My Back Workout

My Back Workout
Writing is one of my favorite things in the world. I love
to impart knowledge to people who are truly looking to sort
through the maze of misinformation out there on health and
fitness and learn how to achieve optimal health and enjoy a
much higher quality of life. Trust me people.....you will
enjoy everything in your life better when you are
healthy!—give yourself the gift of good health!

In this article I'm going to tell you exactly what I do for
my back. I do four exercises on my back day.

1) Machine Shoulder Shrugs - I get a tight grip on the
handles and keep my arms straight and imagine they are
bars. Standing straight up and holding the grips with my
arms straight down at my sides, I shrug with my traps to
lift the bars up as far as I can. I don't try to pull it up
with my arms. All of my focus is my traps doing the work.
Then slowly lower bars and relax your trap and repeat.

2) Machine Close Grip Row - The machine makes you assume
the proper position. Sitting down and bracing your chest
against the pad, reach forward and grab the handles.
Keeping your back straight use your back muscles to pull
the bars toward your midsection. Once again don't use
your arms to "pull" the handles. Bring to your body
then slowly let bars return to starting position and
repeat.

3) Lower Back Machine - Sit in machine with knees bent and
feet on platform, back resting against pad. Smoothly
and slowly push back the back pad with your rigid back
to the full range of motion of the machine. Slowly let
the back pad return to original position and repeat.

4) Cable Machine Wide Grip Pulldown - Sit on the bench and
reach up and grab bars with a wide grip. Use your back
to pull the bar down in front of you to your chin
level. Once again think of your arms as bars. Slowly
let bar raise up until your arms are extended fully again
and repeat.

I use an advanced pyramid routine—3 sets pyramiding upward
in weight for each exercise, with the corresponding number
of repetitions decreasing. I also switch the order of the
four exercises each week to keep my muscles shocked into
growing.

Example:
1st set - 3 plates a side for 12 reps
2nd set - 4 plates a side for 10 reps
3rd set - 5 plates a side for 8 reps

To maintain progress and strength in any weight-training
program, each muscle group should be worked out at least
once a week. It is important to work out all of your
muscles each week, not just certain ones. When you start a
weight training program, there will be a trial-and-error
period where you will learn what poundage to use for each
exercise. No matter what your goals, your resistance should
be such that the last repetition of each set is all you can
do. As a general rule of thumb, you should exhaust the
muscle after performing ten to twelve repetitions of one
exercise. If you do not, then you should increase the
weight. Learn the correct weight for you.

The gym is not a contest to see who can throw around the
most weight and impress people. It is about using the right
amount of weight per exercise to make your body grow and to
build lean muscle and burn fat. Learn the science of
weight training and really make your time in the gym as
productive as it can possibly be!

----------------------------------------------------
Learn about achieving optimal health, fighting disease,
reversing aging and training your mind to be successful,
fulfilled and happy at http://www.totalhealth4life.net