Week 3 Day 4 - Sometime You Just Have to Dig Deep

16/04/15 Day 18 – Back

Feeling very tight, pretty tired, are really struggled to pull myself out of bed today, but I did, and that's what matters.

I find it incredibly interesting how well people have accepted my life choice. The constant feed back I'm getting is very motivating and I'm moving towards wanting to do it for “the people” as well as myself. It is a whole new method of inspiration for me and I love it so thank you, everyone, whether its a small comment here or there or you have contacted me privately, you drive me to always be better.

So today I trained back, one of my favourites, again working with lots of reps, high intensity and a whole new meaning to Focus. If you feel like your grip is fatiguing a lot when you do this kind of work maybe try using some lifting straps to help you get through the session.

Here is what I was working with today:

Bent Over Double Dumbbell Row – 3 Sets x 15 Reps (last set is a drop set for 15-18)

Lat Pulldown – 3 Sets x 15-20 Reps

Superset

Underhand Cable Pulldown – 3 Sets x 15-20 Reps

Chest Supported Double Dumbbell Row – 3 Sets x 15-20 Reps

SuperSet

Straight Arm Pulldown – 3 Sets x 15-20 Reps

Barbell Deadlift – 3 Sets x 15-20 Reps

Cardio - Interval Training 15mins Total

What I really loved about the session today was the fact every exercise (apart from one) is all compound, so the body isn't limited to those small weights I have been working with all week and I was actually able to throw some weight about, which was really nice! So I started the session with Bent Over Double Dumbbell Row, I normally do this exercise with a Barbell so changing it up for me was really refreshing, and gave me a bit of muscle confusion, which is very healthy for you when you are smashing 5 sessions back-to-back all week, doing pretty much the same things. I could tell I wasn't 100% awake on this first set as I did my 3 Sets and went to move onto the next exercise, I then said to myself “that seemed a little too easy” and then looked at my training book, “Damn it!”, so for my stupidity I made myself do another set, followed by the intended drop set. I don't think I'll ever forget about that again.

Then moving onto a really nice SuperSet, Lat Pulldown Superset with Underhand Cable Pulldowns. Although you are relatively stationary on this exercise it gets pretty hardcore pretty quickly, making just a small change in your grip allows you to target some different muscles, this makes it easier to squeeze out more reps, while still keeping the main focus on those Lats, working on that awesome V-taper, if you know anything about physique you know this is a key feature to aesthetics. So try and put lots of Lat work into your workout, accompanied with some waist tightening exercises to put together a body only the Greek gods could make.

After pushing the intense burning sensation out of my back after the previous exercises I moved to the bench where I moved onto the 2^nd round of today's SuperSets. With the Chest Supported Double Dumbbell Row you have a few options with the bench positions, have the incline higher to work more of the upper back (rhomboids, traps, top section of the lats) or have the bench on a lower incline to target the middle back, with the main focus being the lats. Play around with it and see what feels better. For my sets I had the incline slightly high, to target a few different muscles not yet utilised in my session. Putting this back-to-back with the Straight Arm Pulldown was seriously hard work, as you are putting so much focus into the top portion of those lats, the insertion point which is just under the armpit into the humerus, feels like someone is sat there with a blow torch, but boy will it be worth it.

Finishing the session with one of my weaker exercises, the oldest of the old school lifts Barbell Deadlift, I took this as an opportunity to really work on my form, keeping a nice tight back and opening up that chest to keep everything tracking properly. For me I took this exercise lighter than maybe I could have done, but I wanted to hit my upper rep range each set, and try to created a beautifully strong mind-muscle connection, which is the foundation of being able to lift heavy. Yeah buddy.

Remember to listen to your body, it will tell you what it needs, all you have to do is listen and act.

“Do what you gotta do so you can do what you wanna do.”- Denzel Washington

Where ever you are, may your day be filled with joy and happiness.

Happy Lifting,

Matt