Full Back Routine

Whats going on guys ! So if you are currently following me on instagram or snapchat (IG: @antconfessore SNAPCHAT: confessore_94) you probably knew this blog was coming. As much as I enjoy sharing my workouts elsewhere for you guys, theres only so much information I can get out in other places. This is exactly why I enjoy putting my full routines on here because it allows me to go into much further detail for you. 

So last night I trained back by myself (boring) and I didn't have head phones lol. Regardless, I was able to make it a good session and get a lot in during a short amount of time. Last week I had a heavy deadlift session ( I only deadlift every other week to cut my lower back some slack) If you ARE training for strength as oppose to muscular development/aesthetics than obviously you would be deadlifting more frequently. Anyway, I had a slow start but eventually found my groove. 

Warming up: I always like warming up with pull ups for my back days. Yesterday I happen to use the assisted version so I could focus a bit more on the contraction of my back during each rep and get effective reps in. Pull ups are hands down one of the best back but also exercises you could perform in general. I know now a days people try to create fancy looking workout routines but their is numerous evidence to show that the basics are extremely effective and simply cannot be beat in terms of muscle growth and fat loss. 

Having said that lets get into the workout ! After warming up with pull ups I moved onto a uni-lateral high row machine. On most days, I do prefer to start my sessions with a heavy compound movement but yesterday I wanted to change the order up a bit and decided otherwise as my training has always been very "instinctual"in the sense that I never really plan what I'm going to do and usually go of how I feel on that given day. 

I performed a rather quick four sets of 8-10 reps to get each side of my back fully engaged and all the muscles firing ready for the next movement to come which would be my heavy compound movement for the day, bent over barbell rows. I do enjoy alternating grips each time I perform these, yesterday I happen to use an overhand grip. I started off with 135lbs to get a feel for the movement and test my strength for the day. Once I felt the weight I knew I would be able to go decently heavy. After this set I jumped up to 225lb's for two sets of 12 reps. After having a pretty easy time handling those sets I jumped up to 245, 265 and 275 for my next three sets all while sticking between 8-12 reps.

After being in a bent over position and placing my lower back under a lot of stress I always try to move onto something in a more upright seated position to give my back a break so I went over to the seated cable row. I typically prefer a close grip attachment as it has always felt best for me. I didn't waste any time and got right to five sets of 8-12 reps and managed to use more weight than last week. When you guys are in the gym training its extremely important to be conscious of this concept. You can't use the same weight each week and expect to see results. I'm not saying you need to up the weight 10, 20, 30lb's each week but there should be some sort of change to create a new sense of stimulation for the muscle you are training.  

Anyway, Once I finished my seated rows, I decided I would move over to a wide grip underhand pulldown and tighten things up since I was nearing the later part of the workout. I didn't go as heavy as I normally would had I done my pulldowns earlier, but I still made it difficult for myself by making myself squeeze and hold each rep at the bottom for about a three second count. This is an excellent technique to really flood the working muscle with as much blood as possible to finish things off in an intense fashion. I performed four sets of 12-15 reps herald my back was just about done.

Once I got done with the pulldowns I decided to implement a few sets of hyper extensions to finish things off. A lot of people don't realize how crucial lower back strength is. Having strong and well developed lower back muscles will help you in everyday life, if you're an athlete and obviously in the gym on big heavy compound lifts. When you perform these, you do want to make sure you're doing so in a slow and controlled fashion as trying to do these super fast may put you at risk for a lower back injury especially if you are adding resistance of any sort. 

Overall this was a great workout and definitely had me spent. It took me just about an hour to complete so it wasn't even extremely time consuming. I'm not certain what I'm training today so definitely check Instagram and snapchat as I'll try to have some highlights since I won't be by myself tonight. As always I want to thank whomever may be reading these. I genuinely enjoy discussing my routines with people and trying to help anyway I can so please if theres anything you guys want to ask don't hesitate ! I'll catch you guys on the next blog.

Routine Summary:

Assisted pulls ups 4x10-12(Warm up) 

Single arm high row 4x8-10

Overhand barbell row 5x8-12 

Seated close grip row 5x8-12

Underhand wide grip pulldown 4x12-15(three second hold at bottom of each rep)

Hyper extensions 4x10-12(slow and controlled) 

Anthony Confessore 

Owner: Confessore Conditioning 

"Create The Best You"