Anabolic Academy with John Livia: Building a Big Back

Building a big back.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:30

What's up, guys? You want to know? I had an epiphany today. You want to know why I enjoy doing uh the YouTube channel so much. Um, real quick, and then we'll get into you know the actual topic at hand. Obviously, this is Anabolic Academy. Um, your host, John Livia. But I was thinking about it, like last night I wasn't having a good night, right? It was really, it was a bad night. So I went on, you know, I I I you know, I kind of just zone out, pull up, put on something on YouTube that I like to watch and kind of zone out, right? And I realized that when I do my content, not only do I enjoy doing it and it gives me peace, if you will, but if I can give people that same distraction from life, then I did like a good thing, right? You know, like I might not be the smartest guy when it comes to bodybuilding, which is why I put Paul on or I get Jason Owens on. I might not be the craziest like Lee Priest, but I try to put together content that you could watch, you could be distracted for a little while, we could have some fun, and in the process we could learn some stuff about bodybuilding, and uh and it becomes it becomes my like my sanctuary, if that makes sense, you know? And I'm hoping that it does the same for people that play people that watch it. But it's been a rough, you know, rough couple of days for me. And but when I know that I have to do a podcast, I actually really enjoy it. I enjoy the interviews, I enjoy doing the live. Um, and I'm hoping that I can give that joy back to whomever watches my podcast, right? Anyway, all right, enough of that. Um I will be recording a special muscle talk with uh Mr. Aaron Clark tonight. It'll just be uh him and I will be talking about it, it'll be a short interview of him and his career and what he's been up to, and then we'll be talking about the Pittsburgh Pro. Um then if you guys are interested, go over to my other channel. But been putting a lot of content up, put up uh uh more content this morning and another uh mafia feud going on. Mafia feuds have become you know online feuds like anybody else. But uh it's pretty pretty interesting because both guys that are feuding back in the 80s were killers, like legit killers. It's strange how things change, right? But anyway. Uh last thing before we get started. Uh, I keep in touch with uh Jason Owens. He is doing better, but he's not out of the woods yet. So please just go to iPorve Subs. I know I say this all the time, but it would mean a lot to me, and I know it would mean a lot to him. Go to iPorve Subs. The link is in the description. Use the discount code. Uh just you know, just support him, just buy anything, something. He's got shirts, he's got hats, he's got pre-work, he's got creatine, he's got, you know, the dream chase, he's got so much stuff. Go and um go and check it out. You might as well use the discount code. You get uh 10% off, and this way he knows it's from the channel. It's SNS10. The discount code is in the is in the uh description as well. Uh thank you, sir. Jason is is Jason's doing better, uh, but it's one day at a time. He is not out of the woods yet. I'm hoping because he has a show, yeah, he promotes a bodybuilding show every year called Muscle Beach. He's been doing it for years, and that is in July. And I'm hoping by the time that rolls around, he'll be doing much better. You know, um, of course, obviously he has to be present to run it and and then and healthy to run it. But all right. Enough of that crap. I got that out of the way. Now, okay, Anabolic Academy. Here's an idea. If you guys have any topics that you want me to talk about on Anabolic Academy, email me uncle John1201 at Gmail, hit me up on Instagram, leave a uh leave a comment in the in the comment section in this video. Because every week I'm thinking about hmm, what can I talk about this week? What can I talk about this week? What can I talk about this week? You know, when it kind of gets monotonous, okay, people want to talk about obviously steroids and growth hormone and peptides, and that's what all everybody wants to uh talk about. But if there's anything that you guys want me to talk about, you know, just hit me up. Like I said, email me, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, leave a comment, and we will cover it next time around. But today we're gonna be talking about uh getting a big back. And the reason why I picked this is um people always like say to me, like I always had great legs, right? And I always had a good chest, I always had good legs, I always had good chest. What's your leg workout like? What's your chest workout? The truth of the matter is um my legs grew no matter what I did. My chest grew no matter what I did. I always struggle with my back, so I had to put a lot of time and effort into seeing the smallest progress in my back. Uh, I remember the first contest I ever did. Um, that was probably the whole reason why I never I didn't win the overall was because I didn't the guy who won the overall's back was amazing, and I didn't have a great uh a great back. Um but and then I remember you know talking to some of the guys in the gym, and and they they showed me uh the ropes a little bit on how because I would do I would do everything pulleys, I would do everything with the pulleys, pulleys, pulleys, pulleys, pull downs, blah blah blah, seated rows. So I'd noticed that my back made its most progress when I went back to the basics, when I deadlifted one-arm rows, T-bar rows, seated rows, a lot of rows, uh, a lot of um reps with heavyweight. I would actually I would pyramid up, and every set I would try to go till failure, and I would pyramid up all the way up to maybe four, six, eight reps, and then I would pyramid back down. But the progress that I made with back was the best time period for me, but the progress was I made was in my 30s, and it was when I would deadlift, and it was when I would do uh bent over rows and all free weights. Now, don't get me wrong, I used to I would warm up with lap pull downs. I still do pull-ups. Uh, sometimes I do pull-ups at the uh beginning of the workout in order to get um in order to uh warm up. And then sometimes I do pull-ups at the end, but by the time I do that, I do the assisted pull-ups because it becomes very taxing on my back by the time I'm done with the the back workout. The one thing that I've noticed to go into the gym that I see a lot of young guys, and sometimes it's not even the young guys, some of that, sometimes it's just guys getting started, is the uh form. A lot of guys don't have the form downright, so they're doing bent over rows, they're doing T-bar rows, they're doing one-arm rows, but the form is really off, really off so much. So sometimes it's so bad that it looks like uh we're going you're going to hurt yourself, and you have to really concentrate. And you would think that it would be easier today. So, what I mean by that is you would think with all the information on YouTube, on Instagram, on TikTok, that these people would just literally, you could just Google it, you could just YouTube it, you know, proper form for deadlift, proper form for uh lat pull down, proper form for one-arm rows, right? Um, and there's different variations. There's different variations for one-arm rows, there's different variations for bent over rows. Um, but but for the most part, you have to stick to the basics, and the form has to be excellent. So for me, when I know the form is right, when I know I know that the jury is out on this, okay. I I understand that there's been a lot of research done that says it means nothing, but it's very difficult for me to believe that. I know I have the form right, and I know I have great mind muscle connection, and I know when I have a good back workout, when my back is really pumped. Because when my when I have a bot a body part that is lagging, the pump is very difficult to come by. I don't know why. Like my legs, my chest, arms, but my shoulders and my back were lagging so far behind that even the pump was difficult to come by. So when I start off, when you see me, like I put a video up of me doing pull-ups, when you see me doing pull-ups after the first three sets, two or three sets, by that point I'm I'm starting to feel the pump because I I have the mind muscle connection down, I have the form down, and then the blood flow is there. Now, does the pump mean the body part is gonna grow? I don't know. I research says no, okay, but but it's definitely an indicator that you're doing something right, let's put it that way. Whether it's blood flow, whether it's the nutrients going into your muscle, it's definitely a signal, a a good signal that you are doing it right. Because there's been plenty of times where I've done you know, some back movement, and I feel nothing out of it. And if I feel nothing out of it, I feel like I'm wasting my time, right? So I usually stick to the to the movements that I really feel and I really have mind muscle connection. One of the things that I do that I've noticed that helped with my back, and also I actually had better progress with was when I would deadlift, a lot of times I would, I know this sounds strange, a lot of times I would deadlift with dumbbells. Right? I know it sounds strange, but I would get heavy dumbbells, and then I would start off with the heavy dumbbells by my ankles, obviously. And then by the time I was in the finished position, the dumbbells were by my side, and I was able to pull back much further than I would with a barbell. And I've noticed that this actually this progress helped a lot when you deadlift for mass on your back, I would stick to traditional deadlifting. I wouldn't do the sumo deadlifts. Okay, I think the traditional deadlift puts more stress on your back. Another good idea are rack pulls. Okay, and this is why this is why um I would do rack pulls or I would deadlift with the dumbbells more. Uh because when I would deadlift with the dumbbells, it would it would take the majority of my legs out of it. When I would do rack pulls, it takes the majority of your legs out of it. The first 25% of the movement when you're deadlifting are legs, it's an overall body movement, but it does really you know work your back. So if you're having a problem, if you're having a problem growing your back, try those. Try rack pulls. Uh, everybody knows how to do a rack pull. Not well, that's not true. Rack pull is basically a deadlift, only you're starting for a higher position, so you're kind of taking your legs out of it, and it's all and the emphasis is all on your back. You could YouTube it, it's called a rack pull, you could Google it, you'll see the proper form will be there. With dumbbells, too. I wouldn't I noticed that when I would deadlift with dumbbells, and I would go in front of my in front of my ankles, you know, I wouldn't use as much of my of my legs as I would with my back pulling it up and then pulling it back with the with the dumbbells at my sides. So I would it would literally be more of a motion of a stiff-legged deadlift with more legs and then pulling the dumbbells all the way back. On top of that, on top of that, one arm rows. One arm rows, I know that they are old school, I know that they are old hat, but one arm rows really work, especially on an angle. So, what I mean by on an angle is like instead of pulling straight up and straight down, it's almost like you're you're you're doing a sawing motion, if that makes sense. And you really, really stretch the muscle out, and uh and you really find mind muscle connection, and and it really adds the thickness to the back. Any kind of row with a heavy, with heavyweight, uh T-bar row, one-arm rows, bent over rows really helps get the mass up on your back. Now, there are plenty of incredible machines. I'm not saying not to use the machines, incorporate the machines. If you like a machine and you see progress with it, incorporate the machines, but don't ignore the basics. The basics is what gets you, gives you the most progress as far as I'm concerned. Okay, don't ignore the basics. All right, if you're doing legs and you need to put size on your legs, you gotta squat. If you're doing, if you if you gotta put size on your chest, the inclined bench, you gotta do it. Okay. Now I know we've been going back and forth for do people say uh uh regular bench or inclined bench. I've always preferred dumbbells, I've always got a better pump, I've always been very stronger, much stronger with dumbbells. But make sure you incorporate the basics into your workout. And when it comes to back, make sure all those basics are there. Even pull-ups. If you're the kind of guy who could do 20, 30 pull-ups easy, do weighted pull-ups. You know, they they sell the uh the chain that goes around your around your waist. You could add you could add the uh the uh plates, you know, 25, 45s, right? Or what I like to do, or I used to do anyway, was when I used to work out at a gym with heavy chains, and I did uh and I did pull-ups, I would try to do the pull-ups with the heavy chains. I would try to do the pull-ups with uh weighted, any kind of weighted pull-up. Most of the time, most decent gyms are gonna have the wrap that goes around your waist, and you're able to put a uh plate on it, and you're able to do pull-ups. If they don't have it, you could buy them. They're on Amazon, they're not expensive, okay? They're not expensive. Anything your gym doesn't have, you could buy and put it in your bag. Okay, and if you like that particular movement and that particular movement helps, yeah, just buy the just buy the equipment, put it in your bag. It's not gonna break you. They're not expensive. This the stuff is not expensive, especially when it's just you using it. It's not like you're passing it, you know, you know, you know, 20, 30 people are using it a day, and and that you're gonna have wear and tear on it. Believe me, you know, I have uh, like, for example, the ropes in the gym that I go to, and both gyms that I go to are short when I do tricep pulldowns. I don't like the short ropes, I like longer ropes because I get more of an extension on my tricep pull down. So I bought them. I bought them and I just uh and I just um leave them in my bag and I use them when I do my triceps. So let's see. Okay. Someone with barbell only, do you think cable function training setup is necessary to really start developing your bag? Um, what do you mean by barbell? Do you think cable functional training setup? What do you mean by somebody with barbell only? Uh explain that because uh If you only have a barbell to train, do you think cable functional training? I don't know what you mean by that. Do you have cables, cable pulldowns available, or you just have a barbell? Because if you just have a if you're talking about a a uh workout in your garage and all you have is yeah, exactly, for only barbell. Okay, you do what you can with what you have. Okay, if you're in a if you have a garage gym, if you have a basement gym and all you have is a barbell, okay? You do what you you do with what what you have. So you have a barbell, you could deadlift, right? You could you could deadlift, you could manage some rack poles, or because all you're doing is raising it up, but you know, you know, maybe a foot off the floor. You could do bent over rows, you could do uh you know, T-bar rows. You could put the you could put the barbell in between your legs and row from the front, if that makes sense. Do you know what I mean? Like uh, but yeah, you're gonna have to put something heavy in the back to keep it from from coming up. I I can't articulate it right, but uh they have them in the gym where the barbell slides into that slot and you're able to put weight on it and do a row, uh, a close grip row, a wide grip row with different attachments, right? Uh let's see. Or is it best just to pony up and get uh trainer to really start uh realizing your gains? Okay, it depends on it depends on your gain. Ah no, no, uh depends on the trainer. You know, most personal trainers at the gym, they're not gonna know bodybuilding, they're gonna know fitness because the majority of people that go to them are people that basically want to lose weight. Um, they they say, Oh, I don't want to get big, I just want to tone up. So they incorporate like this cardio workout weight thing. I've seen a million of them. Um if if you do get a trainer and you and you're and you want to put size on, then yeah, you're gonna have to pay a guy. You know, if you decide, look, you know, I want to pay King Kamali to try and help me. I want to pay, you know, Fackery to try and help me. Those are the guys that are gonna be able to put give you the what you need to put the size on your back. You know, the the trainer at retro is he's not gonna know shit. Okay. Uh, I'm doing bent rows, deadlifts, single arm rows. Yeah, I mean, listen, man, you got the basics. That's pretty good. You could definitely grow your back with just that. If the if the if the form is right, the mind muscle connection is right, you feel it, um, you could kill your back with those three movements. You could destroy your back with those three movements. Okay, you could you could do an excellent back workout with those three movements. T-rub or go is a is more, yeah, yeah. Like I don't know how to articulate it, right? Um, but it's like they sell these attachments that you could put on your barbell and you could get them anywhere, right? Most people use the close grip pull down for a lad pull down and then put it under the bar. And then you just put the bar between your legs and and the weight, and but you need some weight in the back to hold it so it doesn't come up. But yeah, that um That definitely would definitely help. Drawing variations and it definitely helps. Great thanks, John. Was worried based on earlier talking points today. I needed more equipment. Yeah, man, listen, uh a home gym gets expensive, man. I mean, it really does. These guys, like I know Bo, my friend Bo, um, he put a home gym. He spent a fortune putting a home gym in, man. That's why most people, you know, well, I I prefer going to the gym because I like people and I like being around people and I like the energy. And I don't really like working out by myself. It reminds me of COVID when I when I worked out in my shed and I had all different equipment in my shed. And I work out by myself, and it was just me and my dog. I hated it. I like the gym. I like the energy. I like the people. I like the weights banging. I like the music going. That gets me in the mood to train. Um, it's very it's better. But listen, if that's your solitude, you do what you can with your what you what you have. Okay. You'd be surprised what you can do with a barbell, with dumbbells, with the basics. You know, when I here's a funny, here's a funny, when I was in COVID, when it was COVID, I didn't have a a barbell. So I actually got galvanized pipe from work. And I also got um concrete bricks, you know, like the like you use to build a wall, if that makes sense. And I would do bent over rows with the galvanized pipe with the uh bricks on each side. And I actually had like three different sizes because one was very light, one was like, and then one was really heavy. Um you'd be surprised what you can get done with a makeshift gym. Now, like I said, you could spend a fortune and have an amazing gym. You could spend 50 grand and have like, you know, but you don't have to. As long as you're getting the basics in and you're learning and you have the motivation and you're really and you're really trying really hard and you're putting the time in, you're gonna see progress. There's no question about it. You're gonna see progress. You get your nutrition in, you get your sleep in, you get your supplementation in, you're going to see progress, especially when you're doing things like deadlifts, bent over rows, one-arm rows, T-bar. There's no quit, there's 100 pull-ups. I mean, pull-up bars are really inexpensive. Like you can get a cheap one and just fucking put it anywhere. But you could, you know what I mean? Like, I have I still have mine in uh my garage, my shed. Sorry, I don't have a garage in my shed. Um uh dip bars are very inexpensive, so you could do uh uh and they have the dip combination pull-up ones, they're very inexpensive. No, inexpensive, you know, 100, 200 bucks, you know. Believe me, I know we're all pinch and pennies. I get it. Believe me. Well, I fucking get it, dude. Um, but you do what you can with what you have. And as a matter of fact, the fact that you're asking me that shows me that you have the ambition and the gumption and and the and the motivation to say, hey, look, I only got this much stuff, and this is what I do, and I do it, you know, every day or every other day, and I'm putting the work in. Can't replace that, man. You can't replace motivation and gumption. You can't. You can't. You could put you could put the biggest guy with no motivation in the best gym in the world. You're gonna make you're gonna make more progress. That's just the the the matter of fact. It's just a fact of the matter. Uh, the resourceful equipment is a fun idea. I'll make some ghetto fabulous. Yeah, dude, like seriously, like you can like like you can have fun with it. It's not look, everybody loves going to the the new gym. Everybody loves fucking seeing the girls in the shorts and whatnot. Everybody loves trying new equipment, everybody loves the energy in the gym, but you do what you can do at home on your days off, in your garage, in your shed. If you got you know your boys to come over and do it, and you you know, you fucking put a boom box there, boom box. I'm really showing my age. You put a Bluetooth speaker and you work out, man. There's nothing better than that, man. There really isn't. Some pre-workout, and then you get it in with your boys. There's nothing better than that. There really isn't. I mean, I I those days where I used to work out my basement as a kid, and my friends would come over, probably the best, you know. We didn't we had no idea what we were doing, but we were having a blast, man. We had the music going, and we didn't have pre-workout back then, but we had the music going, it was fucking great. You know, it was fucking it was fucking great, man. It really is. It was fucking great. Uh, don't get me wrong. Now I go to the gym. I am a simple dude, man. I really I I am. There's nothing. All right, I do have a fancy side. But let me just say I try to live below my means so I don't go broke. But I when it comes to working out, it's you know, keep it simple, stupid. Really, there is nothing. I see a lot of people trying to put the car before the horse. I see a lot of people in the gym using angles and things that some influencers said to do and try this and blah blah blah. And they don't even have the basics down, you know, it's like get the basics down. Get those basics down. Once you get the basics down and you put that size on, it's gonna come, man. When you when you have the form right and you have the mind muscle connection, you have the motivation, and you feel that pump in your back, and you have your nutrition in, you are going to make progress. Now everybody progresses differently, but you are going to make progress. There's no doubt in my mind, believe me, there's no doubt in my mind that you are going to make progress. That's it. That's just what's what it takes. It's it's just it's like that saying that that that bodybuilders use, you know, lift, eat, sleep, repeat. That's that's fucking what it is, man. That's really what it is. Uh all right. I am signing off. Thank you everybody for watching Anabolic Academy. I'm hoping that Jason will be back with me soon. Um, I spoke to him today. He is doing better. He's not out of the woods yet. He's still um, you know, he's a guy that he's not gonna give up, he's gonna keep going. Um, I wanted to start a GoFundMe form, but he's too proud. He said, please don't do that. He doesn't like people knowing his business. Um, all I'm saying is go to his website, use discount code, show some support, buy creatine, buy pre-workout, buy a t-shirt. Oh man, you didn't have to do that, man. You don't have to do that. Thank you. That means a lot to me, man. It really means a lot to me. It really does. If I could make your life better, if I could give you entertainment, if I could help you, that's all I need. You you never have to uh send me money, even though it's greatly appreciated, man. The fact that you guys are just tuning in every week really it's it's just moving in in and of itself. So thank you. Thank you very much, brother. You don't have to do that, and always hit me up on um on Instagram, uh, my email, whatever you want. Instagram is serious, you know my Instagram, serious and selling is BB, and my uh my um uh email is unclejon1201 at gmail. Please, anytime. Uh John, I'm going to give you a hundred bucks next week when I get paid. No, please don't. For equipment upgrades. No, no, please don't. Don't send me any money. But this is really uh, this was it's just at least I things like this when people show up and watch, and when people like, you know, leave tips, it motivates me to keep going. Because believe me, there are times I'm going, man, I don't have any sponsors. Fuck, I didn't make that much money, you know. You know, and I'm thinking to myself, am I wasting my time? And then when somebody does something like this, or I get great people that uh with great comments, I'm not wasting my time, I'm doing the right thing. Thank you. I owe you guys a debt. You guys don't owe me anything. I owe you guys, believe me. You guys help me. This podcast helps me more than you realize. It helps me get through rough times. So thank you guys. I really appreciate it. All right, I'm gonna go. Remember, we are thank you, brother. I appreciate that. We are recording with Mr. Aaron Clark, so that will be up tomorrow morning. Don't miss it. It should be really interesting. We're going to find out. He was uh he blew up on the scene in the um 2010s, and uh he was a force on stage, and then he kind of faded out. We're gonna be doing an interview and then we're gonna be getting his input on the Pittsburgh Pro. All right, guys, have a good night. Later, peace.