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I've always believed that the process of changing your body happens in phases. When we pick up weights for the first time and scrap together a rough workout plan it seems like we can add 10lbs of muscle to our bodies every week. Unfortunately due to many physiological boundaries this rapid rate of progression eventually starts to slow down. We then hit out first plateau and step up our training again to make sure we get through it. After a while, we will reach a time of advanced development, which might take one person several months and others many years. It's at this time that we can really start looking at our bodies and deciding which bodyparts are lagging behind the rest. Personally, I have always been an arms guy, even as a youngster, my bicep and tricep development was something that dominated other parts of by body. Over time everywhere else had to play catch up and eventually my legs, delts, chest and traps began to form a balanced combination. These days, I split each year into thirds, grouping several months together to either target certain areas or rest entire muscle groups. At the 1st section of this year after recovering from a leg injury I decided my lower back was in need of some attention. < MARCH 2009 > 
As you can see from the inset picture (highlighted green), my erector spinae muscle lacked the development to match the muscles of the upper back (lats, rhomboids & traps).
I had never paid close attention to this area as it was one I felt was constantly stimulated during many of my other workouts and long distance pack marches. I was right in the fact that my lower back was getting the stimulation but it lacked the LOAD and resistance it required for serious muscle growth. I'm not one to stress about the past and yes I'd made mistakes, but now I used that mistake to motivate me to finally take some action! So what did I do? I hit the training diary and devised my ultimate plan. Here it is typed out word for word for you to follow; ------------------------------------------------------------------------> DATE: 28/03/09 WHAT'S WRONG? Lower back needs work, the bulk in my upper back makes my lower back look small and undeveloped. Lower back also fatigues much faster than it should, so need to address these issues. PRIMARY MUSCLES: Erector spinae (primary), trapezius (secondary) EXERCISES: Standard deadlifts, stiff leg deadlifts, good mornings STRENGTH GOALS: Not so important, aim to be lifting +460lbs (210kg) deadlifts by finish date PHYSICAL GOALS: Really wanna develop the overall thickness, with a visible pipe like erector spinae running down my lower back TIME FRAME: 12 Week from now ------------------------------------------------------------------------> < JULY 2009 > 
So after 12 weeks of required concentration I am pretty satisfied with the improvements, it really only became visible to me after looking at those photos. This further emphasizes how correctly tracking your progress can impact on your results.
So what was the routine? Big bodyparts, need big weights and big recovery times. Always respect that if your looking for results in a short amount of time. I concentrated on one large smash session per week. Often feeling the post workout muscle soreness 4-5 days after its completion. Here is an example of the workout; TIME
| SET #
| EXERCISE
| WEIGHT
| REPS
| REST TIME
| | 18:00 | 1
| Good Mornings
| Very Light
| 8
| 45 sec
| | 18:02 | 2
| Good Mornings
| Very Light
| 10
| 60 sec
| | 18:05 | 3 | Standard Deadlift
| Very Heavy
| 3 | 60 sec
| 18:07
| 4
| Standard Deadlift
| Very Heavy
| 3
| 60 sec
| | 18:09 | 5
| Standard Deadlift
| Very Heavy
| 3
| 60 sec
| | 18:11 | 6
| Standard Deadlift | Heavy
| 6
| 75 sec
| | 18:14 | 7
| Standard Deadlift
| Heavy
| 6
| 75 sec
| | 18:17 | 8
| Standard Deadlift
| Heavy
| 6
| 75 sec
| | 18:20 | 9
| Elevated Deadlift
(standing on blocks) | Medium
| 12
| 60 sec
| | 18:23 | 10
| Elevated Deadlift
(standing on blocks | Medium
| 14
| 60 sec
| | 18:26 | 11
| Elevated Deadlift
(standing on blocks) | Medium
| 16
| 120sec
| | 18:30 | 12 | Good Mornings | Light | 6 slow
| 60 sec
| | 18.33 | 13
| Good Mornings | Very Light | 24
| 60 sec
| | 18:35 | 14
| Stretch (5 minutes) | No Weight
| NA
| Finished
| | | | | | | | 40 Minutes
| 14 Sets
| | | | |
Now please answer the following questions below!
1) For you, which bodypart has developed the fastest?
2) At the moment, what part of your body needs the most work? Thanks
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