I was going through my routine and felt my back was going to go out, so I wanted to stretch it out but didn't know how.
I went over to the Smith Machine and the bar was set just above my head. I grabbed the bar and tried to hang but that didn't hit the spot right, so I moved my feet about 2 feet on front of the bar and was resting on my heels.
It felt good, but something got into me to pull my head up to the bar. Only thing, when I pulled up to the bar, my head was under the bar, and my hands were about 6 inches above my head on the bar.
I thought it was a weird movement, as I had never tried it before. At the top of the pull I could only pull my shoulders up enough so that at the end of the movement my heels through my body, head and arms were in line with the bar. I mean, there was a straight line from my heels to the bar, my body was on the line. It felt good, so I did 4 sats of 8. My back wasn't tight anymore either.
The next day, the spot right betyween my shoulder blades was pumped and really sore, like a muscle that hadn't been worked before. It's been 3 days and it's still tight and sore.
I deadlifted for over 10 years, doing sets of 24 with reps from 6 to 16.
My traps are huge; over four inches up from my collar bones, but this exercise hit an area I never worked before, and for someone who has been lifting weights since 1979, that's a rarety. It is also an area I always tried to develop but never could (the area between my shoulder blades). At 6' and 250# with a 51" chest, I am not exactly a beginner, so to me this is significant.
I liked it so much I am going to do it with my regular workout. I am expecting big gains, and for a guy who's been at this game for 29 years, it's very refreshing for it to feel new again.
