Back and Arm Workout

What you’ll need:

Dumbbells

Barbell

Pulley workout system

Curl bar

30 - 45 minutes

Workout:

Rack Chins 3 x 10

Incline Dumbbell Row 3 x 6

Upright Row 3 x 12

Superset – 3 x 7

Tricep pushdown

Tricep pushdown flip grip

Superset – 3 x 7

Bicep curl

Bicep curl flip grip

Abs:

Opposite leg toe touches 3 x 30 seconds

Side Crunches 3 x 30 seconds each side

Windshield Wipers 3 x 30 seconds

Plank 1 minute finisher

Your back and arms are interconnected and often work in tandem – even when you don’t realize it. A strong back will help pull your shoulders back and protect them from injury, give you good posture, and help you stabilize your upper body. For most back exercises and practical movements we must also engage our biceps and triceps to be able to engage our back. Thus, the reason we pair them together in a workout. We will be engaging them all in different ways so as to hit all the smaller muscle groups along the way and really get you sweating while encouraging muscle growth and strength.

Warm up: 5 minutes on exercise bike or a light jog on the treadmill

Dynamic stretching or warm up sets: Arm circles, shoulder rolls, light warmup sets with minimal weight.

Now we’re ready to go and get the blood flowing to our arms and back. We'll start with the back-centric lifts because they will also be engaging your arms and we want you unfatigued from previous arm work.

Back:

For rack chins, find an empty squat rack or smith machine. Lower the bar to an appropriate height. Having the bar closer to the ground will make the exercise more challenging and having it higher up will make it easier. Set it at a level where you are challenged but not unable to do your 10th rep. Face the bar and grab on, palms down. Work your feet forward as far as possible while keeping your body flat and straight. Extend your arms and pull yourself towards the bar while squeezing your shoulder blades together. Repeat for 3 sets of 10 reps.

Next we’re onto doing incline dumbbell rows. Find an adjustable bench and angle it at about a 45 degrees. Grab some dumbbells. One for each hand. Face the bench and rest your chest against the seat with your feet stabilizing behind you as you lean. Row each dumbbell up from the floor while pinching your shoulder blades together. This will activate different muscle than the rack chins and force you to use your lats, traps, and anterior and posterior stabilizing muscles. 3 sets of 6. The weight should be more challenging in these sets.