This day of training separates many of the strongest and biggest vs. those who seem to stay stagnant. I am no Dorian Yates or Ronnie Coleman, but here are a few things I’ve found to be very true of the last decade.
1. When you just start training, moving heavy weight for many reps on rows or pull-downs will result in muscle growth. As you become more experienced (bigger and stronger), doing such will likely just result in injuries like tendinitis and tears and will not add muscle as wanted to your lats. You will be moving the weight with a lot of your upper traps and arms. Lower the weight, focus on starting and performing the movement by pulling the shoulder blades down and back and stretching the lats on the eccentric/negative.
2. Perform exercises at different rep ranges but mostly stick to the 12-20 range. I like to go to 25 often for rear delts.
3. Vary your grips, angles, and load types with every exercise. This was taught to me by @jaycutler when I was just starting out and will lead to less repetitive movement injuries and more stimulation for growth.
3. Use a full range of motion to build more muscle, stay mobile, and remain healthy.
4. Don’t allow your mind-muscle connection to be broken by others or your phone in between sets.
5. Have a dedicated back/upper posterior day. This is a big area of letdown for many powerlifters. You will not out bench, out squat, or likely out deadlift your undeveloped back. Slapping a row at the end of your upper body day once a week will not cut it.
6. Enjoy the process
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