Back Training 101: Build Your Back

Back Training 101

In this article we’re going to cover the group of muscles found in the back, they are made up of a number of powerful interconnected muscles, such as: trapezius, rhomboids, teres major and the latissimus torsi. There are certain types of isolated movements which can hit specific muscles in the back, but to create: a thick, massive and well-built back, multi-jointed type movements are required, to ensure all muscles in the back are being hit.

The Anatomy of the back:

First of all, we’re going to cover some basics of the anatomy of the back. One of the main reasons for this is to improve the “mind to muscle” connection and to help you visualize your back workouts.

The lats:

First, we’ll start with the largest muscle in your back, the lattissimus dorsi. The lats start at the upper area of the humerus and stretch as far down to the pelvic girdle. The main functions of the lats are to create the movement of pulling your arms down towards the pelvis.

The Traps:

One of the powerful muscles found in the back is the trapezius. The trapezius is found at the top of the back, starting from your neck and going down as far as the upper part of your back, i.e they will run along the top of your upper spine until the middle of the back. The traps main movements and functions are: The shrugging movement (Scapular elevation), Pulling the shoulder blades downwards (Scapular Depression) and pulling the shoulder blades together (Scapular Adduction).

Smaller Muscles:

Within the back there also contains smaller muscles that help with the movements. Such muscle groups as: rhomboids and teres major. The teres major can be found near the shoulder blades and attaches up to the humerus. Its main function of the teres major is to bring the arms towards the back.

In the middle of the back, between the shoulder blades is where we can find the rhomboids. They are attached to the middle of the shoulder blades and run along part of the spinal column. Their main function is to help bring your shoulder blades together.

There is also another set of muscles found in the back, they are; the erector spinae. The muscles found in the erector spinae are: iliocostailis, spinalis and longissimus. The erector spinae are a group of muscles that help support and extend the spine. They can be found attached to the pelvis, ribs and vertebrae.
Other Parts of the Back

There are many exercises which aimed towards contraction of the back each one hitting different parts. For example, doing the exercise close grip rows will hit the middle of the back, whilst doing wider grip pull-downs will hit the outer back.

You should be hitting all parts of the back to strive for a fully developed back; this will help eradicate certain groups from falling behind and prevent negative effects of the aesthetic look.

Having a fully developed back will help with the V-Taper look, this also give the illusion of a tighter waist from having a wider upper back. Hitting the middle of your back with row type movements will help build out the thickness of your back and will help bring out the details, whilst the lat pull down movements with give your back my width.

Back Exercises

• Weighted Chin-Ups
• Weighted Pull-Ups
• Assisted Chin-ups
• Assisted Pull-Ups
• Bodyweight Chin-Ups
• Bodyweight Pull-Ups
• Lat Pulldown (front of head)
• Lat Pulldown (behind head)
• Cable Rear Delt
• One-Arm Dumbbell Row
• Bentover Row
• Dumbbell Close Grip Row
• Dumbbell Wide Grip Row
• Barbell Close Grip Row
• Barbell Wide Grip Row
• Smith Machine Shrugs
• Dumbbell Shrugs
• Barbell Shrugs
• Smith Machine Close Grip Row
• Smith Machine Wide Grip Row
• T-bar Row
• Dumbell Upright Row
• EZ-Curl Bar Upright ROW
• Barbell Upright Row
• Machine Pullover
• Dumbbell Pullover
• Barbell Pullover
• Reverse Flys
• Straight Arm Cable Pulldowns
• Smith Machine Stiff-leg Deadlift

Mass Building Back Workouts

I have mentioned it briefly before, the main thing you want to focus on is proper form and technique, to ensure you have a good mind to muscle connection and to make sure you can really feel the exercise hitting your back muscles. If you can’t feel a back exercise hitting your back muscles, you are probably doing it wrong or using a weight that’s too much. If you are experiencing this I would suggest further reading into technique and drop your weight to a comfortable number and start from there. One of the hardest back exercises to get right is the deadlift and bent over barbell row, but if you can get these two exercises down to a tee, then you will have two amazing movements for your back workout arsenal!

Try to utilize what you have learned and hit the gym hard!… but most of all have fun!

Further Reading: Top 10 Back Exercises For Buidling Width and Thickness