domingo, 24 de abril de 2016

BACK Saturday

Yesterday I went to the gym with a friend to hit a back workout. We ended up also hitting a bicep exercise and a quick ab routine at the end.
Didn't fell super energized during the workout but it was alright.

Warm-up: PULL-UPS 3 sets of about 8 reps
I like doing pull-ups as a warm-up for my back sessions and sometimes even as my 1st exercise, focus on letting the lats stretch well when you're coming down and explode on the way up (since you're warming-up explosive movements are ok to do and probably beneficial).

#1 exercise: SEATED LAT PULL DOWN 4-6/6-8/8-12
All my workouts start with a reverse pyramid. The reverse pyramid training allows you to build your strength but still get some of that muscle growth from the high reps at the last set. As I said I sometimes use pull-ups as my 1st exercise but since my body weight is too light for me I have the necessity of working in the lat pull down machine (you could also use a belt and add weight to your pull-ups but I feel that the lat pull downs allow me to better work the lats).
Start with a weight that is close to your working weight and preform a 2 rep warm-up set and then up the weight to something that is heavy enough so that you can only preform a maximum of 6 reps. Drop the weight and preform the 2nd set of 6-8 reps, and finally drop the weight again and preform the last set of 8-12 reps. If you manage to preform the limit amount of reps in a given set, you should up the weight in your next workout and start climbing that rep ladder again (example: I preform my 1st set with 70 Kg for 6 reps, the next workout I should up the weight to lets say 72.5 Kg and do 4 reps, and so on).
Once again, focus on letting your lats stretch when you go up and bring the bar to about chin height holding it there for a second before controlling the weight back up.

#2 exercise: CABLE ROWS 10-15/10-8/8-6 with a drop set of 10 reps every set
Cable rows are awesome to build that deep line in your middle back so you don't look as flat as a table. I use a suicide grip in my regular sets and then switch to a pistol grip on my drop sets (you can use a regular grip on your regular sets if you so fancy). Focus on maintaining your posture, straight back, but follow the weight don't try to over control it.

#3 exercise: SINGLE LAT ROW MACHINE 4 sets of 10 in each arm
Similar to the previous exercise but more focused on hypertrophy this time and trying to isolate the lats. Not much to say just keep your posture and chest pressed against the seat.

#4 exercise: LOWER BACK EXTENSIONS 4 sets of 10-20
I usually grab a dumbbell in front of me for this one but yesterday my friend challenged me to use the rubber bands and as the crossfitter I am I couldn't refuse. And I have to admit, the rubber bands make this exercise pretty brutal! So if you have the chance try it out. Focus on getting a good stretch in your lower back when going down and come up as high as you can. Also make an effort to control your descent.

#5 exercise: SUPER SAYAN BICEP CURL MACHINE DROP SET
This is a favorite of mine. I always end up my arms and my back days like this. Since you've been doing a lot of pulling motion your biceps have been secondarily targeted throughout the entire workout so ending up with a super sayan drop set makes sense just to tare some extra muscle fibers. It goes like this: you start of by putting a weight that is fairly heavy for you and go to failure on that weight, you than drop one plate and go to failure on that one, then drop another one and go to failure again and repeat the process until you've reached the minimum weight. By the end of this if you don't feel like your biceps have pasted out it's because you did something wrong.

I did a quick 5 min ab routine at the end.

So this was my back workout for this week, took me about 1h30/2h to complete. It was pretty fun! Give it a try.
See ya later boys!

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