5 Awesome Exercises for a Massive BACK
Pictured above is Dorian Yates.
He is one of my favorite bodybuilders.
This dude was the definition of ‘old school.'
I think he is my favorite because our training styles are very similar.
His workouts were very intense, short in duration, and were based on limited exercise selection.
That's how I like to do things.
Dorian also had a HUGE back.
If you are reading this, chances are you are interested in building a huge back as well.
You've come to the right place.
Before I go any further let me point out that if you have shoulder pain and/or want to prevent shoulder pain then you should perform much more pulling then pushing.
That means that you should do more work for the back than the chest.
Do like a 3:1 or 4:1 pull-to-push ratio.
For every 1 set of chest, do 3 or 4 sets of back.
I just had to point that out.
So how do you get a big-ass back?
Get really good and strong at the following 5 exercises.
5 Awesome Exercises for a Massive BACK
1. Pull Ups (variations)
2. Lat Pulldowns
3. One-Arm Dumbbell Rows
4. Seated Cable Rows
5. T-Bar Rows
To develop a great back you need width and thickness.
To develop width you do vertical pulling movements like pull ups and pulldowns.
To develop thickness you do horizontal pulling movements like rows.
I suggest picking 1 vertical back exercise and 1 horizontal back exercise and focus on those to create your back specialization program.
Here is a back specialization program that you can do.
Monday – Back/Bi's
Pull Ups 7 x failure
Concentration Curls 3 x 12-15 reps
Tuesday – Chest/Tri's
Dumbbell Bench Press 5 x 8-12 reps
Dips 3 x failure
Wednesday – off
Thursday – Back
Seated Cable Rows 7 x 8-12 reps
Friday – Legs
Hack Squats 5 x 15-20 reps
Hamstring Curls 5 x 15-20 reps
Saturday & Sunday – off
As you can see, you don't need a ton of volume to build muscle.
This split looks super simple, but if you bust your ass and take each set to failure, you will soon realize how tough it really is.
On Monday you are working on your back width with Pull Ups.
On Thursday you are working on your back thickness with Seated Cable Rows.
Record your workouts.
Each workout try to increase by 1 total rep.
Try to add 1-2 pounds of bodyweight each month.
Any more than that is pure fat.
Now go and make Dorian proud.
Photo credit: gringoboy_72