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 Anabolic Discussion Board
 What does it take to make a complete back workout?
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| Author | Topic: What does it take to make a complete back workout? | ||
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Amateur Bodybuilder 
Posts: 73 |
What do you guys think it takes to work all the muscles in the back, please show your back workouts & what muscle in the back it works. I'm not talking about the lower back but include if you want, THANKS!  [This message has been edited by prn1972 (edited February 15, 2001).]     | ||
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Elite Bodybuilder 
Posts: 1268 |
DEADLIFTS. Best overall mass builder. Works all the back muscles as well as just about all other muscles in the body. BARBELL ROW. Great for thickness and width. This too works all the muscles in the back including the lower spinae erectors. Great overall mass builder. PULL-UPS. Again, works all muscles in the back. Adds the width for the coveted V taper. | ||
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Amateur Bodybuilder
Posts: 187 |
Wieghted pullups by far hit my back the hardest. I start with these to pre exhaust my back. Then I do barbell rows starting with a 45 on each side for 15 until I can only do 4 reps w/260-275lbs. Reverse pulldowns, front pulldowns, and lastly heavy shrugs w/ the triangle bar. I dont go past 315lb because it is to easy to cheat. If I had to pick one excersize which works best for me, it would have to be pullups. Most guys dont do these because they cant even lift their own body wieght for 3 reps. However, once you develop your strength on these, which will take some time, your lats will grow like a fucking weed. LOL | ||
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Amateur Bodybuilder
Posts: 220 |
in this order pullups | ||
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Pro Bodybuilder 
Posts: 560 |
my current back workout includes starting with lat pulls or pullups | ||
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Pro Bodybuilder
Posts: 354 |
i don't understand why none of you have deadlifts down. in my opinion it is the best mass packin exercise period. here's what i normally do. 6 sets of Deadlifts (Hvy) 5 sets of Pull Ups 4 sets of Barbell Rows 3 sets of close grip v-bar pulldowns 3 sets of T-Bar Rows 6 sets of DB shrugs | ||
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Amateur Bodybuilder
Posts: 187 |
Deadlifts in my opinion do not hit specific parts of the back. The area of the back is so large that section specific movements need to be employed to hit the entire area. Dont get me wrong, when I was playing football in high school I did deads as a staple excersize. Now however I have had far better results with wieghted pullups for example and barbell rows ! As for lower back, I get a good pump doing stiff legged lifts when I do hamstrings. Just my opinion. LOL | ||
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Elite Bodybuilder
Posts: 657 |
I think what Beezer posted is the best overall mass building routine that you can do for your back. Once you get the mass that you want then you can start worrying about fine tuning. If I am bulking then I follow Beezer's routine. When I switch to cutting then I use high reps with the easier, more isolated back movements. I am an endomorph so my back stays fairly symetrical and well balanced naturally. giantset ------------------ | ||
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Pro Bodybuilder
Posts: 354 |
my thoughts exactly. cheers | ||
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Pro Bodybuilder
Posts: 595 |
My back routine: - Lat pulldowns (behind neck) ------------------ | ||
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Amateur Bodybuilder
Posts: 94 |
For me, the olympic lifts have built my back to what it is. powercleanss are #1 on my list. Mine is a look of power, speed and strength. For lat thickness chins and pullups are all I do lately. most dudes don't have access to bumper plates and a platform, and some gyms don't even have a place for deadlifting... too bad. I was looking at a 1947 strength and fitness (strength and health?) magazine earlier. some of those old timers had some pretty awsome lats. almost every article in the mag refered to the chin as the 'back builder'. they were forced to chin because they didn't have any other means. I'm a firm believer in chins. why don't more people put the bulk of their lat efforts into chins??? squatter | ||
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Amateur Bodybuilder
Posts: 220 |
giantset, beezers post isnt even a fuckin workout, no wonder you fools dont have any back size, thinkin thats a workout to get mass, how many times do I have to state it, size, mass, thickness, separation, and all that good stuff comes with tri-sets, supersets, and heavy lifting, and 3 exercises isnt gonna do all that. | ||
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Olympian 
Posts: 1516 |
My back routine: -Lat Pulldowns ------------------ | ||
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Elite Bodybuilder
Posts: 657 |
CN1, Those three exercises are quite possibly the best back exercises anyone can do (I would have to add cleans in as my #4). Deadlifts use over 90% of your muscles and if you do them correctly, they can wear your ass out so that you can't do any other exercises. If you then do heavy barbell rows, followed by weighted chins I don't see how you couldn't have completely worked every muscle in your back. They are all compound movements and each hit most of the back muscles by themselves. I think you should try doing some intense deadlifting. Try doing 6-8 sets of deadlifts, working your way up to 95% or more of your max and then tell me that that isn't a workout. I don't know if you are using some namby-pamby weight for your deads but I work up to 585 and back down and I consider that a weak deadlift compared to what a lot of the guys on this board do. Maybe if you would stop working out on your bowflex you would already know this. Sorry to flame but your last post just seems ludicrous to me. By the way, I do like supersets, trisets and GIANTSETS but I feel that they are not as effective when building back strength and mass. I normally use them when cutting and when working on slow twitch muscle groups. giantset ------------------ | ||
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Elite Bodybuilder
Posts: 1268 |
GIANTSET, I totally agree. Injury limitations stop me from deadlifting regularly but I still do RACK DEADS. Rack Deads will allow you to overload the movement so that you really fuck up your lats. You can feel it from your erectors, in your traps, and unlike sometimes with heavy deads from the floor you can feel your whole lat squeze like a clenched fist. ARRRRGH. ------------------ | ||
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Amateur Bodybuilder
Posts: 73 |
Thanks for the replies! But i would like to see someone post exersices & what muscle they work( like i feel chins in my upper lats & whan i do t-bar rows i fell it in the middle out to the lats, etc )THANKS! | ||
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Amateur Bodybuilder
Posts: 220 |
the post I did up near the first is a fuckin workout, and for giantset, go out and buy arnold schwarzeneggers new encyclopedia of bb, and see if your workout is enough for full back development, I bet you will find you are wrong. | ||
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Elite Bodybuilder
Posts: 657 |
prn, here are a few exercises and what they target (everyone feel free to add to or correct this list): pull-ups - all pull-ups/pull downs target the lats but also hit the rhomboids, serratas and rear delts since they help to stabilize the shoulder blades. The variations on pull-up hand positions change the extent to which the lats are contracted and some believe they can change the width and thickness of the lats. Rows - the variations on the row target the lats and rhomboids but depending on the resistance angle it also works the traps, rear delts, spinal erectors and lower back. Deadlifts - what else can I say about the various styles of deadlifting? They hit everything in your back as well as working your hams, glutes, quads, calves, biceps, triceps, abs, and even your shoulders and pecs somewhat. If you want strength and mass from your toes to your ears then this should be your #1 exercise. Shrugs - they target the trapezius and various neck muscles. Hyperextensions - targets the lower back, spinal erectors, hamstrings and glutes. Most back exercises are a variation of these movements. In any pulling motion you will also be working your biceps so make sure not to overtrain them. CN1, there is no one routine to develop a great back. The secret is to mix up your routine and make sure that you are hitting it in a different way periodically. The reason Arnold lists all of those exercise variations is to show people slight variations in a common movement so that they can change their routine up and force thier body to continually grow and adapt. He didn't intend for you to do every variation, every workout. Earlier you listed pull-ups and then three types of pull-downs. This seems unnecessary and will definately lead to overtraining if you are doing heavy intense sets. You have to remember that all of the crap routines in magazines are made up by some 120 lb writer and are not the actual routines followed by the pros. Most of those routines will cause overtraining even in enhanced athletes. High volume training definately has its place but even German Volume Training doesn't advocate using 4 variations of the same exercise in the same workout. If your workout routine is working for you then great, but when you find that you are plateauing or getting weaker(and you probably will with that routine) try dropping back to something simple like deads and maybe some chins. Just a suggestion, it's your back. giantset ------------------ [This message has been edited by giantset (edited February 16, 2001).] |
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posted February 15, 2001 08:50 AM