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FORM, Damnit! How to do Seated Rows to work out your back

Don’t lean back like her!

Once again, I saw the “bigger” guys doing Seated Rows today, using their entire upper body weight to pull the weight. And guess what, they might be big, but their muscles are not really showing.

Perhaps they’re working out their lower back as well by leaning back. But if you really want to develop your upper back muscles, you’re going to have to ISOLATE.

Sit straight up with your back straight, and concentrate on “crunching” your upper back muscles at the peak of the row and hold for a second. And don’t let your arms get pulled forward too much at the shoulders. This can lead to straining the fragile rotator cuff muscles by them getting pulled or stretched, giving you pain in the rear delts.

Back straight, elbows go past your ribs, crunch the back muscles like her.

Same goes for Incline Bench Press. You know the weight is too heavy when you find yourself lifting your butt or your upper body off the seat. This will make your body less inclined, and near parallel to the floor. You’ll turn your Incline Bench Press into a Flat Bench Press which works your mid level pecs. If you really want to work on your upper pecs, KEEP YOUR BODY PRESSED TO THE BENCH!

Today was Chest Day.

4X incline bench press
3x incline Hammer
3X crossovers-super with bicep curls

3x Quadruple Supersets=
• barbell curls
• seated dumbbell hammer curls
• Tricep pushdowns
• Standing tricep bar extensions

Spin bike= 15 minutes HIIT

That Quadruple Superset was bomb! I had a huge pump going in my upper arms. My biceps looked like they’d explode! And I was sweating like crazy. I had virtually no rest in between the the 3 sets of four exercises. I say “virtually” because I did have to catch my breath for like 5 seconds near the end. If you’re going to do this, use a heavy weight for the first exercise and a lighter weight for the second. Same for the Tricep exercises; heavy + lighter. I was using 70# barbell + 20# dumbbells and 60# Tricep pushdown followed by 50# extensions.

PEACE!

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Tues, Oct 19: Leg day.

Leg day. Warmed up on the treadmill for 5 minutes concentrating on working the calves when walking.

Squats 3X
Standing Calf Raises in between sets of squats. Drop sets. (feel the burn) 3X
Lunges 3x
Seated Calf Raises 3X
High-Incline Treadmill HIIT mixing it up with speed/incline 15 minutes

Sweat like a pig in a blanket. Felt really good.

Not enough calories today.
Breakfast: Greek yogurt, 2 eggs, peanut butter/jelly muffin, 2 pks oatmeal

Lunch: tuna sandwich

Snack: canned chicken barley soup

Dinner: turkey meatloaf + broccoli + beer

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baby got back.

Today, Monday, I had a great workout. I am not doing the 10in30 workout exactly as is because I already gained 15 lbs since I started doing it around two months ago. So, it’s time to switch things up. Switching every month is good practice. You can extend the 10in30 plan to around two months, but no more than that. Not because it’s dangerous or anything; but you should switch workouts (tempo, reps, rest, exercises) because you’ll hit a plateau and stop seeing gains.

I did Back today. Here’s what I did:

•3X wide pullups. (2 were Supersets with assisted pullups with 60 lb help) 2 min rest
•3X narrow pullups. 3 min rest
•4X wide grip rows heavy wt, Superset w/high rows lighter weight
•3X Unilateral Rows 65
•2X box crunches in between 1st pullups
•Spinning bike HIIT around 15 min.

‘X’=sets

Had my BCAA’S/Creatine before and after. Plus sushi salad with an apple juice right after. Then, around 2.5 hrs later, I had 2 chicken breasts (frozen) + 1.5 cups mixed veggies. 2 hrs after that, I had a protein shake with milk. Then in about 1.5 hrs I had dinner; steak and vegetables with a trio of cherry potatoes. My breakfast was a medium nonfat latte and a “reduced fat turkey bacon sandwich” from Starbucks, plus 2 packets of oatmeal around an hour after that. Late night snack consisted of mixed unsalted nuts, a handful of dried chile mango, a few bites of pita chips, and a Firestone beer.

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Fantastic workout. Diet: good.

Today, I had a Grand Slam from Denny’s for breakfast. It’s the one where you get to choose your items. I chose the two eggs, ham, hash browns, and wheat pancakes. Don’t give me crap about the hash browns, bitches! I don’t do this all the time! Anyway, two point five hours later I had a cup of microwaveable Minute Rice brown rice with a Starkist Lunch To Go Kit. (simplicity and convenience is the key to success!)

Tuna Kit:
Calories: 240
Protein: 18g
Sodium: 27% (dv for 2k diet)

Minute Rice Cup:
Calories: 230
Protein: 5g
Sodium: 6%

Totals:
Calories: 470
Protein: 23g
Sodium: 33%

Ok, I slacked a little on the protein. No worries. 2 hours after that I had sushi. 6 pieces of salmon sushi and 6 pieces of salmon roll with avocado (the good fat), and Japanese Green Tea. This brand is crazy-good and authentic. Has that oaky taste that good Japanese green teas have.

My workout today was Back. Did fantastic, adding weight to my pulldowns and rows. I even did 3 extra sets of rows with a slightly wider jet-fighter-pilot grip attachment. First sets were with a narrow-grip. Went with a Super Set for the final biceps/triceps sets. Did a set of tricep rope extensions, immediately followed by barbell curls, then 1 minute rest and start the fuck again!

I was actually pouring in sweat from that super set. Who sweats from bicep curls and tricep extensions?? ME, BIATCHES! And anyone who works freaking hard with super sets! I made sure to max out within ‘the range’.

Then I finished my workout with a 10 minute interval training session on the spinning bike. One minute fast, one minute slow, next minute heavy resistance slow, next: light resistance slow, then heavy resistance- fast! (as fast as you can which won’t be very fast), then back to light resistance but fast, etc. Kick ass.

BTW, I’m now using the Optimum Nutrition Instantized BCAA’s + Creatine. I got unflavored so I can mix it with the protein. That works out fine. You especially don’t taste it when you do 1.5 scoops of protein. IT DOES NOT WORK very well when you mix it with water by itself. It tastes terrible. Maybe it’s the Creatine in it, because that Vitasport unflavored brand I mentioned didn’t have a nasty taste at all and you could mix it with only water with no problem whatsoever. Today, I mixed it with Gatorade and it was fine.

So, if you’re not going to mix it with your protein shake, then get a flavored version. I still recommend this one since it has the Creatine built-in. I’ll probably get a flavored one next and go back to mixing two drinks. It wasn’t that bad. One in the locker room before I shower, then another in the car as soon as I leave the gym. Then lunch. Perfect.

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