Andrew Huberman Trains Back With Dorian Yates at Gold’s Gym Venice

(upbeat music) Today, we're training at Gold's Gym, Venice, California, with six-time consecutive Mr. Olympia winner, the Dorian Yates. And today is back day. We're gonna hit the whole back. We're gonna start with the emphasis on the lats, let's say. So, it's to bring the upper arm down and back actually. That's the movement of the lats. So, it could be here. We're going down and back or on the pullover, down and back. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Or it could be here. It's still going down and back. Mm-hmm. Relative to the torso. Yeah. Right? Mm-hmm. Are you consciously trying to keep the bicep slack while you do that? No. You'll engage the biceps- The first exercise we're gonna do is a pullover. And the reason we're doing this first, 'cause there's no biceps involvement. Mm-hmm. This is pure lats. So, we're gonna do this to exhaust the lats, and then we're gonna go onto the compound exercise, which will evolve the forearms and the biceps. And doing it in that way, we're gonna get more, you're gonna feel the second exercise a lot more 'cause we already isolated the lats and it's pretty only, the only way you can do it was this machine. You could do a dumbbell pullover over a bench. But you get to hear, obviously, there's no resistance. So, it's half a movement. Mm-hmm. Or you could do a straight arm lat pulldown. Mm-hmm. (equipment clinks) But again, it's not ideal. You've gotta stabilize with the abs and everything. So, if I can just borrow your arm, right? (exhales) Mm-hmm. Doesn't matter where this is. Mm-hmm. This, push down a little bit. Got it, got it. There, all right? There's your lats firing. Got it. First set is gonna be moderate for you to get the feeling. So, upper arms are against here. And this is where we're pushing. You can put the hands where you like really, but probably about here. So, see. Come up until you feel a stretch. And then, (exhales) down, pause here. And control it on the way up. So, positive, static, negative, very light. Just to, you know, (equipment clinks) you to get used to the machine 'cause maybe you haven't done it before. And get some blood in there. Mm-hmm. Warm up a little bit. All the way down to the bottom, pause, and control on the way up. So, a lot of people think in terms of they do the positive and then (whistles) let it swing up. So, pause there, come up slowly. When you get to the top, want it to come right back down again. Stretch. Go. That's it. All right. (Andrew exhales) It might seem obvious, but I should say it. When you go up, (inhales) you breathe in, (exhales) when you come down, huh? Don't hold your breath. (Andrew exhales) So, this positive part of the movement is actually mechanically the weakest. This is stronger. (Andrew exhales) And this is stronger too. That's why it's slowing the negative down. Try to tax that part of the movement as well. A little bit slower on the way up. One, two, three. One more. (gymgoer faintly speaks) (Andrew exhales) Nice. Okay. (equipment clicks) Okay. Work set? Medium set. I guess. Let's see. We'll see. (equipment clinks and squeaks) So, you can do eight reps, yeah? (equipment clinks) We'll find out. Stable. Go. (Andrew inhales) (Andrew exhales) One. (equipment creaks) Push. Two. Don't stay up there. (Andrew exhales) Soon as you feel that stretch, you return. Stretch and return. Push! (Andrew exhales) That's better. Control it up. (equipment creaks) Drive it down. (Andrew exhales) That's it, man. All yours. And again. Push. (Andrew exhales) Squeeze it in. One more. Perfect. And drive. (Andrew exhales) Nice. Okay. Safe. Put your feet on there. (equipment squeaks and thuds) (equipment clicks) (gymgoer laughing) There we go. Let's go, brother. Let's do it. (equipment squeaks and thuds) Now, set it up man. You're in? You're tight? Don't forget when you go for the stretch, immediate return. Yeah, don't sit up there, all right? Okay. (Andrew grunts) Drive, one. Yes. (Andrew inhales) Pull! That's it. (Andrew exhales) Two. (Andrew inhales) Drive. (Andrew exhales) Three. (Andrew inhales) Power. Ah, easy. (Andrew grunts) Come on. Four. (Andrew inhales) Drive. All yours. (Andrew exhales) Five. (Andrew inhales) Stretch. Contract! (Andrew exhales) Six. All yours. (Andrew inhales) Come on. At least two on your own. Push! Squeeze it in, yes. (Andrew grunts) And again. (Andrew inhales) Push. Squeeze it in. (Andrew grunts) Okay, we can start working now. Come on. Let's go. Push, push! Elbow through the pads. Yes, two more. (Andrew grunts) (Andrew inhales) Drive the elbow through. Drive them through. Contract. (Andrew grunts) Set the bomb. Squeeze! (Andrew exhales) Slowly up. (Andrew exhales) One more. Power! (Andrew inhales) Squeeze it in. Elbows back. Squeeze it in. One more. (Andrew grunts)

This last one is the one. (Andrew heavy breathes) This is the one. Drive, drive it in. Squeeze it in, (Andrew grunts) squeeze it in. Hold it there. (Andrew exhales) Come up slowly. (Andrew grunts) (equipment thuds) Okay. Safety. (equipment squeaks and thuds) Yes, sir. That's the set. Well done. (equipment thuds) Feels good. Now you know, huh? Thank you. (Dorian laughing) (companion faintly speaks and laughs) That feels good. That's right, man. Feels good to push yourself, man. Feels so good. (Dorian laughing) Fucking supposed to do that with men. (Andrew exhales) Oh, we're gonna go inside, do some pulldowns. Yeah? All right. Fantastic. I was saying the other day that there are only two people on this planet that can wear their own name and face on their shirt, (Dorian laughing) and it absolutely works, and that's Mike Tyson and Dorian Yates. Shirt on, Yeah. picture on the front. Yeah. On the back. If you're one of those two guys, Say less, do more. you can do it. If you're not one of those two guys, don't wear your own name and face on your shirt. That's a fucking good club to be in with Mike Tyson. Man, that's cool. It is. Short set, mate. All right. Yeah, and I don't think- Close grip underhand. I don't think I've used straps in ages. (gymgoer faintly speaks) You just don't- You don't really need it on this set. Okay. On the heavy one, you might. A little bit wider. Come out here. To here? Yeah. Okay? Okay. So, we're gonna pulldown for the chest. Slow up. Same cadence as before, yeah? Pull. (Andrew exhales) One, nice. (gymgoer faintly speaks) Two. (Andrew exhales) Little slower on the way up. (gymgoer faintly speaks) (Andrew exhales) Three. (gymgoer faintly speaks) Feel that there. That's your lats. Whoa. (Andrew exhales) You see those? Your lower lats, man. Come on. (equipment thuds) (Andrew exhales) Five, three more. Six. (Andrew exhales) (gymgoer faintly speaks) Pull. Seven. Yeah, great. (Andrew exhales) Okay. Okay? (equipment thuds) Good set. So, you feel that more now 'cause your lats' already Yeah. pretty exhausted. Yeah. Little detail question. Yeah. Maybe doesn't matter. I notice if I go too far in with my knees, I can't get all the way back. Just get the right position under the... That looked good, man. You're getting a full contraction there. Yeah? Cool. So, all good. One at a time, man. Perfect. Come on. (Andrew grunts) Ah. Nice strong. (Andrew inhales) (Andrew exhales) Two. Pull. Three. (Andrew inhales) (Andrew grunts) Four. (Andrew inhales) Pull. Five. (Andrew grunts) Yes. Come on. (Andrew grunts) (Andrew inhales) Take it away. Pull! Squeeze, two more. (Andrew grunts) (Andrew inhales) Pull. Squeeze it in, (Andrew grunts) squeeze it in, squeeze in. Slower on the way up. (Andrew exhales) Slow, slow, slow, and fire, boom! Squeeze, squeeze! Pull! Slow down the way up. (Andrew grunts) Yes, mate. Excellent. That feels good. Thank you. (inhales) Good man. So, I think (Andrew exhales) we do some rowing now. We could sit on a machine, but I'd rather show you how to do dumbbell rows 'cause it's a bit more skilled. There's a free weight, eh? So, we're going here with the dumbbells, all right? Pretty exhausting (faintly speaks) It's blasted, yeah? Well, I'm feeling the contraction, and like- It's efficiency. And you know where it is now, right? You're gonna... It's contraction right down to the bottom there. 'Cause you're in the right body position. I think I- You got your body here and you're coming all the way down. You're not leaning back and not... If you do this, you're just gonna work your upper back. I feel like I've been training the scapula region Yeah. without- Mid-back, the trapezius. It's also... Yeah, yeah. Trapezius, lower trapezius. Straps for these two or no? Yeah, like, Okay. just for the heavier set. Mm-hmm. Okay. All right. So, we're gonna do one side at a time, which is good. So, we're gonna start, I'm in line with the shoulder. Gonna pull up and back, remember, down and back. So, it'll be like this. (Dorian exhales) That's why that's back there. If it was here, I'd be forced to come up. Yeah. Got it. And then, I'll work my upper body more. So, you go into the hip, basically. Yeah. Then, you would bring it down back. If we're going, if I'm gonna do this, yeah, I'm working upper back again. That's probably the real mistake that you're falling into. Work set straight off? Let's see. Yeah. I think it'll be a warm up for you, but. (Andrew laughing) (Andrew exhales) That's it. Pull in. (Andrew inhales) (Andrew exhales) Nice and back down again. (Andrew exhales) Excellent. Two. (Andrew inhales) (Andrew exhales) Three. (Andrew inhales) (Andrew exhales) Four. (Andrew inhales) (Andrew exhales) Five. (Andrew inhales) (Andrew exhales) Six. (Andrew inhales) (Andrew exhales) Seven. (Andrew grunts) Eight. Great, that'll do. We're gonna go do another heavier set.

Don't do this one? No, I don't want you to rush too much, yeah? Okay. All right. Because we do this side, we do that side, Yeah. and if you go directly from this side to that side, especially on the heavier set, you breathing's gonna be too heavy, ans that side's gonna suffer. Yeah, got it. So, consider it like two sets. Put that back out of the way. (gymgoer faintly speaks) Pull. (Andrew exhales) Put your finger here. (Andrew exhales) Oh yeah. You see it's right down here. The core is working (Andrew exhales) up here too much. Because not correct with the body positioning. Pull! Ah. (equipment thuds) (Andrew grunts) Nice. (Andrew grunts) (gymgoer faintly speaks) (Andrew grunts) Ah. Easy. Okay, good, good. We'll do another set in a minute. That pre-exhaustion of the pullovers first. Good, my man. Come on, man. (Andrew sighs) Set it up, man. Set it up. Get the position. (Andrew heavy breathes) Come on! Pull. (Andrew inhales) That's it, man. Great. Pull. Power. You're stronger. Come on. Yes. (Andrew grunts) Power. Pull! (Andrew grunts) Four. All the way up. Come on. (Andrew grunts) Five. Three more. Pull! (Andrew grunts) Six. Two more. Let's get it up there. Come on. Pull! And again. (Andrew grunts) One more. Pull! (Andrew grunts) Try one more. Come on. Let's do it. Try it. Pull! And one more. (Andrew grunts) Big 10. Oh, yes. Great. (Andrew grunts) Good job, mate. Good job. (Andrew heavy breathes) Rest up or straight into the- Yeah, let's see. Yeah, getting this leg back helps a lot, 'cause of that- Yeah, but you gotta go from, Yeah. in the line with the shoulder, pull into the hip, like starting a lawnmower. As I say, down and back in the right position, then you're activating the lats. If you're going up here, you're working back. Am I pulling too high here? No, you're good now. Okay. But maybe you were before. That's what I think. Yeah, yeah, yeah. (Andrew grunts) Everything is up. I see it, everything. Pull. (Andrew grunts) Pull. Three. (Andrew grunts) (equipment clinks) Pull! (Andrew grunts) Yes, four. Come on. (Andrew grunts) Five. Excellent. Strong. Six. (Andrew grunts) Let's keep going. Come on. Pull! (Andrew grunts) Seven, three more to do. Pull! (Andrew grunts) Two more. Stretch. Contract. Pull, come on! (Andrew grunts) And again, one more. All the way, high. Pull. (Andrew grunts) Excellent. Done. (Andrew grunts) Good job. Oh, okay. Thank you. Good job, man. Thanks. I wanna do a C2 cable, right? With a, bring the elbows out a bit there. Didn't train them for fucking 30 years, man. You didn't train forearms, calves, or neck, huh? No. I have to train all of those, but you know. Check this out, guys. Look at this. His wrist this way. That's how you pick a- That's like eight and a half inches of my wrist. Yeah, that's how you pick a bulldog. No joke. You look at how thick, (Dorian laughing) no, thick the wrist is. Yeah. How- If your bone structure could theoretically Yeah. hold more muscle, right? Yeah, yeah. Okay. So, everything we did was down and back. Yeah? Mm-hmm. Down and back. Yeah. And we're moving close to the body like that. Mm-hmm. So, we were primarily targeting the lats. Now, we're gonna shift to the upper back, right? So, now, we're gonna do pull and we're gonna let the elbows come out, right? So, now, we're gonna be working mid-trapezius, rhomboids, and so on, more. And you don't totally isolate muscles in the back. They all work together to some degree. But I'm talking about emphasis, yeah? So. (grunts) (equipment clangs) So, we're gonna let the shoulder go forward. You see a lot of people do this, yeah? (equipment thuds) I don't wanna do that. Keep the body here. (Dorian exhales) Stretch. (Dorian exhales) Okay? (equipment thuds) Thumbless grip? Full grip doesn't matter? Doesn't matter. Okay. Pull the elbows back, man. (equipment clinks) (Andrew exhales) (Andrew inhales) Okay? Okay. Push back a little. That's it. (Andrew exhales) You got the stretch, contract. (Andrew exhales) That's it. Excellent. One. (Andrew exhales) Two. (Andrew inhales) (Andrew exhales) Three. Four. (Andrew exhales) Five. Three more. (Andrew exhales) Six. Seven. One. (Andrew grunts) Pull! Ah, great. (Andrew grunts) Okay. (equipment clinks) That's real good. (gymgoer faintly speaks) Last set, man. Last set on the back. So, let's do it right. Let's see what you got in the tank. Pull. One. (Andrew exhales) Two. (Andrew grunts) Three. (Andrew grunts) Four. (Andrew grunts) Pull! Five. (Andrew grunts) Come on. Strong arm. Pull! Six. (Andrew grunts) Let's go. (Andrew grunts) Seven. One more. Pull!

One more. (Andrew grunts) Pull! Yeah. Okay, great. (Andrew grunts) Done. Finished. Excellent, excellent. (equipment clinks) Oh fuck. Smoke. That's why you start to use bad words now. That's a good sign. (laughs) Yeah, fuck. Fuck! (laughs) (Andrew exhales) Oh man, that feels so good. (Dorian speaks in foreign language) (Andrew exhales) Awesome. We're gonna do one exercise for rear delts, as we're- Great. Yeah, because- Yeah, 'cause I need them. Never see anyone fucking doing bent-over raises anymore. 'Cause they're all on machines, right? So, let's do this. There's a bit more skill involved. Yeah. (equipment thuds) All right. So, gonna do some light ones first. Yeah. So, this is bent-over raise for rear delts. You're familiar with dumbbell flys, right? So, you think, it's like the opposite of a dumbbell fly. Mm-hmm. So, it's the same thing. Arms bent. Now, I'm gonna bend over like parallel to the floor. Arms bent. And they stay like that. They hook, yeah? And you can even rest your, like belly on your legs a little bit for stability. (Dorian exhales) (gymgoer faintly speaks) (Dorian exhales) (dumbbells thud) Okay? So, they kind of, the elbows kind of travel back a little bit. Yeah, but you don't try to like, oh, they must go there, man. Just contract and not think about it too much, huh? Got it. They're gonna go (Andrew exhales) where they want to go. (Andrew exhales) Yeah. One. (Andrew exhales) Two, that's right. (Andrew exhales) Three. (Andrew exhales) Four. (Andrew exhales) Five. (Andrew exhales) Six. Come on. 7. Let's hit that 10. (Andrew grunts) (Andrew exhales) Eight. Squeeze it up. (Andrew exhales) Nine. One more. Oop! Yeah. (Andrew grunts) Excellent. Must feel good. Okay. A little bit heavier. (dumbbells thud) (Dorian grunts) Okay. No need to pause at the top. No, just get up. Okay. (Andrew exhales) (Andrew heavy breathes) This is for you, Layne Norton. (Dorian laughing) Just kidding. Love you, Layne. (Andrew chuckles) Come on, man. (Andrew exhales) One. (Andrew exhales) Two. Great. Come on. Three. (Andrew grunts) Up. Four. (Andrew grunts) Up. Five. (Andrew grunts) Up. Six. (Andrew grunts) Four more. Come on. One. (Andrew grunts) Two. Up! Three. One more. (Andrew grunts) Up! Yeah. (Andrew grunts) Bit shitty on the last couple, but it was all right. (both laughing) It was a little bit of shit? You started standing up a little bit. It doesn't matter, man. Whoa. You went to failure so that's what we need to do. Oh man. You think? Gentleman. Good job, man. Good job. Thank you, sir. I appreciate, appreciate that. Thank you. That's it for (indistinct) for me? That's it, man. That's it. That's fucking it. Did I earn the shirt? Yeah, you can wear the shirt with honor. He says I earned the shirt. (gymgoers chattering) I can't tell whether or not Dorian put this on the back or whether or not my fans did it. But it says... (Dorian laughing) I think that's a message from the universe. The idea is to say less and fucking do more, eh? That's what it's all about. Less talking, more work. You feel good now? Thanks, man. I feel great. But you feel good but not fucking like, Yeah. destroyed. Not... I mean. And tomorrow, you're gonna feel your back, man. Yeah. You're gonna feel every part of it. Well, I can finally feel the full length of the lats. Yeah, because you're working your lats now, as opposed to before, Yeah. you're probably working upper back, thinking you're working lat. Yeah. So, if you do this and you're just a wide bar and you're lean back, you're not, you know, Yeah. people think they're doing wide grip pulldowns, they think they're working the lats, they're not. They're working the teres more. Well, the thickness of the lower back, Yeah. like it almost looks like there's two, again, like, pythons- Yeah, this is the lower lats are developed, yeah? Yeah. But you don't really develop the lower lats and the upper lat. You develop the whole of the lats. The problem is we're not really targeting your lats correctly. And now, you feel the contraction right down the bottom. What do you like for lower back and do you do it with hamstrings? If I wanted to do it with hamstrings. I used to do like, they call 'em stiff-legged. Yeah. They now, they call 'em Romanian. They lift more Yeah, yeah. or less. Yeah, I've seen you do 'em heavy, heavy. I do that. And on back days, I always used to do regular deadlifts or hyperextensions. Mm-hmm. Hyperextensions are great and if your body weights, you can do 20 or more, then you just put some extra, I use a bar behind my head for extra resistance. Okay. So, the hyperextension is just isolating the spine erectus where like deadlifts is a compound exercise. Yeah. So, you know, they both have some advantages and disadvantage. Mm-hmm. So, alternate them. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. You never worry... I don't, I'm not a physique athlete so it doesn't matter to me, but thickening of the waist with the deadlifts is a... Not really. Yeah. And what I used, didn't do the deadlifts really heavy 'cause I'd do them after the back workout and I would do them non-touch as well. So, I wouldn't go to the floor. I'd just do like here. Mm-hmm. So, I wouldn't go super heavy. So, it was more on the lower back. When you go to the ground here, Mm-hmm. on the bottom, it's more, you kicking off with the quads and the glutes. Mm-hmm. So, I try to kind of keep the resistance Mm-hmm. on the back.

But yeah, deadlifts or hyperextensions. And these days, Yeah. and for the typical person, what's your ab, do you do core work or you're strong enough through the core, you don't have to worry about it anymore? I do a lot of core work now. I do much more core work now than I did when I was bodybuilding. I didn't really do, Yeah. you know, get hits anyway, the abdominal area. I do a lot more now 'cause I work in the internal musculature and everything like that for postural, and so on. Where before, it was just heavy, you know? 64 years old, 6-time Mr. Olympia, the Dorian Yates. Yeah. And super grateful to you, brother. Thank you, man. Appreciate you for the podcast. Check out our podcast. Check out DY Nutrition, check out everything, blood and guts. We might have to do another one of these podcasts, man. Afterwards, I was think, oh, we should have talked about this and this. So, we got more. We got more to do, man. We got a lot more to do. (Dorian laughing) Thank you so much for the training, brother. All right, brother. Appreciate you. Cool. You guys get something to eat, right? Yeah. Hopefully I'll be able to move my back tomorrow. We'll see. Oh, you'll be able to move it. It'll just hurt. (laughs)