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
No comments:
Post a Comment