I’ve been really pushing my training lately with higher rep work. This has given me the opportunity to get innovative again with my exercise selection and creation. I love adding bands, chains, and different barbells into my training programs in ways that nobody else does. It helps to keep the workouts fun and the intensity high.

High intensity and high volume training can be the key to breaking through with your training ton finally help you build more muscle.

While most lifters incorporate different face pull and row variations, it is rare that they go over 12-20 reps per set.

In general, you can build muscle four ways in your workout;

1. heavy weights with low reps, ex. 1-5 reps
2. moderate-to-heavy weight and low-to-moderate reps, ex. 6-8 reps
3. moderate weight and higher reps, ex. 12-20 reps
4. low weight and super high reps, ex. 20-100 reps

While each have their own unique benefit and can stimulate muscle growth, the underlying principle of adaptation states that we must spend time in each zone (1,2,or 3) periodically if we hope to continue growing, i.e., this method of varying reps schemes within a workout and subsequently during the training week is referred to as undulating periodization.

In this video, you’ll see a unique posterior flye setup using elastic bands. I perform a dropset moving from a heavier dumbbell to a lighter dumbbell; while keep the band tension the same.

Benefits of High Volume Upper Back Training

1. High-intensity exercise
2. Build more muscle
3. More intense eccentric phase – the harder you drive into the pull (posterior flye), the harder you have to decelerate the lowering of the dumbbell. This amplifies the muscle-building effect by increasing the intensity of the eccentric phase.
4. Pain tolerance, mental toughness

You definitely won’t be able to do this with a heavy band. In fact, I would only recommend using the lightest band you have. This is a great exercise for supersetting with a row or pull-up variation.