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Had a decent back workout last night in some areas, and not so decent in other areas.

Wide Grip Pull-Ups: 10 RP: 9+6+4 (for 19 total)

Dead Lift: 245: 5, 5, 5, 5

Bent Over Row: 110: 10
Bent Over Row: 95: 10, 10

Close Grip Cable Pulldown: 140 RP: 9+4+3 (for 16 total)
Close Grip Cable Pulldown: 130: 12

Seated Cable Row: 160 RP: 8+4+2 (for 14 total)
Seated Cable Row: 150: 8

Farmer’s Walk: 75 lb dumbbells

I started with pull-ups again, and managed to get 1 more rep than last time. I am almost at 20 reps across a DC set now. Once that happens, I’ll increase the amount of added weight.

I really want good form on dead lifts, so I stayed at 245 lb instead of increasing. That weight is really heavy for me, and I don’t want to go heavier unless I’m sure I can handle it with proper form. Ended up doing 4 sets this time instead of 3. The last set really took a lot out of me.

For bent over rows, I used my usual weight of 110. I did one set with this, and it was ugly from start to finish. It just felt so much heavier than normal. Maybe from the extra set of dead lifts, I don’t know. Anyway, I dropped the weight down to 95 lb to do another couple sets of 10 with good form.

Normally, I would move onto seated cable rows next, but that machine was in use, so instead I went to cable pulldowns. Rather than do them wide-grip this time, however, I decided to change it up and do narrow grip, which allowed me to use a bit of extra weight. I figured I already got some wide-grip work in when I did pull-ups anyway, so doing some narrow grip could be good. On a rest-pause set, I ended up getting more than 15 reps with good form, so I will have to increase the weight if I do these again.

When the cable row machine was free, I went over there for a rest-pause set at 160 lb again. I didn’t see any improvements here, and felt like I had pretty sloppy form.

After all this pulling, I didn’t have much left as far as wrist and grip strength goes, but Jon convinced me to do some farmer’s walks again! Last time, I used the 85 lb dumbbells, and they made it way too hard. I had to stop multiple times, and I felt like I could hurt my right ankle at any second. For this one, I only used the 75 lb dumbbells. They were still a challenge considering everything else I had done, but I didn’t have to set them down at all during the walk.

Finally, it was time to stretch. I knew my grip was really weak at this point, and probably wouldn’t be able to hold onto anything for very long, so I attached some hooks to my wrists, and used them to hang from the pull-up station for 60 seconds to stretch my lats.

Looking forward to another chest & triceps day after work today.

Had a really good back workout last night.

Wide Grip Pull-Up: 10 RP: 9+5+4 (for 18 total)

Dead Lift: 245: 5, 5, 5

Bent Over Row: 110: 10, 10

Seated Cable Row: 160 RP: 7+4+3 (for 14 total)
Seated Cable Row: 150: 10

Cable Pulldown: 130 RP: 8+4+3 (for 15 total)
Cable Pulldown: 120: 8

First off, I’m glad the pull-ups are getting a little bit easier. I got an extra 2 reps this time. I’m hoping to hit the full 20 next time, then I’ll be able to increase the weight to either 20 or 25 lb.

Next, I ended up doing a 20 lb increase on dead lifts bringing them up to 245 lb. It was really hard, and I still need a bit of work on my form with this weight, but I should be able to increase again soon.

Last time I was considering doing cleans instead of bent over rows, but I ended up being in the mood for bent over rows last night so I went ahead and did them. I still think my form could be a bit better. The first set was great, but I bounced a bit on the last couple reps of the second set.

My cable row weight has been going up steadily. Last night, 160 lb was finally hard enough to cut me off at 14 reps across a rest-pause set. I should be able to get the full 15 next time, then increase to 170 lb.

On cable pulldowns, I finally hit 15 reps, but I feel like my form was a bit sloppy on a couple reps, so I’m going to give 130 lb another shot to see how it goes before jumping up to 140 lb since I know that will probably still be too difficult at this point.

My grip strength was shot after all this, but I figured I may as well throw in some farmer’s walks anyway! Last time I did the 80 lb dumbbells and didn’t have to stop once, so I figured I should try the 85s this time. Wow. They were unbelievably hard to carry around. I had to stop and set them down 4 or 5 times before I made it back to the rack. It was hard on my ankles too. I had to be extra careful when turning.

All in all, a really good productive back day. Very happy with my progress here. Tonight’s workout will be shoulders and biceps.

Last Thursday, I ended up finally getting a total of 20 reps on pull-ups across a rest-pause set, so I figured it was time to try some with weight added.

Wide Grip Pull-Up: 10 RP: 9+4+3 (for 16 total)

Dead Lift: 225: 5, 5, 5

Bent Over Row: 110: 10, 8

Clean: 135: 5

Cable Seated Row: 150 RP: 10+5+4 (for 19 total)
Cable Seated Row: 140: 12

Cable Pulldown: 130 RP: 6+4+3 (for 13 total)
Cable Pulldown: 120: 9

For my first attempt at pull-ups with weight, I only went with 10 lb. I was only expecting around 6-7 reps on the first part of the rest-pause set, but ended up getting 9, which really boosted my confidence. A total of 16 reps shows me I need more work with this weight before increasing the weight.

Looks like I missed my note from last time about bumping my dead lift weight to 235. I ended up repeating 225, but it’s really okay since I needed the work on my form anyway. Jon and Andrew were both watching this time, and even on my last set, the form was good. I will definitely increase next time.

After dead lifts, I did a couple sets of bent over rows with a 5 lb increase from last time. I felt the first set went really well, but Jon said my form was pretty jerky. I got him to keep a close eye on the second set to check for that again, but I was able to eliminate the jerkiness and stay smooth on all reps. I’ll stick with this weight until I can get 2 sets of 10.

Before moving on to cable work, I got a sudden hankering for a set of cleans. I hadn’t done them in a while, and was curious to see how they would feel. I only did 1 set of 5 reps, and it wasn’t difficult. The next time I try them, I’ll bump the weight up a bit. Maybe I will do these instead of bent over rows on my next back workout.

Seated cable rows went really well as the numbers show. I am killing 150 lb now, so I absolutely have to increase to 160 lb for next time. Even the regular set at 140 lb came up high with 12 reps, so I am not using enough weight on that. I am still struggling, however, on the cable pulldowns. Coming up 2 reps short of my goal of 15 across a rest-pause set. I should be able to get this next time depending on how well I eat.

I ended the training session with a lat stretch by hanging from pull-up bottom position (arms stretched all the way) for 60 seconds.

As always, exercise names are clickable for more info; Alternately, you can visit the Exercises page. Also visit the My Notation page for details on what my numbers mean.

Had a really good workout on my back last night, Feb 1.

Wide Grip Pull-Up: 10+4+3 (for 17 total)

Dead Lift: 225: 5, 5, 5

Bent Over Row: 105: 10, 10, 10

Seated Cable Row: 150 RP: 8+5+3 (for 16 total)
Seated Cable Row: 140: 10

Cable Pulldown: 120 RP: 8+4+3 (for 15 total)

I started out with some pull-ups with no weight added, just my bodyweight. You can see because of the pluses in my notation that it was a rest-pause set (15 deep breaths between each mini-set.) I’m working my way up to 20 total reps; once that happens, I’ll start adding some weight with a dip belt. These are full range of motion pull-ups, starting on a full hang with arms stretched.

Next came dead lifts. For a couple months, I was having an issue on my deads where the inside of my left knee would click or pop a bit. I finally determined a couple weeks ago that my stance was too wide. I’ve adjusted my stance since then to something more narrow with my toes facing forward (instead of pointing out a bit like on a squat,) and the clicking has been completely eliminated! I used 225 lb for 3 sets of 5 reps each. The form could have been better on the last set, but I didn’t experience any pain in my lower back, so I’m going to bump the weight up to 235 lb for next time.

Bent Over Row numbers are pretty straightforward: 3 sets of 10 reps each. I have really been working hard on getting good form with these. I was using too much weight before, so my back was rounding a bit, and I sometimes had to bounce with my knees to get the bar up on those last couple reps. Now, however, with the 105 lb, all 3 sets were controlled with a flat back on every rep. So I will bump this up to 110 lb next time.

I had been trying to defeat 140 lb for a while on the seated cable row. While I technically could have moved up in weight earlier (I did get at least 15 reps total across a rest-pause set the last 2 weeks,) I felt like I still needed to work on my form a bit. Anyway, I threw it up to 150 lb this week, and as you can see in the numbers above, I got more than 15 reps again. I think I will repeat 150 lb next time just to get better form again before I attempt 160 lb. After the rest-pause set, there was a regular set of 10 reps at a lower weight of 140 lb.

Finally, I only had enough time for a rest-pause set of cable pulldowns. Normally, I’d try to get a regular set in as well, but we had to get going. I got all my reps at 120 lb, and felt like my form was there on every rep, so I’m going to attempt 130 lb next time.

I’m heading back in after work today to do a bunch of squats.