Dorian's Back

DORIAN: TO HELL AND BACK



Dorian Yates shares the high-intensity secrets for back building

February 2, 2009
FLEXONLINE.COM

In our March 2008 issue we ranked Dorian Yates’ back as the second best of all-time behind Ronnie Coleman’s, but we hedged our bet with the assertion that a strong argument can be made for Yates as number one.

A six-time Mr. Olympia (1992-97), Britain’s “Dozer” was renown for his high-intensity training methods: low volume and maximum effort, pushing working sets to failure and beyond. He shares with us his ideas about back training and includes a typical routine from his Olympia reign. (Only working sets in that routine are noted; he typically did one or two warmups for each exercise, as well.)

YATES ON BACK TRAINING

* “If I have a secret for width, it's Nautilus pullovers. I really feel these in my outer lats. I alternate doing these one workout and Hammer pulldowns the next.”

* “During barbell rows, I keep my body at 70 degrees to the floor. Staying more upright places less strain on the lower back and puts you in the strongest position to work lats. I try to keep my upper body as still as possible but some upward sway is necessary to use maximum weights.”

* “I find going underhand isolates my lats more, but others might find it works their biceps too much. Do what works best for your body.”

* “I ended my Olympia back workouts with deadlifts and usually stayed around 405. That’s less than I used for barbell rows, but I wasn’t trying to impress anyone. I was just trying to tie my back together, top to bottom, after all the punishment I put it through.”

<TABLE style="COLOR: #000000" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width="50%"><TBODY><TR><TD style="BACKGROUND: #b10b1c; FONT-WEIGHT: bold" colSpan=4 align=middle>DORIAN YATES’ BACK WORKOUT


</TD></TR><TR style="BACKGROUND: #000000; COLOR: #ffffff; FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ffffff 1px solid">EXERCISE </TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ffffff 1px solid" align=middle>SETS </TD><TD align=middle>REPS </TD></TR><TR><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid">Hammer Strength pulldowns </TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid" align=middle>1 </TD><TD align=middle>8-10 </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=3 align=middle>or </TD></TR><TR><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid">Nautilus pullovers </TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid" align=middle>1 </TD><TD align=middle>8-10 </TD></TR><TR><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid">Underhand barbell rows </TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid" align=middle>1 </TD><TD align=middle>12 </TD></TR><TR><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid">Hammer Strength one-arm rows </TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid" align=middle>1 </TD><TD align=middle>8-10 </TD></TR><TR><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid">Underhand cable rows </TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid" align=middle>1 </TD><TD align=middle>12 </TD></TR><TR><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid">Back extensions </TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid" align=middle>1 </TD><TD align=middle>8 </TD></TR><TR><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid">Deadlifts </TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid" align=middle>1 </TD><TD align=middle>8 </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Wow, that's really not a lot of sets at all

That really surprised me. I've never seen a list quite like this one.

I haven't either, it's kinda surprising, although I'm sure he probably did warm up sets

Dorian did warm up sets, before his main sets. You guys must be pretty young, if you dont remember Dorian. But, I train this way for the most part. I might do 2 warm up sets, instead of just 1. the other day my back workout looked like this...

Hammer Pulldowns - 2 warm ups/ 1 all out set, rest paused set, 10 x 5 x 3 total reps 18 reps

Hammer One arm rows - 2 warm ups/ 1 all out set, no rest pause to failure, 10 reps each side, with 2 forced reps

Rack deadlifts - 3 warm ups (10, 5, 5 reps) 1 all out set to failure to 13 reps

Smythe Shrugs - 2 warm ups/ 1 all out set to failure to 15 reps

that was it, but as you can see the total amount of sets was 13 sets total for back/traps. The key to this type of training, is going all out total insanity type of training. Rest pauses, going to failure, doing slow reps, negatives, ect, ect. You really have to have a mindset that is intense