Bodybuilding great Lee Labrada remains busy in retirement but never misses a chance to break down his proven training strategies. In a YouTube video featured in his ‘Over 40’ series, Labrada detailed a back and biceps workout, providing tips along the way for maximizing results.
As an Open Pro, Lee Labrada separated himself from the rest of the league with legendary posing routines, aesthetics, and conditioning. He never laid claim to a Mr. Olympia title but remained in the top four at the prestigious competition for seven years consecutively. Having competed and pushed legends such as eight-time Mr. Olympia Lee Haney and Robby Robinson, Labrada’s career is held in high regard by the community today.
Lee Labrada’s son Hunter Labrada, followed in his footsteps. Carrying the family name, Hunter Labrada has placed as high as fourth on the Mr. Olympia stage and recently finished sixth at the last show in November.
In retirement, Lee Labrada remains dedicated to health, wellness, and especially longevity. With that in mind, the bodybuilding standout elaborated on how to maximize results with an easy-to-understand back and biceps training demonstration.
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Lee Labrada Shares Workout and Guide for Building Stronger Back and Biceps
- Nautilus machine
- Pull down machine
- Low-pulley rows
- Dumbbell shrugs
- Chest-supported T-bar row machine
- Bench hyperextension
- Concentration curls
- Preacher curls
- Dumbbell hammer curls
Nautilus machine
Using the Nautilus machine, Labrada stressed keeping the back arched and bringing the arms down as if you were trying to elbow someone standing behind you.
“Today, I’m going to use this Nautilus machine and essentially what we’re going to do is we’re going to take the handles we’re going to get into position here on the seat and I’m going to make sure that my back is arched and I’m going to bring my arms down and back almost like I’m elbowing the guy behind me.The important thing is to get a really good contraction in your lats as you come down. Make sure to keep your chest high and your back arched and complete the movement in a nice deliberate fashion like I’m doing right here. This is our warm-up,” Lee Labrada shared.
Pull-down machine
“I’m also going to show you on this machine right here, this is a pull-down machine, essentially I like to use an underhanded grip and about shoulder width.Get into position and then just bring the elbows down and back keeping the chest high and the back arched.”
Low-pulley rows
“What I’m going to do here is low-pulley rows and I’m going to basically grip the machine here low and basically pull my elbows back and down keeping a nice high chest and keeping the arch in the back and making sure I get a really really strong contraction in the lats and the back as I pull back.”
Dumbbell shrugs
As for dumbbell shrugs, Labrada gave his best tips for making the most of the movement.
“I’m going to keep my head up [during dumbbell shrugs] I’m essentially going to bring the shoulders up, the shoulder girdle up into a shrug position and slowly let it back down.No rotation or any of that stuff. We’re just going to be bringing it up and lowering straight back down into position.”
Chest-supported t-bar row machine
To tax the bottom trapezius muscle, Labrada uses the chest-supported t-bar row machine.
“This next movement [chest-supported t-bar row machine] is for the bottom part of the trap or what we like to call the middle of the back, it also hits the rhomboids and such what we’re going to do here is focus on getting those elbows out and contracting and getting the middle of that back.”
Bench hyperextension
Training the lower back muscles, the 63-year-old opted for hyperextensions.
“Now we’re going to train the lower back, the spinal erectors, we’re going to do that using this hyperextension bench. What I’ve done here is adjust the height on this bench so it sits right about where my hips are. The important thing to do here is to lock the hips and let’s just get that rotation.”
Concentration curls
The reason we call it a concentration curl is because you’re concentrating all of the stress on one arm at a time.What we’re going to do is take our elbow and put it on the inside of your leg against the bench and we’re essentially going to lock the upper arm in place. Grab the dumbbell and then just curl it up.”
Preacher curls
His second arm exercise consisted of preacher curls and he offered pointers to avoid ‘body English’ affecting the movement.
“Here we are at the Preacher bench. It’s called the Preacher bench for obvious reasons. What I like about this exercise it allows me to lock my elbows against this bench in place so I don’t get a lot of body English like I would if I was doing standard standing barbell curls.”
Dumbbell hammer curls
Lastly, Labrada finished off his arms with dumbbell hammer curls, offering guidance for body positioning and rep-ranges.
“The dumbbell hammer curl. I’m going to select these weights here and sit on the edge of the bench and I’m literally going to curl this weight up one arm at a time but with the face of the dumbbell facing upwards.What that’s going to do is hit my biceps brachialis. I’m going to do as many as I can on this arm and then I’m going to go to the other arm.”
“That does it for our biceps workout and that is the finish of our back and biceps day. As you know, you can substitute exercises for the exercises like the ones you saw today. This is an example of what I might do on a typical back and biceps workout.”
You can watch the full video from the Labrada Nutrition YouTube channel below:
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