Big Back Workout | Flex Friday with Trainer Mike

I build my body for me and it's always been about improving my health and to improve my quality of life I was overweight I was asthmatic and I really struggled fitting in at school Fitness became something for me that allowed me to break through that barrier and become more confident a body boarder to me is somebody who builds their body to not only improve their physical appearance to build more muscle but it's definitely to improve the quality of their life and what comes with that is confidence [Music] and so burden my body has become more than just about how I look in the mirror to become far more over the years of looking inwards and understanding how it's benefiting my life that it's become something that I can continue for years to come [Music] it always comes back to am I happy with what I've achieved within myself the effort I've put in and if I can say yes then I have won regardless of what I've done the fitness lifestyle the bodybuilding lifestyle whatever you want to call it to me it's become easier because it's not a choice it's not something I have to do is not something I wake up and I think about doing it it just happens because of the years of repetition of waking up and doing the things that make me feel good and it's totally worth it I think it's not even a question because the reward is there [Music] their dedication build direction huija body voodoo life bodyboarding calm it felt like I was drowning and I just I couldn't keep my head above water Fitness is actually what saved my life [Music] several years ago I found myself very involved and obsessed with the way that I looked in every aspect of my life the way that I ate the way that I drank what I did in my daily life so I made the decision to enter treatment for eating disorders while I was in treatment not only learning aspects of nutrition that I didn't know I also found the support of powerlifting that was shift in my brain was a weight lifted from my shoulders I wasn't constantly concerned about every micro gram of food that was going in my mouth I was just wanting to be better and stronger and healthier I build my body to be as strong healthy and happy as I possibly can be I am definitely the happiest and healthiest I've ever been I feel empowered I feel capable and I feel strong mindset [Music] what's up guys welcome to your flex Friday workout of the day I'm trainer Mike and we're back here at the bodybuilding comm corporate headquarters for a back workout so it's been a couple weeks and we wanted to bring you a brutal back workout to bring into your weekend so for those of you who are looking for that great workout to do coming into your weekend give this back workout a try so back is one of those muscle groups that a lot of people tend to neglect right it's not one of your mirror muscles a lot of people don't see their back that often and so they don't focus on it enough so we're gonna take you through a workout today that's gonna hit the back from all angles all rep ranges to build that overall complete Mac that you're looking for so starting off today with some key bar rows now when it comes to back I'm either gonna start off with a deadlift or a t-bar row for the most part I'm gonna do something that's really gonna challenge my entire posterior chain or back of my body now since I've hit legs twice this week already I'm just I've decided to lay off the deadlifts but just keep that in mind that when we start a back workout we like to start it with something a little more compound usually there's a deadlift a t-bar row or maybe a pull-up and we're gonna do pull-ups here in a minute so variety of warmed up we're ready to go there's a t-bar row that we're gonna do and we're gonna do four sets of eight reps so we're gonna start off first set of eight reps here you'll notice I've got 25 pound plates on here now the reason why I do that is not because I'm not strong enough for the 45 so I can lift some forty fives but the reason why we do 25 pound plates is because it allows us to get a little greater range of motion we're actually gonna be able to pull the weight in a little further really squeeze our shoulder blades together to get that great contraction so here we go first set of eight let's get this thing done that is first set done so starting off with something like a t-bar row again because it's not a chest supported row this is going to allow us to use the whole back side of our body not only are we using our back here but we're also really engaging glutes and hamstrings as well and it's a good functional movement put you in a good position to get better at life so way to light there but a good first set with your on a couple more 25s here so it's always helpful if you guys have one of these landmines that you can use for the t-bar rows some gyms have them some gyms don't but definitely makes it a lot easier I don't always recommend just throw-in the barbell in the corner of a room just really hard on the walls on the paint but if you have one of these landmines that makes it much easier to accomplish the t-bar row so we're ready to get that second step we're actually not even gonna count that first set that was too light so let's go for set to eight starting now t-bar rows let's do this so these guys heavy compound for our first movements and as per usual as the workout progresses we get a little lighter we're gonna focus a little on tempo we're gonna try and drive a lot of volume into the muscles so if you guys have questions go ahead and comment happy to answer them for you now one thing you guys will notice we're in straps today okay and I'm gonna wear straps when I'm focusing on back so I can really help try and take my arms out of it save my grip it's got a lot of work to do today and if I try going without straps it's likely that my forearms are gonna give out before I get the back workout I want you'll notice an exercise like T borrows very compound take a little more out of you it's gonna take your breath away a little bit get the heart rate a little higher than something more isolated ready for set to let's do this thing [Music] it always seems like I'm making so much noise when there's nobody in the gym and maybe I just am making a lot of noise I don't know what are you guys training this weekend I want to know what you've got for your Flex Friday workout of the day if you don't have anything planned right now give this back workout a try you guys are gonna love this so let's get some hearts guys if you guys like the t-bar row give us some hearts I'm curious if this is something that you guys use in your routine give us some hearts if you like that t-bar row so we're go for sets here then we're going to move on to some pull-ups after this get our compound movements out of the way first move on to more of our volume exercises after this what am I sitting on I got some Dymatize amino Pro fruit punch today two scoops giving me five grams of amino acids a little bit of situating a little bit of torreón in there I like getting touring in on my back days especially my lower back tends to get pretty pumped and I can get kind of annoying when you're halfway through a back workout so I like touring set three let's go you guys will feel this in your legs - yesterday was leg day and I feel my hamstrings as I bend over and I perform this movement nothing wrong with that here we go set three [Music] oh now you notice this is not perfect super strict form on this the strict form will come later in the workout but guys when you're trying to force and produce a muscle growth occasionally you're going to have to use a little bit of controlled momentum to try to accomplish that progressive overload or moving more weight getting a more volume how often do I train back I hit back directly one time per week and I do that because back has always been a strength of mine okay I don't have to hit it very often so I only trained it once a week yeah yeah so if your forearms are cramping doing this exercise guys get some straps okay if I'm doing maybe some deadlifts you know there's days where I won't use straps I don't want to completely not train my forearms but when you're really going for a heavy and hard back workout like we are today your forearms are going to give out if you don't have straps and that's fine if you're trying to work your forearms but if you want to get the most out of your back strap up all right guys last set t-bar rows eight reps we're feeling good let's get it done Oh yes t-bar rows this is like one of those old-school exercises you do those and you just start feeling like you just you start feeling like you're Lou Ferrigno or something right it's good stuff I like the t-bar row do it do it right try it with the 25 pound plates rest there's about 60 to 90 seconds in between sets now we're moving on to some pull-ups so we'll head over here so for the pull-ups we're just going to go to failure so the way that I ever written today is four sets to failure now I'm gonna go a close grip here because we're gonna come back and we're gonna hit some assisted pull-ups later with a wide grip okay now for pull-ups full range of motion is something that's super important and it's something that a lot of people don't accomplish when they're doing a pull-up so we're gonna come all the way down and all the way up what does this mean I'm not gonna get as many reps okay - you know pull-ups are there's a great exercise for bodyweight but my body weights higher right now as I'm looking to gain weight so it's a little harder to accomplish more reps so you have to keep those things in mind when it comes to pull-ups we're gonna do a Close Grip here - failure probably get honestly like eight good reps see range of motion is what's key here all the way down [Applause] so there's eight reps a lot of people make the mistake of maybe again moving too fast on the pull-ups not incorporating the right tempo for these it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to do pull-ups if you're not going all the way down so what we're really trying to target here is a lat and in order to hit our lats we have to get our shoulder blades to completely relax and contract with every rep that we do so see a lot of people do pull-ups and it's all biceps okay we're trying to go into the lats by letting those shoulder blades split apart at the top and then squeeze as we start the rep on the way down so little harder on your ego do you guys know what we do we leave already go at the door so we get the most out of our workout set - here we go all the way down ah the guy's the most important part of a pool is not at the top it's at the bottom okay the top of the pull-up if you don't get all the way up to your chin that's okay because we work a lot of arms when we get past a certain point this is the action right there that we're looking for and to pull up it's getting that shoulder blade involved and not so much interested in getting all the way all the way up to the top that and I just can't do it right so that's what my take is on pull-ups great question so when I'm in a surplus how many calories above maintenance am I taking in right now I burn on average about 3,500 calories a day I aim for 4,000 so I'm about 500 over surplus or over maintenance but keep in mind guys your calorie burn it's an estimate okay so you really have to pay close attention to the mirror to the scale pay attention to how much fat you're gaining to know whether or not you need to bring your calories up or down and in all reality you know people take it too they try and take it too quick I post up a transformation Tuesday picture the other day over the course of seven years I've gained 22 pounds of lean body mass it's about 3 pounds a year guys you break that down you know that's that's not much is less than a pound every quarter you start breaking that down it's less than a quarter pound every month it's that is slow process alright set three Oh at the very bottom of the movement stretch it's okay to hang there for a minute if you're going to spend time pausing at the bottom to get a better stretch there's nothing wrong with that pull-ups never been a strong point for me so I do them right I'm not gonna be the guy that sitting here busting out 20 30 pull-ups at a time but I'm gonna make sure I do them right I'll turn it for a t-bar row there's tons of them okay if you maybe don't have the setup for a t-bar row you can always try a bent-over barbell row you could try a bent over dumbbell row you could try an inverse row unlike a smith machine or with some TRX cables number of different things that will accomplish similar results so these guys have versa grips that I'm wearing here I really like the versa grips mostly just because it's easy to get in and out of I don't have to actually wrap something around the bar so I've used them for years I like them they work well alright guys last set Close Grip pull-ups here we go Oh six reps there nothing crazy guys you know I'm never again no shame in admitting I'm not the guy that can bust out 20 pull-ups in a row but most guys over 200 pounds are gonna have a hard time doing a bunch of strict pull-ups and that's what I've been interested in so next up going to an incline row on a bench here we're gonna go four sets of 12 reps so I'll move a bench over here and we're gonna get this done I like this because t-bar rows compound movement chest is not supported now we're going to move to a chest supported row to try and isolate our mid back and upper back a little more so there's reporters staff was here my stats right now I'm five-eleven and a half if we want to be technical and woke up this morning that that's no hair guys so the hair does add another inch at least so five eleven and a half woke up this morning completely empty and nude the way you should weigh yourself first thing in the morning 220 pounds so we're trying to put on a little weight right now and we're being successful alright twelve reps incline row let's get this we go sixty pounds really try and focus on that mid to upper back biggest mistake people make working back is they fail to get a full range of motion so you guys will notice here I'm not right here doing a biceps exercise I'm all the way down shoulder blades completely split apart and then I'm pulling back up squeezing shoulder blades together yeah I mean in general guys your hypertrophy or muscle growth is going to be accomplished in the rep range of about eight to fourteen okay anything under eight is kind of considered strength and so typically my workouts start with more strength based reps and then I move on to more hypertrophy based reps as time goes on but keep in mind everybody responds a little different okay you might find that you know five sets of five is a good way to get growth for you rest time gets a little shorter as we move into our higher reps it requires a little less energy than the t-bar row or the pull-up great exercise you can't cheat on this exercise and that's why I love it so much every back workout that you do should include a chest supported row should also include a non chest supported row so you can make sure you're targeting all areas of the back you know pull-ups are gonna hit a lot of your back but primarily lats so depending on the grip too now Close Grip I'm hitting a little more of my mid back as well and when you do it right you're also getting some traps involved as well not a ton but it's primarily a lap based exercise so most of my back workouts are going to include two pull-up motions and at least two row motions with some other isolation work built-in set three 12 reps incline chest supported row great exercise guys Oh a totally different feel when you support the chest because now what we're doing is we're taking our lower back out of it and we're able to better isolate that mid and upper back how does the flare of the elbow affect tension on the muscle good question as you flare elbow out we're gonna target a little more of our upper back traps as we keep elbows in we're gonna target more of those rhomboids right in between the shoulder blades and even a little more lats doing that I'll typically try and go about a 45 degree angle so I get a good mid-back workout here I'm trying to keep the traps out of it as much as I can no I don't the question is do I throw a rear delt in on my back day I don't because I feel like I mean even here all these exercises so far we've been hitting rear delt every pulling motion that you do is gonna hit rear delts I don't see the point in specifically trying to isolate them on a back day I'll save that for shoulders all right guys last set best set chest supported rows here we go Oh got tough there and again the thing I like about this is you can't really keep so as it gets hard you really don't have that opportunity to start rocking or swaying when you shouldn't correct these guys up now we had on the agenda to do a assisted pull-up we're going to change that and we're going to do a lat pulldown instead so we're gonna go lap pull down for four sets of twelve and we'll do that right over here I like the lat pulldown I'm just looking for something where I can get a wider grip and go for more reps here so we're going right here for a lat pulldown four sets of twelve with a wide grip we might close grip on our pull-ups for lower reps now we're gonna go wide grip try and get some more reps and again here it's not the time to throw a bunch of weight on and start using a ton of momentum for this we're trying to keep it pretty strict slight lean back focus on the shoulder blades here we go [Music] ah it's a good good way and 60 pounds it's funny when I first started training and there's times where I put the whole stack on here it's just not necessary not a good way to do something like like a lat pulldown so keys here you'll notice I'm coming down to about four head maybe chin height there's really no point when you're trying to target your back and coming all the way down to your chest again the key here is in the left we totally letting the shoulder blade relax and then are we allowing it to contract as we come down if we do that that's what we're really going to target the back yeah most back days guys I'm gonna throw in some biceps in there so just two pens you know we try and keep these workouts live a little shorter back day usually I'll throw in maybe some bfr for biceps so I'll throw in something that doesn't take a lot of time but accomplishes a lot of work and then usually anymore I'll have an entire day that I dedicate to arms all right second set flat pulldown here we go [Music] Wow see the problem with back training is we're trying to hit a muscle that's all the way back here by attaching a weight right here so we have to work through wrist joint elbow joint and shoulder joint before we even get to the muscle we're trying to target and that means a lot can go wrong so you start curling your wrist we're pulling too much with your biceps and all of a sudden you're not using hardly any back at all so we really have to focus on the right weight the right tempo and consciously focus on making that lap contract so how do you work for back thickness thickness in your back comes from things like deadlifts you've got to incorporate deadlifts deadlifts should be a staple in your routine that's at least once a week if you're trying to build back thickness things like your t-bar rows are gonna be super important as well for building that back thickness you know when it comes to actually like isolating your chest supported rows really good for bringing the detail but not so good for back thickness it wasn't until I started deadlifting on a consistent basis that I started getting that thickness to my back and you'll notice anybody who deadlifts has thick back all right guys third set lat pulldown good tempo good control right to my nose full range of motion ah [Music] now keep in mind a little lean back is okay on your lap hold on you don't need to be perfectly up and down I get a lot of questions about pull ups behind the back or lat pull downs behind the neck not a big fan I like a slight lean back really focus on the shoulder blades so the reason why I'm not pulling it all the way in my chest is we don't need to in order to activate the lats so you guys have to remember we're using the weight attaches to our hand but we're trying to target this muscle here there's absolutely no benefit past a certain point notice how my back isn't moving at all if I keep pulling it doesn't help full contraction of the lat is from up here pull down right to about there anymore and I'm just working mostly biceps so it's trying to work biceps there's nothing wrong with that it's nothing wrong with coming all the way down but try that nice and controlled focused on that lat come down to about nose height you really really have to make that mind muscle connection with your lap great question though nothing wrong with coming down to the chest we're trying to isolate the lats I prefer not to come as low last set Oh guys the lats are feeling full the tempos right we're getting a great pump through a lap throw it back take some time hit a few poses in between exercises drive the blood into the lats we're trying to build v-taper here you guys do your pull-ups right you do your lap pull downs right and what we start getting is that v-taper that every guy wants you can't make your waist smaller make your lats and shoulders bigger turn your mic set up first there you go guys rap-rap poles are not a replacement for deadlifts but there are great exercise so I stopped doing rack pulls a while back because I don't really see the benefit of Rack pulls over deadlifts if I'm going to do it may as well fire up the glutes and hamstrings a little more that's just my opinion okay guys we're moving over here next rows and we're gonna use a rope for these rows and we're going to incorporate some rest pause sets here as well so for this we are going to focus on pulling back really squeezing the lats here really trying to get full range of motion and we're gonna age that so we're gonna go 3 sets of 10 but after each set we're gonna pause for about 5 seconds now we're gonna do eight more okay good technique to use this rest-pause technique if you're looking for a little something different for your back workout so again set a 10 pause for about five seconds immediately do a set of eight after that I love using the rope love love love the Rope for Rose it's gonna be a little too much weight I can tell already full range of motion here so 10 watching the clock me give a 5 seconds and I'm gonna do eight more here we go the rest pause allows you to hit a little more depth into the back then you would normally hit it's gonna exhaust you a little bit but we're looking for that range where the first 10 reps are pretty close to failure give yourself just enough time to recharge and then we're busting out hopefully eight more reps after that great great technique to use on a muscle group like back again guys we don't need to pull past a certain point what we're trying to do here is we're trying to target in between the shoulder blades we're trying to target lower traps and rhomboids which are right between your shoulder blades so to accomplish that we stretch and then we squeeze and really past a certain point it's all biceps so we're trying to get the full stretch and then squeeze and then back to the full stretch and squeeze that's how you target back if you don't pay attention to your shoulder blades doing back you're not hitting your back right we're trying to hit back trying to keep biceps out of it for the most part set to the rope though guys if you have not used the rope tried the rope for your rose you're missing out this is a great great way to help target that mid back five seconds a couple deep breaths might get a little sloppy on your second set there but that's okay we're really trying to focus on those shoulder blades really trying to focus on pulling low as well if you pull too high we get a lot of traps involved traps automatically want to take over and we're trying to encourage other muscle groups to work instead a lot of fluid on a back day super important big muscle groups so I've been working out for 11 years and consistently five to six days a week I don't think I've gone a week where I train less than three times a week at least getting something in so about six days a week right now we train Monday through Saturday and we take sunday off all right guys back is feeling good feeling full we're trying to build the detail the v-taper the thickness in that middle back and this workout will hit all areas of your back last set really focusing I'm making the most out of this one here let's go yeah five-second break mentally recharged that's good try the rest pause you guys are gonna like that if you haven't done it before and you're looking for something different to get a little more out of your back workout now we're gonna go to a straight arm pull down the same technique rest-pause three sets we go ten reps and then eight after the rest so we're gonna do it on a straight bar over here this time I like to switch between a rope and a straight bar for my uprights and actually sometimes the problem with a lat pulldown is that you end up hitting the top of the rack so we'll do it over here this will make a little more sense but I am going to use a straight bar a good post-workout just post workout you're looking for 40 grams of whey isolate so I like using Dymatize iso100 peanut butter current favorite flavor you're looking for some carbs I like something simple like a banana that does the trick from actually like blending my shakes post-workout whenever possible I like to get the most out of it so I'll typically do a scoop and a half iso100 one banana almond milk ice sea salt to give it a little extra flavor and then usually top it with like some puffed rice that's a good one right there guys go to the store pick up it's one ingredient puffed rice or puffed corn add it to a thick shake totally changes it thank me later it's a good one all right pull them straight over here and we're gonna go 3 sets of 10 with an 8 rep drop set here then start off at 110 here we go [Applause] [Music] [Music] five second pause mentally recharge we go a little wider here eight more squeeze the last you just feel the blood if you're looking to build more width this is a good workout for you we're putting in a lot of blood into the lats it feels really good same thing applies to this exercise before it's all about the shoulder blades so we're letting them split apart and then we're really squeezing them and sticking out the chest as we come down favorite protein flavor guys I'm a peanut butter and I'll be the first one to admit it so peanut butter iso100 hands-down favorite flavor close second chocolate peanut butter third favorite chocolate coconut 90 percent of the time it's a peanut butter shake that one was a home run but generally what was that no I don't add peanut butter to it and if you guys get a shameless plug if you guys haven't tried the peanut butter iso100 you don't need to add peanut butter to it it tastes like you're drinking a jar of peanut butter and for those of you who you know dream about peanut butter at night I've had that dream before just like a jar Costco sized peanut butter drinking that give it a try alright guys I get set [Music] [Music] hi five-second break here we go [Music] Oh a little sloppy but we're digging deep there we are digging deep can work out the back with only dumbbells at home yes you can to a certain point I don't know how heavy your dumbbells are you can get a lot of really good work done with just dumbbells at home the challenge that you have is do you have a place to do pull-ups because just because of the way gravity is if we have trouble getting this motion in this is gonna be really hard to get a full back workout in where you're good and develop so yes you can mostly be able to target the mid-back if you really want to get a good lat workout in you've got to have some kind of pull down motion as well while you're doing this exercise yeah about 45-degree angle okay we're bent and bent forward a little bit sticking the butt out so we can get a good stretch the only reason why I don't come all the way up and down because I couldn't get a good stretch if I'm right here so I have to come back to allow those lats to stretch remember this better stretch better contraction so if you're not getting a really good stretch on each and every rep the likelihood then you're not getting a good contraction is pretty high okay last set finish this sucker off strong whoo five-second break things are burning Bloods flowing but we're gonna push and dig even deeper definitely hit and failure there so that's it guys that's the back workout you guys need to try check it out you guys can follow me along on instagram at trainer mic one answer your questions there i'm on facebook at michael Hildebrandt going and like the athlete page there for those of you on youtube check out my channel at michael Hildebrandt happy to answer any questions you guys have that's today's flex Friday back workout I'm gonna check it out with rollback shop for you

Channel: Bodybuilding.com

Views: 67,025

Rating: 4.7408905 out of 5

Keywords: bodybuilding.com, how-to, how to, bodybuilding motivation, bodybuilding, motivation, fitness, workout, exercise, exercises, build muscle, lose weight, lose fat, Weight Training (Hobby), Muscle, Body, Health, hypertrophy, muscle-building, back, Rhomboid Major Muscle (Muscle), lats, workout for back, back bodybuilding workout, back exercises, workout lats, back training bodybuilding, back training workout, best back workout, back workouts, mike hildebrandt, dymatize

Id: om8pKNMUDmc

Length: 50min 37sec (3037 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 20 2017