Cedric McMillan's 5 Can't Fail Lat Blasters | "Back to Columbus"
5 Can't Fail Lat Blasters
Cedric McMillan, "Back to Columbus"
In November of 2009, the bodybuilding world was introduced to a soldier from South Carolina named Cedric McMillan. At 6 foot 1 and 260 pounds with amazing shape and structure and a tiny waist, his potential was glaringly obvious. No less than Lee Haney himself predicted he would become Mr. Olympia one day. His back was especially impressive, featuring flaring width, thickness from the inside out and top to bottom, and low, hanging insertions like a manta ray. But like any true bodybuilder and especially one who aims to indeed be the best in the world someday, U.S. Army Staff Sergeant McMillan was nowhere near satisfied with his back. Now, with four pro wins to his credit as of this writing his back is significantly better than it was back on that fateful night he won the NPC Nationals over six years ago. In that time he has amassed an enormous fan base and become one of the most enigmatic and talked about bodybuilders of his era.
At last year’s Arnold Classic Cedric’s mighty 270 pounds finished fourth and he became a lightning rod for the classic aesthetic physique vs. sheer mass debate. The debate ignited around Big Mac as Arnold Schwarzenegger himself proclaimed Cedric should have been better rewarded, maybe as high as first. As he returns to compete at this year’s Arnold Classic on March 5, we reveal his favorite five back exercises. Hear the man.
1) Lat Pulldowns
I usually start my back workout with wide-grip pulldowns. In the past, I have done these where I stretch my arms up as high as I possibly can to get a full stretch in the muscle. Now instead, I keep my arms slightly bent at the top and allow my shoulder girdle to raise up high at the top. I feel that my lats work more by pulling down my shoulders. When I stretch my arms all the way up at the top, I feel it works my biceps more. I do this movement with a slow to moderate pace, making sure I focus on form and raising my shoulders up and keeping the lats engaged, instead of just pulling the weight down with arms or whatever muscle the body decides to try to use. I don’t come down very low at the bottom of the movement. I bring the bar down level with my nose or chin.
So I found that not going super high or all the way down to the chest with the bar to be a sweet spot so to speak. I was able to find what I consider an effective range of motion (ERM) within the maximum full range of motion (FRM). When I do this exercise now, I don’t lean back as I did in the past. I sit straight up. I sometimes even do a few reps bringing the weight down behind my head. This is my first exercise, so I maybe start with sets of 15-20, some reps super slow, some reps I hold at the stretch, some reps I hold the contraction. I do whatever it takes to warm up the muscle properly before my last set, which is to positive failure around 12 reps. Those reps are what I call ‘focused reps,’ meaning no snatching the weight, and no explosive movements. Only good, clean form, focused reps to positive failure. By positive failure, I mean when I am no longer able to maintain good form with my reps. At that point, I try to do up to five more of what I call ‘beast reps’ or ‘explosive reps.’ During these last few reps, I also lean back a bit as I snatch the weight down. This allows me to finish off the set with a high level of intensity. If I’m able to perform more than three to five of these explosive reps, then that lets me know I didn’t put enough effort into my focused reps. When a set goes perfect, I get 12 focused reps, then two or three explosive reps. That is when I end the set.”
2) Bent-over Rows with Smith Machine and Barbell
Smith machine bent-over rows is another favorite. I do a few sets of traditional barbell rows, then a few sets of Smith machine rows. That way I’m still getting any positive stimulation possible from the barbell rows, and then getting that good feeling and pump from the Smith machine rows.
This exercise is pretty simple. I make sure I keep the bar really close to my legs. I bend over between 70 and 90 degrees with a deeply arched back to make sure I can properly contract the back muscles. I let the bar go almost all the way down, almost to the point that my arms are fully extended, then I raise the bar without snatching or heaving the weight, just good focused reps. I do about four sets total here, two sets of barbell rows, followed by two sets of Smith machine rows. The first set of barbell rows is to 20 reps. From there I do moderate sets of 12, ending each set with a few explosive reps.
I must add that when I execute explosive reps, my form is still as close to perfect as I can keep it while adding a bit of explosiveness to snatch or heave the weight.”
3) Neutral-grip Pulldowns
Now I move on to neutral-grip pulldowns. I either use the fixed neutral grip V-bar handle or I use two rings. I prefer two rings because it gives me more freedom in my range of motion. I do around 12 reps to positive failure here. I perform half my reps sitting straight up and pulling down with focused reps, arching my back as I come down. The last half of my reps are done with a bit more explosiveness, where I lean back slightly as I pull the weight down with a deeply arched back. During the explosive reps, I try to get more of a stretch in my lats and arms than with the pulldowns. I lean forward at the top and extend my arms and shoulders up as high as I can before I lean back and snatch the weight down while making sure I keep my back arched as deeply as I can. Sometimes I pause at the top to make sure I get a good stretch with every rep.
4) Seated Cable Rows
On a good day when my energy is up, or when I feel the need for more stimulation in the lower lats, I do seated cable rows. On any given day I will do these with any type grip or bar, just depending on how I feel. Most of the time, I do the neutral-grip V-bar handle. Other times I may do a mid-grip or curl grip with a straight bar, or I may use the rings. They all have a slightly different feel. I like to mix it up sometimes and maybe even do one set with each grip and/or bar. With seated rows, I like to get a full stretch and lean as far forward as I can while keeping my chest high and back arched. As I pull the handles back, I lift my chest even more and try to arch my back as deeply as possible while bringing my elbows back. I use a full range of motion on all of these reps to help pull the lower lats out. On some reps, instead of pulling the bar back to the center of my body, I will pull it back to one side, and alternate left and right side. I think this allows me to contract the lat on that side really hard, which increases the stimulation I feel. Then I return the handle all the way back down to the middle, leaning forward as much as I can.
“I don’t differentiate between focused and explosive reps on this movement, all reps are smooth with a moderate pace. I complete three sets of around 12 reps to positive failure.”
5) Deadlifts in Power Rack
The last exercise I do on back day is deadlifts using a power rack. This allows the bar to rest at a point higher than the floor. I like to have the bar at the middle of my shinbone, about six inches below my knees. I feel this allows me to use my back only when I lift, instead of using legs during the first half of the movement. I also feel it lowers the level of risk associated with this movement. Nothing fancy here, just good, slow reps. I use slow reps so I can make sure my back is properly engaged and aligned throughout the whole movement. As I come up to the top, I arch my back as deeply as possible without leaning back far. I used to lean way back at the top when I did deadlifts, but I found it to be a waste of energy. As long as I’m standing straight up, and my back is arched with the back muscles contracted, the rep is done. My reps are different here. I increase weight progressively, and my rep scheme is like this:
Set 1: 12 reps
Set 2: 10 reps
Set 3: 8 reps
Set 4: 6 reps, or max out doing as many reps as I can, but no more than 12. This is the heaviest set.”
How This Soldier Learned to Recruit His Lats
Back in the day it was hard for me to train my back effectively because my arms and rear delts did all the work. My back was hardly doing anything. I used to try to muscle the weight down without understanding how to pull from my lats. I read this article once that said, ‘Imagine your arms and hands together are hooks that connect to your lats, and pull the weight down through the arms, not with the arms.’ That same article talked about the ‘mind-muscle connection,’ which was the first time I ever heard of it. Until that day, I had just been lifting weights. I was not truly a bodybuilder. That article made me start experimenting with ways of feeling the muscle work as I performed each exercise. What I came up with is this: when I tried to control the weight too much, I was using too much arms and rear delts because I had no mind-muscle connection yet with my back. I started thinking about snatching or exploding with the weight from the start position, and only using a little bit of control on the negative portion, just enough control to not look like an idiot as the weight kicks your ass. There was barely any control at all during the negative. It was almost but not quite dropping the weight, then I would explode again on the positive. Once I kept that in mind as I went through my reps, I could start to feel my lats working instead of my biceps.”
