BIG BACK WORKOUT WITH ASHLEY LAKOMOWSKI & CHELSEA DION

Join HOSSTILE athlete IFBB Figure Pro Ashley Lakomowski as she trains back with IFBB Women’s Bodybuilding Pro Chelsea Dion.

Ashley's Big Back Workout

The workout focuses on hitting the lats with various rows and pulldowns, as the pair talk about their training styles and how to train with intensity for muscle growth.

Hanging Lat Stretches
To open up the back and get it primed for the workout, Ashley and Chelsea start by stretching their lats. Using a pull-up station, grip the handles and allow the body to hang, feeling the lats stretch fully. Slowly rotate the body from the waist down to further stretch the lats with an added rotational pull.

Single Arm Lat Pulldown
To further warm-up the lats, Chelsea and Ashley do lat pulldowns, one arm at a time. Use slow and controlled movement to connect to the lat, focusing on a full stretch at the top of the movement, pulling the handle down towards the hip. As this is a warm-up set, do 15 reps per arm.

Barbell Rows
Now that they’ve warmed up their lats, this is the first exercise they go heavy on. Start with lighter sets to warm up the movement for around 8 reps to avoid fatiguing the back too soon. They use an overhand grip on the bar, with hands just slightly outside the hips, tipping forward from the waist and pulling the bar into the stomach, letting the elbows go slightly wide. They gradually work up in weight to hit their two heavy working sets of 10 reps, finishing with a higher rep set of a lighter weight to failure.

Lat Pulldown
Ashley and Chelsea move to a pulldown machine to hit the lats again with an overhand grip. They make sure the lats are working with one warm-up set, before hitting three heavier sets, aiming for 8 – 10 reps. As an added challenge on the final set, they include slower, controlled tempo reps with more explosive reps.

Single-Arm Dumbbell Rows
As another exercise to focus on the lats, Ashley and Chelsea move to single-arm dumbbell rows. They use the weight rack for support, leaning into the rack with their free hand as they focus on a full stretch to the bottom of the movement, then driving the elbow up and back. As the lats are fully warmed up, they get right into their working sets, doing three sets of 8 – 10 reps. Ashley uses HOSSTILE wrist straps to support her grip strength to hit heavier weight on her rows.

Seated Cable Row Superset with Biceps Cable Curls
Ashley and Chelsea wrap up their workout with a superset of seated cable rows and standing bicep cable curls. With a V-handle and an underhand grip, they perform the seated rows focusing on a full stretch through the lower lats with a slower tempo on the release. After a set of 10 reps, they move directly to a standing cable bicep curl with an EZ-bar. They perform each rep slowly, making sure to fully stretch the biceps at the bottom and a hard contraction at the top for 8 reps. They complete three working sets of each exercise.