Back Day

     Back day today. My friend from high school Garrett G. had a break from his football training at CU Boulder and came back home! It was awesome to see him and it's always a good time. We went to Gold's Gym and absolutely killed it. Since heavy dumbbell rows on the flat bench tend to aggravate my lower back irrespective of how much torsion occurs, I opted to concentrate on T-bar rows and hammer strength equipment. Gold's has a plethora of hammer strength equipment to hit every area of your upper back without putting much strain on the lower back. I'm really considering a membership there for next summer. 24hr just isn't that great.
     After finishing a great back workout I really wanted to hit some biceps. I find that sometimes I just don't have the time for an arm day in the week and it's convenient for me to do it on the same day as back. The downside is that if you had a really great back workout, chances are your bicep workout will be sub-par since you essentially pre-exhausted the muscle group. The opposite is true if you start with biceps and try to do back. However, I managed to squeeze out a few sets on straight bar curls. Curling in the bench rack for the win.

Workout:
1) Lat Pulldowns
warmup: 1x15 w/ 110 lbs.
1x10 w/ 130 lbs.
3x8 w/ 190 lbs.
2x6 w/ 210 lbs.
2x5 w/ 190 lbs. (hold at the bottom)

2) T-Bar rows
1x15 w/ 1 plate
2x10 w/ 2 plates
2x6 w/ 3 plates
1x10 w/ 2 plates + 25 plate
1x20 (burnout) w/ 2 plates

3) Hammer Strength Row

(when I say, for example, 2 plates, that means there were 2 on each side)

1x10 w/ 2 plates
1x10 w/ 3 plates
1x8 w/ 4 plates
1x10 w/ 3 plates
1x25 w/ 2 plates (got bored and just stopped doing reps)










4) Hammer Strength Mid-Row
-Did each arm at a time and mentally concentrated on using my lats and rhomboids to pull this weight rather than my biceps

5x8 w/ 2 plates

















5) Hammer Strength Low-Row
-Really enjoyed this one since I could feel my rhomboids working really hard. Again, I did this one arm at a time to avoid falling back to my biceps to pull the weight.

2x10 w/ 2 plates
3x8 w/ 2 plates + 25 plate

6) Straight Bar Curls*
2x10 w/ 95 lbs. (25 on each side)
2x6 w/ 105 lbs. (25 + 5 on each side)

*Forearms gave out and then decided to stop.

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Diet of the Day:
Meal 1:
-5 eggs worth of egg whites
-27g whey protein shake w/ 2% milk
-2 cups of blueberries

Meal 2:
-8oz grilled salmon with teriyaki marinade
-5 cups steamed broccoli

Meal 3 (pre-workout 45 min):
-Banana w/peanut butter
-Chocolate quest bar

Meal 4 (post-workout):
-Chipotle bowl (50% brown rice, 50% lettuce, double chicken, four scoops of corn, fajitas vegetables, guacamole)

Meal 5:
-8oz grilled salmon with teriyaki marinade
-6 cups mixed vegetables (broccoli, carrots, cauliflower)

Dessert:
-Bananas with peanut-butter and dark chocolate chips
-Greek yogurt (Oikos lemon meringue pie flavor)