The Best Exercises to Build a Muscular Back
Dec 9, 2022 mindpumpThe back is a slightly more complex area than the other body parts. There are many muscles that cover the back and it takes a variety of angles to stimulate it properly to maximize growth. If your goal is to fully develop your entire back it will involve hitting all the angles and understanding how the muscle fibers run.
Vertical Pulling
If you look up what your lat muscle looks like, you’ll see the fibers sort of run at an angle. They aren’t fully perpendicular or horizontal. This is why a vertical pull movement is ideal for building your lats.
Vertical Pull Exercises – Pull-ups, Lat Pulldowns, Chin-ups, etc.
Depending on how wide you grab the bar will slightly target the muscle differently. Taking a wider grip will generally hit the outside of the lats more creating more “width”, and taking a more narrow grip will build the inside of the lats more. Try to include one variation of each when building your programming, or spending one mesocycle focusing on a certain grip, and then the next switching grip to see the effect it has on your muscle growth.
Horizontal Pulling
In between your shoulder blades and running down along the spine you’ll notice the muscles run a little more horizontal and not as angled. These will respond better to horizontal pulling movements.
Horizontal Pull Exercises – Bent Over Row, Supinated rows, cable rows, one arm DB rows, etc.
Just like with the vertical pulling exercises, where you pull that bar or dumbbell towards your body will slightly influence what part of the back gets hit. A lower dumbbell pull to the hip will target the lower and mid lat to help develop the christmas tree look. A high row pull will help develop the upper back, and a close grip pull can help build the rhomboids.
Mind Muscle Connection
This is a very important part especially for back development. People tend to have an easier time hitting their biceps, chest, and “mirror muscles” because they can see it and therefore, make that connection during the exercise quicker. When it comes to the back, it can be tricky. We can’t see it, so it’s hard for us to visualize how the movement should be completed in order to fire every fiber. If you struggle with this, try going lighter with the weight, and taking a 2-3 second pause at the peak contraction. Make sure you can really feel the intended muscle squeezing and holding that position. Alternatively, you can focus on the eccentric. After the peak contraction, let your back muscle take 2-3 seconds to slowly release the weight back away from you as if you are playing tug of war.
Progression
One final point I’d like to make is on progress. Don’t just choose a weight that is too light and you are aimlessly doing reps on. Also be aware of adding TOO much weight and using momentum to the point you can’t feel the back actually doing the work. Focus on that mind muscle connection noted above, and choose a weight that allows you to be 1-2 reps shy of failure. For bigger barbell movements, work in the 5-10 rep range, and for more isolated movements like lat pull-downs or one arm rows, try the 10-15 rep range to get more volume in and time spent focusing on connection.
