Thursday, January 21, 2010

Superset Back and Bicep’s Workout.

Superset Back and Bicep’s Workout.

I’ve been following pretty much the same workout routine for the past few months now, and whilst I’ve been making some pretty good gains consistently, I’ve been finding myself in the mood for a different style of training recently. Still wanting an intense pump from lifting, and to focus on conditioning over muscle growth, I decided to put together a workout routine that worked muscle combo’s, such as the back and bicep’s, which are worked both as primary and secondary muscle groups depending on which exercise is being performed.

This workout below is intended to be performed with exercises A. and B. supersetted, with minimum time between stations, and no more than 2 minutes rest between supersets.

The exercise combo’s are listed below, but if you want the full workout plan, ready for you to follow and enter in your weights and reps per workout (a total of 6 workout slots are already designed for you), you can download it for free on my members site.

For each pyramid work set, you  should aim to increase the weight by a minimum of 5%, and drop your rep range by 2. Ideally you should select just the right weight for your rep range so that you don’t reach failure until the final set.

Only increase your weights per set if you achieve your rep-range within a 1+/- range for that weight. For example if your first work-set is 12 reps lifting a 50lb weight, and you only achieve 10 reps, then increasing your weight for fewer sets will only fatigue you further without causing further micro-tears to your fibers, equaling in muscle-repair and growth. The test for whether you should be increasing your weights per set is that you can complete the same weight for the next rep-range within 30 seconds. If you can’t, stick with the same weight even though you are reducing your reps per set until you can increase the weights and still complete the reps within a 1+/- range.

Seated Lateral Pulldown (In Front of Chest): 3 x 20/15/12

Bent Over Bar Bell Row (Overhand Wide Grip): 3 x 20/15/12

Bent Over Dumbbell Rows: 3 x 15/12/10

Reverse EZ-Bar Push Up*: 3 x 15/12/10

Inverted Underhand Pull ups**: 3 x As many as you can.

Seated Low-Row Cable Pull: 3 x 15/12/10

Seated Preacher Cable Curls: 3 x 15/12/10

Overhand Grip EZ Curl: 3 x 15/12/10

Alternative Dumbbell Curl: 3 x 12/10/8 (Per arm)

High Cable Pulley: 3 x 15/12/10


A quick note on nutrition:- As I trained quite late in the night on this occasion, I didn't want to consume much in the way of carbohydrates, even though I felt depleted after my intense workout, I am cutting down on body weight for an underwear shoot that I am the new face and body for that is launching throughout the USA in February (The brand is called ES Underwear). So I cooked a simple meal of white fish with greens, that is high in lean protein, virtually fat free, and contains plenty of alkaline-rich vegetables.


Steamed Talapia and Greens.

It's really simple to cook. I normally buy a bag of frozen Talapia and allow half to thaw in the fridge over night. Once thawed, I I place each fillet in a sheet of baking foil, and sprinkle generously with red fish spice, some mixed herbs, and a squirt of lemon juice. I then folded up the two shorter edges, rolling the longer ones together like you would the top of a brown paper bag. (You can also lay several stems of asparagus on the top of the fish before you roll up the foil, so as to cook the asparagus at the same time).

Place on a cooking tray and cook at 350f in the oven for 14 minutes, and serve immediately for the best taste, although if you cook several at a time, you should allow them to cool before putting them in a tupawear container or zip-lock back, and keeping in the fridge. 

For the green veg, I steamed these over a hot pan with a little salt added, until just firm to the touch, and once on the plate, topped off with diced organic tomatoes that were heated in a pan on low heat.

Supplement wise, I've really cut back on many that I was taking when I was pre-contest, if anything just to see how this affected me, and the one thing that I can say is that I do feel a difference in my ability to recover and length of time that I can go all out in the gym. One thing I have started doing more recently in drinking alkalinized water, and taking a digestive enzyme with each solid meal. For more info about these supplements, check out my recommendations on my fitness site: www.robrichesfitness.com 

For individual workout programs and nutritional plans, contact me at training@robriches.com 

Until next time, stay focused and continue to make progress in each of your workouts, no matter how small they may be! 

All then best,

Rob Riches