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  • What's up, guys?

  • Jeff Cavaliere, ATHLEANX.com.

  • So I want to show you today why it's not just a good thing to use lighter weights, but why

  • it's a very important thing to use lighter weights if you want to develop your best back.

  • It all comes down to the fact that I'm going to guarantee that when you do your back exercises,

  • you never, ever fully contract your back.

  • There's a big reason for it.

  • When you're doing your pushing exercises think about what's on the other end of most every,

  • single rep of a pushing exercise you do.

  • You can see me doing a dip right here.

  • When I get to the top there's a moment of actual relief here.

  • I could actually hold the top position of a dip better than I could any other position

  • of that exercise.

  • Same thing goes here for the bench-press.

  • The bench-press, if we can get to the end, I can lock out my arms, and I could actually

  • hold it there.

  • The same thing happens here on the shoulder press.

  • When I get to the end of that rep I can actually hold it there.

  • There's a moment of relief.

  • There's a light at the end of the tunnel.

  • But now, when you look at an exercise like the lat pulldown, or we look at a one-armed

  • rowlike I'm going to show you here also.

  • What is at the end of that?

  • More pain, more discomfort, more struggle because what we're trying to do is fight this

  • contraction.

  • I've got to pull down, and when I'm down here my body wants to get out of here as fast as

  • possible.

  • What I'm telling you is, forgoing that is costing you an opportunity to get better development

  • in your back.

  • So lighten the weight a little bit.

  • Not for all of your work.

  • It's okay to use some of the heavier sets, obviously, to increase the tension and the

  • overload, but you have to include lighter weights.

  • I'm going to enforce that by doing two techniques here I'm going to show you.

  • Now, when I come down I don’t just want to bring it to here, which a lot of guys will

  • do.

  • I want to get it down, all the way as far as I possibly could.

  • Get the strongest contraction I possibly could in my back, squeezing my elbows down, and

  • to my sides.

  • You can see those lats activated.

  • Well, what we can do is, the first technique is one and a half reps.

  • I've used it before, especially with our shoulder training, with the side delt exercise.

  • We come up half way, I reinforce it, and then I've got to do it again, and then I come up.

  • So down, squeeze, up, and bring it right back down again.

  • And up.

  • Down, up halfway, right back down again.

  • Do a few sets of these – I'm using light weight and it feels a hell of a lot heavier

  • because I'm just not used to A) getting that contraction; and B)

  • having to reinforce and do it again.

  • The next technique we can use is a fiber blast, which is basically a pulse rep at the end

  • of a contraction.

  • So what it looks like again now is, we don’t come back halfway.

  • What we do is, we go down to the back, here, and then we go in with pulse contraction.

  • Down, down, and down again.

  • And I'm hoping toif I haven't got there in the first onehere, one, two, three.

  • It gives me the opportunity to reinforce, and get a better contraction with the pulse

  • at the end.

  • One, two, three, and up.

  • Remember, I said I could do it here on a one-armed row, too.

  • Same thing applies.

  • You do a one-armed row and your body is doing everything it can to keep this dumbbell back

  • down on the ground because the end position of the rep is difficult.

  • There is no relief.

  • There is no break at the end of every rep.

  • So what you want to do is lighten the weight, get up there, really focus on getting your

  • elbow back behind your body, get a good, strong contraction.

  • And we can use the same thing.

  • Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze if you're using the fiber blast, or up, down halfway, and

  • back up again.

  • Up, halfway, and drive it up again.

  • So remember, it's not just about always using heavy weights.

  • I'm a big believer in using heavy weights to create the overload and tension necessary,

  • but you have to use lighter weights if you want maximum development.

  • This is exactly the reason why, especially, when it comes to back training because of

  • the nature of how the exercises stack up, and what happens with our bodies against gravity

  • when we finish every exercise.

  • Guys, if you're looking for a program that puts the science back in strength, allows

  • you to train with these types of tips so you get more out of every workout you do; head

  • to ATHLEANX.com right now and get our ATHLEANX training program.

  • In the meantime, if you've found the video helpful leave your comments and thumbs up

  • below.

  • Let me know what you want me to cover in a future video and I'll do my best to do that.

  • All right, guys.

  • See you soon.

What's up, guys?

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