b.

) There is something
something cathartic about the
the last movement in a session.
session. You don't have to save you
energy for any more moves, so you can give it your all (which also looks cool for the camera), and
you get the relief of being
being done right after. So if the
the rest of your workout is "meh"
"meh" but you
convince yourself the finisher is EXTRA important, you can give it your all and feel damn good
about how great of a job you did. It's like the "short and sweet" practices in wrestling... the guys
that liked those the most were the guys that hated long practices but liked to feel accomplished.

In summary, finishers are cool and please by all means keep doing them. Just don't focus on
them at the expense of ignoring the details of the rest of your workout, especially the stuff that
likely matters most: progressing slowly but surely in volumes and intensities on the big main lifts
that occur early in each of your sessions (or damn well should if you program correctly).

Training Myths That Won’t Die #3: “Works the Stabilizers”

Free weight movements and intentionally unstable movements do in fact require more
recruitment from synergistic, antagonistic, and core muscles to keep the movement on track. This
is GREAT for populations that want to:

- Develop strength that translates into sport performance (wrestling, football)

- Develop strength that translates into enhanced independent living (special populations, the
elderly)

- Burns more calories for adult fitness when used in circuits/complexes

- Develops better functional athletic base for children

HOWEVER, when applied to pure hypertrophy training, problems may result:

1.) “The stabilizers” are not a distinct muscle group, and are different for each exercise. Hard to
program in “always hit the stabilizers” logically.

2.) Most stabilizer activation is below the volume, intensity, and relative intensity thresholds that
promote hypertrophy
hypertrophy in advanced lifters. What you’re really getting is extra fatigue in those
stabilizer muscles.

3) Stabilizers for something are prime movers for something else. You want them fresh for their
own training, not taxed from other body part training. Side delts are stabilizers in bosu ball
pushups, but you need them fresh for laterals and upright rows!

4.) Some instability might be desirable, but not if it trades off too much force production. This
means:

a.) Heavy (10 reps or less) dumbbell work is largely wasteful because you’re not stable enough to
produce the max forces you’re shooting for… choose barbells instead for such heavy loads.