Brian “The Machine” Cage and Howard Perry go head to head in this monster back workout that will leave you crying.
Brian and Howie visit Fitness SF SOMA in San Francisco, CA for an intense back workout that will destroy your lats.
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Back workout exercise #1: Lat pulldowns
While most people tend to start their back workout with bent over rows or another compound exercise, Cage and Howie opted to pre-exhaust the lats and get some extra blood flowing. To do this, they started with lat pulldowns. Use strict form for as many reps as possible. As you increase the weight each set and you start to hit failure, it’s OK to put a slight swing to your range of motion.
Set | Super set | Reps | Rest |
1 – warm up | No | 20 | 2 minutes |
2 | No | 20 | 2 minutes |
3 | No | 16-18 | 2 minutes |
4 | No | 12-14 | 2 minutes |
5 | No | 10-12 | 2 minutes |
Back workout exercise #2: Straight arm pulldowns
This exercise will specifically work the lats and teres major. It’s one of those forgotten exercises that will make your back incredibly wide.
Set | Super set | Reps | Rest |
1 | No | 20 | 2 minutes |
2 | No | 15 | 2 minutes |
Back workout exercise #3: Bent arm pulldowns
A slight variation on the straight arm pulldowns. This will target the lats a little more from a different angle.
Set | Super set | Reps | Rest |
1 | No | 20 | 2 minutes |
2 | No | 15 | 2 minutes |
Back workout exercise #4: Bent over rows
Try to keep strict form for this exercise and focus on squeezing the lats to move the bar. We see a lot of people recruiting their legs to go heavy and bouncing to complete the motion. Lighten up the weight if you are currently doing this and focus on your form. Then, increase weight each set until you feel like you may need to bounce to get the range of motion. That’s how you know you’ve hit your limit. Back off the weight slightly and go back to solid form.
Set | Super set | Reps | Rest |
1 | No | 15-20 | 2 minutes |
2 | No | 12 | 2 minutes |
3 | No | 10 | 2 minutes |
4 | No | 8 | 2 minutes |
Back workout exercise #5: High angle cable rows
If your gym doesn’t have this piece of equipment, you can substitute a standard cable row. Use a close grip attachment when doing this exercise and really focus on the contraction at the top of the range of motion.
Set | Super set | Reps | Rest |
1 | No | 15 | 1 minute |
2 | No | 15 | 1 minute |
3 | No | 15 | 1 minute |
Back workout exercise #6: Underhand Hammer Strength Pulldowns
Flip your grip on this so your palms are facing upwards. This will put a slightly different tension on the muscles and create one heck of a pump.
Set | Super set | Reps | Rest |
1 | No | 15 | 1 minute |
2 | No | 15 | 1 minute |
3 | No | 15 | 1 minute |
Back workout exercise #7: High-angled pulldows/rows
Place one foot on the seat of the lat pulldown machine, and the other on the floor. Lean back slightly and use a wide grip. Try to avoid any swinging in the body and focus on pulling with your elbows flared. You’re going to do one set to complete failure on this. Brian was able to knock out 30 reps so shoot for somewhere around that rep range.
Set | Super set | Reps | Rest |
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