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November
1999
Hardcore Training There is nothing more impressive than a big back. We could reasonably argue that the last three Mr. Olympia's have won primarily because of their incredible back development. Lee Haney had some fairly weak body parts, but his back blew the competition away. Dorian's back was simply overpowering. And now, with Coleman, it's like a damn total eclipse when he hits a rear lat spread. Unfortunately, back is one of the hardest body parts to train successfully. You can't really see your back when you train, so it's harder to focus as intensely. It's obvious from the massive amounts of emails I get asking for back workouts that they're a lot of you out their that just don't feel your current back training is effective. Hopefully this article will help you out. One last thing before we begin. These training articles are written for several purposes. Hopefully you find them informative, motivational, and entertaining. However, these articles are not written to serve as a blueprint for others to follow. Every individual is different and responds differently to training. It would be impossible for me, or anyone else for that matter, to design a workout program that would be equally effective for everyone. Any trainer, coach, or "guru" who claims to be able to do so is, pardon my French, full of shit. In order to get the most out of any workout program, it has to be tailored to each specific individual. In an upcoming issue of Anabolic Extreme, we'll focus on some of the training principals around which successful workouts can be designed and modified for your specific needs and goals. My training partner and I arrive at World Gym at about 10 at night. I like training this late, by this hour most of the 400 personal trainers have left and I don't have to witness them molesting every girlfriend and wife in the gym. I take special pains to avoid two trainers in particular, a couple of guys who only train women and whose idea of a spot is to touch every clients ass as much as possible. I'm sure most of you have a couple of tools like this running around your club. We start with an assisted chin machine. Most clubs have a machine like this, it's the one that allows you to perform pull-ups with a portion of your bodyweight. Since I currently weigh in at 295 lbs, I'm unable to get enough reps with my bodyweight to effectively pre-exhaust my back. I put the stack on 100 lbs (which would mean I'm chinning about 200 lbs) and bust out 20 reps. My partner does his set. He's coming off of two-year layoff where the only exercise he did was curling beers to his mouth. I've been kicking his ass in the gym for the past two months. I do one more set of twenty and it's time to get started. We move into the power room for bent-over rows. Back in my youth (you know, before I hit the ripe old age of 28), I used to do these things with 495 lbs. A great way to tear a bicep, a la Dorian Yates. Now being much older and wiser, I'm only using 225 lbs. However, I'm doing 15 reps in a slow, controlled fashion, squeezing my back fully with each rep. Hey, I can put 315 on the bar and throw it around all day long, but I can't control the weight in the same fashion. Since I'm concentrating on results, I'm better off using the weight I can train with more intensely. Reverse grip, I do my first set. After the 10th rep, it's kicking my ass. I get all 15, but my back is screaming. Ken, my partner goes, he's lucky that his beer gut prevents him from having to move the bar in a full range of motion. He gets 15 reps with 135 and looks like he's about to keel over after his set. I ask him if he needs a beer. I do my second and last set of bent-over rows, my back is now screaming. Time for some rest-pause training. Time for pulldowns. I'm doing them close-reverse grip today, with my hands spaced about shoulder width apart. I'm also placing my legs in a way that will place my upper body in the perfect position to focus the tension on my back. Rather than placing my legs under the pad in the usual fashion, I have my upper legs perpendicular to the floor and my lower legs splayed out behind me. Some of you lighter guys might not be able to do this, needing to anchor yourself so you're not being pulled off the seat. However, at 295, I'm not moving. I start with 220 on the stack for my first rest-pause set. I get seven with no spot, resting for twenty seconds. Now five. My fucking back is on fire and I need a spot on the last two. I rest for twenty seconds and bust out two more, I can't get the last rep. I'm a pussy and will have to reduce weight next set. Ken reduces the weight to 150 ad gets his set out with little fanfare, I told him I buy him a 12-pack if he'd shut-up and get his sets done. Now, I'm sure we've all seen the guys that rock their upper body back and forth on the pull downs machine in order to use more weight. Tools. The only thing they are training is their ego. One of the reasons why I place my legs in this awkward position is that it prevents me from cheating. If the bar is moving down, it's because my back is pulling it. For my second and last set of pulldowns, I reduce the weight to 200 lbs and rep out my rest pause set. Jesus Christ! It certainly doesn't feel like I dropped the weight. In between sets, I'm stretching. I'm a firm believer in stretching, I believe over time this will actually increase muscular hypertrophy. There are two basic stretches I do between sets. For the first one, I just grab a pole with my upper body parallel to the floor and lean back. The other method requires the assistance of my partner. Sitting on a bench, I stick my elbow straight in the air with my hand in the nape of my neck. My partner takes my elbow and pushes it towards my body. Talk about a stretch!! Last exercise for back. Have you ever seen Frank Zane perform his vacuum shot? His amazing serratus development has always inspired me to train this muscle group thoroughly. Today it's pullovers on the Hammer Strength machine. Kenny is about to lose it at this point, his two year of being a lop of shit are catching up to him. We throw three 45's on each arm and I get 8 reps. We've got to take a couple plates off for Ken, and he manages to get through his set without too many tears. Last set, I bust it out and I'm done! My back feels like someone has inserted two large bladders in my lats and inflated both to maximum capacity. Thought we we're done? Sorry, we've still got to do bi's. I let Kenny catch a five-minute break while I pound down a 1,000 kcal high protein weight gain shake. By consuming something like this near the end or immediately after a workout, I don't miss the nutritional window of opportunity created through an intense workout. We've already trained biceps to some degree in our back training. Therefore, we don't need very many sets to finish them off. We start with barbell curls. With a 45 on each side, I start my rest pause set of 7,5,3. We do two sets of these in strict fashion. My biceps are really burning, fortunately we've only got one more exercise to go. If you're lucky enough to be a member of a gym that has Strive equipment, be sure you use it. Strive is a unique design that allows you to change the point of stress on a muscle by moving plates or switching cams. The gym I train at has the plate-loaded Strive preacher curl, a fantastic piece of equipment. It has three arms that can hold plates. Depending on what arm you load the weight on, you can focus tension at the beginning, middle, or end of any movement. We're going to do sets of 21's on this piece, the most brutal bicep exercise I have ever experienced. I'm not engaging in journalistic hyperbole when I tell you that your bi's will be screaming for mercy before this exercise is done. I start with a 45 on the 1st position on the machine. It focuses tension at the top of the movement. After seven reps, Ken moves the plate to position 2, which focuses tension on the middle of the bicep. Seven more reps and it's position 3, focusing tension at the top of the movement. Two sets of this and we're trying to figure out who's better able to steer for the drive home. Well, that's it folks. A typical back and bicep workout. This whole routine takes about 45 minutes of pure intensity. What a rush! Copyright 1999 Jason Meuller and Anabolic Extreme. This material may not be copied, reproduced, or transmitted without the express written permission of the copyright owners. |
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