Please excuse typo's, spelling errors and other mistakes. My grammar was bad to begin with and now that I can post these from my phone...well... it's not going to improve.
Back Training From Yesterday
Most of my back training is pump, contract and stretch type work. This is what I have found to be the most effective for maintaining and growing. I do still include pin pulls, chain pulls, deads off mats and tugging on some heavy shit but nowhere near as much as I would if I was training solely for strength.
I have found, for me, there is a huge difference is how my body reacts when I train movements vs muscles. For my own joint health and longevity I train "muscles" far more than I do movements. While not as strong I end up holding more muscle, almost never get injured and can train with much higher volume than I even could before.
This was my back training from yesterday. This may look out of order if you are following my log. The reason is - it is out of order because I am changing my legs back to Saturday (I will train them Friday this week due to the Sports Performance Training Summit on Sat)
Side Note: I am really looking forward to this one. We have over 250 people registered and when it comes to Sports Training this is one hell of a line up. While I am in the video I am just doing the seminar intro as I am not qualified to speak on sports training. Powerlifting and getting strong to be strong - yes. Sports - NO! I learned many years ago stick to what you know and don't pretended to know what you don't.
Pulldowns with Short Tsunami Bar with Comfort Grips - Reverse
* This will be the movement I will focus on "why" for this post. First off disregard I an using three elitefts products to do this. Note, I have a gym FULL of elitefts products so setting things like this is simple and easy for me to do. The question is what I am trying to achieve with all of this?
First with a trashed shoulder I have a hard time, a very hard time, getting a pull stretch on any back work. It also helps whenever I can use less weight and still trash the muscle. In the case of the lats I (and you) will always feel more tension if you try to bend the bar when you pull. For example, as a test, take any stick and hold it out in front of you. Have someone grab it so you can't pull the bar down. Now try to pull the bar down, what happens? You should feel your lats contract. Now do this while also trying to bend the bar, more contraction. Finally how would this feel if the bar actually did bend some and your goal was to keep it bent and not retract? This is the goal of the short tsunami bar.
The goal of the comfort grips is also to try to bend them in the middle creating and keeping more tension. The crock locks are to keep the handles from sliding off the bar.
Before I used this I used a wide DD handle that had a slight bend it in but the feeling I get the set up I have now is far greater.
You will see I control the tempo and try to increase the range of motion throughout the set.
Finally I am setting reverse on the machine to help keep my sternum up, reduce any cheating, and lock my lower back in.
NOTE: don't search for the short bar or grips on the site as they are not live products yet. They will be available some time in the future.
You can simulate this using a bar like THIS found in most gyms. It won't bend so it's not exactly the same but it would be how I would do this if I was on the road.
Here is a video of one of my sets. I did 6 sets of 10-12
Pulldowns with Short Tsunami Bar with Comfort Grips - Forward
* Same set up but I face toward the machine and pull down with more force and a faster tempo. Also using about double the weight of the first movement - facing away.
* worked up to the heaviest set of 10 I could do and repeated for a total of 4 work sets of 10-12 (to failure)
Chest Supported Row
* 3-4 warm up sets of 8-10 reps
* 4 work sets of 8-10 reps (2 reps shy of failure)
Low Rows
* 2 warm up sets of 10 reps
* 4 work sets of 10-12 (to failure)
4" Grenade Ball - Straight Arm Pulldown
* 2 warm up sets of 15
* 6 sets of 15 reps ( just shy of failure)