Mass Building Back and Bicep Workout Using a Pull Up Bar Only!

Are you looking to build massive biceps, lats and traps? If you’re on this site, then there’s a good chance that you will be, so let’s cut to the chase and take a look at an awesome routine from Weight Gain Network.

 

What makes this one different is that it doesn’t only focus on your regular concentric and plyometric moves. Instead, it throws in some isometric and eccentric elements which will shock the muscles into action and encourage them to grow in size and strength in whole new ways.

 

Just to recap on what this all means for those of you who don’t spend all their time on bodybuilding websites…

 

Concentric means that you’re contracting the muscle, making it shorter and thereby normally moving the weight from the starting position.

 

Isometric means that you’re holding a position under tension. This can be further split into ‘yielding’ isometric or overcoming. Yielding means you’re just poised in one spot until failure, overcoming means you’re pushing or pulling against an immovable object. This kind of training is great for endurance.

 

Eccentric means that you’re lengthening the muscle. This is actually the best way to build strength!

 

So how do we work that into a highly effective workout with just a pull up bar? Read on…

 

 

 

The Routine

Wide Grip Pull Ups, Superset With a Static Upper Back Hold

We’re starting tough – perform wide grip pull ups for around 10 reps and then instead of resting, just hold the top position while you recover. This combines concentric and isometric and provides ‘active recovery’.

 

Chin Ups, Superset With a Static Hold

Now we’re doing the same thing but focussing on the biceps by doing chin ups (underhand grip) instead of pull ups. This moves the focus slightly more onto the biceps. Again, we’re putting a hold in there.

 

Medium Grip Static Hold

Now you’re going to do a regular grip pull up position and just hold it, focussing on the middle portion of the back. This is one that you should really be able to feel working.

 

Wide Grip Pull Ups With Slow Decline

Finally, you’re going to do wide grip pull ups in an explosive manner so that you can get over the bar despite being largely fatigued. What won’t be explosive though, is the negative portion of the move – the eccentric. Here, you’re going to slowly lower yourself down in a controlled manner, thereby creating more microtears and really increasing your raw strength. This is also a great way to encourage microtears, leading to some serious muscle growth.

 

And there you have it, a full workout for a massive back and biceps that only requires a pull up bar. We got around the lack of equipment by mixing up the pace of the movements and this actually has amazing impacts on muscle size and strength. Try adding some isometric and eccentric training into your other workouts to see how it can mix things up!

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