all right hi everybody John meadows here if my man James seals today we're going to hit a back workout we're gonna call this a perfect back workout we're going to hit our back from every angle using good basic heart exercises none of these crazy fluff exercises you see lots of kind of ball busting or ovary busting for the women type of work so let's get to work all right so we're starting off with a one-armed barbell row you may not have seen these before we've got a landmine attachment here as you can see watch James is back his back is flat he's got his thoracic spine in a really good position see how flat he is right here he's driving with his elbow notice we're using 25 pound plates to that gets you a little bit extra range of motion go down a little bit lower I'm gonna stop you can come up a little higher a place won't hit your chest I started doing these in 2002 I was training for the Nationals James and I were at another gym and we started playing around with these and we thought man this is a phenomenal exercise you're probably wondering what's the difference between this and a dumbbell you just got to try it it just feels different on the on the bar kind of the let the path of the bar alright work your way up on these again notice James his back is flat he's driving his elbow notice how he's resting his left arm on his left leg that's gonna give you a base don't turn this into a balance exercise you need the rest that opposite arm on the opposite leg see this upper body it's not twisting it's perfectly straight that's what you want perfect what a lot of people do Oh knees and a dumbbell row too is they get this twisting motion so you're not trying to train your waist you want all this up torso locked and not moving when all the elbow all the action has come from the elbow so you're driving here you're not doing this so flat here okay alright so we just finished our one-arm barbell rows in case I didn't mention those are for your lats right the meaty part of your outer back basically anytime you have your elbows traveling in with a neutral grip and even a supinated grip you're gonna hit your lats really hard so that's a great exercise to load your lats with heavy weight remember keep your back flat and drive with your elbow now we're going to move over to your rhomboids there's a if there's a tough muscle to make grow it your rhomboids you don't see too many thickly developed rhomboids on people in bodybuilding and I think it's because it's a tough muscle to get to work but also most people just tend to focus on training their lats and not the rhomboids to train your rhomboids it's very it's a very simple adjustment so instead of training your lats like so turn your grip so that is pronated and now we're getting into the rhomboids your lower traps and rhomboids are kind of right in the center your upper back so this is the move that is called the meadows row I didn't call it that myself everybody else started calling out so I just went with the flow but this is great for your rhomboids you're still going to get some upper lat too and you even get some trap work as well so lower traps rhomboids right in a meaty part of the middle of your back and a little bit of upper lat - so this will be our first set here and by the way we did three sets of about eight pretty heavy bullnose one-arm barbell rows and we're going to do about the same here all right all knees we use straps cuz notice we're pulling with the fat end of the bar but see how his elbows coming up nice and high getting all this right here and again notice he's like right now James has his right arm on his right leg for his base so it's not a balanced exercise he's got a nice solid base again he's driving with his elbow his grip is pronated all through here you even get a little bit of rear delt when you the rear delt trap rhomboid thickens up that whole area so we're gonna knock out about three sets of eight here alright so we finished our meadows rows on our one-arm barbell rows I didn't want to answer a lot of people ask me you do regular barbell rows I really don't I don't really have anything against um I just don't feel them as well these other two exercises when I do a heavy barbell row it tends to be my spinal erectors some rear delt some biceps and some traps as opposed to my lats and rhomboids I do get a little bit of round boy but you know for me personally again I don't think it's a bad exercise I just personally I feel these other two rows more in my lats and that's what I'm after so after you've done too hard rowing exercise like that I'd like to give your arms a break so give your biceps a break so it's a great time to move onto a pullover I also like going to pull over after I already have some blood my lats there's nothing like stretching out a muscle that's pump full of blood and we have a lot of blood in our latch right now so we're going to do a pullover notice I'm laying on the bench not across it it's just the variation I like and then notice I'm also only going to pull the dumbbell up to my forehead so I'm keeping tension on my poor lat so just take a look at the form and you'll see what I'm talking about right there see you guys how that tension is locked in right here he's coming up just sort of top his head so the tension stays right there perfect reps perfect wraps right there shoot for about ten reps for those of you watching probably the biggest mistake I see on these is people turn into a tricep exercise a lot of people will say well John I only feel these on my triceps you've got to get a slight bend in your elbow and then just lock it so when you come down don't bend your elbow more and do a tricep exercise this is what you'll see a lot of people do it's almost like a modified skull crusher little bend and then just lock and pull with your lap all the tension should be right here okay that's probably the biggest mistake the only other thing I want to mention is I said it's a great for the stretch but don't force the stretch if you feel tight each set you do you'll loosen up a little bit in your shoulder girdle and you be able to go farther don't force it that's a good way to injure yourself so go to where it's comfortable stretch the next stitch will be a little looser but don't force it especially on that first set the first sets the one you gotta be careful on all right so now we're gonna do a pull down we've done all the rows so now let's do a pull down version we might have done Chin's but all those rows kind of wear you out probably hard to do a chin so we're going to pull down we're using the single grip attachments I like these if you notice everybody I do I'm working he's in somehow because I like to let your wrist have kind of a just a free range of motion so we're doing a pause at the bottom he's stretching now see you the squeeze James is getting so he's getting a nice stretch and then boom he's driving his elbows down and that's the whole key driver elbows down notice how he has his chest lifted up - he doesn't have that caved in chest where your biceps take over perfect just like that great tension right there great flex at the bottom perfect just like that so I want you to hit three sets of eight to ten here all right guys so we've hit our lats really hard we've done a lot of rows for our lats we also get a row for our rhomboids more in the center of our back we did some pulls for upper lats serratus dairies some of these muscles you also got to do some lower back work and some trap work for a complete back workout here's an exercise where you can essentially combine them and then one exercise so what we're going to do is a dumbbell step like a deadlift with a little bit of a shrug now what I'm doing is I'm not standing up straight and shrugging like this I'm actually coming about right here and shrugging back so it's not so much part one of your trapezius which kind of I mean almost purely elevate your scapula we're coming back so more part 3 part 4 your traps so you're going to use your back to get to here and then as you're coming up you're going to start to shrug motion to right here okay so lower right here lower back start to shrug boom trap those are much tougher than they look all right all right there Froggy's are coming up see that see that little subtle frog as he's coming up right there all righty so these are tough these these require a lot of energy just a couple tips keep the dumbbells in close don't let the dumbbells right out in front of you unless you want to hurt your lower back keep the dumbbells in close keep your spine flat you don't need a hyper arch I also don't want you rounded either keep your back flat pull with your spinal erectors so pull up with her spinal erectors now you're gonna filled in your hams baby your glutes it's okay those muscles are all working together I'd say about three sets of about eight ish reps here should be enough to finish it so we're gonna do a couple more sets and then we'll wrap it up all right guys that's it that was a tough one that remind me of the old days hold that row and so you hit everything you hit your lats from top to bottom heat your rhomboids your spinal erectors your traps you throw in some rotator cuff to if you want or you put that in on shoulder and chest a whichever but give that workout a shot let us know what you think in the meantime James now I'll be cranking out the videos we'll see you next time if you like that video I know you're gonna love my app available on the Google Play Store for Android iPhones in the Apple Store there's so much information on here it's amazing training workouts hundreds of workouts nutrition methodology questions chemical enhancement supplementation clam prep and a Q&A button check it out