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Back to back: push the limits of your back development with this fresh, four-pronged workout - Body Shop
Men's Fitness, August, 2002 by Michael Berg
What was your last back workout like? Did you start off with pull-ups, move into five strong sets of heavy barbell rows, display textbook form on seated cable rows, and finish off with deadlifts for good measure?
In your dreams, maybe. Then you woke up, did another one of your lackluster chest workouts and, on your way out of the gym, threw in a few half-hearted sets of pull-downs to the front and pull-downs to the rear with all the intensity of Steven Wright on downers.
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But we're not here to point fingers. We're not even here to mock your girly-man lats. Our mission is to help you see the error of your ways--to convince you that, yes, while you may not be able to see your back, other people can. And maybe they have noticed that as your upper body grows, your shoulders are rounding forward as your pecs overpower your back muscles, giving you what used to be called a "dowager's hump." Perhaps they even have observed that, for a guy who works out, you seem to lack a lot of strength for activities like moving furniture around.
Well, it's up to you, Quasimodo. You can go on hoping no one is snickering behind your puny back, or you can finally do something about your rear view. A good start is this back workout, designed to widen your lats and thicken your back muscles with a combination of unique power and finesse moves.
BACK BASICS
The back separates the men from the boys, the novices from the masters of training nuances. You see, building a back isn't as simple as building other body parts. With muscle groups like legs and chest, what you lack in training expertise you can make up in brute force, punching up heavy weights in basic exercises such as squats and bench presses.
"Basic" exercises such as rows and deadlifts do target your back, but actually hitting all the muscles of your rear view takes some serious dedication to form, as your back is a complex matrix of muscle. One of the back's main functions--movement of the shoulder back and forth--is often neglected during back exercises, according to Tom Daly, personal trainer at the Sports Club/LA in Los Angeles.
"To get the most out of a row exercise, you must pull the shoulders and blades back fully--this is technically called `scapular retraction,'" he explains. "By doing so, you ensure maximum recruitment and contraction of the lat and midback muscles."
Unfortunately, most people simply move their arms on heavy rows, bending at the elbow while using major body language to complete each rep. The scapula never rotates backward and the shoulder stays rounded forward, meaning the back muscles haven't fully contracted during the rep--which translates to wasted effort and very little muscle development.
THE WORKOUT
The following exercises can be used two different ways. For a complete overhaul of your current routine, you can do the workout as prescribed. Or, if you're still eking out gains on your current program, you could substitute one of your regular exercises for one of these each workout, an approach Daly suggests "to keep your back muscles guessing and to avoid boredom."
No matter what back workout you do, if you're planning on going heavy, a warm-up is crucial. At the very least, hop on a piece of cardio equipment for five to 10 minutes to raise your core temperature, and follow with a few light 15- to 20-rep sets of pull-downs.
Now you're ready for the first exercise: the power dumbbell deadlift. The deadlift is one of the best back and leg exercises ever conceived--but it is also one that most people avoid like a Pauly Shore movie. The dumbbell deadlift eliminates some of the "intimidation factor"--dumbbells held to your sides won't scrape up and down your legs like a barbell, and they don't require plate loading.
The next exercise is a two-handed dumbbell bent-over row. The key to maximizing the move's effectiveness is to hold your body position from start to finish. If you have a hard time maintaining your posture, try resting your head on the top of an incline bench set at almost waist height.
Third is the incline-bench rope cable row. The cable provides the benefit of continuous tension and allows for total concentration on the lats and midback muscles, as your reliance on stabilizer muscles is reduced. The finisher is the seated one-arm pull-down, a variation on an old standby.
THE EXERCISES
1. POWER DUMBBELL DEADLIFT (lower back, upper back, trapezius, glutes, legs) Stand with your feet a little closer than shoulder-width apart, dumbbells placed at the outside of each foot. Bend at the knees to lower yourself, and grasp a dumbbell in each hand (1a). From here, tense your entire body and stand up, keeping your elbows straight, dumbbells at your sides, head up and lower back arched (1b). Once you reach a standing position, reverse, bringing the dumbbells down to the floor. Since these are "power" reps, it's okay to touch down between each rep, focusing all your energy on driving up through your legs to come to a standing position.
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