This workout targets the back, rear delts, and biceps with six pulling exercises. It’s part of a bodybuilding-focused push-pull-legs routine designed to maximize muscle growth. This routine prioritizes hypertrophy with diverse exercise variations and novel intensity techniques, while incorporating a minimalist approach to compound lifts like squats, bench presses, and deadlifts.
Begin with a five-minute warm-up (treadmill or StairMaster), followed by 10 arm circles and 10 cable external rotations per side. The workout starts with lat pulldowns. Perform four feeder sets of 10 reps each, gradually increasing the weight. Feeder sets prime the lats for the working sets, helping to establish a mind-muscle connection and determine the appropriate weight for failure. The first feeder set should be very light (RPE 4-5), with subsequent sets progressively increasing in intensity (RPE 6-7, 7-8). The final feeder set is taken to failure (RPE 10).
After the feeder sets, rest for two to three minutes and perform another set of lat pulldowns to failure, aiming to match the reps from the first failure set. Follow this with a mini drop set, reducing the weight by 30% and completing 4-5 reps. This ensures high muscle fiber activation. Use a medium overhand grip, about 1 to 1.5 times shoulder-width. Straps are recommended for failure sets to maximize lat engagement.
Next, perform three sets of 10-12 reps on the omni-grip chest-supported machine row. Vary your grip for each set (wide, closer, neutral/underhand). This exercise targets the traps and rhomboids. Any chest-supported row variation, or even a Helms row with dumbbells, can be substituted.
The next exercise is a superset of bottom-half dumbbell lat pullovers and a static lat stretch (30-second hold), performed for two sets. Focus on the lengthened, stretched portion of the pullover, as this is where the lats are under the most tension. The static lat stretch is performed individually for each side, holding at a 7/10 intensity.
Following the superset, perform three sets of 12-15 reps of omni-directional face pulls. Change the cable position for each set (low to high, shoulder height, high to eyes) to target the back muscles from various angles.
Now move on to biceps. Perform three sets of 6-8 reps on the EZ bar bicep curl, focusing on progressive overload. Controlled negatives are crucial, although some hip drive on the positive is acceptable.
Finally, finish with two sets of 10-12 reps of bottom-half preacher curls, targeting the stretched portion of the lift. Perform these unilaterally, starting with the weaker arm and matching reps on the stronger side. This promotes balanced bicep development.
