12 Week Lean Muscle Trainer Day 51:Back

Today’s back workout begins with compound movements to keep up intensity. I want you to go hard and heavy today. You’ll begin with bent-over rows, and you can choose Smith machine or barbell rows—whichever you prefer. You’ll perform 15-20 reps per set, pyramiding up in weight, and you’ll rest 2 minutes between sets.

Then you’ll do the same with lat pulldowns, going with 10-15 reps per set. You can perform these on a machine or with a cable. So this workout begins with more traditional bodybuilding moves without the increased cardiovascular intensity of cardio moves, as we’ve been incorporating. Variety makes everything better, including muscle growth and fat loss. Today’s workout targets muscle growth.

Then we’ll transition to a superset of reverse-grip pulldowns and straight-arm pullovers. I like to begin with a pure back move to activate the lats before transitioning to pullovers when targeting back. That’s because pullovers can be used to target back, chest or serratus muscles, but today we’re emphasizing lats. So, perform a set of reverse-grip pulldowns, and then immediately perform a set of pullovers. Make sure to set up your equipment so you can make this transition—and check out the video to see how Kai and Danielle do this to emphasize lats. You’ll rest 2 minutes between each of these 4 supersets.

The second superset begins with seated cable rows followed by dumbbell deadlifts. Both of these are moves we’ve performed frequently on this 12-week program—remember to stretch forward for seated cable rows, and to keep your spine (especially your neck) in alignment throughout the set for dumbbell deadlifts. Note how I correct Kai on this in the video.

Cardio

60 minutes

Perform 45 minutes of steady-state cardio on one machine and 15 more minutes on another. Do not rest between.

Workout

Bent-Over Rows 4 Sets / 15-20 Reps Rest 2 minutes between sets
Lat Pulldowns 4 Sets / 10-15 Reps Rest 2 minutes between sets
Reverse-Grip Pulldowns 4 Sets / 10-15 Reps SUPERSET 1: Perform a set of reverse-grip pulldowns followed immediately by dumbbell pullovers. Rest 2 minutes between supersets
Dumbbell Pullovers 4 Sets / 10-15 Reps
Seated Cable Rows 3 Sets - 15 Reps SUPERSET 2: Perform a set of seated cable rows followed immediately by dumbbell deadlifts. Rest 2 minutes between supersets
Dumbbell Deadlifts 3 Sets - 15 Reps

Cardio

60 minutes

Perform 45 minutes of steady-state cardio on one machine and 15 more minutes on another. Do not rest between

GETHIN’S GO-TO:
You’ll have noticed that sometimes I provide options to Danielle and Kai for exercises. Sometimes that’s because we’re performing a multi-move set and I don’t want one of them to rest while the other performs a set. At other times it’s to work around an injury or to achieve a specific personal objective. You can go with a move you prefer when it comes to choices such as Smith machine rows as compared to barbell rows, but do go with the other version about 1 time out 3 to so that you’re not over relying on your favorite exercises. That’s true unless it’s causing an injury or inflaming a previous one.

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