I'm a little naughty as I seem to recall a similar title back when Muscle & Fitness was 'Muscle Builder / Power' in an article on back featuring Franco Columbo. Anyway...
Starting yesterday and worse today the part of my lats where they affix into the sides of my my rib cage are sore. If I pull my shoulders back I can feel a little soreness in the rest of the meat. Now I know that being sore isn't the be all and end all of hoped for gains in strength and new muscle growth but still - it made me wonder what I'd done differently.
Saturday was a chest n back day. I'm a great believer in the KISS principle so it was (I do two different sessions, alternating as and when): Iso-lever bench, dumbbell rows and low row. On the dumbbells I max out with the current gyms heaviest bells (all of 70-kilos or 154lbs) and max again on the low row with the 135-kilos / 297lbs.
Being analytical is key to becoming No 1 (or at least half decent ha ha ) so I ask what did I do. On the dumbbell rows the warm up weights come up quickly enough that I am almost catching the weights at the top of the movement. The heavy sets (2 x 8 this week) with the 70's puff me out (strong yes - fit... err not so much) enough that I take my time between arms never mind between sets. I also don't try to balance the bells so have my hands forward so I can just pull. I did make a mental note that I had the bells square on when they were light but the 70's were more across the body - almost the same position as if I'd been using a barbell.
On low cable rows I'd had the nag from the gym owner to contend with moments before (see article) and so may have been more determined than usual (I'll show you! etc) in pulling my elbows back, sitting more upright and perhaps holding the weight a mo at the contracted position. I made an even greater effort than usual not to slam the weights down. I never do this anyway unless it literally gets away from me - see below.
My final movement, something I am still working on regarding scheduling so it didn't have to be a back day although it does work Traps and to a lesser degree lower back too, was the IronMind Rolling Thunder lift. I'm deliberately not mentioning numbers for a while so best of luck finding out what I'm pulling. On one lift, with a decent weight, it almost popped out of my hand. Fortunately I didn't get told off. I know of more than a few of my bigger gym buddies who've been told off for show boating, throwing down weights and the like (Sam!! I'm thinking of you ha ha) but I do try not to be one of those.
So what was it. Looking at the above (I'll highlight them there in bold and note them below) let's see:
- I am almost catching the weights at the top of the movement. Speed of movement. Note 'almost' in the quote. In other words I'm moving decent enough weight - 66lbs and then 110lbs - quite fast but not so fast that I am cheating.
- I also don't try to balance the bells so have my hands forward so I can just pull. I didn't want to be faffing around trying to balance the bell and thus waste energy I just wanted to pull heavy ass weight. Sometimes some movements require needless cocking about when muscle doesn't care - it's pull and contract and stretch and that's it.
- Pulling my elbows back, sitting more upright and perhaps holding the weight a mo at the contracted position Err that's probably how ALL rowing and indeed back movements should be done. Remember I'm no bodybuilder so it's not all about the contraction for me but I do like having some muscle and working it hard should make me stronger quicker so...
- Having the Rolling Thunder at the end, which as above is a back movement of sorts, may have been enough to tip me over from a simple session into a more effective one.
Regardless of whatever movement or lift (if for strength) have half an eye on what you did that made it better than usual. In the meantime some sympathy for my aching muscles please. It's legs today... wish me luck I'm going in ha ha
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