If you look around the gym, you will see trainers with decent arms, chest, shoulders and such. But how many people do you see with good backs? I mean really good backs; not the guys suffering from imaginary lat syndrome. People rarely train the back as hard as they do other muscles. For one, they can't see it. For two, most people have a hard time zeroing in on the back. The mind muscle connection plays a very important role in back training. Since you can't see the muscle you really need to be able to feel it; and feel the entire range of motion from the stretch to the contracted.



First; we will start off with pulldowns. Now when we talk pulldowns, were not talking of heave and pull. You know the people that jerk back at the top of every pulldown. After all, this is an isolation movement. What you want to do is keep pulldowns slow and steady, feel the lats working. Try thinking about pulling down with your elbows not your arms, cause they are just hooks. Might sound strange but give it a try and you will see the difference. Now it's also important to use various grip patterns; for instance a wide grip will work the upper lat hard while a narrow grip will work the lower lat harder. Don’t think for a second that the wider the grip widens the lats because it won't . My personal pick for best pulldown would be reverse close grip pulldowns. You would grip the bar palms facing you at about 8-10 inches apart. This type of grip will allow for a better stretch because it really brings the biceps into play, you can use much more weight than normal pulldowns. When I first started doing them I remember I was adding 20p to the stack a week; of course it slowed down; but the strength came fast. Also don’t be afraid to go heavy after a good warm up and a couple work sets I have found it very useful to go as low as 3-4 reps.

Our next exercise will be the grand daddy of back movements the barbell row. This will thicken the back like no other. If you want an impressive back this is the ticket. Do 1 light set then jump right in to the heavy sets. Again try to focus on pulling with the elbows and I like to squeeze the back together hard at the top portion of the exercise to get the deepest contraction possible. You can also change it up. One workout do barbell rows next one t-bar rows. If your gym doesn’t have a t-bar row never fear; just get a 45p straight bar and place it in the corner. Grab a close grip cable row attachment and place that around the bar. Now you have a t-bar.

Number 3 will be one arm dumbbell rows. Now I know we already did rows but dumbbell rows are very different. They will give you a better stretch over a longer range of motion than barbell rowing. After a while you will be amazed at how much weight you can handle if you really focus on this exercise. No bouncing or swinging keep a slow steady pace and get that full stretch at the bottom. This is also a good movement for maximum weights; I like to keep the reps around 6-8.

That’s pretty much it for my back workout. Most times I will do 1 or 2 finishing movements for high reps. Like the cable row or hammer low/high pull rowing machines. I really believe in pumping a muscle to its full size at the end of a workout. It will help to stretch the fascia and flush the muscle with blood removing waste products from the heavy work. Lets also remember that high reps build veins. All that new muscle you want needs to be fed.