Men's Fitness Articles - Back to Back in 10

The latissimus dorsi may be the biggest muscle in your upper body, but that doesn’t mean it should take all day to build. When you’re pressed for time, say you’ve got only 10 minutes, you can increase the intensity of your back-training sessions by eliminating your between-sets rest, yet still train your back effectively. Next time you find yourself in a time crunch on back day, try this superfast back blast. Not only is it time-compliant, but the sudden increase in intensity can shock your back muscles into continued growth despite the minimal time spent training them.

 

THE WORKOUT
The following workout consists of two moves: the wide-grip pull-down (to develop width) and the bent-over cable row (to build thickness). The benefit of these exercises is that they provide continuous action on the working muscle and allow for a peak contraction at the top of the movement. After performing a warm-up set, place the pin at the heaviest weight you can lift for eight good reps.

 

 

The key to the entire workout is to engage as many muscle fibers as possible, and taking your time on both concentric and eccentric phases of each repetition will accomplish just that. Immediately after finishing eight solid reps, quickly reset the pin lighter by two plates and perform another eight reps. Without resting, set the pin lighter again by two plates and complete eight more controlled reps. Depending on how much weight you started with, you can now set the pin lighter by either one plate or two. For a serious burn, do as many reps as you can. On the final set of each exercise, again drop the weight by one or two plates, and rep to failure.

 

The total number of sets you perform for either movement will be five. However, for the last two sets, you want to perform as many reps as possible. Rest one minute between exercises.