Hi all…good to be back. I embarked on a little hiatus at the beginning of the year. I only meant to take 2 weeks off from training but thru burn out and a bought of stress induced depression, it turned into 4 months! But I’ve been back since March 1st and am nearly back to my former condition when I left off. But holy shit was I weak when I started up again! It’s been a very hard road back and I hope it will serve to remind me to NEVER do that again. So with that said, I will move on here.
Due to a lower back injury I suffered several years ago, my back workouts are a bit restricted to certain exercises. I need something new and I’ve heard mention of face pulls here but couldn’t seem to find any articles that explain them in depth. I’m just not sure what the optimum rep ranges are because it seems like an awkward movement in terms of balance and can’t imagine using a lot of weight.
So I’m guessing it’s more of a higher rep thing. But if anyone who has experience and has gotten results with them could pass along some ideas and tips and/or any good articles, I would very much appreciate it. Thanks!
Face pulls are usually done for the rear delt more than the back, though they can give you a good squeeze in your upper back.
Most people do them in the 10-15 rep range.
One thing that I do that I’ve liked on them (and helps with the whole stability issue) is setting at a pulldown with a bar I can hold with my hands about a foot apart (pronated grip), and leaning back with it and doing pulling to the bridge of my nose.
I don’t know if I’ve heard of anyone doing them primarily for back though.
Apart from that, as I cannot do a lot of back exercise due to back problems, I just became creative. Face pull is just one exercise.
Seated Rows chest on padu ( I cannot do regular seated, it putsme out of commission ), pull downs with all kinds of grip variations, pull ups, sit on a bench, face in, on an incline and do cablepulls, one arm dumbbell rows, deadlifts, hypers, Phoenix pulls, shrugs, etc
And as stated above, I play with hand grip, barbell or dumbbell, cables, etc
1morerep, this is slightly off topic, but I just recently looked over your old training thread, because I’m pretty sure you go to my gym!! DO you workout in Clarksville??
[quote]Spidey22 wrote:
1morerep, this is slightly off topic, but I just recently looked over your old training thread, because I’m pretty sure you go to my gym!! DO you workout in Clarksville??[/quote]
Hey Spidey22, I sure do go to the LAC in Clarksville. “Half Rep Heaven” as I call it
[quote]Spidey22 wrote:
1morerep, this is slightly off topic, but I just recently looked over your old training thread, because I’m pretty sure you go to my gym!! DO you workout in Clarksville??[/quote]
Hey Spidey22, I sure do go to the LAC in Clarksville. “Half Rep Heaven” as I call it ;)[/quote]
Haha wow, that’s nuts. I was the tall, darkheaded kid Friday doing DL’s next you when you were doing upright rows. I was going to ask if you posted here, but wasn’t sure it was you or not. Your threads was one of my biggest motivators to try and’ bulk up’, so I was kind of in awe when I saw it was actually you. lol. Small world.
Haha wow, that’s nuts. I was the tall, darkheaded kid Friday doing DL’s next you when you were doing upright rows. I was going to ask if you posted here, but wasn’t sure it was you or not. Your threads was one of my biggest motivators to try and’ bulk up’, so I was kind of in awe when I saw it was actually you. lol. Small world.[/quote]
Oh you were the guy making all that damn noise dropping the barbell with each rep huh?? LOL. But seriously, thanks very much for saying that. I may not recognize you next time we’re there together so feel free to say hi.
First congrats on beating depression, it’s a major problem that affects millions of people and most of us goes untreated and under-diagnosed that we never make a full recovery. It made me stay away from any activity for 6 months and messed up all my body but it’s a battle that we can win if we put our minds into it and confront our problems!
About the facepulls i really like to work on the high rep range like 12-15 and you don’t need to use much weight also.
[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:
What they ARE good for is correcting protracted scapula, weak mid to lower traps and improving rom in the subscapularis.
BBB[/quote]
i get a lot of “wow, you have really good posture” comments and never really knew why but now i believe it is bc i really made an effort hammering the face pulls
I have successfully used facepulls to rehab my shoulder, the above 2nd video is how I do them for my shoulder, the 1st video does not have external rotation and I think it permits a heavier weight and more upper back stimulation, so I think if you are looking for upper back work, then stick with the 1st video.
[quote]Blaze_108 wrote:
Face pulls are usually done for the rear delt more than the back, though they can give you a good squeeze in your upper back.
Most people do them in the 10-15 rep range.
One thing that I do that I’ve liked on them (and helps with the whole stability issue) is setting at a pulldown with a bar I can hold with my hands about a foot apart (pronated grip), and leaning back with it and doing pulling to the bridge of my nose.
I don’t know if I’ve heard of anyone doing them primarily for back though.[/quote]
Face pulls are usually done for the rear delts???
Not by anyone with a degree of biomechanics and/or rehab knowledge they aren’t. In fact, done correctly, facepulls shouldn’t even stress the rear delts very much.
What they ARE good for is correcting protracted scapula, weak mid to lower traps and improving rom in the subscapularis.
8-20 reps is fine since you shouldn’t go too heavy on this sort of thing IMO.
BBB[/quote]
Hmm. I stand corrected.
I’ve always seen them listed in shoulder workouts.
I do them with elbows flared way out and a pretty slow rep speed and always feel them in my rear delts.
I was going off what I’d noticed from reading other people’s logs/noticed myself.
I don’t have nearly your level of knowledge/experience though.
