This is part 4 of the new Rock your body workout. This exercise is targeting your upper back and biceps muscles. Stand with your legs slightly bent, holding the dumbbells with overhand grip. Bent forward at the waist, so that the dumbbells are at your knee level. Pull the dumbbells up to the chest and return to the starting position in controlled manner. Changing the hand position and the angle of your upper body will allow you to work your back from different angles. Never round your back when you are doing this exercise. When performing the one arm row, you can maximize the contraction of your muscles by rotating your upper body towards the working side at the top of the movement.
You will do 3 set of 40 reps of bent over rows, and change the movement slightly every 10 reps as shown in the video.
Your weights for this exercise should be lighter than the ones you use for deadlifts or squats, but they should feel heavy. Lifting heavy weight for high reps is the best way to burn fat. You won’t get bulky from lifting heavy weights unless you really want to – so don’t worry about that.
Pavel Tsatsouline in his book From Russia With Though Love writes:
”…forget the myth that low reps are for bulking, and high reps are for toning. The reality is that high calories are for bulking, and low calories are for toning.”
This is totally true. Last summer for instance I had no idea what clean eating was and I was eating everything back than, including candies and deep fried foods. I was slimmer than I am right now, and the reason why, is not because there was some difference in my training, but because I was eating smaller portions.
I started to eat bigger portions in the winter, when I discovered clean eating. I thought that I could eat more, as long as my meals were healthy. My body fat percentage stayed the same, but my muscles got bigger. It has been about 2 weeks now since I started to cut back on the size of my portions, and I can already see some results. My thighs and butt are shrinking. I don’t count my calories anymore, because I find that completely annoying, and instead I just measure my portions by hand.
I noticed that here in Canada and in the United States the portion sizes are gigantic compared to how much people eat in Europe. People here seem to eat very fast. Instead of taking the time to eat and actually taste the food they gobble it down on the run. Your brain needs about 20 minutes to realize that you are full – so you may be full with a much smaller portion if you just give yourself the time to realize it.
Lifting weights is the very best way to burn fat and shape up your body. If you want to make your body lean and tight without bulking up, learn to eat small portions in 2 to 3 hour intervals. Aim for 5 to 6 small meals a day.
This should finally lay to rest any concerns or questions that women have about bulking up when working out with weights.
Best,
Zuzana.
Hello Zuzana,
Your postings to YouTube lead me to your site. Thank you so much for sharing your experience and making it available to everyone. You look reat and I admire your methods. As an amature female body builder I sometimes look to others for inspiration. Good luck to you in all you do.
Thanks!
Debby
Thank you Debby :)
These workouts are great, i am so glad i have found some new methods for toning my body, you must work very hard. well done
Hi Zuzana,
Can these exercises be performed all in one day? Or should they be broken up throughout the week? For the ‘Summer Fit Program’, I don’t remember seeing the last part of the Day 6 20-minute Cardio and Core routine. Was it posted?
Thanks for all your help
Angie
Hi Angie, the new Rock your body workout has 8 part and this is just one of them. I will post the rest of the workout in the next few days. I didn’t post the 6th part of the summer fit program because it is based on the same principles as the previous cardio and core routines. You can experiment and come up with your own cardio workout.
Hi Zuzanna,
Just wanna start with a THANX A MILLON for all the great work outs on your site!!! You look amazing and I can only hope to get into half the fantastic shape that you are. I do have a question tho, On this 8 part work out, am I supposed to do ALL of them at the same time? Like on the same day or do I break it up. Cuz Heh just the first 2 vidz KILLED my thighs && now u got me doing EVEN MORE squats… My thighs are protesting to doing any more. lol No pain no gain ;p
Appreciate you,
-Udiya
Hi Udiya, the are 8 parts of this workout, but it is not written in the stone that you have to do the whole workout all at once. If you do the whole workout – all of those 8 parts (exercises) it will take you about an hour. I was sore too when I did this type of workout for the first time. I was also trying to be a hero and I used heavier weights without being ready for that. I suggest trying this workout with minimum weight or just your own body weight, and increase the weight as you get stronger. No matter what your level of fitness is, or how heavy your weights are, you should be always gasping for your breath at the end of each set and sweat like .. me :) lifting weights should always feel like lifting weights.
Hi Zuzana,
Alright, I can’t wait to try it out. Also, I think you should try making a video that shows your daily routine and how you balance your exercise/diet with other daily strifes. I think it would help out some people who think that exercise is still too time consuming. It may also give them the motivation they need.
Take care,
Angie
Hi Zuzana,
I am following your new workout as your post more exercises – I can’t wait to try the whole thing!
Thanks for explaining how Americans and Canadians wolf down large portions so quickly that our brains do not even realize we have eaten too much. I think that when you spend an hour or more per day on improving your body, you owe it to yourself to enjoy your meals by slowing down a little bit. Plus, slowing down makes you conscious of every bite you eat – so each one really “counts.”
The Pavel Tsatsouline quotation is right on – that’s something that’s going to stick with me when I try to explain this concept to other people.
Thanks, Zuzana!
Ann Marie
Thank you SoOooOoo much!!! You are such an inspiration and I appreciate every second that you put into this site!! You’re a God send! I just had my second child. They are 19 months apart && I’m still young so I’m trying to get back into &&&stay in shape before my weight takes over my life. B/c it’s SooOOoOOo easy to excuse it when you’re a single mom. (as in not having time) I’m glad I found this site. I have fun exercising now. Thanx :p
she deserves her own show on tv
So given what you have found about eating/bodyfat/muscle gain etc.. what would you recommend if I want to build muscle while keeping my body fat percentage low?
I don’t want my butt to shrink.. I want to have nice muscle development without having extra body fat.
I like how developed your shoulders are.. I love lean muscle all around, but I like shoulders to be well developed.
PS loving your awesome workouts!
Zuzana Hi
This is great . I did it and i am feeling the difference …i mean extremely helpful for a bodybuilder.All the way your workouts are hot & happening :)
Cool job!
Br
Gymmy
Hi Zuzana
Thank you very much. I was looking something like this along time ago..
[...] Free fitness and exercise videos, workouts and training [...]
Hello Zuzana
I am working on getting leaner and I will be doing full body weight training 3 days a week (nonconsecutively) and cardio 3 days a week (nonconsecutively)cardio ranging from 1-1.5 hours. I was going to focus on high reps and moderate weight because I want to lean and shape my body more. Do you think that is good/not good? Any suggestions? Thanks and your workouts are AWESOME and you look great!
hi FitandFab,
your program sounds great. Keep an exercise log and write down every day what workout you did – that is important so that you can keep track with your progress and see what works for you.
Hi Zuzana,
I have a request. Could you track your food intake over a week and post that?
Best,
Lenna (:
I’m so glad YouTube brought me to your site Zuzanna.
I was looking for splits (!) and am amazed by your fitness, physique, knowledge and overall view to health and not just ‘weight’ like I see nearly everywhere all the time.
Thank you for educating and not being another ‘Fad’.
Truly inspirational.
Thanks x
I just returned to karate 3 weeks ago after being out for two years with a nagging back injury. Today, for the first time, I just finished a complete 6 circuit routine of yours from Youtube. Your routines are absolutely perfect for helping me regain and maintain the strength in, not just my back, but the rest of the body. Also, it breaks up my regular routine, which I do on my TotalGym. I love having machine free exercises to work with. Great for traveling, too. Thank you Z from B (in Boston, MA)
Hello Suzana, I just wanted to share my progress with the meal schedule you suggested. Its been just over a month since I started with the smaller portions five to six times a day and IT WORKS!. This plan along with other suggestions you made about me trying the multi muscle exercise is transforming my body in a positive way. My friends are now asking me to show them my guns, and its all your fault. Thank you.
Hi Rey, thats very cool! If you want to share your progress with others, I will be happy to posted on BodyRock.Tv.
Hello, Suzana
I had a question about the amount of reps I counted in this video. In the second ten reps you use each arm five times then in the next ten reps you use both arms ten times. I’m a little confused. I Should be using each arm for ten reps not five, right? Pleash help.
Hi Rey, these videos are all edited down for time and they are not meant to be like a dvd that you can follow rep by rep. I use the text under the video to explain the workout so that anyone can still follow it at home.
Hello Suzana,
Thank you for the quick response.
Hi Zuzana,
I was wondering what i should do because my body begins to shake when I am doing these videos, should i continue, or stop? thanks for posting these vids. they are a great help
Amanda
HI Amanda,
if you feel to tired to remain a proper form than you should stop immediately. You can decrease the weight that you are lifting and even if you can’t complete all of the reps and sets in this workout, it’s ok. You will get stronger and you can try to do more reps the next time.
[...] Zuzana – BodyRock.Tv wrote an interesting post today onNew Rock Your Body Workout 4: Bent rows | <b>Fitness</b> Advice, Workout <b>…</b>Here’s a quick excerpt [...]
Hi Zuzana,
I’ve been reading the info in your exercise routines. Thx for all the info, I am learning so much :)
I’m interested about the comment you make about Tsatsouline and your old diet. You say before you used to eat everything and were smaller, but then when you went to clean eating but with bigger portions and you got bigger muscles. Basically my current diet is similar to your old one.. I tend to snack more (so small portions throughout the day) but I don’t monitor the nutritional content of the food.. sometimes I eat cheese, biscuits, chocolate etc. :( I am trying to follow the Eat-Clean principle, but when I read your comments to this exercise it had me thinking.. can I get away with eating chocolate?! Deep down I know that I have to be strict otherwise the results won’t be the same and it will take slower to achieve my goal.
However I’m finding it hard to give up these other foods. Did you also have a problem giving up certain foods? If so how did you overcome it? How long did it take to transition fully to clean eating?
Sorry for all these questions :( But I think I really need some advice..
Louiza
Hi Zuzana
GREAT job!! I enjoy your workout a lot. But isn’t there one set missing in this vid? There are usually 4 exercises in each set and in this last one there are only three..or am I wrong??