Back

Read these articles, to learn how to build and develop your back.

 

The Back - The Sean Way
by Sean Quade

When fully developed into thick, wide slabs of muscle, the back can makes your entire upper body look simply huge and very intimidating. Look at Franco Columbo hitting a rear lat spread and you will understand.

Franco was only 185 lbs and generally smaller than the majority his competition, but his back made him look like an absolute monster and easily comparable with people 50 lbs heavier than him. The back has always been one of my favorite muscle groups to work on, so I decided to dedicate an entire article to this commonly neglected muscle group.

Anatomy of the Lats:

First off, like all muscles, you must understand the anatomy and function before you get in the gym and train it. The latimus dorsi, also known as "lats", are thick sheet like muscles that spread from the center of the middle back and waistline region and sweep out to the sides. The main function of the latimus dorsi is to draw your arms towards your body.

Basic Exercises:

There are basic exercises for the lats:

Chins or pull downs performed with a wide grip recruit fiber in the sides of the back and widen the lats, while chins or pull downs done with a medium to close grip recruit fiber in the middle back region and where they insert into the waistline. Rowing generally thickens the middle back.

Complete Lat Development:

In order to get complete back development, you need to acquire wide lats, back thickness as well as large strong spinal erectors. Thick lats that fan out like wings are always very impressive since the back muscles are the largest on the upper body.

Many people ignore their lower back, but it is very important to have the spinal erectors developed and strong to protect you from injury.

Some good mass building exercises for the back muscles are:

 

Anatomy of the Lower Back:

The spinal erectors are large, thick band like muscles that bulge out of the lower back region. The main function of the spinal erectors is to hold the body upright.

Basic Exercises:

There are two basic exercises for the lower back:

My current lower back routine is composed only of deadlifts.

Many people completely ignore their lower back because it is not particularly noticeable. This is a dangerous practice that will eventually lead to injury. Make sure you strengthen your lower back so that you can support your body and handle more weight with other exercises.

The spinal erectors are the slowest recovering muscle on the body. This is because their main function is to hold the body upright, and when worked through a full range of motion, they can get unbelievably sore and may need up to 100 hours to fully recover.

Mind Muscle Connection:

The back is probably the hardest muscle group to shock into growth, and takes some experience to acquire a good feel. When training the back, I recommend performing slow reps with good form, making sure to contract the muscle and concentrating on isolating it.

2 X Back
by Brent Vlcek

This article is going to explain my back "philosophy" and will provide a workout that has allowed me to accomplish a lot.

Before I begin, there are several things I should convey to you. I like to separate the larger body parts into groups. For the back, I wish to divide it up into two parts: lats and rear delts (or middle back). I feel there is too much muscle to just categorize a "back" workout. So, for the first week, you can train lats and the following week, after ample rest, you can train the rear delts.

Before beginning with the workout, there are several important techniques or tricks I like to incorporate into my back workout.

1. BACKS NEED TO BE SQUEEZED!
Merely lifting weights for the back incorporates many muscles, most notably your arms. To truly feel the burn, use a lighter weight and squeeze the muscle at the top of contraction.

2. YOU'RE LIFTING YOUR BACK, NOT YOUR ARMS!
To reiterate, the back should be doing the most work. A lot of people have tried to come up with solutions to this, but put simply…just use a lighter weight and feel the muscle being worked.

3. VISUALIZE THE MOVEMENT AND THE MUSCLE.
Visualization is important when training the back muscles. Concentration on proper form and thinking about start to finish is a valuable tool when training.

4. AFTER COMPLETING A SET, FLEX YOUR MUSCLES.
What better time to get more work in than during rest time…I'm just kidding. While resting, flex the back muscles you have just worked. This technique can be used for other muscles as well. If you're working your lats, flare them out. If you're working your middle back, try to touch your elbows behind your back.

5. HOLD AT YOUR PEAK CONTRACTION.
I like to do this simply because it ups the intensity. I've seen a lot of people swinging while doing lat pull downs or other back exercises. Not only does it look ridiculous, but also it's basically not worth it in terms of muscle development and back pain. Use a lighter weight and hold at your peak contraction.

 

THE "2 X BACK" WORKOUT

LAT DAY

PULL-UPS: 10-12 REPS, 8 REPS, 6 REPS, 4-6 REPS

Pull-ups are a great exercise to begin with on lat day. Handgrip does not really matter. Your hands should be shoulder width apart. Make sure you come up and try to touch the bottom of your chest to the chin up bar. If you are unable to perform this, bring your neck over the bar as high as possible. The main point is to come up enough so that the negative motion (downward motion) has enough room to operate. The downward motion is the most important. Come down extremely slow. By doing so, your lats can be felt working.

LAT PULL DOWNS: 15 REPS, 8-10 REPS, 4-6 REPS

This exercise never becomes old. You can change your hand grip width in a hundred different ways. You can bring your hands really close together or spread them out. You can also bring the bar behind your neck or in front. If you chose to do behind the neck pull downs, keep your back straight and do not switch things up (going from behind the neck to in front, behind the neck and in front again). If you chose to do pull downs in front of your neck, bring the bar to the top of your chest. If you are unable to do so, you're lifting too heavy. As with all pull down movements, try to bring your elbows into your lats.

PULLOVERS: 15 REPS, 10 REPS 4-8 REPS

Pullovers can either be done with a dumbbell or an EZ Bar or even a machine. The entire movement should be done with the arms while concentrating on feeling the lat muscle work. Although this exercise is usually for the intercostals, I feel the lats receive a great benefit from it.

 

MIDDLE BACK DAY

SEATED CABLE ROWS: 15 REPS, 10 REPS, 8 REPS, 4-6 REPS

I love this exercise because you can feel it. With the weight you are using, you should really attempt to squeeze your middle back. Do these sets slow to feel the back working. Make sure you are not using your arms.

BENT OVER DUMBBELL ROWS: 10 REPS, 8 REPS, 4-6 REPS

Although many feel this exercise is a lat exercise, I feel that you can squeeze this movement so much that it should be considered a middle back exercise. Make sure you bring the dumbbell to your pec and back down in a slow controlled motion.

V-BAR PULL DOWNS: 15 REPS, 10 REPS, 4-8 REPS

This exercise is just like a lat pull down except that you are purposely tilted at a 45-degree angle on the bench. Grasp the V-Bar in your hands and lean back at a 45-degree angle and pull the bar to the middle of your chest. Feel the squeeze.

If you want to take away one thing from this article, then take away this…SQUEEZE!

Guide to a better back
by Jon Huston

Back development is a key ingredient in the physique of a bodybuilder. One's back is what makes their upper body look enormous and their waist look tiny. The difficult part is finding a program that will develop your back in all areas. This article will discuss my ideas pertaining to building the back in terms of width, thickness, and form. I will also include two sample programs.

ANATOMY

The back is a complicated and multi-layered part of your physique. The outer, or visible part of your back consists of the upper, middle and lower trapezius, posterior deltoid, teres major and minor, and the external abdominal oblique. The deeper layers consist of the rhomboids and the erector spinae. This is of course not an all-inclusive list but is sufficient for the purpose of this article.

BACK WIDTH

The width of your back is determined by the size of the latimus dorsi and the teres major. These are the muscles that are most prominent in the rear lat spread pose. But keep in mind that your lats are displayed with front poses like the front double biceps pose, front lat spread, and abdominals and thighs pose.

The exercises that most effectively target these muscles are lat pull downs with a wide overhanded grip. This will hit the upper portion of the lats as well as the teres. You can modify this exercise by using a narrow underhand grip. To hit the lower portion of your lats I suggest doing bent-over bar rows with an underhanded grip. Just make sure you are at approximately a 30 degree angle from being completely upright. The final exercise I would suggest for this portion of your back would be pullovers either with cables or with a dumbbell.

BACK THICKNESS

Back thickness mostly depends on the size of your erector spinae, middle, lower, and upper trapezius, and posterior deltoid. The posterior deltoid really adds to back thickness front and side position because it makes your overall physique look thicker.

Developing this part of your back is perhaps the easiest as far as the number of exercises available, but also the most difficult due to the amount of weight needed to stimulate the muscles. Some exercise suggestions for back thickness would be deadlifts, seated cable rows, t-bar rows, hyperextensions, and reverse flyes. For these exercises you really need to focus on high poundage repetitions using compound movements. Compound movements are those which involve numerous muscles in order to balance and support the body during the movement.

These exercises also happen to have the highest potential for injury. Be sure to warm up properly and use perfect form for the deadlifts or you will pay for it in the morning.

EXERCISE FORM

I tend to be a little more lenient when it comes to form on back exercises (with the exception of deadlifts). This is due to the fact that for each exercise you perform you are using more than one group of muscles. The primary muscles are assisted by additional muscles, which serve to stabilize your body to properly perform the exercise. These additional muscles are called secondary or stabilizer muscles.

For example, during seated cable rows you are using middle traps, rhomboids, paraspinals, posterior deltoids, and lats. So in order to get the best bang for your buck cheat a little. When I say cheat I am referring to leaning forward approximately 45 degrees before pulling the weight. To finish the movement bring the handle right to your belly button and bring your chest up. This will really help to involve all the groups of muscles.

The idea behind this practice is to recruit as many muscles as possible during one movement. It is very difficult to isolate one muscle during most back movements due to the secondary stabilizer muscles.

SAMPLE PROGRAMS

I prefer to have two or three programs that I rotate each time I work my back or any other body part. I will substitute in different exercises depending on how I feel and what I really need to focus on that week. To use these programs, do the Week 1 program one week and the next week do the Week 2 program.

WEEK 1

Wide Grip Lat Pull Downs: 4 x 15, 12, 10, 8
Bent Over Reverse Grip Bar Rows: 3 x 12, 10, 8
Seated Cable Rows (Narrow Grip): 3 x 12, 10, 8
Cable Pullovers: 3 x 12, 10, 8
Hyperextensions: 3 x 15

WEEK 2

Chin-Ups (add weight): 4 x 15, 12, 10, 8
T-Bar Rows (Wide Grip): 3 x 12, 10, 8
Reverse/Narrow Grip Lat Pull Downs: 3 x 12, 10, 8
Deadlifts: 3 x 12, 10, 8
Hyperextensions: 3 x 15

I hope that this article will help you to develop your back into a huge, well-developed piece of meat. Just keep in mind that this is the program and logic behind my training and is not THE WAY but merely A WAY.

Got Back?
by Layne Norton

Okay let's all be honest. Everyone in the room who did a back workout their first day they ever lifted weights please raise your hands. If you are raising your hand stop lying to me. Let's face it...the chest, arms, and abs are the showboat muscles. I know that the first six months that I worked out I only did chest and arm workouts. Over time I began lifting shoulders and even legs. There was one thing I still refused to work and that was back. I mean at least when I was working my legs I could flex and watch the muscle work even though it was painful. However working back is not only painful, but you cannot even watch the muscles work.

I suppose we should not be surprised that the back is the most neglected part of the body when it comes to lifting. I mean when someone asks you to flex you don't turn around and give them a lat spread, you can't bounce your back like you can your pecs but if you ever want to build a physique that turns heads on the beach you better work back. What's so great about having a well-built back? Well first of all you are less prone to lower back injury, which is very common nowadays. By working out and strengthening the back you reduce your chances of injury to it over time. Another advantage to having a well built back is that it will make you look wider and aid you in obtaining the trademark V-shape that all bodybuilders posses.

So how are you supposed to obtain a great back?

Only a well thought out back routine will allow you to gain an optimal amount of muscle. First lets discuss back exercises. There are essentially three different types of movements for the back...pull ups or downs, rows, and pull overs. Pull ups and pull downs work the lats and upper middle back, with more focus on the lats depending upon your hand placement. Rows target the upper inner back and the lats, with more emphasis on the upper inner back. Pull overs are used to isolate the lats.

You should have two goals when you work out your back... widening the back and thickening the back. Having a lot of back thickness doesn't do much good if your back is narrow and having a lot of width doesn't look as impressive if your back doesn't have a proportionate amount of thickness to it. So when working back the goal should be to thicken and widen your back.

Working the Back

Now that we've covered the basics it is time to give you my idea on how to work the back. In my experience trying to concentrate on thickening and widening the back in the same workout can be very tough to do. I found that when I concentrated on width first, I was lacking intensity when I tried to concentrate on thickness later in my workout. The opposite was also true when I started out concentrating on thickness, my workout was lacking intensity when I tried to work on thickness later in the same workout. I knew I needed to come up with a solution to this problem since I needed intensity in both areas. I decided that I would alternate different back workouts each week. Week one would concentrate on width and week two would concentrate on thickness.

*Note* - all exercises are preceded by 1 to 2 warm-up sets of 10-15 reps.

Week one
Wide grip pull ups -3 sets to failure (as many as you can do with your body weight)
Close grip cable pull downs- 2 sets to failure of 6-12 reps
Machine pull overs- 2 sets to failure of 10-15 reps
Barbell Rows (medium width grip)- 2 sets to failure of 6-12 reps
Close grip cable rows- 2 sets to failure of 6-12 reps

Week two
Barbell Rows (medium grip)- 3 sets to failure of 6-12 reps
Close grip cable rows- 2 sets to failure of 6-12 reps
Underhand grip cable rows- 2 sets to failure or 6-12 reps
Pull ups (wide grip)- 2 sets to failure (as many as you can do with your body weight)
Close grip cable pull downs- 2 sets to failure of 6-12 reps

Now I'm going to talk a bit about proper repetition form. There are a couple of back exercises that people constantly do wrong, I see it in the gym everyday and I just shake my head. First off it goes without saying that all reps must be done with a full range of motion and using a slow descent during the eccentric (negative) part of the repetition. I take 5-8 seconds on every negative. These two rules go without saying; full range of motion and a slow negative are essential to maximizing the amount of muscle fiber that you stimulate when you are working out.

The Exercises

Now, onto discussing the exercises themselves. In my opinion the lift that the most people cheat on (besides bench press and squat) is the pull up. I have talked to a lot of people who say they can do 15-20 pull ups but they have bodies that look like toothpicks. How can this be? Well they are cheating, they are using momentum to swing their body up and they aren't using a full range of motion. A pull up should start of with you simply hanging from the bar with a wide grip.

You should then flex your lats and then begin to pull yourself up. You should pull yourself up as high as you possibly can (your chin should be over the top of the bar). You should now flex hard for a peak contraction and SLOWLY lower yourself down until you are at the starting position again. Using this method I am only able to get about 12 reps on a good day.

When doing barbell rows the first thing you must remember is to always flex and keep your lower back arched, NEVER allow it to roll. By arching your lower back you more evenly distribute the load over your lower back, whereas when you round it you put more pressure on certain spots which can cause injury. You should bend over so that you are at about a 45-degree angle, and using a medium width grip pull the bar up into your lower abdomen.

I also recommend using an overhand grip because you put more stress on your back, whereas an underhand grip places more stress on the biceps. Using an underhand grip is also a bit more dangerous as the movement is more of a half curl than it is a row. Dorian Yates tore his bicep in 1994 while doing underhand grip barbell rows. He now advocates using an overhand grip and so do I. Do not move your back up and down in order to help you move the weight; the only part of your body that should move is your arms.

The last exercise I will talk about is cable rows. I see many people rocking back and forth when they do them; this is incorrect. Instead of rocking back and forth, keep your back held in place while leaning slightly back. Once again the only part of your body that should move is your arms.

You may have noticed that I do not have deadlifts in my routine and there is a reason for this. I do deadlifts on leg day. The back is used as more of a stabilizer muscle when doing deadlifts, it is not really a primary mover. Most of the lifting is actually done by the leg muscles. Since the back is a stabilizer muscle when doing deadlifts and squatting movements, it only makes sense to do deadlifts on leg day.

I hope this back workout gets you on your way to a thicker AND wider back!

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