Physical Subculture

The temptation to sloth it today was grand, following a pattern set yesterday, but thankfully the gym bekoned.

Today’s workout has a little vanity hidden amongst some serious grip and pull work.  Once in a while those biceps want some attention, so we slipped in a couple movements for the mirrors.

3 combos of two exercises each:

Heavy deads, whatever style you normally DON’T dead.  In other words I traded in my conventional stance for sumo stance today.  6 sets of three, and the last three sets are followed by KB curls.  Grab some heavy kettlebells and curl them for 8-10 reps.

High pulls from pins/power curls.  3 sets of 6-8 reps each.  High pulls from pins are simply high pulls from pins.  And power curls are simply reverse grip hang cleans, which is fancier way of saying cheating barbell curls.  But go heavy and let them down slow and you have a fun eccentric contraction to play with.

(although these are all 2 exercise combos, this next one can have bonus third exercise tagged onto the end if you’re so inclined, which I know you are): 

Pull ups/bent rows (bonus:farmer’s walks, at least 100 feet).

The pullups had better be hard, so hard that you can only do 1-3 reps.  So weight ‘em down if you have to.  The bent rows were done today with the fat bars that we use for farmer’s walk handles.  Not the handles, but the actual fat bar that we load the plates onto.  That was a challenge.

(and, as mentioned, follow them up with farmer’s walks, since you already have the handles with you).

Had to keep the legs wide so the kettlebell would show up in the picture (above). Nothing like having 70 pounds dangle between your legs.

Below: I’ve said it many times; bent rows always made me look funny.