The Ultimate Back Workout_ the Best Back Exercises for a Thick, Wide Back _ Muscle for Life

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Want a big, strong back? Well, with the right back workouts and

exercises, you can build one faster than you think.

Although many guys focus on building the “beach muscles” (every day is Chest Day), I think a big, thick, wide back is awesome.

It doesn’t come easily though. It takes a lot of proper training to really make it stand out.

In this article, I’m going to share with you my favorite back exercises and how I like to program my back workouts. If you follow my advice, and eat

properly, your back will grow in both size and strength.

So, let’s first look at the anatomy of the back so we can better understand what we’re trying to achieve with our training.

The Back Muscles We Want to Focus on BuildingThe four muscles that make up the bulk of the back, and that need to be well developed, are the trapezius, rhomboids, latissimus dorsi, and erector spinae.

Here’s how they look:

The Ultimate Back Workout: The Best Back Exercises fora Thick, Wide Back

By Michael Matthews on January 8th, 2014

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(The erector spinae aren’t shown on the above chart, but they are the lower back muscles that occupy the gray area at the bottom.)

There are a few smaller bundles of muscle that matter as well, such as the teres major and minor, and the infraspinatus. You can see them here:

Now, here’s the goal in terms of overall back development:


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Large, but not overdeveloped, traps that establish the upper back

Wide lats that extend low down the torso, creating that pleasing V-taper

Bulky rhomboids that create “valleys” when flexed

Clear development and separation in the teres muscles and infraspinatus

A thick, “Christmas tree” structure in the lower back

My back is a work in progress, but here’s what I’ve been able to achieve so far:

Unfortunately I don’t have any older “before” shots of my back (every day was Chest Day), but my back has come come very far in the last few years.

The breakthrough occurred when I changed my workouts to what I’m going to share with you in this a rticle.

So, let’s start with some basic principles of back training, and then we’ll get to the best back exercises and a sample back workout.

Back Training 101

Here are the two most common back training mistakes that I see:

Focusing on the wrong exercises (usually boiling down to focusing too much on the lats)

Focusing too much on high-rep training

The result is a weak-looking back that has a V-taper but nothing else–nothing to show for in the middle, and small erector spinae. Here’s a good

example of this type of back:

Crappy looking, but I bet he can do a lot of standing lat pushdowns.

A proper back workout trains the lats, but blasts the other major muscles. And fortunately the best back exercises do both–they build depth,thickness, and width.

There’s another very important point that needs to be made regarding back training:

Like all major muscle groups in the body, the back responds best to heavy, compound weightlifting.(Click here to tweet this!)

http://ctt.ec/93Gdx


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Proper Deadlift by Mark Rippetoe


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Hex-Bar Deadlift by Jim Stoppani


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Back Exercises: Wide Grip Pull Ups


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Ronnie Coleman - Seated Cable Row


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What I want you to do over the next 8 weeks is perform the following back workout once every 5 – 7 days:

Deadlift: Warm up and 3 sets of 4 – 6 reps

Barbell Row: 3 sets of 4 – 6 reps

Chin-Ups or Wide-Grip Pullups: 3 sets of 4 – 6 reps (add weight if possible)

Optional (if you feel like you have some juice left): One-Arm Dumbbell Rows 3 sets of 4 – 6 reps

That’s it–just 9 – 12 heavy sets for your entire workout.

If you’re an advanced lifter, or you feel you have more in you at the end of the workout, you can do the final 3 sets, but don’t do more than that or you

will likely wind up overtrained at some point.

Once you hit the top of your rep range for one set, you move up in weight.For instance, if you get on the incline bench and push out 6 reps on your

first set, you add 5 pounds to each side of the bar for your next set and work with that weight until you can press it for 6 reps, and so forth.

Rest 2 – 3 minutes in between each set. This will give your muscles enough time to fully recoup their strength so you can give maximum effort each

set.

I guarantee you that if you combine that back workout with aproper nutrition plan, you will be very happy with the muscle growth and

strength progression.

This type of training is the core of my Bigger Leaner Stronger program, and I’ve had hundreds and hundreds of guys email me, ecstatic that they were

finally breaking through 1+ year plateaus with ease, gaining strength and size every week.

What do you think of my choices for back exercises? What are your favorite back

workouts? Let me know in the comments below!

Want more ultimate workouts? Check out the following:

The Ultimate Arms Workout

The Ultimate Shoulder Workout

The Ultimate Chest Workout

The Ultimate Legs Workout

How to get lean and build serious muscle and strength, faster than you ever thought possible…

Depending on how you eat, train, and rest, building muscle and losing fat can be incredibly easy or incredibly hard. Unfortunately, most people

make many different mistakes that leave them stuck in a rut.

And that’s why I wrote Bigger Leaner Stronger for men, and Thinner Leaner Stronger for women: they lay out EVERYTHING you need to know

about diet and training to build muscle and lose fat effectively…

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I’m Mike Matthews and I’ve been training for nearly a decade now. I believe that every person can achieve the body

of his or her dreams, and I work hard to give everyone that chance by providing workable, proven advice grounded

in science, not a desire to sell phony magazines, workout products, or supplements. More about me.

BUY NOW

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http://www.muscleforlife.com/books/thinner-leaner-stronger/http://www.muscleforlife.com/about-me

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The Ultimate Back Workout_ the Best Back Exercises for a Thick, Wide Back _ Muscle for Life