One thing I see people do constantly is stagnate with diminishing returns as an end result, i.e., they do the same exercises, do not alter the weight, positioning, or order of each exercise.
Your body is designed to adapt, so you need to learn to trick your body, always keep your body guessing. Also, changing up the routine will prevent boredom.
I maintain a training log, which allows me to track my progress and plan my workouts for the following week. Go into the gym with an idea of the exercises you plan to do (you should do this with all your training sessions). If you train at a commercial gym during busy hours, keep an open mind to altering up the order of your exercises or possibly having to replace one exercise with another. I have a day job and must train at night, so I have to keep this frame of mind.
If you train at home or a small private gym and don’t have to worry about others, you may also want to incorporate circuits (i.e., selecting three-five movements and doing all movements in one circuit, resting, then repeating for generally a total of three circuits). I think full-body circuits are great for the new person getting back into the gym. Isolated circuits (hitting one muscle group) are great for muscle fatigue. I don’t get the opportunity to do circuits because I hit the gym during the busy hours.
IF YOU MISSED PART ONE OF SUZANNE HEDMAN'S BIG BACK TRAINING SECRETS READ IT HERE!
As previously mentioned, I maintain a training log allowing me to track progress and plan my workouts. When you’re planning your workouts, take the following into consideration:
1. What have you done over the past three-five weeks? If you’ve hit your back with really heavy weight, you may need to lighten the load and “deload” meaning take a week to let your body recover from the heavy weights by doing one week of light weights and more volume.
2. What is your objective? Do you want to build a stronger back, are you planning to compete in a bodybuilding show or powerlifting meet, or do you simply train for health and looks (nothing wrong with that)? Your training routine must correlate to your overall goals. Both bodybuilders and powerlifters have periods in which the objective is to build overall mass and/or strength, followed by periods of leaning out and dieting (or deload/recovery for a powerlifter), which requires a different approach in one’s training at very specific periods. Everyone has different approaches in training, and I’m not saying my approach is the correct approach, I’m only here to explain the approach that works for me.
I am a firm believer that one must have periods of lifting heavy weight for fewer reps (e.g., 5-10 rep sets depending upon muscle group) in order to build deep, dense muscle mass. Pushing, pulling, or lifting heavy weight means you need to push yourself, you need to feel like that 10th rep was really hard to get. Growth comes from this, push yourself! Examples of the types of sets I do on a back day may include:
a. Heavy sets of 10 reps per set, three to four sets total.
b. Drop sets – I may reduce the number of reps with each drop and reduce the amount of weight too or I may reduce the number of reps but increase weight for each drop. I generally do two to three total sets with three to four drop sets within each total set (each drop will include 15-25 reps).
c. High volume sets of at least 20 reps, three to four sets total. I may go light or moderately heavy depending upon if I’m dieting.
d. Straight sets, increasing the weight with each set, consistent number of reps for each set, three to four sets total.
3. If you’re new to the gym or have limited experience with all of the various machines in the gym, you may want to consider contracting with a personal trainer for a few sessions to learn how to use the equipment. Also, one of my favorite books of all time is Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding. This book is great for any person new to weight lifting who wants to lift weights and build muscle.
4. Your diet is key to your overall objectives. Calories must be significantly higher during periods of building mass and lower as you’re leaning out. If you’re lifting weights for Suzanne-Hedman-deadliftinghealth/looks (or you’re in off season with no show planned yet), take into consideration your training. For example, you may want to take in more calories on a leg workout day assuming you’re pushing yourself and lower on a day you may be doing arms only. Some people may disagree with this approach, but I like to stay relatively lean year round and have used this approach when I’m not planning to compete in a show or meet. If you can afford a trainer who has expertise in nutrition and diet, I would recommend you consider spending some money on this person. I use a virtual trainer for my contest preparation, attribute my success to his great knowledge and would recommend him to anyone. I don’t need a person overseeing me at the gym, I need a person who can look at my pictures and know how to tweak my diet and alter my training for success. I would be more than happy to give out his contact information if requested.
A good commercial gym will have a number of back machines that will enable you to get in a good workout.
👉 Some of my favorite exercises include the following
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