Cross Train Thursday—Squats and Back.


Yes, I mixed Legs and Back. I did chest yesterday, and I hadn’t done any legs except for calves in about a week, so there you go.

Squats. Since I don’t have a squat rack at home, I went with light weight, 12 rep squats. I highly recommend this when you don’t have a squat rack for safety. You don’t want to have to do a heavy military press after you’re burned out on squats. If it’s enough weight for your legs to max out at 6-8 reps, then for sure, it’s way too much weight for you to do a safe over the head (or military) shoulder press, especially after you’re exhausted. You’ll still do as many squats as you can, maxing out at a higher number, but when you’re done you will not have a problem lifting the bar over your head, onto your chest, then lowering it down slowly while keeping your back arched instead of rounding it. I did 4 sets of 12.

Followed it with Standing Calf Raises and immediately; Seated Calf Raises ’til my lower legs burned. 3 sets.

Then, on to the Pullup bar. Started with Horizontal Pullups, then regular Pullups. Then I used my Suspension System to do some Rows in order to hit more angles in my back. I started with very low handles, then raised them slightly after I maxed out and did some more. I also varied the grip from overhand to pistol grip to over-under twisties. Same thing for the pullups. Started with wide, then neutral grip, then chinups (underhand grip). It’s also good practice to hold at the top for some of the reps and do Knee Raises to Ab Curls while holding yourself up like I did!

That’s it; not many exercises, but many sets and I surely pushed it to where I was totally pooped. Nourished myself with a scoop and a half of Whey with 5g BCAA’s + another scoop of 5g BCAA’S with 5g Creatine in 10 ounces of 2% milk for a total of 47g protein.