Back Day With Lex Griffin | Myprotein Masterclass

Content Executive3 years ago

Lex Griffin, AKA Lex Fitness. You’ll know him for his strength, his physique, and of course, his hair. Today he shows you how to optimise your back day routine and improve your overall strength.

Seated row, lat pull down and rack pulls. We’ve seen all of these before. But Lex has got a few tweaks up his sleeve to make them hit a little bit better and maximise your gains.

Seated Row

Getting set up:

Legs bent, never locked out
Keep your legs static throughout the movement
Close-grip handle
Start with a moderately light weight
Drive your legs back into position after you’ve grabbed the handle

For a heavier weight:

Grab the handles
Drive your legs back and pull the handles back until you’re almost lying down
Then raise yourself back up, maintaining your hold until you’re in a seated position

The Exercise:

As you move forwards, allow your arms to be extended from the hips
Drive back with your lower back and upper body
Pull through with your elbows
Release your arms back to full extension
Drive your arms forward through your hips
That's one full rep

Tips: Keep your chest up, move from the hips and don’t let your shoulders pop forwards.

Unilateral Lat Pull Down

Getting set up:

Grab the bar in a way that’s comfortable, just past shoulder width
Sit down, making sure your legs are pinned against the machine

Unilateral movement:

Arch your lower back slightly while bringing your chest up
Pull the bar down slightly
Squeeze your lats
Pull down the arm you’re targeting towards your chest
Your other arm should remain straight and relaxed

Tip: For an extra burn, after you’ve finished your unilateral rep range, complete two-armed lat pull downs for as many reps as possible.

Rack Pulls

Getting set up:

Start with the bar just above knee height, or no lower than knee level
Grab the bar just over hip-width apart
You can go over-under with your hands or over-over

The exercise:

Keep your core nice and tight
Keep your chest up and shoulders back
As you lift the bar drive through your heels and hips and power up and through the movement until your body is straight
Bring the bar back down keeping your core tight, chest up and rest the bar back down on the safety bars
Reset, and lift again

Tip: Don't round your shoulders.

Form pointers: Tuck in the elbows and squeeze your lats underneath your armpits.

Take Home Message

Not only will adopting these tweaks lead to your back thickness increasing, but your deadlift potential will also improve. Not bad for three movements you're bound to already include on back day.

Check out the Myprotein YouTube Channel for more Masterclass episodes.

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Emily Wilcock

Content Executive

After completing an internship with Myprotein, Emily returned to university to finish her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management and Marketing. With experience in lifestyle writing, Emily aims to entertain and educate through her work. Her focuses include recipes, real and inspiring stories, and working with writers to help provide easy-to-digest evidence-based research. Her work on recipes has been previously featured in The Supplement magazine, with a particular focus on high-protein, nutritious meals, plus advice on how to properly fuel your body. Outside of work, Emily’s top priority is food. She’s a self-professed star baker and a connoisseur of all things baked. In her spare time, she’s either cooking up a storm, our looking out for the opportunity to try out Manchester’s newest restaurants. But as a huge fan of carbs, if it’s not pasta or pasta-adjacent, she’s not interested. If she’s not in the kitchen, she’s tucked up with a book for an early night, or you’ll find her in the gym working up a sweat. Afterall, all those carbs require quite the appetite.