THE BEST BACK AND SHOULDERS WORKOUT
Join IFBB Figure Pro and HOSSTILE athlete Ashley Lakomowski as she trains back. The primary focus of her workout is targeting the lats to build a stronger V-taper with her physique, a key factor for the Figure division. Ashley is in Laguna Hills at Flex Fitness, trying out different machines to see what exercises she connects with for an optimal back workout.
Ashley Lakomowski's Back & Shoulders Routine
Lateral Delt Raises
As a warm-up for the upper body, and to add extra delt stimulus to her week, Ashley uses a lateral raise machine. She does 2 sets without counting her reps, working until failure to add more volume to her shoulder work.
Seated Row
Ashley starts her back workout on a seated Hammer Strength row machine, using a narrow grip. To help target the lower portion of her lats, Ashley focuses on a full stretch and keeps the elbows in close to the body as she drives them behind her. She moves with control through the whole movement for 3 sets of 10 – 12 reps.
Seated Low Row
As a second exercise, Ashley uses another row machine, with a lower grip profile which allows her to get a deep lat stretch with full extension at the bottom of the movement. To activate the mid back, drive the elbow behind the body and pause with a hard contraction at the top. She does 2 sets using both arms at the same time before moving to a final set of single arm work. For all sets, she aims for 10 – 12 reps.
Bent Over Row
Ashley starts on a Pit Shark machine, with an EZ bar attachment for bent over rows. She takes an underhand grip on the bar and makes sure to keep her back straight as she pulls the handle into her ribs. After 2 warm-up sets and a slight finger injury on the Pit Shark, she moves to a T-bar machine. Ashley does 3 sets of 12 reps using a narrow grip with palms facing in. To make sure she’s fully activating her back, she uses a slower tempo and a pause at the peak of the movement.
Lat Pulldowns
For her final exercise, Ashley uses a plate-loaded lat pulldown machine. The machine allows her to use a moderate-width grip, keeping her palms facing in. Set the seat low enough that the arms can fully extend at the top of the movement, keeping all the weight loaded on the lats. She does both arms at the same time, driving the elbows straight down towards the hips to keep the work in the lats for 3 sets of 10 reps.