Danavir Sarria's Strength Blog

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7 Supersets For A Massive Back

Nothing says “bad ass” as much as a massive back does.

A huge back is an impressive sight to see. It’s also a very important to build for health reasons. With that said, it’s also one of “those” areas where special training is warranted if you want to get past plateaus.

Time is always an issue so workouts that allow you to get in and get out while still kicking ass in the gym are critical.

There is a good side to all of this, though. If you only have a little time and need to hit the upper back hard, then it’s time to focus on density. How hard can we hit the back muscles in as little time as possible?

I don’t know about you, but I like to keep things simple yet deadly. Nothing is better for that than super setting some heavy stuff.

This will give you the back growth you’ve always wanted. Ready to bust through the plateau?

The 7 Back Growing Supersets

Hang Clean / Pull Ups

This superset is hard as hell but oh so effective.

The hang clean is an explosive and technical exercise. Considering that we’re looking for muscle mass, it is okay to go higher reps with these as long as form looks good. Just to make sure: high rep means 5-6 reps for this particular exercise.

Pull-ups are a different story. With these bad boys, you can go much higher if you are able to. With this superset in particular, allow for the pull-ups to be your “volume exercise” and hang cleans be your “power exercise”.

You’ll clean clocks with this one.

Deadlift / Face Pulls

For back thickness, the deadlift is amazing. It is one of my top two exercises for it, the other being one-arm dumbbell rows. The only problem with the deadlift is that it can require massive amounts of grip strength. That makes it difficult to pair it up with something else without affecting the deadlift too much.

For this situation, we can add in face pulls, which don’t require much grip strength and add in a good amount of volume.

Go heavy and hard with your deadlifts, and allow the face pulls to give you the extra “oomph” to your back.

T-Bar Rows / Farmers Walk’s

Whenever I think of T-Bar Rows, I think of Ronnie Coleman going through a set of what looks like 1,000-pound T-Bar Rows. It’s probably an effective exercise if he’s using it.

When I think of farmer’s walks, I think of huge dudes carrying those massive torpedo-shaped weights.

In essence, these two exercises are not for the faint of heart. Put them together and you got yourself a full-body workout that blows up your back.

When these two exercises are put together, grip becomes a factor to watch out for. As an insider tip, go “light” (6-8 reps) of T-Bar Rows and go heavy with the farmer’s walk but done at a low volume such as 15 yards. To add volume, increase the amount of sets.

Regardless, experiment with different loads and ways of adding volume to find the perfect zone where you’ll get a good balance between ¬¬¬¬¬volume and keeping your grip intact.

Bent Over Rows / Seated Rows

Many coaches think that horizontal pulling should actually be prioritized over vertical pulling. Whether that is true or not remains to be seen, but here is a superset if you wish to go that route.

Bent over rows are one of the most used and effective back exercises there is. Seated rows are amazing as well. Who can’t see themselves rowing like Arnold did in Pumping Iron?

Just like with any other superset in this article, pick one of the two to be the “power” exercise and the other as the “volume” exercise. I usually prefer to have the bent over row to be the power portion and the seated row to be the volume exercise.

One Arm Dumbbell Rows / Inverted Rows

Although probably one of the most basic supersets on this list, it’s also one of the most effective.

Many “hardcore” guys scoff at the use of inverted rows. You won’t catch too many guys at the gym doing these “fat man pull-ups”. The funny part is that most of them probably can’t do a set of 5 without messing up somewhere. The inverted row is actually a great exercise that most should try to master. Need more intensity? Elevate your feet, maybe add a weight vest, and you’re in business.

One arm dumbbell rows are the exact opposite. Everyone does these for a reason: they are effective. One arm rows are my main exercise for the back.

What I like about this superset is that it pairs up an open chained exercise with a closed chained exercise, a unilateral exercise and bilateral one respectively. Furthermore, it’s another horizontal pulling superset you can use to overload that movement pattern. In other words, it’s awesome.

Rope Climb / Pull downs

Looking for something unconventional? Get yourself a rope, pull yourself up, and pair that with pull downs.

Rope climbing is an amazing exercise that will build the back of a god. It is also a great core and grip exercise, which is always a plus.

Pull downs have been in use for a while now and although I would only use it as a primary exercise in a few special cases, it works rather well with the rope climb.

In this superset, the pull down should definitely be the exercise to give you more volume. The rope climb will take care of the intensity.

Chest Supported Rows / Band Pull Aparts

Probably the least intimidating superset of the bunch, it should not be counted out.

Chest supported rows are great to better feel the back and as everyone should know, the mind-muscle connection is awfully important for muscle growth.

Band pull aparts help build the stabilizer muscles with great volume and frequency.

This results in a superset that takes advantage of the mind-muscle connection and can really stack on the volume.

Some Rep Scheme Ideas

Throughout this article, I’ve mentioned to pick an exercise with higher loads and less volume and a second with lower loads but with higher volume. It’s an effective method, but there are also other ways to go about it.

Here are 3 other ways:

Inverted Pyramids

Everyone here should know about pyramid training, both ascending and descending. Well, what if you decided to invert them? For example, bent over rows and seated rows:

Bent Over Rows: 1,2,3,4,5
Seated Rows: 5,4,3,2,1

This way one exercise will be heavy and the other one will be lighter at any point in time.

Escalating Density Training

A T-Nation classic, it’s just as effective now as it was back when Charles Staley first popularized it.

Using the hang clean and pull up superset as an example, we can insert them into a 10-15 minute block of hell.

PR Zone – 15 Minutes
Hang Cleans
Pull Ups

Goal Rep Method
Probably the most known goal rep method is Chad Waterbury’s 25-rep method. Even though it is a good number, any number can be used and still bring good results.

Here are some examples:

Chest Supported Rows: Goal = 25 Total Reps
Band Pull Aparts: Goal = 100 Total Reps

Or

T-Bar Rows: Goal = 35 Total Reps
Farmers Walks Goal = 75 Total Yards

As shown above, any combination can be used. The higher the goal rep total, the less load that will be lifted, but more there will be more volume. The lower the goal total, the higher weights used, but less overall volume.

Get in, reach your goal number, and get out.

Conclusion

Everyone needs to add more back focused work in their training programs. For those that want a bigger back, it’s a win-win situation anyway.

Don’t have as much time as you want in the gym but still want a bigger back? Strategically superset two exercises and rack up the volume.

Just like an app, there is always a superset for that.

5 Single Leg Exercises For Huge Legs

When most people think of exercises to build some lower body mass, probably the first thing that comes to mind will be squats and deadlifts. If they aren’t what you first think about, just get out.

Just kidding. Maybe.

Moving on, although you can never go wrong with a heavy set of squats or “deads”, there is another option you could go; single leg.

Benefits Of Unilateral Leg Exercises

The reason why squats and deadlifts are so effective is because you can aggressively load up the bar and still perform the exercise right. The problem with that is that it also means that the weaker muscles used in the movement will limit the potential of these big exercises.

This is where single leg exercises come in handy because now it only takes 50% of the weight on one leg to replicate a 100% load on two legs. This means that there is less overall weight on you, so you don’t receive as much unnecessary stress and the limiting muscles don’t limit you nearly as much anymore.

Although there are more pro’s and con’s about single leg vs double leg exercise and the fact that they are not completely identical, they can still help build a massive set of legs.

With that said, here are 5 single leg exercises you can use to replace or add onto a muscle building program.

#1 Bulgarian Split Squat

The Bulgarian split squat, also known as the rear foot elevated split squat, is the squat I use the most.

To do it, you stand on one leg and place your rear foot on a bench with enough distance between the two feet to squat comfortably.

What I like about this particular exercise is that unlike the others, it does not take as much balance and overall skill to master. If all you have ever done have been bilateral squats, there will be a challenge as going on one leg requires balance regardless if its a Bulgarian split squat or not, but its still easier than something like the pistol squat.

This lower need of balance allows you to place more load on that one leg. Although the back leg does take some of the brunt, I would say that 90% of the weight goes directly to the working leg.

In essence, if you ever needed to completely replace the bilateral squat for some reason, I would pick the Bulgarian split squat.

#2 Pistols

Pistols are probably one of the most eye appealing exercises to do in general. I like to do this one a lot as well.

To do it, you stand tall, lift the non working leg straight ahead, and squat. Some coaches say to stop where you would with a bilateral squat, which is low enough before your lower back starts to curve in, but if you have no weights, I don’t see a reason why not to go all the way down.

I like the pistol because unlike the Bulgarian split squat, the working leg takes 100% of the load. With that benefit also comes the costs. The pistol requires much more balance and core strength to do it right. There is a learning curve, especially if you decide to go lower than parallel.

With that said, it still is an amazing lower body exercise and just as bad ass. Once you get passed bodyweight, load up with weight vests and dumbbells.

#3 One Legged Deadlift

Out of all the exercises ever made, the conventional deadlift is my favorite. Sometimes though, I’ll add in or even replace the deadlift in favor of the one legged version.

It’s the same exact setup as the deadlift but on one leg, which as stated before, means there is a lot of balance needed.

What I like about this one is the balance and core strength needed, alongside the fact there is much less weight on the bar.My lower back is not nearly as affected by the one legged version because of this.

Not only that, but if you can do a set of 6-8 heavy one legged deadlifts, one each leg, your balance is pretty damn impressive (same with the pistols). Combined with the fact that one leg has 100% of the load, the posterior chain still gets pretty toasty back there.

#4 One Legged Hip Thrust

Bret Contreras popularized the hip thrust and rightfully so. It’s a great hip extension exercise and puts even more load on the glutes.

Now with one leg instead of two, the entire load is place on that one leg.

To do it, lay on your back as in sit up position or place a bench behind your upper back to lay it on it and push your hips up, squeezing the glutes at the top.

Since it is done with your back, it does not take too much extra balance. Like the Bulgarian split squat, this means you can put extra weight on that one leg.

I really like the single leg version because its makes you contract your glutes even harder than the two legged version which just a fraction of the weight. Like the deadlift, it’s also another hip extension exercise which is plus since just about everyone needs to add more hip extension in their programming.

In addition, If glutes are a trouble spot, there is nothing else better than hip thrusts whether single or double legged.

#5 Step ups

Usually seen in aerobic classes, this is an exercise that actually deserves to be in any hardcore program.

To do it, you simply step on a platform with one leg and with it, push off the heel until you reach the top without the help of the  non-working leg.

I find these go after the hamstrings real well and also require a significant amount of balance to get it right. It’s a hip extension exercise, which is another reason why I really like it.

It’s also really useful with athletes that must explode or stabilize on one leg like basketball players and fighters.

For those just looking for mass, it’s one of those that might not  be as important as deadlifts and squats but can be really useful from time to time.

Just grab a heavy set of dumbbells and you’re in business, my friend.

Conclusion

I love my bilateral deadlifts. Squats, not so much, but I still do them from time to time. Most of the time though, I’ll focus on my single leg training and make sure that it not only prevents muscle loss but help me keep making gains (hence the title).

Although they might require a couple of sessions to get used to, they are well worth the trouble. Some say they might even be a little better than their bilateral counterparts in certain situations.

Regardless, both bilateral and unilateral exercises should be in every program. Each has their own pro’s and con’s, but one thing is for sure; single leg exercises will help you build massive legs, guaranteed!

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An Experiment For Flexibility

Being a martial artist who is fortunate enough to be given natural flexibility, it seems real odd to me how come others aren’t flexible.

For the past few weeks, I have been working with some teens that can’t touch their toes to save their lives. Me being able to go to a split at a moment’s notice felt like saying “WTF”.

So I took these two kids, one being a basketball player (with horrible spine problems). Both were only able to reach their knees while standing up so I decided to take them and work with them for a couple of days to see if I can make them improve.

The basketball player (let’s call him “D”) could not squat without lifting his heels no matter how many times you told him not too (which according to his chiropractor was partly due to his spinal problems). The other (let’s call him David because that’s his actual name) and D could not touch their toes while standing up.

On separate occasions, I took them one by one and worked on a couple of things that worked.

Actually, it worked really, REALLY well.

My main goal for D was to get him to finally squat to parallel while keeping his heels on the floor throughout the exercise. My main goal for David was to get him to at the very least reach his ankles, if not his toes.

Everything I did was pretty much unplanned and contained a lot of experimentation but by the end, I was able to make a crude but effective system for improving flexibility and mobility in a certain position.

It is a 3 step system and it starts with:

1. Foam Rolling

I firmly believe that self myofascial release is EXTREMELY important when working on flexibility issues. Time and time again I see trainers just recommend stretching, which obviously works (when done correctly) but from what we know now, is NOT the first thing to focus on.

Foam rolling has a lot of benefits from improving tissue quality to increasing tissue length (without decreases in power). Not to mention it feels so fucking awesome, except when it’s your first time. Especially when that first time is my 6 inch in diameter PVC pipe with no foam!

Along with the PVC pipe, I used a tennis ball to get some areas like the pec minor, plantar fascia, and hip flexors.

2. Dynamic Warmup

Dynamic warm-ups are all the rage right now in the fitness world. They help increase flexibility, mobility, body temperature, and general awesomeness.

Most “lower level” trainers would opt for regular static stretching minus everything else as the cure for “inflexibleness” but I beg to differ.

My reasoning for choosing a short dynamic warm-up was due to the ballistic nature of some specific exercises such as leg swings that would allow for gradual increases in movement during our session as well as get in some mobility drills just in case that was also a problem.

Although from what I saw, the improvements were minimal it still help a lot for the third and final step.

3. Assisted Ballistic Stretching

Here is where I got put into use my background in martial arts and the memories of having 4 black belts on me to keep me in a perfect split for minutes at a time.

Obviously I wasn’t going to kill the kids but I needed to figure out a way to reach farther and go WAY beyond than they have gone before even if it was only for a split second.

In this situation, I would have them get into the position and pull or push them into a much deeper position while instructing them to breath.

We would continue to do this in a rhythmic nature and increase the range of motion at every rep.

After this I would tell them to do the movement/stretch themselves and compare to how they were from before to see the improvement and what I saw was freaking awesome.

But before that, let me explain what I did to them specifically.

Case Studies

If you can re-call, D’s main problem was that he could not squat with keeping his heels on the floor and squatting to parallel at the same time.

After a short 5 minute foam rolling session where we emphasized the calves, quads, hamstrings, adductors, and plantar fascia we went into a dynamic warm-up.

Knowing that one reason he could not squat with his heels down was just a neural problem or in other words, he just wasn’t used to it, I focused the warm-up on actually squatting with some isolated ankle mobility drills such as rocking ankle mobs.

For a good 10 minutes we worked on ankle mobility and constant practice of keeping the heels down, regardless of his squat depth where sometimes we past the point of his ability to have his lower back in proper position.

I’m sure a bunch of “functional” trainers are going to get me for this blasphemy but oh well.

After those 10 or so minutes, I made him finally work up to a 35lb goblet squat and got him to get to parallel with his heels DOWN and in perfect form.

1 for me and D.

For David, his main problem was not being able to touch his toes.

Again, I made him go through a 5 minute foam rolling sessions where we emphasized the same areas.

After the foam rolling session, I made him go through a series of dynamic movements to gradually get him to feel slight stretches that surpassed what he could normally do statically.

The ones that I think helped him the most were leg swings and the stretch kick which is just a more extreme version of leg swings.

Last, I really emphasized the ballistic assisted stretching with him. In this phase we did 2 things. The first were assisted Cossack lunges and sitting toe touches with me pulling his hands to his toes gradually.

With the Cossack lunges, my goal was for him to stretch his hamstrings and adductors dynamically while working on ankle mobility on the opposite leg. I would assist him as he couldn’t do it himself.

We then did the sitting toe touches were I instructed him to breath in and out at every rep to not only promote relaxation but also set a rhythm for every time I would pull him down.

We did around 6-8 reps of this and every time I would pull harder and harder.

At the end, I told him to stand up and touch his toes.

Remembering that before these 20 minutes of stuff he could barely even reach his KNEES, actually seeing him be able to grab just above his ankles was mind blowing.

I felt like one bad ass coach.

Conclusion

There is actually nothing new to this system, at least not to me as my warm-ups are like this (minus the ballistic assisted stretching) but for some, it’s pretty revolutionary not to mention kick ass.

It is just foam rolling to “untie” the knots, dynamic stretching for movement in conjunction with reaching the limits of your flexibility and then assisted ballistic stretching to surpass what you can normally do.

If you are inflexible like my guys D and David, I would do this every day for 30 days.

For others, every other day is fine.

Again, this is crude and the way I went about it might have been a little chaotic as there might be a better way to do this but so far, this is what has worked for me without tearing up a client from the inside out.

Get back to me in 30 days and let me know how it goes.

Dealing With Ankle Sprains

Just 2 weeks ago, I was playing in a pickup game of basketball and suffered what felt (and heard) like a serious right ankle sprain.

I was scared that I broke it even though I still played for another half hour after the initial sprain. Once I decided it was enough, I left home, took a shower, and then started treating it.

I searched around the web trying to figure out how I should go about dealing with this ankle sprain. In the meantime, I defaulted for R.I.C.E.

You know: Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.

I thought to myself that if anything should work, it would be that. I mean, it’s recommended by every doctor for every injury and it’s been here for long, it should work.

Big mistake.

After 20 minutes of icing, I couldn’t stand for my life and had the ankle mobility of a rock. Right then and there, I knew this R.I.C.E crap wasn’t going to work and I told that ice pack to go fuck itself.

Mind you, this just like a few weeks after I had sprained my other ankle during a sparring session where I also did the same. I don’t know why I thought it would work this time around but whatever.

My ankles are where I suffer most of my injuries, which sucks because I like to kick off heads for fun. Fortunately, during that time I asked some other coaches for help on ankle injuries. That plus my past experience in dealing with this situation has led me to my current “re-hab” program for myself.

As I write this article, I’m still in the re-hab process with my right ankle but it’s been my most successful re-hab program ever. In just 2 weeks I can do just about anything except rapid changes in direction and explosive movements. In just 1 week, I was able to squat my bodyweight without any pain, so it’s worked real nicely.

I think I’m still a good 3 weeks out from being completely healed, which is still incredibly quick considering it usually takes longer and this particular strain was really bad.

So here is how I’m handling this problem:

1. Rest

This is naturally the first step for most people, especially since it’s the first step of R.I.C.E. With the amount of pain I felt after icing it, the LAST thing I wanted to do was stand.

If something hurts, don’t do it.

I would alternate between rest and test. Once every 10 minutes or so, I would try to stand up and stand on one leg. If it hurt, I rest some more. If it didn’t, I would start number two.

In my experience, this usually takes me 30min to 1 hour before I feel confident enough that I can move onto the next step.

2. Increase Range of Motion

In my opinion, this is the most important step as it is what makes difference between an injury that can last weeks to one that last just days, depending on the severity.

Basically, I would just sit on a chair or bed and repeatedly performed dorsi and planter flexion exercises. In the beginning, just a small ROM would suffice. Over the course of a day I would increase that ROM to the fullest.

Again, I let pain dictate when and how to progress.

3. Compression

I unfortunately had to go to school, which includes a lot of walking. Although I felt a lot better by then and I could walk with just an ounce of pain, I put on a brace.

It helped as I walked a lot. I probably would have been sore going 5 days straight of walking in school without the brace on.

Either way, it helped me still move around without the need of crutches.

4. Low Intensity Activity

My ankle started feeling better the more I walked with the brace. Essentially, I realized that walking was just a “loaded” version of the dorsi and plantar flexion exercises I did just a few days earlier.

On top of that, I also made it a point to write the alphabet with my feet. Although it was hard at first, it eventually got easier and with less pain.

I did this for 2 weeks (no brace the second week – which is where I am at right now).

5. Strength Training

In conjunction with the low intensity stuff, I knew that if ever wanted to get better faster, then I needed to put some more weight on my ankle.

About one week after the initial injury, I couldn’t run without pain. It sucked, yet I still tried to box squat with my bodyweight (about 170 lb). I felt no pain at all.

It was just an experiment, but it worked so I knew it was time to start some lower body exercises again.

I once again got back into my workout routine with some full ROM prisoner squats, calf raises, resistance band work and lunges (I’m careful with those as sometimes it hurts).

That is where I am at right now and it’s working great.

Conclusion

I learned a lot of this through Mike Guadango, Anthony Mychal, and Dick Hartzell. I realized that the old R.I.C.E technique we all trust actually sucks, at least for ankle sprains.

Right now I can run in a straight line, I can jump too (mostly) and other stuff like walk and squat without pain.

If you’re like me, try this method out instead of R.I.C.E. I’m sure you’ll get much better results this way.

What’s On Your Playlist?

I spend a ton of time making workouts for myself. Which is a tip in itself; try to get another good trainer to do it for you but that is another blog post for another day.

I, however, spend as much if not even MORE time picking what songs I want to workout too. Sometimes I think I just workout so I can listen to my songs at an unholy volume every other day.

Without a kick ass playlist, I find it really hard to train at my best.

As a Hispanic from Miami, Florida, I used to spend the most of my time listening to Spanish music both inside and outside of the gym. I loved it, until at one point I didn’t anymore. I still enjoyed it outside of the gym, but it just didn’t get the job done when training.

Eventually I started getting interested in other music genre’s like rap, rock, and even oldies like Bee Gee’s and the Beatles.

It almost became a hobby to mix and match different songs with each other, different times during the workout and even on certain days.

I went from listening to music from Daddy Yankee and Wisin y Yandel to Bee Gees to Dropkick Murphys to Darude to Sean Paul to Eminem to Disturbed to Survivor and so on.

I even think I found a way to “systematize” my workout music selection. Musical program design, anyone?

My rules to picking workout songs are revolve around variety, order, long term enjoyment.

I’m one that can’t stand to listen to the same genre of music every single training session. This is the reason why I MUST have a ton a variety on my playlists. Although it might look weird to some, I’ll have both hard rock and soft musicals on the same playlist.

One reason for the variety is because of the actual training session itself and here is where order comes in.

All of my training programs, whether it’s for me or a client follow a specific order – usually warmup, core, power, main training, energy system training and finally a cool down. Knowing this, I make sure that the songs I pick flow with this.

You can’t be “on” every workout so I make sure to conserve my “pumped upness” for the main part of the program.

Just as you would work up to the main workout, I like to build up my playlist. During warmups I’ll put some soft music or anything that just sounds good but doesn’t really do much to my heart rate.

By the time I get into the core and power work, I make sure I pick the right songs to ALMOST get me ready to kick some ass.

Once the main training and energy system sections are up, I have my “crazy” songs come up to rip things up in the gym. Hence the crazy.

Once the cool down comes, I’ll progressively tone things down to soft music.

It might be just me but this is exactly how I like it no matter what songs I actually pick.

Lastly, the music has to “last” for a long time because although I spend time putting together different playlists, I would much rather spend my time doing something else.

For this reason I include more songs than I actually need in my workout just in case I would rather listen to something else that specific day.

I also make sure pick only upbeat songs as I don’t enjoy more than one insane song a workout.

For now, this is my current playlist:

-It’s My Time by Fabolous

-Welcome To The Jungle by Guns N’ Roses

-Blue (Da Ba Dee) by Eiffel65

-Burning Heart by Survivor

-Eye Of The Tiger by Survivor

-Heart’s On Fire by John Cafferty

-No Easyway Out by Rovert Trepper

-Enter Sandman by Metallica

-Lose Yourself by Eminem

-Till I Collapse by Eminem

-Dance Dance by Fall Out Boy

-Crawlin by Linkin Park

-No More Sorrow by Linkin Park

-Somewhere I Belong by Linkin Park

-Fireproof by Pillar

-The Bird And The Worm by The Used

-Stupify by Disurbed

-Down With The Sickness by Disturbed

-Undead by Hollywood Undead

-Remember The Name by Fort Minor

-The Sweetest Victory by Touch

-Gonna Fly Now by Bill Conti

-Now We Are Free by Hanz Zimmer

It’s 23 songs deep and so far it’s worked perfectly for the past month. Sooner or later I will change it up (probably sooner) but it gets the job done (y).

So tell me, what are YOUR favorite workout songs? Care to share your playlist? How do you go about picking a song over the other?

I really enjoy reading your comments so go at it!