Back Day: Gains Going Up

It's not secret that my favorite day when it comes to working out is leg day (ie. booty day).  My second favorite day is shoulders.  Did you know building your shoulders can make you look like you have a smaller waist?  My LEAST favorite day is Chest day (that's Heather's favorite and about the only day she can lift considerably more weight than me), so that leaves Back Day coming in third.

I do likes me some back day...for several reasons.

1. Heather likes a sexy back, thus I must try and have a sexy back.
2. I too like a sexy back and it's often the first thing I look at when I see a woman in a swimsuit or wedding dress.
3. Having a well developed back lends itself to good posture...and good posture is super sexy, makes you look taller, and also makes you look more confident.
4. Our back muscles, lower and upper, give us so much strength and support.

Let's just take a gander at this picture.

That's Abby Wambach. She is one of my secondary loves and she also happens to play for the US Women's Soccer Team.  Soccer is rather boring.  She makes it worth watching.  I did get in trouble once for having a picture of her on my phone.  In my defense, it was on ESPN and it IS artistic...AND motivating (although I will not elaborate on how it motivates me).  In Heather's defense, she Abby was completely nude. Fine...here it is.

But IN MY DEFENSE AGAIN...Heather has a crush on Milla Jovovich.

And once when I just happened to see her google search history I noticed she had googled some youtube video of Milla singing or something...and when I asked her what EXACTLY she was doing with said youtube video...she just giggled and snatched her phone from me.

So there.

We are even.

Lord.  I have got off track.

So, back to back workouts.

HA. That was a pun.  BACK to...never mind.

So this was my workout today.  I don't know if anyone cares but I am always interested in new ideas and new moves...so here you go.

First, let us look at the primary players of our back.

When I workout by myself, or even when I train or others join me, I usually do 2 "moves", for 5 sets.  Each set contains 6-8 reps. So you do "Move A" 6-8 times then "Move B" 6-8 times, and you repeat for 5 sets.

For example.  Today I started with single arm bent over fly (8 rows on each arm) and then went to single arm upright row (each arm, six upright rows).  I used a 30 pound dumbbell the entire time.

 Here she is using the cable machine, which I do as well sometimes.  Today though, I used a dumbbell.  The advantage of doing single arm anythings is that you engage your core more.  Another advantage for me is that since I lift so heavy, doing a single arm bent over fly lets me support my lower back with the arm propped on my knee.

Next was triceps push-ups and good mornings.  Triceps push-ups are different than your regular push-up because you keep your arms tucked in.  This is a plus for me because regular push-ups hurt one of my elbows.  It also targets your triceps more (hence...the name TRICEPS pushup). I alternated those 8 push-ups with good mornings.  I used a 40 pound barbell. Good mornings work your lower back and your hammies.

If you can't do "real" push-ups, you can go to your knees.  If that is still too hard, you can push up off a chair, a bench, or even the wall.

Next up. Single arm triceps kickbacks and a series of side planks. I hold the side plan exercises for 30 seconds each on each side. I use a 12 pound for kickbacks.  You keep your elbow high and really only move your arm from the elbow down.

Normal side plank.  Your leg stacked on your knee makes it harder.  You can always drop that top foot and prop yourself with it either behind or in front of your straight leg.

 Side plank with dip.  Dip your hip to the ground and back up again.

Side plank with lateral raise or lateral drop.  I take that weight and extend my arm down over my head and back up again.

After all of those, we have bent over row and farmer carry. For bent over row I use 25 pound dumbbells.

 And for farmer carry I use 2 45 pound plates.  Farmer carry is just walking a certain distance while holding weights by your side (like a farmer carrying jugs of...milk? IDK).  I walk the length of the machines at Planet Fitness.  It probably takes me 30 seconds to do that.

I also did shrugs.  Shrugs are just what they sound like.  You hold weights and shrug your shoulders up and down.  I alternated this with bent over barbell row.

And that was my morning!  It took me about 45 minutes. I don't spend much time resting between sets because I want to keep my heart rate up and my time is limited because I have to get to work! 

 Happy Tuesday Dudes!