Herculean Back
The Advanced Lat Shocker
By: Alton Hare
The basis of my advanced chest program is the use of
strip sets to take the muscle past normal concentric
failure. The chest is not especially well adapted to
supersets, because no matter what angle you are
focusing on, the chest as a whole is still being
worked. That back, however, is especially well
designed for supersetting, because the back is
composed of several smaller muscle groups, which can
all be stressed individually with only slight help
from the other groups. Strip sets are also just as
good for back, especially if there's a specific muscle
group/area in the back that is lagging. So, I like to
start off my back routine with two heavy compound
movements and then move on to supersetting isolation
movements. By the way, I include deadlifts usually in
my leg routine, because if you keep your back straight
enough you mostly use your legs.
Since you have gone through my basic back routine,
you can chins your bodyweight decently, and so you
should start out, after stretching and warm up, with
three sets of chins. You may get eight on the first
set, five on the second, and only three on the last.
That's ok, your strength on chins will continue to
improve as long as you take each set to failure and do
the chins in a smooth, controlled motion. It's a good
idea to do a negative on the last rep of your third
set, where you take ten to fifteen seconds to lower
yourself back into the stretched position, all the
while focusing the tension into your lats, pretending
their flaring out and blocking the sun or something.
Visualization is a powerful technique when training
lats/back, because these muscles aren't easily seen
without a couple mirrors.
Next you go to another one of my favorite compound
movements, dumbbell rows on an incline bench. This
hits the rhomboids very well, which are the muscles
just under the traps that attach to the scapulae and
insert into the spinal column. These add thickness to
the back and give it a truly "Herculean" look of power
and might. The higher the incline, the more you hit
the rhomboids and traps, the closer to flat the more
you get in your lats, I suggest a forty five degree
incline, since you just hit your lats in chins you
want to focus on a different group now. Do three sets
nice and heavy, and on your third set drop the
dumbbells and quickly grab some a little more than
half that weight, and go as many as you can to
burnout.
After that set your probably feelin' a good pump, but
your focus shouldn't be waning yet, if you did my
basic routine you should be in shape enough to have
plenty left. Now, superset close reverse grip
pulldowns with seated straight bar rows. This is a
close pulldown movement with a wide rowing motion,
effectively working almost the entire back between the
two completely opposite exercises. As always, do
three sets. Then, superset close grip seated rows
with weighed hyperextensions. Do all your seated rows
with your back almost perpendicular to the ground, and
keep it there, no jerking the weight back with your
lower back. Only your arms should move. At the end
of the rep its ok to stretch your lats and back out,
but don't let your lower back come out of alignment.
You should ALWAYS squeeze at the concentric portion,
and control the negative. Some people like to explode
through the contraction, others like it slow and
controlled, I think you should experiment with both.
If you can keep from cheating and still bring the
weight up fast, then great, but don't sacrifice form.
Do three sets of seated rows/weighted hyperextensions,
then if you wanna train side/rear delts with back like
me you can do a tri-set at the end:
Side Laterals, barbell/dumbbell shrugs, and bent
laterals
If you don't wanna train shoulders you can just finish
up your workout with barbell or dumbbell shrugs.
So, here's the advanced back buster:
- * Chins, three sets and a negative
- * Incline dumbbell rows, three sets and a drop set
- * Superset seated straight bar rows and close grip
pulldowns for three sets
- * Superset close grip seated rows and weighed
hyperextensions for three sets
- * Barbell/dumbbell shrugs or tri set of side
laterals/shrugs/bent laterals for three sets
Total: 22 sets for back, 6 sets for shoulders
(shoulders receive assist work in rowing and chinning)
You should be taking 2 minute rests between the heavy
compound movements, and no rest between superset
because, well, that's the point of a superset. The
back is a very complex muscle group, and must be hit
from all sorts of angles to be developed symmetrically.
Supersetting allows you to hit each of these angles
while maintaining the intensity needed to stimulate
muscle growth. Doing dumbbell rows instead of barbell
rows allows for a greater range of motion than a
barbell, and puts your lower back in a less
compromised position. Occasionally, if you get stale,
you should do pulldowns instead of chins, barbell rows
instead of dumbbell rows, and/or good morning instead
of hyperextensions. You can also do one arm cable
rows instead of close grip cable rows, to focus on
each side of the back individually. If you do regular
pulldowns instead of chins, you might have the
strength to do close reverse grip chins instead of the
pulldown version of that.... there are all kinds of
variations of this workout you can do. Use your
imagination and be creative, and these templates I
offer you can last quite a while. All that is needed
is to add in your own motivation and aggression, and
you have the winning formula to a monstrous back that
will be difficult to fit through doors!!!
- Alton
beautifuldisaster420@yahoo.com
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