Introduction
No one disputes the benefits of having a big strong back – whether it’s for power lifting or body building (the competitive or non-competitive versions of either) the upper and lower back are exceedingly important.
For squatting, it’s nice to have a wide and thick shelf for the bar to rest upon as we’re pushing through a heavy weight, and provide a stabilizing force for the thoracic spine. I think we’ve all seen lifters get doubled over by a heavy weight, something that probably should be corrected with better mechanics, but perhaps could have been avoided with a stronger, bigger upper back.
For Benching & Pressing, the lats play a roll in supporting the lifter (especially at the bottom of the movements), they help with a tight and powerful “arch” in the bench, and they provide a nice buoyant shelf for the triceps to rest on at the bottom of the press. And in my opinion, the lats and upper back muscles play a supportive roll in helping the lifter lower a heavy load under control and maintain a steady vertical bar path. I’ve noticed this quite a bit simply by the soreness pattern that presents in the lats the day or two following a heavy high volume bench or pressing session. It’s not severe, but it’s there, particularly after doing something like multiple heavy sets of singles or doubles across, where the eccentric tends to be a bit slower than with lighter weights for more reps. You can also test this out by trying to bench or press heavy the day after doing a bunch of chins and/or rows. You’ll find you have a little less pop out of the bottom of the movement and a lot less control of the bar path.
A big strong back is obviously most helpful in the Deadlift, and as novices and early intermediates, trainees, may not need much more than Deadlifts and perhaps a few sets of chins to build a decent starting foundation of lower and upper back musculature.
However, as the trainee advances through his lifting evolution, he needs to give a bit more attention to developing his back in order to maximize the contribution to all the major lifts. And if he or she is a physique oriented lifter (competitive or non-competitive bodybuilding) then certainly the back must receive additional stimulus than what is provided simply through dead lifting. Certainly all the great bodybuilders of the modern era (Haney, Yates, & Coleman most notably) had an upper back musculature that simply blew the competition off the stage.
The Problem……..
When we’re trying to become notably stronger or bigger than we are right now, it requires a lot of work. If we’re power lifting (or bodybuilding), we need to spend a lot of time doing Squats, Deadlifts, and the derivatives of these movements. Most lifters probably need to be hitting each of those lifts or their variants 2 days per week, some people may even need more frequency than that. We also need to train the Bench Press and probably a few assistance exercises there as well including things like Presses, Inclines, Dips, DB Pressing variants, pin presses, direct tricep work, etc. This type of work also generally consumes 2 and maybe even 3 days per week for many.
So the problem is that time and energy are often in short supply for important exercises like pull-ups and various forms of rows. These movements are extremely important for developing and strengthening the back, but they too are energy expensive, and they are quite capable of being trained with very heavy loads.
However, most people wind up haphazardly slapping a few sets of chins or light rows onto the end of an upper body session or deadlift session and never really commit the time and energy to performing these exercises with the loads and volumes that are necessary for optimal back development.
The Solution…..
If you are primarily a physique oriented athlete, I’d say that this is a must, and perhaps you are already doing so. If you are a strength oriented athlete (power lifter, strength lifter) I’d say this is something you should strongly consider trying.
What I’ve been recommending to many of my clients over the years is that they implement a dedicated session every week to training the back – separate and apart from their Deadlift training (which we’ll keep coupled with squats on lower body training days) and separate and apart from their Bench and Press training and all the constituent assistance exercises for those lifts.
This often winds up being a Saturday session if the lifter is training on the popular 4-Day Upper-Lower Split (example):
- Monday: Heavy Bench + Light/Volume Press + Assistance (Dips, Triceps, etc)
- Tuesday: Heavy Deadlift + Light/Volume Squat + Lower Assistance (low back, Prowler, etc)
- Wednesday: Off
- Thursday: Heavy Press + Light/Volume Bench + Assistance
- Friday: Heavy Squat + Light Deadlift (SLDL, RDL, etc)
- Saturday: Back Day
- Sunday: Off
When setting things up like this, I’m usually pretty intentional to put the lower body day that is Heavy Deadlift focused on Tuesday and the Heavy Squat focused Day on Friday. First, you don’t want to be trying to do a bunch of heavy barbell rows (which will be a staple of the back day) the day after doing a bunch of heavy deadlifts. Second, spreading the Heavy Deadlift Day and the Back Day more evenly through the week, in essence gives you two dedicated back training sessions. And if you are trying to prioritize this body part, it’s a good idea to hit it hard every 2-3 days.
Setting Up the Back Day Routines…..
I actually have three different back routines that I really really enjoy doing and seem to get the best feedback and results from clients when prescribed. The idea of the Back Day is to get progressively stronger on a handful of staple exercises (perhaps 6-10 movements), overload the back with a lot of volume, and catch a massive pump in the back at each session. This is how you will grow. If you cannot feel your back and lats completely blown up at the end of each session, I’ll bet you dollars to donuts you won’t see much change in your physique.
The Back (a large collection of multiple muscle groups) responds best to a wider assortment of exercises than simpler muscle groups like say, the Quads, which probably don’t need 6-10 exercises to stimulate growth. The Bro-Science part of this is that the back seems to respond better when these exercises are mixed and matched a bit rather than performing the same combination of exercises in the same order at every session. So I’m giving you three routines to rotate through each week.
At the end of each session, I leave it up to the trainee to perform perhaps 2 additional sets of exercises for the Rear Delts, Traps, and Biceps. You don’t have to do all 3 at every session, you could rotate through these as well based on time, energy, and need.
Sets and reps may vary a little bit from person to person, day to day. I’ll give you my recommendations, but feel free to add, subtract or adjust based on feel. Try and keep the exercises and exercise order.
I set each of these routines at 15 total sets, which in combination with your Deadlift and Deadlift Variants each week will put many people around the 18-25 set marker for the back each week. It might take this much to elicit a dramatic growth response if your back is really lagging.
Routine #1
- Barbell Rows (pulled from the floor or from the “hang”) 6 x 6-8. Go heavy but stay strict.
- Seated Cable Rows or Old School T-Bar Rows 3 x 8-12 (choose one)
- Pulldowns (wide overhand or reverse grip) 4 x 10-12
- One Arm DB Rows 2 x 12 (strict form, deep stretch)
Routine #2
- Pull Ups or Chin Ups (weighted or unweighted) 5 x 5-8
- Barbell Rows 4 x 8-12
- Chest Supported Machine or T-Bar Rows 3 x 10-12
- Pull Downs (use opposite grip of how you did exercise one) 3 x 10-12
Routine #3**
- Pull Ups (weighted or unweighted) 5 x 5-8
- Rack Pulls (knee height) 1 x 6-8, 1 x 10-15
- Rack Barbell Rows (from same pins as rack pulls) 5 x 10-12
- V-Grip Lat Pulldowns 3 x 10-12
**On the Deadlift session that follows the Rack Pull session (2-3 days later) you may have to lighten things up a bit to accommodate for fatigue, or make that session another Squat focused lower body day. Rack Pulls should be done for one all out heavy set of 6-8 reps and then back off 10-20% for another all out set of 10-15 reps. Rack Barbell Rows are done with a fairly upright torso angle and pulling the bar low into the stomach (like a Yates Row). V-Grip Pulldowns are pulled into the upper abs, not the top of the chest. In combo with the Rack Pulls, these will blow up the lower lats.
Tips……
Keep track of loads and aim to get stronger on each and every exercise over time, but do not become centrally focused on load only. Think like a bodybuilder when doing these routines and try and establish a mind-muscle connection with the lats. These are “exercises” and not “lifts”. If you are just heaving weight around, you won’t get the same response as you will from feeling the lats stretch and contract on every rep and walking away from each set with a massive pump. Adjust the loads during each workout to make sure you are using proper form and feeling the lats work.
Keep rest down to 2-3 minutes between sets. Adjust weight as needed to accommodate this. Descending sets can be your friend on back training sessions.
I suggest using straps on most of these exercises to take the grip out of the equation, minimize forearm fatigue/involvement and keep the feel of the exercise on the lats.
Try implementing this into your routine over the next 12-weeks and see if your back does not respond in a big way.
I guarantee you it will.
