Muscular back training | Exercises to train the back 🆙

Muscular back workout

Developing a nice wide and thick back can dramatically improve your physical appearance. The popular “V shape” gives the illusion of a tighter waist and a muscular build. To achieve this, you will need to "bombard" your back with a series of exercises capable of stimulating a large number of muscles.

Endless series of pull-ups will only be useful up to a certain point, that is, until you can lift your weight off the ground ... Many beginners, with some experience, may also adopt some modifications and re-evaluate their execution, making sure to get the most out of their time in the gym. Read on and you'll find out how to get your back to this level!

Anatomy of the back muscles

The back is a large and complex union of multiple muscle groups. The illustration below shows some of the back muscles, which can be easily stimulated with the exercises discussed in the next section of this article.

As you can see, the fibers of the back muscles are activated at different angles and this justifies the use of various grips, handles and machines during training. After all, you don't want to miss a single muscle fiber when developing a super back!

A thorough evaluation of each muscle is beyond the scope of this article. To simplify, the development of the back muscles and the Grande Rotondo will lead to the widening of the back (or, more commonly, to the much desired "V shape").

While the development of muscles that are found deeper, such as the rhomboids and spinal erectors, will give thickness to your back. A well-structured training program should stimulate all these muscles by avoiding disproportionate work between the various muscle groups.

By convention, at the muscular level it is customary to divide the back into:

Upper Back: Rhomboids, Trapezius and the highest part of the back.
Lower Back : lowest part of the Back, the lowest region of the spinal erectors.

If very developed, the erector muscles of the spine can be seen through the thoraco-lumbar belt (connective tissue that cannot be trained).

6 Essential Exercises to Build Mass

The step-by-step guide to each exercise, which is below, will allow you to get the most out of your workout, even making some changes to work your back in both width and thickness at the same time!

1. Deadlifts from the ground

Deadlifts are a real bomb, one of the best exercises you can do, as they involve a lot of muscles! Virtually all of the back muscles are stimulated, plus abdominals, thighs and buttocks.

The deadlift is considered the best exercise to build a thick and strong back by strongly stimulating the erector muscles of the spine. In particular, the deadlift mainly consists of a safe technique of lifting from the ground, which will also be useful when you will lift the barbell from the ground in other exercises, as well as when daily lifting an object from the floor. You will even raise the thick bags in this way.

Starting position (long, but crucial for building mass and avoiding getting hurt):

Stand in front of a barbell, with your feet shoulder-width apart. Contract your abs, push your chest out, keeping your back straight, and then bend your knees until you can reach the bar.
Grab the bar with a prone grip (thumbs facing each other), make sure the grip is slightly wider than your shoulders, and use the bar rings as a point of reference, so that you don't change the position of your hands .
Make sure you have a firm grip, your abs and lower back tightened, your chest out and your back straight and aligned. Look at a point in front of you, inhale and hold your breath.

Phase by phase:

Begin lifting the bar off the floor by straightening your legs and keeping the bar close to your body. Once the barbell reaches your knees, fully extend your legs and straighten your back at the same time.
Stop as soon as you reach a fully upright position. Don't hyperextend your back and keep your shoulders and hips aligned.
Exhale and hold this position for a couple of seconds, while trying to adduce the shoulder blades for further stimulation of the back.
In a controlled manner, bring the bar back to the ground by flexing your back and bending your thighs. While doing this, maintain correct posture: head up, back straight, chest out and abdomen contracted.

Series and Repetitions: Do several warm-up sets with little weight (3-4 sets of 10 repetitions). Once you've warmed up, do 3-4 sets of 6-8 reps.

Useful tip for deadlifts

If your goal is to stimulate muscle hypertrophy, do not use the grip with one hand prone and the other supine, which is so popular among powerlifters. This grip prevents the bar from slipping out of your hands, but puts the biceps of the arm in supination in a vulnerable condition, increasing the risk of stretching and tearing. If the bar slips out of your grip, use your snatches or train your forearms more. Don't compromise your back by trying to get your forearms to work by doing deadlifts.

2. Rowing with Barbell

The barbell rowing is another fundamental and very hard exercise to develop the back at its best.

It allows you to use more weight than all other rowing exercises, which is great news when it comes to bulking. The movement carried out stimulates the trapezius, the rhomboids, the great rotunda and the lats.

The freedom to change the angle between the floor and chest as you perform the exercise allows you to easily add extra repetitions, giving you a little boost, to increase the intensity of the workout.

Starting position (raises the bar from the ground):

Keep your knees slightly bent and flex your torso forward until it forms a 45 ° angle with the ground. A smaller angle (more upright position) will work the trapezius more, a greater angle will stimulate the lower back more: it is up to you to try the different variations and find the position that best suits your body.
Make sure you have your back straight, chest out and head in a neutral position, with your eyes facing forward.

Step by step:

Grab the bar with a prone grip (thumbs facing each other), placing your hands slightly wider than shoulder width.
Pull the bar towards your navel, passing it over your thighs. The biceps and forearms should only serve as a tool for holding the bar and should not be contracted.
Move the bar as if you were pulling it from your elbows, not with the force of your biceps.
At the point of maximum contraction, adduce the shoulder blades and maintain muscle tension for 2 seconds before slowly and controlled bringing the bar back to the starting point.

Series and Repetitions: 3-4 serie x 6-8 rip.

Useful Tip for the Barbell Rowing Machine

The exercise can be performed using both the prone grip (thumbs facing each other) and the supine grip (little fingers facing each other). The supine grip puts the biceps in a more difficult condition, allowing you to pull the last part of the movement with greater ease and helping you to produce more stimulation on the trapezius. Be that as it may, the supine grip shifts a great deal of work to the biceps, which may not benefit beginners with nice biceps and a ridiculous back.

3. Rower with Dumbbells

The rowing with dumbbells allows you to develop the back in width and thickness, involving the lats, the rhomboids, the great rotunda and the trapezius. Exercise can also be helpful in strengthening core abdominal stability, as you need to keep your torso rigid, without tilting (leading to rotation of the spine) or bending (leading to flexion of the spine) your back.

This exercise is a great variation of the rowing, allowing you to work unilaterally, as each arm works independently of the other. Your arm will have more strength by using a neutral grip in the execution of this movement, which will also allow you to work with more weight and not overload your shoulders.

Starting Position (starts with left arm):

Place a dumbbell on the floor, to the left of a bench. The bench is used as a support.
Place your right knee on the far back of the bench, bend at the pelvis and place your right hand on the forward part of the bench.
Your torso should be almost parallel to the ground, with your back held straight and your abs contracted.
Lower yourself down to grab the handlebar with a neutral grip (thumb points up).
Keep the elbow slightly bent and lift up to the previous position without arching your back.

Phase by phase:

Raise the dumbbell, focusing on bringing your elbow as far back as you can. The dumbbell should move in a straight line, passing close to your body and brushing your side at the end point of the movement. The torso should remain rigid throughout the performance.
Keep the dumbbell still at the point of maximum tension for a second, focusing on the lats, rhomboids and trapezius. Your shoulder blade should be retracted as much as possible (pulled back and towards the center).
Slowly lower the dumbbell, making the shoulder blade stretch. Bring it as low as you can, without turning your back to that side.
Hold the reached stretch position for one second. Without stopping, repeat the exercise using your right arm (dumbbell on the right, knees and left hand on the bench). Here, this is a repeat.

Series and Repetitions: Do 3-4 sets of 10-12 reps.

4. Pull Down

The pull down is an excellent exercise to train the back in width, focusing mainly on the lats and the great round. Beyond this, with some changes proposed in the step-by-step guide, it will also stimulate the rhomboids and the lower part of the trapezius, developing a very thick back.

Cable pull downs are a great alternative to traditional pull-ups, which require levels of force proportionate to your body weight. Most often, this situation is not encountered in beginners and advanced athletes who weigh a lot.

Starting Position:

Attach a straight bar to the lat machine and adjust the padding of the machine.
The padding allows you to lock your hips in that position, preventing the chosen load from lifting you.
Grab the bar with a prone grip (thumbs look at each other) and place your hands slightly more than shoulder width apart.
Grab the bar, sit on the seat and lock your hips in that position using the pad.

Phase by phase:

Keep your shoulders in line with your hips, bow your head and let the weight bring your back to lengthen. You should focus on relaxing your lats and letting them stretch well by holding this stretch position for a second.
Raise your head and pull the bar towards your upper chest, slightly extending your back to increase range of motion. Focusing on pulling the weight with your elbows, pushing as low as they can, doesn't necessarily mean touching your chest with the bar.
Once your elbows are pulled all the way down, be careful to retract your shoulders, contract your back as much as possible, and hold the tension reached for a moment.
Slowly release the weight and return to the starting position, with the shoulders in line with the hips.

Series and Repetitions: You can use this exercise to warm up and isolate your lats more by doing a pyramid-style method with increasing weight. Do 4 sets of 15-12-10-8 reps. and increase the weight in each set.

Helpful Tip for Cable Pulls

The bar can be pulled down to the chest or up to the neck. The first variant allows you to use a heavier weight and mainly stimulate the lats. The second allows you to retract the shoulder blades more easily, stimulating the central part of the back (rhomboids and lower trapezius) more.

You can also use different bars or equipment to attach to the cable, which will work the muscles from different angles.

The variation of the working angle in the back training is very important since the muscle fibers extend the various directions. Change your workout after a few weeks

5. Barbell Shoulder Raise

The upper part of the trapezoid can be developed very easily without any specific work. This muscle is indirectly stimulated by many of the multi-joint exercises performed for the back.

However, if you think your neck is too thin and thin, or you just don't like it… well, barbell shrugs are for you. Many weightlifters have chosen this exercise to train the trapezius directly.

Starting position:

Stand in front of a barbell with your feet shoulder-width apart. Contract your abs, chest out and back straight. Bend your knees until you can grab the bar
Grab the bar with a prone grip (thumbs facing each other). Make sure your grip is slightly wider than your shoulder width.
Make sure you have a firm grip on the bar, that your abs and lower back are tight, that your chest is out and your back is straight. Look at a fixed point in front of you.
Begin lifting the bar off the floor by straightening your legs, and still keeping it close to your body. Once it has reached the height of your knees, fully extend your legs and straighten your back.

Step by step:

While keeping your arms almost straight, lift your shoulders (also known as a “shrug” movement) as high as you can. Imagine you want to bury your head between your shoulders, without moving your neck.
Hold the contraction for 3 seconds, contracting your back as much as possible.
Lower the bar and let the weight stretch the trapezius.
repeat from the second stage for as many repetitions as you like.

Series and Repetitions: 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps, holding the contraction for at least 3 ''.

Useful tip for barbell shoulder raises

The exercise can be performed with holds of various amplitudes. A wider grip allows for greater contraction of the trapezius, but less elongation. Conversely, a tighter grip will ensure more stretch, but less contraction. You can alternate these holds during sets or sessions for better results.

6. Pull Over with folded arms

This exercise is perfect for finishing off your back training session, guaranteeing you a good stretch of the lats if you use a lot of weight.

This exercise also can have additional effects on muscle growth, although there are gaps in the scientific evidence that stretching under load produces effects on muscle hypertrophy.

Be that as it may, many athletes are said to believe that this stretch promotes muscle expansion. Be it true or false, the certainty is that the flexibility developed through this exercise helps prevent injuries and increase your elasticity.

Starting position:

Place a dumbbell straight at the end of a bench.
Stretch your back across the bench, so that only your shoulder blades touch its surface. Important: The neck must be off the bench to prevent cervical injuries.
Plant your feet on the ground and let your hips drop.
Grab the handlebar with both hands, squeezing your palms around the innermost part of the cast iron plate. To make sure you have a firm grip, pinch the handlebar handle with your thumbs and squeeze your fingers around the center of the handlebar.

Step by step:

Place the dumbbell over your head and bend your elbows (keeping your arms too straight will stimulate your chest more than your back).
Without changing the angle of your arms, slowly lower the dumbbell behind your head as far as you can, without putting too much strain on the muscles.
Hold the stretch for a second and bring the dumbbell back until it is above your neck. Bringing the dumbbell to a point just before the forehead will stimulate the back more.
Contract your chest to the maximum and hold the tension reached for a second.

Reps Series: 2-3 sets for 12 reps, focusing on muscle stretching.

Useful Tip for the Pull Over with Handlebar

This exercise can be performed using grips of varying widths. A wider grip will ensure greater contraction of the trapezius at the expense of elongation. Conversely, a tighter grip will allow for more stretch, but less contraction. You can alternate these holds during sets or sessions for better results.

Back Training Card Example

Conclusion

The back is made up of the union of a large number of complex muscle groups, which require a well-studied program and even better execution of the exercises. this programming example is great for starting to grow your back muscles in a general way.