Rainy day workouts..

Every now and again we’ll have one of those days when we simply don’t feel up to a gruelling leg workout, or a punishing dead lift session. Either we have had a poor nights sleep the night before, or are simply fighting the effects of an annoying cold, either way, things just don’t feel 100% right.

Rather than struggle on regardless, it may be time to work on those body parts that, through whatever reason, get ignored and pushed to the back of the queue behind chest, back and the body parts that need the most immediate attention.

Every now and again, I’ll throw in a rainy day workout…often an early morning session when I’m not quite functioning enough to pound away with the heavy basics.

Here are a few exercises that I like to include in a rainy day workout. All these exercises target body parts that I often overlook in the search for mass and symmetry throughout the major body parts…

1- Wrist curls and reverse wrist curls

Recently I have had some forearm problems. After every heavy back or bicep workout I was experiencing soreness in the forearm and especially up near the elbow insertion. Rather than subjecting myself to an enforced lay-off, I decided to work on increasing the strength and mass in my forearms and wrist. What I like to do is work wrist curls and reverse writs curls in an alternating fashion (1 set wrist curls, 1 set reverse wrist curls and back and forth until I complete 3-4 sets of each). I always use a barbell loaded with around 10kg and aim for 10-15 reps. By focussing upon this body part over the last 3-4 weeks, my forearm problem has almost healed and as a result my forearms appear to have increased in muscle mass.

2- Power shrugs- Traps are another body part that often get neglected, either thrown in at the end of a shoulder workout, or simply ignored altogether. For me, training my traps is imperative, as they are a weak body part, both aesthetically and functionally. Over recent weeks I have been using Power shrugs. This exercise can be called dead lift/shrug or part dead lift/shrug, but I like power shrug better and it really hits the traps and allows for total muscular contraction. I set the power rack so the catching pins are above knee level, load the bar with around 80-120 kg and simply use my knees to explode the weight upwards into the shrug position, whilst keeping arms totally straight. Many would call this a “cheat shrug”, but it is a specific exercise and not only works the traps, but to a certain extent gives the lower back a sessions also.

3- External rotator work for the rotators and subscapularis.

In order to maintain healthy shoulder joints and back, it is often advisable to work on the external rotators, situated just below the scapulae. These muscles are partially responsible for the strength and protection of your shoulder joints, during all pressing work. External rotation work is pretty easy. I usually use 3-6kg dumbells and aim for high reps. You can either do two-arms together, or work one side at a time, but either way, you are sure to guarantee a healthy back and safer, stronger pressing ability. I find great exercise recommendations for the external rotators featured on www.testosterone.net. Hit external rotators in the search and you’ll find numerous exercise recommendations.

4- Seated Calf/Donkey calf superset.

As someone with naturally weak calves, this superset has helped me add a little mass to them. It’s a workout recommended by strength coach Charles Poliquin and has worked great for some of my on-line training clients. Load up the seated calf machine with a weight that allows failure between 5-10 reps, then immediately run to the donkey calf machine and aim for 30-50 reps. I work with 3 of these supersets and that’s it. Your calves will be screaming..

That’s it for the rainy day workout. For additional information on natural body building and on-line personal training , contact me at jason.rickaby@uk-muscle.com

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