Week 11 Day 4 - How To Get A V-Taper

11/09/15 Day 74 – Back & Biceps

Just from looking at today's session on paper I knew that this was going to be a hard session, with a huge amount of sets and reps being performed there was no way I was walking out the gym without a serious pump. Exactly like the previous day working chest, today was going to be structured with 3 exercises in each Giant Set, working up and down repetition pyramid to induce to serious fatigue and push my muscle to their absolute maximum!

So without further adieu here is today's session:

Giant Set 1

Wide Grip Lat Pulldown – 4 Sets, 1 x 25,20,15,10

Barbell Deadlift – 4 Sets, 1 x 25,20,15,10

Chest Supported Dumbbell Row – 4 Sets, 1 x 25,20,15,10

Giant Set 2

Chest Supported Dumbbell Row – 4 Sets, 1 x 10,15,20,25

Barbell Deadlift – 4 Sets, 1 x 10,15,20,25

Wide Grip Lat Pulldown – 4 Sets, 1 x 10,15,20,25

Giant Set 3

Barbell Curl – 4 Sets, 1 x 25,20,15,10

Standing Bicep Cable Curls – 4 Sets, 1 x 25,20,15,10

High Pully Curls – 4 Sets, 1 x 25,20,15,10

Giant Set 4

High Pulley Curls – 4 Sets, 1 x 10,15,20,25

Standing Bicep Cable Curls – 4 Sets, 1 x 10,15,20,25

Barbell Curl – 4 Sets, 1 x 10,15,20,25

Starting with my first Giant set I really wanted to make sure I pushed myself as hard as I physically could, so taking myself out of my comfort zone (I seem to be out of it more than in it these days), I bumped up my weights higher than usual so my starting sets. With the Wide Grip Lat Pulldown I was only focusing on drawing my elbows down for the contraction, followed by flaring my lats out on the way up to get a massive pump in my back. As I made my way to the Barbell Deadlift I could already feel how well my back was engaging, feeling every muscle popping with every rep. As I have a rather weak lower back I cant always deadlift heavy, so I wanted to make sure I could keep my lower back as tight as possible, when deadlifting I always try to make sure to keep my hips below my chest. By opening out the chest and pulling my shoulder blades back I can always make sure my back is aligned and thus focus on the muscle contraction more. Last but not least in this gruelling Giant set was the Chest Supported Dumbbell Row, using two dumbbell for this exercise was a blast from the past, as I used to perform this a lot in my early teens for back development. As I worked my way down the repetition range I could feel the fatigue settling in fast, trying to fight it as much as I could as the weights got heavier and heavier, I slowly began using the rest pause principle for the final two exercises. As a whole body movement the deadlifts do tend to drain energy quite fast, so I did have to anticipate that in with my weight calculations, so as I didn't over exert myself too much too soon.

Working back up the pyramid on Giant Set 2, the exercise order once again was altered, this allowed me to go heavier and focus attention on the Chest Supported Dumbbell Row more now and less on the Wide Grip Lat Pulldown. Having a finishing exercise like the pulldown really did highlight how insane drained my lats had become though this first half of the work out, as a relatively isolated movement I could feel the massive burning sensation under the armpits. Unfortunately there wasn't much I could do to counter act this, apart from stretch out between sets, so when I was working all I would focus on was getting the best contraction out of the movement as possible, with one more week left of this programme I wanted it all to be about effectiveness!

With the lat burnt out and at bursting point I made my way on to the Biceps. As a synergistic muscle group the biceps had already had a bit of work through the Wide Grip Lat Pulldown & Chest Supported Dumbbell Row, but this wasn't going to stop me working them even harder! Starting the third Giant set with the Barbell Curl followed by the Standing Bicep Cable Curls and finishing with the High Pully Curls, this was a recipe for pain and I was the head chef. Hitting the barbell for my Curls I took a wide grip so as to hit the internal head of the bicep and work on that peak, then moving on to the Standing Bicep Cable Curls with a close grip to hit the outside head of the bicep which meant I could develop the entire bicep with two exercises which was awesome and then just to finish off I could burn out on the High Pully Curls with a medium grip and just smash out the reps.

With the heaviest set done and dusted it was time to reverse the exercise order and hit the biceps up in a completely different way, causing more muscle confusion and getting more effect results out of the session. Starting with the High Pully Curls I found I could go really heavy on these, but then when moving on the Standing Bicep Cable Curls I had hardly anything left in the tank and even less when I finished off on the standard Barbell Curls.

All in all I really loved this session, working in this giant set fashion has brought to light so areas for improvement for myself which I am very happy about, as I strongly believe that you are only as good as your weakest link. This is even more prominent in body building, where ever muscle is scrutinised.

I hope you gals and guys are working hard and smashing the gym today!

Happy Lifting,

Matt