Full back workout

The back contains many muscles – the latissimus dorsi (lats) are the biggest and broadest middle-back muscles, and  these are accompanied by the trapezius (traps) in the upper back heading towards the neck from below and both sides, and also a range of deeper, smaller muscles.

Here’s a workout I used while in the USA recently.  It uses machines exclusively, and the workout for back typically uses a higher percentage of machine-based exercise compared to free weights.  Its easy to devise pushing exercises with free weights, less so for pulling exercises – the single arm dumbbell-row is a notable exception.

I doubt you’ll have exactly the same machines in your gym (unless it’s the same one I recorded this of course!).  But I am sure there are machines which reproduce the same movement.

Give this a go – once a week is ideal – keep the form good, and see how the numbers improve over time.

See the video here.

Golds gym at 50

As we get to the start of the year, there’s one anniversary I want to celebrate in fitness from the end of the last one – 2015 marked 50 years since Gold’s Gym in Venice Beach, California opened its doors.

Its one of my favourite places, and to mark that 50, here’s a short video I made there recently about some of the weird and wonderful exercise equipment to be found deep within its cavernous interior. Many thanks to Keith Cormican for the filming.

Hope you enjoy it, here’s to the next 50 years of a great place from Fitness Over Fifty!http://bitly.com/ChrisGoldsAt50

Is it a jailyard?

One of the world’s best gyms – probably the very best actually – is Gold’s in Venice Beach in Los Angeles. They have a good yard out the back for working out in the California sunshine – but one problem is they really don’t like filming taking place.

But when I was there with Dan Wynes we managed to sneak a friendly cameraman’s lens through a hole in the fence – giving a very paparazzi and illegal look to what already appears like a jailyard in the first place!

Take a look at the video, so if you agree…

http://bitly.com/ChrisVideo015