The Bodyweight Back Workout That DOESN’T Use “Pull” Exercises (Mad Monday)

Hey Adrenaliners!

Welcome to another Mad Monday Workout! Hope you had a great weekend and are ready to kick today’s workout in the face!

One of the most popular workouts on SOA is called The 3 Month Extreme Bodyweight Training Plan. It is extremely effective. In fact, I designed it when I was doing intense Kenpo Karate Training. This was when I first began to experiment with diet too and after a couple months I would look in the mirror and think, “Dang! I look like a Navy Seal!” A question I get asked most frequently is, “Todd, why are there no ‘pull’ exercises in the routine? How do you work your back without pull exercises?”

Well my friend, in today’s Mad Monday Bodyweight Back Workout I am going to show you. Pull exercises are most often associates with strengthening the lats, traps and rhomboids and I would have to agree that they are very effective. However, don’t limit yourself with thinking that they are the ONLY way of strengthening your back.

So if your ready to strengthen your back using bodyweight “push” exercises lets go!

*Special Announcement! We have a cheerleader and timer that is joining us for today’s workout. I’ll give you a hint. She is ubber cute, likes long walks while strapped to her daddy’s chest and she can spit up what seems like more than she eats.

Yep, that’s right… Emma Faith has joined us today! Shhhhh…. as I type this she is sleeping so please keep your voices down. 😉

The Bodyweight Back Workout That DOESN’T Use “Pull” Exercises

Today’s bodyweight back workout will be 8 minutes long. If you are a rockstar feel free to run through it a few times. Though I think you’ll find it challenging enough.

There will be 3 different exercises that target different aspects of your back.

Exercise 1: Back Jumps
This exercise targets your rhomboids and middle traps. These are the muscles in the middle part of your back used for scapular (shoulder blade) retraction. Start off in the normal plank position and blast off onto your hands. MAKE SURE TO KEEP YOUR ELBOWS TIGHT, please. 🙂 This is very important as the focus will totally shift if you’re elbows are flaring out.

Exercise 2: Steeple Jumps
This exercise targets your lat and lower trap muscles. Make sure to not rest on your head. Try to stay up as long as you can.

Exercise 3: Falling Praises
This exercise works the rear delt and upper traps. It is very important for you to stay high up in the position and rotate absolutely as far as you can.

All of these exercises combined target upper, middle, and lower portions of your back muscles.

How To Do The Routine…

Part 1:
Do exercise 1 for 30 seconds
Do exercise 2 for 30 seconds
Rest 30 seconds
Repeat for a total of 4 times (4 sets – you can do more if you find it too easy)

Part 2:
Do exercise 3 on the right side for 1 minute
Do exercise 3 on the left side for 1 minute

That’s it!

How Often Should I Do The Routine?

I recommend doing this routine 3 times per week depending on your current workout plan. It will strengthen your back muscles tremendously and can also be used as an adjunct to your chest workouts.

How’s the Detox Going Todd?

In the last Mad Monday Workout I talked about a 10 Detox Plan that my wife and I were starting. It is going well. Not to be gross but my gas has been pretty bad. Last night my wife walked into our bedroom and mentioned that it smelt like a gas chamber. LOL!

This is all part of the process of detoxification. I’ve been taking Ultra Clear Renew and its definitely been doing something to my system. Yes, its a bit expensive but the stuff is amazing.

Important Update For A Shot of Adrenaline Followers…

A Shot of Adrenaline has been around for almost 2 years now (Actually, few of you may know this but it started off as Extreme-Exercises.com but I want through a rebrand with my buddy Corbett Bar from ThinkTraffic.net). Anyways, we have achieved some great success with the site. I would like to share about where we have come and a thought I had for the site to improve it.

The below picture shows the number of visits when we were Extreme-Exercises.com (July 15th, 2011 – March 21, 2012)

And this shows where we are at after we transitioned to AShotofAdrenaline.net (March 22, 2012 – April 5th, 2013)

We have also reached over 8,000 subscribers and I am blessed to say that the revenue generated from Bodyweight Overload has allowed my wife to stay home with Emma.

Last Wednesday, I sent out a survey asking some questions and was flooded with almost 500 people expressing how much they have enjoyed the site. It seems like by far people have enjoyed the workout videos focusing on muscle growth. I will definitely keep that in mind as I write articles and produce videos.

So What’s Going To Change Todd?

I would like to serve the SOA Community more and I think one way of doing it is to have a regular post schedule. Right now, I basically put up whatever articles or workouts cross my mind. There is no planned, regular schedule to it. After receiving such great feedback I would like to propose a new, regular posting schedules as follows:

Monday – Every Monday I post a Mad Monday Bodyweight Workout similar to Bodyweight Back Workout above. These are going to all be short, intense bodyweight workouts. Underneath the workouts I will share insights on muscle growth and nutrition.

Thursday – Every Thursday I post an Ab Challenge that is short and body weight focused. The core is super important and in order to be healthy we need to have strong abs, obliques and low back. Underneath this ab challenge I will focus on tips for fat loss (after all, this is the only way you will be able to see your abs).

Saturday – Every Saturday I will either publish a guest article or an interview with an expert in the field. It is very good to get outside input on fitness & health and I think this is a good way to expand our collective knowledge.

I would LOVE to hear your thoughts on either the workout or the proposed post schedule.

-Todd