes a muscle (neuromuscular junction) more sensitive to the neural drive. But if your CNS is not efficient at sending the signal you won't get much out of the specific work.So how do you activate the CNS? The first thing to do, after a general warm-up to elevate body temperature, is to use an explosive drill to fire up the CNS. Any type of explosive activity will do. I prefer either a jump variation or prowler sprints. – Christian Thibaudeau

Many athletes are locked into a poor position through their upper back and thorax. The thorax is pushed forward, which doesn't give the scapulae a place to rest. Furthermore, the scaps are looking for stability, so muscles such as the rhomboids become overactive and "pin" the shoulder blades back and down. Push-ups are a great tool to help remedy this, but only when done correctly. You may have seen that bro on Instagram cranking out sets of 50, 75, or 100 push-ups, but you'll note that he never actually finishes a rep. That makes things worse. Instead, think about finishing each rep. Keep the chest out while simultaneously reaching long through the arms, or thinking about pushing the body away from the floor. When done correctly, it should feel like you're stretching the area in between your shoulder blades at the start and finish of each rep. – Mike Robertson

This exercise is a great progression for getting to the L-sit. It's also a great alternative for standard leg raises or active planks. – Mike Sheridan

A common mistake when trying to do a muscle-up is to keep the elbows down as with a pull-up. A pull-up is complete when the elbows are driven completely down. But with your elbows down, it will be impossible to transition into a dip for a muscle-up. To do a muscle-up, you need to pull around and above the bar. In that case the elbows would need to continue rotating around the bar. – Drew Murphy

This will help you master the full standing rollout. Using bands will help un-load the exercise by providing assistance. Any rolling device can be used here, but either a classic ab roller or a barbell work the best. Anchor a set of bands to a power rack or something stable. Loop the bands through the roller and you're set to go. As you go further into the range of motion, the bands tighten up and help pull the wheel back. Minimize the assistance by keeping closer to the anchor point or by using lighter bands. To ensure you aren't just springing back up with the assistance of the bands, use a band light enough so you can't exceed 8-10 reps.

Cons: It's easy to become too reliant on the bands. Use just enough band assistance to train each rep at a very high effort.

Pros: The bands demonstrate the importance of dragging the wheel back and keeping tension in the lats. It's the exact force you must to apply to the wheel in order to get yourself pulled back on your own. – Drew Murphy

1. Simply use your hands to first contract isometrically towards the position you are looking to improve for a few seconds.

2. From here keep your head where it is, and isometrically contract into the opposite direction for a few seconds.

3. Repeat this a few times and gain more functional and authentic range of motion through improving stability and activation, and never having to painfully and passively stretch to get that range back.
The best part about this practice? It's highly active which bodes well for motor learning, rewiring movement patterns, and allowing more longevity in your movement skill. Even the best quick fixes that last only a few minutes really suck at the end of the day when you cannot maintain it. – Dr. John Rusin

This will help you master the full standing rollout. If you have access to a power rack (band pins make this work even more nicely), you can string a band across and use it to "catch" your weight as you fall closer to the ground. Progress by using lighter bands or by setting the band at a lower height.

Cons: Not everyone will be able to set this up, and again, it's easy to rely too heavily on the band.

Pros: Easy to adjust band strength and height, and allows you to feel the exercise without any band tension at certain points. – Drew Murphy

Do this lift as part of the Built For Battle training program, found at T-Nation.com. – Christian Thibaudeau

When you approach the bar to do a muscle-up, ditch the pull-up motor pattern shown on the left. A muscle-up is an entirely different exercise that requires an entirely different pull. – Drew Murphy

If you don't have the strength to pull yourself back up from a standing rollout, this is the most effective way to build it. As you fall toward the ground, brace the abs hard, tighten the hip flexors and quads, and push the wheel into the ground using the lats. Once you reach the point that you can no longer hold yourself up, collapse to the ground. Don't try to pull back on the wheel at all. Conserve your energy for each negative rep. Once you hit the ground, reset and do your next rep. To focus on keeping a high amount of tension, keep reps below 5. Make sure to fight for more and more distance (before you collapse) as you get stronger.

Cons: Starting out, you won't be able to go far before crumbling. That's fine. Just keep fighting for more range of motion as you get better at keeping tight.

Pros: Forces you to hold tension through the shoulders, trunk, hips, knees, and ankles. If performed correctly, each rep will be done to nearly maximal effort. – Drew Murphy